Al Lowe

At the February Board of Directors meeting, the 4D Board voted to move the Grab Iron to a new improved format. Rather than continue our current method of digitally “printing” a new “issue” in a magazine format each month and storing it on the web, we will now take full advantage of the benefits of the Internet. Come September, your new Digital Grab Iron will be 100% web-based, with all the advantages of the net.

Rather than twelve pages, we’ll have unlimited space. Instead of waiting weeks until an arbitrary end of the month publishing date, updates will be published immediately. Instead of a monthly email notification, you’ll receive an email instantly whenever areas you are interested in change. No more postage-stamp photos; instead you’ll see high-res, large-format photographs where you can actually see details. No more downloading a large PDF; everything will be instantly accessible in your browser.

Every article will include space for comments, suggestions, hints, and tips. Every link and email address will be clickable. We’ll even include videos! You’ll receive timely Treasurer’s reports and Secretary’s minutes. We’ll have unlimited room for articles and submissions. Instead of formatting for 8.5″ x 11″ paper, everything will be formatted for your browser.

This also means the end of the paper Grab Iron. We can stop paying thousands of dollars of your money to print, stamp, address, and mail it to fewer than fifty members at a cost greater than $25 per year! We will keep our Yahoo Group for discussions, but I suspect much of its traffic will move to the Digital Grab Iron.

We see this not as a step back, but as a vast improvement to our Division’s communications and we think you will, too. This issue will be posted as a starter. It and all future Grab Irons will be at www.4dpnr.com/grabiron. Stop by now and check it out. Compare it with this PDF. We think you’ll love it.

The Grab Iron is dead; long live the Grab Iron!