The Contribution and Subscription Forms That Didn’t Work
“We never thought we were perfect, and now we have proof,” wrote Latitude 38 publisher Richard Spindler in the May 1977 edition of Latitude 38. The comment was written in response to letters received after the first issue came out, letting him know that his suggestion that they subscribe to the new magazine by filling out the form in the first issue wouldn’t work because the form had been accidentally left out. We’ve been happy to do the best we can, carrying on the tradition, and we have succeeded. We’ve done it again!
In last Friday’s ‘Lectronic Latitude, we wrote a story about some of Latitude 38’s history, and asked readers for financial support. All you had to do was click the link in the story to go to the page with the contribution form. Checking the results later, we were disappointed to see that, unlike in response to our prior requests, we hadn’t received a single contribution. What are we doing wrong? Looking back at our story, we clicked on the link to go to the donation form, and sure enough, there was no form! Despite almost 50 years of striving, perfection continues to elude us.
If you were frustrated on Friday about being unable to make a donation we’re offering a second chance here:
Researching further, we also found that, just as in May 1977, our subscription form was not on our website either! We have no idea why things that have happily been working for years suddenly disappear from the website, but it happens.
Latitude 38 and Merlin are both heading toward their 50th anniversary in 2027. The boat’s new owner, Chip Merlin, continues to race the venerable Bill Lee-designed and -built Merlin while we continue imperfect ways of covering Merlin and the “world of sailing through the eyes of the West Coast sailor.” (That’s you!)
We pinky promise that prior to posting this story we checked, and both the contribute form and the subscription form were live and working on the site. Give them a try, or let us know if you can’t find them! (Subscriptions make great gifts.)