There are as many reasons for not "being in cyberspace" as there are people. I could hardly be described as a Luddite yet I despise most email newsletters. I worked in tech support, and have a tech degree, and 2 professional computer certifications. Still I prefer my editor's exchange newsletters to be hard copy. Why? because your average rose society email newsletter is poorly done. Creating a computer file for a paper publication is very different from creating a computer file for a cyber publication, and the latter is not a skill that's been very necessary until recently. One major assumption people make is that everyone either has broadband internet at home, or can use their work email to receive personal email. These are not valid assumptions! But they go on to make email newsletters with ginormous file sizes because they want to include color photos. But, they don't seem to know how to compress those photos first, or to know when a photo really is unnecessary. Really, do we need to see yet another color photo of someone's Peace rose? we all know what it looks like by now! So I end up receiving newsletters that take 15 minutes (no exaggeration here) to download, and for what?? nothing much. One local society newsletter includes a color photo of each article's and column's author!!!!! boy, does that clog up the pipeline. It's nice to be able to put a face to the name, but at least make it a thumbnail so it downloads faster! we don't need a lot of resolution for that. File type compatibility is an issue few understand, too, as Mad Gallica stated above. Not everyone has the Windows version of Office. There are very good reasons for people to use other software, and email distributors have to understand that they can't expect everyone to have one particular brand of software. We have members who do not own a computer and who are retired. They're not going to be able to get a newsletter by email, period. I'm not willing to cut them off, especially when they've been very very active members for decades. Another assumption is that people are getting these emails. Some of the major webmail providers that lots of people use, do not accept mass emails, or have file size limitations on individual mailboxes so that emails with large attachments simply disappear without arriving, or have overly aggressive spam filtering that deletes legitimate emails, or just simply are unreliable. No email service is 100% reliable. The USPS is much more reliable, overall. We tried once sending our newsletter by email but it just wouldn't go to aol or yahoo addresses, and that was half our list. Our board has had email discussions before, but when people don't reply, you have to wonder if they didn't get the emails, which is a very real possibility. Age is not really a factor in computer literacy here, we have older members who are extremely computer literate, but I know as you go farther into the hinterlands, away from centers of high-tech employment, the age of computer competency drops. It's always this way with any technological shift. The kids are learning it in grade school, but personal computers didn't even exist when I was in school. We have a website, but it doesn't get a whole lot of traffic. Older people, who are more likely to be obsessed with roses, are less likely to think, 'Let's see if it's online!' But I think it's important to have one. It lets people find us for one, and it has a LOT of local cultural information on it that people can look up anytime, and it has our schedule and a map to our meetings and our show. Remember that the average age of posters on this forum is only 48, and I know that the bottom age group for members in our local society is basically mid forties. Jerijen: THANK YOU for your comments on reposting other people's work. The same goes, I might add, for republishing other's work in your own newsletter, without even attribution. One side effect of emailing newsletters is it makes it that much easier for your work to be lifted and republished without permission, just like anything posted on the Web. I've always figured that so long as people attribute properly I don't need them to ask permission first, it's not like this is commercial property here, but I have one regular writer who would rather people ask first before reprinting his stuff. Now: I wrote an article on how to make a good email newsletter, and it's been posted on the ARS website, and it's MY work so I can go ahead and post the link. Unfortunately it's hard to find so I don't think many people are going to see it otherwise. I won't bore you all by posting the whole thing here, those who want it can follow the link. Caution: it was posted in Word (.doc) format, rather than HTML or PDF. Here's something I've done before, and had work: save the file to your desktop, then change the file extension to a file type your computer CAN open, ie change .doc to .rtf or .txt. It'll look screwy because the formatting is lost but it should be readable.

Greetings from the world of brugmansia, where it's always "Happy Gardening"! with Jeri and Eddie!! Jeri tells me that our website is getting some last minute fine-tuning. jeri works with (i.e. pesters) the designer night and day, tweaking this and that...who knows? She has assured us that worldofbrugmansia.com will be fabulous, even if we have to wait a little longer. Jeri says she would have been done by now but, as usual, she was getting no help from Eddie, who can't seem to leave the greenhouse...always something interesting going on in there! Who knows? Jeri says the website will open in stages and the first stage will be an open forum intended to give brugmansia growers a place to share knowledge and ideas, pictures and experiences...there are so many topics of interest and we know that you, the reader, are uniquely qualified to report, inquire, and debate and share all of the best (and sometimes, the worst) from your world of brugmansia! Eddie's collection of angel trumpets will debut in stage two, according to Jeri. I don't think he really knows how many different ones he has, (he claims he knows EXACTLY, thank you) but they'll be presented in a beautiful gallery display designed to entice you to add to your own collection. Eddie says the brugs will be of finest quality, robust and rooted, shipped in the container, and he will strive to make sure every one that goes out is at least 12 inches tall, since a larger starter makes a more beautiful tree. In addition to coordinating the website, our Miss Jeri is busy as a bee with her hybridization program, which she runs from her fabulous home in south Florida. Jeri will present her offerings of brugmansia cuttings in stage three, after all of her little seed pods have ripened and been collected, so she's anticipating this to happen in early summer. Jeri and Eddie are both driven to collect more and more for their hybridization programs because they see the possibilities of it all and they have a deep curiosity and boundless energy when it comes to breeding angel trumpets. The results have been great so far. We're all getting ready for "the next big thing"! Two other ideas being considered for www.worldofbrugmansia.com are a live chat area for stimulating conversation, pithy comments and simply fun back-and-forth for brug lovers, growers and the people who love them, and, lastly, we'd like to investigate with you, our reader, the level of interest and concern on the topic of brugmansia heritage preservation. Many brugs are being lost over time and we are hoping others are as concerned as we are with saving brugmansia heritage. We're open for suggestions and comments. From my world to yours, Jeff. Contact me at NC brugmansiaguy@aol.com for ideas and suggestions on newsletter.

I went looking for some info on Hostas, and now I can say I am a hostaholic. From there I discovered the Winter Sowing forum and also discovered that I have a very addictive personality. Now lets see, I go to the pond forum, annuals, Canadian forum ect. ect. ect. I really need help. lol Hubby doesn't know what to do, know I have bags of potting soil stashed in the basement, containers coming out the wazoo, Hostas that I don't have room to plant, seeds drying all over the house, plans for a pond next year and a new garden bed that I'll be starting any day. He just shakes his head. I really hope I get this second job I applied for. Brenda

I think it is a great idea, Don. You might also observe on your driving around the residential areas some hosta in a few gardens. If so, are you up to stopping and chatting with the owner on a weekend or a time when the gardener might be home? In such a case, I'd have some cards printed up to leave on the door, pointing them to your Flickr or Photobucket site where they may view your garden. Include in your credentials that you are a member of the American Hosta Society too. It might be nice to include a link to the GardenWeb Hosta Forum also. Most folks are Internet savvy unless they are a lot older than MOI! Try for some instant trust and confidence, because a "cold call" is the hardest there is to make. Oops, we are having another downpour, looks like fog it is so heavy. It gave me just enough time to pot up the six new hosta from Van Wade, but not take their pictures. What a great day to read and listen to the thunder. Another day off. :) Hosta going wild I am sure.