MFI FAQ

From MFIWiki
Revision as of 18:50, 15 November 2005 by Rjohnson (Talk | contribs)

(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search

MFI's Frequently Asked Questions

Thanks to Dave Blaser of SFI for coming up with these excellent questions concerning MFI. We hope you find them usefull in learning about MFI's background, as well as how it operates.

Contents

What makes the Maquis Forces International so much different than other fan clubs that are out there?

A. We bill ourselves as being the 1st completely internet based Star Trek fan organization on the WWW. We offer all members free web space and the opportunity to contribute to the website via the Media-Wiki format.

"Maquis Forces" went online in the Summer of 1994 with 3 Florida Independent Fan chapters linked together via Free Web Space sites, such as Geocities & Anglefire and keeping in touch via ICQ. It was simply an easy way for us, as fiends to keep in touch with each other. We didn't set out to be anything more than just the 3 groups.

In as little as 4 months, other fans who also went "Independent", from around the U.S. and Canada found our sites and asked if they could linking in with us under a "Common Banner".

It wasn't until the Fall of 1995, when we had accumulated some "Active Duty Military" chapters in England, Germany and Italy, as well as chapters in Australia and New Zealand, we decided to call ourselves MFI.

From the onset, we knew that the biggest problems facing fan organizations has been due 2 things... to Money and Politics. Being a completely Internet based Fan Organization helped us find ways to do away with needing to handle money... Most of a group's costs come from various postal expences. We found we could do away with ALL postal expences by doing EVERTHING online. Everything our members need are available online. With the exception of a couple projects I'll mention later, we do not use the Postal Service for anything.

MFI has made it's mark by doing away with annual dues, mandatory minimum chapter membership (we have a few 2 - 5 member Chapters, called LPs), monthly reports, and mandatory activities. MFI has a "Hands Off" policy as far as our individual members and local Chapters go. We allow our chapters to be as active, or as inactive as they wish, as long as they make quarterly contact with a ZC to let us know they're still with us.

In terms of number of chapters and members, how many members and chapters does MFI have?

A. As with any fan organization (as well as Trek itself, our membership has ebbed and flowed with Trek popularity. In the Hay-Days of TNG & DS9, our membership was as many as 500 Chapters world wide, if not more. Currently, our online database puts our chapter and membership strength conservatively at 89 chapters and 638 members... Including 4 Chapters in Canada, as well as Chapters in the UK & Netherlands.

Would you mind talking to our members about membership - how much is membership; what do you get with your membership - the deliverables; what else do you get from being a member of MFI?

A. Membership is free. Because it is free, we don't offer official membership packets, but we do offer a variety of Online activities, including various members listservs for all our Branches & Depts., an online Newsletter that members may either read online, or download to be printed out at their own expense. We're also working on a newly revamped 4th version of our Online Academy (our members have never had to be slaves the Postal Service in order to enjoy our Academy system), complete with emailed achievement certificates and virtual achievement ribbons.

For those who "need" membership material, we do offer templates with which members may make their OWN Chapter certificates and membership cards. Our virtual Ribbons are all based on actual Military & Paramilitary "Base Ribbons" which our members can purchase and paint.

We also have various IRC chats, we have members who offer assistance in the fundamentals of fund-raising, and others who offer assistance in web design.

Let's talk about the fun things that your club does.. what kinds of events and activities does MFI offer to their members to help them enjoy the club?

A. Our members congregate at many of the regional Conventions,including Shore Leave, Maquis-Gras, Vulkons and Creation Cons. My COS and Head of KTF are both highly focused on Charity work and are often seen making appearances, in Maquis / Klingon attire at Charity events.

Many of our members enjoy meeting up in online Gaming rooms, participating as factions in games such as Earth 2025 We have an area where members can download craft templates and stencils, to be used as fund-raising activities, like Trek custom glass etching, making ID Cards and custom Bleached Jeans.

Recently, MFI completed a project which no other fan club has ever done. We designed and ordered professionally made rank pins based on those seen on ST Voyager. We now have rank pins for Ensign to Force Admiral (Fleet Admiral in SFI). as well as for the enlisted folks. These are unique to MFI and members adorn their uniforms, costumes, hats, or street wear. In the past, members had to scrounge for the hard to find CDR & LT pins, badly made Resin, or Metal knock offs, or had to use "standard" Starfleet ranks from the series. Since we pride ourselves as trying to set ourselves apart from other fan clubs, we thought we should have our own rank pins and this project made that a reality.

Another exciting project we undertook was our MFI Echelon Badge to indicating at what level the wearer serves in MFI. We have versions for the general member and Badge Collector, one for a chapter CO/XO Zone Coordinator, Coordinator Council member, and one for past & present International Coordinators.

Does MFI have anything coming up that people could get out to and see the club, get to know some of your members, something to show off why MFI is the fan club for them to join?

A. Is there a major Convention coming up? You'll probably see at LEAST a dozen of our members show up. We always get an influx of new members after conventions. [grin]

MFI is not for the Hardcore Fanatic. We're for the average Star Trek fan who's learned something from Trek which helped them become a better person in life and wants to enjoy and discuss Star Trek without having to jump through all the Hoops that some of the other clubs insist they jump through, in order to prove their worthiness to belong.

MFI is working on putting on our OWN Maquis Con in the Spring of 2007. We already have a Hotel lined up and are starting to make contact with several Trek celebrity agents.


Personal tools