I am a outsider looking in, so don't take this wrong, but I've also noticed this problem, not just here, but at other sites that I watch.
As the editor of Keep America At Work I believe the solution is simple, but you may not agree with me, and it is not my intent to tick you off if that happens.
The solution I believe is to give all of the volunteers access to the wordpress platform with a user level of contributor
--- Summary of Roles Super Admin - somebody with access to the site network administration features and all other features. See the Create a Network article. Administrator - somebody who has access to all the administration features within a single site. Editor - somebody who can publish and manage posts including the posts of other users. Author - somebody who can publish and manage their own posts. Contributor - somebody who can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them. Subscriber - somebody who can only manage their profile. ---
You will then move the bottleneck from getting articles to having an editor that will approve, and publish them which will greatly simplify the process.
Sure, this will require the editor(s) to preview the articles, and release them, but I'm betting that is a very manageable task.
I'm not up to speed on the amsat community and my financial situation is not good without work, so I'm probably not a good candidate for the editor/publisher role, but I will guarantee you that I can get the site up to date and current asap if I were.
Sometimes we focus so much on the infrastructure that we lose site of the fact that our mission is to get the message to the people as the people could care less about the infrastructure
My two cents only, and if I'm out of place, let me know and I will shut up.
Virgil N5IVV Keep America At Work
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Paul Stoetzer Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 8:41 AM To: APBIDDLE@mailaps.org Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org; Peter Klein Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: High orbit satellites?
We need a very wealthy individual or two to get into the hobby and decide they want to work a HEO! If I were to win the lottery or somehow come into a few tens of millions of dollars, I'd pony up for the launch.
Honestly, though, the numbers aren't completely unrealistic. A long and coordinated worldwide fundraising campaign could get it done. However, the website includes the following sentence:
"The P3E-satellite should be ready for launch by mid-2007."
http://www.p3e-satellite.org/en_EN/amsat.html
Who's going to donate to a project when the website hasn't even been updated in over six years? I see it mentioned often that P3E is "essentially ready to go." If that's the case, why not press forward. As a relative newcomer, I'm often frustrated about the lack of updates about anything and websites that are wildly out of date. I know that everyone is a volunteer and busy with other things, but would it be so difficult to send out an update about what's going on once in a while? For example, TurkSat-3USAT was launched back in April. There have been absolutely no updates from anyone about what happened. Obviously the beacon is not transmitting and the transponder is not on, but what happened? Is there hope for recovery? If it has failed, the entire community could benefit from knowledge about what has happened so that similar failures don't happen in the future. Then there is AO-27. The website was last updated in January saying it will be several months before they know if the satellite can be recovered. A quick update would be appreciated, even if it's something like: "Due to time constraints, we haven't been able to attempt recovery."
Things like this lead to the perception that this aspect of the hobby is dying. There is very little traffic on this reflector and not too much traffic on other web forums for amateur satellite operation. (See the QRZ forum topic "Is AMSAT dead?") I know there's always a lot going on "behind the scenes," but the lack of conversation and updates about what's going on doesn't really encourage hams to get involved or make donations.
73,
Paul, N8HM Washington, DC
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:49 AM, Alan wa4sca@gmail.com wrote:
Peter,
Most of us really miss the old birds. I was transferring satellite QSOs from the 1980s through the early 2000s to my electronic logbook, and was amazed at what I worked.
AMSAT-DL has an excellent P3 satellite, currently being updated, but essentially ready to go. Here is the problem: $5M - $10M launch costs to HEO. Even a super discount rate of $1M would be impractical. In the old days, we could beg, borrow, and barter for launches at nominal rates on test flights. Unfortunately, the launch industry has matured, and can find buyers for even the smallest spaces and mass. Sometimes counties can get what I think of as National Prestige Rates for a first launch, but those days are largely behind us. Personally, I am confident that AMSAT-DL will fly their satellite, but it is clear that future HEOs will be few and far between.
That is the highly abbreviated answer.
73s,
Alan WA4SCA
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Peter Klein Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 1:59 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] High orbit satellites?
What are the chances that there will be another high-orbit satellite like AO-10 and AO-13? Does AMSAT have any plans in that direction since the demise of AO-40? My main satellite interest is live communication with faraway places, and I really miss those Molnya birds.
--Peter, KD7MW _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb