Georgia Fiero Club Forum
All Things Fiero => Club News => Topic started by: GTRS Fiero on March 26, 2019, 09:48:09 pm
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After a recent conversation, I thought I'd share the time commitment that goes into creating the GFC newsletters.
Each article is intended to be thorough and correct, which means that a lot of research is needed to obtain the correct information. This includes online research, speaking with people, verifying in person, looking through manuals, testing products, etc. Much of the information available was conflicting or incorrect. My hope is that these newsletters will increase GFC membership/participation and provide new Fiero owners with the information they need.
Although the newsletter topics are planned in advance, I have discovered through experience that the topics must be fleshed out to provide a framework, prior to being offered for an article. For the articles to fit in a given newsletter, they need to cover certain aspects. This means that I can't really have an article ready to be written until I start working on that newsletter. The time to write an article is limited--basically 3 weeks--but I have also discovered that, if the article isn't done by then, it does not get written.
This is my schedule:
Week 1 (last week of the month):
The next month's draft is proof-read and sent out for approval. Final edits are made. The newsletter is posted and sent out. This gives everyone who knows more about Fieros than I do the opportunity to find my errors. Notes are made for things I'd like to do differently, next year. Each newsletter starts out with the basic form: the home page, the featured items page, the info page, 3 blank pages formatted for pgackerman's article, an event page, a blank page, and the 2 vendor pages. The home page is basically just the header and side text, at this point. Adornments to be used throughout the newsletter are added, fonts are selected and applied, and the upcoming events list is updated. Usually, the blurb for the upcoming meeting is written at this time. Topics are copied and pasted in from my planner, which increases the number of pages. Below each topic, questions are added. Partially-written articles and pertinent images are added for that month. I reach out for articles. Work is done on member spotlights. This takes 35-50 hours.
Week 2:
I start adding things that happened the previous month. I reach out for images/permissions, as needed. I write the newsletter info blurb, and create a research strategy, including lists of what I need for each article. If I have something for the home page, I start working on that. Vendor updates are completed. I look back to the previous year for anything I'd like to re-use, and refer to my notes for things I'd decided to do differently. I research the topics online and in various manuals, trying to find answers to the topic questions. Notes from this research are added to the newsletter as phrases. This research often turns up information for other topics, which are captured separately. As part of the research, questions are added to my list, and picture needs are identified. Corrections are made to prior newsletters. This takes 40-50 hours.
Week 3:
Pictures on my list are taken and edited. In-person, phone, and email research is done, from my list of questions. Notes are condensed and sorted into orderly groups. Additional pictures are taken/added. Article submissions are added. The member spotlight is completed. Testing and final verification is done. Info from the meeting/event is added. The newsletter is worked into a first draft status. Excess content is separated and saved. The article plan for the next month is updated, as well as for the next year. This takes 40-50 hours.
Week 4:
Editing is done to make everything line up, and fit. Filler articles are created/used to eliminate empty spaces. Usually, there are still some outstanding items, so decisions have to be made about content. Usually, there are 2 more drafts. Sometimes, I end up with 2 versions of the newsletter for a given month, developing them in parallel; one is put in the failure bin, and the other gets used. Over time, this has happened less often. This takes 35-50 hours.
That breaks down to 5+ hours, each day.
For April's newsletter, for example, the original plan looked like this:
ICM issues - Brands, thermal compound
Spring maintenance
Living with a Fiero enthusiast
Member spotlight - fierofool
Light chart
Window seals, door weatherstrip seals, sunroof seals, wing stand gaskets, trunk seal, windshield seal, mirror gaskets, dew wipes
Pre-flight checklist
ECM diag pic, all about diags
Front page - Charlie behind fence, text
The theme was an introduction to Fieros, and a checklist for the rest of us.
