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A S A D B Y L A W S
August 1992 Version 1.2
Introduction
The Association of Shareware Authors and Distributors (ASAD)
was established in July of 1992 to promulgate the concept of
shareware as a viable alternative or enhancement to commercial
software and to establish a professional organization dedicated to
the education of the public about matters concerning the role
shareware in the computer market today. Membership in ASAD is open
to all persons or organizations involved in the shareware community
providing they are willing to comply with the bylaws of ASAD as set
forth here-in and approved by ASADs Bylaws Committee.
Primary Goals of ASAD
There are four (4) primary goals of ASAD which form the
foundation upon which the organization was established and will be
operated:
1. To promote shareware products as a viable alternative or
enhancement to commercial software.
2. To protect the rights of those persons involved in the
shareware industry.
3. To educate persons about the shareware concept.
4. To establish reasonable standards for the authoring,
distributing, and marketing of shareware products.
Membership
The Association of Shareware Authors and Distributors shall be
comprised of shareware authors, distributors, BBSs, user groups,
computer related companies and any such other persons or
organizations that comply with the following:
1. Dedicated to promoting and strengthening the future of
shareware as an alternative or enhancement to commercial
software.
2. Agree to abide by the bylaws of the association as outlined
herein and conduct their business or organization in a
professional manner so as to promulgate shareware education
and those high standards of ethics associated with ASAD.
3. That said member remains current in all dues or payments
(fees or assessments).
4. A member may be expelled from ASAD at any time if it found
that he/she has violated any of the bylaws established
herein. It is the responsibility and obligation of all
members to report to the home office of ASAD any person,
organization or company who no longer is qualified for
membership. If it is believed that the member no longer
meets the criteria established for membership he/she shall
be contacted by mail informing him/her of a suspected
violation of membership rules. He/she will have 21 days
in which to respond to the allagations. If no response is
received automatic removal from membership will proceed.
If a response is received ASAD will place all comments
before the Membership Committee for a final decision. A
vote of greater than two-thirds will be required for
termination of membership.
5. A member may resign at any time merely by informing the
ASAD home office of his/her desire.
Membership Dues, Fee and Assessments
The Association of Shareware Authors and Distributors has
established the following dues, fees, or assessments which are
applicable, without exception, to all persons, organizations or
companies requesting or continuing membership privaleges in ASAD:
1. Membership dues are based on a one (1) year period with
renewal notices sent to members 45 days prior to expiration
of current membership.
2. Membership dues for the second and following years shall
remain the same as those established as first year dues.
3. Yearly membership dues are established as follows:
** Approved Author ................ $35 per year
** Approved Distributor ........... $65 per year
** Approved BBS ................... $45 per year
** Approved User Group ............ $45 per year
** Affiliated Member .............. $35 per year
NOTE ... It is NOT the intention of ASAD to discriminate
amongst members as to the amount of dues established for
each group. The dues described above are based upon
services and products provided to each group versus the
overall potential income of the group representatives.
4. Fees and assessments established for special features,
services, or products not included in the basic membership
package, but selected as an option by the member, will be
billed directly to the member and will be considered as due
and payable upon receipt.
5. All membership dues, fees or assessments are payable by
check or money order made out to either "The Association
of Shareware Authors and Distributors" or "ASAD".
NOTE ... A $10 service fee will be assessed for any
returned check.
ASAD Government and Committees
Board of Directors The Board of Directors shall consist of
five (5) members, four (4) of which will be elected and one (1) of
which will be permenant. The following criteria will apply:
1. The permenant, non-elective board position, will be held
by Mr. Fred Hertenstein, Executive Director of ASAD and will
be responsible for the following:
a. Operation and control of the ASAD "Home Office",
including such things as daily operation, mailing
control, ASADnet setup and maintenance, membership
database, and any and all other duties and
responsibilities not required to be presented to the
Board of Directors or a special committee.
b. Shall cast a vote only in a tie-breaking situation
or during such time as an elective directors' position
remains open.
c. Shall chair meetings of all committees and is
responsible for the placement of all relavent
information in the appropriate message forums and the
eventual counting of the votes. After the vote count,
the Board of Directors will be notified of the results
and the action to follow.
d. Shall act as Ombudsman for ASAD in an attempt to solve
any problems brought before the attention of the
association. If an acceptable solution can not be
reached between the Ombudsman and the parties involved,
the Ombudsman will place the matter before the Board of
Directors.
