The Member's List Gains Steam

The café La Corona has a Alfa Romeo of an express-
café machine.

News About the 'Café Metropole Club'

Paris:- Saturday, 29. January 2000:- Last Thursday's meeting at the café La Corona was a very soothing experience. It was clear and cold outside and inside it was warm and the café was striped by sunrays.

The only thing missing, besides a lot of café customers, was any old, new, virtual or real club members. I must have known this would be the case in advance, because I took the day's issue of Le Parisien with me, and had a long chance to read the whole thing - except for the racing news.

Two weeks ago I hinted that club members were neglecting their keyboards, and put it down to the January 'blahs.' In fact, club members have been writing about 'Kathleen's Modest Proposal' that was outlined here two weeks ago.

She proposed that the club 'secretary' make up a list of the real current and future members of the Café Metropole Club; to be circulated to all members who agree to be on it along with their email addresses.

In the interest of your personal privacy, I will be sending you a request for your agreement to allow your name and email address to be on this list. This list will only be available to 'real' members who have been present at a club meeting in Paris.

'Virtual' members, I'm sorry to say, will not be allowed on the list until they have become 'real' members by attending a club meeting in Paris.

There is one tiny problem. Some real members either did not write their email addresses clearly in the Member's booklet when they signed in, or they failed to include any email address at all. If you think you fall into either case, just drop me a note so I can correct or add your email address to the list.

A fair number of real members have also spontaneously written, giving their permission to be on the list. In order to keep the privacy aspects locked up as tightly as possible, you will be included in the 'official' mailing requesting your agreement.

I know all of this is redundant and I am repeating the same thing over and over, but it is your privacy that is at stake here.

I do not want to include a boilerplate official 'privacy statement' in every bit of future correspondence. Something like this will be included once, in the initial request for your permission. You should keep your copy of this in some safe place, like a bank vault, for the possible day when you decide to sue me.

Likewise, I will keep your 'permission' in some safe place, like a handy empty coffee can, as insurance against possible suits.

This is a sample of how your listing will appear:

Ric Erickson - erickso@worldnet.fr - Paris, France - attended the Café Metropole Club meeting in Paris on Thursday, 14. October 1999 - (http://www.metropoleparis.com/1999/441/441club1.html).

The listing will contain nothing about what you ate or drank - or how much - during a club meeting. It won't mention anything like, "Paris has ugly dirt!" or other odd comments members seem prone to make. No ages, no colors of eyes, no distinguishing marks or tatoos. No ranks and no serial numbers.

If you want to know how Hamburg got to be 'City of the Week' - in the State of Hamburg - last Thursday, you can read the unofficial account of last Thursday's weekly Club meeting - even if you have already read it. Hit the hyperlink lightly to see what happened.

If you do take the trouble to read the 'report' please don't write to ask me why I did not run a photo of the club's waiter, Patrick. I would have, but his wheels were spinning pretty badly from having no members to serve, and it would not be fair to show this.

Your exclusive club in Paris has a 'virtual' membership card in color because it is vitally important for potential members to have some tangible evidence of membership, for the period in which they are 'virtual' members.

If you have signed the 'Members booklet' in person at a weekly meeting of the Café Metropole Club in the café La Corona, it is no longer vitally necssary to have a membership card, in color or otherwise. However it is recommended because it is a somewhat rare item - even though it is free - and not every Hans der Ganze and Lulu La Forge has one.