Slipstream - December 2007

Catch My Draft
by James Shoffit, Region President
Well our year is officially coming to a
close. A quick review indicates all
the activities we had – 6 autocrosses,
6 time trials, 5 drivers education events on
race tracks, a club race, rallies, a rally school,
tours to places all over Texas, a couple of concours,
and happy hours ever month!
If you can’t find something fun to do
with Maverick Region, you just can’t be trying very hard!
One thing that came up recently on our mrpca email list
on YahooGroups was whatever happened to our Membership
Directory. It used to be published every spring or early
summer. It used to contain every member’s name, address,
home and work phone numbers, and what cars they had.
Sounds great, right ?
Some of you are already wincing – I can see you! And
rightfully so. The world has changed a lot since those trusting
days. How long can you go without receiving a Privacy
Policy from investments, banks, doctors, etc? These things
are single-handedly filling our landfills and taking recycling
to whole new levels. That and credit card offers. But I digress.
The problem is that some people don’t WANT their information
published, not even for fellow members to find
them.
Most of us want to use the directory for good – I have
used it to find out which members live close to me; another
member uses the directory to send holiday cards. Another
one used it to invite neighbors to a 4th of July party. And
often it is handy when you quickly want to call someone
you saw at a recent event.
But some people don’t use the information for good
purposes. A mis-delivered membership directory could lead
an abusive ex-spouse to the person trying to get away. Or
could lead to stalking. And some people just don’t want to
be found, for whatever reasons they have. You might think I
am making these up, but I am not. We have always removed
the membership directories before giving copies to advertisers
and sponsors who may leave them out in their shops, but
that is not enough.
So until we get a clear direction on how to handle a
membership directory, we are going to avoid heading in a
direction that could cause legal problems later.
In the meantime, if you do NOT want your information
published in a directory, please send me an email at president@mavpca.org.
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