Newsletter?

Discussion of other water gun websites.
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DX
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Newsletter?

Post by DX » Wed Aug 24, 2005 1:58 am

What I posted so far [at SM] about this:
[3 posts merged together]

Is it worth it to make a new attempt at a Soakerdom-wide newsletter? I know they have all failed miserably in the past, except maybe ANN, which I don't know too much about.

If we made a new newsletter, it would be from an impartial position covering all of the community. It would have a NY Times-like format with important things going on as the headlines, exactly like a real newspaper. This would be a great opportunity to put new sites in the spotlight, get important messages around soakerdom [like reset your SSC password], keep people up to date on the happenings of the major companies, and keep up interest in the soaking community.

I was thinking of using a real newspaper format. The frontpage headlines would read, for example: "iSoaker to update Galleries" , "Wild Boys releases new site" , "SSCentral switches hosts" , and etc. There would be a few sections, like:

A section for Hasbro/BBT related news
A section for Tech news
A section for soaker reviews [new reviews each issue]
A section for articles [Opinions]
A section for speculation and previews on new sites

Of course there would be at least 2 editors and an array of "reporters." We need to find people that are interested in helping out, and a name for this newsletter.

Wetmonkey's response: I think a Soakerdom-wide neswletter would be a great idea. It needs to be well thought however, and should be written and composed by five or six people one or two from each forum. I think this would be help to expand and strengthen the community.
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Hunt_and_Annoy
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Post by Hunt_and_Annoy » Wed Aug 24, 2005 4:27 am

This is a great idea, I really think that if we get enough people it should be done. BTW the 100 character rule still hasnt been removed.

Edit: Don't bring that up again hunter! I've already told you not to. That and use proper grammar! I'll tell everyone when I find the setting (if it exists) and remove it.
Last edited by SSCBen on Wed Aug 24, 2005 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Wed Aug 24, 2005 2:59 pm

Would this be separate or also contain the Regional War newsletter? Might be best to have them both as one so people don't have to sign up for two newsletters.

Where would the newsletter/newspaper be hosted? I could run a newsletter script on Super Soaker Central, but I'd also like to see our other options before allocating space. Also, which newsletter script should we use? There's a ton to consider.

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Post by Hunt_and_Annoy » Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:43 pm

Well, as Dux said, I think that one in the format of a newspaper would be nice. And yes, putting the regional war one and the other one together would be nice. I think we still need a name though...

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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:47 pm

How about the Super Soaker newsletter? Nice and straightforward if you ask me. Then again, the newsletter also covers things other than Super Soakers, such as other water guns and water fights in general. I think the Water fight newsletter would be a little more accurate.

Our host does have mailing list software built in, and would be a perfect place to host a newsletter. I'll be looking into a domain name - please PM me or post here if you would like to help think of names for the newsletter and domain. At the moment I am thinking of waterfights.org.

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Post by Hunt_and_Annoy » Thu Aug 25, 2005 12:05 am

Hmm....how 'bout water war news.org? Or maybe soakernews...I dunno..I sort of suck with names...I think I would be better with articles.

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Post by SSCBen » Thu Aug 25, 2005 12:18 am

Waterfights.org was my choice because it contains a valuable and relatively untargeted keyword (and is very descriptive in the style of WaterWar.net). Despite common belief, no one actually says "water war" according to keyword research. "SoakerNews" would be better as it contains "soaker".

I suppose that the more you know, the more reasons you put behind everything. ;)

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DX
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Post by DX » Fri Aug 26, 2005 2:22 am

I was thinking more towards having a news-like name like "WaterFight Times" as an example, or "Water War Post." It wouldn't necessarily have to be made for SEO, it could even be made with a simple code, all you would need is code for margins so you could make a header and columns. Suddenly this has become too complicated.

The regional war letter would probably be condensed into a section like the other sections mentioned above^.

A newsletter committee should be formed to work on it. There should be something presentable written, at least a draft, before a domain is bought.

All the webmasters should be involved, if they want to, and anyone else who wants to help.
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Post by SSCBen » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:47 am

Of course. I was mainly waiting for suggestions from you. We shouldn't rush into this like Soakologist did with the Water-Talk idea.

Besides, a simple design (or lack thereof) was what I was going for. That's actually what's best for SEO.
Last edited by SSCBen on Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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DX
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Post by DX » Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:22 am

Wow, there's still not much interest even though this is still August! What happened this summer? Last summer would have produced more interest in the newsletter, as we made more than 2000 posts for 3 straight months here.

School will only lower activity, especially among fellow juniors, this being an important year! You'll be seeing less of me during the school year for that ^ reason.

Almost every newsletter has ended in miserable failure, so anyone feel like reversing that trend?
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Hunt_and_Annoy
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Post by Hunt_and_Annoy » Wed Aug 31, 2005 5:10 am

Yeah! I've been supporting this idea, but lets actually DO SOMETHING about it! Waiting around is sort of boring, and I don't have power to get it started myself.
Last edited by Neuro on Fri Sep 02, 2005 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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DX
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Post by DX » Wed Aug 31, 2005 3:54 pm

Things are being done, just be patient. A lot of things have to happen before a draft can be put together.
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Post by Hunt_and_Annoy » Thu Sep 01, 2005 12:25 am

Yes, but none of them are happening! I have some articles I could put there, they will also be on SSn of course...

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