Membership - Forum Access

[dirtyboy]

Well folks, it is membership renewal time again. I can't believe that another year has passed. Club membership runs for the calendar year, from January 1 to December 31. We will be removing membership status on the forum January 1, 2009 (or shortly thereafter) to reflect our correct membership period.

Please remember to renew your membership prior to January 1, 2009 to ensure continued access by choosing one of the options on the Membership (Join) page.


If you believe that you have paid your membership fees for 2009 and haven't been given access to the Members forum, please contact YNOT303, (Anthony on the Contact Us page), and he will gladly straighten the issue out for you.

Thank you for your past support and we look forward to having you as part of motorcycle family in the future.

[dirtyboy]

We had 4 new renewals within 2 days of this post. Thanks for renewing folks.

[twotired]

I'm renewing my membership thru paypal, but I'm curious as to how my payment will be identified as mine?
There is no where to enter my name or username while paying...unless someone will just look up my e-mail address
and associate it back to me that way? Also are there any '09 membership t-shirts? I'd pay at the meeting on the 8th but I'm working that night. Thanks...Shawn

[dirtyboy]

Thanks for the question twotired. I match up the email addresses. If you signed up on the forum with 1 email address and then used another email address with paypal, then a quick PM to me will straighten that out.

We haven't seen your payment via paypal yet though.

[twotired]

Just wanted to make sure I was doing it right.
My payment has now been sent.
Any word on membership t-shirts?

[Dobi]

we did not do shirts for 2009. We went back to fender stickers. We will have them at the Jan 9th meeting and at the bike show. We will have the hoodies for sale at both events as well.

Cheers.

[twotired]

Cool, thanks Mike. I think you mean the meeting on the 8th.
I work the night of the meeting and thru the whole weekend.
I'd like to buy a hoodie and get those stickers too.
I guess next meeting then...

[steve-o]

On the home page it says the next meeting is Dec.4/08.

Is there a new meeing schedules for the 8th?? If so I would like to re-new memberships then, and still retain forum privleages until that point in time. I don't want to set up and re-new a Paypal account just for this purpose.

What isthe boards thought on that.

Anyway, if there is indeed a meeting can it be posted to confirm. Thanks!!

Steve

[dirtyboy]

Steveo, thanks for pointing out that I haven't posted the meeting dates on the web site. I've updated it based on the information that is in the forum calendar.

In the past years, renewing the forum access has been a long drawn out process that lasted well into February. Is that fair to the folks that paid for their membership on time?

Would you be very disappointed if you could not read the members forum for a week? Wouldn't that be a good reminder to pay up or go to the meeting to re-new? How many members do you think would be reminded if we went forward with this? The alternative is that members will be cut off after Jan. 8 (their reminder) and then have to wait until Feb. ? to renew.

I'm open to suggestions, however in the end, I'm a volunteer that wants the process to be straight forward and easy.

[WR_Dave]

I'm open to suggestions, however in the end, I'm a volunteer that wants the process to be straight forward and easy.

I agree with DB, as everyone is a volunteer and they are hard to come by, keeping things straightforward and easy will make it better for the people who use their own time and energy to keep this site alive. We gotta stick to the guidelines set out by the executive.

I don't want to set up and re-new a Paypal account just for this purpose.

Steve

Steve, I didn't realize that Paypal accounts timed out, I will have to check into that. It's not that hard to set up the account though. Happy New Year - - WR Dave

[MotorEd]

In the past years, renewing the forum access has been a long drawn out process that lasted well into February.

I'm open to suggestions, however in the end, I'm a volunteer that wants the process to be straight forward and easy.

Yes it has been a very drawn out process in the past.

I agree with you DB, shutting people out of the members forum might be a great way to motivate some to renew sooner than later. The whole membership renewal process is a TON of work so if it can be condensed to a shorter period I think that makes things easier on those running the show.

Happy New Year! All the best in 2009

[steve-o]

In the past years, renewing the forum access has been a long drawn out process that lasted well into February. Is that fair to the folks that paid for their membership on time?

Would you be very disappointed if you could not read the members forum for a week? Wouldn't that be a good reminder to pay up or go to the meeting to re-new? How many members do you think would be reminded if we went forward with this? The alternative is that members will be cut off after Jan. 8 (their reminder) and then have to wait until Feb. ? to renew.

I'm open to suggestions, however in the end, I'm a volunteer that wants the process to be straight forward and easy.

No it wouldn't be fair to the folks who paid early and or on time.

No I wouldn't really mind waiting a week if I have to.

A suggestion would be to say that after the first meeting of the year (Jan 8 this year) you will be cut off if not renewed. In essence this could potentially get a great turn out for the January meeting every year as some people, like me this year, will make sure to make effort to attend the meeting. If others took this approach it would be a great way for the muchly appreciated volunteer executive to cover a tonne of issues and agenda with the largest audience possible. I do understand your concerns though with people then not renewing until Feb if they miss the January meeting. Truthfully, I never really knew or was told what the anniversary of the memerships were when I joined.

With all this being said I will comply with whatever rules are set forth. I can also completely understand the logic of a Dec 31 renewal date. All of this was just a question and was not intended to create extra work or havoc for anyone. I appreciate all you volunteer board members alot!

And WR rocks, yes paypal has timed me out in the past, also when I've used it alot in the past they ultimately ended up charging me extra fees to transfer and recieve money. I'm not sure but they may have changed this since??

Lastly, did you guys want people who agreed to volunteer at the bike show to arrive early or expect to stay late to recieve a tutorial of the agenda that you want covered and brought forth to the general public??

Merry Christmas and A Happy New year to all you RMDRA'ers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dirtyboy]

Steveo, sounds like you had a business style pay pal account because you can't receive money (which you get charged to do) with a standard account. A standard account just allows you to pay for something.

Please ask your bike show question in the appropriate area. Members forum post about the bike show.

I think that there are lot's of good reasons one way or the other. The bike show is organized via the members forum. It wouldn't make sense for us to cut off access to that just before the show. However I can remove the star ranks from the 2008 members to honor only our 2009 members during this period.

We'll make the switch to the 2009 membership rights right after the show on January 11.

Please note that memberships will need to be processed by the Treasurer so there will be a short delay before they show up on this forum.

Thank you all for your suggestions and your words of support.

Happy New Year to all.

[dirtyboy]

I want to thank all the members that have re-newed or paid their membership for 2009. The forum now distinguishes the 2009 members by:

• showing their forum name in dark red
  showing the 5 red stars as their rank
  higher PM amounts
  higher attachment amounts
  access to member only forums

Note that 2008 members still have access to member only forums and a few of the other benefits until Jan. 11. Thank you for your support in 2008.

We need your support for 2009.

[dirtyboy]

Only 2009 RMDRA members have access to the members benefits now.