response 81 of 186:

Dec 2 15:49 UTC 2003

I want one autographed by remmers.

response 85 of 186:

Dec 2 19:53 UTC 2003

Since the standard answer I've seen has been "I don't really think they need
money that badly", I'm not sure what kind of enticement would be appropriate.
I'm with those who want to avoid making membership a payment-for-services-
received arrangement.  And at that I'm probably closer than most to needing
something Grex provides.  We're financially at a point that we don't have an
ISP, and we actually rely on Grex for web access & email.  If I really decide
I can't live without better access, I probably won't continue membership in
Grex - but I was a member before Grex had any network connection, & my reason
for stopping would be pretty purely financial.

response 87 of 186:

Dec 2 22:01 UTC 2003

I read the MOTD. Now you know one person.

But I think Jamie does have a point. If there are users out there who 
don't know that they have an option of becoming a member, then there 
is an avenue we need to explore. The web-site does a good enough job 
talking about membership. But we need to get the message across to the 
users that telnet in directly.

Also, apart from sending messages to users who have survived one 
reaping, how about sending a message to every new user that makes an 
account giving them an overview of what grex is about (something like 
the new message you get when you open a Yahoo email account, but one 
that talks more about grex and the community) I think that it would 
help in putting the message across that grex is more than just free 
email. I'm sure we could find a few people out there interested enough 
in becoming members, even if they did come for the free email. (I came 
for free email in 1997, I'm still around. There are people who will 
convert)

response 91 of 186:

Dec 3 03:26 UTC 2003

I wasw thinking more like a welcome message, not necessarily asking 
them to become members. How many people who actually log in to grex 
make full use of the BBS? Of the games? (Ok, that's a joke, though I 
do play hangman if I'm really bored.) True, the message about becoming 
a member can be delayed. But a welcome message could prompt new users 
to explore the other facilities. 

response 93 of 186:

Dec 3 16:17 UTC 2003

WHAT>! YOU NEVER WARNED JLAMB NOW DID YOU>< DID YOU>

response 95 of 186:

Dec 3 19:57 UTC 2003

Sending mail to users telling them about how Grex is supported, and how
they can become members, has been discussed on and off for a number of
years. A couple of years ago Valerie worked out a way to do it with
minimal impact on the system, and wrote a program.  danr wrote the
message.  We were all set to start sending the messages, when the quantity
of Spam sent to Grex users suddenly exploded, and valerie and I got cold
feet about the whole project.  We realized how much we hated Spam, and
were unsettled at the idea of becoming Spammers ourselves.

I am on the fence about it, but I guess I do think it's a legitimate thing
to do - after all, lots of nonprofits send newsletters and things to remind
people to donate.  They even call up on the phone, which is way more
obnoxious than an email.

At least one question needs to be answered before we implement it - what
return address should be on the message, and who should respond to the angry
replies?  The answer could be "no one", but that seems like a copout to me
- I think if you send Spam, you should deal with the consequences, or you're
being irresponsible.  Valerie did implement an "opt-out" in her program; I'm
not sure how it would work.  (I.e., would the user have to go to a web page,
or reply with a keyword in the subject line, or what.)  But undoubtedly
there wuld be some angry replies as well.

We're talking about a large volume of email, and we tentatively suggested
sending a message every three months to people who aren't members.  I
forget the numbers, but say there are 30,000 users who aren't members;
that's over 300 messages on the average day.  No doubt some portion of the
replies will be nasty, and it could become a lot of work to deal with
them.  (I don't *know* it'd be a lot of work - we'd have to try it to find
out.)

response 97 of 186:

Dec 3 20:41 UTC 2003

How about a detailed accounting of all the replies you received?  I don't
approve of your methods, but if you have data, quit talking in generalities,
and post the results.

response 99 of 186:

Dec 3 20:44 UTC 2003

I would love to post hard numbers, but the data is in jp2's inbox.

response 101 of 186:

Dec 3 20:54 UTC 2003

Well, I have eleven responses I that were forwarded to an offsite account:

        Just here for free email:       3
        Asked how/why/benefits:         5
        Too poor:                       1  (explained how grex membership is
                                                a months salary in Hungary)
        Random                          1  (doesn't want to make Grexers feel
                                            more "smug" than they already do)

From what I saw on Grex prior to forwarding, there was one who simply could
not afford it.  Two-three who like the idea, but not at $80/year, and another
dozen or so who didn't know you could become a member and asked what was
involved, etc.  That is, obviously, working from memory.

Not great data, but it's still more than anyone else has produced.

response 103 of 186:

Dec 3 21:22 UTC 2003

Re resp:100: Right now, staff is preventing him from getting at the data,
so I think it's a bit disingenuous to blame him for not being able to produce
answers right now.

response 105 of 186:

Dec 3 21:38 UTC 2003

I'm curious as to who that "Random" one was from.