Good Bye

[Guest]

Just wanted to say good bye to the group. I received the email about the ABC forum being only for ABC members. I do not breed ameraucana so I will not be joining the group.

Have a good one,

Tim

[philipu]

Just wanted to say good bye to the group. I received the email about the ABC forum being only for ABC members. I do not breed ameraucana so I will not be joining the group.

Have a good one,

Tim

Hi Tim,
I belong to the ABC, I do happen to be raising Ameraucana\'s.
 I am a member of a couple of clubs of breeds I do not breed, but admire and want to be able to keep up with the breed and support them.
If you enjoy the breed, and the forum, why not join the club?
I know you are and will be most welcomed,
There are a great bunch of people here, and your post have been really appreciated,
Think about it,
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving,
blessings, phil

[John]

I do not breed ameraucana

Tim,
I understand your decision not to join the club, but want to make sure people know they do not have to breed, raise or exhibit Ameraucana to join.  Recently a gal said this in an email to me:

The membership registration form implies one must be raising Ameraucanas to join ABC.

At first I thought she meant to join the ABC as she said, but after thinking about it I think she meant the ABC Forum.  I just want to be clear either way one does not have to own any poultry to join the club.  The only change will be that only Ameraucana Breeders Club members will be ABC Forum members after the first of the year.
We have at least one member that has been a steady supporter of the club and breed for decades, even though she hasn\'t had any Ameraucana in many years.

[Guest]

I too must say goodbye for the 2010 season . I sent an email to the forum administrator explaining my decision . I will re-evaluate this decision if I am successful in obtaining some Ameraucana and obtaining more information about the ABC next year .

[Guest]

I suppose it is a good way to force membership to the club and control the content of posts on the forum... Chris

[verycherry]

Just wanted to say good bye to the group. I received the email about the ABC forum being only for ABC members. I do not breed ameraucana so I will not be joining the group.

Have a good one,

Tim

I\'ll certainly miss the helpful information you\'ve been so generous with, and am selfishly hoping you\'ll reconsider and decide to join.

All my best,
Sherry

[bryngyld]

Has there been a problem with non-members posting inappropriately?  Why do we need to control the forum?  Are our Ameraucana gurus overwhelmed with queries?  Do we need to put them on top of a mountain in Tibet to challenge the questors?

I thought it was a good way for folks to get acquainted with the breed, ask novice questions, get directed to the answer by John... ^_^ ... and then email me asking about purchasing chickens.

What will happen to old forgetful members who forget to renew their membership on time?  Is the intent to weed out the less organized members too?  I am guilty of organization failure.

[Anne Foley]

I have kept silent about this change as I am not a senior member.  I agree with the sentiment that membership should have its benefits.  However, restricting posts to members only will most likely mean that the forum will slowly become more and more inactive.  Is that really a good tactic for attracting newcomers?  The Ameraucana Club needs supporters as well as members.   Having an active forum with lots of questions and queries coming from all sorts of enthusiastic people (if somewhat misguided at times) gives a positive impression about the club and the breed.  I say let\'s not be so harsh.

[John]

Lynne,
The reasons I wanted to limit the access are the ones mentioned in the Bulletin and under another topic.
http://www.ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=1172
FYI, not all board members agreed.

Has there been a problem with non-members posting inappropriately?

Not that I know of.

Why do we need to control the forum?

I don\'t think the idea was to gain more control.

Are our Ameraucana gurus overwhelmed with queries?

Not that I know of.

Do we need to put them on top of a mountain in Tibet to challenge the questors?

Only if it is a paid vacation.

I thought it was a good way for folks to get acquainted with the breed, ask novice questions, get directed to the answer...

Me too.

What will happen to old forgetful members who forget to renew their membership on time?

Prison time...or maybe a little GRACE period.

Is the intent to weed out the less organized members too?

What?  There must be a conspiracy theory somewhere.  I\'ve stated my intent.  Other board members can state their intent.

[cedarpondfarm]

Newcomers and beginners are the lilfe blood of any breed organization whether it be dog, cat, horse, or CHICKEN.  

Tough times make reaching out to like minded folks even more important so maybe this isn\'t the best year to start charging for that connection.

I am happy to pay my dues but feel very blessed that I can.  

