NickDG 23 #1 October 5, 2005 Hi Everyone, My hat is in the ring as candidate for the new editor of PARACHUTIST magazine. I'm letting you all know as a courtesy so you can write to USPA and voice your opinion. If you think I'd be a good choice please tell them, if you think it would lead to the end of skydiving as we know it, tell them that too . . . I won't go into a big thing on how I know I can make PARACHUTIST something we could all look forward to reading again. That's for those of you who know me to decide, but in any case, please write them and give USPA a nudge in one direction or the other . . . NickD BASE 194 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kleggo 145 #2 October 5, 2005 QuoteHi Everyone, My hat is in the ring as candidate for the new editor of PARACHUTIST magazine. I'm letting you all know as a courtesy so you can write to USPA and voice your opinion. If you think I'd be a good choice please tell them, if you think it would lead to the end of skydiving as we know it, tell them that too . . . I won't go into a big thing on how I know I can make PARACHUTIST something we could all look forward to reading again. That's for those of you who know me to decide, but in any case, please write them and give USPA a nudge in one direction or the other . . . NickD BASE 194 i wish you the best. every time i would see their advert. i'd wonder if you were going to try for this opportunity. but then i also remember you raggin on ottley about his el cap jump photo................. is there a convenient marina close by? be safe kleggo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuckbrown 0 #3 October 5, 2005 I have nothing but tremendous respect for you and know you'd be great in that slot, but, for some reason, I feel like you're applying for a job with the National Park Service. Good luck. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #4 October 5, 2005 So, I guess that means you are willing to relocate to the DC metro then? You ARE talking about taking Kevin Gibson's job, right? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildcard451 0 #5 October 5, 2005 I think he is going for Nancy's position. She is editor IIRC. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RhondaLea 4 #6 October 5, 2005 I guess this means I have to renew after all. Okay, Nick. I think you would do a much better job than has been done in long time, so I will send USPA money for the privilege of telling them so. But I've got to say...you're the second person today whom I've talked to about taking on a task that seems totally thankless, with little opportunity for reward. And I'm not sure the membership deserves you. rlIf you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vectracide 0 #7 October 6, 2005 How many Freefly jumps you got? J/K, good luck dude. That would be a cool job. Too bad it couldn't be a job you can do from home on the net. ------------------------------ Controlled and Deliberate..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,587 #8 October 6, 2005 Dunno -- after meeting Lesley Gale last week at JFTC and doing some web research (it is the source of all truth, after all), it could turn out very well. The BPA magazine is very highly thought of now, based in large part on her efforts. Nick has every opportunity to improve (although I'm not quite as overwhelmingly negative as some are about Parachutist). And hey -- maybe he'll piss off some of the powers-that-be enough that they'll quit. And THAT would be a definite upside Wendy W.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bob.dino 1 #9 October 6, 2005 If you got the job, I think I'd have to go subscribe to Parachutist. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nate_1979 9 #10 October 6, 2005 I dont understand why people complain about the magazine, I've always enjoyed reading it... FGF #??? I miss the sky... There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTAVercetti 0 #11 October 6, 2005 QuoteSo, I guess that means you are willing to relocate to the DC metro then? You ARE talking about taking Kevin Gibson's job, right? He would take Nancy's. Shonda Smith took Kevin's spot. And it would only be metro DC till the new headquarters are built in Fredericksburg. Though with the rate things grow out here and the commutes some people go through, that may actually be considered METRO DC by then! Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SudsyFist 0 #12 October 6, 2005 That'd be cool, man. Good luck! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 273 #13 October 6, 2005 Quote That'd be cool, man. Actually I think the correct terminology is "that'd be fucking COLD, man." That's a move to the East Coast - y'know, where it SNOWS all winter long. QuoteGood luck! What he said. