The best approach is to educate everyone out there that there is this
internet mailing list, tha thtere are internet forums, and so forth. That
way, no one is left out. Let's face it, in the US, -everyone- has an
e-mail address. People get e-mail at work, school, home, etc. THere just
aren't that many people left who don't have internet access. My 90-year
old grandmother can be reached by e-mail. I'm ten times more likely to
talk to someone via e-mail or instnat message than to pick up the phone
and call them -- after all, you odn't worry about calling at a bad time,
and (more importantly) it doesn't effect your phone bill to e-mail 30
people.
So, for my $.02 (not that any one asked me. :) my advice is tjust to let
people know that there -is- this e-mail list, tht they can talk to members
all over the country easilly, that people on it are not the axe-murders in
the organisation (it amazes me that the idea that everyone on the internet
is a psychopath still exists, when most everyone is on the internet), and
that it is free, conveinent, easy and fun.
If people do hold the idea that any club or group is an "intenret" only
group, my experience has shown that it's becuase tehy're inactive. They
don't really want to go to meetings, trips, and so forth. Calling the
club an "internet-group" is an easy excuse. Those that sincerely do wish
to do offline things, and somehow have this preconception usually shed it
very quickly when they hear about members activities. So at the same time
offline members need to be educated about the online front, the onlien
members need to be kept adviced of the offline front.
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Bob Bock wrote:
> Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 16:23:13 -0500
> From: Bob Bock <bockhouse_at_earthlink.net>
> Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
> Cc: Charles Nunziata <epiplaty_at_tampabay.rr.com>
> Subject: Re: NANFA-- internet clubs
>
> Todd wrote:
>
> I think the only reason that NANFA could appear to be an "Internet Club" is
> because the _active membership_ has found that it's much more conveinent and
> less expensive to do their communications over the Internet... Not that a
> subsection of NANFA has moved forward and left a large part of the club
> behind.
>
> Bob says:
> So what are we going to do about it? If Chris and Charlie don't object, I
> suggest running the following note in American Currents, in the NANFA News
> section:
>
> NANFA Regional Reps Compiling Phone Lists for Upcoming Collecting Trip
>
> Have you missed out on a collecting trip because you don't have access to an
> e-mail account? E-mail is the most convenient, least expensive way to
> notify members of upcoming collecting trips. The expense of postage, and
> the time and trouble of addressing letters and printing trip announcements
> is difficult for many reps, especially those in larger regions. However,
> NANFA regional reps don't want anyone to feel left out and are compiling
> phone lists of members in their regions who would like to be notified about
> future trips. If you're interested in upcoming outings, your regional rep
> would appreciate it if you would call or mail you his number, to be notified
> of future regional events. I listing of the NANFA regional representatives
> appears on the cover of this publication.
>
> How's that?
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Todd Crail" <farmertodd_at_buckeye-express.com>
> To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
> Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2003 3:42 PM
> Subject: Re: NANFA-- internet clubs
>
>
> > Chris doesn't need to think about anything else :) This could easily be
> > part of Charlie's section for the reps and really, I think that's all
> that's
> > necessary unless _some other_ volunteer would like to take this on and be
> a
> > coordinator for getting people hooked up with each other (Maybe under the
> > title "NANFA Member Contact Coordinator"). Even in this situation, I
> think
> > that the volunteer would need to work _with_ Charlie. This is definately
> > Rep territory and if people are getting missed, that's something we need
> to
> > resolve within the Rep program. Not with more paper and postage, and
> > certainly without adding another program to NANFA.
> >
> > It amazed me that with 30 or so contacts in Ohio that all had _valid_
> email
> > addresses, the only respondents to my near-spam like efforts this spring
> to
> > draw people out of the current NANFA member woodwork in Ohio were the
> usual
> > suspects and a single new addition to our usual suspects (who has been a
> > fantastic addition to the "crew" and I'm very glad I'd made the effort :)
> > No "Hi", no "Who are you?", no "Leave me alone". While this is in line
> with
> > a normal direct marketing statistics (expected return on investment), it
> > doesn't exactly make jump up and down to spend a bunch of additional money
> > to duplicate what Bob has found out (and probably coincides with the same
> > statistics).
> >
> > I think the only reason that NANFA could appear to be an "Internet Club"
> is
> > because the _active membership_ has found that it's much more conveinent
> and
> > less expensive to do their communications over the Internet... Not that a
> > subsection of NANFA has moved forward and left a large part of the club
> > behind.
> >
> > Todd
> >
> > >
> > > The thought just struck me--perhaps a short article in NANFA
> acknowledging
> > > the problem, and advising non-Internet capable NANFA members to contact
> > > their regional rep/contacts about being added to a phone list. In
> > addition
> > > to our e-mail announcements, we could call those few members who express
> > > interest in going out on a trip.
> --
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> /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
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/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org