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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 133 responses total. |
davel
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response 50 of 133:
| 
Nov 5 20:27 UTC 1995 |
I have to agree with Mary.
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lilmo
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response 51 of 133:
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Nov 5 20:49 UTC 1995 |
Re #49: Very important. We have about six weeks to do that.
Re #50: And with a few whitespace lines above and below.
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popcorn
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response 52 of 133:
|
Nov 6 05:56 UTC 1995 |
Re usenet:
1) When you type "rn" "trn" or "tin" now, you get a message about the
status of usenet. It says:
News on Grex is down. Sorry!
To find out when it's working again, watch the
message you see when you log in.
2) It would be great to have the "we don't have Usenet" message out of the
motd!
3) It would be great to have the "Grex has free Usenet for everyone"
message taken out of the "banned newsgroups" list of frequently asked
questions that is circulated on the net. That hasn't been updated in a year
now. The fellow who maintains it promises to update the Grex section when
he updates it. But we'll be getting a lot of users from there for a long
time to come, even after he finally updates the darn thing.
4) I'd be delighted if someone *else* would answer the tons of mail that
removing the motd line would cause. We've tried removing it before, and
regretted it. Still, I'd really like to see that line out of the motd.
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rcurl
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response 53 of 133:
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Nov 6 06:44 UTC 1995 |
what about an individual forget option for items in the motd?
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srw
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response 54 of 133:
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Nov 6 08:03 UTC 1995 |
For starters the news scripts could be worded better. I created
them on the sun-4 to read as follows:
News on Grex is not available. Sorry!
There will be an announcement made when it is available again.
No schedule has been set for this, so it will not be soon.
That might help make it easier to remove the motd message.
What do you think?
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ajax
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response 55 of 133:
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Nov 6 08:44 UTC 1995 |
Re 48, I don't think other motd messages should be removed on
behalf of a donation plug (many messages are timely), and there
aren't many days when there are no other messages in the motd.
However, your goal, I assume, is to draw more attention to the
donation plug. That could also be accomplished by putting an
*******************
* Asterisk Border *
*******************
around the message, or some other eye-catcher, if people think
the plug blends in with other messages too much. Thoughts?
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mdw
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response 56 of 133:
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Nov 6 10:09 UTC 1995 |
*****************************************
* *
* The shorter the mesage. the *
* better. Asterisks just bloat *
* it, and make things scroll out *
* of small windows. *
* *
*****************************************
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steve
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response 57 of 133:
|
Nov 7 04:17 UTC 1995 |
Back in #40 Mary mentioned stating the case clearly and infrequently.
I agree with that, and hope that a 25% duty cycle won't be seen as too
much begging. If it is, then we'll need to ramp that back a bit. I
liked the first message I saw the other day, too.
This is something we need to do, a little I think. There was a time
when 5 - 8% of the people who used Grex were members. No more. With
the vast numbers of users who use Grex these days, the membership
figure is closer to about 0.25%. If we can raise that figure some,
without resorting to constant pleading & whining then we should do
it.
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ajax
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response 58 of 133:
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Nov 7 08:22 UTC 1995 |
Agreed. People have mentioned how many Grexxers don't even know
how Grex is funded. If we raise the proportion of people who do
know that, then hopefully the number who actually donate will rise.
I think of the motd message as being at least as much for spreading
this awareness, as it is begging for money.
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mdw
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response 59 of 133:
|
Nov 7 11:49 UTC 1995 |
I would definitely like to see us do more to make people aware of how
we're funded.
|
popcorn
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response 60 of 133:
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Nov 7 13:42 UTC 1995 |
I've noticed that over the course of the last month we went down to
about 90 members and are now back up to 99 again. Perhaps the motd
plugs are working?
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lilmo
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response 61 of 133:
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Nov 8 06:23 UTC 1995 |
Re #54: Looks good to me.
Re #60: I hope so. Were we over 100 ever, or for any length of time?
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popcorn
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response 62 of 133:
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Nov 8 17:01 UTC 1995 |
Yup, we've been over 100 at times.
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wisdom
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response 63 of 133:
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Nov 18 22:39 UTC 1995 |
okay, how much is a membership, again?
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scott
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response 64 of 133:
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Nov 18 22:51 UTC 1995 |
Well, like the motd says, you can type !support to find out... Heck, let's
try it right here...
<start of !support output>
Thanks for asking about how to support Grex. Although you don't have to pay
to use Grex, our users pay all the bills. If the users don't support Grex,
it may go away.
The best way to support Grex is to become a member. Members get to:
- vote in Grex elections (if you've paid for three months or more)
- post articles to Usenet (send a personal check or a copy of some ID)
- use our Internet link (again, with ID).
Plus, you also get the warm and fuzzy feeling of having helped out a
valuable community resource.
Memberships cost $6/month or $60/year (US currency). Send cash, checks,
or money orders to:
Cyberspace Communications, Inc.
2113 Arborview Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
<end of !support output>
So there you go. Don't even have to go into that evil Agora to find out. ;)
Non-membership contributions are welcome, too. If you're interested in
making such a donation (monetary or otherwise), please send mail to danr
for more info.
THANKS!
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popcorn
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response 65 of 133:
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Nov 19 17:36 UTC 1995 |
(Hey, your "<end of !support output>" escaped!) :)
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scott
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response 66 of 133:
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Nov 19 22:31 UTC 1995 |
Oops. Well, I got the point across, anyway.
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hematite
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response 67 of 133:
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Nov 22 02:45 UTC 1995 |
Umm..out of curiosity, are donations tax deductible? <Don't yell, just
curious>
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ajax
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response 68 of 133:
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Nov 22 04:03 UTC 1995 |
Nope, not yet. Efforts to make them tax-deductible are underway though.
You sound a bit flame-shy :-).
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rcurl
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response 69 of 133:
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Nov 22 04:05 UTC 1995 |
Yes and no. They were, until we had a total income from donations
exceeding $15,000 in 3 years, which I have not yet heard we have had.
*However*, nobody would make a large donation andhave 100% assurance of
deductibility, because we have not yet registered our 501(c) tax exempt
status. I deduct my donations.....for what that's worth.
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rcurl
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response 70 of 133:
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Nov 22 04:06 UTC 1995 |
#68 slipped in. Rob is referring only to our lack of 501(c)3 registration,
not our deductibility of donations (IMO).
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ajax
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response 71 of 133:
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Nov 22 10:16 UTC 1995 |
Oh, I was referring to deductability, but was just wrong - didn't know that!
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davel
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response 72 of 133:
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Nov 22 16:30 UTC 1995 |
Dan's indicated that we're very likely over the limit as of this year. So
the two are likely the same from here on out.
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danr
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response 73 of 133:
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Nov 23 00:23 UTC 1995 |
Our income for the last two years will be more than $15,000.
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scott
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response 74 of 133:
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Nov 23 03:32 UTC 1995 |
Right now would be a great time to put in an motd ad, since the motd is rather
unbloated right now.
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