Nominating Committee Kids: Blue Flyer

[Mr Epee]

Greetings!

Over the recent holiday weekend, I received a blue flier from the "2008 USFA Nominees".

One panel contained a letter addressed "Dear Coach", and it encouraged me to help "getting out the vote".

I'm curious about who else received the flier, and what mailing list was used to distribute it.

[Goldgar]

Greetings!

Over the recent holiday weekend, I received a blue flier from the "2008 USFA Nominees".

One panel contained a letter addressed "Dear Coach", and it encouraged me to help "getting out the vote".

I'm curious about who else received the flier, and what mailing list was used to distribute it.

I got it, and yes, I'm a coach. I do have a Coach Competitive membership in the USFA, so possibly that fact is available somewhere. I'm also a member of the USFCA, but I can guarantee that no one asked the secretary of that organization for any member lists.

On the other hand, I just assumed that the same flyer was sent to all members, whether coaches or not, and that the part addressed "Dear Coach" was just an extra that would be ignored by non-coaches. That assumption could well be wrong.

[Jason]

I'm a Competitive Coach member but I didn't receive anything (not yet, anyway). Am I being snubbed?

Brad, don't you snub me!

[telkanuru]

I'm a Competitive Coach member but I didn't receive anything (not yet, anyway). Am I being snubbed?

Brad, don't you snub me!

What're you gonna do, vote for someone else

[dberke]

Let's again look to the USFA bylaws for a possible answer:

Membership Labels. All duly qualified candidates shall be provided copies of the membership list and mailing labels upon the payment of a price reasonably determined by the National Office to represent the cost of generating the materials.

So it's entirely possible they purchased a set of mailing labels and asked only for those members with coach memberships.

Dan

[Mr Epee]

Let's again look to the USFA bylaws for a possible answer:

So it's entirely possible they purchased a set of mailing labels and asked only for those members with coach memberships.

Dan

A possible answer, yes... but not the only possible answer, so let's avoid getting uppity about bylaws. K?

Mail I receive from the USFA has a label containing my correct ZIP+4.
The label from the blue flier had only ZIP.

In my mind, that seems to indicate that it wasn't generated from the USFA database.

Make sense?

[dberke]

A possible answer, yes... but not the only possible answer, so let's avoid getting uppity about bylaws. K?

Mail I receive from the USFA has a label containing my correct ZIP+4.
The label from the blue flier had only ZIP.

In my mind, that seems to indicate that it wasn't generated from the USFA database.

Make sense?

It may not be the only possible answer, but it sure is the simplest. Occam's Razor at work...

Your post seemes to imply there may have been some inappropriate use of the membership list (why else would you have bothered posting this otherwise?) That seems to be a hasty conclusion when the bylaws (sorry) provide for a legitimate means of getting the information.

Dan

[Mr Epee]

Whoa. What?

I think you need to settle down.

Anyone with a basic understanding of marketing/public relations knows that one of the most important decisions in any campaign is the identification/selection of target audiences for a specific message. Considering that I was targeted by a direct mail campaign with a minimum cost of approximately 50 cents per exposure, I immediately wondered why/how I was selected for targeting.

I asked Tracy the same question when I received e-mail from her. She replied almost immediately.

How a message is distributed generally says a great deal about the sender. It also says a great deal about the message being sent. This sort of thing fascinates me.

Ascribing sinister motivation to innocent (and very legitimate) questions does not become you, sir.

[dberke]

Whoa. What?

I think you need to settle down.

Anyone with a basic understanding of marketing/public relations knows that one of the most important decisions in any campaign is the identification/selection of target audiences for a specific message. Considering that I was targeted by a direct mail campaign with a minimum cost of approximately 50 cents per exposure, I immediately wondered why/how I was selected for targeting.

I asked Tracy the same question when I received e-mail from her. She replied almost immediately.

How a message is distributed generally says a great deal about the sender. It also says a great deal about the message being sent. This sort of thing fascinates me.

Ascribing sinister motivation to innocent (and very legitimate) questions does not become you, sir.

