from a historical standpoint, fwiw, the registry was intended to record membership. the vin directory was to intended to record all known vins.
the 2 have been confusing ever since.
in the true sense of the word we are not a club. SOOC has no benefits of 'membership' an actual club provides. no membership cards, no shows, no rides, dues, clothing, coffee cups, pins, etc. we do have the forum, but i believe anyone can read the forum with out 'joining". on the other hand, the AMA recognized us as a club and gave us the privilege of hosting the Classic Club at the 2009 VMD.
i don't know how important it is to people to have a membership number. some it probably matters and others could care less........ ?
if one can figure out how to combine the two, great. if not, then one of them should go, it makes sense the registry, as i would certainly think we want to keep recording every known vin that we find.
on another note..... i wonder how many sandcasts we don't know of that exist in Japan....