Membership

This is something of a last resort but in the absence of any reply from the Society Administration, this seems like the only appropriate place to raise a concern.

I joined your Society a month ago and while I can be impatient at times, I thought little of the delay in your processing the application.  However, here we are a month later and subsequent to a reminder, I have heard nothing.  The possibilities are that;

1. The Society no longer exists;
2. The Membership scheme is a scam where some think they can make a few quid on the backs of people who posit that the earth is flat;
3. The Society is so popular that Mr Freer (to whom my payment was made) is inundated and perhaps I should allow him more time.

While Option 1 is a sad possibility and Option 2 is a sad indictment of the world we now live in, my hope is that Option 3 holds fast and I look forward to some progress.  Would anyone care to enlighten me on the current state of affairs within the Flat Earth Society.

Nothing happens in a timely manner here.  I remember people getting all upset because their T-shirts were taking months to arrive.  However, this is just the way the society runs. 

Send Daniel a message.  Maybe try LordWilmore as well. 

Nothing happens in a timely manner here.  I remember people getting all upset because their T-shirts were taking months to arrive.  However, this is just the way the society runs. 

You shouldn't take people's money if you can't fulfill your side of the contract.

But yeah, why would anyone expect the FES to be anything other than shite?

1. The Society no longer exists;
2. The Membership scheme is a scam where some think they can make a few quid on the backs of people who posit that the earth is flat;
3. The Society is so popular that Mr Freer (to whom my payment was made) is inundated and perhaps I should allow him more time.

A1.  The "existence" of the Flat Earth Society (as such) has never been established or its credibility confirmed.  The term "society" means that in legal terms, there should be in existence a set of documents setting out the constitution of the society, although this varies from state to state.  I've never seen any such documentation made public.

A2.  This is always a possibility whenever one sends money to an unknown recipient by an EFT process.  Did you use PayPal to make the membership payment?  Did you receive an electronic receipt immediately?  Did you receive a confirmatory email from PayPal?  And remember that you can make a claim for a refund through PayPal's dispute facility if the FES don't complete your transaction satisfactorily.  (And which is what I'd be doing ASAP.)

A3.  Thirty days is more than ample time for any treasurer to have forwarded a receipt and/or membership details (dependent on A2. above).  The FES does not enjoy any major popularity worldwide, so the putative "Mr Freer" wouldn't be exactly overwhelmed with administrative duties.

I note that the FES membership listing hasn't been updated since 10 Oct 14 so yours may still be in the pipeline.

As jroa suggested, I'd firstly be contacting Daniel Shenton by email:  daniel@theflatearthsociety.org

—Good luck.   

Hello ausGeoff,

Thank you for taking the time to respond; Beyond recognising your username as one of the more prolific on this site, I know nothing of your capacity within the Flat Earth Society so I will not unduly burden you.  In reply;

A1. I won't debate the legalities of the FES being a legal Society with you as I am content to proceed on the basis that it is an recognisable group under a
      established name.

A2. Yes I used PayPal and got a receipt/immediate acknowledgement and will chase the matter with them as soon as I deem necessary.

A3. I have, as I am sure most people do, a reasonable expectation of response time.  I have checked the membership lists and I can see that membership
      may well be in the pipeline.  Given the time of year, I have allowed the putative Mr Freer a little extra time.  I have also emailed Messrs. Shenton and
      Wilmore as per the kind suggestion of jroa.

Once again I await the vagaries of joining a relatively loose association that amounts to little more than an electronic address and some pixels on a screen. If needs be and at an appropriate time, I will post a follow-up to my original thread so that, in all events, the matter can be closed without misunderstanding.

Kind Regards
Ajaycee

Hello ausGeoff,

Thank you for taking the time to respond; Beyond recognising your username as one of the more prolific on this site, I know nothing of your capacity within the Flat Earth Society so I will not unduly burden you.  In reply;

A1. I won't debate the legalities of the FES being a legal Society with you as I am content to proceed on the basis that it is an recognisable group under a established name.

A2. Yes I used PayPal and got a receipt/immediate acknowledgement and will chase the matter with them as soon as I deem necessary.

A3. I have, as I am sure most people do, a reasonable expectation of response time.  I have checked the membership lists and I can see that membership  may well be in the pipeline.  Given the time of year, I have allowed the putative Mr Freer a little extra time.  I have also emailed Messrs. Shenton and Wilmore as per the kind suggestion of jroa.

Once again I await the vagaries of joining a relatively loose association that amounts to little more than an electronic address and some pixels on a screen. If needs be and at an appropriate time, I will post a follow-up to my original thread so that, in all events, the matter can be closed without misunderstanding.

