Andrew,

Just curious.  How often do you expect new issues to come out?  Should I just expect them on the 15th of every month or will you post announcements?

I read the first one in 2 sittings and go back to it for reference - especially the Russian sites.  But like the print magazines in my bathroom I eventually stop going back.

Also, do you plan to have an archive and index?  I never know when I might want to go back and read the interview with Tipster.

Great work.  I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and quantity of the first issue.

Firstly, Jim & Andrew, thank you very much for your feedback – it is very much appreciated.

I will try to answer the issues you have both raised honestly and, hopefully, to your satisfaction;

Jim,

At the moment FSI will be released on a monthly basis - as this gives us time to gather all the content required. In the event that we receive enough content then we would consider a release every 2 weeks - but reader contributions at present are certainly not being received in the sort of volumes required to facilitate such a release schedule for the time being.

We will post news to all leading FS sites prior to release of each edition, as well as contacting all the members of our mailing list to advise of release so it will be hard to miss a copy.

Andrew,

We have toyed with releasing FSIn-flight in PDF format but we have a number of grave concerns that, ultimately, have resulted in us deciding that releasing in PDF format would not be in our best interests.

Here is a cutting of part of an internal memo that offers some clarification with respect to these concerns;

“The idea of releasing FSI in PDF (which, prior to gaining server space, was to be our sole means of publication) is also problematic, for the following reasons;

1.Would the release of FSI in PDF format not wholly negate the necessity for FSI being hosted in the first place?

2. The accurate assessment of audience interest, and traffic throughput would become most inaccurate and, what’s more, audience figures would be very hard to establish (and prove) in our consultations with development groups and teams. As it stands, however, audience levels are freely obtainable from our site meter. The concern here is that developers need to be aware of our readership numbers so as to be able to establish us as a “credible force”. The release of FSI in PDF format, no doubt via numerous outlets, would serve to dramatically reduce site traffic and would render the calculation of our audience base somewhat of an inaccurate science (that would be next to impossible to substantiate).

3. All editorial control would be lost at the point of PDF release. Therefore any errors and/or amendments required would not be possible. In the event that we were to misinform our readership (in error) this misinformation would stand until either the next release or until we release an amendment that would also have to be released in PDF format – and how many readers would obtain a mere amendment?

So, again, the PDF issue would result in the dramatic decay not only of editorial control but also in the true assessment of our readership volumes. It would also, as previously stated, act to negate the need for FSI to be hosted on the net in any shape or form.

(Your) opinions with regard to these issues are welcomed, but I hope that I have acted to highlight the issues at hand. Personally any loss of control over content, distribution and the facilitation of accurate stats in relation to our readership concerns me deeply as I can only feel that we would be opening ourselves up to being most vulnerable in all respects.”

Hopefully this will offer you at least our reasoning behind not releasing FSI in PDF format.

Obviously, as people such as yourself want to read FSI off-line all I can suggest is that, if you use IE, you can save pages from FSI to your local drive/s and so read at will (and at your leisure) without subsequently connecting to the internet. This is very easy to do and would serve as a solution with respect to your wish to read FSI off-line.

I hope that I have answered both of your issues honestly, and to your satisfaction whilst giving you a insight as to our reasoning behind our decisions in these respects.

Many regards,

Andrew Tingle
FSI Editor