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| F.A.Q. - Frequently Asked Questions How Leasing News works---
Leasing News is not a “newsletter.” Leasing News is a web site that posts information and entertainment for the leasing industry, primarily in the United State; The news edition is generated normally three times a week, Monday-Wednesday-Friday, with up-dates, if needed, or new “editions.” It is part of the web site. The e-mail notification connects to the web site. Over half of those who read the news edition go direct to the web site rather than the e-mail notification sent by Constant The web site has a lot of useful information and sections, much more than the news edition. It is up-dated Monday through Friday during regular business hours. The news edition is started at 11pm, PST. At this time, the next day United States paper newspapers and their web sites are available. In addition to reading over 30 newspaper front pages and business sections, other sources are also read. The news edition is then organized, written, compiled, and banner ads placed by the editor. The goal is to have it ready to be converted into HTML A brief discussion is had about the edition with Brian Wong, the webmaster, who then converts the news edition into HTML. He posts on the web site. After the main web site edition is complete, the archives section, consisting of the headlines to the story are also coded and put into the archive section, a method to insure that the links are The third step is to construct the e-mailing announcement. This is then sent by Constant Contact from 3am to 4am, PST, depending on the length and when the original material was received. At 10:00am, the web site is reviewed for corrections, as this is the first time Maria Martinez-Wong is available. Top Stories, This Day in American History, cartoons, poems, and other “up-dates” It is not unusual for stories to be expanded, or cut, pictures added, and the point is during the day Maria is up-dating the web site sections as needed. If there is a “serious correction,” an announcement is made in the next edition, at the top. The 1:00am goal is to reach the East Coast before they get out of bed, and to also try to reach European, the middle-east, and India before the end of their work day; otherwise, the news would be one day behind for them. It takes Brian three hours daily to complete the postings, so the goal is to call him that it is ready to go at 1:00am. Sometimes it goes past the "drop dead" point at 1:30am and goes into 2:00am. Neither the editor nor the webmaster are happy about being that late to start. Web Trends tells us we have readers at 6:30am, EST, and 12:00pm, EST. Most read the edition in the morning. The purposes of the e-mail headlines sent to readers on the mailing list are to notify those on the mailing list the stories that appear on the web site, and to let them know they are “posted.” Sometimes there are “extra editions” on a breaking story. The headlines click to the story on the web site, and bring the reader to the web site itself. Tuesday, Thursday night, Saturday morning or day, other features and stories are researched, assembled, and drafts written. When it is not football season, several hours on Sunday are taken to catch up. Leasing News is a part-time effort by the editor, who is a principal in a 35 year old leasing company, American Leasing, Silicon Valley, California. During the week, the editor generally opens incoming e-mail at noon, PST, working his lunch hour on Leasing News. E-mail is opened from time to time during the rest of the day, depending on time available. It is not kept open. Follow-up is made when possible during the afternoon; sometimes the morning, if it is a story not complete. Most of the work is done after 11pm for the news edition. The goal is to be the first with the news, including reaching as many readers on the East Coast and the time zones that will find the news “fresh.” It should be noted, the Leasing News telephone number is not posted on the sight on purpose. This reduces the many questions from students, people who want to go into the leasing business, want to promote a press release, from attorneys or lessee or those with complaints, other reporters who have questions or information to share. There are hundreds of e-mails daily handled by one person. These are processed by e-mail which gives the ability to provide the specific information requested, to obtain information in writing rather than “verbal to writing,” and makes it a more efficient to produce a news edition; hopefully more accurate, too, as everything then is in writing.
