Over the past year, we of Yahoo! Club Founders' Club have found that many of our members are extremely knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, that they possess kindness, patience, and a willingness to share. Occasionally, however, we find a single member who shines, someone who in their participation in our club and within the Yahoo! club system, deserves special recognition. It is our special privilege to acknowledge their dedication, service, and talent.

The Yahoo! Club Founders' Club
Member of the Month for December, 2000:
sharonlower

Sharonlower is a 52-year-old housewife from Whittier, California. Active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as in Yahoo! Clubs, she is founder of some thirteen "Listed" Yahoo! clubs. These include:

• SharonsKorner
  Women Meeting New Friends, and Having Fun! [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/sharonskorner]
• TheEmptyNesters
  A Place for Women to Meet Other Empty Nesters [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/theemptynesters]
• LDSReliefSociety
  Share Your R.S. Homemaking,VT,Skits,Lesson Ideas [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ldsreliefsociety]
• LDSWomenHolidayRecipes
  Come and Share Your Christmas Holiday Recipes [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ldswomenholidayrecipes]
• ChristmasWorldwide
  Come Celebrate and Share The Christmas Spirit [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/christmasworldwide]
• MormonMothersOnline
  Meet Other LDS SAHM's, Share the Gospel ,and Ideas [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/mormonmothersonline]
• OvarianCancerSurvivors
  Support for Survivors of Ovarian Cancer [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ovariancancersurvivors]
• GenealogyFamilyResearch
  Genealogy Research Online [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/genealogyfamilyresearch]
• HolidaysWorldwide
  Learn About The Many Monthy Holiday Customs [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/holidaysworldwide]
• LDSWomenOnline
  A Place for Latter-Day Saint Women,Mothers,Friends [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ldswomenonline]
• LDSWomenCookingClub
  LDSWomen Cooking Club for cooking and recipe Ideas [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/ldswomencookingclub]
• KoolWebsites
  This CLub is For Your Kool Websites and Links [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/koolwebsites]
• Sharon's Creative Recipes
  This Club is For Recipe Exchanges & Holdhold Ideas [http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/sharonscreativerecipes]

All during the month of December, Sharonlower was sharing Christmas ideas, fun facts and games about the holidays, asking questions, and offering helpful club advice. It is the spirit of her participation, the way it enlivened conversation for us all that we recognize in naming her our Member of the Month for December 2000.

Past recipients of the Member of the Month Award are listed at: http://www.oocities.org/clubfoundersclub/contest/momwinners.html

If you haven't seen the sort of thing featured clubs get beyond the club logo which appears on our clubsite for a week, then you haven't seen anything yet.

Each week (sometimes monthly), ArrylT reviews and forwards the name or a list of clubs which have requested and meet the guidelines for featuring (see Feature Policy). A full webpage is prepared with fresh graphics, describing the club, displaying over a dozen graphics for clubsite display, and offering banners and more.

The clubs and events presented during December included:

The feature club for Monday, December 4, 2000 is... Click Here!

The feature club for Monday, December 11, 2000 is... Click Here!

The feature club for Monday, December 18, 2000 and Winner of Our Post #3000 Contest is... Click Here!

The feature event for Monday, December 25, 2000 and Monday, January 1, 2001 is... Click Here!

Lots of people joined us during the month of December. Too, several of our continuing members had new clubs to add. All of them suggest some truly wonderful club ideas.

Take the time to stop by one or two of these clubs for a visit, or see their description in our Member Club Listing to see if this club is one that appeals to your own interests.

Club policy is to allow membership for ninety (90) days to persons not reporting a club in foundership. This period allows persons who join to learn how to start clubs to ask questions and receive assistance in setting up their clubs. After the grace period, persons who have not reported a club foundership are administratively removed from CFC membership. It's part of our contract with you that all members are founders. If you have not reported a club because you wish the club name to remain confidential or you just forgot, please write: Angelpie_Mouse@yahoo.com.

Considering the volitility of the Internet (and the assistance of hackers making it that way), for a club to survive to its first anniversary is a milestone deserving recognition, for a club to make it to two years is...well! So, this newsletter we recognize all clubs which have survived to celebrate the surpassing of their founding date in the month of January because they did. Clubs marked are celebrating a second year anniversary--WOW!.

