🚀 go-pugleaf

alien@essex.ac.uk ("Adrian F Clark") writes:

>Surprisingly perhaps, most of the membership fee that one pays to TUG
>goes in the production and distribution of TUGboat and its new sister
>publication TeX &TUG News.  What annoys many people outside North
>America is that we pay an increased subscription (to cover postage)
>but cannot receive the other `advantages' of TUG membership, such as
>the hot-line, courses, etc.

You haven't been paying attention. The subscription rate has become
the same all over the world a couple of issues ago, precisely for
the reason that Tug is not an American, but a worldwide organization.

>Anyway, the ultimate aim of TUGboat is (IMHO) to become an acadmic
>journal.  Do people object to paying for academic journals?

Subtle point. Scientific journals are usually subscribed to
by libraries. Whereas tugboat is mostly read by individuals.
And although tugboat is cheap compared to scientific journals,
it is expensive compared to what the man inthe street expects to
pay for a journal.

And 'ultimate aim'? You may not have noticed it, but about a
year ago tugboat has started subjecting technical papers
to a refereeing process to insure some quality. Also, demoting
news items to the news letter should make tugboat more of
a 'scientific' journal.

Victor.