Minutes of Board Meeting of February 2, 2000

Location: IRC server irc.chatnet.org, channel #asfar

Time: 8:30 pm central time

Board Members Present: Eric Anderson, Matthew Havens, Justin Mallone, Larissa Price, Susan Wishnetsky

Members Present: Aaron B., Alan B., Miranda D., Ian H., Alex K.P., Daniel M., one unidentified member

Visitors Present: None

Note: this meeting was frequently interrupted by
netsplits, forcing those attending to sign on again.  At 9:28 pm central time the
meeting was moved to a private server to avoid further problems.

Approval of minutes.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of
the meeting of
January 2, 2000.  The motion carried.

Reports of Officers:

The President, Eric Anderson, had no formal report.

The Vice-President, Justin Mallone, reported that he was
given the opportunity to write a column introducing people to
ASFAR's ideas at www.objectiveamerican.com.  He said that he would submit
his article to the board for approval.

The Secretary, Susan Wishnetsky, reported on further
problems with members' e-mail addresses being dropped from ASFAR's listservs. Minnesota members had been contacted about the upcoming rally, but none had responded so far.

The Treasurer, Eric Anderson, reported a bank balance of $244.44.

The Public Relations Coordinator, Matthew Havens, reported
that 46 form letters on the Minnesota voting age bill had been sent
through ASFAR and IYRAA, and he was aware of 8 or so people who had written
their own.  He further reported that he was creating an Access database of members.

Reports of Committees:  The 'zine committee had no report.

Old Business

Goals for ASFAR:  Matthew Havens proposed four goals.

1. To reach 350 members by March 1.  After some discussion
about whether the date should be changed to April 1, a motion was made and
seconded to approve the goal as originally stated.  The motion carried.

2. To create an information packet to be sent to all new members who give a full mailing address, including a copy of the latest issue of Youth Truth in print and a PDF version on CD, printed leaflets and a copy of the leaflet on a floppy disk, a history of ASFAR, chapter formation information, and paper membership applications to be mailed.  Matthew proposed to fund the printing and mailing.  There was discussion of including ASFAR pens and buttons, which could be added to the list, if feasible.  Susan Wishnetsky proposed to add a sentence mentioning that a packet would be sent to the "welcome message" for those members who gave full addresses.  There was discussion of members who might not want mailings sent to them, even if they supplied a full address. Eric Anderson proposed to add a check-box to the sign-up page on the web site, permitting new members to allow or disallow mailings to them.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the goal.  The motion carried.

3. To include a suggestion page on ASFAR's web site, with suggestions automatically sent to the board.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the goal. The motion carried.

4. To distribute the cost of printing the 'zine by finding members who would be willing to use their own funds to print and mail small batches.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the goal.  The motion carried.

New Business

The issues of moderating the list and providing a digest option were discussed.  After some discussion, a motion was made to discuss the digest option only; there was no second.  A motion was made and seconded to have a digest option in place by the end of February, provided that it is feasible with our list software.  The motion carried.  A motion was made to make the discussion list moderated, provided that it is feasible with our list software.  The motion carried.  A motion was made and seconded to move the discussion list to www.onelist.com if the previous motions turned out to be unworkable, to utilize their digest and moderation options, as well as archives and links.  After some discussion of the privacy issues of using this service, the motion failed.

Aaron B. and Alex K.P. discussed an umbrella organization called Youth Rights Network (YRN) which was working on a database of youth rights people from various groups, which was planned to be posted on their web site.  Alex K.P. proposed that a check-box be added to ASFAR's sign-up page to allow new ASFAR members to include themselves in this database.  After some discussion, the issue was tabled for further consideration at a later meeting.

Susan Wishnetsky raised the issue of member suggestions on the discussion list, and her concern that members might feel that their suggestions are ignored. She proposed a method to acknowledge and show appreciation for those members and to record their suggestions for consideration.  She mentioned that the suggestion page on the ASFAR site, approved as a goal earlier in the meeting, addressed part but not all of her concern. Matthew Havens reported that he was working on recording these messages and  acknowledging the members who made them.

Matthew Havens moved that Aaron B. be approved as a board member.  The motion was not seconded, and filling the vacant board position was postponed until the next meeting.

Miranda D. discussed her upcoming testimony on HB 1250 at
the State Capitol of Minnesota on Monday, February 7.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:01 am central time.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Wishnetsky
ASFAR Secretary