Aussie Finch Forum

Hello everyone,

Many of you will be aware of the recent announcement that the Just Finches and Softbills magazine is ceasing publication. I have expressed an interest in keeping the magazine in publication and have been in contact with the current owner of the magazine. Before making any decisions about the future of the magazine, I am interested in the thoughts of the avicultural community. I have put together a survey which seeks to find out information about the worthiness of the magazine and what the avicultural community wants from the magazine.

I invite, and encourage, everyone to participate in the survey, including those who are not familiar with the Just Finches and Softbills magazine.

The survey is comprehensive as it looks at all aspects of the magazine. The survey will take approximately 10 to 20 minutes to complete. The time taken to complete the survey is dependent upon your responses.

The survey is completely voluntary and anonymous.

Please feel free to share the link to this survey with others.

To complete the survey, please click on the link below.

http://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/XryjR4

The survey will be open for one month, until 2 September 2017.

Thank you.

UPDATE:
It’s been 24 hours since the survey opened. I have had some good response numbers. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to complete the survey so far. It is appreciated.

I have had a few people comment on the length of the survey. I’d just like to say that the survey is long, and I know that this is in no way ideal. Unfortunately, there was no other way I could do it. I thought about having different surveys for the various sections but I don’t think the majority of people would be willing to continue having to revisit the issue of the magazine to complete multiple surveys. Also, having multiple surveys creates a logistical nightmare when trying to analyse the data. I apologise for the frustrations that the survey has created, and I am grateful for people at least trying to complete the it. I do understand that it can be time consuming and frustrating having to answer so many questions, but I would like to ask people to please persevere with the survey because I do believe it is for a worthwhile cause.

Taking over the magazine is not going to be an easy task. I am requesting a lot of information from the avicultural community because I need to ensure the worthiness of magazine, for now and in the future. I want the magazine to continue to be successful and a valuable source of information for everyone who chooses to use it. Without the information, it is going to be difficult for me to know what you guys want.

Thank you again for all the support and time that people have given the survey and the magazine. The survey will be open until 2 September if people wish to complete it.

Good afternoon everyone,

This is a reminder that the Just Finches and Softbills magazine survey is still open, and will remain open until 2 September 2017. Everyone is welcome to complete the survey, including those who are not familiar with the magazine. The link to the survey is below.

If you want to see the Just Finches and Softbills magazine continue, or if you want to see a magazine that is dedicated to finches and softbills, please complete the survey.

The survey will be offline between 6.30 pm and 9.00 pm this evening for some changes.

An important new feature will be available on the survey when it comes back online this evening. The new feature will allow participants to save and return to the survey at a later time. This is being added to the survey following feedback received about the length of the survey and the time taken to complete it. I hope that this will help, and enable more people to complete the survey.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has completed the survey so far.

http://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/XryjR4

The survey is now back online.

It is now possible to save a partially completed survey and return to it later. Click on the 'Save and continue later' link, which appears between the 'back' and 'next' buttons at the bottom of each page, to save your survey. Remember to take note of the URL address you are given so that you can return to your survey; otherwise your answers will be lost.

Good evening everyone,

I just wanted to put out another reminder about the Just Finches and Softbills magazine survey. The survey is still open, and will be open for another couple of weeks, until 2 September 2017.

I have had the opportunity to start the analysis of the data received to date from completed surveys. There are a few of things that I would like to mention. These are:

- I have had very few women complete the survey – women represent less than 8% of the overall participants. I know that this is a male dominated hobby / area, but I would have really liked to see more women complete the survey. So, if there are any women who have not yet completed the survey, please do take the time to complete it.

- I have had no juniors (persons under 18 years of age) complete the survey at all. This is very concerning, particularly when juniors are the future of aviculture. I am asking anyone who knows a junior aviculturist to please encourage them to participate. They do not have to be familiar with the Just Finches and Softbills magazine to participate in the survey. If there are any juniors that do not have access to the link for the survey, please let me know and I will email it to them.

- I have had very few or no participants from the ACT, SA, WA, Tasmania and NT. Again, I encourage people of these states to participate, even if you are not familiar with the Just Finches and Softbills magazine. I would like your input for any future magazine.

- A number of people have commented that they have either not received the last issue of the Just Finches and Softbills magazine, or have not been issued a refund. Whilst I understand the frustration that this may be causing, this is not something that I can control. If you are in this situation, please contact the current owners of the magazine as soon as possible, to have this rectified. Their contact details are located on the inside cover of each issue of the magazine.

Lastly, the hosts of the survey have advised that there will be a short down period tomorrow, Saturday 19th August, between 4.30 pm and 5.30 pm for maintenance on the website. Participants will not be able to access the survey during this period.

I would like to say thank you again to everyone that has participated in the survey to date. The data provided so far is looking very positive.

Survey link:
http://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/XryjR4

Hi everyone,

Just putting out the final reminder about the Just Finches and Softbills magazine survey. The survey is only open for one more week, until Saturday 2 September 2017.

This is the last chance to have your say about the magazine so please take the time to complete the survey. Please click the link below to complete the survey.

http://survey.sogosurvey.com/r/XryjR4

Thank you to everyone who has completed the survey. I have received some excellent data which will help ensure that we will continue to have a magazine that is dedicated to finches and softbills in the future.

There has been a lot work going on in the background over the last couple of weeks, with a lot of work still to go. Please keep an eye out for announcements about the magazine which should occur in the next couple of months.

Kind regards
Suzanne