Aikido Today Magazine Quitting!

I just received a letter from ATM stating that they're STOPPING the magazine, issue #100 will be the last one printed! That sure came as a surprise to me! I've been reading this magazine for the past 15 years! It will be sorley missed by the aikido community!

Are you serious!!!! I just renewed my subscription!

There's nothing on thier web site?

Hi folks,

That's surprising news! Did anyone else receive this letter, or does anyone else have more information?

-- Jun

Lloyd McWhirt wrote: Are you serious!!!!

No Joke here! ...I'm serious! The letter I have is from Susan Perry, titled: "The Final Issue! #100"

Issue #99 will go into depth explaining the reasons behind the magazine ending, with issue #100 as the final issue!

The letter I have states the following:

The Final Issue!
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Aikido Today Magazine #100
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Dear Faithful Readers,

Please join me in celebrating the completion of my first step in aiki service - Aikido Today Magazine -- and the beginning of my next step - Aiko Institute. It is time for a bitter-sweet parting with largely unprofitable and very demanding friend: Aikido Today Magazine. My husband and I have tirelessly labored away for the past 18 years on a mission to free Aikido by providing a place for all Aikido students from every kind of practice to meet one another on the mat. Our calendar of events was the centerpiece of Aikido's liberation. (Please see my article in ATM #99 for the longer story.) But now students are free to train most everywhere, and information is abundant. The mission has been accomplished and now it is time for us to move on.

My next step is Aiko Institute; an educational non-profit institute. So, I am not, by any means, leaving the aikido community. Rather I am moving onto an even larger endeavor aimed at bringing Aikido into the world. Aiko Institute will secure a respectable place for Aikido in this country as well creating an aikido library and archive for research. Already Aiko Institute has held over 30 workshops; many with notable Aikido sensei.

But transitions are difficult and expensive. Please support and join me in this movement. Subscribe to the last 2 issues and read my article in the next issue about this fantastic Aiki journey. I value you, my subscribers, and hope that you will support ATM to the end.

Susan Perry, Editor, Aikido Today Magazine

Posted 2005-05-09 10:06:04 by Jun Akiyama
News URL: http://www.aiki.com

I have just received reports that Aikido Today Magazine will stop its magazine publication at issue #100. This means that their July/August 2005 issue will be their last. The editors mention that they will be putting their energy into a new project, their Aiko Institute. A representative of the magazine writes, "With Aiko, [Sue Perry] will be organizing seminars, classes with guest senseis, programs for children and parents, and so on. The calendar, dojo directory, and book and video options will still be available on www.aiki.com." I wish Sue, Ron, and everyone else involved in the new project the best of luck and wish to thank them for years of service to the aikido community through the publication of their magazine.

