[Wftl-lug] No more TUX Magazine

[Charles McColm]

> > I've registered the domain name http://www.tuxzine.com/ as a first step.
> I have a server that I am willing to donate to the cause.  It is a pretty
> decent server.  It is at
> http://www.digitaltippingpoint.com

With FreeBSD Newbie I paid the first few issues out of pocket. I have
to say that I was a bit surprised to see a hardware company offering
to fully fund the newsletter, especially the one that offered. I was
never in it to make any money, I knew it was a labour of love rather
than a money making venture. That said, obviously there's also a
market for hardware and potentially software manufacturers for
advertising.

One thing that surprised me about the funding offer was that I had
printed on the back of the  2nd page ("Please feel free to photocopy
and share this newsletter with everyone!") which meant that the 2
issues could have circulated even wider.

> 1. assessing a market.  Who would be the readers.  How are you going to
> market to them to get them to your site.
> 2. do you have a budget for promotion.
> 3. how are you going to cover the costs of production.
> 4. Who are your competitors (Newsforge, Linux.com), and how will you compete
> with them.

These sound a bit to me like the underpinnings of a commercial
venture, it's not my idea, but I'm willing to work with it more to
flesh things out. Newsgroups, bulletin boards, mailing lists, there
are hosts of ways of "marketing" to people. There are lots of software
projects around that work without a budget. Obviously, if we decide to
go print, there would be costs, but I don't see us going print unless
it's to solicit funding to do so. There are so many more costs
involved with print (and considerations).

Would desktop linux users regularly read Newsforge or Linux.com? To be
honest I don't. About the only sites I check are: freshmeat.net for
new software projects (sometimes sourceforge if I'm looking for
something specific) and slashdot for news. Personally, I wouldn't
direct a brand new Linux user to either site. But we're probably
talking a wider mix of users than new Linux users.

> I also have a wiki at that location, and we could start right now by
> creating a separate wiki page just for that mag.

>  http://www.digitaltippingpoint.com/wiki

Sounds great. Can we use this wiki?