Tell Us Your Interests
One of the challenging parts of editing a magazine like Sacra Blue is trying to guess what members will want to know about.

As the Content Editor, it's my responsibility to find material you'll like. Of course, Ken Hopkins and Brian Smither help out by finding material, too, but the principal responsibility is mine.

The computer field used to be fairly easy. There was hardware, DOS, three areas of applications (word processing, spreadsheets, and databases), and various utility programs.

Now we have a wide variety of ways to use a computer, and we also have digital cameras, the Internet, handheld PDAs, GPS systems, and lots more.

Predicting what will appeal to members gets a little tricky with such a range to choose from.

That's why I'd like to ask members and non-members alike: Tell me what subjects appeal to you. What kinds of information do you want to get from us? Are there areas you'd like tutorials, or beginners' material, about? Have you learned the basics in some area and want to proceed to more advanced material?

We manage to meet your needs a lot better when you spell out for us what they are.

Another Question
You may have noticed that we added a new regular page not too long ago: the Membership page. Included in it, most issues, are the latest counts on membership, along with listings of new members, those who have renewed, and those members who have allowed their memberships to expire.

Since we began running that page, I've had a few members comment that they didn't realize their memberships were up for renewal until they saw their names on the page under "expired."

Occasionally an officer's name appears in that list, too. We don't discriminate in the listings—they come straight out of the membership data, without editing. In the case of officers, it's important because our bylaws state that you must be a paid-up member to hold any official post.

Of course, the list doesn't have to be printed to determine whether any officers are behind in their dues.

One member has commented that printing the names of lapsed members is negative, and embarrasses those listed.

I don't see it as negative, and have seen some positive results from it. What do you think? Let me know.

Elections
As most of you are aware, we had elections last month for officers to run the user group for the next year. The results are listed on the Business Report page. All of last year's officers ran for re-election, which filled the necessary offices, but no new candidates emerged.

It's most important, of course, to be able to fill the offices so the group can function. I suspect our non-profit status imposes some legal obligations with regard to officers needed, so that's a good thing.

But in terms of growing the organization, it would be helpful to have more people running for office, even if they lose. More people running means more viewpoints and ideas expressed, and that's crucial for a group like ours.

Ideally, I'd like to see competition for all the offices we have. Among other things, it would show that we have a lot of people willing to become involved.