-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Press Release from ModemNews Magazine -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- December 1, 1993 A Major Change in Direction for ModemNews (Stamford, CT) ModemNews Magazine and the ModemNews Express BBS is changing the direction in which they have been going for the past four and a half years. During the summer of 1993 ModemNews reorganized itself to emerge in September as a central library for electronic publications that are currently being published that may not be getting the circulation or notice that they deserve and merit. For the past four and a half years we have been culling articles and stories, opinion and knowledge, from a few other electronic publications, but mostly from authors who have been gracious enough to write specifically for us, and have created an electronic magazine that has found a specific niche market within the BBS community. With the use of ANSI color, various offline text readers, door programs and Asymetrix Toolbook(tm) we have been bringing to you a monthly magazine that has covered almost every topic imaginable. From vegetarian recipes to travel, from computer tips and tricks to folk music reviews, from political opinion to scientific fact and fiction, we have provided the first electronic full featured magazine digest available, and have done so with remarkable success. Since we began publishing in early 1989 we have seen numerous other electronic publications come and go. Some have been clones of ModemNews and others have been exciting new publications that have found their own specific audience within the community. We've done a pretty good job during this time to help them along. Using our wide distribution system and international circulation we feel that we have made it easier for other electronic publications to reach their prospective audiences. Now we would like to do more, and have planned some specific changes in the way you will be seeing ModemNews in the future. Seeing that there are numerous electronic publications currently being distributed to the BBS community we believe that we can help those along that are of high quality and of wide interest, publications that may not be getting the distribution they need to be as successful as they could be otherwise. Some have certainly been successful on their own, but there are literally scores of magazines and newsletters being published on a monthly basis that rarely reach beyond a small geographic or demographic range. It is to these that we will become dedicated. If you have called our BBS (ModemNews Express!) you will know that we have a collection of general utility files, Windows files, typefaces, midi files etc., and a large collection of back issues of ModemNews. During this summer of 1993 we will slowly be deleting these files and replacing them with electronic magazines and newsletters as we find them or as their publishers, or you, send them to us. For publications that have been around for a while you may find specific file areas. For others, they may be placed together in subject specific areas, i.e., poetry, electronics, fiction. We will be reorganizing our message bases to better follow this new direction, dropping some networked message areas and picking up on others. We would hope to use our net wide conferences on RelayNet and Pen & Brush to better serve these ends, and as far as we can tell we will not be duplicating services found otherwise on these nets. We will use the ModemNews Conference on these nets as a place for publishers of electronic publications to gather to talk, exchange ideas and discuss problems and advances they may feel free to bring up. A round table for publishers and readers alike. A central place on the wide reaching networks we currently carry for interested readers to find out more about a publication, to locate copies of a specific publication and where they may submit articles for consideration. Recognizing that many publishers may not have a netwide place to go, we offer them our services and our bandwith. We would hope our network coordinators would not only encourage our change in direction, but support it full heartedly. We would hope that other networks will seek out the ModemNews conference as a service for their own. On a quarterly basis we will publish an issue of ModemNews that will highlight these publications. Where previously you would find areas of the magazine set aside for Travel or Humor or News and Views, you will instead find each of these areas focusing on a particular publication with specific information as to where they may be found, along with sample articles culled from each one. We will try to cover as much territory as we can within each quarterly issue, to give up-and-coming, and established publications the widespread distribution and access we feel this new form of media needs and deserves. What does this mean to you? If you are the publisher of an electronic publication, you will want to contact us about how we can make space available to you on our BBS, and what you need do to give us permission to reprint portions of your publication in an issue of ModemNews. These will be well spelled out on our BBS as a bulletin or available via e-mail on one of our networks, the InterNet or Compuserve. (We reserve the right to maintain space and coverage for free publications only. Publications that charge a fee for distribution may contact us regarding advertising rate information.) If you are the creator of a program or utility that can be used to create an electronic publication we will provide file areas for you on our BBS and encourage you to frequent the ModemNews conference to assist readers and publishers alike. We hope that our readers and supporters will look well upon this change in direction for ModemNews. Once again we will be breaking new ground in the BBS community, and will again be on the forefront of this exciting technology. Helping to bring others along and bring widespread attention to areas that may need, and deserve it. We hope you will join us. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Please direct your comments and requests for further information to; ModemNews Magazine c/o Jeff Green 116 Dean Street Suite B Stamford, CT 06902-6251 203.969.1183 Voice ModemNews Express - 203.359.2299 RelayNet - ->465 Pen & Brush - ->465 WME - Net Chat or Travel InterNet - jgreen@modemnews.win.net Compuserve - 71726,2721 Delphi - JMGREEN -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-