Re: Publish, hold article? - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

On Wed, 06 Nov 2002 10:40:52 -0800, Josh Berkus wrote:
>Justin,
>
>>Hasn't been organised yet.
>>
>>Does anyone want to take charge of getting the 1st and future
>>Newsletters done?
>
>I'd like to.  Whether or not I'll really have the time ...
>Wasn't there someone who joined this list with the goal of putting
>out an e-zine?
>

I think you're thinking of me, when I wrote on Oct 22:

> I think going to a paper periodical could really help promote
> PostgreSQL, and -- I can't promise anything at this stage, of
> course-- perhaps even contribute financially to PostgreSQL
> development down the line.
>
> I look at the 1994 issues of Linux Journal I recently bought on
> eBay, and compare them to the LJ of today, and realize that's how I
> got started with Linux: through the magazines.
>
> I'd like other people to have that opportunity with PostgreSQL.

> Do you know of anyone else doing anything like this? A PostgreSQL
> magazine / journal / zine / newsletter? Do you think I'm nuts? What
> other advice would you throw out there?
>
> As an independent -- as in non-BigPub -- self-published project,
> this would start really slow and grow as subscriptions permit. Kind
> of like what Bryan Richard is doing over at Py, at
> http://www.pyzine.com -- I'm holding regular counsel with Bryan for
> his guidance too.

So, not an e-zine, but a paper one, with all the associated
disadvantages of print medium, but some of the advantages too! (No,
not the ability to read it on the can.)

Because of the costs involved, a real honest-to-goodness paper 'zine
about PostgreSQL probably isn't the best project for a 'community
effort' like the newsletter and press releases that have been
discussed here.

It's better suited to be the work of 'one lone nut' who's willing to
sink some of his own money into something that may not, well, float.

Friends, I am that nut. :)

I think everything that has been discussed since I tuned in to this
list (e-mail newsletter, press releases, ZWiki) are great ideas and
of course they should press on.

If I manage to get a (rough-around-the-edges) subscription-based
magazine launched in early 2003, then I think that will help all of
these other efforts, much as Linux Mag, Linux Journal, Linux Format
and the rest of the Linux magazines have helped more people (like me)
discover Linux, without replacing or undermining mail lists,
newsgroups, IRC, web sites, and so on.

A "Fourth Estate" of PostgreSQL, if you follow my meaning. for those
who aren't familiar with that term:

-===-
"The group chose to call itself The Fifth Estate, inspired, of
course, by Edmund Burke, the British statesman who coined the term
'Fourth Estate' for the print media during the French Revolution.
(Incidentally, the other three Estates were in the French parliament
under the king -- the first was the clergy, the second was the
nobility, and the third was the merchant class. Commonly speaking,
however, the first three estates refer to the the executive, the
legislature and the judiciary.) We think the Internet is replacing
the media -- or at any rate, being far more conducive for those keen
to try make a difference to things -- so we call it The Fifth
Estate."

- http://www.bhrasht.com/thefifthestate/mission/index.shtml

(I haven't read the rest of that page, but this was the best Google
hit on the meme I was looking for.)
-===-

Anyway, Josh, I wouldn't recommend holding your article back for
inclusion in the yet-to-be born zine, when it could have more
immediate impact through these other channels.

I'll change my tune on that last sentence when the first issue is
closer to reality, and of course this list will be the first to hear
it.

In the meantime, I'm slowly and carefully migrating my business' core
databases to PostgreSQL from MS SQL Server 2000, learning qmail,
Linux sys admin skills, Python and Zope in the process.

It's slow going, mostly after hours, outside the usual day to day
work of our business, but I'm learning a ton, gathering fragments for
future articles as I and my team try a lot of things for the first
time.

And of course I'll keep throwing opinions in here as time permits and
the subject matter warrants.

Thanks, all,

Shane McChesney
President,
Wesearch Information Services Inc.

On Wed, 06 Nov 2002 10:40:52 -0800, Josh Berkus wrote:
>Justin,
>
>>Hasn't been organised yet.
>>
>>Does anyone want to take charge of getting the 1st and future
>>Newsletters done?
>
>I'd like to.  Whether or not I'll really have the time ...
>Wasn't there someone who joined this list with the goal of putting
>out an e-zine?
>
>>Josh, would you be ok with having your article on PostgreSQL GUI
>>tools be an experiment to see if it would work well as a community
>>collaborative document?
>
>Hey, you're right, it seems like it'd be perfect for that.   Let me
>finish my draft, and then we can try it.
>
>How does this work, anyway?  I'd think it'd be better ... for
>something like a listing of GUI tools ... to have each contributor
>give their own comments, under their own name.  For example, I was
>very dissapointed with Rekall, but others may not feel the same and
>readers should be able to review the conflicting opinions.
>
>-Josh
>
>
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