Thanks for your help

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond to my two recent postings regarding Fanderson UFO Script Book. Several people took the time to help give advice and suggestions to the club, some in response to my requests, and others as more general queries and comments. To save me time and to ensure everyone gets the same message, rather than reply individually, I've "bunched" many of your comments together with a response.

UFO Script Books
Feedback overall has suggested that these were a mistake, as scripts are seldom referenced and so are unlikely to be purchased by fans.
"I wonder if some people are holding back to see if other books in the series will be released???"
"It's important to note that lack of feedback doesn't necessarily mean that people dislike a product. "

Unfortunately, for a club on a limited income sales of the current merchandise pay for production of the next, so unless this one sells, there won't be any more. Lack of feedback may not mean disinterest, but lack of sales surely do. Sadly, although someone suggested all the scripts together would be an attractive book, it would be too expensive for the club to produce (the one already on sale has been a considerable drain on resources).

"To interest me, a script would have to have more then just the Script itself. Are these illustrated in any way, or have other interesting tidbits?"
"I do have an idea though - would it be possible to scan a page or two of the UFO book for the Web site?"

The listing on the club Sales page says:
'This volume presents the complete shooting scripts of the first four episodes produced for UFO as initially submitted to the members of the cast and crew, complete with original characters (such as Franco Desica and Paula Harris) who changed during filming, additional scenes and dialogue that did not appear in the broadcast episodes, and deleted scenes, many of which were filmed and then cut from the episodes in post-production.....The book includes 12 pages of colour photos featuring production stills, behind the scenes pictures and deleted scenes. Introduced by Chris Bentley who highlights the differences between the scripts and the finished episodes and the reasons for the changes.' There's also the very favourable review from TV Zone magazine. However, page scans are an excellent idea, and one which we're looking into.

Novelisations
So, script books are a no-no, but fiction does seem to be popular, and the singular story suggestion made by the group certainly sounds an interesting one we can put to the author.
"I trust your author is a published writer and knows UFO very well.....And it ought to be edited by someone who really knows the show and perhaps sent out to several test readers before publication."
The prospective author knows UFO, will be provided with sample episodes showing the range of stories covered (from shoot 'em ups, through soap opera, to psychedelic thriller), and a new professional dossier on the programme, produced recently at Gerry Anderson's request. The book will, of course, also be edited and read before publication. What we really need is ideas to steer the author and, to date, only one has so far been suggested by this group.
"I would rather buy fan fiction which can be produced fairly cheaply and is usually written by authors who are at least interested and usually knowledgeable by their subject"
The club used to produce booklets of fan fiction a few years ago (I think we had about half a dozen different series covered at ome point). They were very economical to produce and were made pretty much "on demand", but the stories submitted dried up after a couple of years, and so far no-one has submitted anything fresh. The ability to publish fan-fiction on the internet with no capital is probably the best way for this to be distributed.
"Personally I do not agree that EC Tubb is everyones favourite Space 1999 author,or that his books were necessarily the best of the series (I think this was largely perpetuated by Fanderson with little actual evidence)."
"I think it's a good idea to reprint Earthfall since it's been OP for so long. I've never been a fan of Tubb's writing though and I had a tough time reading Earthfall.....I'm not a reader of much fan fiction, but I loved the new Space 1999 novel by POWYS media. The POWYS book is not "fan-fiction" it's a wonderfully done novel in the style of the show."
Although Tubb is certainly a very prolific and popular author, I don't remember anyone saying he was "everyone's favourite Space:1999 author". I was one of the proof-readers for Earthfall, and found Tubb's style very hard to begin with, but before long he'd transported me back to Moonbase Alpha through his prose. Strangely, the comments I've heard about Powys Media's "Resurrection" novel are generally that it reads like fan fiction, and is actually very hard to read! I guess one man's meat etc, etc.

