GIAC

Monthly Board Meeting

7:00 PM, NOVEMBER 8, 2001

Greenbelt Police Station

MINUTES

Present:

Board members: Gilbert Lee, Anne Andersen, Doug Love, Peggy Bates, and Leonie Penney

Member: Karl Grotke. Non-members: Hugh Meyers, Dennis Jelalian

1. Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM

2. Additional Issues to Agenda: a) Doug: Host newdealcafe. (Dorian involved)

b) Dennis Jelalian: Computer Lab.

3. Agenda Approved (Peggy moved, Doug seconded, unanimous)

4. Secretary Report (Leonie Penney)

Leonie distributed the minutes of the October 11, 2001 Board Meeting. Once change was made: last two lines in item 7 (System Administrator Report) should read:

“Doug assisted the Arts Center with solving their MAC problems. Received 4 free tickets. Anne started to give FTP lessons to some members of the News Review Staff.”

Minutes approved (Peggy moved, Doug seconded, unanimous). Leonie will e-mail approved minutes to Neil for posting.

5. Vice President Report (Mary Camp was not present)

CLASSES:

* Doug reported that his October class "Introduction to the Internet" was very successful. 7 attendants, none was a beginner.

* Dennis asked not to hold classes on Tuesday or Wednesday nights. Peggy replied that a system of night-rotation is being used, as nearly everyone has some nights they are busy.

* Friday, November 9: Mary: Spam, Cookies etc.: popups and a pinch of security

* Wednesday, November 28: Mary: How to buy a Computer

* Monday, December 17: Doug: What a Computer is made of (assembles own computer) (moved from December 10)

6. Treasurer Report (Peggy Bates)

October showed a profit of $ 146

Fire Proof Cabinet not yet bought (see item 8. below)

7. System Administrator report (Anne Andersen)

*We lost 2 members, gained 1 member. Anne sent the work order for the new member to our ISP. We now have 58 active accounts.

*Anne did not receive any more complaints from Neil.

*Margaret (from BooNet) did not respond to Peggy's suggestion re gathering feedback from users. Mary had suggested sending users a questionnaire. Leonie suggested standard forms to be given to users (Peggy designed such a form, showing date, time and problem)

*Doug complained that Margaret does not respond. Peggy has better results when she calls Margaret directly. (M. will respond over time). Technical support is available during BooNet’s normal operating hours.

*Regarding the fact that e-mail cannot be sent to "outsiders", when connected via another ISP: Karl remarked that that is the correct procedure. Web-mail will allow it, and BooNet is on the cusp (Peggy) of installing that. Karl stated that he is available to help people.

*Neil has mentioned that somebody believes that the greenbelt.com server attacks another service. Anne thought a virus might be involved. Peggy asked Anne to look into this.

*Anne and Doug have been receiving a lot of Spam: Anne thru YAHOO, using OUTLOOK EXPRESS; Doug from China.com. Peggy suggested a name change. Also: Mary's seminar (November 9) will discuss filters. Karl: never reply these e-mails because that only confirms to the sender that yours is an active address!

Complain to their ISPs (if you can find them). Save headers as text document, and then forward it to the ISP hosting the mail server. The ISP can (and does) block Spam, but it is impossible to catch it all because the senders are devious in changing their names and subject lines which are used to filter the Spam.

Doug: suggested we start a Spam committee, to deal with Spam issues.

8. President Report (Gilbert Lee)

* Fireproof cabinet. Gil still has the blank check; will buy it next week. (see also item 6. above)

9. Legal Committee Report (Doug Love and Neil McLeod)

* Doug has not seen Neil. They will not receive any more service credits until the Legal Committee does some work.

10. Addition Issues:

* Buying a computer: Peggy suggested we defer this until January. We already have a purchase this year (the fireproof cabinet), which will use up the profits for the year and reduce our tax liability. Deferring the purchase of the computer until January will reduce next year’s tax liability.

* Computer Lab: Dennis Jelalian informed us that Ivy, who runs a computer lab in St. Hugh's, offered him 35 computers in various states of repair. He is proposing to the city of Greenbelt that a computer lab be set up for public use, and is looking for an established group in Greenbelt to endorse the idea to the City. He wants space for a computer lab (6-8 computers) and asks only for our endorsement. This would not include any technical or financial assistance from GIAC. A lively discussion followed. Items brought up: Money will be needed for paper, toner etc.; Equipment maintenance; Supervision; Bookkeeping; Space. A usage fee is envisioned. Karl Grotke has offered his technical expertise to Dennis in this endeavor. The person in charge of the community center told Dennis: there is no space in the center.

The general consensus was that GIAC would have to see the proposal that is going to be submitted to the city. The proposal would have to address all the issues satisfactorily before we could provide our official endorsement.

Dennis and Karl will submit a proposal to the Board at our next meeting.

* Hosting .newdealcafe. We will do it. BooNet asks a $ 25 setup fee, plus a monthly cost, which Peggy will find. Dorian and Karl will then present those figures to the New Deal Board.

* Bookkeeping assistant: asked for by Anne. Gil Lee offered instead to take care of the mail (pick up, deposit checks, forward data to Peggy). Asking students for help was nixed.

11. The President closed the meeting at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Leonie Penney, Secretary