It's not every day you get to be among people who care so deeply about their work, have such high standards, and want to fix what's broken in the craft. The Executive Committee found raising membership dues last year to be painful, but even now the dues do not completely meet our expenses. We keep the conference fees low to enable people from smaller publications or people traveling at their own expense to attend, but the registration fees do not cover the cost of the conferences. We have been able to continue keeping conference fees low because of generous donations from newspapers and corporations, but this year s economic downturn led to a decline in corporate contributions, and there is no guarantee that such contributions will continue indefinitely. The Executive Committee is looking for additional sources of revenue, but those sources will not be found quickly or easily.
Professional discussions Look up the new discussion board on the menu to the left.
ACES promotes the free exchange of ideas and information among members and non-members alike. As members of a craft who have had to endure scorn and derision in the past, we are also determined that exchanges on the discussion board must be professional and civil. The new discussion board provides a venue for us to talk to one another, along with the means to deal with abuse. We have tried for four years to run this organization mainly with the volunteer efforts of members who hold full-time jobs. Just as no one person is responsible for the quality of the work of a copy desk, no one member of the society can claim credit for all of our successes.