[wplug-board] Membership form

[Vance Kochenderfer]

Dave Kraus wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 11:31 PM, Beth Lynn Eicher
> > <bethlynneicher at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Can we squeeze in one more field for an optional
> >> secondary email address?

This would not be a problem technically (but see the discussion
below).  Come to think of it, I could just add a comment field for
this or any other special notes someone wants to leave.

> In my opinion, all fields of the membership form should be required
> (less a secondary email address).  If the membership manager has
> trouble contacting someone via email or by phone it might be nice to
> have post as a last means of communication.   It could be useful for
> mailing absentee ballots.

As section 3.2 of the bylaws specifies, the board decides what the
membership application looks like.  In creating this form, I just
copied the fields exactly from the previous web form.  If we want
to change this, we will need to vote on it at a board meeting.

I seem to recall from looking at the membership rolls over Beth
Lynn's shoulder that all of the current members who signed up via
the web form filled in all the fields, even the ones not marked as
required.  This leads me to believe that people who might be
paranoid about listing their phone number or address simply aren't
going to sign up in the first place.  But there is always the
possibility that someone (like, say, a student) may not have a
permanent address or phone number, so I'm not 100% convinced yet.

If we do decide to make other fields required, I think it is
imporant to point out to prospective members that e-mail is the
method by which official communications will be sent.  Some may
feel that if they list a valid street address, they can fill in a
bogus e-mail address (or one they never check) and they will still
be notified of WPLUG business.

I think that mixing up methods of official communication (such as
sending out absentee ballots by postal mail) is a recipe for
confusion and even more difficulty in recordkeeping.  Using e-mail
for official announcements has been one of the few things that
we've maintained consistency on, and I'd really hate to see us
abandon that.

(Also, I noticed that the bylaws say prospective members will
complete *and sign* an application, so I guess I need to add a
signature block too.)

At this point I'll update the draft by adding a comment block and
signature line, and we can continue the discussion about the other
fields.

Vance Kochenderfer        |  "Get me out of these ropes and into a
vkochend at nyx.net          |   good belt of Scotch"    -Nick Danger