FAQ
QUESTIONS
How do I become a PCS
member?
Why haven't I been getting my weekly email newsletter?
How can I get into the Members-only area of the website?
How can I get a new name tag to wear at the General meeting?
What can I do with some old but still usable computers or
computer equipment that I have?
Why are there tables of computer items at the back of the room
during some PCS meetings?
What do you do with the used ink and toner cartridges you
collect at the General meeting?
How do I give a presentation on a computer-related topic with
which I am familiar?
Why can't I simply click on any of the email addresses on this
website and send a message?
How do I become a PCS
member?
The easiest way is to fill out a
membership application and bring it and a check made out to PCS
for your dues through the end of the year to any meeting and give both to a
PCS officer or other responsible person. We'll see that you get on the
weekly newsletter mailing list, have access to our membership list and other
benefits. Dues are $24 for a full calendar year.
NOTE: During this difficult economic climate, the PCS Board has tried to be
as frugal as possible. For example, our newspaper columns have provided
excellent free publicity. We have encouraged ourselves as well as our
members to use free software. And so on. This frugality has put us in a
position where we have agreed to try a modest reduction in dues for the
coming year. The Board set the annual dues for 2010 at $24, which is a
twenty percent reduction from 2009. This reduction was established on a
trial basis for the coming year and will be re-evaluated in October of 2010.
For more information regarding joining PCS, please contact the Membership
chairperson:
Why haven't I been getting my weekly email newsletter?
The weekly email newsletter is usually sent out every Monday
morning. If you have not been receiving it promptly, there
could be several reasons why this might happen. The
newsletter is sent out using this address:
1) If you have a CableOne email address, please check your spam
filter to see if the PCS address has been mistakenly classified as a sender
of spam. Even if you have PCS white-listed as an organization from
which you WANT receive mail, there can still be problems. Here's a
link to some very important information on how to deal with the CableOne spam filter. It's
nowhere nearly as easy to do as you might expect. Sigh.
2) If you have changed your email address recently and forgotten to
tell us, please inform us of your new address
here.
3) Your PCS membership may have expired. Usually memberships
expire at the end of the year and your newsletter subscription will be
terminated after a few months of gentle reminders. Some memberships
happen to be on a different schedule. To check on the status of your
membership, when it expires, etc., please contact the Membership
chairperson:
4) If you're still having trouble, please
Contact Us.
How can I
get into the Members-only area of the website?
The Members-only area of the website contains our membership list, photos of
some members and back issues of the weekly email newsletter. For
privacy reasons and to keep our members from receiving spam, we restrict
access to only those members who have set up user accounts. To obtain
a user account and password, you will need to be a current PCS member and
let us know your choice of User Name.
We will open an account for you and email you back with a temporary
password.
To further protect our members, if your PCS membership expires, your user
account will be terminated.
How can I get a new name tag to wear at the General meeting?
Simply use the Contact Us
form and ask us to make you up a new one. The tag will be
waiting for you at the next General meeting.
What can I do with some old but still usable computers or computer equipment
that I have?
You have many choices in this area. You can try to sell or give away
your equipment and there are local organizations which will take all your
old equipment off your hands. For more complete info, check out the
Recycling page. Also, see the following
question about why there are tables in the back of the meeting room.
Why are there tables of computer items at the back of the room during some
PCS meetings?
At the General meetings, we usually conduct a raffle of computer items for
your enjoyment and to encourage your attendance until the end of the
session. A PCS Board member will hand out a pair of tickets to all
attendees before and during the meeting. Simply take one of the
tickets and place it on or near the item you would like to win and retain
the other ticket. At the end of the meeting, a drawing will be held
and the prizes awarded.
On other occasions, people will bring computer items that are still useful
but they no longer want. Anyone is free to take any of these giveaway
items for their use. There's no raffle here - first come, first
served. If you take an item and find it's not what you wanted, please
feel free to bring it back to the next meeting and pass it on to someone
else.
And, yes. Sometimes the items on the "Raffle" table are mistaken for
items on the "Giveaway" table. Please pay attention to the tables so
you don't confuse the two. If, for instance, you mistakenly snatch up
that nice printer on the "Raffle" table that already has tickets on it, we
will have choice but to track you down and take it away from you!
:)
What do you do with the used ink and toner cartridges you collect at the
General meeting?
PCS has an arrangement with Think4Inc,
a local merchant which sells printer supplies. They refill our
cartridges and sell them at their two stores in Prescott and Prescott
Valley. In return, they give PCS credit for our old cartridges and we
use those credits to purchase office supplies from them. These
supplies are primarily used to produce "The Messenger", our monthly
hard-copy newsletter distributed at the General meetings. As a result,
we all benefit from reusing your old cartridges.
How do I give a presentation on a computer-related topic with which I am
familiar?
We are always looking for some new people and talent to give presentations
at our meetings - they can be of whatever length you feel comfortable doing.
If you have attended our meetings, you will notice that some presentations
fill the entire two-hour time slot and others are much shorter, even to the
point of being "fill-ins". We would be glad to accommodate your wishes
and abilities. Please use the Contact
Us form and give us the basic information about your proposed
presentation. We will be pleased to review your proposal and determine
where it best fits into our schedule and mission.
For some information about how to run a presentation for PCS (and other
organizations) or just to find out what the typical PCS presentation
entails, you will find the following articles very informative.
So You
Want to Become a SIG Leader by Andy Reti
Presentation Tips
by Ray DeCosta
Why can't I simply click on any of the email addresses on this website and
send a message?
The email addresses above (and throughout this website) are actually IMAGES
and not TEXT. By using images, the spam bots which prowl the Internet
are unable to "harvest" these addresses. We have all had our fill of
those solicitations for enlarging various body parts, obtaining better
mortgage rates and solicitations for those wonderful Nigerian business
opportunities. We take our members' privacy seriously and this is
actually a relatively easy first step in protecting all of us from receiving
spam.
|