The pre-flight checklist went well. The original intent was to author this article myself, but this article that was very close to the intended article. After obtaining permission to use this article, a few tweaks and updates were made. Although authored by someone else, that took more that 3 hours to include. The front page went through several iterations, totalling more than 5 hours of work. The Spring Maintenance article was expanded from last year, but took about 30 minutes to update and include. The Don Hulse Memorial Cruise article was written by someone else, and took about 15 minutes. The Living with a Fiero Enthusiast article never materialized, but there was time providing a structure for that, also. The member spotlight article took about 30 minutes. Honestly, the light chart was started a year ago, and has barely been touched, since, but is still not ready. There was no time for the seals articles, although I obtained seals/gaskets and a set of wing stands. I went through my stock and found OEM gaskets to use for comparison. Maybe next year. Still, I got some pictures, so have probably an hour of time into that. The ECM article took about 3 hours of work, but did not fit with this newsletter. The short article on the heater resistor required online research, a trip to a non-local store, about an hour in the store, plus about an hour to write the article and edit the image. Fortunately, I had a new OEM heater resistor from which I got part numbers. The headlight motor article was authored by someone else, but took almost 8 hours to edit as it appeared in the newsletter, because there were updates that had to be made. I tried tracing down some of the references, and they were no longer valid. For example, Ed Parks is no longer the contact at The Fiero Factory. The adornments, colored fonts and things take about 2 hours to do. The Idiot Gauges article took more than 3 hours.
Now, the bulk of the time.
There were trips to hardware and plumbing stores, time actually at stores, going through parts bins and drawers. Again, it helps to actually have the OEM parts for comparison. The Taking a Gander article sortof took on a life of its own. The idea started as an expansion on the Spring Maintenance, with a focus on potential new Fiero owners, then expanded from the Pre-Flight article to an article on checking for rust, which was planned for last year. The article didn't materialize, so I wrote one for this year myself. As I wrote the article, I found that the article needed to be expanded upon, which dramatically increased its length. The article had to be broken down into segments, so most of that article is yet to come. More than 60 hours went into this article, thus far, including research, pictures/editing, and actually writing the article. The fluids article took about 12 hours to research and write, but was later split into parts. The fuses article was more than 7 hours of work, but less than half of that is here, because I was unable to get a piece for the remainder of the article. The ICM article is about 20 hours in, but was not included this month. The lubrication article took about 11 hours for research, pictures/editing, driving to stores, testing, etc.
Separately, I have been working on diagrams for various things, but am missing some key pieces. This month, I have about 12 hours into that project.
As I write and edit these articles, I encounter the need for additional articles. Web pages to which I referred vanish, or are found to be incorrect. There are several newsletters from last year that I had to go back and correct. That took about 6 hours.
I'm working on articles through the end of this year. To this end, I have obtained pictures/permissions from a variety of people. 2 members sent me parts I needed, and let me take some pictures of their Fieros. I have drafts or research notes for about 18 articles for this year, that will actually appear; there are other articles that may never be completed. Let's say these articles take 5 hours each. That's 90 hours of work, over the last 9 months or so.
There have been a lot of recent changes with the vendors, and I've been in communication with them, to the tune of about 5 hours, between phone calls, emails, and editing. There have been some review articles that had to be pulled, because of issues that arose with a given product, or because something changed. In some cases, a product was shipped back and forth, several times.
For any given month, therefore, I am working on getting info from the meetings/events, expanding on topics for the current month, planning topics for future months, researching topics into notes, taking pictures, obtaining pictures/usage permissions, editing pictures, expanding notes into articles, working with other authors, editing articles into the newsletter, working on the overall look of the newsletter, then getting the newsletter approved and out. Article submissions also take time, because I have to edit for spelling, grammar, punctuation, consistency, accuracy, and format.
There is no set length for the newsletter, but the intent is to keep the newsletter short, but informative. In that light, each newsletter is geared toward pertinent information for a given month. The articles are generally designed to be a package, where each article is an integral part of the whole newsletter, meaning that the loss of one article is a loss for the newsletter.
