response 61 of 90:

Oct 9 03:09 UTC 1999

1.  Think of hardware and software, and something that babies do.

1.  The \ character tells it to ignore the forwarding.  So forwarding it to
\arlo puts a copy of the message in Arlo's mailbox.  If it were to forward
to valerie,janc,arlo, without the \, it would deliver copies to valerie and
janc, and a copy to arlo, meaning valerie, janc, and arlo, and again that
instance of arlo would mean valerie, janc, and arlo, and so forth.

Anyhow, about that treasurer's report...

response 63 of 90:

Oct 9 17:12 UTC 1999

Ah, that makes more sense.  I hadn't heard the term before.

response 65 of 90:

Oct 10 03:05 UTC 1999

Oh yeah, that project.  Um, maybe when Arlo learns to program....

response 67 of 90:

Oct 10 03:55 UTC 1999

  I imagine he's already got some simple communication protocols worked out..

response 69 of 90:

Oct 10 21:49 UTC 1999

Though a brand-new wetware unit doesn't have the CPU capacity to run
much more than its BIOS.....

response 71 of 90:

Oct 11 06:38 UTC 1999

(Actually, the \ is unnecessary in "janc, \arlo".  Sendmail is smart
enough to recognize arlo forwarding to arlo, and will send it to arlo's
local mailbox.  Grex used to run smail, which wasn't that smart, and did
need the \ ).

I don't think we want to see grex accept corporate advertising, but grex
has pretty much always received important corporate *donations*, such
as, at various times, building space, internet access, or hardware.  In
some cases, the businesses have wanted or appreciated a mention, in
other cases, they have not cared or not wanted publicity concerning
their donation.  Now that we're a 501c3, I think we're in a better
position to try for such donations, as long as we can find corporate
sponsors who see us as a charity and not an advertising market, I think
we can reasonably make a bigger push for corporate donations.  I think
we want to try mostly for capitals improvements here, though, and not
continuing support -- continuing support generally tends to be a bad
thing in the long run.  (I think one of the reasons freenets died out is
that they did see corporate and governmental sponsorship as a viable
source of continuing support.)

So far as gift memberships go, even with a low rate of continuing
memberships, it's still not the less useful or welcome to grex.  It's
also important, I think, to keep in mind that there is probably *no*
strategy that is going to have both a large magnitude *and* rate of
continuing memberships.  So, we need to think in terms of lots of little
things we can do for grex, rather than one magic bullet that will both
solve all our problems, and allow us to outcompete AOL in terms of
growth and size.

response 73 of 90:

Oct 12 23:50 UTC 1999

Based upon my (admittedly limited) experience listening to radio, the 501c3
stations accept corporate sponsorships and donations, but *NOT*, technically,
advertising.  That aside, I would prefer to see grex get one-time and
equipment donations than continuing sponsorships, except from other charitable
organizations and groups (eg, foundations).

response 75 of 90:

Oct 14 22:43 UTC 1999

(Hey, Bass-ay, I think I know a guy who's got some paperwork started on a
topic like that.)

response 77 of 90:

Oct 15 12:13 UTC 1999

Let's not develop a policy. Let's not solicit corporate sponsorships.  Let's
leave the acknowledgements in the treasurer's postings.  

response 79 of 90:

Oct 17 18:18 UTC 1999

Our 501(c)3 doesn't prevent us from selling advertising on Grex, not as
long as those ads are not political in nature.  However, I am strongly
opposed to selling ads here.  If someone with a lot of money wants an
ad, let them enter it in the classified conference with everybody else.

response 81 of 90:

Nov 13 02:16 UTC 1999

What about selling day sponsorships of grex, like the public radio stations
do, in exchange for which the sponsor could post a two-line notice in the motd
wishing someone a happy occasion?  Kiwanis accepts 'happy dollars' - you pay
your dollar at lunch and tell people how happy you are that your grandchild
got all A's, or your favorite sports team won.  (Of course people can already
do all this for free in the conferences, but the motd also reaches thousands
of Indian users who you might also want to impress).
        What does it cost to run grex for one day - phone lines, rent,
utilities, insurance?  I'd guess $10-15.  

response 83 of 90:

Nov 13 04:57 UTC 1999

Grex's operating expenses from 9/98 through 8/99 averaged $545.77 per month,
or $17.94 per day.