[H-GEN] Membership forms

[Greg Black]

On 2009-08-15, matheist76 at westnet.com.au wrote:

> I don't see any real reason not to have a double sided form. Those in
> charge, the Exec, surely should be able to print both sides. It's not hard.

This completely misses the entire point of why people wanted the form to be
made available.  It's not for the benefit of the Exec, who can be presumed
to be capable of looking after these things for themselves, but for members
who cannot easily get to meetings in person.  Those members need a form that
they can print, fill in and sign, and send to the Secretary.  It makes no
sense to assume what their printers will do with a form designed by a bunch
of amateurs.  Even experts have trouble getitng this stuff right.

This leads to a further point: there is no value in having a bikeshed over
the trivial details of the form(s). What is needed is form(s) available on
the website. An imbroglio over the look and feel of a non-existent form is
a complete waste of everybody's time.

> Please don't waste your time and everyone else's time by using negative
> comments. Be positive and change what you believe to be wrong. 

Matt, you seem to be unfamiliar with the process of offering up something
for discussion.  It means that you are inviting critical comment, and it's
pointless then asking for people not to criticize.  As the old saying goes:
if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.  Whether it makes any
sense to thrash out the details of membership forms in this mailing list,
it's a process that you began.  Live with it.

However, it's my very strong view that this discussion is a waste of time.
I don't understand why the Exec couldn't have just made the existing form
available on the website for the non-local renewing members to use.  I do
hope that the next Exec will be able to manage such trivial tasks better.

Greg