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Volunteer or this Association is defunct!

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gnorgan
Admiral

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USA
563 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2006 : 23:50:11

Okay, fellow sailors, I am reading this "open dialogue", which I approve of wholeheartedly. But I need to get up early to go to work in the morning and need to shut down here on the west coast. Time for all to get some rest, maybe do some sailing to ease the tension and maybe we can all come up with some solutions. Maybe have more people get involved in every aspect of the organization. Groups of like-minded sailing types to handle a part of the whole? Maybe have a couple of people working on the Mainsheet articles, some working to inform all members of what's happening on a regular basis. Maybe have the fleet commode doors be sort of a "congress" (opposite of Progress) to organize things??
This association is growing and improving and needs continual massaging in order to stay "on the wave". Good ideas will come from healthy (and happy) discourse. We all want the same thing here....

Edited by - on

John G-
Admiral

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793 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2006 : 00:08:20

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Antares
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by John G-
 
May issue THEN August.

The next ones not till November.

Elections are in what, Sept.? So only a couple of weeks to get nominations from the membership?

How long have you been a member? February, May, August and November.
The May issue was the time to ask for nominations but...
"The board said to wait!!" 
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

You seem to have contradicted yourself, John. Is the next issue August or November? I believe that it is August, and given the almost instantaneous nature of email and this forum, a couple of weeks is plenty of time for those interested in participating to do so.

To the best of my knowledge, the election period has always been September. It's not the association's fault that Eagle Limited publishes and distributes the Mainsheet in late August, and we are attempting to nullify the unfortunate affect of that publishing schedule by utilizing the other tools at our disposal.

Your criticism is completely premature, as the bylaws state:

"The incumbent Secretary, by any means deemed effective and appropriate by the incumbent Officers, shall issue a call for nominations by August 7 (self-nominations acceptable) and shall distribute ballots prior to September 7."
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

 

You might try reading it again.

February, May, August and November are the delivery dates of the Mainsheet.

Since the TellTale is not sent to the membership the Mainsheet seems to be the only publication that can and does reach the entire membership.
The issues come out at the first of each month. The deadlines are six weeks before distribution. Frank knew this when he said the board did want the elections mentioned in the May issue.

The bylaws state we should get a notice out by August which we did last year in the Aug. Mainsheet. We can do that again this year. I do not publish association business without checking with the officers.
However Jim’s post that started this thread jumped the gun and put pressure on getting candidates. I had checked with the officers and they said wait, then this strong and upsetting thread appeared threatening to shut things down if no one stepped up.
We could have had a welcoming message to the entire membership to fill needed spots in the Mainsheet that you will receive in a few days. Instead there is no mention of elections or needed people and we have this thread saying "defunct"

Why wasn’t the TellTale sent to the membership? Why was I directed to not mention the elections? And then why did this thread start with a threat to disband the association if no one stepped up.
This forum only attracts about 10% of the paid membership. Does anyone really want to restrict the elections to such a narrow slice of the paid membership? Do you think the membership will stay if they are left out?

Go ahead click on the bird.

Edited by - on

John G-
Admiral

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793 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2006 : 00:13:43

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by gnorgan

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

 

Thanks Gary,

Actually I believe that Jim and I have the same goal, to attract new talent to the association.

There are so many good people who just need a little encouragement to step up from their local fleet duties and help the national, oops sorry International Association. I am only advocating communicating with all of them.

Go ahead click on the bird.

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2006 : 11:59:31

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by John G-
 Why wasn’t the TellTale sent to the membership?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
My apologies for forgetting to come back and respond to this question. The reason the TellTale hasn't been sent to the membership via email is relatively simple: 1) the responsibility to do so belongs to the Secretary, and we have been without a Secretary since the resignation of our last, 2) MS-Outlook limits the number of addresses that an email can contain and, therefore, around a dozen emails must be prepared by copying the 668 member email addresses into the To: line in groups of approximately 50, and 3) no one of the remaining officers has had the time to accomplish the task up to this point in time.

Edited by - on

gnorgan
Admiral

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USA
563 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2006 : 22:54:04

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">MS-Outlook limits the number of addresses that an email can contain and, therefore, around a dozen emails must be prepared by copying the 668 member email addresses into the To: line in groups of approximately 50<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Looks like a "divide and conquer" situation to me.

We'd need around 12 to 15 people to type around 50 each onto the To: line. Question is can the list be sent out via email on a Word file? The list could be divided up, sent out to a bunch of volunteers

, typed in and sent in pretty short order...well sent out soon.
Hey, if the list is in Word and sent as a file then one should be able to copy, then paste the addresses into the To: line without typing them at all, right?

In that case it wouldn't really take a ton of time.
If the list is on paper, then scan and send???
Then, of course, we need the message that is to be sent out...
Send me a bunch. I just volunteered if it helps solve this problem.

Edited by - on

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2006 : 23:36:55

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by gnorgan
 Then, of course, we need the message that is to be sent out...
Send me a bunch. I just volunteered if it helps solve this problem.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Thanks for volunteering, Gary! If you don't mind, please shoot Jim an email regarding this subject.

The TellTale will need to be converted to an attachable document, and none of the officers currently has access to the underlying file. Additionally, the membership database is in MS-Excel so it is a matter of cut-and-paste, but I do not know whether the officers are comfortable with releasing that information. Again, Jim will need to provide guidance.

Thanks again for helping us work toward a solution,

Edited by - on

existentialsailor
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1180 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2006 : 04:48:45

Generally, these things are done with an email list manager. This one cost $30:
http://www.mailermailer.com/features/index.mlm

Certainly, there are others, but the beauty is that once set up, it's fairly easy to maintain, without reinventing the wheel everytime.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2006 : 07:00:37

We have the email functionality via our web host. It is just a matter of sending out the telltale to the membership base

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2006 : 11:33:53

Guys, please give me a bit of time to get spun up as secretary, and I believe I can help with this. I am a computer engineer when I can't be sailing, and my wife operates a web development company. It is from that base of experience that I make the following comments.

The world is fighting spam much harder than it ever has before. It is a really bad idea to email things to the world by sending emails from your home address with lots of addresses in the To line (or any other line). It only takes one person to complain, and you get labeled a spam generator for a period of time, which can effect your ability to send mail to most, if not all, of the other people you communicate with.

I am not familiar with what our web host offers, and I would like to be. A mailing service, like the one that existensialsailor pointed out, is the way to go in my opinion. Very cheap, handles letting people opt out, and most importantly, is operated by folks who keep track of the continuously changing and tightening world of anti-spam very closely, so that THEY don't get label a spam source, which would kill their business. If our web host offers this, that's great.

Anyway, since I think it is the Secretary's responsibility to get the telltale sent out, please give me some time to get spun up, talk with the other officers, and git'r done...

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2006 : 11:49:55

Kevin, I love the way you talk! And, it is really nice to have a 250 owner back on the board.

Edited by - on

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