Updates?

[Dave Swift]

Now that BoxedArt.com is done, will there be some Network updates?

And a *weekly* ezine would be nice, on Saturday it will be two months since we last had one! :D

[Jason]

Hi Dave,

I'd like to address the newsletter first, before I get to the updates. The delays in the newsletter, believe it or not, are only due partly to the BoxedArt initiative. The newsletter list has now grown to over 100,000 subscribers. This is the first time that I've handled a newsletter of such a large size, and there were some unexpected complications with it. The major one being that we currently send the newsletter out "in-house" through a cgi script. Anyone that's performed a cgi mailing of any significant size can tell you first hand that for lack of a better word, it is "inefficient". Last time the mailing went out (about two months ago as you said) it took about 10 days to complete the cycle, my estimate for the send time right now would be about two weeks from start to finish. I've also been calculating the effect that much sendmail usage could have on the server. It didn't seem to weigh too heavily last time, so we are going to give it another go, the next issue is actually in production as we speak.

When/if market conditions change, or when/if BoxedArt really takes off, the possibility of outsourcing for a provider might be a possibility, however the current $400-$500 per issue cost for the 100,000 subscribers would be too high under the current circumstances to realistically use outsourcing.

As for the updates, you will find that they have already begun to some degree. 123webmaster has had it's article update in a while (which is now posted on BR), and there should be several more this month. A1JavaScripts has also been updated regularly through this period, thanks to Ian. FontFiles is among the next to receive an update after this, followed by a new artist interview on FresherImage.

To be honest though, BoxedArt will remain our strongest initiative, but you can expect to see articles, tutorials and scripts updating on a semi-frequent basis at least from here on in.

Cheers
:cheers:

[Dave Swift]

Many thanks for the explanation, and congradulations on getting 100,000 + subscribers.

[Mark]

Yes; Congrats on getting a huge list of subscribers!