Chuck, Randy and all, > I was speaking to the discussion point of whether non-member > articles should be accepted for publication in the Diamond. > Should they? In my opinion, yes. I think every article > should be judged on its merits, not on whether the author is > a member or not. Having said that, I think authors should be > encouraged to join, if they're not already members, but I > wouldn't make it a condition of publication. In a general > sense, I think all organizations want to provide members > certain benefits that non-members don't have...what would be > the sense of joining otherwise? But in this case I think it > makes sense to draw the line at whether the article is > suitable for publication, not whether the author is an ELHS > member or not. I would have to agree. There are lots of examples where people who aren't EL/Erie/DL&W fans, per se, could write an article of interest to us - such as floor plans of DL&W or Erie Pullmans, for example. People who research Pullman material might be able to extract DL&W/Erie content and provide it to the Diamond. I don't see why the Diamond should limit its content to member-provided-only. That, to me, sounds like shooting ourselves in the foot. Getting material for a volunteer publication is difficult - why discourage additional material? Obviously, the author wouldn't get any of the Society's other benefits, as one would assume, but why should the membership at large be denied potentially compelling content due to a rule like this? - Paul ------------------------------
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