Why
didn’t you print my e-mail message? You
may have wanted it “unsigned” and we have a policy regarding
that,
published “on line” and often in the daily newsletter. We also
may
have not considered it newsworthy or an “out and out advertisement.” Where
do you get your mailing list.? Readers have to ask to join. We do not spam anyone. To be added to the mailing list, you must request it. We do not send anything about our company or personal e-mail or jokes to the leasing news list. We do not share our mailing list with anyone. We
follow Internet Netiquette at all times. Our sole purpose is to provide communication
to
improve our profession. How
often do you publish? Leasing News generally has an edition on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. From time to time there are "extra's" or "flash" news, considered important to send out. Depending on the last date of the edition, we often sometimes will publish on a holiday, but usually note. We follow Internet Netiquette at all times. Our sole purpose is to provide communication to improve, and entertain, our profession. We reserve the right to deny sending the newsletter when requested. The majority of our readers reach us direct at www.leasingnews.org as the news edition is basically an "announcement' that the edition is posted. How Do You Handle Accusations About Advance Rentals? We also invite all readers to utilize our "Customer Complaint" Bulletin Board. We will post all verified complaints of fraud, unethical conduct, and this may serve as a warning not to do business with this specific company. The experienced professionals write in all the time, "know who you are dealing with." We hope you don't find out the hard w ay and our "Customer Complaint" Bulletin Board is one way to be alerted. We do not want to discourage you from sending us "on" and "off the record," information, but we will not publish accusations. We will report the "inside" news and hope we are of sometimes entertaining, but always--- of educational benefit.
editor. Do
you know who funds ATM machines?
The
dealer has a leasing plan where they get paid by the funding source. We Print Everyone's Viewpoint "Bias" and "Unfair" When a writer signs his or her name to an article, they may be "bias" and have an opinion. It is their opinion. It is their viewpoint. They are then "bias." They also may appear "unfair" as they are expressing their viewpoint and opinion in the article. They are the writer of the article. They may be viewed as a “columnist” as in a printed newspapers. "Editorials" When Christopher Menkin signs his name as publisher, it is considered an editorial of Leasing News. It represents the view of the publisher of Leasing News. "Letters to the Editor" These are published once a month, sometimes more often. They are generally printed in chronological order when received. Often they have a response from the Editor, and so noted. Rarely are they edited, and if so, for netiquette. Letters that are longer than "usual," may be put in pdf format.
Leasing News Archives Search---up-date
There are two buttons under the masthead. One will take you directly to the current month archives of news editions. At the bottom, the archives are placed by year and month and go back to April, 2000. The other button under the masthead will “search” the archives. It is free. Most archives are not free for stories over a month or so old. Our archives have been cumbersome at over 5,000 pages to say the least. Recently we have spent more time and money to get the archives to perform better. In the past, the news search was by the most read, as Google does theirs (with the most recent posted In trying to tweak this, we ran into stories that are not linked by chronological date, but other links we have created, such as “top stories,” “the list,” “funder.” The good news is there are basically still in chronologically order as they appeared. The bad news, some may be duplicates of ones with a date. This has been a long term project to clean up, whenever we find the time for this chore. Luckily they only go back three years or so. Readers can define the search with an “advance search.” We intend to spend more time up-grading the system. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, please send to maria@leasingnews.org http://www.leasingnews.org/search.htm Leasing News Cartoons
Readers often ask if they can “copy” cartoons that are published here. If it is for personal use, to send to a friend, that is okay. If it is a cartoon created by Leasing News, yes you may copy it and use anywhere. Leasing News does not copyright its articles, cartoons, placards, and expressly gives permission to anyone on the Any cartoon that is copyrighted cannot be distributed or utilized in another publication, including the internet, or for any commercial use, including non-profits. The copyright notification is included at the bottom of these cartoons. Leasing News purchases the rights to the cartoons for use on www.leasingnews.org. We recently purchased 52 new ones from the New Yorker magazine to run this year. Your editor is now choosing 20 new cartoons from Sydney Harris and a dozen or more from Dan’s Cartoons. We may purchase the rights to other cartoons from commercial distributors to fit specific articles, too. http://two.leasingnews.org/SoundBits/Cartoons/YABBA.WAV
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