ATTENTION: CHANGES TO OVAS WEBSITE AND CLASSIFIEDS

[exv152]

Another thought. Were do we buy our memberships? It could be a good idea to leave some with the sponsors. Also would be cool to have an ovas sticker on the door of our sponsors as i had not found ovas until quite a while after being on the fresh side of things and wondered why it was never advertised.

I think those questions are best addressed by your favourite sponsor. Ask the sponsor why ovas memberships are not sold at their store?

[Hookup]

I think the sponsor-sold memberships are not going to happen for the reasons stated before in the thread.  A third party has to hold and manage OVAS club money and membership information.

If I was a retailer, i would not want this.

[Feivel]

I didnt read 6 pages and whaT is it to keep somones name and adress in a book with his 15$ or 20$ whatever was decided upon. Until a moderator can show up every week or two and pick up the info. It wojld promote the sponsors also because hey im here buying a membership and ohhhhh look at that coral/fish .... what!?!?! Only 40$ ill take it !      See what i mean? Just thinking for ways to profit everyone. Not much of a sponsor if they cant be proud to promote us. We help promote them. They dont (or barely) show up for club events. Yeah im sure their bisy with the stores but im busy at my workplace too and i still find the time to visit. Not to mention most are only open 4 days a week. I dont mean to start a new debate or anything. Im just thinking out loud.  We help suport them . I would like to see them suport us. None have an ovas sticker but ovas has a section for the sponsors.

[Hookup]

sure, but in a world where classifieds cannot be open to the pubic due to "people/moderators/issues/etc" I cannot imagine what's going to happen when the first drove of people call in saying, "I got my membership at Bob's House of Fish... Why don't I have access to the forum, or what not... and I lost my card they gave me cause i was buying like 100 things, and my kids were screaming and...

Just saying... seems to me like this is much more monumental than our current issues...

[Feivel]

I guess theres pro and cons on bpth sides of the coin. Bit still could have more visual promotion from pur sponsors. Would the budjet allow for such stickers to be made? I would buy one.

[exv152]

I think the sponsor-sold memberships are not going to happen for the reasons stated before in the thread.  A third party has to hold and manage OVAS club money and membership information.

If I was a retailer, i would not want this.

Not unless the sponsors purchase a set amount of memberships to be sold to others, like a corner store does with OCtranspo tickets. Prebought memberships that can be redeemed online. If you were a retailer in a very specific niche business like aquaria, and you were a shrewd, astute and keen businessman, you'd wanna have a good relationship with organizations that will bring you money, even if you have to sell their memberships, or put a sticker on your store front. Other large cities have such keen sponsors willing to go that extra mile and then some. Maybe the sponsors here don't have enough competition.

[Fishnut]

Please keep ideas coming because they help us in the brain storming process.  

A sticker for a door is not expensive...I don't think.  We just have to be respectful of the wishes of our sponsors.  Every square inch of space in a store is valuable real estate.

[bt]

give us ( the execs. that volunteered) the chance to execute our vision for the club , then crucify us in May 2013 at which time there will be a full report on Membership status, meeting attendance & the financial status along with the state of apathy the "club" have then compared to now, this should reflect the result of our efforts.

A little late replying to this, but I've been away...

You need to take feedback the entire time you're sitting as an exec.  Instead, we're being told to wait for 9 months.

Here's the problem with that: You're asking that of people before membership renewal is due. 

If I'm not happy with the direction the exec is taking the club and feel like my concerns are being brushed off with "wait until the next election", why would I put down $20 for this season? And if I don't put that money down, I won't have a say on it in May. Not a good way to encourage renewals, and will just lead to an echo chamber effect.

[Fishnut]

Feed back, yes.  We're always looking for feed-back.  An abundance of nonconstructive comments and criticism, no.  If you're really unhappy, May election is the time to express this when it makes the biggest difference.

[bt]

Plenty of constructive feedback has been given on this topic.  Yet we mostly have gotten the same response as the non-constructive responses, occasionally a short response that doesn't address what we said or completely ignores the point (see: being told to wait until May, again), or worse - no response at all.

I am really unhappy.  I won't be a member in May due to how this issue has been handled to date (more than the issue itself), so I'm expressing it now.  I shouldn't have to wait until may to "make the biggest difference".  It's insulting and dismissive to be told to do so.

[NjOyRiD]

Good suggestion with the chat.  I remember a few planted tank things going on there as well.  I'm not 100% sure on this (I wasn't on the exec committee when it happened) but I think there was a software issue with it or when we did an update, it wasn't available any more...something like that.

I'll see if I can find out.

Is everyone generally happy with the functionality of the forum?

I started Salty tuesdays
when they asked me if it was usefull and if peopel was going. I said yes and o even had big names coming
they decided to just remove it without telling us why

[Fishnut]

That was before my time.  Please fill me in on what that was.

Also, thanks for reminding me about the chat.  I did find out that there was a glitch with it that the webmaster couldn't figure out how to fix, so it was disabled.  We have a new webmaster so MAYBE she can figure it out when she has time to investigate it.

[charlie]

Guys i honestly think this thread has served it`s purpose & really don`t see any further need to keep it going. We have planned a course for the CLUB, the Club is what all execs volunteer to devote their time away from their jobs, family & social life, these choices were made to better the "CLUB".
so the thread is now closed, thanks for all your input.
Regards Errol/Charlie
President