How do we solve the dual sign-in problem?

Written by: Spandan Chakrabarti on Dec 9, 2005 6:01 AM EST

Linked to groups: DFA-Link Organizers

This question has always bugged me. Say you are Local Group A organizing and hosting a DFA-Link event. You have a sign in sheet. People come in and they sign in. Who does the list belong to? DFA? Local Group A? Both? How do we determine that? I'm asking for ideas that is neither (1) or (2) below, or opinions on either.

I have been involved in meetup and DFA Link organizing for my local group (Silicon Valley, CA), and I have noticed two different procedures used:

(1) EARLIER, our sign in sheet would have people sign in, and a column would be there saying "Do NOT send my info to DFA national". We would respect if anyone checked that (hardly anyone ever did), but anyone who signed in got on the Silicon Valley local (formally called the Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley) mailing list. This system can be described in short as this: DFA Opt-out.

(2) RECENTLY, I have noticed a fancy sign-in sheet - which I kind of assumed was prepared by DFA (I don't actually host these events) - thatis a DFA sign-in list, and a column on the right headed "Put me on the Dean Democratic Club Mailing List." This system then can be called: Local Opt-in. (opt-IN).

I think both systems are cumbersome. The first makes people get on an email list they may not want to, and the second may end up in people forgetting to check off that box when they really wanted to receive emails from the local group. 6 months later, these people go, "How come I never got anything from you guys?"

But what I don't understand is why the host group ought to be excluded by default when people sign in. It makes no sense to me. People come to DFA Link events for two reasons: (i) to get an idea of what the national DFA is doing, but (ii) to get together with or introduced to the local people who are doing things and stay on top of that. So if we have to have one of the above two, I would choose DFA Opt-out over Local Opt-in, and have it announced at every event. The Dean campaign and DFA builds on local decentralized but strong organizatioins, not a national top-down approach.

However, are there ideas as to how this can be done better? Perhaps a system better than either of the two above? And is it really too much for people to get on two email lists by default when they sign in? Do people get confused? How do we as organizers deal better with that? I was going to email Chris, but then I thought why not use DFA's awesome organizing community?

Any suggestions and comments are really appreciated.

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