Letters to the Editor
A fair number of you have taken advantage of the contact forms on the new challenge to let us know what you think of our efforts. While we really appreciate your compliments, your suggestions and your criticisms are what drive us to do better. As Editor, I respond to each and every one of them personally, but from time to time, I thought it would be helpful to share those responses here in my column.
Q: What happened to the print magazine? It stopped coming to my house about 4 months ago. Can you see if I’m still on the list?
A: The short answer is that the print version of Challenge has been discontinued. CVR has over 2,000 members and the costs for us to print and mail Challenge far exceeded the advertising revenue and, if left unchecked, would have a serious impact on the club’s finances. In addition, Shelley Krohnengold has, for the last 10 years, provided between 40 and 60 hours a month of his time to design the magazine, edit the articles and photos, and oversee the production. We were unsuccessful at finding a replacement, even after two or more years of trying. The bottom line is that continuing with a printed version of Challenge was truly no longer viable.
CVR was not alone in facing this choice. During the 4 months (from February to May) that the digital Challenge was in development, the Challenge Transition Team surveyed all 142 PCA clubs in the US. More than half of them have discontinued their print magazines altogether. Why? Based on what we learned it was a) the cost of production, b) lack of volunteer resources with publishing expertise or c) a combination thereof. For CVR, it was the latter.
Q: How can I see only what’s in this month’s issue?
A: The short answer to this is you can’t. At least not the same way you could with a print magazine. That’s because the design of the website doesn’t lend itself to having “issues” and a table of contents in the traditional sense of a magazine. But there is a way.
On every page, at the top of the righthand column, is a black highlighted area that says PAST CHALLENGE ISSUES. If you click on the box below the headline that that says Select Month you will see a list of every month that’s online. Just pick the month you want to look at and you will only see pages of content or photos from that month. The nice part about this feature is that you can look at past issues anytime you like.
Q: What happened to The Mart?
A: It’s still here. If you look at the navigation right under the Challenge masthead you’ll see where it says Shopping. Take your mouse and hover over the word Shopping, or tap the link on your tablet or smartphone, and the first listing you’ll see is The Mart. (After that you will find the clubs online store previously referred to as the e-Porium and now just called the CVR Store.) The new Mart is entirely self-service, which means that your ad will typically appear within hours after you place it. So far The Mart is the single most popular section of the new website.
As they say, keep those cards and letters coming in.
Eric