All SLUUG meetings and mailing lists are free and open to the public. However, we encourage our regular members to sign up as paying members.

Membership dues are billed annually, on the anniversary of your initial membership. You will be sent a reminder shortly before your membership comes up for renewal.

The primary benefit of becoming a paying member is to support the group. This helps our organization grow stronger, allowing us to hold special events and bring in guest speakers from outside the area.

Each membership level comes with a special thank-you gift, to show our appreciation, and to allow you to show your support for the group. See the Membership Levels below for details.

All paying members are entitled to a shell account, upon request. See the Shell Account section below for details.

All paying members will get a name tag to wear to meetings, displaying their name, company and title (if desired), and their membership level. You may take your name tag home with you, or we can bring it to the next meeting for you.

We currently have 200 ink pens with the SLUUG name and URL on them, to hand out to members. We also hand these out at outside events.

In the future, we may have additional benefits granted to members of various levels. For example, we'd like to add a section to our web site to recognize the various levels of our members. (And if someone would like to take "mug shots" of our members, we could include pictures of our members on the web site.)

We have several membership levels, to fit the varied needs of our members.

This level is only open to fully qualified voting members.

The annual fee for Bronze Membership is $10.

This level provides you with an email address (aliasing available on request), temporary emergency file storage, personal website space (using HTML), and a Command Line Interface shell account on our systems.

This level is recommended for those of us who are still in school, those of us between jobs, and those of us who are retired.

The annual fee for Silver Membership is $35.

If you choose this level, you may choose a bumper sticker from our CafePress site. (Please indicate on your sign-up form that you would like the gift; do not order it from the site.)

This level is suggested for most of our members.

The annual fee for Gold Membership is $70.

Members choosing the Gold level may choose a t-shirt, mug, or baseball cap from our CafePress site. (Please indicate on your sign-up form that you would like the gift; do not order it from the site.)

This level is suggested for professional members – those in high-level jobs, management, or those running their own consulting businesses.

The annual fee for Platinum Membership is $100.

If you join as a Platinum Member, you may choose a golf shirt from our CafePress site. (Please indicate on your sign-up form that you would like the gift; do not order it from the site.)

Shell accounts are available to our members at any level. We require proof of identity, to ensure that we know who has an account on our systems. Note that we no longer provide dial-up access, and we no longer allow access via Telnet; SSH (Secure Shell) is required.

Shell access also includes an email account (IMAP/POP) and a personal Web space.

We currently have one GNU/Linux system and 2 AIX systems available for our members to use. We are also working on a couple of Sun Solaris boxes, and have another GNU/Linux system to run system services (web and email). The systems are a sort of playground where you can try things out. The systems are supported on a best-effort basis. While we generally keep them in good working order, we do not guarantee a high level of service.

Accounts will be locked within approximately 30 days if you do not pay your annual membership dues.

If you are having financial difficulties or are unable to pay the normal membership dues, you may request (via email or in person) that the Steering Committee reduce or waive the fee. We haven't turned down anybody yet.

Per our organization charter, a member is anyone who attends 2 meetings in a calendar year. Voting members may vote in the elections the February immediately following the calendar year.

Voting members may request a shell account at a reduced rate of $10 per year. However, we encourage members to sign up for at least a Silver level membership.

• Names for the levels.
  • Probably just stick with the existing Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
  • Should we name each 1 thing, or let the members choose?
  • Level 1
    • Silver
    • Intro
    • Newbie
    • Basic
    • Apprentice
    • Novice
    • Entry Level
    • Student
    • Retired
    • Out-of-Work
    • Junior
  • Level 2
    • Gold
    • Journeyman
    • Standard
    • Supporting
    • Mid Level
    • Intermediate
  • Level 3
    • Platinum
    • Professional
    • Guru
    • Wizard
    • Master Technician
    • Greybeard
    • Sustaining
    • High Level
    • Senior Level
    • Advanced

• Buy some thank-you gifts to hand out during membership drive. (Carl)
• Membership sign-up sheet/form.
  • Ask what they want on their name tag.
• Membership drive - get out the word.
• Buy and print the name tags.