Kind Regards
Ajaycee

Firstly, I must apologise if I've inadvertently given you the impression that I have any formal standing or capacity "within" the Flat Earth Society.  I'm a round earther and only post on these forums in an endeavour to clarify specific scientific claims made by those believing that the earth is flat.  I repeatedly demand supporting empirical evidence for their various claims about our planet and the cosmos that contradict the 21st-century scientific status quo.

I also attempt to provide irrefutable scientific evidence—supported by numerous accredited citations—that the accepted model of our universe, its physics and mechanics—is exactly as posited and theorised by contemporary astrophysicists, geophysicists, cosmologists and even philosophers.

I advise you to act upon your suggestion of claiming a charge-back from PayPal, as you only have a limited time-frame to do so.  If you've not received any personal acknowledgement from the FES confirming your membership status after this lengthy period, I'm inclined to think it could be a scam—although I have absolutely zero evidence to support this possibility.

Finally, the Flat Earth Society is not officially "recognised" by any accredited scientific and/or government agency or even any institutions of learning.  It's simply a group of private individuals who've chosen to name their group as such.  It has no legal status, no document of incorporation, no committee, no formal charter (including a "not for profit" declaration in accordance with IRS requirements), no nominated secretary, no nominated treasurer, and no nominated president.  All of these are required in order for an association and/or society to be a legally acknowledged entity.  A web page and forum in and of themselves do not satisfy the use of the term "Society".

And you're quite correct in judging the FES as "little more than an electronic address".  You can't phone them and they have no street and/or business address.  And in most cases the moderators and administrators of the site are known only by their pseudonyms; no names, no pack drill?

And my name is Geoff, and I do live in Victoria in southern Australia.   

(I'd appreciate any flat earthers correcting any errors of fact I may have unintentionally posted above.)

Hello Geoff (in Australia),

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my last 'epistle' and, in light of your comments I am inclined to believe that the FES is not quite what it appeared to be.  Being somewhat slow in such matters; only yesterday I discovered the 'alternative' Flat Earth Society and was dismayed to see what appears to be much infighting.

Given that the FES appeared to provide a credible forum for discussing substream theories and being a little discomfited by the insults that some chose to post online, it was tiring to see what appears to be an 'empire building' contest that negates the avowed purpose of the Society and the opportunity to see credible thought provoking argument.  To wit, if the FES amounts to nothing more than one man's empire, it's not what I expected nor do I intend to expend any more time on it than is necessary.

Again, thank you for your time and your thoughtful comments.

Regards,
Ajaycee

Hello Geoff (in Australia),

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my last 'epistle' and, in light of your comments I am inclined to believe that the FES is not quite what it appeared to be.  Being somewhat slow in such matters; only yesterday I discovered the 'alternative' Flat Earth Society and was dismayed to see what appears to be much infighting.

Pleased to help Ajaycee.

As you will have noted here, no flat earther has bothered to address your concerns in any meaningful way.  Which is more than typical of both the lazy administrators and/or poor performance by the forum moderators.  None of them are prepared to get involved in the day-to-day running of the forums, nor will they bother to respond to any genuine queries—such as yours—regarding the overall operations of the FES.

jroa usually does his best to moderate in some sort of reasonable way, and at least responds to comments (even if somewhat offhandedly).  Although I'm guessing that his hands are tied by "the powers that be", and he's unable to resolve any issues of a technical and/or administrative nature.  You could try sending him a PM (re your membership fee), as he always responds to sensible enquiries.

—Geoff.   

On the subject of this thread . . .

I've seen all I need to see here.

I offer my sincere thanks to those who have taken time to respond.

I consider this matter closed and the moderators should feel free to remove it.

Ajaycee

On the subject of this thread . . .

I've seen all I need to see here.

I offer my sincere thanks to those who have taken time to respond.

I consider this matter closed and the moderators should feel free to remove it.

Ajaycee

Did you finally get your membership application sorted out Ajaycee?  Or did you get a charge-back from PayPal okay?

Yes, did the membership pack ever arrive?  There was a period where they were quite delayed but I think everything up until a couple of weeks ago should have been received by now.  If not, please email me (daniel@theflatearthsociety.org) and I'll refund the Paypal.

While you're here Daniel, can you please do something to make the pages on this forum load in in under 5 minutes? 

While you're here Daniel, can you please do something to make the pages on this forum load in in under 5 minutes? 

Working on it even as we speak.  The site has been dealing with a DDOS attack for the past several days.  Things are running a lot better now than they were a day or two ago but there's still room for improvement.  I'm looking into longer-term solutions to avoid this in the future.