RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Normally I do not participate in the AMA discussions here on RCU because I moderate them. But I have a question that I would like to present to both candidates that directly affects the operation of the AMA Discussions forum here on RCU.

My question simply put is would you, if elected to president, designate AMA staff to be a representative of the AMA here in the RCU forums? As the situation is now there are many times that something may be being discussed on RCU and the AMA has no clue that it is going on. If the AMA has a representative that monitors these forums they could spot issues that may need to be addressed and point it to the proper person within the AMA. In addition, having a designated rep would be a means by which the AMA could move information out to RCU members by posting in the forums here.

There are similar situations elsewhere on RCU. One that I will mention as an example is RCU member "Bax". This is Bill Baxter and he is a customer service rep with Hobbico. There are many times that information will flow from Hobbico to RCU, and RCU to Hobbico, through Bax. I feel that he adds an invaluable service for RCU members as well as Hobbico customers. I think having a similar rep for the AMA here in RCU will make this entire forum a better place for all involved.

So, what do you guys think on this subject???

Ken

Dave Mathewson

Hi Ken,
One of the first things I did when I became a district VP was to have an email newslist created in our district. This eventually morphed into a forum on our district website. The intent was to do exactly what you’re suggesting here. I wanted a tool that the members in our district could use to ask questions, share information, and get help with any problems they might be having. While this hasn’t grown as much as I had hoped it would, we have provided the opportunity.

On a regular basis here on RCU, I’ll run across a post from someone looking for help on an AMA issue and quite often PM that person with a contact at AMA to help the poster with their concern. So I know members are coming here looking for answers. I’ve also visited vendor forums here regularly and find they are very similar to the ‘knowledge base� features found on many of the tech sites. As more and more questions are asked and answered I’ve found it fairly common not to have to ask a question again, but doing a simple search will find the answer to my question that has already been asked by someone else.

Any information link between our members and AMA is worth considering. The one concern I have over an AMA staff person monitoring the forum would be that there isn’t any one person at AMA who has a total overall knowledge of all AMA issues (I’m not including some upper level staff here). In thinking about this, I’d almost like to see a volunteer moderator who would be willing to monitor the forum and then distribute any posts to the appropriate person at AMA to provide an answer. This person could also be the conduit in providing AMA news and info back to the forum. The result, I think, would be less of a strain on staff resources, in addition to more accurate responses to the questions being asked. I know this has worked well for many of the vendors who participate here. I think it would work out the same for AMA.
Dave

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Dave: I would like to submit that there is really not one person in any organization that knows all and has all the answers. I think the suggestion has merit because one person that is in touch with the upper level at and within the AMA would know who to go to with the question that he or her does not have the answer to. Perhaps that may speed up the response to an important issue rather than have to wait for a person to log-on here as an AMA moderator, for instance, and get the question passed on to the appropriate person within the AMA at Muncie.

The District II forums work good because it's there, at the District II office (I think it is, anyway) and gets immediate input to the right person rather than to navigate through to get the information passed around through another forum or media center.

Thanks.

By the way, this is from Dick at the Skyblazers.

Dave Mathewson

Hi Dick,
I agree the idea is good. We can work out the details. I suspect whether it is a staff person or volunteer that is monitoring the forum either would have to log on regularly to check the forum. In either case, the person doing the monitoring would have to know the appropriate contact at AMA to forward the issue to. Then a reply could come either back through the person monitoring the forum or directly from the staff person providing the answer.
Dave

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Dave,
This is exactly what I am talking about. I don't expect that the person monitoring the forums to know the answer to every question that comes up. But rather, they would know who to direct the question to on the AMA staff. A better description could be that this person would be a conduit for information to flow back and forth from the AMA and RCU, and vice versa.

Ken

Red Scholefield

My Feedback: (9)

Dave, There are a number of AMA Leader Members that could be recruited to be the eyes and ears for the AMA on the RCU forum and get answers to questions posed by RCU members. In the past I don't think the AMA has taken advantage of this resource.

Dave Mathewson

Hi Red,
I agree. The member acting as the conduit would only need to know the appropriate staff person to channel the question to. Providing a simple listing (in the beginning) to the volunteer member would take care of that. Then the member could monitor the questions to make sure a reply is posted in a timely manner.
Dave