<CORSA Chapters> spam infiltration, member counts, etc. sorry for the length!

[tim mahler]

 Prairie Capital Corvair Assn (Central Illinois) uses a club email address 
via CORSA -- it gets redirected to the newsletter editor (me)  On occasion, 
spam is sent to that address -- its read off the clubs web page by "bots" 
Two solutions to that - removing the email address; or use a technique like 
Harry employed for the CORSA site.  I just know that stuff sent to the club 
email is questionable and treat it carefully.  Occasionally, get bonafide 
requests to join the club,  or a car/parts for sale.

1) I have encouraged every chapter to have at least one officer/member 
monitor the chapters list.  Harry is working on a new database that may be 
able to cross reference the email address to the chapters they belong to get 
an actual count.

2)  PCCA renews on a annual basis -- we do cut the dues in half for those 
joining after July 1.  (and usually apply any in the last quarter towards 
the next full year)

3) Only about 44 member addresses -- 65-70 members.  We seem to loss 5 
members,  and gain 5 new members each yr.

4)  No CORSA membership requirement but encouraged.   Many older members who 
are members only for the local social activities -- and some, now, only for 
the newsletter connection to old friends.

5)  in the next few months,  Harry should be sending a request for chapter 
reports, and includes the past list of members, and the form itself..  It 
asks for chapter contact, president, secretary, newsletter name, editor, 
mailing address, web site, and chapter email address. plus a list fo current 
members.

6)  i print 5 pages, both sides.  I usually compress the graphics more 
reduce the graphics (a lot) but they still look good.  File size is in the 
340kb to 450kb range.


tim mahler
PCCA editor
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David McMillan" <dmac632000 at yahoo.com>
To: <chapters at corvair.org>
Cc: "Ray&Kathy Bombardier" <bomma at comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 8:05 AM
Subject: <CORSA Chapters> spam infiltration, member counts,etc. sorry for 
the length!


Hey all,
Our club e-mail list has been receiving spam (it's addressed specifically to 
our club's e-mail list through corvair.org) has been receiving spam e-mail. 
I was wondering if anyone else has been having the same problem...and this 
prompted me to send this particular e-mail to bring this to Mr. Bryan 
Blackwell's attention (if I'm not mistaken you handle this Bryan, no? Please 
help! Is this something I can handle through the administrative page?).

Also, some other questions came to mind and I thought maybe sending my 
thoughts out like this would prompt some "inter-chapter" discussion (perhaps 
this occurred at the meetings during the Convention, but unfortunately (?), 
I was unable to attend because I was 'busy' proposing to my now fiance on a 
cruise at that time! LOL).

1. How many chapters are "linked in" to this particular chapter e-mail 
listing? Am I speaking to all chapter reps through this e-mail or is it a 
core few that are signed onto this? Tim Mahler, I appreciate your e-mails 
concerning membership lately and I've been including them in my monthly 
newsletters. Thank you. With the new calendar year, we've been re-signing 
members at a rapid pace, which leads me to question 2.

2. Our club operates on a calendar year basis, so each January we try to get 
everyone to "re-up" quickly. It's a lot easier to track "current members" 
who owe their dues and once done, we only have to deal with chasing the few 
stragglers that hold out or procrastinate. Although, last year we've been 
"gathering" new members at a rapid pace (we hope to keep them!) We've 
established a date of the last part of September (after the Clark's Show 
which generates additional members) and after for new recruits being 
inducted for the following year, so they're not required to pay dues again 
for the next year so soon.

 3. How many members does each chapter have? From last year's listings of 
potentials, I've got a list of nearly 82 members, of which to this date 33 
have signed on. I expect this to increase dramatically very soon, as those 
that haven't renewed will receive their  February newsletter with a personal 
note saying it is their last (similar to most publications' policies). Last 
year, being a freshly voted in Secretary/Editor, I was pretty lenient on 
this...not so this year!

4. How many club members of each club are CORSA members? I'm trying to 
gather this information through our application process and will be bringing 
this to our executive committee for discussion about how to get more club 
members to join. I think there would be reluctance to FORCE our club members 
to have to join CORSA to stay a Bay State Member as I've read some other 
clubs do, but
I've posted the CORSA membership drive coupon on our website and in our 
newsletter, but it has just recently expired. Will there be any more such 
offerings from CORSA? I thought it was a pretty decent idea and wonder how 
many actually took advantage of this.
A suggestion (if this hasn't already been suggested)...perhaps a chapter 
contest to see who generates the biggest % increase of new CORSA members 
within their club?

5. Is there a "Chapter Report" showing current chapter information to be 
submitted to CORSA? I've checked online on the CORSA site at forms and 
elsewhere, but could find nothing.

6. I know there was some discussion a little while ago on this, but on 
e-mailing pdf file newsletters out, has anyone else had difficulties with 
members not being able to download their newsletter properly. I know some 
computer users are more savvy than others, which is probably where the 
difficulty lies, but maybe some of you may have some input on this 
particular opportunity. I publish in as early an acrobat version as possible 
so those who haven't updated their own versions will have access, but I've 
been getting more and more people saying they can't download properly. I try 
to keep the file size as small as possible (2MB or less), but I DO publish 
six double-sided sheets every month...

Again I apologise for the length of this e-mail but felt compelled to get 
this out there this morning to see what info I can glean from others and 
maybe stir up the pot a little...

Thank you in advance if you respond!!!   ;-)

Dave McMillan
Secretary-Editor
Bay State Corvairs
_______________________________________________
Chapters mailing list
Chapters at corvair.org
http://www.vv.corvair.org/mailman/listinfo/chapters


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