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The Senior Surfers Online Newsletter is an extremely important tool in the CAADE Armoury. Currently there are no other specialist online Newsletters of its kind serving the Seniors Market.
Whereas the Website is 'there' and always available to everyone who wishes to use it, the Newsletter is not. To receive the Newsletter it is necessary for you to 'sign-up' for it. In these days of massive 'junk mail' and 'spam', we have to insist that you request 'twice' to receive it. It is called 'double-opt-in' in the trade - and helps to protect you from receiving unwanted mail.
Long since have gone the days when we can give away our products free all the time. However with a mindset of 'value for money' we have put a price per copy of the Newsletter at £1.00. With issues every fortnight that's £24 ($42) per year.
So simply if you want to receive the Newsletter, just email us (sson@caade.net) and we'll email you back, asking for your email connection details and 'confirmation' from you that you do want to receive the Newsletter. We will at this stage offer you the current 'subscription' programme or confirm that it is FREE, as it will be if you become a member of CAADE, or are partaking in any of CAADE's Courses- You would be wise to advise your ISP too of this arrangement (see note at bottom of page) - as many newsletters, because of their size at first glance look like spam. Make sure they know you want to receive it.
It is difficult to alter a website quickly and so to bring you 'breaking news' we can bring it to you quickly through the Newsletter. A newsletter to support the website and to answer the perceived needs of the 45+ community, was conceived early in 1998.
Currently we are enjoying a revolution of interest in computers and the Internet in the UK. Not unreasonably this trend towards Internet usage is being led by the over 45's (Seniors). Despite what you hear to the contrary according to recent statistics 30% more over 45's are adapting to the Internet than those under the age of 45.
Here at CAADE we realised that Seniors were requiring online information and we determined to find the right vehicle of supply to suit their needs. To this end, we spent quite a few months in 1998 looking at typical online newsletters operating in the USA, Canada and as far afield as Australia.
From this we developed a 'model' and spent a couple of months experimenting with layouts. SSON found its final form in mid 1999 and we decided to mark its launch by publishing it on the very first day of the new millennium, the 1st day of the 1st month 2000, as a fortnightly post .
We now have posted over eighty issues, three volumes behind us. Most people seem to like our style and once someone subscribes they rarely reverse their decision.
It's other special quality of course is that It is FREE to members and FREE from any commercial pressure. When we started we emailed it out to about 350 addresses, already on our lists, That mailing list has now grown to over 3500. We believe that the Newsletter is read by over 5000 people every fortnight.
Within the Newsletter we keep you up to date with information on the Campaigns, Government decisions and Political Comment. You'll also find inspirational articles and features on house and home, training and jobs etc. A full list is set out below.
The Senior Surfers Online Newsletter includes articles on subjects like: -
Computer Internet tips
e-Business from Home
Health and Home
Humour
Inspirational Thoughts
Job-search and Training Articles
Mainstream Articles
Political and Campaigning
Medical and
Financial Holidays and
Travel Et al
We are always on the look out for good articles on any subject appertaining to our age group. We occasionally include medical articles and 'managing your money' articles. We have writers from all over the world but we are always looking for fresh new talent. Not only do we publish to about 3500 addresses per fortnight, articles published in SSON are often reproduced all over the world. If you are a good writer this is a great shop-window for you.
All SSON articles also make it to our Article Archive files, included with this website and as the site gets over 1500 'hits' a day, exposure rates are high - so get writing-- if you're good enough you could soon be famous.
We have always published our newsletters in 'plain text' at 65 characters width. This way almost everybody even with old and 'primitive' systems can receive it. It also has the added bonus of being Virus resistant. It is very hard for a virus to hide in plain text whereas in HTML there are hiding places everywhere. However there are readers who would still prefer the HTML format.
There is one other difficulty in receiving an online Newsletter - as different from land-mail. It has been known not to arrive! CAADE has its own email distribution system like the ones used by your own ISP's. Unfortunately some ISP's have their own distribution rules. If you want guaranteed receipt - make sure to notify your ISP that you have requested it. An alternative to this is that we actually post the Newsletter on the Website itself where you can access it anytime. We would then just send you a short note on posting day to tell you that it is there waiting for you. Whatever way, we make sure you get your News. 
It's all part of the CAADE service. Join CAADE today
Don't be one of those who are always losing out in life - subscribe to CAADE now. Oh! I keep forgetting to remind you, the Newsletter (worth £24 ($42) per year) is FREE, yes FREE, NO Charge to CAADE Members!
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