Minutes of the May 24, 2001 Orcnet Meeting
Held at Carrows Restaurant 10900 SW 69th, Tigard OR.

Quorum was attained.
Members present:
    Patrick H. Barrett(chair), H. Joe Tabor (Treas./Sec.), Keith Lofstrom
    (Webmaster), Richard Westlake, Ed Ritz, Duke Aguiar, Henry Joyeaux.
Observer present:
    Dennis Ritola.

Meeting was Called to Order at 7:51 PM by Chair.

1.    Past Meeting Minutes:
The Minutes of the April meeting were reviewed, revised by
Treasurer's Motion, accepted as revised.

2.    Old Business
2.1    Treasurer's Report:
Bank Account remains frozen pending completion of Audit. Treasurer is
holding deposits and payments. Materials reviewed thus far are satisfactory.
Treasurer is awaiting receipt of photocopies of old checks.
    Present Balance:                      $500.09
    Funds yet to be deposited:        $635.00
    Expenses yet to be paid:            $67.18
2.2    Treasurer will unfreeze the account and begin doing business when the
Audit is completed, reported and approved.

3.    Secretary's Report:
3.1    Secretary is also acting as Program Director. We need a volunteer
for this important office!  Failing that, individual Members can assist by
volunteering to arrange one or more monthly meetings, coordinate with
Secretary..
3.2    All Members present at this [May] meeting have paid their FY2001
dues. Treasurer will deliver with the Audit results a current Membership
Roster.

4.    Webmaster's Report:
4.1     Webmaster discussed our site's format and general appearance.
Issues to consider are:
4.1.1    Is your Orcnet page up to date?
4.1.2    Do you like the site's appearance?
4.1.3    How do you want your Customers to perceive you?

4.2    Webmaster proposed a Motion, which was passed:
"Members should be allowed to customize [their] web pages as long as
they are in suitable HTML format and not too big (in bytes) and in good
taste, subject to ORCNET Webmaster's discretion".

4.3    Webmaster asked all Members to examine their individual ORCNET
webpages and report problems to him. Individual webpages need not be
identical. All suggestions are welcome.

4.4    Webmaster reported that the Host Provider (NW Nexus) for the Oregon
IEEE' website (and therefore Orcnet's) is in SubCh11 Bankruptcy.  OIEEE is
seeking a new provider. Webmaster will keep us informed.

4.5    Webmaster offered to Orcnet the domain name "eeconsult.org".

4.6     Secretary proposed a Motion, which was passed:
"Orcnet accepts donation of domain 'eeconsult.org' from Keith Lofstrom
(Webmaster) for Orcnet use.

4.7    Webmaster discussed increasing our site's "hit ratio".  He
recommended pursuing "priority placement". He noted that Orcnet is now more
difficult to find because the OIEEE has moved the Orcnet homepage one step
farther below the OIEEE homepage. [Chair's note: the OIEEE has not responded
to requests to correct this situation.] Webmaster suggested popularizing the
eeconsult.org domain rather than the ieee-or.org/consult domain, because
Orcnet controls eeconsult.org.  Webmaster noted that both names will point
to the same place.

4.8    Webmaster proposed a Motion, which was passed:
"While retaining our current web position in the IEEE Oregon hierarchy, we
will make our pointer 'eeconsult.org', where that pointer is the name which
we register to the web search engines."

4.9    Chair noted that we must not exclude the OIEEE; it has granted us
$250 for improving our web site hit-ratio.  Webmaster reiterated that both
names will point to the same page, and that the page's banner will present
the OIEEE. Webmaster and Henri noted that both Orcnet and the OIEEE will
benefit from an improved hit-ratio.

4.10    Chair suggested we also register the ieee-or.org/consult domain with
the search engines. Webmaster noted that some search engines will reject
names of that type, which is the fundamental problem...

4.11    Webmaster proposed a Motion, which failed:
"Orcnet shall advertise our website for $300/year".  Treasurer expressed
problems with this Motion.
The votes:
    Aye: Richard Westlake,
    Nay: Webmaster, Treas/Sec, Duke, Henri, Ed,
    Abst: Chair.

5.    New business:
5.1    A Motion to amend Orcnet Bylaws, to add Office of Webmaster.
This Motion will be voted upon at the next (June) Meeting.  Members unable
to attend that meeting should register their votes with an Officer now.

5.2    Keith Lofstrom was nominated, seconded for the tentative Office of
Webmaster.

5.3    We are accepting nominations for the position of Program Director.
Members - here's your chance to help make Orcnet strong! Remember, the
Program Director does not necessarily arrange the meetings.  Instead, he or
she can merely coordinate the Members who are doing the actual arrangements.
This process is up to the person holding the Office.

6.    Meeting adjourned at 21:40.
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Submitted for approval by H. Joe Tabor [ via Chair], Secretary,
edited by Chair, [bracketed comments are Chair's.]