• (Part I – repeated from March issue to assist renewal decisions)
• (Part II – repeated from June issue; some notes added)

Changes at Meta Research in 2006

(Part I – repeated from March issue to assist renewal decisions)

            Organizational maintenance as Meta Research grows is slowing other activities. Reality is that Meta Research has been amazingly successful in its first 15 years of existence. And that success has led to organizational growth, more activities, ever-more contacts, and the need to answer an increasing number of inquiries.

            Besides this Bulletin, our flagship publication, our activities include a (now very large) web site, a Message Board with ~500 registered participants, a Members Only forum on the Message Board, our Extended Meta-notes by E-mail (EME) series, a Professional Manuscript Review Service, and supplies of books we recommend and CDs we have produced. Our e-mail alone has ~100 messages per day, not counting phone calls and surface mail. We also make presentations of Meta Science to various professional and public groups, do media interviews, and participate in discussions in USENET newsgroups. Our Eclipse Edge Expeditions have already been inactive for the last three years because of travel safety considerations and a lack of time to scout and plan these exciting events. And all these tasks are just background to the primary work of new research, keeping abreast of the journals, and writing up the new science for various publications.

            Organizational maintenance for all these activities has grown faster than the funding and volunteers to support them. Peripheral activities have begun cutting into the available time for new, primary research. This mandates some sort of reorganization so Meta Research does not become just another group more involved with preserving itself than in meeting the goals it was founded to achieve. For example, one of our primary goals for the coming year is early release of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter super-hi-resolution color images of the various Mars anomalies described in this Bulletin and on our web site.

            To lighten the load of organizational maintenance, we plan the following steps:

• We will be switching to electronic publication of this Bulletin following our 2006 December 15 issue to achieve all the benefits detailed in our previous issue. We had hoped to continue a print version for those without easy internet access, but that might not be feasible unless a new editor steps forward who can arrange to format, print, and distribute the issues. Because of this uncertainty, we will accept pro-rata renewals for the remainder of this year.
• We are considering making the Bulletin open access, and making Membership contributions completely voluntary starting in 2007. That would potentially enlarge our readership greatly, and would also make the total amount of Membership contributions tax deductible in the U.S. The hope is that new voluntary contributions from an expanded readership would make up for revenue losses from existing Members without internet access or who elect not to contribute. In any case, this step would allow news of Meta Science to become more widespread.
• We hope to change the software for our Message Board to allow better organization of topics with less “noise”. In the future, more priority will be given to messages posted by Members.
• Our EME notes are the farthest behind of all our activities, and are one of the most time-consuming to maintain. So this activity will need to be the most curtailed. We seek a volunteer to collect contributed notes, distribute them to Members at regular intervals, and maintain the notes in a searchable database.
• In the meantime, we now anticipate being *unable* to finish out this year for existing subscribers to the EME notes. We plan instead to provide a cumulative file of all notes released over the last decade at no cost to subscribers, and to make it available to others for the same cost as our two other CDs. Renewals by Sustaining Members receiving notes or Supporting Members receiving only the notes will be pro-rata for those who want the cumulative index. Others may request a pro-rata refund if they choose. Continuation of the service will depend on availability of volunteers, and will be announced as plans materialize. See details on your next renewal form.
• Correspondingly, our regular Bulletin feature “Highlights of the latest EME” will be discontinued, at least for now.
• Our Professional Manuscript Review Service will be discontinued in general, but might still be activated on a case-by-case basis under special circumstances.
• The time saved will go into more original research, publications of original research, and public outreach activities.

            All plans are subject to change, and we welcome input from Members to help guide our decisions about the organization’s future. Email: tomvf@metaresearch.org.

(Part II – repeated from June issue; some notes added)

            We have previously expressed the reasons for making this publication (MRB) electronic starting in 2007: no article length limitations, ability to use color (e.g., this issue’s cover art and most future spacecraft images), better image quality (many spacecraft image details do not show up well in print), 3-D, animations, clickable links to sources, voice, sound effects, streaming video, hypertext, searchability, easy access to back issues, no shelf space required, no postage costs for mailings, especially overseas.

            For example, the present issue contains four images for which the originals are in color, and must refer readers to the internet to see the amazing 3-D anaglyph of the Cydonia Face.

However, the paper edition virtues of portability and reading convenience have not been forgotten, and some of you have written to express your hope that we will continue a print version of the MRB. We will not have enough print-only subscribers to justify a printed, bound edition. However, we may be able to run off copies on a laser printer and standard copier, and mail stapled loose-leaf versions of the electronic MRB. We would need to charge for paper, toner, handling, postage costs, and renewal notices, which we estimate at $20/year for North America and $25/year for other countries. This makes an allowance for more pages per average issue than at present. Any voluntary membership contribution would be additional.

Please let us know if you are interested in this print-only option. (See address on back cover.)

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