Hi FullName,

This message brings you good news about resources and opportunities at ProgrammingMSAccess.com.  Despite our name, we remind you that our site serves the needs of a broad cross section of Microsoft database developers, including Access and SQL Server users creating solutions with VBA, Visual Basic .NET, and T-SQL.  As we approach the last days in the final month of a quarter, prize opportunities are particularly relevant at the site.  This is because we are close to giving away prizes to those who sign our Guest Book anytime during the quarter.  In addition, we reserve special prizes for those who join or renew their membership in the Database Developers Group (DDG).  The prizes that we feature are from leading vendors.  We encourage you to look over our prizes available in June and to take the actions to qualify for the prizes that you wish to win.

This message from our site starts with a brief reminder about prizes available to those who sign our Guest Book during the April-June quarter.  Next, we give you a heads up about two sensational prize opportunities to new and renewing DDG members during June.  We follow that with a summary of selected DDG member benefits, including a reminder about a new benefit.  We close with a mention of the availability of new filters for SPAM Blocker, our solution for filtering spam.  We not only market this SPAM Blocker, but we use it everyday.  If it didn't work, we wouldn't use it.

 

Guest Book Registrant Prizes

Each quarter we try to offer a set of prizes for those are kind enough to sign our Guest Book.  Guest Book registrants receive messages from us about twice a month alerting them to new content at the site as well as reminders about some of our traditional strengths.  You may learn about one of our code samples, slide decks, articles, book excerpt, or product reviews at the exact moment you can use it.

We also offer prizes to give leading vendors a chance of introducing themselves to our site visitors.  In the past 12 months, we served nearly 1,000,000 page views in over 300,000 sessions.  You are probably among that number.  Our prize sponsors want to get to know you, and they are interested in building a relationship with you through the prizes that they offer you.

This quarter we have four prizes for Guest Book Registrants

To qualify for winning any of these four great prizes, all you have to do is sign our Guest Book once during the quarter.  If you are a regular site visitor, but you haven't signed the Guest Book in the last 2-3 months, now's a great time to sign up again.  These quarterly signings maintain your eligibility for the prizes in a quarter.

 

New and Renewal DDG Membership Prizes

If you like the prizes or the content at the site and you want more of them, consider joining the DDG.  Our slogan is that: Membership has its privileges.  One of the DDG membership privileges is the chance to win special prizes.  New and renewing members during June have a chance to win one of two prizes during June.  Both of these prizes are contributed by Peter's Software.  This firm is like an institution in the Access add-on market.  It was active when I first started writing articles about Access.  The two prizes from Peter's Software appear below.  Both prizes are available in a high-end, royalty-free version.  The total retail value of both prizes together is over $2,000.

I remind you that only new or renewing DDG members during June have a chance to win one of these prizes.  However, you can join or renew on any day during the month --even the last day -- and still be eligible.  There is a modest membership fee, but the prize value more than offsets the membership fee.  In addition, the chance to win these great prizes is only one of the benefits of DDG members.  We explain more about the DDG in the next section, including how to join.  Even if you don't win a prize for joining, the other member benefits make joining a winning idea!

 

Selected DDG Membership and How to Join

A subset of our website visitors elect to join the Database Developers Group (DDG).  The DDG is a professional association of database developers and administrators.  We currently have 40 members in four countries.  There are many benefits of DDG membership.  The most advantageous benefits depend on the interests of individual members.

We are experimenting in offering a resume-posting service at ProgrammingMSAccess.com site exclusively for DDG members.  The posting will recognize you as an active DDG member and highlight whatever you put in your resume.  This will give your resume very wide exposure because the site serves about one million pages annually.  Many site visitors are from organizations that need experienced database talent.  As you seek employment elsewhere or growth inside your current organization, you can refer persons to your published resume, which will tout your credentials in your own words as well as recognize you as a professional who cares enough about your career to become a DDG member.

We are going offering this benefit to new and renewing members.  This resume-posting benefit is not a prize for some lucky winner.  Any existing member who renews can immediately have your resume posted with a mention of your status as a DDG member.  Your resume will appear at the site for the duration of your membership.  The extra fees beyond DDG membership for this benefit are as follows.

If you have any questions about this opportunity, including how to take advantage of it, just reply to this message.  We look forward to posting your resume just as soon as you are ready.

If you would like to join the DDG, we look forward to serving you.  There is a modest membership fee, but we believe the benefits far outweigh the cost.  One prize or consulting referral could offset the cost of several years of DDG membership.  In addition, all members can benefit from the DDG library whether or not they are selected for a prize, register for a training seminar, or pursue a consulting opportunity.  If you are committed about growing as a database professional from either business or technical perspectives, DDG membership is a great choice for you.  Finally, this is one of our main ways of collecting funds to sustain the effort for running ProgrammingMSAccess.com.  If you derive value from ProgrammingMSAccess.com, we ask you to consider joining the DDG.

Database Developers Group:

http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/databasedevelopersgroup/

Summary of prizes for DDG members:

http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/DatabaseDevelopersGroup#Prizes

Summary of DDG membership benefits:

http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/DatabaseDevelopersGroup/WhatareDDGBenes.htm

How to join the DDG:

http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/DatabaseDevelopersGroup/HowDoIJoin.htm

 

SPAM Blocker Filters Updated

As we explained above, SPAM Blocker is our solution for filtering spam.  The solution works for Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002, and Outlook 2003.  SPAM Blocker is a VBA module that runs in back of Microsoft Outlook.  We check many parts of the message, including the sender's name, the message subject, the body, attachment name, and more.  We are constantly refreshing our filters.  In fact, it is our policy to refresh filters twice per month or more often.  As a result of doing this for over a year, we have thousands of filter values.

If SPAM Blocker sounds right for you, or you just want to learn more, we invite you to take a look at the SPAM Blocker site.  Recall that two lucky Guest Book registrants will win a copy this month.  However, you can buy your own copy now and stop being deluged in spam right away!

 

I hope that you found this message interesting.  We encourage you to visit ProgrammingMSAccess.com and look over our content.  If you have a question about Access, SQL Server, VBA, or Visual Basic .NET, you may well find what you need at our site.  Also, take a moment to share this message with one or more of your colleagues who may also be able to benefit from the excellent site resources or they may just thank for letting them know about our prizes, DDG membership opportunity, or SPAM Blocker.  If you no longer wish to receive messages from ProgrammingMSAccess.com, just reply with Remove in Subject field.

 

Rick

www.programmingmsaccess.com