Your USPS membership means that you have joined a fraternal organization: a communitywith the shared interest of safe boating. We want to spend time together, interacting and discussing things nautical.
Most of us meet once a month during the non-boating season. During the boating season, many Squadrons suspend monthly meetings and then find time to be together at on-the-water squadron functions and at impromptu raft-ups.
We also share our community thru our squadron and district publications. Our newsletters tell us what's going on, in either USPS or our squadrons: upcoming events, trips people have taken, those who have joined us, those who have left.
There are other ways to increase our interaction with squadron and district members. Members of both USPS and Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (CPS) send E-mail to the USPS national mailing list on the Internet, which is then re-distributed to over 450 members.
While this list brings Community in the larger sense, it misses the local and regional flavor a more dedicated discussion group can bring. That's why, we offer districts the chance to have their own mailing list. Districts 28, 29, 22 already take advantage of mailing lists.
District members discuss items that are relevant their local district and squadrons. They share the trials and tribulations that members of a regional area can understand and share. District mailing lists bring those members who belong to them a greater sense of community.
How do you either subscribe to a District mailing list? Contact your district computer systems committee chairman and ask if your district has one, or send e-mail to Majordomo@sb.usps.org. In the body of the message type "Subscribe Dxx" where xx is your District number. If your District has a Mailing List, you will get a Welcome message. Otherwise, you will get an error message.
If you get that error message, contact your district computer systems committee chairman. Ask him or her to contact me to set up a district-wide mailing list. It only takes me a few minutes and the requirements for a mailing list are simple. A district member needs to take responsibility for administrating the list. For the most part, it takes minutes a week, since most district mailing lists will be small. Larger lists require a little more effort to maintain.
Those who choose to be administrators will receive all the instructions in an e-mail posting. Even novice Internet and e-mail users can become a mailing list administrators, eo don't say no because you're not an e-mail master.
Remember, we're a community, and this is just another way our community can grow, by adding value to the membership. Millions of people are now using and more are logging on all the time. The Computer Systems Committee is meeting that need by providing our membership with Internet related services.
See you on the Internet!