Other questions and ideas
"I have to say I really enjoyed Chris Bentley's complete book of Thunderbirds."
And I get the feeling you're going to love the books he's been asked to write for next year.....
"any chance that the current UFO and 1999 doc videos will be put on DVD?"
Yes, our intention is at some point to release both documentaries on DVD, but we have no plans to do this until The Supermarionation Story is available and we have sufficient extra material to make the DVDs a "must buy" for people who may have already bought the VHS cassettes.
"I think if the items were also grouped by SERIES (on the website), it would be great! I think newcomers (and even oldcomers) are looking for items for the show(s) they love first and foremost."
Another good idea, we've just got to think about how to make the numerous cross-references work. For example, The UFO Documentary has (if I remember rightly) Thunderbirds, Stingray, Space:1999 references in it - possibly more. The Space:1999 Year One CD would cross-reference with Supercar, Stingray, Thunderbird 6, Joe 90 and The Secret Service.
"you might implement a "pre-order" so that something only gets produced if you get so many orders up front (and perhaps payment?) before you actually produce the item."
Sadly, the volume of queries generated by missing a published release date by a couple of weeks is huge, and I am sure the disappointment of not going into production, despite how clearly it is stated that merchandise will not be produced until a threshold is reached, would just cause us too many problems. Add to that the logistics of sending out refunds to everyone and I think you'll agree that this wouldn't be workable.
"when Powys Books first Space 1999 novel was published a few months back (new fiction,as Fanderson is contemplating publishing) I emailed a review to Fanderson with a view to it perhaps being published in the Fanderson magazine. It hasn't to date appeared (and I am quite ok about this) but it would have been nice to perhaps have a brief acknowledgement?"
Sorry, but the sheer workload of producing the magazine, merchandise, and general maintenance of the club means we can't always say thank you to everyone who submits articles and letters, but we always do for those whose work is featured. Is it standard practice for clubs (or even professional magazines) to thank authors for work not used?
"I found the article in the recent FAB magazine, "who pulled your string" by the late Christine Glanville very interesting reading.....Maybe someday you can take this material collected by Christine and put it into a book about her???"
The material forming the "Who Pulled Your String" articles was largely written by Christine and Rowena White for a book by the same name, shortly before Christine's death. Sadly, as the manuscript was unfinished it was not possible to publish as envisaged and so was offered for publication by the club.

The internet
"I think you should offer a PayPal button on your Web site that can accept cash and credit cards for "instant" memberships."
"I have to agree with Marty; ordering anything from Fanderson is a giant hassle"
Our card acquirer can already provide the facility to accept on-line card payment, but we have chosen not to progress this for the time-being. I guess what it really boils down to is whether we all want Fanderson to remain a club or become a business. It may seem quaint or old-fashioned, but the current committee want it to remain a club, although if this proves untenable in the future we'll have to think again. As for it being a "hassle", I think someone's confusing inconvenience with pure lazyness. How difficult is it to write down an order (or even print off the appropriate webpage) and pop it in the post box? I know that some Americans have problems getting to a post office to buy stamps to the UK, so why not buy a small stock of them (for future orders) when you do get there? I despair that I worked so hard to get the club the card payment facility - something very few fan clubs can offer, by the way - and now it seems that even this isn't enough.
"it should be made clear (on the Web site) that orders will not ship any faster, that they are simply eliminating extra post coming into the Fanderson mailbox"
"So from that POV it's probably easier for fanderson to process these mail in orders. It's still a fan club...a fan club that produces some amazing products but still a fan club."
Yes, it's easier to deal with mail, although some members get irate when merchandise takes a few days by post. Despite saying that on-line orders would take as long, there is an in-built sense of speed and urgency amongst people using the internet (myself included) and we would simply end up with more complaints.

Sales to non-members
Many of your responses, however, were about Fanderson selling to non-members. I've explained this many times on an individual basis, but probably not to a group such as this, so I'll take the time to do so now. There are four reasons why Fanderson merchandise is restricted to club members:
1) UK tax laws exempt the club from paying income tax if we only sell merchandise to our members. We could elect to do otherwise, but then we would have to pay tax, which would be passed on to you, making everything cost more
2) our relationship with the holders of copyright to the various Anderson productions means that we can usually produce merchandise without paying a licence fee, providing we only sell to our members (although we honour royalty payments to artists etc). Again, we could elect to do otherwise, but the licence fee would then have to be passed on to you, making things yet more expensive
3) it is the resource of membership fees that enables us to undertake ventures that would be too risky for a commercial operation
4) like all clubs - the Automobile Association, a gym etc - membership has its privileges

One suggestion has been dual pricing, whereby non-members would pay a premium, but this doesn't get us around any either of the first two points above. However, there is nothing to stop a club member buying merchandise as a gift for a non-member. Anthony DiPietro used to manage "bulk buys" of Space:1999 merchandise for fellow fans before the club accepted debit/credit cards by collecting everything into one order and supplying us with addressed mailing labels to make our job easier. Within reason, we don't have a problem with this providing no-one is making a profit from the operation, and that the club recovers its costs in the process.

