The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 67/No. 39           November 10, 2003  
 
 
‘Militant’ launches new sub program
 
BY MICHAEL ITALIE  
“Sub Manager went ‘live’ for the first time last week when it was used for the Militant mailing,” Art Young wrote to members of an international team of Militant supporters October 19. “This marks a high point of our project.” Young heads up the work of a team of supporters of the communist movement who, working together over the Internet, created a new computer system for maintaining the subscriber lists for the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. Other members of the team include: George Fyson in New Zealand, Tom O’Brien in Minnesota, and Greg Preston in North Carolina. Warren Simons in New York also helped with aspects of the project.

The new subscription program was used again October 22 to produce the mailing labels for the delivery of subscriptions to both of the socialist publications.

The adoption of a new program became necessary when the Militant and PM staff moved into new offices in April of this year and began using new computer equipment. In the transition period between the shutdown of the old system and going live with the new one, the sub lists were entered on computer spreadsheets.

Sub Manager is the name the Militant has adopted for this new program that will help the staff and volunteers serve our readers more efficiently and in a manner that will minimize error. After volunteers enter new subscriptions, renewals to the paper, and any other corrections, the program has the capability to sort the subscriptions into computer files by type of mail service and country, and to produce a separate list of names of those whose subscriptions will expire soon, as well as to drop off the active list those whose subscriptions have run out. These files are then run through a mailing program to produce the labels that volunteers place on the papers for the regular mailing every Wednesday afternoon.

The new program also enables volunteers to assemble the raw data in a variety of forms, called reports, for use by the Militant, PM, and their distributors around the world. Reports can list subscribers by state, union, and campus, and sort those with active subscriptions and those whose subs have expired. As George Fyson from New Zealand said in an e-mail message to other team members, “The number of reports we can have is almost unlimited. Any statistics that are useful can be added as new reports.”

In response to Art Young’s October 19 note, Warren Simons wrote back that he had discussed the program with the volunteers who do the bulk of the subscription entry work. He reported that they “were very excited with the new program and related that it was a great step forward. They were able to recruit another supporter who is not very familiar with how to use computers, and she reports how easy it was to do.”

“On behalf of the Militant I congratulate Art and his team for the diligent work they did,” said Militant editor Argiris Malapanis. “I am sure our readers will appreciate the efficient use of the program by the Militant staff to ensure timely and regular delivery of the paper to subscribers.”

Subscribers to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial should contact the business manager if they have any questions or problems with the delivery of the publications as we put Sub Manager into use.  
 
 
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