Back in the Premiership- time to resurrect the Whiff?

[Wimb]

I'd be delighted to see the Whiff back.

Understand the committment/printing costs/online thing. So...maybe you could

1. Expand the team. (Seems to me the Tilehurst End does this well.) Use of email and website to collect articles could lessen the burden.

2. Charge £2, no one would care, inflations biting. With 24k fans each game should be able to sell out.

3. I disagree that the online era has changed things. People want paper to read at the stadium, over a pint, on a train, or when clearing out their bookcase. The club sell a load of programmes in the digital era for this reason. (And they are pretty yawn...). What I liked was the tongue in cheek reports on progress, which due to printing deadlines generally caveated against a future upturn/downturn in form. In the instant 24 hour forum era, people post reactive fickle crap knowing they can post something different next week.

But for me, HNA? 50% (generous!) of the posts are a load of crap by Internet trolls. (Sometimes guilty myself! ) .You have to really sift through to get to the quality (and some really are insightful/funny). Whereas the Whiff generally only had 1 shite article per issue! Loved the cartoons and letters personally.

Best advert for it is our whiffman Beef above - 17 posts in 8 years. This is someone whose opinions I want to read more than someone with 10,000 posts on an internet forum!

I don't think paper is totally dead but with the ever expanding smartphone/tablet rollout the technology for small blogs and publicatons to make small apps/push issues out to people to read is only going to get easier. I can't imagine it'll be long before the technology to make a digital issue of something is very quick and easy. Apparently Wordpress already makes The Tilehurst End look like a bit of a magazine, or so I've been told!

Then again unless you've got an ipad in the toilet at the nags, a paper copy of the Whiff would always be a good idea

[Z175]

I don't think paper is totally dead but with the ever expanding smartphone/tablet rollout the technology for small blogs and publicatons to make small apps/push issues out to people to read is only going to get easier. I can't imagine it'll be long before the technology to make a digital issue of something is very quick and easy. Apparently Wordpress already makes The Tilehurst End look like a bit of a magazine, or so I've been told!

Then again unless you've got an ipad in the toilet at the nags, a paper copy of the Whiff would always be a good idea

Sigh...you're probably right. Good thing you set up TTE then! (Its v good by the way thanks). Ipad and skygo in the huge toilets > squeezed to death in the bar!

[Mike Hunt]

I'd be delighted to see the Whiff back.

Understand the committment/printing costs/online thing. So...maybe you could

1. Expand the team. (Seems to me the Tilehurst End does this well.) Use of email and website to collect articles could lessen the burden.

2. Charge £2, no one would care, inflations biting. With 24k fans each game should be able to sell out.

3. I disagree that the online era has changed things. People want paper to read at the stadium, over a pint, on a train, or when clearing out their bookcase. The club sell a load of programmes in the digital era for this reason. (And they are pretty yawn...). What I liked was the tongue in cheek reports on progress, which due to printing deadlines generally caveated against a future upturn/downturn in form. In the instant 24 hour forum era, people post reactive fickle crap knowing they can post something different next week.

But for me, HNA? 50% (generous!) of the posts are a load of crap by Internet trolls. (Sometimes guilty myself! ) .You have to really sift through to get to the quality (and some really are insightful/funny). Whereas the Whiff generally only had 1 shite article per issue! Loved the cartoons and letters personally.

Best advert for it is our whiffman Beef above - 17 posts in 8 years. This is someone whose opinions I want to read more than someone with 10,000 posts on an internet forum!

I don't think paper is totally dead but with the ever expanding smartphone/tablet rollout the technology for small blogs and publicatons to make small apps/push issues out to people to read is only going to get easier. I can't imagine it'll be long before the technology to make a digital issue of something is very quick and easy. Apparently Wordpress already makes The Tilehurst End look like a bit of a magazine, or so I've been told!

Then again unless you've got an ipad in the toilet at the nags, a paper copy of the Whiff would always be a good idea

Nice post Wimb.

Access is the key here. It is easier for people to access a newsletter that is pushed out (via email) every week, say Friday nights/Saturday mornings. If you wanted, you could even charge a small fee a month. If people liked the writing, they would pay for it.

[Wimb]

Cheers Mike,

Might very well start that up over the summer maybe a bi-weekly digest or something along those lines?

Would people actually sit and read through an email of that size though, It would be quite big... I suppose I could publish them as a series of PDF's and have them as attatchments? or maybe combine them all into one PDF?

[Mike Hunt]

Cheers Mike,

Might very well start that up over the summer maybe a bi-weekly digest or something along those lines?

