STEPS TO AN MRPC MEMBERSHIP

1. Create an online account using the link below.
   
2. Webmaster checks your profile for completeness & activates the "online" portion of your membership.
   
3. System sends automated email to the contact email in your new profile containing membership information links and welcome aboard. (usually in first 72hrs of profile creation, email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if you do not get a confirmation email within that time period)
   
4. After your account is activated you will see a "Membership Dues & Renewal Information" link in your PROFILE (left side of screen) when Logged in which will instruct you on how to send in your membership dues via check or online using a credit card via paypal.com.
   
5. Once the MRPC Membership Director receives funds verification from the MRPC Secretary (or PayPal.com) he will:
   
   
   
   1. Update your Member Group to "MRPC Members" and set your membership expiration date in your profile.
      
   2. On the next occurring Monday, he will program your information into the door lock at the clubhouse and issue an Electronic Key FOB for access to the Clubhouse & 24/7 Indoor Range. Your new Membership Card will be mailed to you at this time also.
      
   
   

MEMBERSHIP GROUPS EXPLAINED

Below are the groups used during the membership process. You can see what your group status is at anytime by signing into the website and looking in your Membership Profile while logged in.

1. New Accounts (awaiting dues)

   
   This is the default group for new online profiles and access to the website's Membership functions are suspended while in this group. After the MRPC Membership Director has reviewed your profile and confirmed payment you will be moved into the MRPC Member group when your check has cleared.
   
   

2. Dues Paid via PayPal (awaiting profile update)

   
   This is a temporary group for new MRPC Members OR renewing members doing so online via Credit Card using PayPal.com as described below. Once you checkout at PayPal.com you will be moved into this group until the MRPC Membership Director has had a chance to update your online profile.
   
   
   

3. MRPC Members

   
   This is the PAID Membership account and grants all MRPC Membership privileges to those in it, including issuing a 24/7 clubhouse & indoor range. If your online profile lists you in this Member Group and your expiration date has not passed, you should have a working Electronic Key FOB for the clubhouse & indoor range and be receiving full membership benefits.
   
   

4. EXPIRED Memberships

   
   If you should fail to renew your membership your account will be moved into this group and your Electronic Key FOB disabled until payment is made.
   
   

   

   
   Members who have created an online account in the past should login at: http://mrpc.info/index.php/member/login/ and use the link inside their PROFILE to complete the renewal process.
   
   If you have never created an online account then please do so by following the instructions at: http://mrpc.info/index.php/membership_info/register
   
   After your account is activated you will receive an email telling you how to complete the process.
   

   
   

Still have questions concerning membership?

Contact the MRPC Membership Director via the email link at the bottom of any page.

Confidentiality of Membership Information

The information you provide to MRPC cannot be sold, rented, or used for commercial purposes. In order to help with mailing costs, advertising may be included along with regular club mailings such as newsletters, but the mailing lists (your name and address) will not be provided to any advertiser for commercial purposes. This is both a matter of policy and a matter of Oregon statutes governing non-profit corporations.

The same Oregon statues also require that the membership mailing list be made available to any current member who provides a reasonable written explanation and request to the club President or Secretary (cannot be for any commercial purpose and must be related to club matters). Therefore, if you do not wish for your home address to be available to other members, you have several options:

1. Use a post office box as your official membership mailing address.
2. Ask that all mail to you be delivered to the club building (indoor range). It can be placed in a box for member correspondence, and you can pick it up at any time. If you do this, you will need to check regularly for member mail to you, including all official club correspondence and notices.
3. Use a mail service company (private mailbox) as your official address.

Most members do not mind (or did not respond) to a survey asking if they wanted to keep their address confidential in regard to other club members. Please note that the general public does not ever get the mailing list! The mailing list is only required to be made available to other members. Your fellow members are the only ones who may acquire this information, and they are required to use it only for club business or their club membership may be revoked and possible criminal charges filed if the misuse is serious enough. Receipt of the list charges the member with the responsibility of safeguarding it, as with any other confidential or legally restricted information.