[Mike Gilbert]

I think the feeling was that members should get extra value for their dues.   Non-members are free to read the forum, and they have access to the breeders list in case they want to contact individual members via e-mail, phone, or whatever.
I get e-mails directly with questions about Ameraucanas from members and non-members quite frequently, and almost always respond.    If folks are truly interested in the breed and want more information than what is already provided and posted here the membership dues won\'t break them.   If they have only a passing interest there are other forums available on the internet, and I believe some of our members go to them as well.   In short, I agree wholeheartedly with the new policy.  As a nonvoting member of the Board I did not help to make the final decision.  

[John]

Input is good.  Before voting on the action we brought this subject up at the annual meeting for discussion by the members present.  You\'ve got some good points and I agree with many of them.  I don\'t see it as harsh though to limit access to those that financially support the forum by being dues paying members.  I consider the other board members to be good friends and we didn\'t all agree, but it was by majority vote and if someday we want to change it we can by the same process.
Hopefully this will encourage more to become and remain members.  The club isn\'t out to become rich.  I know that our Secretary/Treasurer is very frugal with our funds and it takes money to keep the club going and the club keeps this forum and the website going.  I know with some clubs you have to be a member just to get to the \"members only\" stuff.  At least here it is open for all to view.  FYI, we wanted to still make photos available for all to view, but the \"forum\" doesn\'t give us that option.

[Tailfeathers]

As a member, and one that couldn\'t make the annual meeting, I want to let you know that the Western District Director did tell me about this and I gave her my input which, in short, is exactly what Mike said.  I agree wholeheartedly with the new policy and you have my full support.

And just for the record, I understand a lot of folks are on hard times.  I have talked with many a person who has had it real bad this year.  And I say this, not to toot my own horn or draw any attention to me but rather just to inform, I haven\'t made one penny this year at my job.  But I just got my dues notice in with the latest Club Newsletter and you can bet that I\'ll be sending a check off ASAP.  

The dues are very reasonable and I truly believe that anyone with a serious interest in the breed will make the effort to become part of the Club.  Those who help support the Club should receive some \"extra value\".  I mean, there needs to be a reason to be a member of something other than just getting a patch to wear on a jacket, right?  And, of course, it\'s not all about receiving but giving too.  I get that.

God Bless,

[Anne Foley]

I have always felt that one of the main benefits of joining a breed club is that you get to know the other members well and when the time comes that you need a certain bird for your breeding program, you can pick up the phone and get to the the head of the line.  Looking out for and supporting each other isn\'t a patch or ribbon but to me it is plenty reason for joining a breed club.  Keeping the forum strictly for members to post is not my decision to make but I just felt that I had to express my concern that appearing exclusive instead of inclusive can ring a sour note.  I like to err on the overly generous side if at all possible and I feel that my life is richer for it.  Someone who has a favorable interaction on the forum is a potential future member.  They might (or might not) have called, but the Internet is now the preferred communication tool of the majority of younger people.  Anyway, good luck with the change and sorry to rock the boat.

[John]

Anne,
You\'re not rocking the boat.  Your input is appreciated.  I only disagreed with the word \"harsh\", but once again that is only my opinion.
I played around with some of the forum settings yesterday and found out how to allow photos to be viewed by \"guests\" and some other possibilities.  
We will stick with only ABC members having full access to the forum (\"members should get extra value\"), as per the board\'s decision.  FYI, the vote was only to \"restrict membership on the ABC forum to club members\".  We can do that while also trying something new at the same time.  On a trail bases we\'ll let all \"guests\" create topics and reply...so they have a place to ask questions.  This would be helpful to me personally, since I like to ask those that email questions to me to please post their questions on the forum.  Along with that I will require guests to include a name (or nickname) and valid email address in each post they make or it will be deleted.  Also we\'ll keep it so only members can post photos and view all photos.  I believe this to be a good compromise.  I\'ve asked the board members to consider this and other options.
Update:
It\'s been less than an hour and already we\'ve had one topic created that had nothing to do with poultry...let alone Ameraucana chickens.  Letting guests post just may not work.
 
OK...after more research we\'ll start by letting guests \"reply\" but not start \"topics\".  I\'m hoping this stops the robot spam posts.  Guests can look for an appropriate topic that is already created to post thier questions in.
 
Due to the spam (already deleted) I\'ve turned off the option to let guests reply to posts.  Sorry...