Re: Online Membership

[John I Jones <jijones@usjoneses.com>]

What Kitty says is a possibility, however I also think we need to 
consider why someone would want to do this.

All of our names and addresses are already available on list. As Kitty 
notes, you can buy them from government agencies. So the question is 
who would want a list of iris  aficionados.

Societies like the Rose society, the Daffodil society and the like:
Perhaps, but for someone to do it themselves, probably not worth the 
effort since a lot of iris growers are already members of those 
societies. Not all to be sure. Buying the names from a matching service 
is more expensive.

Commercial businesses:
Small businesses have little money pay for the addresses let alone 
follow up with mailings. Large corporations already have large lists 
(and probably have us all on their lists already) and are not likely to 
spend time mining our site, they have much larger/better sources to 
use.

I am not saying it is not possible, I just don't think that it is 
probable or cost effective for what a company would get.

That being said, we could easily treat access to a regional list 
differently. We could put that part behind a password protected page 
and make the password available to RVPs.  They could distribute it to 
whomever in their region needs access to the information.  Individual 
clubs that need to check their membership for affiliation, could do it 
on an individual name basis. We can prevent someone getting the entire 
list at once using various schemes.

The Board voted:
Motion: 20
That we create the ability to check AIS membership expiration date on 
the AIS website. The information available on line would be Name, 
Member number, Expiration date, and Region. Results displayed would be 
sorted alphabetically by last name.

But implementation has many aspects to consider and variations in how 
we do it.

I asked Cathy Button (who did the SJI on line membership checking 
service) if she had had any complaints. She said she has received one 
email thanking her for NOT putting the person's ADDRESS on the website. 
Sort of a reverse negative! See also said that in the last 6 months 
there were only 8 accesses to the database.

To be sure this is not going to be a highly used service, but as time 
goes on it is likely to be accessed more often.

As Region 14 Circulation manager I get a list of our membership with 
their addresses several times a year. I don't know how many regions 
request a list like this, but if the Region access is protected, adding 
addresses to that part of the database might offload some of the 
workload from the Membership Secretary.

John


On Jan 18, 2007, at 11:38 PM, K. Loberg wrote:

> Bob,   Your comment about a "high tech way" is valid to consider.
>
>   Going from what John's proposal indicates, "The easiest 
> implementation would allow anyone to get the region list", I can tell 
> you it would take me about 15 minutes to load that region list (from 
> the web) into a database. And, combined with a number of public 
> databases which can be purchased, it might take me another 20 minutes 
> to 1 hour to match and extract addresses such that I'd have a new 
> mailing list.   High costs?   Not really, I know of places to get 
> public mailing lists from local government for very low fees (I worked 
> for County government for two decades and I used to provide those 
> lists to entities who purchased them.)
>
>    So I don't want anyone thinking this is impractical or hard to do, 
> because I could do it.   I'm pretty sure there are  commercial vendors 
> who sell the "matching" service on a state wide basis.
>
>    So I don't understand the need to make this available on the AIS 
> web site.   Does the membership secretary get a large number of 
> inquiries that we're trying to eliminate or reduce?   If the primary 
> purpose is to serve the RVPs and affiliates, I suggest announcing the 
> list web location privately, and not open to the public on the AIS web 
> site.   Sending the list via email is an easy alternative.
>
>   Are other plant societies doing this on a large scale?   I'm just 
> curious to know.
>
>   Perhaps membership should be asked if they want their name published 
> in a public list.   There could be a check box on the renewal form 
> giving their permission.
>
>   I appreciate John's thoughts for the unprotected approach for 
> simplicity sake.  I'm very hesitant as to whether it should be public.
>
> Kitty Loberg
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <bobplankmail@aol.com>
>
> > John raises a valid issue. We do need a written Privacy Policy (and a 
> > Liability Disclaimer Policy) covering the Internets.
> >
> > I quote below from "Guidebook for Directors of Nonprofit 
> > Corporations," second edition, published by the American Bar 
> > Association (2002).
> >
> > "Confidential Information.  The nonprofit corporation should also 
> > exercise care to protect its confidential and proprietary 
> > information.  Employees, volunteers, and others may have access to 
> > trade secrets or confidential information such as donor or member 
> > lists, personnel information, medical records, patient or client 
> > information or other data or materials that must be kept 
> > confidential.  The nonprofit corporation should adopt a 
> > confidentially policy and should take reasonable precautions (such as 
> > passwords, limited distribution, stamping materials 'CONFIDENTIAL' to 
> > protect against unauthorized dissemination of the organization's 
> > confidential information."  Page 159-160; Emphasis added.
> >
> > Privacy is a hot button issue with many.  The laws vary from state to 
> > state and are not static.  That's not to say that a member list, 
> > without addresses, is "confidential information."  So far as I have 
> > determined, such a list presently by law is not "material that must 
> > be kept confidential."
> >
> > I'm inclined to agree with John Jones, favoring the "simple 
> > unprotected approach just like the SJI does," because I do not view 
> > widespread dissemination to be a commercial practicality because of 
> > the high costs that would be involved in matching my name with an 
> > address. I would object (mildly) if it turns out that there is an 
> > inexpensive high tech way to do so, and as a result I got a flood of 
> > Invitations to Join from the orchid, rose, hosta, daylily, cactus, 
> > and gourd societies.
> >
> > Since the law does not appear to be determinative of the matter, it 
> > should be decided on other grounds, such as (a) whether rank and file 
> > members would strongly object on privacy grounds to their names, 
> > without addresses, being available on the AIS web site; and if so (b) 
> > whether overcoming such possible objections are outweighed by the 
> > complications of password protecting the data; or (c) whether just to 
> > continue providing the lists to the RVPs by mail or fax on hardcopy, 
> > and to continue relying on the members' own resources, or the RVPs, 
> > to remind them of the need to renew.
> >
> > Bob Plank
>
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