Would people actually sit and read through an email of that size though, It would be quite big... I suppose I could publish them as a series of PDF's and have them as attatchments? or maybe combine them all into one PDF?

I cannot say as I have not read the whiff at all, so I do not know what it was really about, but if you keep the writing style the same as that, I believe that people will read it.

But that said, you would need to limit the amount you put in, as some may not want to read it if it was too large.

If it was going to be a newsletter, you may not need to make it into a pdf at all. Look at the fiver at the guardian. They push it out everyday, and I read it everyday. Their humour makes it fun for me to read. There are programs so you can style the newsletter how you want, I just have never really looked into it.

But maybe if it was sent as a pdf, people could print it themselves and they could take it where they want.

It is tough trying to tailor for two different type of markets.

[St Pauli]

I'd be delighted to see the Whiff back.

Understand the committment/printing costs/online thing. So...maybe you could

1. Expand the team. (Seems to me the Tilehurst End does this well.) Use of email and website to collect articles could lessen the burden.

2. Charge £2, no one would care, inflations biting. With 24k fans each game should be able to sell out.

3. I disagree that the online era has changed things. People want paper to read at the stadium, over a pint, on a train, or when clearing out their bookcase. The club sell a load of programmes in the digital era for this reason. (And they are pretty yawn...). What I liked was the tongue in cheek reports on progress, which due to printing deadlines generally caveated against a future upturn/downturn in form. In the instant 24 hour forum era, people post reactive fickle crap knowing they can post something different next week.

But for me, HNA? 50% (generous!) of the posts are a load of crap by Internet trolls. (Sometimes guilty myself! ) .You have to really sift through to get to the quality (and some really are insightful/funny). Whereas the Whiff generally only had 1 shite article per issue! Loved the cartoons and letters personally.

Best advert for it is our whiffman Beef above - 17 posts in 8 years. This is someone whose opinions I want to read more than someone with 10,000 posts on an internet forum!

Is that an offer to sell and write?

@ Wimb, my post earlier wasn't intended as a criticism of TTE, just that the Whiff was great and would supplement the rest of Reading's fan based media.

On the subject of 'Is paper dead?' The answer is not by a long shot. It'll be around for decades to come still.

For the following reasons.

1) For a start when people care a lot about something they tend to get nostalgic and traditional about it- look at the continuing popularity of vinyl(and this thread)

2) Whilst both paper media and phones/pads are anti social, phones are more so because noone else can see what you're reading. On looking up from my paper/book I've often had people ask me what it's like, about etc.

3) As a complete poser I like people being able to see what I'm reading, cos what you read is one of things that marks you out as either a pcunt or not.

4) People will always want something cheap they can shove in their pocket, get wet, drop, not worry about leaving on a bus or running out of battery. People that take an Ipad on a beach holiday look like tw@ts, because it's a stupid idea.

5) Especially for stuff like the Whiff, people want to collect stuff and have a physical copy of it.

6) Precisely because it's harder to print something, the content has to be of higher quality and be more exclusive, and as a result seeing your name in print when you've written something feels like more of an achievement then posting shit like what I'm posting now.

7) Owning something physical means you have a secure copy of it. Let's face it, unless you back up every great article you read online on a disc, using software that will never go out of date, you will lose it at some point.

[peterroyal76]

The thought of resurrecting the Whiff / jumping on the Band Wagon had crossed certain Whiff minds. I shall feed back to Colin Cheeselog, Frank Fickle and Doris Fraud accordingly.

You know you want to! And I need that whiff shaped void filled (no homo)

[Elm Park Old Boy]

Yeah, let's Whiff again....

[anR]

Did anyone else buy the fanzine at Brighton? Seagull Love, I think. It was very bitter sweet reading that. I was always annoyed that we no longer have one. It needs to be resurrected in the paper format as before, when it happens!

[Allyh84]

I'd be interested in contributing to this. I've written on the team for many local papers and World Soccer. /brag.

[clauski]

Maybe we could bring back Taking The Biscuit too. Now that was a fanzine.

[Croydon Royal]

Wrote for the Whiff fairly regularly during the last 4 or 5 years (being included on that 'Periodic Table of the history of the Whiff may well be the proudest moment of my life) and would definitely be up for contributing again. New job means my working hours are a little more flexible too, so happy to become more involved if needed.

[Billy The Fish]

Did anyone else buy the fanzine at Brighton? Seagull Love, I think. It was very bitter sweet reading that. I was always annoyed that we no longer have one. It needs to be resurrected in the paper format as before, when it happens!

