Sharpy01
Posts: 600
Joined: 9/9/2003
From: Kenora, ON, CANADA
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Jim_McIntyre
Fair enough, things are not always as they seem.
My main beef is with your apparent attempts to make things seem much worse than they are, I fail to see any evidence of "cloak and dagger" shenanigans or "old boys club" behaviours, and yes, I have attended executive meetings (as an observer).
The sky is not falling, nor is MAAC a front for some dark, devious goings on. When things do go wrong, I think it's more a direct result of the fact that MAAC relies heavily on volunteers and as a result suffers in terms of quality, continuity and follow-through as a result.
Perhaps we agree after all on some politics. I don't believe there are "dark goings on", but more an issue of conflicting personalities and different priorities and a "few" who border on fanaticism while trying to protect the status quo.
Believe it or not, my entry into the political arena was quite innocent and maybe even interesting?
In 92, I transferred to a wee place that bordered the USA and hunted down a RC pilot in the area to help me learn the hobby I had desperately wanted to become involved in since I was a kid. As it turned out, the only active modeller was in the US and I began flying there. I was told I needed insurance and because we flew in the US, I was introduced to the AMA and the fledgling SFA. I chose the SFA because it was cheaper. New of MAAC, but assumed it was no good on the US side. (didn't know better)
Eventually found a vacant field on our side and started a club, learned the rules of MAAC and chartered. (Insurance reasons were my only interest) It's only been a dozen years, but the internet was in it's infantcy when a began flying and one night stumbled upon RConline. Thought it was neat to be able to talk to other modellers while quite isolated from most and figured out how to use a fledgling forum freebe site to start up the first Canadian dedicated R/C discussion forum. Pretty crude, but I lay claim to the first national site thanks to an wayward email from a national R/C Distributor that had all their customer emails attached. Remember, this was some time ago and I didn't even know what "SPAM" was. Regardless, I used the data base to send out the message that the forum existed and managed a modest membership from various parts of the country.
Not being a political animal, I had no idea that there was a sport vs competition tug-of-war going on within the organization. As you may have guessed, that didn't last for long. Quite frankly, I found the us vs them junk entertaining because it had little effect on what I was doing.
this is where things changed...........
At some point, I began asking questions as to budget numbers and where the membership money was spent. I had assumed that most went to insurance, which most know now to not be the case. Now curious, I began trying to find out where to obtain actual numbers and raising questions as to why the distribution of membeship money was the way it was. ...............
It wasn't long before a familiar core of folks appeared on the forum with rather angry and arrogant tones suggesting that the site was there only to "bash" MAAK and that the internet was no place to discuss the business of MAAK and that we should stop discussing issues and (here's the kicker) ..............if I wanted to get the real story and learn, then get involved, go to the zone meeting and find out what it's all about.
............well, their attitude and attacking demenour for asking what I thought were pretty valid questions, motivated me to take their advice and playing by the rules of the association, I was soon representing the zone and on the board right in the thick of more than I could have imagined was possible in the world of toy airplanes. My mission during my tenure was to help keep issues that I felt were most important to the majority of the membership at the forefront and try and educate as many members as I could about issues and make the business end more transparent.
As it turned out, they didn't really mean it because I was on their $#it list before I was out of the blocks and yes, those same core members that prompted my political interest, are the same core group that dogged and attacked at every turn while on the board and continue to follow me around the cyberworld hoping that eventually I'll shut up.
That's it in a nutshell. In the end, I made some mistakes along the way and was every bit as bull-headed at times, but always stuck to the facts and truth as I knew them.
My interest on forums comes and goes and fills time when I only have a few minutes or the weather sucks (which has been a lot lately as you may have noticed). Maybe the weather will get better soon and I can get back to shuttin up again so the dogs on my leg can let go and get back to whatever it is that they enjoy more.
Bottom line Jim:
I understand why I don't make your Christmas card list, but there is much you are unaware of. Nothing personal.
< Message edited by Sharpy01 -- 6/14/2005 2:11:38 AM >
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RE: Activity is low - 
[/monty python-esque] 
