Online chapter?
 

I thought I'd see what you guys think -- I know that some other organizations have online alumnae chapters -- Delta Zeta's surfing sisters, for example. I think this is a really cool idea, but as far as I know Alpha Phi doesn't have anything like this, nor do we have a section on the HQ website for chatting.

I wonder how hard it would be to start up an online alumnae chapter, or if not a chapter just some website accessible to A Phis all over the country, possibly with an A Phis only section so we could chat and only other A Phis could access it. Do you guys think this is a good idea? Does it exist somewhere and I just haven't found it? Is there a reason why we don't have one?

Oh, I definitely love the idea and wish there was a chat room/forum on the web site so that I could interact with sisters from all over. I have no idea why we do not have one or if we will ever get one. Perhaps something could be set up on MSN, not sure though, but I do love the idea. :) Thanks for bringing it up Tracy.

Cool Idea!!!

i like

It's definitely "do-able" from a technology standpoint. But things like this cost $$$. I would love to be part of getting something like that off the ground, but International would have to budget for it, etc. Unless a group of very interested people were willing to foot the bill.

I believe that there is currently something similar in the works for all dues paying members. I think it will be free the first year and then will be free for DPM's after the first year. Cindy Day Erwin told us about it when we were back in the office for ViPhi weekend. I am not sure when it is launching.

The Chi Omegas have something called Chi O Hooties or something. It is not an "officially" sanctioned Chi O website or anything, but I think they have passwords in place to prevent non-members from getting into it.

A number of GC'ers who are XO's are on Hooties.

I love the idea and would love to be apart of it. :) Sounds like alot of fun!!! Let me know how I could help...

aoe, ronnie :D

Excuse me for butting in on your thread, but I started a group that's probably as close to an online AA about 8 years ago..long before Kappa Delta HQ even had a website.

I started off just emailing news back & forth, then the list grew to over 2000 people. We've had "reunions" at the last 3 Conventions (since 1997).

Just before our 2001 Convention, I started a Yahoogroup (which requires member verification from HQ - they cooperate, thankfully), and we have about 150 women chatting back & forth. This group has grown VERY close - if I was to charter an AA, it would be with these women.

In 1997, the "Kappa Delta Online" group made a contribution to our sorority's 100th anniversary fund, but it was tough to collect money from people. (This was in the days before Paypal.)

I refer to newsletter subscribers as Onliners and yahoogroup subscribers as Groupers. All Groupers are Onliners but not all Onliners are Groupers.

My newsletter & yahoogroup are both unofficial, which I clearly state in all mailings, but I have obtained the "blessing" of KD HQ.

If you want more info, feel free to PM me.

hey! hey....don't start without me:)
 

Hey if you get this started....don't start til after November..... heheheheh. i want to get initiated first so i can join with you all!:)

Love,
laura

Sorry to crash your discussion here...I don't know how much you already know about Surfing Sisters-but I thought I'd chime in just in case. Surfing Sisters is a Yahoo Group-you can set it up to be "members only" with one or two monitors designated to approve new members. We basically have it set up so that whenever a new person tries to sign up, they are sent an e-mail form to fill out, which allows us to confirm with HQ that they are who they say they are, and that they are in good standing.

After that, we just chat & have a good time. It is alot like a "brick & mortar" alum chapter...we have our share of drama, but overall it has been a wonderful way to reconnect & the support of women all over the country is amazing. We currently have over 400 women registered for the group, and about 160 of those are dues paying members (minimum dues for a DZ alum chapter to be recognized by DZ is $7 per person, per annum). We have a full slate of officers, and sent a voting delegate to convention this year. We do secret sister exchanges about 4-5 times a year, and that is always great fun. It's a great thing to have if you are like me, and don't have a collegiate chapter nearby, or a particularly involved alum chapter. We are considering adopting a collegiate chapter to support, and are looking for a signature philanthropy.

Anyway-that's it in a nutshell...and it works pretty well. We have looked at other services that you have to pay for, but so far, Yahoo has been good. I hope you all are able to find a way to do this-I know that if it weren't for SS, I probably would have drifted from DZ forever, and I know there are many others like me who have reconnected.

Edited to add: 1 thing that alot of people don't really like about the Yahoo group is that it doesn't separate discussions into threads. I wish we had an MSN-type community where we could do that so it would be easier to weed through some things.

Any word about a possible "online chapter?"

any info on this idea?
 

I still am interested in joining an online group if we could form
one.

Laura

Bump!
 

Bumping this thread to see if there is still any interest. I'd love to start something like this. How difficult would it be to get EO's cooperation for verification?

All's I can say is we really don't need to start one...will comment more when some meeting minutes are published....

;)

I thought I saw something on alphaphi.org about an upcoming online community.. is this it?

Wow that was fast!! Yes the IEB approved a motion to fund the launch of an online community last week. It won't launch till July at the earliest...I think....

There has been an A-Phi yahoo group in existence for some time too...I haven't been overly participatory with it though so if anyone wants the skinny, PM me because I'll have to go log back into it to tell you how to get permission to be in the group.

I set up and run a couple of message boards similar to Greek chat. The problem I have always experienced with these kinds of forums is -- how to get people to actually USE them? They are such a tremendous resource (as we here all know), but how do you get the less technically inclined to even check it out -- much less post and participate?

I hope against hope that the new forum will be the resource we all dream it will be -- there is so much potential!! I would have loved to have been a part of the launching of this forum.

Advertising, advertising, advertising! I'd love to participate in an A Phi Eyes only forum. I don't know the rules of GreekChat, but unless someone says it's spamming, why can't we let people know about the existence of another A Phi forum within this one?

(if that makes sense)

I'm sure GreekChat didn't start out as the behemoth it is now. It takes time to grow a community. A great book to read for people who are interested in building online communities is "Design for Community" by Derek Powazek. He even has a few sample chapters online at http://www.designforcommunity.com.

Sistermadly: I agree with everything you said. It does take time--even after five years of running a message board for one of my websites, I still can't get half of the people to post! It gets read a lot, but not many -- save a gung-ho few ever post.

I think there are lots of people -- particularly older women who need to be shown or guided through the forum. Hopefully, they will have a virtual tour or something similar for the (many) technically challenged people out there.

I've spoken at A-Phi regional conferences before on technology issues and there are most definitely women out there who are scared of new things or are afraid they will mess up their computers if they try something new. It sounds nutty to us -- because we know how simple it is -- but they are out there!

I am sure International has a plan to somehow "train" users (you know what I mean!). :)

I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

I was visiting www.alphaphi.org the other day and the little pop up window mentioned something about this. I'm so excited! :)

Ah, that explains why I haven't seen it! I have pop-up windows blocked on my computer. :)

LOOK!!
 

This site has all the info!

http://www.alphaphi.org/onlinecommunity.html

This is great...from the description it sounds like an Alpha Phi version of Classmates.com - I was hoping for a 'sisters only' discussion board that all sisters - collegians and alumnae - could use.

But hey - this is better than nothing! :D

I'm In For Sure!

I'd even pay to be a part of that!

Keep me posted if this ever gets off the ground.