Re: AGA CONTEST - Digest V1 #324

[Karen Randall <krandall@world.std.com>]

At 03:12 AM 6/9/2000 -0700, James wrote:

>- - Is this an incorrect assumption on my part? Remember that I have no prior
>experience in contests of this type.... I don't know what we should be
>expecting.

NO ONE has any experience with something like this.  We're all in the same
boat, wondering how it.s going to fly.  And the waiting is the hardest part.

>But I have some questions, and hopefully either you or Karen will know the
>answers to....
>
>- - Mary said that around 650 copies of the most recent TAG went out. That
>inidicates that there are 650 current AGA members. When I ran a "who" query
>on the majordomo software running the APD a while back I got something like
>1200+ members to that list. Does anyone in the AGA know how much overlap
>there is between the two sets of members? 

No.  Cynthia owns/runs the list.  We know there is a fair overlap just from
conversations taht go on on APD, but there are also, obviously MANY APD'ers
who are not AGA members.  I also know that when I talk to AGA members at
various club functions an astounding number of them don't even know that
the APD exists.

>In other words, does anyone know
>how many AGA members are not also members of the APD I've already posted a
>correction on the APD, so any AGA members who received the insert containing
>the incomplete address _should_ be aware of the proper one now. 

The other problem with that is that MANY people, myself included don't read
APD every day.  When I receive TAG in the mail, if I can't read it then, I
put it aside and read it another day.  There is way to much redundance on
the APD to bother with that, and you have also lost the immediacy of the
conversations if you read it after the fact.  I haven't read APD in 2
weeks, I don't think, and what I normally do in a case like that is to read
the last two or 3 when I get time, and dump the rest.  I didn't know that
you's posted the address correction (though I assumed you would) and would
never know at this point.

There are many wonderful things about the APD and other mailing lists, but
they have their limitations.

>The only AGA
>members we really have to worry about are ones who are NOT on the APD and/or
>those who do not have computer access.

And those of us who can't keep up with reading APD daily ;-)

>- - Is there a master list of AGA members with e-mail addresses? Is there a
>master list of AGA members? A comparison of those two lists would give us an
>idea of which AGA members who need to be made aware of the problem.

There is a master list of members, of course.  But we have only been asking
for E-mail addresses for the last couple of years.  People often just send
a renewal check without a form.  So the list of people who have E-mail
addresses listed is WAY lower than accurate.  It also doesn't account for
those who have changed ISP's since they gave us the information.

>The editors of all of the magaines I contacted have said that they should be
>able to get a correction into print before the closing date of the contest.
>As I mentioned earlier, we could always extend the closing date by a month,
>if necessary.

Has Mary said when the next issue of TAG will be out?  It may be that that
will give us the answer on whether we extend the deadline or not.  If she
can get the correction into the next issue, and that will get into people's
hands in time, that may solve the problem.  Mary's away at the moment, but
I believe she's getting home over the weekend.

>- - But I would like your (anybody's) thoughts on the lack of entries received
>to date..... is my thinking that it is still early correct, or is there
>another reason? (like a general lack of interest). 

I think that Erik is right, it's still early.

>How many entries were
>received in the last AGA photo contest? When did they come in, early or
>late?

There weren't many.  But again, we were drawing from a much smaller pool of
participants, (there was no advertising outside of TAG, and only members
were eligible) AND it _was_ a photo contest.  I suspect that many people
didn't think their _photos_ were "good enough" even if they had beautiful
tanks.  I am hoping the different spin on this project will encourage more
participation.

>- - Is there anything _else_ we can do, either related to the address issue or
>to whipping up interest in the event?

What about asking Petopia and Pets.com to give it some coverage on their
sites?  They might even be willing to donate prizes ;-)

>- - Am I worng in thinking that while this mistake is regrettable, it is
>hardly fatal?

If you're wrong, I am too.  I think it will be fine.  The few people that
don't get the address correction, hopefully the P.O. will catch.

Karen
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