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- review and modify our training and user-help proc Hello Chris, Thanks for your notes. Comments interspersed: >1) What is our IP constituency, both present as well as desired? Organizations without the means to access the Internet (technical, financial, resource limitations) with particular emphasis with those groups working to achieve community development (broadly interpreted). >and I don't think we should make our pricing so exclusive that they cannot >reasonably afford it. I continue to believe that our tiered fee structure offers excellent value for IP's (unbeatable value, actually) while allowing us to be sustainable. My experience of not-for-profits is that a) they tend to underestimate their costs by about 50% and b) they view each service having to be offered on a not-for-profit basis. Effective and successful not-for-profits, in my limited experience recognize that they will have to make a "profit" on some of their work to a) cover overhead and b) fund those activities which are deliberately offered substantially below cost. >3) Positioning with respect to what? > >The CCN occupies a different niche than the commercial ISPs and our IPs >are a different breed. It's one thing to say that $400 per annum >represents a bargain viz-a-viz Sympatico, however, our ISPs aren't >necessarily picking us out of that pack. Alternatives may include Ednet, >University Servers or US hosting services such as Best.Com (or others that >Peter Morgan mentions). These are free or lost cost services and we need >to realistically position ourselves in relation to them as well. What organization anywhere in world offers free virtual domains? What organization offers free web space that does not automatically add advertising? What organization (other than community nets) offer even free email accounts without advertising? >4) The playing field has lots of topography. > >I think it is important to look at how competitive the larger ISPs are >with respect to hosting certain sites that they are interested in. As I >mentioned previously we have lost Neptune Theatre, Symphony Nova Scotia >and Eastern Front Theatre to Sympatico. Being involved with SNS I know >they offer a lot. Free hosting, multiple email addresses (I myself have >one of them), unlimited server space *and* their people design and create >the sites for these groups (built from scratch every year when they unveil >their new season). Very attractive. Maybe these groups should be charging Sympatico! Sympatico will not offer these services to most of our IP's. Does Sympatico provide mailing lists (without Sympatico advertising?)?
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