Most of the articles I write are on the V6, because that is what I have, but that is what most of the club members have, also, so that works out. As I write articles for the V6, keep in mind that I'm working in parallel on articles for the L4. This takes hours of research, because I do not have any such vehicle. I have tried to get info/pictures from some people, but those efforts did not pan out. I cannot put a number on this time, but this effort has been more than a year in the works, and I don't have much to show for it. Honestly, I do not expect that the L4 articles will ever be completed. It isn't as if people will let me take the pictures and things I need at a car show, and the amount of time and effort that went into the October 2018 newsletter was...incredible.
Newsletter length/size varies throughout the month, but this particular newsletter was 121 pages of raw material, and 856Mb in size, at one point in time. The planned length was 24 pages, so some things were pushed off or split up. April's newsletter contained 8 articles of various lengths that I authored, plus the member spotlight.
Yes, I do continue to work on my Fiero, in addition to working a full-time job and other responsibilities. I try to be active on this forum on a daily basis. The newsletters are self-serving, in some ways, because I'm working on/learning about my Fiero, and the newsletters track along with that.
That's my part. Let's call it my level of committment, and it seems to be working. We have more members, and the number of people engaged on the forum has increased. I hope all current and former GFC members have a sense of pride in this newsletter, which is distributed around the world, and to which people from around the world have contributed.
What I need is specific Fiero pictures, pictures from meetings/events/technical sessions, pictures of Fiero work, some technical help, and an occasional article. Fortunately, we have had contributions from a number of people. These contributions are very helpful in the creation of the newsletter. Many of the things long-term Fiero owners take for granted are unknown to new Fiero owners. I would venture to guess that there is new information for many of us in some of the newsletters. All the articles are basic things, designed to ease the reality of Fiero ownership.
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Is there anything contributors can do to streamline your tasks?
For example, everyone use Google Doc instead of Word or e-mail?
This might not make a big impact. Might only save an hour a week. That's still 52 hours more each year for you to work on your Fiero.
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I'm a member of NIFE in order to get their magazine, "Fiero Focus".
Fiero Focus is no where near as long as the GFC Newsletters, nor is it as informative. The first two pages are always notes from the Prez about upcoming events followed by a membership update. Toss in a page or so for a Member Spotlight, a page for ads, and a few more for Events and you have most of an issue. There's also a very informative section describing specific Fiero repairs. The magazine does have the advantage of being a physical, professionally done product I can take copies of to car shows as proof there is a Fiero community.
And FF has a staff.
GFC Newsletter's are in color ;D and have no physical page limitation. While FF needs their articles to fit in a few pages with black & white pictures ( except the cover ), we have multiple color photos explaining jobs in the amount of space that is needed, not the amount of space available.
Our Newsletter is so good I'm considering letting my FF subscription run out.
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Is there anything contributors can do to streamline your tasks?
For example, everyone use Google Doc instead of Word or e-mail?
This might not make a big impact. Might only save an hour a week. That's still 52 hours more each year for you to work on your Fiero.
Not really. I convert Google Docs to Word, anyway. The format changes on copy/paste, also. Even taking content between newsletters is a pain.
Actually, I have a lot of freedom on the newsletter. It could be 2 pages in length. The topics, volume, depth, etc, is all up to me. My greatest regret on April's newsletter was that I didn't get it out a week earlier. It was not ready even a day earlier, however. There were things that required verification through last evening.
When planning for a newsletter, the topics are based on the information that seems pertinent for that month, combined with notes from the previous year. The timing seems to be almost right, based on postings on the forum.
My greatest challenges are getting pictures and the actual research on articles. I'm sure you have the same challenges.
The point was that the newsletter is very visible. We should all have pride in it. I take the responsibility of providing a good newsletter seriously.
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I'm a member of NIFE in order to get their magazine, "Fiero Focus".