An alternative is to regard the membership fee as the suggested non-member's "premium" and simply add this to your order. If you really don't want to receive the club membership package or the news, articles and interviews in FAB magazine that's fine, but by adding your name to the membership database you are officially a club member, and so we can sell merchandise to you. You could simply treat your membership number as an account number.
"Lastly can I suggest that the Fanderson YahooGroup forum also be used for communications such as this one from Nick? Members can be asked to forward their views not to that forum (which doesn't accept postings) but to FABmail or to Nick direct. The Fanderson Yahoo group seems underused to me and I wonder actually what is the point in being on it."
I thought the bext place to get feedback on UFO merchandise would be the SHADO group - after all, it does have about four times the number of members as the Fanderson YahooGroup, and all of those interested in UFO.

So, thanks again to everybody for your input. You can be sure that your comments and suggestions will be discussed at our next committee meeting in February. I'll certainly use this forum again to gather views about prospective merchandise or other plans, and please feel free to contact me with any further comments or suggestions.

Nick Williams, Fanderson secretary and treasurer


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Nick-
You can call it whatever you like and insult potential buyers as much as
you want to, but the fact remains that if you make it difficult for us to
order, we simply won't bother. I am sure this is one reason you are left
holding a stack of "unsellable" UFO scriptbooks when I see them
occasionally selling for 3 or 4 times the original price on ebay by sellers
who accept credit card payments via paypal or other means over the web. It
seems ludicrous to me to solicit opinions and suggestions on how to make
Fanderson's merchandising operation more customer friendly and then tell us
that the reason the club is struggling to make sales is because they choose
to remain luddites in the ways of e-commerce. If you didn't plan to
actually consider our input, why bother asking for it?
AT

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Nick Williams [hidden email]
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 15:11:50 -0000
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Thanks for your help
The internet
"I think you should offer a PayPal button on your Web site that can
accept cash and credit cards for "instant" memberships."
"I have to agree with Marty; ordering anything from Fanderson is a giant
hassle"
Our card acquirer can already provide the facility to accept on-line card
payment, but we have chosen not to progress this for the time-being. I
guess what it really boils down to is whether we all want Fanderson to
remain a club or become a business. It may seem quaint or old-fashioned,
but the current committee want it to remain a club, although if this proves
untenable in the future we'll have to think again. As for it being a
"hassle", I think someone's confusing inconvenience with pure lazyness. How
difficult is it to write down an order (or even print off the appropriate
webpage) and pop it in the post box? I know that some Americans have
problems getting to a post office to buy stamps to the UK, so why not buy a
small stock of them (for future orders) when you do get there? I despair
that I worked so hard to get the club the card payment facility - something
very few fan clubs can offer, by the way - and now it seems that even this
isn't enough.


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--- In SHADO@y..., "Nick Williams" <nick@f...> wrote:
> Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond to my two
>recent postings regarding Fanderson UFO Script Book. ...

As someone who *did* respond (and who made the fairly minor moan
about Fanderson not responding themselves to submissions made to them
which I still think is a legitimate one. I take an interest in the
club in my spare time as well you know and use that time to make a
contribution:-) I'd like to thank Nick for his very detailed response.

Trying to cater for everyones requests and preferences is a thankless
task. When you see the high quality products coming out of Fanderson
now compared to a few years ago its hard to believe its the same
club;its so professionally done.Personally novels and soundtracks are
high on my list of "must haves"...as indeed are any books(Script
Books or whatever) of my favourite series. Of course the thing to
note with Fanderson is that everything is a high-risk strategy
because they rely on good sales so that they can embark on the NEXT
project. They aren't a commercial operation with a bottomless pit of
cash. Personally I try and purchase something everytime a sales
leaflet is issued,even if I am a little unsure about the product(eg I
bought the TERRAHAWKS CD even though I care little for the music or
the series...but it all goes towars making the NEXT CD project(UFO or
whatever)that much more viable)And then of course there are some
things that I would never consider buying...any sort of model kit for
example. Yes thats what some people value over books etc!

Its a tough one,and like I say Nick,thanks for the detailed response
which should answer a few points.

