Two coworkers and I were proposing a session for MLA. I have been a member for the last few years (after a significant hiatus). The other two had not yet joined.
In order to be accepted, all three of us had to be members of MLA. Both of the others told me they had joined. However, when I was working on the proposal, only one showed up. I looked under other names for my second coworker. Nothing.
I facebooked her and let her know that she had not come up as a member and that she needed to contact MLA to get the problem straightened out.
She called me a little later and said she just had to explain. She had joined MLA and been a bit perturbed that it cost $150, but was hopeful that our paper would be accepted. However, when I fb’ed her, she went to get her email that said she had joined and she had, in fact, joined MLA: Maryland Library Association, NOT Modern Language Association.
She got that snafu fixed and MLA (Maryland) refunded her money. The $85/year for MLA looked cheap by comparison.
And I was relieved that we caught the issue before the proposal was reviewed rather than later.
So be careful. Be very careful.