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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Membership

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Membership
  • Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:25:11 -0600


How many other folks would join NAFEX if they stumbled/Googled into the
archives like I did?


That's how I joined, too. However, the archived postings strip off the bottom of the emails, so there's no obvious way - I should say no really, really easy way - to sign up to the list from them, or even to visit the NAFEX home page. Obviously, an interested person can do a search for 'NAFEX,' and that's what I did,... eventually. But I'll be honest, it took me a year to get around to it. For people like me, these things need to be falling-off-a-log easy, or we procrastinate (and sometimes never get around to it at all).

And it's odd, but there's an 'unsubscribe' address which is prominent on the archived postings, but no 'subscribe' address. And no link to the NAFEX home page, either. Not everyone is as lazy as me, but the easier you make it, the more subscribers - and members - you'll get. Oddly enough, even the NAFEX list information page - http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/NAFEX - doesn't say anything about joining NAFEX, the organization, or even have a link to the NAFEX homepage. [My web browser is unavailable to me to check these things right now, but they were this way the last time I looked.]

I know it's been noted before that potential members who would join casually like this might not be 'worth' much to the group, and that may be so. I'm certainly a newbie at fruit growing. But I was astonished to read that the NAFEX membership is HALF what it used to be! If you really want to increase membership, you'll make it as easy as possible. Anyone who googles about fruit is likely to encounter NAFEX archives, but they'll encounter a LOT of other web pages, too. You need a one-button click to subscribe to this list, and also a link directly to the home page. Once you get subscribers here, you need a monthly reminder to join NAFEX, with a link directly to an on-line form, complete with credit card (or at least PayPal) payment options. The easier it is, the more members you'll get.

You CAN increase membership, if that's what you really want. That means making it falling-off-a-log easy to join this email list and NAFEX itself (and just as easy to renew a membership, with targeted reminders). Yes, you might get more members who end up not renewing or who are much more casual about fruit, but you can't get them to renew if they don't join in the first place. And even people with a casual interest may become hooked on fruit (I think that's happened to me). But if you prefer to be more of an elite organization, that's your decision, too. A smaller group of professionals and really serious fruit hobbyists might be what you want. In that case, a declining membership won't bother you, since it just means you're getting more serious all the time.

Bill
Lincoln, NE

PS. I should note that I've NEVER been made to feel unwelcome here, despite having asked plenty of stupid questions, I'm sure. That's one of the things I like about the group, and I don't mean to imply otherwise. I'm just saying that a declining membership might not be a problem for you, depending on how you see NAFEX. But if it IS, then there are definitely things that could be done.

--
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. - Groucho Marx




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