Fiero Focus is no where near as long as the GFC Newsletters, nor is it as informative. The first two pages are always notes from the Prez about upcoming events followed by a membership update. Toss in a page or so for a Member Spotlight, a page for ads, and a few more for Events and you have most of an issue. There's also a very informative section describing specific Fiero repairs. The magazine does have the advantage of being a physical, professionally done product I can take copies of to car shows as proof there is a Fiero community.
And FF has a staff.
GFC Newsletter's are in color ;D and have no physical page limitation. While FF needs their articles to fit in a few pages with black & white pictures ( except the cover ), we have multiple color photos explaining jobs in the amount of space that is needed, not the amount of space available.
Our Newsletter is so good I'm considering letting my FF subscription run out.
Well, thank you!
Yours truly is a very visual person. If I don't understand something, everything comes to a halt. Poor Fierofool spent a lot of time explaining headlight motors to me. Far too often, I have wasted a bunch of time trying to figure out how to get a part out, or whatever I was trying to do on my Fiero. Once I got the part out, I saw what I was doing wrong. Sometimes, even finding the item was difficult. So, the newsletters often include a picture of the part by itself, a picture of the part installed, and a textual description. Armed with info from the newsletters, you should know how the item looks, where it is, what it does, and how to test it, as well as part info.
Fiero Focus has a very set format, and targets a different audience. It is always 22 pages in length, and this is promised, as part of membership. Our newsletter has been as short as 2 pages, and I think as long as 26. Our newsletter does come out more often than Fiero Focus, however. Lately, effort has been made to have an even number of pages. There is no length goal for ours, but generally shorter is better. People are more likely to read 1 page than 24. I have only glanced at the last few Fiero Focus issues. Than having been stated, our newsletter should be like the comics, where you just zero in on what you want. The "about this issue section" (uses a different title) was meant as an aid in parsing our newsletter. Our newsletter is printer-friendly.
People have reported difficulty in getting their article into Fiero Focus, and this difficulty has upset some people. We have had articles from at least 7 authors, and pictures from probably 20 people.
I would like to have an article from the president at the beginning and end of each year. Our member spotlights are sporadic. In general, though, there should be enough club content to show that GFC is a viable club. TFS sent their club sales flyer to us, but I like the flexibility of using many vendors, and highlighting parts from that month's articles. Again, I use a lot of rope in this regard. There are no obligations to any vendor. As long as they offer a quality, helpful product or service, I'll promote it.
The more closely you look at our newsletters, the more things you may find.
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134 pages, and over 1Gb in disk size! Aaaaaagh! Of course, since the images are compressed on disk, the file is much larger in memory, due to the expansion of the images.
My laptop only has 16Gb of RAM, and the file just wasn't manageable at that size. Problems saving, application crashes, system out of memory errors, etc.
I'm going to have to start saving my notes as separate documents.
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I apologize. The May newsletter was planned for 22 pages (just a number I had in my head, based on planned content). I had 21 pages, plus 3 pages of notes, a week ago. Those 3 pages of notes became 8 pages of textual content. Several people contributed to help with that content.
As stated previously, I try to answer all my questions, in the hope of answering the questions of other people. Well, the textual content still needed images, a few final fact-checks, and a final proof-read, but it was just too long for a newsletter. Nothing I would have been able to do would have produced fewer than 30 pages, which I think is too long. I think this newsletter feels unfinished.
So, I apologize to the people who contributed, and to the readers.
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Something I want to make clear. There are credited articles in the newsletters that have been authored by a variety of people. Credited articles.
The other articles have been authored by me. I have used comments posted by others, but still had to do all the leg work to verify. Questions have been answered by various people, and credit has been given for these, as best as possible. I have used the factory service manual, but as an unverified source. I have avoided other published works, both to prevent copying the work of others, and to give my articles a fresh perspective. Most of the newsletter articles were based on questions to which I desired better answers that what I had previously found. I therefore consider these to be original works. Obviously, most of the ideas pre-dated my efforts. Based on the response to certain articles, I feel others also see these as unique, original works.
