Author Topic: PAMPA news letter (Read 2245 times)

Ty Marcucci · « **on:** April 04, 2022, 09:05:33 PM »

I got mine today. Neat issue. Much better than the early ones in the 70's and 80's. Now for PAMPA members to send in items for the news letter.

Mike Griffin · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2022, 12:32:54 PM »

Quote from: Ty Marcucci on April 04, 2022, 09:05:33 PM

I got mine today. Neat issue. Much better than the early ones in the 70's and 80's. Now for PAMPA members to send in items for the news letter.

TY, did you get me email?

Mike

Dennis Toth · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2022, 01:51:17 PM »

I looked on the PAMPA website and there is no News Letter posted. They have a copy of the Stunt News, 2006 issue 2. Would be nice if they posted the new News Letter there.

Best, DennisT

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2022, 02:01:34 PM »

The ‘new’ newsletter comes postal mail only. There are no current plans to post it online. All paid members will receive it.

Dave

JackComer · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2022, 02:34:39 PM »

I got mine today in the mail!

Mike Griffin · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2022, 03:29:43 PM »

Quote from: Ty Marcucci on April 05, 2022, 01:36:01 PM

Did you send me an email? If you are referring t the news letter, it came in the US mail, hard copy.

Give me a call if you still have my number. If you dont, I can PM it to you.

Mike

jfv · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2022, 12:34:44 PM »

Got mine. Enjoyed the read.

L0U CRANE · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2022, 12:43:23 PM »

Excellent, Dave! Thanks.

Plan sounds good. I'll check the website for contact info to make sure I'm paid up. Be a shame to drop out - I joined at the 1973 formation! (Or as soon after as membership came available...)

Hey, next year will be our 50th...

john e. holliday · « **Reply #8 on:** April 06, 2022, 01:03:23 PM »

Tried to renew and the site wouldn't let me for some reason.

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #9 on:** April 06, 2022, 01:53:32 PM »

Quote from: john e. holliday on April 06, 2022, 01:03:23 PM

Tried to renew and the site wouldn't let me for some reason.

Doc I just checked the website files-no record. It must of scrubbed you somehow. Not sure how long you've been out. Just join as a brand new member and see what happens.

Dave
Sec/Treas.

As a side note; just since news of this newsletter came out we've seen an influx of new or renewal signups. That's great! The pre-existing file of members was given for the first mailing. We are figuring a way to get NEW members' info pushed on to the editor to get more issues made if necessary and mailed. If you are just now signing up expect a week or two for copies to be sent. These are QUARTERLY mailings.
As Ty said above it will be important for members to contribute content. That content needs to be sent to the editor, David Shorts. We hope you enjoy the member
NEWSLETTER (NOT a subscription to a magazine).

Dennis Toth · « **Reply #10 on:** April 06, 2022, 05:24:11 PM »

Dave,
Why not just scan it into the website so we can read it online like we did with Stunt News?

Best, DennisT

Dave_Trible · « **Reply #11 on:** April 06, 2022, 07:00:33 PM »

Dennis that MAY happen but the question has been asked of Chris about doing just that, or will it require a verbatim re-write and editing. We'll see.
This is a trial run: I gave the nod (as one of my final acts as President) for one year-four issues on a real tight budget to see if we can do this without going broke, if we could keep interest in an editorial crew, if people will actual help by actively contributing to it and to satisfy those who simply insisted that a paper rag was necessary for the survival of PAMPA. All this is yet to be seen. So far the first issue is CLOSE to the budget I requested. ( No more than $2.50 per copy per member plus postage). I'm pretty much a simple worker bee now so decisions about what happens going forward will be up to the new able management. More will be known soon about putting this on-line but if it increases the work load/cost too much then we might stick to just paper but perhaps adding these new pieces to the library as time goes on. As it so happens none of us have received our own copy to look at yet. My only caution is not to let this grow once again to something we can't support financially or in manpower needs- plant a seed-grow a monstrosity. I'll be waiting on the afternoon mail......

Dave

john e. holliday · « **Reply #12 on:** April 06, 2022, 07:34:52 PM »

Just logged into PAMPA site and it said I was good through May 2022. Found the renewal page and finished it. Good thing I keep a record of passwords plus login. Thanks to you folks who keep this going.

Dennis Toth · « **Reply #13 on:** April 07, 2022, 03:51:51 PM »

Got mine today. Nice job.

Best, DennisT

the original Steve Smith · « **Reply #14 on:** April 07, 2022, 09:09:18 PM »

Looks like what a Special Interest Group Newsletter should look like!

Good Job!

Steve

john e. holliday · « **Reply #15 on:** April 08, 2022, 11:52:29 AM »

The old DOC agrees Steve. Just got mine and had to read it as wife says it is time to go to the store. Again thanks to all those that have kept PAMPA going.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #16 on:** April 09, 2022, 11:25:59 AM »

I got mine and have already read it. It's good.

I'll be taking it to our club meeting Thursday to share around with everyone.