Please keep in mind that whatever you put on your application will be your official mailing address for all club correspondence. It does not have to be your home. It can be your business, a post office box, or even the club building itself (if you don’t mind checking for mail frequently). Mail left to accumulate at the club will have to be discarded after a certain time or it would become a problem. For example, if certain mail is dated 6 or more months in the past, it might be considered useless information and discarded if it has not been picked up by the member. No policy has yet been suggested or approved. If you wish to bring this up at a meeting, please do.

Personal Security Concerns:

Q. I am very sensitive about posting any personal info on public sites, how can you guarantee that my information will not become compromised?

A. We understand people being concerned about the security of their information on the internet, but also know that the information we collect does not pose a security risk outside of everyday information that is already available to the public. When people are made aware of just how easy it is to "data mine" information they soon see that the "cat is already out of the bag." I'll attempt to illustrate my point with a quick example using your information below.

KNOWN INFO: "FirstName LastName", lives in Oregon (for the example fill in your own information)

Take that information and go to http://www.zabasearch.com and enter it. This is your starting point. Adding more data points creates an even more accurate online profile of who you are. If I know you approximate age, any hobbie, etc... the list narrows.

Next lets do a basic google search and see what we get. Go to http://www.google.com and enter the following: "FirstName LastName" Oregon
You likely are seeing confirming information from the first search by now. You may also be finding any website postings you have done in the past.

Now lets go to a pay service like https://www.intelius.com/ and enter the same basic information. Here we get possible relatives information to cross check with and for < $40.00 I get your....

Full Name Address
Age & DOB Phone Number
Relatives Address History
Avg. Income Property
Criminal Check Bankruptcies
Liens Judgments
Aliases Lawsuits
Neighbors Death Records
Marriage Divorce

So my point is that will all that info out there already, and I got that with only your name and state in less than 15 minutes. There are many more FREE services that can be used to get even greater details on you like the County Tax records webpage at: http://web.jacksoncounty.org/fca/index.cfm?btextonly=false

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THE REAL QUESTION YOU SHOULD ASK:

Q. What information does MRPC require that can be compromised?

A. Not much!

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INFORMATION WE GATHER / MAINTAIN ONLINE:

(Note that none of this information is viewable to anyone but yourself and the clubs Executive Committee. As per Oregon law, the following information must be given to another MEMBER who has a non-profit reason for obtaining a membership list, but it must be requested in writing.)

ADDRESS:
You can put in any mailing address you want. The address is primarily used to send you your Key FOB for access to the indoor range on Villas Rd.

On rare occasions like in the case of a By-Law change, proposals will be mailed to the membership using this address. We do not send out monthly newsletters and such by USPS as they are done via email and/or listed online under the Membership Only areas of the website that are not viewable to the general public.

You can enter the clubs address instead of your own if you like and are welcome to pick up your Key FOB at a monthly meeting if you don not wish to provide a mailing address.


PHONE:
You don't have to provide a phone number to the club.


EMAIL:
YOU DO NEED to have an email to create an online account. By creating an online account you will receive notification of membership expirations, upcoming events, and other benefits to include but not limited to those listed at: http://mrpc.info/index.php/news/view/website_news


COULD THIS INFO BE COMPROMISED?:

The information above is what "could" be compromised and given that in actuality you are only required to give a First/Last Name without an address or phone number or email, there is nothing that could be discovered about you through a "compromised" MRPC Membership List that we didn't find in 15 minute "data mining" experiment above.

Also, when you become a member you sign a Terms of Service acknowledging that anyone willing to join the club and legally request a list of members could find out the supplied information for a $50.00 membership as per Oregon law.

WEBSITE SECURITY: (by Jim Linch - MRPC Webmaster)
As to the website's security... We are using a CMS called "Expression Engine" that is proprietary coding which runs some of the largest websites on the INTERNET. It has a sound track record of tight security and any "hacks" that I am aware of have been acomplished by exploiting PHP enabled templates in the system. I do not use PHP in the membership template system for this reason.

