Allow me please to come in and try to shed light on the situation. I am the founder of The Airhead and still edit each issue of the ezine.
The Airhead was started by myself and a small group of fellow enthusiasts last April. It was born out of total frustration at the lack of interest shown in the older BMW's by the biking press or the established clubs. Quite simply we wanted something interesting to read about the bikes we loved.
The original idea of a small self-help group swapping information and stories soon caught on. People who felt they had little to contribute also wanted to join. We were doing this for love of the bikes, not for profit and so it was decided to welcome non-contributors also provided they made a donation of £10 to our local Air Ambulance.
The concept took off beyond our dreams. We currently have over 700 subscribers from over 20 countries. The 8 page newlsetter we envisaged publishing four times a year is actually printed 8 times a year and the last issue had 51 pages.
We do not make a penny out of advertising. There is one link to an insurance company whose commission goes straight to the Air Ambulance. We are enthusiasts writing for other enthusiasts and reject any attempt to make us tied to particular products or brands. Our neutrality and impartiality is important to us.
All members have access to all back issues and are told how to accessthese when they join. Thus anyone joining now will have access to the nine issues produced so far plus each and every issue until the subscription period ends next March. Far from being a 'scam I feel that to receive such a volume of Airhead-related material for a £10 donation to charity is quite remarkable value.
I was surprised when I read about Tony Smith's problems in not receiving each issue. Our admin records show that he has been sent every issue since he joined. The issues are sent out to 50 email addresses at a time and I have checked with all the others in Tony's group. Everyone else has received theirs.
I don't doubt Tony's statement for a second but it is frustrating that we can not explain why he has not received them. As far as we are aware his situation is unique and something we are still trying to investigate. All issues were, of course, available for Tony to download from our Archives page.
Whatever the cause of the problem I have tried my best to rectify the situation as soon as I became aware of it through this forum. Tony has been sent the latest issue and I have reminded him of how to download future issues from the website should he not receive the emailed versions. I have also given Tony an extra year's membership as an apology for any frustration he has felt.
We have no record at all of Tony Shaw ever having sent us material or of trying to subscribe. I suspect that this is another example of emails not reaching their target. If Tony contacts me directly then I would be delighted to accept his article.
Georges - as instigator of this thread you have done a lot of good by bringing to light problems of which we were unaware. If you choose to subscribe through the Subscribe page on the website (sorry, I'm not allowed to give you a link here) then I would be delighted to grant you a year's free membership. That way you can make your own mind up about us.
Thankyou all for your time.
Peter Ardron,
Editor, The Airhead Ezine.