Yes, also bought this and enjoyed even though another team's fanzine, and like you made me realise what we've been missing. And the same with MIB at Birmingham although a more serious minded fanzine, still excellent reading. We definitely need The Whiff back please!

[Gordons Cumming]

Whiff Wasn't Funny, It Was Like Reading Jokes Produced By Snowball Or Cmonurz. Sorry For The Harsh Criticism, But Seriously It Wasn't Worth The Paper It was Printed On. Just Bring In A Sudoku Book Or Crosswords.

Not if you sit in the North stand behind the temporary goals before kick-off as you're likely to get your head ripped off by a misdirected shot by Jem Karacan.

[Wimb]

I'd be delighted to see the Whiff back.

Understand the committment/printing costs/online thing. So...maybe you could

1. Expand the team. (Seems to me the Tilehurst End does this well.) Use of email and website to collect articles could lessen the burden.

2. Charge £2, no one would care, inflations biting. With 24k fans each game should be able to sell out.

3. I disagree that the online era has changed things. People want paper to read at the stadium, over a pint, on a train, or when clearing out their bookcase. The club sell a load of programmes in the digital era for this reason. (And they are pretty yawn...). What I liked was the tongue in cheek reports on progress, which due to printing deadlines generally caveated against a future upturn/downturn in form. In the instant 24 hour forum era, people post reactive fickle crap knowing they can post something different next week.

But for me, HNA? 50% (generous!) of the posts are a load of crap by Internet trolls. (Sometimes guilty myself! ) .You have to really sift through to get to the quality (and some really are insightful/funny). Whereas the Whiff generally only had 1 shite article per issue! Loved the cartoons and letters personally.

Best advert for it is our whiffman Beef above - 17 posts in 8 years. This is someone whose opinions I want to read more than someone with 10,000 posts on an internet forum!

Is that an offer to sell and write?

@ Wimb, my post earlier wasn't intended as a criticism of TTE, just that the Whiff was great and would supplement the rest of Reading's fan based media.

On the subject of 'Is paper dead?' The answer is not by a long shot. It'll be around for decades to come still.

For the following reasons.

1) For a start when people care a lot about something they tend to get nostalgic and traditional about it- look at the continuing popularity of vinyl(and this thread)

2) Whilst both paper media and phones/pads are anti social, phones are more so because noone else can see what you're reading. On looking up from my paper/book I've often had people ask me what it's like, about etc.

3) As a complete poser I like people being able to see what I'm reading, cos what you read is one of things that marks you out as either a pcunt or not.

4) People will always want something cheap they can shove in their pocket, get wet, drop, not worry about leaving on a bus or running out of battery. People that take an Ipad on a beach holiday look like tw@ts, because it's a stupid idea.

5) Especially for stuff like the Whiff, people want to collect stuff and have a physical copy of it.

6) Precisely because it's harder to print something, the content has to be of higher quality and be more exclusive, and as a result seeing your name in print when you've written something feels like more of an achievement then posting shit like what I'm posting now.

7) Owning something physical means you have a secure copy of it. Let's face it, unless you back up every great article you read online on a disc, using software that will never go out of date, you will lose it at some point.

No offence taken! and do agree with most of those, though again technology will probably catch up with just about all of them at some point!

[Compo's Hat]

The thought of resurrecting the Whiff / jumping on the Band Wagon had crossed certain Whiff minds. I shall feed back to Colin Cheeselog, Frank Fickle and Doris Fraud accordingly.

Would be great news even if you guys could only do it 2/3 times a season due to your family commitments. Your humour is greatly missed!

[Magic_Shovel]

I would buy it, I've always been a fan of the fanzine.

Probably goes without saying to anyone who understands my username!!!

[mx]

The thought of resurrecting the Whiff / jumping on the Band Wagon had crossed certain Whiff minds. I shall feed back to Colin Cheeselog, Frank Fickle and Doris Fraud accordingly.

Would be great news even if you guys could only do it 2/3 times a season due to your family commitments. Your humour is greatly missed!

Much as I would love to see it back, I believe that certain Whiffers are distracted by more than just family stuff these days. Hopefully Beef will report back otherwise though.

Perhaps someone could start a new fanzine....?

[anR]

Perhaps someone could start a new fanzine....?

It could be called the Royal Boil? No, the Crown Jewels!

[surrounded by saints]

please bring back the whiff,or sme other fanzine.i always thought it was better value than the club programme.