RASC Hamilton - Members Only Was: [Hamilton RASCals] New Email System - Check, Check, Double Check

[Roger Hill]

Hi, Gary...

So this is where it properly belongs?

Firstly, I'd like to thank you for all the work you've done.  

As a LAN/Network/System administrator, I'm fully aware of how much work it can be...which is why I was happy to have Mark Kaye and Dave Lane (et al) look after it!  I ran a listserv in my basement for a couple of years back in the mid '90's.  The Hamilton Centre web site ran on it too. Windows NT3.51, 16 Meg of RAM (at $55 a meg) and 160 megs of hard drive space.  Once I found out about eGroups in mid 1998, it was moved over.  Yahoo! bought them out, and we used their facilities for a while.  In 2003, the offer came in that the Dave Lane could set up a listserv for each Centre, running on a machine (or a cluster) in Halifax, at no cost to the Centre.  The Hamilton Centre ended up with three of them.

So much for the history.

A couple more questions, if you don't mind.  

Have you considered putting a time limit for non-members on the Astronomers list?  One of the things we'd toyed with a few years ago was a "trial" membership.  The term was six months, and if you did not join by the end of the 6 months, access was revoked.  There were limits.  You couldn't be a key-holder, you couldn't vote or attend Board meetings (except by invitation), get National publications, etc. For all other intents, though, the trial-member was to be treated as a member.

We actually got a few members this way...they'd come to rely on access, and when it was taken away, they joined, and then got the full range of services.

We also wanted to make sure that current members didn't feel that they were paying for services that were being given away to others.  It was, after all, their dues that were paying for insurance, hydro, snow clearing, room rental, etc.  Perhaps most importantly, it was the expertise of the current members that was being marketed.  Stating that access was time-limited kept everybody happy.


Secondly, would it be possible to publish to the Members list the application, or the reasons why someone wants access to the Astronomers list?  Just something like "Please welcome Mary Messier to the astronomers list.  Mary lives in Flamborough, is interested in solar system observing, and wants to buy a telescope.  She heard about us through her local paper."  

Should she graduate, perhaps give her one of those nice laminated name cards we used for Board members a couple of years ago (but would say Member on it, of course).  I have no doubt that Andy would thoroughly enjoy making a big deal of presenting this at a general meeting (and rightly so).


Again, thanks for the hard work, Gary.  And I greatly appreciate all the information.

Roger




-----Original Message-----
From: hamilton-bounces at lists.rasc.ca on behalf of Gary Bennett
Sent: Sun 18/03/2012 12:55 AM
To: 'Hamilton RASCals'
Subject: Re: [Hamilton RASCals] New Email System - Check, Check, Double Check
 
Before I get into the meat & potatoes, we should consider that this message
thread is filling the inboxes of ALL RASCals members. So far there are only
3 of you that expressed any interest in knowing more details of our new
email system. So I am going to ask in advance, if anyone wishes to
participate further in this discussion, they should contact me off-group so
that we don't annoy those who are not interested in this topic. 

I would also suggest that this is exactly the type of topic that our new
Forum is designed for (forum.hamiltonrasc.ca).

Rest assured that our communication plans are designed to be easy to use and
secure.

OK, now that we have that out of the way, let's get into it.

The new methods of communicating are simple. 

1)	A single email delivery system that broadcasts to several lists. 
	- astronomers at hamiltonrasc.ca - everyone including non members is on
this list
	- members at hamiltonrasc.ca - RASC Members and Associate Members only
	- board at hamiltonrasc.ca - Current Board of Directors

	Each of these lists are "subscriber based" which means you need to
be a subscriber to send email to the list. If you are NOT a "subscriber" it
requires moderator (me) intervention (approval) or it goes nowhere. Everyone
has already been "pre-subscribed" based on membership status.

2)	A on-line forum. Self explanatory

3)	A general website 

4)	A Facebook site - mainly to post our interactive event calendar.
Interactive meaning that Program Managers can post and update the calendar
for events they are running. They don't need to be HTML programmers and they
don't need to wait for me to do it for them. Newspapers (yes, we are getting
press coverage) can post a simple URL: http://hamiltonrasc.ca/events which
talks about our different events and takes them to our event calendar.
Anyone can view the Facebook calendar even if they don't have a facebook
account. I plan to eliminate the Yahoo Calendar and eventually our main
website will have an interactive calendar.

Orbit is a publication, but I would not call it a communication method.

Now that we have a Bulletin Board up and running there is no reason to
continue with the Yahoo Group. We'll leave it there for now, but eventually
it will evaporate.

The old RASCals and "Announce" List is going to be switched off. I'm not
sure what the timetable is, RASC National is working on it.

Your follow-up email asked about having some personal control over which
list you are on. Generally, it is going to be an all-or-nothing option.
RASCals was the same. Non-members won't be on the "Members" list, but
Members will be on the "Astronomers" list. I can certainly unsubscribe
anyone who does not want to be on the "astronomers" list but you will be
missing out on just about everything by doing so. The "members" list should
be reserved for club business. There is no good reason to omit non-members
from astronomy related discussions. Even non-members don't get on our
"astronomers" list until they have passed the litmus test...who are you and
why do you want to join.

The back-end of our new email list system was designed to service on-line
forums. It has features that we have chosen NOT to use. In particular, list
user registration, user passwords, digest options, and a host of other
things. All of these features give spammers a back-door entrance. They can't
go anywhere until a moderator approves them, but I don't need that headache
so our list is "CLOSED". The only way anyone gets onto the list is if the
list moderator (me) puts them there.

So yes, there is a "digest option" but it is way too much work and I won't
be volunteering for that.

We have done everything within reason to make everything we do as secure as
we can, and every bit as secure as our old email system. Short of unplugging
from the grid, it is as good as it gets.

By now I hope you are satisfied that a lot of thought, time and energy has
been expended to take us forward. You have as many facts as I can offer. I
am tired but I still have a lot of work ahead. 

Now it is your turn to support your club and help us move ahead. AND....
let's get back to doing a some astronomy and have some fun! 

  Gary Bennett
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