-- Start log: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 9:12:11 pm ASI Meeting Server time --

Scottyg-1 goes South.
Greg-1 rolls a 0.
Scottyg says, "no fair."
Greg-1 says, "The agenda is updated, even if we are ignoring it. :)"
Scottyg rolls 1d5 = 1.
Greg-1 says, "Do we have a dice object in here?" Greg arrives amidst
thundering applause. Greg says, "Oh. Duh. Yeah, I created it." Scottyg
says, "Yep. Just do " dice"roll" Greg says, "dice"
Scottyg says, "ACK"
Greg says, "dice roll"
Greg rolls 1d5 = 5.
Scottyg says, "Do "roll dice""
Greg says, "That's it."
TimCadell says, "Do you want to carry this into a different room, Candace,
so we can get things done while the meeting is on something else?" Greg
says, "OK, I'm stuck being meeting chairman. So I'll officially hand the
gavel to Scotty for the update on the membership processing situtation."
cdb says, "Good idea, then if we need a vote on anything, we can come
back." Scottyg says, "Tim & Candace, stick around for a few minutes first."
cdb says, "OK"
TimCadell says, "I'll be sticking around. My clone will handle another
conversation." Scottyg says, "The overall plan which has been put together
is for the Moon Society to take over all membership processing activity on
behalf of ASI." TimCadell says, "Can't say I'm too unhappy about that." cdb
says, "Me, either :>)"
Scottyg says, "We are busy creating the infrastructure to allow that to
happen. To date, we have accomplished the following:" Scottyg says, "1. We
have a person here in Plano willing to do the processing on a contract
basis, and we have reached an agreement." Scottyg says, "2. We have
completed our incorporation, obtained an employer ID number (EIN) and
opened a bank account." Scottyg says, "3. We have set up a secure web
server." Scottyg says, "4. Jim has created a web form which records a
member's info and stores it in an interim database." TimCadell says, "It
needs to filter out partial entries, by the way." Scottyg says, "4. We have
applied for a credit-card merchant account with our bank, but the
application was turned down, so we need to try again with third party
processors." Scottyg says, "Oops, that was 5."
Greg-1 says, "Turn down?"
Greg-1 says, "Ack."
TimCadell says, "It happens."
Scottyg says, "Yep, I couldn't convince them that the risk of chargebacks
is low." Scottyg says, "No history to show them." Greg-1 says, "Oh."
Scottyg says, "So the remaining tasks are:" Scottyg says, "1 Get a merchant
account." Greg-1 says, "Just how would a person applying for a credit-card
merchant account show a history from that credit-card merchant account?"
TimCadell says, "Maybe I could talk to them. We haven't had more than 1 or
2 problems with chargebacks, and none were for memberships that I
remember." Scottyg says, "2. Get Jim's database tied into Team Director."
Scottyg says, "3. Create an automatic synchronization of the ASI and Moon
Society membership data." TimCadell says, "I could give him the code that
I'm using to tie into TeamDirector if it'll help." Scottyg says, "4. Take
care of the details like renewal letters, incentive materials, etc."
Scottyg says, "Ye Tim, that will help. We also need a form that allows the
membership processing staff to access and edit the interim database before
it is imported to remove junk and correct errors and eliminate duplicates."
Scottyg says, "Ok, so I'm handling #1." Scottyg says, "I'm depending on
some combination of Tim, Jim, and Randall to handle 2 and 3." TimCadell
says, "I can send the script to Jim. What's his email address and name?"
Scottyg says, "And need Greg to see about the renewal letter on 4. I'm
working on the incentive materials." dcarson says, "jburke@moonsociety"
Scottyg says, "Are you sure about the "e" dana?" dcarson says, "oops no e"
Scottyg says, "jburk@jburk.com too."
TimCadell says, "Thanks, Dana."
Greg-1 says, "Hmmm ... our state of jimlessness seems to be acute." Scottyg
says, "He doesn't seem to do too well about making meetings." Scottyg says,
"Ok, thats a quick run-through on what's happening. Candace, do you still
have questions?" cdb says, "I can give Greg a copy of the renewal letter so
he can take a look. Also, we might need to update the "former member"
letter that I send 1.5 months after expiration date." Greg-1 says, "Yeah,
we probably need to change everything that ASI sends to members to reflect
the fact that we're a new organization now." cdb says, "My other question
..can I get some help now with International membership renewals?" Scottyg
says, "Candace, could you also send me an email describing exactly what you
are doing now? (For training our new person)" cdb says, "OK. Would you like
it now?"
Scottyg says, "Greg, can you lead for a minute? BRB." Greg-1 says, "Oops."
