Cyberspace Communications April meeting

Apr 27 23:18 UTC 1997

Cyberspace Communications Board of Directors Meeting
April 23, 1997

Attendees: Scott H. (scott); Mark C. (aruba); Dan G. (dang); Steve G. (scg)
           Valerie M. (valerie); Dave C. (dpc); Jan W. (janc); Drew (drew);
           Jared (jared?); 

3000    Gavel: 7:40 pm

3411    Welcome New Board Member: Dan G. (dang)  Dan will complete the term
        started by Rob henderson.

3451:   Treasurer's Report

GREX did ok in March, bringing in $923 to come out $227 ahead.  Two new
members joined: Jared and Cyclone.

April does't look nearly as good.  We've brought in $36 so far.  Three 
peoiple have said that they aren't renewing their memberships because of
the decision to open the conferences to unregistered reading over the web.

Re: mark Conger signed the forms to renew our dba GREX.

Mark also brought the forms that allowed the Boards current officers and
Janc to sign checks for GREX and also allows GREX to recieves checks
made out to GREX rather than Cyberspace communications.  The forms
were signed at the meeting and mark will bring them back to the bank.

3554:   Computer Rehab Committee

The board discussed changing the focus of the committee a bit to allow
older computers to go to former grexers who find themselves in need of
a GREX terminal and to would-be grexers who have the same need.  Any
donations of computers capable of running reasonably modern software
would still go to the origianl cause.

One old (8086) computer has been claimed under the new rules.

The Rehab committee has a new volunteer and welcomes login eeyore!

The Rehab committe has also announced that it's in need of a new leader.

3596:   The Publicity Committee

The folks running the GREX benefit have announced that because Patty Smith
is a friend of the owners of the Gallery where the benefit was to be held,
GREX has been bumped to the Friday and Saturday of Mothers Day weekend.

2517    Technical Committee

GREX has been suffering a rash of finger bombings.

Re: modems -- we need more modem cables.  The modems Klaus Wolter has
repaired are nor in serice.  We need two more phone jacks.  The GVCS
modem that has been set up on a separate line 9not in the trunk hunt)
has been stable and the staff is ready to add it to the trunk hunt.

New shelves have been installed in the pumkin making it a much tidier and
more pleasant place.  Thanks, Scott!

Re: The Terminal Server stuff -- it's still on hold pending staff time.

RE; mail -- Puck.nether.net had been made the DNS mx for GREX last month,
but it's been removed due to some bizarre problems.

Re: the 670 -- the root disk has now been installed on the 670.  It needs 
patches and binaries loaded and needs to be partitioned next.

Staff announced that at the next staff meeting, they plan to discuss
formalizing the usage guidelines for root.

Dave cahill requested that we announce a date on which a "New GREX" would
be unveiled.  The staff and board decided that they didn't think a
target date was a good idea since we've made and broken them so often
in the past.  Staff will persevere and get the new 670 ready as quickly as
possible and will create a list of requirements and keep it updated
with news of accomplishments and new requirements as they come up.  This may
fit best in the Garage conference.

The ISDN feed is still on hold.  No progress, no news.

5041    The Wizard in Training gres handbooks

        The board of Cyberspace Communications authorizes the treasurer
        to send a copy of the Wizard in Training handbook to each new
        member who joins with an initial contribution of $18 or more and 
        on request to any member renewing for a contribution of at least
        $18, up to a total of one free copy per member."

Mark Conger motioned; Dan G. seconds.  Passed 7-0-0

5159    The GREX Store

The GREX Store web page is now open at

        http://cyberspace.org/grexstore.html

So far the store has two items for sale: the mouse pad and the mug 
containing the new GREX logo.  Jan will be making changes regularly
for a while.

8084    Benefit Concert

Postponed: see the publicity report.

8246 New Business

9671    Closing Gavel 8:40 pm

response 2 of 38:

Apr 28 14:50 UTC 1997

I took the signature forms in to the bank, and they said everything is 
fine with them.  I'll test out whether we can really accept a check made out 
to "Grex" at the end of the month.

response 4 of 38:

Apr 29 03:53 UTC 1997

Yes, we have a "Certificate of Assumed Name" for "Grex" filed with the State.

response 6 of 38:

Apr 29 23:33 UTC 1997

I can't see any raeson why they would have a problem with such a check,
provided we have proof we "own" that name.  After all, if grex were a
person, it could just sign the check over to cyberspace communcations,
inc.  (It might make sense to bring a copy of the certificate, just in
case...)

response 8 of 38:

Apr 30 06:05 UTC 1997

Well, I tried to cash a check made out to "Grex" a while back, and they
wouldn't take it.  Showing them that we own the name was, indeed, what was
required, but we also needed to submit a new signature form.

response 10 of 38:

Apr 30 17:09 UTC 1997

Deposit.  Well, I tried it today, and it did indeed work - the bank has the
name "Grex" in their computer, so we can now accept checks made out thereto.

response 12 of 38:

May 1 20:01 UTC 1997

How much did we take in in April, Mark?  Did we have a burst of last-
minute contributions that caused a big increase over the $36?  I hope?
        Glad to see you got our first monthly M-Net on-line newsletter,
Valerie!  Kaylene Thaler (kaylene), the new chair of our Marketing
and Public Relations Committee, wrote it. I flyspecked it and caught
typos.  (Everyone has a talent.)

response 14 of 38:

May 2 18:17 UTC 1997

Gross.

response 16 of 38:

May 3 17:07 UTC 1997

We spent about $560 this month, so our net will be about $-450.  I'll post the
treasurer's report in a few days, when I get the bank statement and know what
the service charge is this month.

response 18 of 38:

May 5 03:39 UTC 1997

Yes, quite a lot of it.  We're down to 91 members, 85 of whom are paid through
at least May 15th.  Last month at this time we were at 100 members, 89 of
whom were paid up.

response 20 of 38:

May 5 17:39 UTC 1997

I would expect natural fluctuations in membership due to differences in
numbers of memberships coming due in different months, etc. The "drop"
could mean nothing - or something. You know, of course, how many memberships
will come due when, so can expect ups and downs - you just  don't know
the renewals. Have you plotted all this out for the future to see if
a fluctuation is meaningful, or not?

response 22 of 38:

May 6 03:24 UTC 1997

Re #20:  Rane, I am unsure how to tell if the current drop is significant or
not.  Can you suggest a way to tell that, statistically?  I would appreciate
some help with that.

response 24 of 38:

May 6 06:17 UTC 1997

Mark, do you have the figures for the number of members at the same
date of each month, and the number of members lapsing that month? 
Hmmm...even better would be records of all the membership  terms and
the start or lapse date. Then we start playing with those numbers....
(I'll wait to think of *how* to play for indicating that the numbers are
available).