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #14 October 6, 2005 Quote I dont understand why people complain about the magazine, I've always enjoyed reading it... I like seeing my friends in it every month. But I hate the thinly-veiled self-promotion. Fer'instnce - this month's capital commentary isn't about skydiving or anything related to skydiving. It's just Needles whining about how to keep USPA members. He could just come out and say "USPA membership is hemmoraging with a substantial loss of membership every year for the past few years". USPA might do better to spend more time and money helping dropzones and members, instead of building skydiving museums. Instead, they use Parachutist to promote themselves, rather than focusing on skydiving. I'm starting to throw out the magazines after flipping through the pictures and checking for anybody I know. I plan to start subscribing to Skydiving.Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GTAVercetti 0 #15 October 6, 2005 QuoteQuote That'd be cool, man. Actually I think the correct terminology is "that'd be fucking COLD, man." That's a move to the East Coast - y'know, where it SNOWS all winter long. QuoteGood luck! What he said. Snow? We don't get as much as you think in VA. It is just fucking cold is all. Why yes, my license number is a palindrome. Thank you for noticing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nate_1979 9 #16 October 6, 2005 I somehow doubt that the editor is gonna be able to do much with the capital commentary FGF #??? I miss the sky... There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #17 October 6, 2005 Quote I guess this means I have to renew after all. Okay, Nick. I think you would do a much better job than has been done in long time, so I will send USPA money for the privilege of telling them so. But I've got to say...you're the second person today whom I've talked to about taking on a task that seems totally thankless, with little opportunity for reward. And I'm not sure the membership deserves you. rl >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Parachutist magazine faces a difficult challenge, trying to satisfy all the belly-tive workers, head-owners, junior jumpers, DZOs, S+A competitors, canopy stackers, award-recipients, instructors, fun jumpers, etc. in "X" number of pages per month. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tdog 0 #18 October 6, 2005 Dude, I feel sorry for ya. They sent me a survey form two months ago and a copy of a previous mag.. Wanted me to critique it... I sent a few page letter ripping the magazine, in a constructive and creative way, apart... But reading what I wrote, one would believe the mag has a lot of work to do... Everything from the predictability and lack of originality of the cover photo to the graphic standards to the fact the listing of new licence holders in the back was so out of date, congratulating your friends on their achievements based upon what you read was embarrassing because they would reply, "B"... No, I now have a "C"... I even sent them this thread that proves people really enjoyed this picture as an example of how they could break the mold on the front cover every once in a while... I think I even said something to the effect of, the fonts and graphics standards were stuck in the 90's - which when I found a 8 year old copy in the DZ restroom, after I sent the letter, I laughed because I thought it was current... I encouraged them to put a contest out for the best advertisement, because the paid for space in the mag is often done with poor quality graphics art work... Give some incentive for great graphics art work and kick out the bottom 20% and make them start over... I pointed out some good ads and some bad ones... The ads flavor the mag so much... I thought for sure they threw away my document... But a few weeks later I got a nice hand written thank you card... So, I feel sorry that you will have to deal with people like me... As I said, it has a lot of potentiol and a great base... Now, someone needs to take it 20% farther. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
psw097 0 #19 October 6, 2005 Cool, just laying off the unsharp mask so every photo doesn't have nasty halos and picking shots with enough resolution, or at least in focus, for the big prints would be an improvement for those of us that just leaf through before thowing it out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NtheSeaOrSky 0 #20 October 6, 2005 QuoteI dont understand why people complain about the magazine, I've always enjoyed reading it... I used to enjoy reading it....until I learned that the memorial pages for skydivers, the people who ARE this industry...are the same price as an advertisement from a company with an advertising budget and a potential gain in profit. Tacky, distastefull and a slap in the face...in my opinion anyway.Life is not fair and there are no guarantees... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 273 #21 October 6, 2005 QuoteI used to enjoy reading it....until I learned that the memorial pages for skydivers, the people who ARE this industry...are the same price as an advertisement from a company with an advertising budget and a potential gain in profit. Going off topic with you... Full page, full color ads aren't free to print. What do you think would be a fair price? Personally I don't think they should be free. Why should my dues go to pay for a full page of pictures memorializing someone I don't know? If I want to see a full page of pictures memorializing someone I did know, I'm sure I could find a few other friends to split the cost. I read most of Parachutist every month. The last thing I'd want to see is page after page reminding me of the people we've lost. The incident reports do a good job of that, and they do it in a way that I can learn something from - far more value for my dues dollars than a page of pictures would be. