8BS66: Editorial

I was putting together a collection of
the history of 8BS when I realised that
it has been three years since I wrote
the article. There have been many
changes at 8BS in that time so I
thought that I would have another go.

I wrote a fairly long article and then
lost it virtually immediately.
Forunately Stephan Richardson had a
copy of the article that enabled me to
rescue most of the lost text. Thanks
Stephan.

This is the last 8BS magazine

(Or at least for the time being)
This issue is a very poor one due to
the fact that as I write this 1 day
before the deadline, there are only
5 submissions of messages and one
submission of Repton Screens.

(Added on deadline day) On the deadline
there are a few more submissions,
thanks folks! (Added later) Thanks to
Crispin Boylan, there are a few more
odds and ends in the magazine now.

Options I considered were:

Option Considered:

I could (as I have this time) keep the
magazine alive by re-hashing old stuff
from the pool. This is not satisfactory
as the magazine was not intended for
this.

Option Considered:

Delay issue until there is enough
material each time. Again,
unsatisfactory as a deadline date and
issue date could not be set.

Option Considered:

Miss an issue out. Maybe, but there is
no guarantee that submissions would
come in even then.

Option Considered:

Plan with a longer break between
issues. Again, maybe, but the above
still applies with the added problem
that the issue dates are calculated
carefully to fall in with a summer
break and Christmas.

Option Considered:

Hand the magazine over to someone else
to produce. However, this would not
solve the problem of lack of
submissions. Apart from the fact that I
am not sure that there are many people
around that would have the required
commitment and skills (not
programming!) to keep the magazine at
the standard I would like. No. If the
8BS magazine is ever resurrected, it
will be by myself.

Option Considered:

Stop producing the magazine. In the
past I have said that I will continue
producing the 8BS magazine for as long
as new stuff is submitted to me. As the
submissions have dropped down to nearly
nothing, I think now is an appropriate
time to stop producing the magazine.

I found it difficult to come to this
decision as there are many people who
look forward to receiving the 8BS
magazine through their letterboxes.
Many are in credit to receive their
issue automatically (I will address
this point later).

This does not mean that 8BS has popped
its clogs. Far from it. 8BS is still
going strong as far as the PD library,
support and stock of BBC hardware etc
goes. The catalogue/info disc TBI-00
and website will still be around and
are amended accordingly to reflect the
new situation. 8BS will continue.

IF YOU ARE IN CREDIT WITH 8BS

IF the address label on the envelope

your issue came in is a printed one.

AND

IF the top right hand corner shows a

value after your User ID and disc type.

AND

IF the value is less than 999.

THEN

you are in credit with 8BS by the
amount shown.

If you are in credit you have a number
of options.

Do nothing and leave it with 8BS for

later use by yourself.

Receive a full refund minus the

postage cost (20p)

Order things from the 8BS pool or

advert to the value of your credit.

A mixture of all of these! For

example, let's assume you are £11 in
credit. Then you could leave £1 in
the account, order 10 new blank
discs and have a refund of £5

I would recommend that you stay at
least £1 in credit though so that you
can receive an issue if the magazine
ever starts up again.

If you receive your issue by email, you
can contact me by email to confirm what
you want to do. No one is more than
£2.50 in credit on the Email side.

A big thank you to Paul Clucas who has
checked the majority of recent 8BS
issues through for me before issue.
This has saved me many hours of work.

Many of you have commented in the past
that you wondered how I find the time
to run 8BS. I have calculated that not
producing the magazine will now save me
3 full days a month. I have plans for
this time!

8BS will still continue to support BBC
users over the telephone, through the
post and over the internet. 8BS will
still collect and supply software from
the PD pool. Send an SAE at regular
intervals for regular updates of the
pool and 8BS advert.

I am going to place a newsletter on
TBI-00, the catalogue/info disc to keep
everyone updated. This will be a single
file on the disc to keep you updated as
to what is going on with 8BS.