... Paul:

>> Worm composting is a method for recycling food waste into a rich,
>> dark, earth-smelling soil conditioner. The great
>> advantage of worm composting is that this can be done indoors
>> and outdoors, thus allowing year round composting.
>> It also provides apartment dwellers with a means of composting.
>> In a nutshell, worm compost is made in a container filled
>> with moistened bedding and redworms. Add your food waste for a
>> period of time, and the worms and micro-organisms will
>> eventually convert the entire contents into rich compost.

>> From the book: Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof.

BTW, Paul, have you ever seen a can of worms??

Seriously:

>> I believe would would be creating a precedent that would come back
>> to bite us in the as* if we give ANY part of a pre-registration package
>> to non-attendees.

This is one of the classic fallacies of logical thinking, now commonly referred to as the "slippery slope" argument. For a discussion of this fallacy, see:

http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/distract/ss.htm

In brief terms, the argument is:

>> In order to show that a proposition P is unacceptable, a sequence of increasingly
>> unacceptable events is shown to follow from P. A slippery slope is an illegitimate
>> use of the "if-then" operator.

>> Examples:

...

>> (iii) If I make an exception for you then I have to make an exception for everyone.

The reason this is a false argument is that as long as we have the ability to decide something differently in the future, what we do at the moment won't determine that future event. That is, we can always change the rules again in the future (the most precedent-bound institution in the world, the U.S. Supreme Court, does it all the time).

Actually, I think we are doing exactly that this year, as it is my understanding that it has, in the past, been possible for someone other than the attendee to pick up his pre-registration package.

>> This year 800+ pre-registered. A small portion of that number can not now attend.
>> While it would be a relatively small amount of work to send the packages to these people ...

I'm glad to see we at least agree on that!

>> ... I would suspect that there would be many more in the future. I
>> can envision many pre-registrations from people that have no intention of
>> attending the convention just to receive the "goodie package".

This is a legitimate concern, but there are other ways to address it in the future. Since it is not a concern for this year, there is no logical reason to use it as a basis for deciding what to do this year.

I have some ideas about how to handle the problem in the future (the simplest of which would be to increase the pre-registration fee, perhaps with a rebate of part of that fee for those who actually show up -- maybe in the form of club scrip which could be used at dealer tables and redeemed by the dealers after the convention ends).

>> In addition, there is very little in the package that is of value
>> after the convention. Based on last years package, Convention program (interesting but not
>> valuable), room keys, a promo chip (I think). Most of the "coupons" were good only during the
>> convention at dealer tables or casinos.

All of that may be true, but it is nevertheless beside the point. These things may not be "valuable", but I would be interested in having at least the club related items.

>> My opinion, attend and get a package if you pre-register. No
>> package if you do not attend. No package if you do not pick it up yourself.

I respect the fact that it is your opinion and don't begrudge you having it. I happen to disagree and think the club should do something to accommodate those people who can't attend and do want to have some of what's in the pre-reg packets.

>> No package if you do not pre-register.

I agree completely on this point and have never suggested otherwise.

----- jim o\-S