We do welcome your input on this. Maybe you know of a miracle solution because we don't.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 05:35 pm: Edit

I suggest an email autoresponder that "pings" players once a month (or other suitable time frame) with updates on ADB, Designer's thoughts, products, etc.
Let the subscribers of THAT list opt in to a Starlist, keeping all the data in a database.
The Starlist autoresponder (separate from the other list) sends a message to subscribers once a quarter (year?) with an unsubscribe link. When they unsub, they automatically get deleted from the database.

Autoresponders are really easy to set up. I recommend Aweber.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 06:12 pm: Edit

We already do just exactly that with Hailing Frequencies.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 06:37 pm: Edit

How do you sign up for that?
Maybe there should be a button or an opt in form on the front page of starfleetgames.com.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, July 27, 2013 - 06:42 pm: Edit

There probably should be a button on the front page.

http://www.starfleetgames.com/newsletter.shtml

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Sunday, July 28, 2013 - 09:45 am: Edit

Isn't there an app for this?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Sunday, July 28, 2013 - 12:08 pm: Edit

Not that I know of.

By Michael Kenyon (Mikek) on Monday, July 29, 2013 - 12:20 pm: Edit

My two cents ... I never read Hailing Frequencies at all. I do get the emails, but as it requires clicking the link, I put it on the queue of things to do and never actually do it.

Do enough people have text-only email these days that it makes any sense NOT to just put the newsletter in the email message (and also echo it to the site) rather than sending out a plain text email which then has a link to the newsletter?

From my perspective, the point of a newsletter is to push updates to your audience. When you make me click the link you
a) have not visually engaged me
b) have turned the push I asked for into a pull.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Monday, July 29, 2013 - 01:12 pm: Edit

I think one of the reasons we haven't done Hailing Frequencies in the email is that it is more than one layer deep as a webpage. The story parts can be quite long.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, July 29, 2013 - 02:45 pm: Edit

Well, that's a conversation for another topic. This topic is about starlist, not about haling frequencies.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 20, 2014 - 11:56 am: Edit

Yesterday I was doing a Starlist request and happened to see two entries from 2002. They were very similar, but different, making me think one might be a typo. As they were a staffer, I asked him, and he said one was his current address and the other his previous address and that he moved between the two 2002 entries. So, I killed the obsolete one and redated the other 2014

The point being that this is an entry from over 11 years ago that is still valid from a staffer I talk to every month and he had never thought to update. it.

Makes me wonder if archiving the ones before 2000 was a mistake.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Thursday, February 20, 2014 - 12:34 pm: Edit

I haven't checked the statistics lately, but the average family only lived in a house for 7 years before moving into a different domicile.

Another way of looking at that data (if the relationship holds up for the larger population) is that any data older that 7 years might only be 50% accurate.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, February 20, 2014 - 01:32 pm: Edit

In the larger context, yes, but remember that a man standing with one foot on the stove and the other in the refrigerator is, on the average, quite comfortable.

I have lived in my house for 36 years. My parents lived in theirs for well over 50. My grand parents for 50. My uncles for 50, 40, 10, and 24.

I don't like deleting (actually, archiving, we don't delete old entries, we just move them to another file) entries based on statistics. Jean talked me into doing that and I'm wondering how many valid entries were made unavailable by that decision.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Friday, February 21, 2014 - 11:15 am: Edit

Maybe send a once a year mass email to everyone on the list, reminding them to update their information?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, February 21, 2014 - 04:08 pm: Edit

Not a bad theory, as theories go, but...

1. Someone would have to manually "copy and paste" the addresses out of the word file it's in. You have to hand select the email address out from between the address and the game interest line. Tedious.

2. Pretty much guaranteed to get us blacklisted as a spammer and have out hosting company shut down our email system for sending spam. Mass emails require double-opt-in/out systems. People would have to subscribe to that mass mailing.

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Friday, February 21, 2014 - 05:32 pm: Edit

Not true, on the second point.

You can put those email addresses into an autoresponder and interact with your customers that way. They do NOT require double optin.
I have a business where all of my past clients (from back in the 90's even) I put in an autoresponder to keep interacting with them. It depends on the autoresponder you choose. I use Aweber.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, February 21, 2014 - 10:22 pm: Edit

Our ISP told us not to do it and what would happen if we did.

That ends the matter.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 06:27 am: Edit

What I did start to do was send emails to the 2001 entries, half a dozen so far, but so far all bounced back as invalid email addresses. I am still using the address I bought in 1999 and the address I got in 1995 still works (but only gets spam and won't talk to Eudora any more).

By Howard Bampton (Bampton) on Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 12:56 pm: Edit

Email addresses are like snail mail ones- some last for decades (I had one that lasted 20 years and was reasonably spam free), some last much shorter periods.

By Al Beddow (Albiegamer) on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 - 10:42 am: Edit

Just an announcement on Starlist.

As of early March 2022, I have taken over managing Starlist and answering emails etc.

The new email for Starlist is "SFURangers@starfleetgames.com"

We are also updating the list to a more modern database program, and with this will be contacting everyone via email to verify/update their information. (we are looking at how we will contact those we lack an email for).

Al B.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 - 06:44 pm: Edit

cool

By Al Beddow (Albiegamer) on Friday, April 01, 2022 - 03:14 pm: Edit

Update:
The current project is to get an updated database of players so the information is as up to date as possible.

Starlist was managed in a series of Word documents, but I am busy converting these into one spreadsheet that will be uploaded into a GIS. The GIS account has been donated to Starlist (allowing a better targeted results for people).

We will be emailing everyone we have an email address for so they can verify their info, desire to be on Starlist, etc.

Players on Starlist can request an updated list every six months for their home area - special requests for travel to another location/moving will not be subject to this.

Requests for updates will have to be accompanied by verification of the individual's information.

Al B.

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Saturday, April 02, 2022 - 11:40 am: Edit

Thanks Al. I've never gotten a result when I've submitted whilst in Louisville KY, Albuquerque NM, Charleston SC or Craiova Romania...

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Saturday, April 02, 2022 - 11:46 am: Edit

How exactly do you want Starlist responses to "SFURangers@starfleetgames.com" ?

The exact same info as the sign up page?

ALSO, would it be possible to have a box to click on the "register your name" page to automatically sign up for starlist? An "OPT IN," if you will...

Hugs to Jean. You lucky devil.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, April 02, 2022 - 10:25 pm: Edit

Remember the #1 rule, if you don't give complete info you don't get any info.

By Al Beddow (Albiegamer) on Monday, April 04, 2022 - 10:34 pm: Edit

@Mike,
Same info as the Starlist form.

As I just took over mid-March I can’t speak to the past, but things are able to move faster now.

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Saturday, April 09, 2022 - 07:54 pm: Edit

CSM Beddow, have added current info via reapplying to the StarList.

By Al Beddow (Albiegamer) on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 - 08:23 pm: Edit

Greetings fellow Fans of the Star Fleet Universe, with an update on ADB's Starlist player match service:

We (I) have been hard at work trying to keep up with all the submissions Starlist has been receiving, getting responses out as fast as possible while also continuing to work on our conversion of the database to a GIS system.

Unfortunately our publicizing of Starlist has caused a renewed interest from spambots and such, which has slowed down the work. Amazingly Starlist has received submissions from two locations of the same store - one location in Moldova the other in Nigeria!

Please be patient if you haven't heard back from us yet.
Thank you,
SF Ranger Cmd Sgt Major Al Beddow
Deputy Commandant for Star Fleet Ranger Operations,
Manager 'Starlist'
sfurangers@starfleetgames.com