That having been said, there are many similar works--including a book I found out about 2 months after the Taking a Gander part 3 article was mostly written, but before the release of that article. I did read the book, and it covers a lot of what is covered by my article. I prefer my illustrations. I also believe I provided more detail, which should be helpful to new Fiero owners. Anyway, these are completely separate works.
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Last Fall, I had done a regular rotation of parts between my house and my storage unit. This particular rotation had to do with interior parts for an article that is still not complete, despite having been started last Spring. Anyway, with the accumulation of new parts, there was getting to be quite a collection, to the point that my wife commented on the accumulation. No worries. The area is now walled off, with a door. Problem solved.
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I apologize for making an error in the vapor canister section of the V6 Ignition Issues article. This error has bern corrected, thanks to assistance ftom Fierofool. The newsletter with the corrected article has been uploaded to the newsletter section.
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Hmmm. For several months, I have bern working on an article about the cruise control. Today, the FieroFocus issue arrived. Wouldn't you know, there is an article about the cruise control. I only saw the pictures and title, but even those are very similar to mine.
Maybe I should omit that article in our newsletter.
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Maybe not. We have a different readership. Folks who don't read FieroFocus.
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Just so no one thinks I copied them.
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Well, I provided some pictures for you a few weeks ago, so I know you have already been working on the article.
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Yep. We'll see.
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The last 2 newsletters weren't quite as nice as I wanted, because they had about 60 hours less work on them (combined). Sorry.
On the positive side, I think I fixed all the issues. As of Tuesday, I finally got all of the 2018 newsletters so I'm satisfied with them.
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Thank you for all the work you do on them.
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I haven't been active with the club this year. ( or last year for that matter) Between family, health, work, auto and motorcycle repairs I haven't gotten too many things done. I do , however, read ever club newsletter from start to finish. Thank you for all the work that you do in making it informative and enjoyable .
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Ron, I hope you are able to be more active with the club, going forward. The club's strength is in active involvement.
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I'd like to have pictures and info from RFTH in the newsletter, which means that the newsletter cannot be released until next week. So, it'll be a bit late, if that's OK. That means that I need pics!
Oh, there will be less time for approval from the powers that be.
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Everyone that has a camera or a phone, take lots of pictures. The same subjects from different angles is still interesting. Get them sent to GTRS as soon as you get back home or even before you get back home if using your phone. If you don't have his email address in your phone, put it in there before you leave.
GTRS, if you will forward their pictures to me, I'll get them up on the Solstice and Sky FB page within the week.
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I always recommend using the club email address. I have to file them there, anyway.
This month is inconveniently very short. Maybe the weeks just fall differently.
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Everyone that has a camera or a phone, take lots of pictures. The same subjects from different angles is still interesting. Get them sent to GTRS as soon as you get back home or even before you get back home if using your phone. If you don't have his email address in your phone, put it in there before you leave.
GTRS, if you will forward their pictures to me, I'll get them up on the Solstice and Sky FB page within the week.
Oops. Forgot. I don't recall that anyone sent me anything, so I only have what you saw. Sent.
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I don't plan to include any recipies in the November newsletter, this year.
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I have been meeting with some of the people in the vendors section, to make sure that their offerings are described as accurately as possible. Usually, the vendors provide product samples at these meetings. I physically hold their products, and look for areas of opportunity.
Depending on the product, sometimes the vendor offers a demonstration. When it comes to these products, if I can do it, anyone can.
This boils down to, the vendor does all the work, and teaches me a bunch of stuff, and while I nit-pick. The new info/pictures then show up in the newsletter. Sometimes, there are new vendors, as well. Thus, there have been some changes, over the last few months, in the vendors. So, be sure to use the most current newsletter's vendor list.
Note that, by the time a vendor makes it to our vendor list, their product is usually tried and proven. There are 3 vendors currently in the wings, whose products are not quite there, yet. Their products are awesome, but I think the products can be even better.
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If you want a laugh, look back at the GFC newsletters from last year.
