Re: AIS homepage suggestion

>Linda Mann <lmann76543@aol.com> asks:

>>Scott, how about adding an email address of a contact in each of the local
>>iris societies, if there is somebody on-line?  Maybe by 'add your email
>>address here' to the home page?

>Scott Aitken replies:
>Right now, all I have is email addresses for any AIS board members,
>officers, staff, Section VPs, and Regional VPs (at least those that I know
>of).


Your suggestion is one to consider. It might be nice if people out
>there browsing the web had someone to email in their area if they had
>questions about irises or the AIS. I would think a distinction would have
>to be made between official representatives of AIS (those mentioned above)
>and general members (like me). I know I go into a near panic when someone
>emails me from the AIS web page asking me for gardening advice (a really
>bad idea), despite my disclaimer.
>
>I expect within a few years, email addresses will be as common as phone
>numbers. It might be possible to keep a whole database of them on the web
>page. Maintaining it might be a bit of a headache, but maybe not if I could
>get it directly from the AIS membership chairperson. Or right now, Mike
>Lowe maintains an informal E-Rolodex of Iris people. Maybe I could post
>this, with Mike's permission of course, and the permission of the people
>listed. Is this a good idea? Mike, is it very time consuming to maintain
>that list?

Mike answers...
I think that one email volunteer per local iris society who would consent
to being listed on the AIS web page and who would field questions, would be
a good way for AIS to assist gardeners who had access to the net and wished
info on iris matters.

At this time, those _iris society members_ listed in the e-rolodex have
consented to:

1,  having their email address and region listed and having the list
circulated not more than twice a year.

2. One emailing of the complete list to each new iris society member who
consents to being added to the list.

3. Absolutely no circulation of the list to any individuals other than
those contained in the list.

Of course, any list of any sort is always at risk of compromise, but so far
no spam! I have encountered at least an order of magnitude more 'address
proliferation' with participation in chat rooms than I have experienced by
a 'special interest' listing such as the e-rolodex.

The time to maintain and update the list is not onerous -- what is time
consuming is obtaining permission for a listing. The winnowing of those
willing to be a contact and the assignment of one volunteer for each of
approximately 160 iris society chapters *would* take a significant amount
of time.

As an example -- one iris society has three members listed in the
e-rolodex. One has gone on record as NO WAY!!! One is ambivalent and the
remaining person is willing to act as a contact. I would guess that this
ratio would hold throughout -- but less than half of the iris societies
have someone on line.

I am open for suggestions but will be away for a couple of days, helping a
kid move into a new home.

Best regards,

Mike,  mikelowe@tricities.net   --   http://www.tricities.net/~mikelowe/
Freezing in South Central Virginia, USA
USDA Zone 7A???, pH-5.4,  very sandy loam
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