Simon

> Nick-
> You can call it whatever you like and insult potential
> buyers as much as you want to, but the fact remains
> that if you make it difficult for us to order, we
> simply won't bother.
> [snip]
> AT

Oh come on, Anthony, you're not serious, are you?
I mean, these guys at Fanderson are fans like you and me (and I'm
assuming that you're a fan too :-) and they are doing a lot of
work in their leisure time (and I'm therefore sure their partners
must be very patient ones) and all we have to do is fill in a form,
putting it into an envelope and go to the nearest post office. So
what's so difficult for us on our part, Anthony? I'm glad
that such a fan club exists and I wouldn't bother to do a little
bit more then that, if it would be necessary. And, BTW, when was Nick
insulting?

Of course, if you live in an area where the nearest post office is
miles and miles away from your home, well, in this case I could
understand your aversion to send an order the old-fashioned way :-)

Christian

>Of course, if you live in an area where the nearest post office is
>miles and miles away from your home, well, in this case I could
>understand your aversion to send an order the old-fashioned way :-)
>
>Christian

I asked at my "very close to me" Post Office (In the USA) about using
several first class stamps to send in a letter to the UK. They said as
long as it was in a regular envelope and the stamps had a value on them (No
F Class stamps, the type they use when they raise the stamp prices but
haven't printed the new stamps yet) and covered the cost of the postage. I
asked if 3 or 4 first class US stamps would do the trick and they said
yes. So, for an order form this method is convenient as long as you want
to pay by credit card on an order form that you fill out by hand.

Also, having a fanderson officer semi "available" on the internet to answer
questions one on one is a big help to me, especially if I make a mistake on
my order! : - )

>I asked at my "very close to me" Post Office (In the USA) about using
>several first class stamps to send in a letter to the UK. They said as
>long as it was in a regular envelope and the stamps had a value on them

This is the primary method I use to mail envelopes to the Europe -- I
simply put a couple first class stamps on it (I think I use 2 stamps,
not 3), which covers the cost of postage, and put it in my mailbox at
my house. Not a big deal at all, especially when I think back to
"the old days", where every Fanderson order meant a trip to the bank
to get a foreign bank draft, and I always got a clerk who'd never
heard of such a thing, so it took about 40 minutes of waiting for
them to figure out how to do it.

Also, I don't understand why placing an order online would somehow
give the expectation that the merchandise should arrive ASAP? I
place all sorts of orders online, and while some do indeed come
quickly, others take a couple weeks. It's not such a big deal,
especially if you put a disclaimer on the website saying "please
allow 4-6 weeks for delivery".

I also don't see why adding an online ordering service would suddenly
turn the club into a "business". Fanderson already has a
substantial website which includes descriptions of all the Fanderson
Sales items. Online ordering is the logical next step... as is
online membership registration...


> "I think if the items were also grouped by SERIES (on the
>website), it would >be great! I think newcomers (and even oldcomers)
>are looking for items for the >show(s) they love first and foremost."
>Another good idea, we've just got to think about how to make the
>numerous >cross-references work. For example, The UFO Documentary
>has (if I remember >rightly) Thunderbirds, Stingray, Space:1999
>references in it - possibly more.

Hmmm, you may be trying to make this more complicated than necessary.
I don't think there's a need to cross-reference anything. Just have
a "UFO" section, and put the "UFO Documentary" there along with all
the other UFO stuff (UFO photos, UFO trading cards, UFO soundtrack,
UFO documentary video, etc.). Simple.

Marc

Thanks for your input, Marc. I agree with you for the most part.
_______________________

This is the primary method I use to mail envelopes to the Europe -- I
simply put a couple first class stamps on it (I think I use 2 stamps,
not 3), which covers the cost of postage, and put it in my mailbox at
my house. Not a big deal at all, especially when I think back to
"the old days", where every Fanderson order meant a trip to the bank
to get a foreign bank draft, and I always got a clerk who'd never
heard of such a thing, so it took about 40 minutes of waiting for
them to figure out how to do it.
________________________

Marc, I understand its not as difficult as it once was and that we can use
first class postage. My point is that Fanderson seems to want to make it
more difficult to order deliberately. Nick's reply indicated that it would
be very easy for them to do it if only it wasn't such an inconvenience for
Fanderson to conduct itself in a slightly more businesslike manner. But
which is easier for Fanderson? Opening a bunch of snail mail and then
re-typing all the info into thier system, running the card through their
merchant system by hand, etc., or implementing an online ordering system
that does all of this automatically? I think the second option would be
better for everyone. Of course, Fanderson may have plenty of volunteers to
do it the manual way and no one with any idea how to work an online system,
but it's not very difficult to set up.
And I confess that Nick saying that we were "confusing inconvenience with
sheer laziness" did chap my ass somewhat, because it seemed to me that he
didn't take the time to think about the reasons that this ordering method
may not be convenient for a lot of people. I have nothing against Nick
personally, it just read like an inappropriate response from someone
representing the club. If I misunderstood, I apologize.
________________________