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With the December newsletter, 2019 is completely full with 12 newsletters. Looking at the 2019 Newsletters thread, the table at the top looks good. The club should be proud to have an issue for each of the 12 months of 2019.
As we close out 2019, I looked back on the newsletters. Most issues have literary and film references. Some have plays on words, modified quotes, altered poems, or stories. Some issues reflect on club joys and sorrows. Some poke fun at me, or make light of a boring topic. Adornments were included in each issue--at least, that's the term being used here to describe the mostly free clipart used throughout the newsletters.
The adornments are used to set a mood, help visualize a thought, or draw attention to something. Each issue of 2019 has a Fiero Appreciation article, largely ending with a classic phrase resembling, "that's something to appreciate."
Pgackerman has somehow found the time to turn out all those articles, with all those graphs. That is a big time committment. His articles are thoughtful, balanced, and rooted in reality.
Some mistakes were found and fixed, throughout the newsletters. These updated newsletters were uploaded to the web site.
The newsletter threads have been updated to include newsletter topics for each month, so that it is easy to find the newsletter with the topic for which you're looking. This also helps with planning for future newsletters. Searching is...better than it was, but still does not reliably find the topics. The newsletters do now come up with a google search, but not necessarily for the searched keywords.
There were a few articles that, were they to be written now, would be written differently/better.
At the time of writing, each newsletter was a 100% effort. Some of the cover images from 2018, in particular, are hard to beat.
One challenge is finding suitable images. Front page images need to be in portrait format. Most of the images on the site are in landscape format. The problem is that portrait images need to be close-ups, and the pictures on the site are going for a panoramic view. If the images are cropped, they have no top. It's difficult for me to take these pictures. So, if you take an awesome portrait image of a GFC event/activity, send it on over.
As you read through the articles, notice the contributions from people in other clubs. If you communicate with these people, be sure to thank them for going out of their way to help. Their time and expertise were indispensable in writing these articles. Article contributions are always welcome.
The site itself is starting to get more visitors who are specifically looking for the newsletters.
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Back in May of this year, my son and I started some coolant tests. We have continued with these tests, exposing the coolant to air, putting them through hot/cold cycles, etc. Oddly, no visible change, but perhaps we should have tested for moisture in May, and every month since.
Of course, if I could figure out an easy way to do that, I'd test brake fluid.
We have not looked at the fluids under a microscope, but perhaps that would be interesting.
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Effort was made to make the February newsletter shorter, but the decision was made to go with the longer version.
If you're interested, here is the shorter version. It is technically complete, but perhaps not as helpful as the full version. Consider this the non-illustrated version of the published newsletter.
Short February newsletter (http://gafieroclub.org/pics/pip/tshark/Newsletters/Feb2020b.pdf)
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I made a small mistake in the August 2020 newsletter. I used DVD, rather than CD. Fiero Tom's radios do not play DVDs. The mistake has been corrected, and the corrected newsletter uploaded.
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Cheap radio! 😀
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LOL! No. Careless editor.
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So much for doing better, with fewer failures. 2020 had 23 newsletter failures.
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Well with or without them, your work is appreciated.
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Well, thanks. I blame COVID for at least 2 of those failures.
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Every month, I take a bunch of pictures for the newsletter. After the month is over, I file the pictures. For the April newsletter, there were 312 picture files. I did not take that many pictures, though. Some of those were edited versions of the pictures. For length reasons, many of these pictures were omitted or removed from the public version of the newsletter.
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I have a MISC file on each computer. Sometimes I grab an internet picture to help someone on one of the 5 forums I am on. Once I've posted the picture, I usually delete it. It's just a temporary file for the transfer of the picture.
I also occasionally go back through my permanent files and delete duplicates. Once, something happened and there were about a dozen copies of everything in a family file.
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Internet pictures, sure. Those are gone. The pictures I take required effort--particularly to edit. Those I keep. Sometimes, I refer back to them or re-use them.