Peter, I was simply observing that no-one in BLP who was around when this policy was put in place has commented.

I was around when that policy was put in place. The reason for it was to encourage people to become members, rather than free-loaders; I still think that's a valid reason to keep latest issues restricted to members only.

Rob

I was around as well, and agree with Rob. If you get everything without having to be a member except the ability to post, it may seem hardly worth joining. It would seem unlikely that people would join just to be able to read the Newsletter, but it's part of a package, and that package needs to contain enough value to make it worth joining. There may also be times when issues are raised that should only be of concern to members and the committee may not want to be bombarded by non-members!

Hello Glenn and other who have been engaged in this conversation.

The BLP Committee has discussed at length the issue Glenn raised in relation to the duration that our Newsletters remain restricted solely to our members.

The BLP Newsletter is somewhat of a more complex resource than similarly titled publications - more than what many other organisations would define as a 'Newsletter'. It is infact more akin to a magazine or journal as defined by the information and resource material that it publishes.

As an internet Special Interest Group of BirdLife Australia, the Newsletter is one of our key resources that is made available to active memberships and thus continues to be one on-going incentive for joining and retaining a BLP membership.
It is not uncommon for similar resources in other organisations to remain restricted to members for similar durations.

In an ideal world there are benefits in having both a newsletter and a magazine, the latter of which would contain the in depth resources dedicated to improving ones bird photography. Unquestionably, a separate newsletter and magazine would generate substantially more work for the Committee, which already has a significant workload and even proposing the discussion of such a venture in my view, can not be justified.

Thus, the overwhelming view of the Committee at the October Committee meeting was that the Newsletter in its current form will not be accessible to non-members for a period of two years, as is the current policy.

My thanks to all who took the time to express their valued views in this matter.

Graham Cam
President

Graham and committee

Thanks for your consideration of this issue and for the detailed explanation of the logic behind the decision.

Regards
Glenn