Also, I don't understand why placing an order online would somehow
give the expectation that the merchandise should arrive ASAP? I
place all sorts of orders online, and while some do indeed come
quickly, others take a couple weeks. It's not such a big deal,
especially if you put a disclaimer on the website saying "please
allow 4-6 weeks for delivery".

I also don't see why adding an online ordering service would suddenly
turn the club into a "business". Fanderson already has a
substantial website which includes descriptions of all the Fanderson
Sales items. Online ordering is the logical next step... as is
online membership registration...
_________________________

Marc, I agree on both points. In the USA, companies have a period of 6-8
weeks by law to fulfill mail orders before irate customers can begin legal
actions against them. This seems like a reasonable period to me, although I
would hope most companies can do it faster than that.
Adding a Paypal button or shopping cart system to your website so that your
members can order merchandise or pay for memberships easily and efficiently
has nothing to do with whether you are a club or a business, IMO... it has
to do with whether you are serious about serving your customers or members
in the best way possible. I did buy the UFO scriptbook at SBFA in May and
it is very nicely put together. It was not the most convenient setup for
purchasing at the show either, but I waited patiently until they took my
money. Due to a past experience, I would probably never have ordered it
from the club via mail.
I understand that Fanderson is a club and not not a for-profit business,
but I happen to disagree that they are doing things the way that will be
the most convenient and efficient for themselves or the fans. And without
fans, what is Fanderson? They may conduct thier business however they like,
obviously. I was just giving my opinions as asked for in Nick's original
message to the group.
No hard feelings on my part.
Anthony Taylor
Fanderson member #8618

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Nick: the reply is appreciated but I think I sense some frustration in the
SHADO members... Me too!

OK, I too am very mildly offended by the 'laziness' comment because it can
be a little more complicated than that. I go to work before the post
office opens and don't go home until after it is closed. I work nowhere
near one at the office so cannot go there at lunch. It is however very
enlightening and helpful to know that the use of several first class stamps
will probably get the post through. I didn't know that. Perhaps if
comments to that effect were placed on the order form it would motivate
more activity.

Anyway, the real point isn't weather the buyers are lazy or not. "How
difficult is it"? ...well; it's difficult enough to blow potential members
off! The point is that if the lack of e-sales is what's stopping potential
members then lazy members or not, the solution is to enable those e-sales.
If, as you say it is just one step away from being available then it is
actually rather irrational to *not* enable the e-sales. After all; one of
the problems cited with merchandise produced by the club is lack of
sales... and if things don't sell then the next item to be produced
suffers. Therefore it is only logical to remove all identified obstacles
between Fanderson and member sales. The problem and even the solution were
pretty clearly identified in my opinion. Hurdles.

I think you did good to get the credit processing ability, but it has
probably only gotten you 10-30% of the increase in sales that a full
e-sales system could net you. ...And it has not been enough to get the
breakaway momentum to see real growth.

Could Fanderson actually be afraid of too much sales and too large a
membership? It seems fairly clear from the responses here that Fanderson
membership and product sales would both increase if the membership sign-up
and sales were done directly from the web. I for one would have been a
member 2-3 years sooner if it were as easy as any other web purchase... I
am not alone.

Also, low membership of the Fanderson Yahoo Group was cited, does Fanderson
actively promote the group? I'm guessing it does not. Does anything
interesting happen there, apparently not. It is restricted to Members
only, why bother restricting it? Open it up for all to come and
participate, you have nothing to loose, the group is dead right now (34
messages in 2 years!) only the moderator can post, why bother. The
description of the group doesn't even have "Gerry Anderson" anywhere in it,
a search on that name doesn't even reveal the Fanderson Yahoo Group's
existence. It *could* list Gerry, and all the shows names and key words so
that it will show up in a search of groups. Once finally located, you are
informed that it's "members only" and the address to the Fanderson website
isn't actually a link but text that must be cut-pasted or typed into the
browser. To subscribe you also have to send an e-mail with a bunch of
stuff in it, after all that; you cannot even post... Hurdles, hurdles
hurdles! Besides since there's no activity there, why would anyone even
want to become a member. Its no wonder the group is dead. Any group
would be dead with that many belts of armor around an empty husk of a
group. It's just a small mailing list not a group at all... but it really
could be.