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NtheSeaOrSky 0 #22 October 6, 2005 I didnt say they should be free, that was not my point. My point was there is no consideration that these are individuals-skydivers who are placing the memorials, not a company with an advertising budget for such things and who stands to profit. Give them a call and see how much the page would cost, I hope you and your 'few friends' are wealthy. One way could be to mark up the advertising fee and decrease the memorial fee to help offset the cost of printing. Maybe offer a separate section for memorials so as not to impinge on 'ad' space. These are just a few ideas, but I would hope they could come up with a compromise, instead of sending a form letter stating that 'it is the way it is and we have never done it in the past so we arent doing it now'. Yes, I agree the incidents are a valuable learning tool, but in my opinion the memorial pages serve an important purpose as well...I am sure others agree, or we wouldn't see any. As far as value per dollar of dues, I could write a novel on that, but suffice to say everyones values are different and so will be their views on their dollar spent. My view is my dollars are better spent on what matters to me and supporting that kind of 'business ethic' is not.Life is not fair and there are no guarantees... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Airman1270 0 #23 October 6, 2005 I'd love to have the job, but I didn't apply because 1) I don't want to relocate, and 2) I'm not qualified. I've been enjoying the magazine since 1983 and have been mostly treated well by the staff, so I won't complain too much.There have been times when I thought my letters were unnecessarily over-edited, and I wasn't impressed with the silly little headlines they assigned to the letters. Regarding photos, I'm sure Rook and Melissa are very nice people, but the magazine would not suffer if they'd use more photos of people I've never heard of jumping at DZ's I've never known about. This situation reminds me of the late 80's, when nearly every other issue featured a shot of Deanna Kent. There have been times when people I knew snapped an interesting shot or two of goings-on at my home DZ; I suggested they send them in for consideration and was told there was no point in doing so because the chances of publication were nil. They seemed to have some experience with this stuff. Overall, I was not impressed when, about a dozen years ago, the staff decided to change the format for the sake of changing the format, period. They turned the magazine into the skydiving version of PEOPLE magazine, with cutsie-poo fonts & graphics and a "gee-whiz" mentality. And those DZ photos in the back, featuring happy beer-drinkers gathered around some guy getting an award, are so damn small we can't identify anyone in the crowd. What's the point? Still, I'm proud to be an American, where I can bitch about details of a magazine describing something I'm blessed to be able to participate in that almost nobody throughout recorded history has ever had the opportunity to do. Cheers & good luck! Jon S. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skybytch 273 #24 October 6, 2005 Quote Give them a call and see how much the page would cost, I hope you and your 'few friends' are wealthy. Having been in the industry for a few years, I know exactly how much those pages cost and it's already more than many small skydiving related businesses can afford to pay. QuoteOne way could be to mark up the advertising fee and decrease the memorial fee to help offset the cost of printing. Somehow I don't think you understand how small of a profit margin most skydiving related companies operate on. If ad costs were increased many of them would be unable to afford to continue to advertise there - or they'd have to make up the extra cost in other ways (think higher prices and lower salaries for those who work in the industry). Besides, why should a skydiving related business be required to subsidize memorial pages? QuoteMaybe offer a separate section for memorials so as not to impinge on 'ad' space. Again, who's going to pay for it and what would be a fair price? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,114 #25 October 6, 2005 >My point was there is no consideration that these are individuals- >skydivers who are placing the memorials, not a company with an > advertising budget for such things and who stands to profit. If there was such considerations, the memorials would become "Javelin, the Choice of Champions, would like to extend our sincerest regrets to the family and friends of XXXX." (Not picking on Javelin here, that's just the first tag line that popped into my head.) And they would mean well; they'd just be trying to save a little on advertising because (as anyone will tell you) no one's getting rich in skydiving. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