2. The four (4) elective board positions will be responable as
the overall decision making authority for ASAD and will be
elected by the following criteria:
a. One board member will be elected from each of the
following areas:
1) Authors, 2) Distributors, 3) BBSs/User Groups, and
4) Author/Distributor/BBS.
b. Board members shall be elected for a two (2) year
period and are eligible for re-election.
c. Elections shall take place the last day of January on
alternate years, with voting selection starting January
1st of that year in a forum on CompuServe and ASADnet.
Membership Committee All members of ASAD are equal
representatives of the Membership Committee and as such, the
following applies:
1. Any problems or concerns requiring the vote of the
Membership Committee will be presented in a special forum
established on the ASAD BBS (and ASADnet).
2. Members may cast their vote in the message forum and by a
general concensus, or if required two-thirds majority vote,
action will be taken.
3. All messages directed to the Membership Committee will be
placed on-line by the Home Office and will remain on-line
for a period of 21 days prior to vote counting.
Bylaws Committee All members of ASAD are equal
representatives of the Bylaws Committee and as such, the following
applies:
1. All suggested or recommended changes to the bylaws of ASAD
requiring the vote of the Bylaws Committee will be presented
in a special forum established on the ASAD BBS (and ASADnet).
2. Members may cast their vote in the message forum and by a
general concensus, or if required two-thirds majority vote,
action will be taken.
3. All messages directed to the Bylaws Committee will be placed
on-line by the Home Office and will remain on-line for a
period of not less than 30 days prior to vote counting.
Shareware Review Committee All members of ASAD are equal
representatives of the Shareware Review Committee and as such, the
following applies:
1. New programs submitted by authors should be downloaded from
the ASAD BBS (and ASADnet) in a timely manner and evaluated.
2. Evaluations of these programs should in turn be uploaded to
the appropriate message forums in an attempt to show
constructive criticism, suggestions, or praise, so that the
author receives quality feedback on his program.
Membership Compliance Requirements
* Author Compliance Requirements
Authors requesting membership in ASAD are required to adhere to the
following requirements and/or guidelines:
1. All alpha or beta programs submitted must be clearly marked
as such.
2. The most recent version of all programs must be sent on
disk to the Home Office of ASAD, marked ... Attn: ASAD
Shareware Library...
3. Any programs that are "Crippled", "Limited", "Demo", or in
which any other form operational degradation is used (a
non-fully functional operating program) must be marked as
such and a brief explanation of how the program is degraded
or crippled supplied. ASAD does accept crippled programs
and fully respects the rights of authors to cripple their
programs, but also believes that users have a right to know
that the program is "for limited use" rather than a full
evaluation copy before downloading or paying a disk
duplication fee.
NOTE ... The one exception to this rule is that ASAD WILL NOT
ACCEPT any programs that write any type of protection file,
cripple enhancement file, or in any other way writes to a
users' hard disk or system disk file as a means of limiting
the useage of the program.
4. As an author, you are requested to place on each of your
disks a file named "ASADREAD.TXT". This file will be made
available to each author and it briefly describes ASAD,
the role ASAD plays in the shareware community, how ASAD
acts as Ombudsman for the shareware community, and why they
should become registered users of shareware programs they
find useful. The placing of this program on your disks is
not required, but is requested. ASAD does not expect an
author to place this file on a disk if it in anyway causes
problems due to disk size limitations or additional expense.
5. The inclusion of the Ombudsman statement listed below under
"ASAD Ombudsman" should also be placed within your program
file if space permits. This is not required, but highly
recommended.
6. It is also requested that members of ASAD be given first
consideration when mailing original or updated mailings and
that if possible discounts be given on registrations to ASAD
members.
* Distributor Compliance Requirements
Distributors requesting membership in ASAD are required to adhere
to the following requirements and/or guidelines:
1. It is required that only the most recent version of an
authors' shareware program be distributed and that your
catalogs, fliers, brochures, etc. reflect this version
change as quickly as possible.
2. It is required that when notified by an author or by ASAD
that a program has been discontinued, you will cease
supplying same.
3. It is required that all vendors and distributors comply with
the copyright notices and distribution restrictions placed
on a program by the author.
4. Vendors and distributors will not in any way modify program
files or add/delete files, with the exception of small
read.me or comment files used as advertisements or
announcements for your business, to those supplied by the
author.
5. Vendors are not required to send copies of catalogs,
brochures, fliers, advertisements, etc. to ASAD prior to use
for approval. Vendors are expected to place ASAD on their
normal mailing list so that we may see the material you are
sending out. ASAD, in return, will provide you with any
comments, suggestions, or "warnings" that we feel you should
either consider making or must make prior to your next
mailing. If a "Warning" is received by a vendor or distributor
on one of his or her mailings, ASAD does require that copies
of your promotional fliers showing the corrections be sent to
ASAD prior to your next mailing.