Greg-1 says, "Candace, what do you need help with?" Greg-1 says, "That is,
what do you need someone to do?" Greg-1 says, "Tim, unless Scotty wants to
completely give up on our [current] bank, it might help if you could write
a letter explaining that out of nnn members, there have been zero
chargebacks." TimCadell says, "Okay, I sent Jim the files." cdb says,
"Greg, sending out the International renewal mailings. I need to go to post
office to do thatand I'm having difficulty doing that. I live in
Gainesville, FL now." TimCadell says, "Scotty, want me to try that?" Greg-1
says, "So the packages are ready to go, but just need to be taken to a post
office to get them weighed and stamped for foreign addresses?" cdb says,
"Yes. Also the international addresses are not always the same format in
every country (Rhonda can attest to that)" TimCadell says, "Yes, a standard
would save a lot of money worldwide." Greg-1 says, "Do folks at the US post
office know how to format the addresses?" TimCadell says, "Actually, I
think we should work on setting up several people around the world who
could help us mail things to areas near them. Like MMMs, Artemis Magazines,
posters, etc. That would save us a lot on postage." cdb says, "I've finally
found most of the countries we've had so far and sent the formats to Rhonda
recently, but they don't always fit on a standard Avery Label" Greg-1 says,
"So you write those addresses by hand?" cdb says, "For the addresses that
don't fit, yes. Those don't always look the same in the database as they do
on the labels." TimCadell says, "Maybe we should add a few fields to the
database that represent how the label should print." Scottyg says, "Tim, I
don't know if it will help or not. They seemed pretty firm about the
decision, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I don't think we shoulh depend on it
tho." Greg-1 says, "I'm trying to think how someone outside Gainesville
could help. It seems like you'd have to go the post office to mail the
packages to someone else who would in turn take them to another post office
to mail them to international addresses." TimCadell says, "I'll get that
done tomorrow and send it to you, Scotty. Folded in a standard envelope or
do you want it flat?" Scottyg says, "Folded is ok."
TimCadell says, "Or they could have similar materials and do the
International work themselves, Greg." cdb says, "I'm thinking they could
access the Team Director database directly, just as I do, Greg." Greg-1
says, "Oh. That complicates things. Our theoretical helper would have to
make up the packages, then, rather than just taking them to the post
office." TimCadell says, "Right."
Greg-1 says, "Scotty, when will our new contractor be able to assume these
chores" Greg-1 says, "?"
Scottyg says, "She can take over when we say go. It's the credit card
problem thats the mail obstacle." cdb says, "Any that are international, I
would leave to them. I can still do Canadian mailings because that stamp is
standard just like the U.S." TimCadell says, "For the moment, we could
continue processing the credit cards until you get it arranged." cdb says,
"Greg...the renewal package is one sheet of paper and a #9 envelope inside
a #10 envelope. I can send the template for the letter." Scottyg says, "But
how about everything else Tim? I'm afraid with two cooks stirring the pot,
things will get really screwed up." TimCadell says, "No more so than now, I
think. We handle all of the financial stuff, and Candace handles the
renewal stuff." TimCadell says, "I'm not trying to convince you, just
offering." Greg says, "Blast. There goes one of me." TimCadell says, "Is it
time for nonsequiturs? Nobody told me." Greg-1 has disconnected.
The housekeeper arrives to remove Greg-1. cdb says, "Scotty, that is why I
thought of the international mailings as a place to start. That way I could
"keep an eye out" until we were satisfied that things were working. There
are not -that- many international mailings, just enough to be a
frustration." Greg-1 arrives amidst thundering applause. Greg says, "Did my
connection die?"
Greg says, "Apparently not."
Scottyg says, "No, you're still here Greg." Greg-1 says, "I dunno. Some
lines are getting through; others aren't." TimCadell says, "That's not good
news." Greg-1 has disconnected.
The housekeeper arrives to remove Greg-1. Scottyg says, "Candace, I'll need
to discuss it with our contractor (Jennifer), and perhaps have her contact
you." Greg has disconnected.
cdb says, "OK, Scotty. I'm check my email every day." Scottyg says, "I
won't get a chance to talk to her about it until Friday. She has Jury Duty
tomorrow." cdb says, "OK, Scotty."
Greg has connected.
Scottyg says, "Tim, can you also send the Team Director code to me? I may
need to do part of this." TimCadell says, "Sure, Scotty. Give me a minute."
TimCadell says, "Sent."
TimCadell says, "To your topher.net address, BTW." Scottyg says, "Ok, does
anyone else have any comments on this? Randall, are you following the
discussion? Jim mentioned some concern about the format of the htpassword
file being compatible with php3. Has he mentioned that to you?" Severy
says, "He mentioned that to me, Scotty, but I thought it had been resolved"
Scottyg says, "Not that I'm aware of, but if it was done privately, I
wouldn't know." Scottyg says, "Tim, how can we coordinate you & Rhonda
processing credit cards while we do the rest?" cdb says, "Scotty, I'm
sending you the schedule for renewal letters, but is under my non-asi email
cbartles@bellsouth.net" Scottyg says, "The plan was to hold the membership
data coming in from the web in the intermediate database." Scottyg says,
"From there, it gets reviewed by a person, and corrected if needed."
