SLASH questions

[Shooter7]

It will be an excellent time to get answers to your questions about the future direction of SLASH.

Quote above taken from the "pizza night" thread.

I have alot of questions about SLASH, and since I'm not going to be able to attend the first SLASH pizza night event, I guess I'll ask them here.

First off, given the situation that this thread evokes on its own, what is the planned method by which SLASH is going to inform its membership of what's going on? Will there be a reporting of the meeting's details here on this board? Will SLASH have its own website like SEASL? Will it be a group PM'ing or emailing? It seems by the quote above that the only way you're going to get info is if you attend the meeting.

Are there really any "members" of SLASH currently, outside of the listed officers? I know that I responded to a PM awhile back asking if I would be interested in a new club, but haven't heard anything about membership. To become a member will one have to pay something or is it just a bunch of people on a list? I'm assuming it's the former considering there is a Treasurer position. At what point will we be informed of what the dues will be and what paying said dues does for me, the member, should I join?

Will there be a bunch of bylaws and rules set up? Will there be some sort of organized electronic voting capability for approving such things?

On a suggestion basis, I would like to suggest that an early fact revealing meeting should probably be held on a weekend. While I realize that there are some people who cannot attend weekend gatherings, every weekend SEASL meeting I have attended has had a large turnout, and it seems as though this one has more people posting that they're NOT going to be there than those who are. I think that the weekday pizza things and all that are great and I hope to make one eventually, but I feel that those will probably always be less attended than the weekend meetings, or even a Friday night one. The meeting would be followed up by a very detailed accounting for what occurred at the meeting posted up here or in PM or in email, however you decide.

Ok, so these are just questions and comments I would have had, had I been able to attend the scheduled event. I guess I have just found myself wondering when this info was going to be covered as it seems to be all the kind of stuff you would need to address in forming a club like this. All I could think of for now...don't want to seem like I'm pressing anyone, these are just the questions I've had swirling around up there. :rollface:

[stlouisguy]

Very good post. And good questions. Tagging along to see answers also

[Letmegrow]

We will have Emails, PM's, and a Website, for informing our memebrs. Only members will recieve such information and details

Memberships will be required to join the club, dues will be $20 a year.

There will be laws, and electronic voting will be used.
Greg - Capncapo is drawing up the layout and laws.
All will be presented soon. We will not take this off the ground until everyone is on board, Shooter and anyone else wishing to be a part of this club will not be left in the dark.


There will always be both weekday and weekend meetings and events.
Everyone should have the chance to attend. We can not exclude anyone, you can only exclude yourself.
This is not as formal and stiff as SEASL, The hobby is flexable and so shall be this club. The whole reason for this club was for people to have fun and be included. Weekend only events would alienate alot of people including myself.

Thank - You Dave for your Questions.

[Shooter7]

Just for the record, don't know if you construed it as such or not, but want to make sure you understand that I did not suggest having weekend only meetings. Just thought that a weekend meeting would probably garner the most bodies available to attend for something as important as laying out what the future of the club is. Just a suggestion...

[Letmegrow]

I did not take it that way and I am sorry if I gave the impression that I did. :)

This is just a get together for a getting to know you, no offical concrete things will be determined at this event. It's to tell people our ideas and discuss memberships and what it means to be a member.

[Letmegrow]

Our secretary Jack (sirreal63) will be taking minutes and we can post them for everyone to see.

[sirreal63]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6998945#post6998945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Letmegrow
Our secretary Jack (sirreal63) will be taking minutes and we can post them for everyone to see.

Dave will be letting me borrow his Thursday night skirt for the meetings. All good secretaries should have a skirt.

It is important note that this club will not be the ridgid "Roberts Rules of Order" Gestapo kind of club. Our goal is to be flexible, let the mbership speak freely and openly. We will have our own website but RC is important to event planning and discussing some club business.

In short, this is not SEASL, the board members of SLASH are here, they are here to listen and we will react.

[dphins]

I really enjoy pizza night, so I hope slash doesn't veer to far away from that atmosphere.

[fade32]

I do to Mike. I have got to know some very nice people from those. And I hope to get to know alot more.

[Shooter7]

Who said anything about "veering away" from it? I certainly didn't see any of the officers say that, nor did I.

[dphins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6998767#post6998767 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Letmegrow
We will have Emails, PM's, and a Website, for informing our memebrs. Only members will recieve such information and details

Memberships will be required to join the club, dues will be $20 a year.

There will be laws, and electronic voting will be used.
Greg - Capncapo is drawing up the layout and laws.
All will be presented soon. We will not take this off the ground until everyone is on board, Shooter and anyone else wishing to be a part of this club will not be left in the dark.