Did you ask anyone on the NC slate the question in private before posting the question here? I don't recall you asking Tracy that same question in a public forum. (I was wondering the same thing and would have noticed the answer had it been posted.)

Dan

[Mr Epee]

Did you ask anyone on the NC slate the question in private before posting the question here? I don't recall you asking Tracy that same question in a public forum. (I was wondering the same thing and would have noticed the answer had it been posted.)

Dan

Are you for real?

Go back and look at your own posts over the past several weeks and look for extreme irony. Hopefully, you'll be as amused as I am right now.

[mdstasinos]

This is fairly simple. It was generated by the national office at our request. Regardless if it has the last 4 digits of the zip or not being included. I hope that ends the conspiracy.
MD Stasinos
http://usfanominees.com

[Jason]

This is fairly simple. It was generated by the national office at our request. Regardless if it has the last 4 digits of the zip or not being included. I hope that ends the conspiracy.
MD Stasinos
http://usfanominees.com

Yet I haven't received one! I am being snubbed!!!
You've lost my vote, Baker!

[mdstasinos]

Yet I haven't received one! I am being snubbed!!!
You've lost my vote, Baker!

How do you know it wasn't intercepted so you would't see it? Conspiracy is alive again!
MD Stasinos
http://www.usfanominees.com

[Mr Epee]

Conspiracy is alive again!
MD Stasinos
http://www.usfanominees.com

You know what? Oso97 was making exactly the same sort of pithy comments about various conspiracies and "puppet masters" right up until the point he broke and confessed that he and his friends on the Nominating Committee had been the subject of retaliation attacks from th "USFA Old Guard".

If the list was generated by the USFA database, then why didn't it contain the same information that is included on all the other mailing labels I've received from the USFA... Isn't it the nature of databases is to regurgitate the same information (right or wrong, but not variations on the same information)?

Should this discussion be transfered to the technology thread?


Did every member of the USFA receive this mailing?

How much did these maling lablels cost, Mr Stasinos?

Who shared the cost of the mailings?

[Jason]

Did every member of the USFA receive this mailing?

Wait... what if you were the only one to receive it?? What if the NC slate has decided (naturally, as a group) that the Mid-West nearly-Finnish almost-Jew demographic is their must-win target?

[KD5MDK]

Every member did not receive a copy. I'm pretty sure Jason is a USFA member.



I also did not receive a copy. It's probably my lack of Finnishness.

[Jason]

Every member did not receive a copy. I'm pretty sure Jason is a USFA member.



I also did not receive a copy. It's probably my lack of Finnishness.

I'm even a "Competitive Coach" member. So either I haven't gotten it yet (not an impossibility) or the list didn't include all the coaching members.

I'm also curious to know how much the labels cost and how they were paid for...

[KD5MDK]

I usually get American Fencing between 4 days and a week after other people on here report getting it. Do you have any impression of similar delays Jason?

[IHateMrPotatohead]

My ballot didn't come until more than a week after other people got theirs, so I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet Jason.

[oiuyt]

Did every member of the USFA receive this mailing?

How much did these maling lablels cost, Mr Stasinos?

Who shared the cost of the mailings?

Not every member received the mailing. It was targetted at coaches, with the list generated by the National Office.

I don't know whether or not Jason was on the list* -- his mailing could just be delayed. Or have been snatched by those that don't want him voting for me. There were some known issues with the list prior to the mailing. I'm both a life member and supposedly tagged in the database as a coach member (indeed, mailing labels that DO include me specifically reference my being a coach member). I was not on the list. I know of another life member/coach who also was not included.

The labels cost us $66.30. That amount was paid for by the group of us to the USFA. As was the cost of printing and the postage.

If the list was generated by the USFA database, then why didn't it contain the same information that is included on all the other mailing labels I've received from the USFA... Isn't it the nature of databases is to regurgitate the same information (right or wrong, but not variations on the same information)?

That's a VERY good question. One which, unfortunately, I cannot answer.

-B

* Jason- If you don't receive one eventually and have a burning desire for this limited-edition collectible, let me know and I'll make sure you get one.