From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Getting the word out
Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:32:14 -0500
Maybe we need to have a two-stage website, where there is a good deal of
useful information on the publicly accessible section serving as a come-on to
a section accessible to members only.
I think this would be counter-productive. What's the point? I mean, why
does NAFEX exist and why is the membership money so important, after
all? NAFEX is a non-profit group, and the whole point is to increase
interest and share knowledge, isn't it? Membership money is surely a
very minor consideration. If you're going to share knowledge, then share
knowledge, whether people are actually members or not.
One of the nice things about the Internet is that, whatever your
interests, you can find other people who share them. I don't know anyone
locally who shares this particular interest, but that doesn't matter
(much), because there's this great community on-line. I stumbled across
this email list, and it's been great. The only reason I would join NAFEX
is because I'd like to support the group. I certainly don't need another
publication, since I don't usually get them read, anyway.
If you want more members in NAFEX, then you need to get newbies on this
list and perhaps involved in other ways. Some of them - many of them,
I'd say - will probably become members eventually (sooner if you keep
reminding them and you make it particularly easy; later if you don't).
But in your desire to recruit new members, don't forget why the group
exists in the first place.
Bill
--
The biggest difference between the world of science and everyday life in
protecting against erroneous beliefs is that scientists utilize a set of
formal procedures to guard against the sources of bias and error... -
"How We Know What Isn't So" by Thomas Gilovich
Re: [NAFEX] payment method, was "Getting the word..."
, (continued)