This is not as formal and stiff as SEASL, The hobby is flexable and so shall be this club. The whole reason for this club was for people to have fun and be included. Weekend only events would alienate alot of people including myself.

Thank - You Dave for your Questions.
I will use this as an example. (not picking on you Steve)
When you say there will be laws, that doesn't sound fun. Having rules sounds much better.
Our secretary Jack (sirreal63) will be taking minutes and we can post them for everyone to see.
Are you going to take minutes at a pizza party?
I was more interested in a club that people could gather together and talk fishtanks. Not worry about laws and minutes.:(

[StupidsReef]

Whew!! Thank you dphinsx2!! Ya took the words right out of my mouth. I agree that I'm really NOT interested in the "laws"/"rules" of anything. Don't we have enough of those in every day life. If I ever get to go to a pizza night, I anit's gonna be talking politics wit' ya'll. Screw that, I just want to meet other reefer's, hear their do's & don't/ Tried this and didn't that. Now you want us to PAY money to join a club?? I had to do that with SEALS. :( I was hoping we could keep it a fun club:( :(

And Steve a.k.a Letmegrow, I went to GWA this weekend in hopes to finely get to meet you and Dave a.k.a Lostmymarblesyearsagobutdon'ttellanyonei'mcrazy said you heard I was headed up there and run out like a chicken with its tail between it;s legs! :) When did chickens have tails??

He said you were busy with other things. But I came, I saw, I liked and I got a few snails and some blue legged hermit crabs.

[Shooter7]

You cannot have an official "club" which collects dues and organizes events and all of that good stuff without having some kind of structure. People are not going to hand over money for dues to a group that tells them that they'll "Use it for something or other". They want to know what their money is going to be used for and they want someone accountable for it. It's the nature of the beast. A bunch of guys hanging out together can easily do just that, but when you start trying to put together an actual organization, there's much more to it. This is where my original questions grew from.

[capncapo]

Dave,

You're right!

We WILL have the structure necessary to carry on as a non-profit organization. It is not only necessary but required by law. By-laws are a necessary evil and also required by law. The base for this structure already exists in the form of the Board of Directors.

The board is dedicated to the concept that EVERYTHING concerning our club will be strictly above board and honest. All minutes will be posted for review by the membership including the minutes of all executive board meetings. We will have nothing to hide from the membership. Our decisions will be made a matter of public record available for inspection by everyone.

We are currently in a "chicken and egg" situation. It's a matter of not having a club unless we collect dues and not collecting dues until we have a club. This is only made more interesting by the fact that in order to become a non-profit organization, the services of an attorney are required.

I hate to ask for dues when what we have now is an idea for a club. I admit that an idea is not much to base the collection of dues on but we are planning a "different" type of club. A club where the members have a say in everything, a club where you can participate in important matters even if you can't attend a meeting and most importantly, one where the club officers are available in a forum and willing to discuss club matters.

We plan to take our club into the 21st. century and use this forum to make information concerning all aspects of the club available. We will also use it to get suggestions from the membership concerning what is important to them.

The best way to say it is that SEASL has stated that their forum is not an extension of their club but was started just as a way for members to stay in touch between meetings. Nothing against them but we want our forum to be just the opposite. We want it to be a very integral part of our club and intend to use it as much as possible for that purpose. The fact that nearly every officer has replied to your questions in this thread should illustrate that point to you.

We posted a "survey" last week posing the question "What do YOU want in a club?". This was our attempt to discover what is important to prospective members. We did not get near as many responses as we would have liked. We want to emphasize the importance of these polls and surveys.

We will be doing many more surveys and polls in the near future and would greatly appreciate as many responses as folks care to give as without them, we can only guess what folks want.

Pizza nights and other fun events will be a part of the plan. We firmly believe that making friends is an untapped resource of the reefing hobby and will place a very big emphasis on this aspect. Many folks have expressed more than a passing interest in getting together with other reefers just to talk and socialize. Our plan is to make social meetings a very big part of the club.

A web site is currently in the works as well as getting our logo done. We have many things to accomplish and are working hard to do so.

I can assure you that we are sincere and that this is an attempt to give you a club that you can truly call your own.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. That is what this club is all about.

