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i'm sure there's a legal way to do it, but i think you may be met with the same issues as with shipping in fish. i've heard horror stories of customs holding shipments for 3 weeks and everything arriving dead.

I have shipped a microworm culture along with some java moss to a Canadian address. What I did was package appropriately for shipping and go the the post office. They gave me a government declaration sticker to put on the package which I filled out completely and stuck onto the package. I also marked the package front and back with labels that said it was perishable. The cost of shipping into Canada is a bit higher than shipping to somewhere in the US but I thought what the heck, I had promised it to a fellow forum member from Alberta. When I received her thank you note a week later, I knew it had gone through OK.

I've shipped to Canada during the 1980's with very little problems and not that much more expensive than shipping to the State of Washington. In recent years when I shipped fish to a person in Canada (something I normally refuse to do anymore), I shipped to a person in Washington who carried them to the border for the person in Canada. It was a big headache and very expensive since it was a pretty large number of fish.

Darrell E. Mefford

From reading the ALA objectives another aspect jumps out at me as needing discussion in the context of what could be online:
-to publish a journal on a regular basis containing original and other educational articles covering livebearers and their maintenance and breeding;

in the context of: advance the science of ichthyology by stimulating interest in and encouraging study of freshwater livebearing fishes,

why a journal for member's only? same reason as a paper trader. It was the only way to do it back then. and how does that fit with the goal of stimulating interest? It provides info to ppl who are already members, but doesn't do anything for the masses who keep livebearers or who might want to keep livebearers. Info has to be public to bring new ppl into the hobby. Note here I'm not suggesting you make your journal public, but rather to consider what content could go up on the website that would serve that purpose.

I was looking around a bit and ACA's journal is member's only, however, they do make the TOC public to stimulate interest and they do allow member access to back issues online. I think this is a perfect model for this website as it shows non-member's what they're missing by not joining.
http://www.cichlid.org/BB.html

It looks like AKA is set up very similar to ALA in that the majority of their publications are member's only.
http://www.aka.org/aka/modules/content/index.php?id=50
They do have some articles up under their library link in the sidebar.

AGA has articles online, but their newsletter is member's only
http://www.americangoldfish.org/new_page_58.htm
http://www.americangoldfish.org/new_page_582111112112.htm

NANFA - their journal is member's only.
http://www.nanfa.org/ac.shtml
and they have a NICE set of public articles. Here's one on keeping native species in captivity.
http://www.nanfa.org/bcccaptivecare.shtml
and other species profiles
http://www.nanfa.org/fif/comanche.shtml

That ties back into the wiki suggestion made earlier. I think it would be nice to set up either articles or a wiki with and pages on each species that follow a standard format, e.g. location, basic care/husbandry, breeding, nutrition, etc. so when ppl are searching the web for info on livebearers they are interested in, the search engines point them here.

another thing that comes to mind is perhaps providing a place where local livebearer clubs could post news as to what they're up to.

THAT has been a matter of discussion for some time. The ast 10 years of debate is still mired in the electronic vs. hardcopy. It may be a while before electronic Bulletins are available.
Perhaps the next generation of computer social change will produce all electronic reading for the world.

Dear FishFolk,

I do have the last Livebearers issue and I've managed to change it to acrobat. It will go up when I get time this week. There will be ALA Member access to Livebearers on the site. How many issues we will be able to put up is the question.

While open access for everyone is a nice idea, it has to be funded somehow. The open access scientific journals are funded mainly by University subscription, i.e. Biomed Central. Without membership dues the ALA, Livebearers and the web site will go away. There is some convention income. Unless someone figures out another revenue stream we are dependent on dues.

One of the questions we're trying to answer is "What do I get for my ALA membership?" Some answers are: The Livebearer, access to uncommon fish through the Trader, the chance to vote for (or against) club officers ....

Earl

this kinda goes along with making the signing up/renewal online but make your sign up form in acrobat so people can simply print it off and write on it then mail it.

Better yet, make the form one that can be filled out on line and PMd to the right person. Why spend the money on postage?

Yes to these ideas with limitations...as in editing of the wiki;

1. Online joining/renewal of ALA membership
THIS IS AN ABOSULUTE MUST

2. Wiki (livebearer wiki) any better names? this would include different livebearers species, probably public access
CAREFUL EDITING [remember there's 400+ species]

3. Articles, former Livebearer items and other articles on livebearers and fishkeeping, probably ALA Member only
CONTRIBUTIONS BY ALA MEMBERS, ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC, ROTATED ARTICLES

4. E-trader (current and archive), probably ALA Member only
ACCESS TO VIEW SPECIES, BUT NOT OWNERS OF THE LISTS FOR NONMEMBERS

5. Livebearer current and archive), probably ALA Member only
IT WOULD BE WONDERFUL TO HAVE AN ARCHIVE

6. Breeders' Award program: Online BAP forms, Expand BAP content to include up to date information, possibly database
ABSOLUTELY A MUST...OTHERWISE IT'S NOT A VERY USEFUL PROGRAM

7. Species Maintenance program, add more information sheets
POSSIBLE LIST OF PEOPLE WORKING WITH THE FISH, ETC.

We live in a world where immediate gratification is very satisfying. Anything that can be done to provide potential new members with instant access to content unavailable to non-members after paying their dues will encourage them to join.

Another aspect to providing immediate gratification is what you might call eye candy. The first thing you see on the homepage is text, no pictures. Many times I have found myself skimming through websites only to skip past the ones that look boring and stopping at the ones that catch my eye, which is usually accomplished by beautiful pictures. Although the new website is a major improvement on the previous one, there still is no visual appeal.

This still leaves the question of how to balance what you get for paying your dues with what should be provided for free to help advance the science of ichthyology by stimulating interest in and encouraging study of freshwater livebearing fishes. Unfortunately not many people are willing to give up their hard earned money if they can have access to the same things that non-members do. By providing some articles and images to non-members while keeping the vault on the major content closed until dues are payed I believe will accomplish both objectives.