Clubs Celebrating in January

Saiko
Date Founded: January 03, 2000; Founder-Member: paty_md

Green Eggs and Ham
Date Founded: January 04, 2000; Founder-Member: seenred

True Founder's
Date Founded: January 08, 2000; Founder-Member: german_shepard_us

Les Cirque Du Soleil Kingdom
Date Founded: January 10, 2000; Founder-Member: braindrain18 (aka act2kvn21)

Pure 6 The Band Hangout
Date Founded: January 16, 2000; Founder-Member: therealmattoid

THE TRUCK STOP
Date Founded: January 16, 2000; Founder-Member: kb9ewg

My All Disney Fan Club
Date Founded: January 18, 1999; Founder-Member: prospero99_99

Pen Pal From Near And Far
Date Founded: January 18, 2000; Founder-Member: AmandaSB

Official Billie Piper Club
Date Founded: January 19, 1999; Founder-Member: GavinJenkins

Oct'98 Toddlers
Date Founded: January 21, 2000; Founder-Member: countrylace

SunShinery Land
Date Founded: January 22, 1999; Founder-Member: SunShinery

Unofficial DDK
Date Founded: January 22, 2000; Founder-Member: Damsel_in_DDK

PJ's PostPolioSupport
Date Founded: January 23, 2000; Founder-Member: amonij, glist2000, and lcooling

Student Parents
Date Founded: January 23, 1999; Founder-Member: radicalmama99

Gene Wolfe
Date Founded: January 24, 1999; Founder-Member: Corollary (aka OldOnliner)

Genesis
Date Founded: January 25, 1999; Founder-Member: topographicyes and tallrean

Harrison's Harem
Date Founded: January 25, 2000; Founder-Member: indianamichaeljones

Chocobo Garden
Date Founded: January 27, 2000; Founder-Member: Garrit_Sherova

Got Milk
Date Founded: January 27, 1999; Founder-Member: radicalmama99

Chelsea Piers Hockey
Date Founded: January 28, 2000; Founder-Member: hockeylist

Silver Arrow
Date Founded: January 28, 2000; Founder-Member: saraleanmc

Han Solo's Smugglers Cove
Date Founded: January 30, 2000; Founder-Member: t_j_anderson

Many Happy Returns of the Day!

Thank You, Magoo-ns!

Mistybunny would like to offer a special "thank you" to Magoo_ns for his suggestion in MB Entry #2975. The lack of update in clubsite stats was really bugging her. Magoo_ns suggested entering the Edit Settings area and clicking the finish button. We know this works when editing your club color settings, but we never thought of it as a means of updating clubs stats. When Mistybunny tried this in one of her clubs, it worked and she is delighted.

Grinched for Christmas!?

Some of us may have already missed our favorite cat lover, Multicat01, who went missing from the CFC Members list this past week. Leaving us, however, was not her idea. It seems some very nasty person hacked into her personal accounts early Christmas morning, removed her IDs from all the clubs she belonged to, deleted all the clubs she had founded, and then deleted her IDs. Talk about the Grinch Who Stole Christmas!

She assures us that once she gets her new clubs setup and her members invited back, she'll be back with us. Fortunately, as we often advise, she has kept good records of her Members lists in all her clubs, so rebuilding her clubs will not be as hard as it might have been without those lists. We hope her clubs will all be humming along soon.

Belated Birthday Wishes for ArrylT!

With all the holiday stuff going on some of us may have missed the fact that our beloved chief founder, ArrylT celebrated a birthday on December 27th. We said so on the message board, but forgot to mention it in last month's newsletter. If you would like to send him a more personal greeting for the occassion, his e-mail address is: arrylt@hotmail.com.

Happy Birthday, Sharonlower

Sharonlower celebrates a birthday on January 16th. We hope you all join with us in wishing her many happy returns of the day.

Homepage Changes

It's the first of the year and, in order to get off on a good start, we've been cleaning up our homepage--adding new sections and removing sections that no longer have value. We've mentioned on the message board that we've updated our FAQ pages on the topic of club color. We now offer several color charts, some complimentary color combination samples, and lots of advice on choosing colors. But that's not all we've added.

