Hi Ryan,<div> To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. I think the editor puts everything each officer sends him together and in an a, b, c format and then sends it on to the publishing company who uses Adobe InDesign to publish it. I use that software daily myself so it's not much to change it around for online purposes. Once put together, our editor sends it back to us to proof and then back to the publisher as a final. How Dick and Jon Bruml and the publisher work everything I don't know.</div>

First off, I just want to thank Jim Quinn for calling me personally to address my concerns.

To respond to the first real question regarding going through "proper channels": I posed the question of the missing April K-Factor (on-line or in print) through the NSRCA E-mail Discussion List. The message went totally unanswered. I then posed the question to my NSRCA District VP. He voiced my concerns to the board, but got no direct response he could give me. I then attempted to post the content of this thread as an e-mail to the NSRCA discussion list, and my e-mail was rejected due to problems between my ISP e-mail servers and the NSRCA list. So that is why this was posted here. Disagree with the forum or not, it was the forum I had at my disposal.

That being said, it is my understanding that I may have joined the NSRCA too late in March to have received the April issue. Not a big deal, but then where was the on-line version? Scott McHarg has been nice enough to step in and explain what the hold-up was in that regard. Thank you, Scott. That being said, my main question has been answered.

Further discussion should probably be had regarding the viability of continuing the K-Factor in its printed form versus going 100% electronic. Also, I think serious thought should be given to paying a publishing company a one-time fee to set us up with an easy-to-use template where the K-Factor editor could simply drop in the raw text from the articles and have the electronic version done and ready to go. It is my understanding (from my discussion with Jim) that Ryan's assessment of the process was correct when he was a DVP, but has since changed: the board members submit articles to the editor. The editor then proofreads the articles for spelling and grammar. The editor then submits the articles in Word format to the publisher, who does a proof. The proof is then distributed to the board members to make sure their article was still intact. The board members must then OK the proof, and the publisher is given the go-ahead. Jim said this process was put in place because there was an issue with the publisher duplicating previous articles instead of running the current ones. Sounds a little tedious. Seems to me once the editor has done his job of submitting the information, that the editor could verify the correct articles in the proof rather than each individual board member needing to receive the proof. Might cut down on a little of the lag in the publishing timeline from submission to final OK of the proof. Also, it seems to me our publisher would be able to easily produce a PDF with the hotlinks already embedded, ready for the website. Sounds like Scott's being forced to do work that could already have been done at that point.

Anyway, I'm going to step off my soapbox now, and thank those NSRCA board members, Scott McHarg and Jim Quinn, for answering my questions.

I'll just say this, it isn't as easy for the editor to just send stuff in and publish the magazine.. Or that easy to get it changed around. It's a very time consuming situation back and forth several times to get things just right so that the magazine can be published. And published at the publishers time frame. And also sent out at their time frame. Maybe if people were more patient when they didn't understand what goes on, situations like this wouldn't arise! If you want things changed in the NSRCA, then run for a position! If not, deal with what you have with respect for those doing the job. You have a organization run by volunteers! Volunteers who also have a life. Geez.. Such a lack of appreciation for things done for you by volunteers.. Amazing!

Chris

I'll say this. The NSRCA has been around for many years. It was started out of need in the mid 70's by a group led by Rhett Miller Sr. It has been a very important part of F3A Pattern and AMA pattern for many years. I've always held this organization in the highest regard. It's very near and dear to my heart.
I think the comments made by mjfrederick are appropriate. It's OK to discuss things.
That said I do believe that the group of volunteer members running the organization today are very capable. I see some issues that need to addressed and I'm confident that they are being worked on.
I'd like to ask everyone involved in this sport to support the NSRCA. If the least you can do is join than please do that. Your support is needed and it's significant.
Thanks, Mike Mueller

As long as I'm in office, y'all can come to me and ask anything you want.  If I don't have the answer, I'll go find it.  Things certainly don't always go as smoothly and gracefully as we plan or as we intended them to be.  John Gayer and I, along with the publishing company, are trying to figure out a way to make sure this postage issue is handled.  The fault is not on a single entity but I couldn't agree with some of you more, not knowing is the worst.<div>
</div><div>Matt, just so you know, I believe Brian C.'s email to the board was not received.  It's possible that he's having the same ISP issues as Cox with our mailing servers. The only thing we saw was a message from our VP saying this thread existed and he did a wonderful job giving the information he had to y'all.  As soon as I read this, I got in contact with the different companies to get you the answer.  I don't think we could agree with you more about the delay being frustrating.  If you want, I have all the "extra" copies of the Kfactor and could send out April's to you.  Just email me privately and we'll get it handled.</div>

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Scott, if you'll bring this meeting to order I would like to nominate <u>mjfrederick</u> for the position of K-Factor editor.  Duties to begin with the July 2012 issue.
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Can I get a second?
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Matt told me Sunday of the issues with Cox Media and email... I am network administrator for a local unit and also use Cox there, with a rather robust firewall. I've noticed the hardware firewall has been reporting the Internet connection going up and down a dozen times daily, but never thought it could be affecting email. Just a word of warning to the rest, I guess. I'll do a better job of looking for replies; lack of which may well indicate a lack of receiving same.

All that being said; who's in for meeting up in Jetero?

Brian C.

Remember, before planning for Jetero we need to go to New Berlin contest, this coming weekend.

Greetings
Rene

The K-Factor editor is responsible for collecting all the articles (from the board and other parties) and advertisements (from the ad manager). The editor will then review each article and ensure it is grammatically correct and make any necessary modifications to the content. Once satisfied, the editor will send all of this to the publisher who is responsible for formatting the issue (placement of ads, etc). Once this is completed, a draft copy is sent to the editor, ad manager and a few others for review. Any changes are communicated back to the editor and these are then communicated back to the publisher... another proof is then sent back to editor (and others) for review. Once the editor is happy they will tell the publisher to print the magazine - the secretary will send the mailing list to the publisher at this time.