American Kitefliers Association

Well, you can search for Louisiana using the two letter abbreviation "LA" but you will get a smattering of records from Scotland, Pays de la Loire, France, and Sjelland, Denmark thrown in for good measure. 

I was afraid that I was not just missing something. In the name of progress we have lost a valuable tool. Im under the impression that the old program was something that Chuck put together and I assume its not kept current now and its not compatable with the new site. I still have a copy of the old database so I can easliy find old members but its harder to find the new people that we really want to get involved in our programs. I assume the regional directors have a list so they might be able to provide some information.

Capt_Richard wrote:

I was afraid that I was not just missing something.

Be afraid, be very afraid. You are quite right, you're not just missing something. But the AKA sure is.

Once upon a time, Regional Directors were sent a spreadsheet every month which was a complete membership list of the AKA. That hasn't happened since the the AKA Web Site was upgraded. The only thing my RD has seen is a list of New Members/Renewals/Non-Renewals which they were told not to act upon since it was highly inaccurate.

Involving new members is a great idea. Good luck implementing that idea with the current state of membership information.

All the member information is stored in an online database. Each member can edit their record directly, without having to submit a request for change. This is an improvement.

If I understand the issue, it's the form of information delivery that is in question. Any current AKA member can search the member database online, which will always return the latest information. ANY delivered file will be out of date as soon as the next new member registers, or any existing member renews. Try requesting a list of everyone in your region...

If we make a downloadable directory readily available, it could easily find its way into inappropriate hands. I get enough spam already, thanks for asking.

The XD remains capable of delivering a membership list. If you really need one, ask for it.

If it is an online dB, then it can be queried. The question is who can query it and for what information? Frankly, I wouldn't want someone to be able to pay a years dues and swipe a complete list of kite-flyers, complete with all their information. In fact, I might get really huffy about something like that.

OTOH, the board, the staff, and the regional directors should be able to get useful information. Regional directors should be able to communicate with people from their region, with certain contact information. People who manage the various disciplines should be able to contact the members who participate in those areas. To keep the information reasonably private, perhaps those directors and such, should be able to provide a letter and a set of criteria (all fighter kiters; or everyone from Region 5) to the one in charge of the dB with instructions to send the email to that set of members. Membership chairperson should be able to send a reminder to members who have let their membership elapse.

Point being that a list is useful only for doing something with it. It isn't for browsing, or keeping on your computer. Why not send the specifications for the list and instructions for what to do with it? Tell all the members whose last names have exactly four letters that their dues are doubled or something. (Kidding) Let everyone in Region 5 know that there is a festival coming up.

General members could still make reasonable searches that return a few results to allow for searching for individuals, but nothing that generates valuable (spamable) lists.