Annual review: January 2023 roadmap

It’s been a little over a year since the LAI Publications website went online: an annual review is therefore essential!

Since its launch and to date (January 27th, 2023), 60 articles (excluding communication… 3) 3 books (for a total of 22 chapters) and 1 collection of catalogues (in the books section) have been uploaded on the website. That’s more than 350,000 words and more than 2,100 pictures… for the moment for only 30 euros! We have increased free access for this work to more than 40%: it is necessary for SEO issues (let’s be transparent!). The frequency of publication is currently of one article per week, usually on Friday mornings… all fresh for the weekend! As far as possible, we will try to do more, but never at the expense of quality: most of our articles require a quantity of work (research, experimentation, exchange with authors) rarely equaled on the Internet… and sometimes even in the printed media. Indeed, in the latter, the limitations related to publishing issues often impose a quite short format to let the author express himself: in France, generally 3,000 words and twenty pictures per article where our articles / chapters reach on average more than 4,800 words and thirty pictures … with some articles of more than 10,000 words and 100 pictures!

The subjects are as varied as the length of the articles: here a key word, freedom. Freedom for our authors, on the substance and as far as possible on the form, that is to say, the technical limitations of the site. Each author remains the master of his production, even once his work is online. Finally, our articles, once published, are updated, the most important updates being even indicated in a dedicated article.

Finally, comrade Thomas of the YouTube channel “Le Feu aux Poudres” had the great generosity – in addition to giving us great visibility through his videos – to entrust us with his scripts: you will find them here in the “Books” section. A very big thank you to him!

Precisely, about YouTube, Wikipedia and the platforms of financing participatif… Why support us?

Despite YouTube’s qualities (and we do spend time watching!), we believe that this platform cannot and should not be the alpha and omega of information on weapons. On the one hand, the sums intended for the content creator are ultimately small compared to the sums received by the latter. On the other hand, let’s not be fooled: it is generally anti-gun and only tolerates this subject to the extent that the financial income is substantial. Therefore, it will not hesitate to remove this content as soon as the trade balance is no longer favourable. Unlike us and the content creators who it welcomes, it is not passionate about these topics (in reality, it is only about money… This explains the focus on low-quality but profitable content… as many YouTubers explained very well before your servant!). And content removals and censorship, there have already been a lot of it many times and again recently… and sometimes for unclear reasons and without possibility of appeal: the fact of the prince. And the prince doesn’t really seem to get better as he gets older…

As for Wikipedia… Well, it’s Wikipedia: the best rubs shoulders with the worst, without any real distinction. All languages are not in the same boat: for our part and to our great regret, we have hardly consulted the French pages for a very long time… Wikipedia represents for us an utopian model: a free format (so where people literally work on a voluntary basis… that is, with the same wage as a slave, because that’s what it is) and where just about anyone can get anything done, with a system of theoretical control that we do not think is very clear, especially in specialties like ours. On our side, each author is clearly presented on each work, with his “pedigree”: their work is reviewed by a professional in the field (in this case, your servant). Together, we publish the fruit of their work without promoting “one-size-fits-all” thinking. Thus, do not be surprised to find disagreement between two authors on LAI Publications: as long as the statement in question does not fall under an “established fact” (technical, scientific, judicial…) It is normal for things to be subject to debate! And we encourage you to take a critical look at our work! We are not perfect, but try to offer you the best possible, without ever botching the work.

As for crowdfunding platforms, here too, the thing undoubtedly brings advantages and disadvantages. On the advantages they often secure your investment and give visibility to the creations they offer. Among the disadvantages, it has an obvious but legitimate one: it consumes part of the payment for its internal functioning. We have chosen to do without this model:

• Your investment is clear and immediate, it covers all the content already published and the one to come for 1 year (so more than that of a paper magazine, which offers you access to the content of the coming year). Given the amount of publication already online… It is already an unbeatable quality / price ratio!
• The sums collected are entirely used for the operation of LAI Publications and the remuneration of the authors. Why would we pay money to a third-party platform?

Similarly, the choice of annual payment is a management choice: we do not want a multitude of monthly payments of € 2.5 (because yes, the subscription is currently at an average of € 2.5 per month). As for the price… Well, it is based on economic realities, both of the country in which we live in, and where we work (with all its taxes): France. We know that this amount will seem ridiculous to some… and important to others. But there is no “free lunch” to borrow an expression dear to economists and we have to live with our economic realities.

So, what about the future?

Let’s be blunt, given the amount of work that the site generates, the business model is probably bound to evolve if we want to be able to continue to publish with the same frequency… and if the number of subscribers does not increase significantly. If the attendance of the site is quite satisfactory at this stage (after only one year of activity), the number of subscribers is clearly not related and does not generate sufficient income for the operation of the site! At the launch of the site, we bet on a subscription model, thinking that from an ethical point of view, the thing would be accepted, this one being a guarantee of independence and freedom of speech. But just as we were not inclined to put ourselves in the hands of social networks (being able to sweep your work on a mood swing, something problematic, especially, once again, in our specialty!), we may have to review our copy: it depends on you, the weapon enthusiasts.

Note here that if we have joined the social networks, most of our work is present on our website, and that in case of censorship of one of these networks, we are able to load all of our production (video included!) on our site. As far as possible, we thought about it in a sustainable way.

As we announced in July 2022, we plan to evolve our picture gallery: it does not satisfy us on smartphone, and we would like to add a “full screen” mode following the complaint of several readers. But as already mentioned, things are not done on a snap of the fingers, these changes mean more investments… in every sense of the word! Indeed, these solutions do not exist off-the-shelf and even less for free. We take this opportunity to remind you that our viewer, unlike many other sites, allows you (on computer) to zoom and move where you want on our photos… as you can test here!

While waiting for these novelties, the LAI Publications team wishes you a Happy New Year and excellent readings and offers you “some” of the pictures posted on Instagram in the gallery of this article! They give you an overview of all the topics that could be addressed with more means…

Oh yes, again: the only way to support us is to subscribe! No advertising, no cookies, no fundraiser funding: these are ethical choices. The same ethic that leads us to give freedom to our authors and to favor quality. We hope you will understand these choices, and that you will support us. We probably don’t repeat it enough… So, from time to time… A little bit of hammer therapy!

Don’t forget that you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Finally, a big thank you to all our readers and followers with a special thank you to the LAI Publication subscribers!