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