Ken Fenner
Active member
Dear Forum Members:
As you aware, the new Board of Directors was seated on January 1, 2010. The board has been sifting through some hurdles and is doing a good job of fine tuning this organization. These gentlemen are motivated for a year of progress and growth. I have volunteered my services as administrator of this forum and the BOD has accepted.
The BOD has had some discussion and has come to a general consensus that using this forum as an information source is not working. Unfortunately, when the BOD is mired down with having to deal with daily BBS issues and disputes, their work progress comes to grinding halt. The UAMCC is at that point in its growth that communication has to become more formalized. All of us members suffer when the growth is stagnated because the directors are putting out fires and trying to meet deadlines placed on them by too many voices.
Over the next few days, and probably well into next week, this BBS will be changing in appearance and content. It is not fair for a new member to find out AFTER he or she has paid their membership that there are many posts of discord and disagreement. This is a flaw in the way this BBS was setup and it has been continually exposed over the last few months.
Communication Will Not End
Some may look at the up and coming format of the BBS and feel it has been scrubbed. To an extent, that will be true. Announcements made by the president and/or management will be pared back to the original announcements. The same will occur in vendor announcements. Everyone has made their points and the BOD is well aware of what is needed for immediate change and resolution. This does not mean your voice will be silenced.
I repeat, these changes will not affect your ability to communicate with the board of directors and its managing delegates. You will still have access to email addresses, private messages and direct phone contact. What these changes will accomplish is to eliminate the internet grandstanding. It will eliminate the negative emotion that is spawned when people are seemingly forced to pick a side or position.
So What Will This BBS Become?
Communication will still come down the pipeline. Announcements will still be made. These will be made by the President or by BOD members. These announcements will not be open threads for debate. They will be a resource for keeping everyone abreast of what is happening inside the UAMCC.
There will be no front end (public access) areas to present questions or bring what someone perceives as a problem in policy. Threads started with this intent will be politely pointed to the more formal ways of contacting the organization's leadership. Those threads will then be closed for seven days to allow the poster to seek his or her answers. After seven days, these threads will be deleted.
The BBS will still be a hotbed of business discussion, technical information sharing and networking. It will be the professional forum it was before the banter got taken to levels that became unprofessional. I think we can all agree that we do not want potential customers reading much of the emotionally driven banter that is currently being indexed by the search engines. Many of my long winded posts will also end up deleted so this will be an arbitrary and fair handed deletion process. I do not like censorship at this level but we have to start clean. We've all shared our feelings and emotions and that time is behind us. We owe the new board of directors the leeway of also having a clean slate.
I will leave a suggestion box open in the members only area of the forum. I will monitor that forum closely. I ask that you first use the direct forms of communication with management before you air your feelings publicly. If you receive no response to a complaint or have an issue you feel that has not been addressed, then take that grievance to the members area. I ask that everyone use professional discretion before going that route. The same rule of thumb for life applies... if you present a problem, try to bring solutions as well.
I am not taking this task lightly and I know everyone will have initial apprehensions. This is the path we will follow and see how things go. I will stay active in communication with both membership and management to update policy as needed. I ask for everyone to let these new policies take hold. No national organization promotes this type of free-for-all discussions. This BBS is a selling tool for the organization. This is also the front face all of us contractor members put out to the world.
I will also be working with a coder to update the look of the forum. I'm sure many of you are tired of looking at these drab blue-gray walls. I am also looking at a new banner rotation system to help with the look and layout.
Edit 4/9/2009: The tech side of the forum has been assigned to a design company. I am unsure if and when the forum will change in appearance.
As you aware, the new Board of Directors was seated on January 1, 2010. The board has been sifting through some hurdles and is doing a good job of fine tuning this organization. These gentlemen are motivated for a year of progress and growth. I have volunteered my services as administrator of this forum and the BOD has accepted.
The BOD has had some discussion and has come to a general consensus that using this forum as an information source is not working. Unfortunately, when the BOD is mired down with having to deal with daily BBS issues and disputes, their work progress comes to grinding halt. The UAMCC is at that point in its growth that communication has to become more formalized. All of us members suffer when the growth is stagnated because the directors are putting out fires and trying to meet deadlines placed on them by too many voices.
Over the next few days, and probably well into next week, this BBS will be changing in appearance and content. It is not fair for a new member to find out AFTER he or she has paid their membership that there are many posts of discord and disagreement. This is a flaw in the way this BBS was setup and it has been continually exposed over the last few months.
Communication Will Not End
Some may look at the up and coming format of the BBS and feel it has been scrubbed. To an extent, that will be true. Announcements made by the president and/or management will be pared back to the original announcements. The same will occur in vendor announcements. Everyone has made their points and the BOD is well aware of what is needed for immediate change and resolution. This does not mean your voice will be silenced.
I repeat, these changes will not affect your ability to communicate with the board of directors and its managing delegates. You will still have access to email addresses, private messages and direct phone contact. What these changes will accomplish is to eliminate the internet grandstanding. It will eliminate the negative emotion that is spawned when people are seemingly forced to pick a side or position.
So What Will This BBS Become?
Communication will still come down the pipeline. Announcements will still be made. These will be made by the President or by BOD members. These announcements will not be open threads for debate. They will be a resource for keeping everyone abreast of what is happening inside the UAMCC.
There will be no front end (public access) areas to present questions or bring what someone perceives as a problem in policy. Threads started with this intent will be politely pointed to the more formal ways of contacting the organization's leadership. Those threads will then be closed for seven days to allow the poster to seek his or her answers. After seven days, these threads will be deleted.
The BBS will still be a hotbed of business discussion, technical information sharing and networking. It will be the professional forum it was before the banter got taken to levels that became unprofessional. I think we can all agree that we do not want potential customers reading much of the emotionally driven banter that is currently being indexed by the search engines. Many of my long winded posts will also end up deleted so this will be an arbitrary and fair handed deletion process. I do not like censorship at this level but we have to start clean. We've all shared our feelings and emotions and that time is behind us. We owe the new board of directors the leeway of also having a clean slate.
I will leave a suggestion box open in the members only area of the forum. I will monitor that forum closely. I ask that you first use the direct forms of communication with management before you air your feelings publicly. If you receive no response to a complaint or have an issue you feel that has not been addressed, then take that grievance to the members area. I ask that everyone use professional discretion before going that route. The same rule of thumb for life applies... if you present a problem, try to bring solutions as well.
I am not taking this task lightly and I know everyone will have initial apprehensions. This is the path we will follow and see how things go. I will stay active in communication with both membership and management to update policy as needed. I ask for everyone to let these new policies take hold. No national organization promotes this type of free-for-all discussions. This BBS is a selling tool for the organization. This is also the front face all of us contractor members put out to the world.
I will also be working with a coder to update the look of the forum. I'm sure many of you are tired of looking at these drab blue-gray walls. I am also looking at a new banner rotation system to help with the look and layout.
Edit 4/9/2009: The tech side of the forum has been assigned to a design company. I am unsure if and when the forum will change in appearance.
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