___________________
~~~ To submit a news item to AikiWeb's front page, click here. ~~~

So what happens to those of us with subscriptions? Are we to be refunded our remaining issues?

John Riggs wrote: So what happens to those of us with subscriptions? Are we to be refunded our remaining issues?

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are now official supporters of the Aiko Institute.



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I was sadden to hear this news too.

I would like to puiblically express my deepest compliments and appreciation for what Susan Perry at Aikido Today Magazine has given us throughout the years.

This comes as a shock. It is a change, but we can "roll" with it. I hope Aiko Institute goes well. Wishing all the best!

I wish them the best too. But, I want a refund for the next 2 years I prepaid.

Actually your subscription is an asset and may be sold as such.

Hi folks,

Susan Perry asked me to relay the following piece of communication to everyone.

Susan Perry wrote: As ATM has completed its mission we are moving on to a larger aiki project - Aiko Institute. You can read about it in ATM, I have written quite a bit about it already that we have published there. We will still maintain an Aiki shop, automated calendar, dojo directory and advertising page plus more for the aikido community at our web page aiki.com. This will give us more time to create new products as well. We will advertise these on aiki.com as well as through catalogs we'll send out. All this transition takes resources and so we're hoping that subscribers with some unused investment will accept our Budo Bucks for that amount which can be used towards purchases of ATM products of books and DVDS and Videos (and of course back issues!). We are now preparing those budo bucks and a letter explaining all this. You should receive it before the last issue is out. We value our subscribers and hope to keep you happy. Hope this helps explain the situation. Susan Perry

-- Jun

I believe this was first announced in ATM #98. So this was not a surprise to me.

Did anyone receive the last issue of ATM? It's due any day now.

yep

Hallo. I received the last issue a couple of days ago, and it was just a rehash of some older articles.
That tells me that the editors are simply anxious to "get on to new things". When I stand back and look at the 'big picture', Aikido Today Magazine was like a bird that flies in many directions, also looking for the 'next new thing'. That kind of a bird, to no surprise, eventually flies away. In gassho.

I recently received this email from someone over at the new Aiki.Com website, formerly aikido today magazine.

aiki.com wrote: Sorry, We are not able to list your email, phone or URL in the basic listing. If you would like to increase the number of visitors to your dojo listing, please use the link below to purchase the full listing. For any search, for your zip code or city, as a paid dojo you will appear on the first result page. Aiki.com visitors will be able to view your detail and click the link to your website. You also will be able to check your statistics (number of listing views and number of visitors to sent to your site from aiki.com dojo directory) We belive that the introductory price of $49 a year is very low for the value you are getting and number of visitors running cross your complete, verified and updated dojo information.

with a bit of disbelief, I responded in kind with:

Shaun Ravens wrote: Regarding the section of your message: We belive that the introductory price of $49 a year is very low for the value you are getting and number of visitors running cross your complete, verified and updated dojo information. I feel it fair to say that putting any fee on listing basic information such as a website address a phone number affiliation, etc. is an unwise move. Moreover, it just doesn't feel right at a base level. I don't know of a single other martial arts listing service that has such a requirement on basic listings. In moving to such a format, Aiki.com has set a very bad precedent because, as is always the case, once someone charges a fee, others will follow suit responding with lines like, "...Aiki.com charges $49.00 and we charge $10.00 less." or "We give you so much more than double the value for only $75.00, so you are really saving money when you look at what you get for what you are paying." In the end, people making the slimmest profit, if not losing money, feel forced to pay because if they don't they will find potential customers joining the dojo around the corner, instead of their own, which may have been a better fit for the beginner had he or she known it existed in the first place. I do believe people should make a profit, even aikido people. Running both a dojo and a computer consulting company, I personally just don't see how you can equate your cost to list a dojo with anything even close to $49.00. I ask you, how do you justify that? Of course, you are not asking me for my opinion. Since you felt it okay to email me saying you feel "...$49.00 is fair.." I will give it anyway as I feel that an honest, unbiased opinion is rare, and as a business owner, I know the one that you receive is representative of the one thousand that you never get to hear. With that in mind, here it is, "It appears that once again, the people of Aiki.com (just as with Aikido Today) are sorely out of touch with the larger Aikido community that they are hoping to represent. Complaints without suggestions don't seem to serve anyone but the complainer, so I will make a suggestion - make your pay service voluntary, or at least donate most of what you are accepting to a non-related charity like Gilda's Club, Worldwide (http://www.gildasclub.org) or to Tsunami Relief. I do believe that is more in line with the Spirit of O-Sensei than making a buck simply because you can... Best regards, Shaun Ravens, Chief Instructor - NY Aikido Center

In hoping to facilitate Aiki.com through an informal survey here on Aikiweb, I am wondering what others think of the new pay for a basic listing format, $49.00 or otherwise...



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The majority of the Aikido community is made up of not-for-profit organizations, or at least organizations that don't turn a profit .

I think their "new" approach to dojo listings is very non-aiki. They are trying to turn a community service into a profit center.

Why go to aiki.com, when google gets you there (eventually) for free?