Greg

[Shooter7]

Thanks Greg, those are the kinds of answers I was looking for, and the kind of info I think everyone is interested in hearing. I knew that I had been asked to provide personal info (phone number, email, etc), been asked to answer polls and give opinions, but was beginning to wonder what was being done with it. Most posts and responses I had seen regarding this topic, up to this preceding one from you, had been very "conceptual" in content, but not alot you could really get your teeth into. This post, while still being somewhat conceptual, still gives more direction of what you invision for the club, more insight as to what the current workings and obstacles that the officers are facing, and more understanding of what the overall purpose is. I'm not much of one to jump on a bandwagon just because it happens to be passing by, I like to know who's at the wheel and where/why they're going where they're going. Thank you.

[capncapo]

Dave,

I agree that replies have been conceptual. I think the reason for that is because we are more or less trying to assemble the framework of the club and are wanting the members to finish it up. Hence the polls and surveys.

It's hard to offer you a finished product when, according to our plans, you are the ones who will be finishing it.

[zt444a]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7001534#post7001534 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dphinsx2
I will use this as an example. (not picking on you Steve)
When you say there will be laws, that doesn't sound fun. Having rules sounds much better.
Our secretary Jack (sirreal63) will be taking minutes and we can post them for everyone to see.
Are you going to take minutes at a pizza party?
I was more interested in a club that people could gather together and talk fishtanks. Not worry about laws and minutes.:(

Or seeing JAck in a skirt for that matter....:eek1: :eek2: :eek1: :eek2:

[Reggae Fish]

I want to join but with kids and other things going on, I can't make every single meeting but I DO want to be involved. I'm sure others have things in their lives that prevent them from getting to the meetings. I'm interested in meeting new people and talking about whatever with no agenda. Is this possible? I don't mind a bit of the boring parts of memberships because it's just part of it, minutes, by laws, etc.... I just didn't know if I had to be at every meeting to be a part. I don't want to be an outsider!

[Arsenal11]

Ok so where do i send my $20 Paypal?

[capncapo]

Kurt,

We are in the process of getting Paypal payments set up.

Nook and I went to start a bank account today so that we can tie it to Paypal. Unfortunately, they had a minimum of a $300.00 opening balance for the account so until we get that amount dues will have to be paid by a check or cash.

If you wish to pay by check, they should be made out to SLASH.

[Arsenal11]

Greg, ill get a check to you or dennis, so we can get 2 $300 so the paypal thing can get rollin.

[capncapo]

That is much appreciated Kurt!

[capncapo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7011748#post7011748 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sj022698
I want to join but with kids and other things going on, I can't make every single meeting but I DO want to be involved. I'm sure others have things in their lives that prevent them from getting to the meetings. I'm interested in meeting new people and talking about whatever with no agenda. Is this possible? I don't mind a bit of the boring parts of memberships because it's just part of it, minutes, by laws, etc.... I just didn't know if I had to be at every meeting to be a part. I don't want to be an outsider!

You don't have to make every meeting. Though we wish otherwise you don't even have to make ANY meetings. If you pay dues you will be a full member with the same rights as any other member. You can participate at any level that you wish and that your schedule will allow.

There will be plenty of events where you will be able to meet and talk to others.

[Goalie66]

Hey Greg,
PM me your address or Dennis' and I'll send in my $20.00 as well. :)

Tom

[capncapo]

PM sent Tom.

[ol'saltybastage]

This is how we did it in Wichita and it worked great...

we had the clubs official website
www.wichitareefclub.com (http://www.wichitareefclub.com) (built by me :) ) I didn't ask for cash. everyonce in a while someone would throw me a frag and I was happy with that.

we had a president but it was more of a "coordinator" type position... this isn't even really needed if there is a forum that has a section devoted to club info.

meetings were held twice a month and people would volunteer to have it at their house... I like this better than meeting at a place of business because we get to see each others tanks and its more inviting. understandably this is not an option for some to hold meetings at their houses and I can see going to a public place at that point.

We always invited reps from all the LFS's and they would bring party gifts where we would draw names to pick a prize until all the prizes were gone. things like chems, inverts, fish food, gift certs.....

no by-laws, no complications. we kept it simple and everyone loved it. no promoting one LFS over another because it was meant to be a friendly forum and we all love our tanks no matter what LFS you work for you were there as a SW person not a sales rep.

maybe the atmosphere here isn't right for this type of club... I'm open to anything.

I'm not saying anything negative about SEASL but I had a bad taste in my mouth for it before I even moved here and started looking for the local club online only to find it looked more like a business than a club. this is why i didnt officially join.

that being said I would like to officially state my interest in helping in getting this going in anyway I can! no matter what direction it is decided it will go. Democracy is a beautiful thing, so is free speech.

[capncapo]

Once we get our ducks in a row we will be looking for volunteers. Consider yourself a marked man.:D