Ken Culbertson · « **Reply #17 on:** April 15, 2022, 11:25:01 AM »

Still waiting on mine but others in our area got theirs yesterday so it should be here soon. Discussion of the newsletter led me to start reading some of the old ones on the PAMPA website.
What a wealth of information. During those pre-internet/email years it was our only means of group communication and it truly is a history of how we got from there to here. Hats off to Keith for saving them so we have them now on-line.

One thing struck me though as I was reading through them was how much this forum has replaced PAMPA as a place to float ideas and communicate. I recently got a rather negative response to some rules related postings that led me to explore the reason why they were right. So I did explore. What I found out is that there is not any easy way to communicate with those who vote on how our SIG is managed unless you know who they are and I didn't find that list anywhere I looked. Now don't misunderstand, we do know who they are but one of the things I have had to do in my professional career is to develop information systems and training/instruction manuals. In doing that you can't assume that the user knows anything in advance of starting their search, especially where to look. There is a reason "where" is at the end of who, what, where.

Now I am not proposing anything radical. I feel the PAMPA site is currently ill equipped to serve as a social platform so why not here? Why can't we have a PAMPA forum or redesignate one of the existing ones. A place to float ideas that would get the attention of all of the contest board and PAMPA trustees without having to go through the formal submission process which can waste a lot of people's time for an idea that is basically stupid. We used to have questionnaires in the PAMPA newsletters where the entire membership got to voice their opinions. I think I saw that capability somewhere on this site. The news letter would inform the membership that the forum was here since many members no longer frequent the site.

To summarize: Create a PAMPA forum to vet rule changes for both PAMPA and AMA. Moderators to be the CLPA Contest Board. Once vetted and arguments for and against presented then the author would submit a formal rule change with whatever modifications the discussion warranted if it showed support or the author was too pigheaded to see that it had about as much chance as a fart in a whirlwind.

Ken

Trostle · « **Reply #18 on:** April 15, 2022, 01:38:04 PM »

Quote from: Ken Culbertson on April 15, 2022, 11:25:01 AM

We used to have questionnaires in the PAMPA newsletters where the entire membership got to voice their opinions.

To summarize: Create a PAMPA forum to vet rule changes for both PAMPA and AMA. Moderators to be the CLPA Contest Board. Once vetted and arguments for and against presented then the author would submit a formal rule change with whatever modifications the discussion warranted if it showed support ...

Ken

A couple of comments.

Questionnaires: One thing that Wynn and I discovered in the early days if PAMPA is that questionnaires must be carefully crafted and worded to get any meaningful, actionable results. Any item in the questionnaire must be devoid of any bias by the writer of any element in the questionnaire, whether intended or not. Of the several questionnaires that were published in Stunt News, I do not believe very much very positive ever came from any of them. We thought some of the items on the questionnaire would stimulate comments from the membership to the PAMPA leadership, but that never really happened. Of course, that was in the days where instant messaging on the internet had not yet been invented. Today, questionnaire on a PAMPA sponsored forum might have some meaningful results if properly handled.

Having a "PAMPA Forum to vet rule changes for both PAMPA and AMA" could be a worthwhile endeavor. For those who do not know, the Control Line Aerobatics Contest Board is not a PAMPA organization. It operates under the authority of the AMA with members from each of the eleven AMA Districts. The Aerobatics Contest Board consists entirely of PAMPA members. In fact, when there is a vacancy on the Board, the Board has an informal procedure to approach the PAMPA President to name a replacement member from the vacated AMA District. This name is then forwarded to the respective AMA district Vice President to be approved by the AMA President. This has worked quite well over the years.

I am not sure what it would mean if members of the "CLPA Contest Board" would be "Moderators" of any "PAMPA Forum". I am sure the Board members would welcome any comments/feedback and might even have feedback of their own on any PAMPA Forum. But, if there is to be any kind of moderator on the PAMPA Fourm, it should come from PAMPA, not the AMA CLPA Contest Board.

(My opinion. Others might differ.)

Keith

Joe Ed Pederson · « **Reply #19 on:** April 15, 2022, 02:17:26 PM »

I had been intending to renew for months (you know how that goes), but the free newsletter (since I was and expired member) pushed me over the top and I have renewed my PAMPA membership.

More interesting stuff to read in those few pages than in a whole year or more of Model Aviation, and I noticed that in the future, the same number of pages could carry a lot more content since the font size was so big and the spacing between lines was bigger than it needs to be in this first issue.

Thanks to everyone putting in their time to keep PAMPA going and growing.

Joe Ed Pederson
Cuba, MO

Ken Culbertson · « **Reply #20 on:** April 15, 2022, 03:34:18 PM »

Quote from: Trostle on April 15, 2022, 01:38:04 PM

A couple of comments.
I am not sure what it would mean if members of the "CLPA Contest Board" would be "Moderators" of any "PAMPA Forum". I am sure the Board members would welcome any comments/feedback and might even have feedback of their own on any PAMPA Forum. But, if there is to be any kind of moderator on the PAMPA Fourm, it should come from PAMPA, not the AMA CLPA Contest Board.

(My opinion. Others might differ.)

Keith

I chose the word "moderator" for lack of a better word. What I was after was a place where the CLPA Contest Board members would have an easy place to go see what was happening and weigh in. I agree that communication methods are so different today that good ideas from the past that didn't pan out using snail mail may still be good ideas.

Ken