The host MRPC uses is http://www.dreamhost.com whom I've used on my personal website (http://www.oregonshooter.com) and others since 2006 without incident. They are a well known provider that has had a great track record in the security department.

That said, the only thing secure is what you keep in your head. If the GOV can send me a letter stating that all my USMC information has been compromised off a stolen laptop (they did TWICE!) then anything you stick online is going to be much less secure.

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ALTERNATIVE TO CREATING AN ONLINE PROFILE:

Since an email is required to create an online membership, failure to provide such will prohibit you from using this method of registration.

If you do not have or do not wish to give out your email, you may use a "hard copy" Membership Application located on the club house front door at 1253 E. Vilas Road Medford, OR 97504 to join or renew at MRPC. Membership at MRPC requires that you fill this form out and mail your dues check to P.O. Box 235 Medford, OR 97501 as a minimum. (All dues must be accompanied by a signed Application or Online Profile printout!)

We encourage using the online system, but it is not mandatory.

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IMPORTANT - READ - READ - READ:

Using the "hard copy" forms located at the clubhouse DOES NOT KEEP YOUR MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION OFFLINE!

Your information is stored in the same online database whether you enter it while creating an account at http://mrpc.info/index.php/membership_info/register or send in a "hard copy" Membership Application and check via USPS.

The ONLY difference between using the online process and "hard copy" forms at the club house is that the Membership Director will have to input the information off your form into the database for you. This process leads to typo errors, added volunteer time on the Directors part, and added time to process your application and get you access to the clubhouse and indoor range. If you create your online account you can confirm your profile information AND change it at anytime and will shorten the time gap from application to access by at least a week's time on average.

All members in the past 2 years ALREADY HAVE and online account even if they never created one as the Membership Director entered all the membership information from the clubs old membership program that was being used into the online database when the new website was designed in 2009. We do not keep records of memberships past 2 years.

CONCLUSION:

Creating an online profile at MRPC does not put you on an easy accessible "list", nor require you to divulge more than your First / Last Name to become a member.

Using a "hard copy" Membership Application does not provide a more secure method of obtaining your membership information and only adds time and potential for errors in the process.

If you have any further questions on the matter, please feel free to send an email to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Members Sign Up!

Create your website membership profile today to take advantage of current and future “Membership Only” features.

Currently logged in MRPC Members can:

• Subscribe to the MRPC Newsletter
• Access and place Classified Ads in the Trading Post.
• Access shooting scores.
• Review / Update their membership information online.      
• Access shooting tools such as Balistics Calculator, reloading logs, COFs & Drills, etc in Shooter Tools section.
• Receive warning emails of expiration date.
• Renew memberships online with Credit Card (via PayPal.com)
• Participate in GROUP BUYS online.      
• Printout replacement membership card.

Coming soon?

• Member photo/video galleries

 

To: Law enforcement, Government and Corporate MRPC users
Re: Memberships

At the MRPC Executive Board meeting held May 30, 2009 the policy of MRPC memberships other than individuals was reviewed and clarified. This review was needed because some club use has been untraceable and liability problems may exist. Also range fees, to help cover operational and maintenance costs, were not being paid by users. Some organizations had door FOBs (electronic keys) that were not assigned to individual users. This became a liability problem as we didn’t know who was using the club. When a guest is using the range a member must be with them as the member is responsible for the guest and their proper use.

MEMBERSHIP POLICY:

“Law Enforcement, Government and Corporate agencies may purchase memberships for their employees but each must be assigned to an individual, one FOB for each individual member. An agency using or reserving the club must have at least one club member in attendance at the reserved use or when guests are brought to the club by an agency. If the agency does not purchase the employee’s membership those individuals must purchase a membership themselves to use the club. The only class of membership available is an individual family membership, unless they qualify as a life member.”

We know that some agencies already buy memberships for their employees and some employees have been buying their own membership. From now on all users must have a membership FOB assigned to them. This is the only way the club can control use to qualified members and reduce liability problems of not knowing who is using the range.

John Hughes
President, Medford Rifle and Pistol Club