Membership Update

[Mike Fox]

My personal computer is about 8 years old. Much, much, much faster that the museum Dell. Even running the Giftworks program there is a huge difference.

[Mike Fox]

I have solved the problem I was having, getting the software installed and running on my laptop. And used it successfully several times.

[Mike Fox]

So far this month, we have gained 7 new members, and one member has upgraded to a Life membership. Of those 7, 2 are life members. Most of these came through the gift shop, so these were a direct result of a visit. 

Other news, running a total in my head, we have surpassed $50,000 on the fund drive. I won't know until tonight when I can hopefully finish entering the last of the donations for this week,  run a report, and verify that against all those donation slips.

[Gordon Cook]

I second the warnings about a laptop's short life span. I lost a considerable amount of work and pictures on a 5 y/o Dell laptop when the hard drive just died. No warning, hiccups, or anything. Just stopped.
Estimated cost to maybe recover the data was $300 and up.
IMHO anything important or irreplaceable should be backed up even if only on a thumb drive. Ed or James could suggest an automatic back up program. As far as I can tell the Windows backup is a file structure that isn't very useful.
Desktop PC's tend to be much faster and more reliable simply because the guts don't have to be compromised by being small and low power. Dust and pet hair is their downfall, however, since many get placed on the floor.

[Mike Fox]

I now back up externally. Especially the membership stuff..

[James Patten]

Membership database & program will soon be going to cloud.

I try to weekly back up my day-to-day Quickbooks to the Museum laptop.  I thought I was also backing up files on a regular basis, but when I went to look for something from last year on the Museum laptop, I found the most recent files were 2014 

[Bob Holmes]

Cloud is good!  We could buy external backup drives (they are now very cheap), but cloud is even better.

[Al Michelis]

Cloud is good!  We could buy external backup drives (they are now very cheap), but cloud is even better.

Backing up to the cloud and an external drive is the best scheme. There are programs that will do both on a schedule or whenever the computer is idle.

[Bob Holmes]

Totally agree.  Backup redundancy is the best way to go.  If we were to get a backup hard drive, how would we use it?  I guess part of the question is how many different computers contain key parts of WW&F admin systems?

[Mike Fox]

I am pleased to announce the Museum has now reached 1200 Active members. 29 of which are original Charter Members.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Thank you Mike.  It's still a proof of  the  WW&F tremendous success. I don't want to be prying but I'd like to know how many foreigners among them and if I am the only Frenchy.

[Dave Buczkowski]

Mon Ami;
If I remember correctly, we made a special exception for you.  . We have members from England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand and Germany. I even think there is one from Japan. Mike can confirm this.
Dave

[Bill Reidy]

Wayne Laepple has recently written an article on our membership statistics, which I expect will appear in the September/October Newsletter. 

Without spilling too many details:
-- Alain is our only member in France; and
-- We do have a member in Japan.

Bill

[Mike Fox]

Bill beat me to it.. We have about 30 Foreign members, which also includes Canada. I am anxious to see Waynes article for the Newsletter, so I will say no more than I have. Keep everyone wondering..almost like trying to sell a good book.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Thank you so much Dave and for the exception too . It's fine for the WW&F to have an international  repute it deseves it. I wish I would decide a few friends of mine on joining the WW&F . I think the language is a real obstacle but I keep on  posting photos and news of the WW&F on my fb page and the fb page of two groups.  A French one named Chemins de fer touristiques à voie étroite ,métrique ou normale in English all-gauge tourist railroad group and an English one named Narrow Gauge  Enthusiasts Group, you sure know. Moreover the Musée des Transports de Pithiviers  webb site has featured a nice WW&F fb team pic and a short caption in French for over a year.