Katie_H

Hello everybody---happy Wednesday.

We've been thinking here about adding another newsletter to our offerings; we currently send out a weekly Fodor's Newsletter every Thursday.

My question: if we were to offer a Community newsletter---a newsletter that pointed to great trip reports, lively travel discussions, and new user reviews---would you be likely to sign up for it? I envision a newsletter that will quickly "catch-up" users who maybe don't check in everyday. I'd also like a chance to highlight community happenings---for instance a GTG alert/mini report.

What's the barometer of interest from folks here?

If interested, would you be most likely to sign up for a newsletter that you received monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly?

I'm thinking that bi-weekly might be the best. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

LyndaS

Hi Katie-

Would it be a newsletter that would be region specific, ie Africa? Or failing that, would it be fairly easy to find a specific region that interests us? The current one that you send out doesn't include much of Africa in it, so I must admit that that I have not been reading them lately. I don't mean to be so selective, as travel everywhere does interest me, but time is so short that if it doesn't have the word 'Africa' in it, I find I just can't 'get into it'.

I would be interested though, yes, if I could easily find the 'Africa' section!

Katie_H

Great point---
I imagine that we would highlight items from the Africa forum often in a forums newsletter since some of the site's liveliest and most helpful threads are here due to the overwhelming nature of planning trips to Africa.

We don't currently have tons of info about Africa on the site, but with our new guide to African Safaris in '08 that should change.

Maybe each newsletter could include a photo submitted from a member from a recent trip---there'd be a lot of great shots coming from this forum I suspect. Sort of a "Where I've Been" photo feature... just a thought. I have photos on the brain after checking out skimmer's photos...http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...4&tid=35073446

Kavey

Seems like an interesting idea but I doubt, on your description, that I'd sign up. I'm happy enough to simply catch up myself when I've not visited for a while and the Africa board, whilst a lot busier than it was when I first joined years ago, is still small enough that it doesn't take more than a few hours to catch up on even a month's worth.

I'd find the newsletter more useful for the Europe board though. I'd only be interested if it were board specific.

Katie_H

Thanks for your thoughts Kavey.

Momliz

like Kavey, I would be interested if there were a forum specific one, but maybe with highlights from other forums - really great photos, or an outstanding trip report. I don't think I would have time to read a newsletter, however (a good portion of my waking hours are spent on this board )

atravelynn

The current format is sufficient for me. Thanks for checking.

Katie_H

Thanks for your comments and input. When I say newsletter-- there wouldn't be a lot of writing on our part; it would really just be a collection of great links into the Forums, perhaps a photo or two, GTG information, and the like. Almost like a "Community Digest" of sorts...

sunshine007

I'm fine the way things are now. It's a nice idea that probably will make many people happy, though. One of the things that I like about the North Africa/MidEast/Sub-Saharan site here is it's unpredictability. A newsletter wouldn't be that way.

If you do put one together, the North Africa/Mid-East people would prefer to be in a separate section & I'm sure the Sub-Saharan African types would, too.

CarlaM

No thanks Katie. Have them concentrate on upgrading this forum before anything else please.