The Fanderson Yahoo Group could be so much to members and non-members
alike. It could and I firmly believe *would* be a major source of new
members. You would have all of the various Anderson productions discussed
and in so doing would also likely see fans of one cross over to become fans
of other series. To do that the Fanderson Yahoo group needs to be
interactive so members can really participate and share... just like
SHADO. You know the value of SHADO, you came to us to ask a Fanderson
question. It sure would have been nice to be able to ask a real Fanderson
group too wouldn't it?

There are just *SOOoooo* many hurdles to getting the ball rolling on
membership, Yahoo Group activity and Fanderson product sales.. all easily
fixed too. If the Yahoo group were open like SHADO then it may very well
see lots of activity like SHADO. That activity may very well include
discussions about product releases but alas the non-members would discover
the need to be members in order to buy. If it is also easy to become a
member and buy then you may very well see someone discover the group,
become a member and buy product within an hour. When that momentum is
broken anywhere then the client is easily lost. Momentum is very
important, more important than it is being given credit for.

I'm sorry if this seems like a rant, I really mean it to be constructive
but the situation is so frustrating and Fanderson just seems so
self-sabotaging. I'd love to see discussions about shows like SHADO, and
links to new products Like SHADO, and just be able to move freely between
the yahoo group and website activities but I can't, there aren't any
interactions. I really want to and I doubt if I am alone here either.

Fanderson just seems to be so protectionist and exclusionary... too many
hurdles. Open up, let us in, please.

My $0.02
Frustrated: S



>Our card acquirer can already provide the facility to accept on-line card
payment, but we have chosen not to progress this for the time-being. I
guess what it really boils down to is whether we all want Fanderson to
remain a club or become a business. It may seem quaint or old-fashioned,
but the current committee want it to remain a club, although if this
proves untenable in the future we'll have to think again. As for it being
a "hassle", I think someone's confusing inconvenience with pure lazyness.
How difficult is it to write down an order (or even print off the
appropriate webpage) and pop it in the post box? I know that some
Americans have problems getting to a post office to buy stamps to the UK,
so why not buy a small stock of them (for future orders) when you do get
there? I despair that I worked so hard to get the club the card payment
facility - something very few fan clubs can offer, by the way - and now
it seems that even this isn't enough.
>"it should be made clear (on the Web site) that orders will not ship any
faster, that they are simply eliminating extra post coming into the
Fanderson mailbox"
>"So from that POV it's probably easier for fanderson to process these
mail in orders. It's still a fan club...a fan club that produces some
amazing products but still a fan club."
>Yes, it's easier to deal with mail, although some members get irate when
merchandise takes a few days by post. Despite saying that on-line orders
would take as long, there is an in-built sense of speed and urgency amongst
people using the internet (myself included) and we would simply end up with
more complaints.

Well I'm here to tell you... it *is* untenable *now*.
I know numerous people that don't order items from the Fanderson website as it is a hassle.

I work long hours... and don't get a chance to go to the post office during the day (not without a big hassle anyhow). I am not a lazy person, as anyone that works with me will attest to. I don't know what airmail postage will cost me from Australia to the UK.

I'm afraid that I agree with pretty much all that AnthonyT had to say.

You have an international website... you should think globally and not locally.

I buy fandom related stuff on line all the time and don't think twice about it... I have gone to the Fanderson website many times to check if online registration and/or ordering is available (to no avail). As I mentioned earlier, I know many other people in the same boat.
If I was able to join as a Fanderson member on-line and purchase on-line I would have spent *hundreds* of dollars there.

I'm not saying that you guys don't do a good job... because I'm sure you do. But your only servicing a *minute* section of the global population that love and enjoy all things Gerry Anderson.

Best regards...
Jaime
http://jaime.net


----------------------------------------
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 04:04 am, [hidden email] wrote:

It may seem quaint or old-fashioned,
but the current committee want it to remain a club, although if this proves
untenable in the future we'll have to think again. As for it being a
"hassle", I think someone's confusing inconvenience with pure lazyness. How
difficult is it to write down an order (or even print off the appropriate
webpage) and pop it in the post box?