Visiting our homepage now, you'll find that we have new sections on Chat Transcripts and on Contests and Events. We've, also, updated our Calendars for 2001, which include holidays for the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. You can access these new pages from the front page of our website at: http://www.oocities.org/clubfoundersclub. Go see and enjoy!

Have you got some club or personal news you'd like to share? Mistybunny wants to hear from you pronto! Please write Mistybunny@yahoo.Com.

Changing Club Category

"Our goal is to create a directory where each club is in the best place to be found by potential members and new founders. [http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/clubs/cfound/cfound-16.html]"

How your club is listed in the directory of Yahoo! clubs is frequently a make it or break it issue concerning its success. In the wrong category, prospective members will have difficulty finding you. Too, some people pay attention to the club population ratings when choosing a club to join--if the competition is heavy in your category, wouldn't you do better in a smaller sub-category?

Yahoo!'s policy has been to allow the founder to initially choose the category for their club while reserving the right to move the club to another existing or newly created sub-level or a more appropriate category if it deems necessary. The decision is made on the basis of content and subject matter by Yahoo! staff members called "surfers," who regularly visit clubs either as reported to them in e-mail or just out there. Although occassionally, being in the wrong category is a matter of having created your club in the wrong place to start with or a shift in focus from what was initially intended, sometimes the club is outright moved by these "surfers." Their intentions may have been admirable and according to in-house statistics they are correct 98% of the time, there's just that pesky 2% where the moves may seem ill-conceived and arbitrary. And finally, there are some clubs that actually should be listed in several categories at once--cross-listed (more about that below). Does the founder have any recourse? Absolutely.

Before I get to the actual address you should write, let's look at what you should write. There are three rules you should follow if you find you need to change your club category.

Number one: be polite. Expressing your anger or frustration may make you feel better, but it is a big turn off to anyone reading your e-mail. If you want to win them to your cause, do not try to affix blame for the current wrong category, do not complain about the number of times you've written on this matter, and above all, keep your language clean and free from hostile remarks. Do use words like "please," etc.

Number two: be specific in your request. Do not ask to be moved from-to; mention of the current category will only confuse the issue. Do not detail your reasons for requesting the move or try to explain the difference between the subject matter they've tossed you in with and your actual subject matter. They could probably care less about the difference between Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan, Led Zeplin and Iron Butterfly. But do tell them the specific category you want your club moved to.

Example: My club, Yahoo! Club Founders' Club, does not belong in the category it is currently listed with. Please move my club to the directory listing: "Home > Computers & Internet > Cyberculture > Virtual Communities > Yahoo! Clubs"

Make sure you use the entire directory listing including the sublevels because there may be similar subdirectory name in another category. For example: there is a "friendship" subdirectory in the "Adult" category as well as one in the "romance" category but the two attract very different types of members.

Number three: be persistent, but not obnoxious. If you do not get an answer in seven (7) days, repeat the request. Once per week should not be too often to ask. Given the volume of e-mail they must review on a weekly basis, allowing a week for response should be adequate while more often might be considered impolite.

Is the change automatic on request? No. As stated previously, club "surfers" will have to visit your club and check the content and subject matter to verify that the change is necessary. If they write and ask you for more information concerning your reason for the move, that would be the time to explain differences in your club topic from the topic of other clubs in your current category.

Use this link for Changing Your Club Category: http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/clubs/cgi_feedback Use the "Suggestions or Comments" subject line of line 2 and the phrase "Not Applicable" in the "when did it happen" inquiry space of line 3.

Cross-Listing Your Club

A little more difficult to obtain, a cross-listing places your club in several categories (more than one). Let's say your club is called Snowbound and is about Canadian cross-country skiing. It is currently listed in "Home > Recreation & Sports > Sports > Skiing > Cross Country." The listing is appropriate enough, but it could also be listed in the categories: "Home > Recreation & Sports > Travel " or "Home > Recreation & Sports > Travel > By Location > Countries > Canada," to suggest a few.

In this case, you do want to offer information concerning how your club belongs in these other categories as well as in the one it is currently listed in, but essentially follow the procedure above using the same link. Make your request brief and to the point and make sure you state at the outset that you are asking about "cross-listing" your club.

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