6. Vendors are required to try and educate customers or
prospective customers on the shareware concept and therefore
must display prominently the information provided under
"Educational Requirements" below on each and every item that
the ASAD logo appears on unless given approval by ASAD to do
otherwise.
7. Vendors are requested to mark all ASAD member programs
described in their catalog, flier, etc. with "ASAD" and a
statement to the affect that "The author of this program is
a member of ASAD and this program meets or surpases all
professional requirements placed on the author by ASAD".
8. The inclusion of the Ombudsman statement listed below under
"ASAD Ombudsman" is required on all mailings, promotional
displays, or other items mentioning the availability of
shareware programs unless given approval by ASAD to do
otherwise.
* BBS or User Group Compliance Requirements
BBSs and User Groups requesting membership in ASAD are required to
adhere to the following requirements and/or guidelines:
1. BBSs and User Groups are required to follow all the rules
and regulations as outlined for vendors above.
2. Requirements for education of BBS users and members of a
user group can be obtained under the "Educational
Requirements" below. For BBSs, the requirements for
educational notices or statements normally found on a
vendor or distributors catalog, flier, etc. can be placed
in a "Bulletin" as long as it is easily accessable by
users and has attention drawn to it.
3. BBSs are requested to mark all ASAD member programs located
on their board with "ASAD" and a statement to the affect
that "The author of this program is a member of ASAD and
this program meets or surpasses all professional requirements
placed on the author by ASAD" should appear in a Bulletin or
some other means of identification easily accessable to the
user.
* Affiliated Member Compliance Requirements
Affiliated members of ASAD are members by invitation. To maintain
your membership only requires the use of professional courtesy
whenever dealing with the shareware community and your continued
active assistance in educating the public in regards to the
shareware concept.
Educational Requirements
One of ASADs primary goals is the education of the shareware
community with respect to the concept of shareware as a marketing
strategy and not merely as a means of obtaining many, inexpensive
programs that they as users can register if they would like. As
professionals who deal in shareware everyday, we must convince the
public that it is absolutely essential for them to register any and
all programs that they find useful. We must refrain from saying
things like "you should register", "please register", or "consider
registering". What we need to emphasize is "You MUST register".
ASAD requires at least one of the three statements below be
prominantly displayed on any advertisement, flier, catalog,
brochure, or other promotional form where prices for shareware
products are displayed:
1. "Shareware programs require seperate payment to the author
if found useful"
2. "The fee paid to the vendor is a distribution charge and
does not cover the cost of the program itself"
or 3. "If the user finds a shareware program to be of use, he or
she MUST register the program with the author"
Preferrably, ASAD would like to see the following statement used at
all times:
"The fee paid to a vendor is a distribution charge only and
does NOT cover the cost of the program itself. If the user
finds the shareware program to be useful, he or she MUST
register the program with the author."
ASAD Ombudsman Policy
General Information ASAD will attempt to act as the Ombudsman
for the shareware community when any difficulties arise between
authors, distributors, BBSs, and users or customers. All inquiries
or problems should be addressed to the Home Office and marked
"Attn: Ombudsman". In order to allow the public to know that ASAD
will work on their behalf, the following statements (you may
rephrase these statements) should appear as applicable:
Authors Authors should include in their programs the
following statement:
"This program has been produced by a member of the
Association of Shareware Authors and Distributors and
as such has met their demands for professional
programming. Any problems of a shareware nature that
can not be resolved either by the source of the program
or the author of the program (whichever is applicable)
may be brought to the attention of the ASAD Ombudsman
for possible correction. Please send all information,
including the name and address of the person or company
you received the program from to: ASAD, Attn: Ombudsman,
1323 Garfield Ave, Springfield, OH 45504."
Distributors Distributors and vendors should include in
their promotional items, catalogs, fliers, etc. the
following statement:
"This program has been distributed by a member of the
Association of Shareware Authors and Distributors and
as such has met their demands for professional
programming. Any problems of a shareware nature that
can not be resolved either by the source of the program
or the author of the program (whichever is applicable)
may be brought to the attention of the ASAD Ombudsman
for possible correction. Please send all information,
including the name and address of the person or company
you received the program from to: ASAD, Attn: Ombudsman,
1323 Garfield Ave, Springfield, OH 45504."