>Hi All,
>
>Although your concerns regarding spam are legitimate to a point I think some of you may be a bit too sensitive to your own eMail space.
>
>I have never met Russ in person, however we have talked on the phone numerous times on other matters. But I can tell you straight up that Russ is a high quality individual and a great benefactor of the Visual FoxPro programming language and community.
>
>His devotion to the language runs deeper than most of you will ever know or achieve.
>
>As you may know, FoxPro is a struggling language. The rumors of its demise are pervasive. Negativity about its future is rampant. Even in these hallowed halls. If you are a devoted Visual FoxPro programmer like me, you'd probably like to see FoxPro around in the future. To make that a reality we (as a community) need to welcome and support anything that supports FoxPro (which Russ's developer conference certainly does).
>
>You may not know this, but throwing a wing ding like a dev conference is a high-risk endeavor. Russ will likely spend tens of thousands of dollars and may lose money or just break even for years to build a conference like his. He's not doing it for the big bucks I can assure you. If he breaks even it will be a miracle. Russ is doing the conference because he cares about Visual FoxPro. The language and the community.
>
>Russ needs your support so that he can do what he can to expand the acceptance and knowledge about Visual FoxPro. I recommend that when you get one of his eMails, forward it to a friend or acquaintance in the IT community who may not know about Visual FoxPro and the great things that are going on with it.
>
>I believe Russ's eMails are not the problem. They are the solution!
>
>Thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you.

Hugh,

Well said. I have met Russ and his lovely wife who supports him in this and can attest that everything you say is true. Besides, FoxPro is the one subject about which I don't mind getting unsolicited mail. As you said, we need to support each other and those doing things that promote the language and the community. Go Russ!

Alex