Scottyg says, "Then it is submitted to Team Director, one member at a
time." TimCadell says, "If Jennifer sends us a list with the names and
credit card information, we can run the cards and send her (or you) a check
for the amount, minus the processing charges the company charges us. As
long as she keeps track of which ones she's sent us, that shouldn't present
a problem." Scottyg says, "Once approved, the data is erased from the
intermediate database. Somewhere in that process, we would have to be sure
you get the credit card info." Scottyg says, "I hate sendind that info
around in email. We would have to set up PGP or something." cdb says,
"Should I be in the moon-leaders team? At present I cannot access the
/privateleaders area of moonsociety.org so I assume I am not a current
member of this team." TimCadell says, "It doesn't have to be through email.
It could be posted through a program that runs on the secured server. Jim
set up something that allows Rhonda to read only the list that hasn't been
read before, then mark it as read. She sends a report of all of the credit
card numbers processed (a printout of the web page) with the check."
Scottyg says, "Candace, the Team membership has not been established yet. I
think only the board has access to the private directory right now."
Scottyg says, "That could work I think. We actually shouldn't enter people
in our database until the charge is approved, so maybe we can figure out a
way for her to check them off." TimCadell says, "Right, in the intermediate
database." Scottyg says, "Right."
TimCadell says, "Sounds like that could work all right." Scottyg says,
"Sounds like we need to get a meeting of you, Jim, and I together. Any time
better for you?" TimCadell says, "At the moment, during the afternoon works
all right." TimCadell says, "If you want to get hold of me, my cell phone
is 510-967-3583. It usually works." Scottyg says, "Thats hard for me up to
5:00CDT, but after 5 is ok." TimCadell says, "Fine. 2PM on for me."
Scottyg says, "No, 3PM."
TimCadell says, "Ah, yes, Central."
Scottyg says, "Ok, I'll try to get in touch with Jim and set something up."
TimCadell says, "Sounds good."
Scottyg says, "Ok, I got your cell phone number. Mine is 214-850-7594" cdb
says, "Oh, BTW. Since I'm not on the Board, how will I keep track of the
progress of the renewal membership discussion?" TimCadell says, "Got it,
Scotty."
Scottyg says, "If no one has any more discussion, lets move along." Scottyg
says, "I'm going by the agenda now..." Scottyg says, "Business
organization: Nothing to add to the above." Scottyg says, "Non-profit - All
the preliminaries are done, and I'm ready to start filling out the forms. I
should be able to get started on that this weekend." TimCadell says, "Just
to let you know, I'm running out of time tonight." Scottyg says, "Trying to
go fast..."
Scottyg says, "Lawyer contracts - No progress except on 501c3." Scottyg
says, "Treasurer's reports - Nothing new. Little to report yet." Scottyg
says, "Outreach - Greg?"
Scottyg says, "I'm fairly sure Greg has nothing to report." Scottyg says,
"Speaker kits - Dana?"
TimCadell says, "Bose or Realistic?"
dcarson says, "working on it, Pedro looks like he will need one soon so
I'll send him my draft and ask what needs explaining in more detail"
Scottyg says, "Ok. Anything else?"
TimCadell says, "Not from me."
dcarson says, "not here"
Scottyg says, "Tim, membership is next. Anything else to cover?" TimCadell
says, "Nope."
cdb says, "How will I keep track of the renewal membership discussion?"
Scottyg says, "Anyone have anything on announcements, publications, or
local chapters?" TimCadell says, "We're still planning a Bay Area Moon
Chapter startup meeting in mid-October." Scottyg says, "I'll copy you on
any email Candace." cdb says, "OK, thanks."
Scottyg says, "That brings us to the bottom of the agenda. Any other
business?" TimCadell says, "Nope. Great job, Scotty!" Scottyg says, "Next
meeting is Sept 27." Scottyg says, "Motion to adjourn?"
dcarson says, "second"
TimCadell says, "Move to adjourn."
Scottyg says, "opposed?"
dcarson says, "nope"
Scottyg says, "None heard. Meeting is adjourned Sept 13, 2000 at 10:30 PM
EST." cdb says, "Bye! folks. Thanks for letting me attend." Scottyg <-
gavel>
TimCadell says, "Night, Candace, all!"
Scottyg says, "Glad to have you Candace!" TimCadell has disconnected.
cdb has disconnected.

-- End log: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 10:33:03 pm ASI Meeting Server time --