[Ansteorra] Group Dissolutions

[L T]

Excellent and thoughtfull advice...

LDeerSlayer


--- On Tue, 7/15/08, Elizabeth Blackthorne <eblackthorne at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Elizabeth Blackthorne <eblackthorne at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Ansteorra] Group Dissolutions
> To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 11:03 AM
> I've thought carefully about how I would publically
> respond to this post.
> The main thing I read in this that really should speak to
> everyone is the
> fear.  So I am going to give advice based on my past
> experience, things I
> should have done but didn't because I relied on the
> Chain of Command, this
> failed my group.
> 
> If you hear a rumor that a person in power or who is soon
> to be in power
> doesn't like your Group or Region, address it with
> them.  Ask them to be
> modernly blunt, no honor pretense, no niceties, just what
> their problem is.
> Do not contact your regional because if the region is in
> question, your
> regional isn't getting good info.  Save these emails!!!
> I think it deserves
> repeating SAVE THESE EMAILS.  This is proof that you tried
> to get
> information.
> 
> Anything you recieve that is sent to a group of groups ie
> all seneschals,
> assume the good stuff is about someone else and the bad is
> about you, follow
> up with another email, Save, Save, Save.  BCC someone else
> so that there is
> no way it can be said that email is altered.  If you are
> asked to be a BCC
> Save, Save, Save.  Fwd any reply to the BCC that way there
> are 2 records of
> the same thing.
> 
> If action is taken against your group, try not to take it
> as the slap in the
> face it feels like, winning at the BOD level doesn't
> help if your group no
> longer wants to play because they are so hurt.  And as sad
> as it is, the SCA
> really doesn't care about member drops, so it will make
> no statement when
> you all lapse.  Don't dwell on the situation, have grub
> n garbs while
> suspended, hit neighboring groups activities, do something
> besides discuss
> together how wrong this all was.  As I said before winning
> at the BOD level
> does no good if your members no longer want to play.
> 
> If you are a person who is behind taking action on a group,
> remeber these
> are real people with real feelings, remeber that your
> actions can determine
> how many members remain, and remember that you have most
> likely
> dissillutioned a group of people.  You will have alot of
> work a head of you
> to rebuild these members.  These members deserve any and
> all answers to any
> and all questions and you should help them find solutions
> to percieved
> problems to give them a plan for the BOD so that they can
> be stronger, not
> just go away.
> 
> Elizabeth Blackthorne
> 
> On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 4:47 PM, Rose & Chad
> <love at roseandchad.net> wrote:
> 
> > You know, throughout this whole thing, I, and alot of
> the people that I
> > know, have sort of kept our mouths shut. Obviously
> something must be going
> > on (or not going on) for this to happen, right? This
> was my position
> > because, in general, I trust our Officers and our
> Kings and the other people
> > in leadership positions. I say 'in general'
> because there are bound to be a
> > few bad eggs, and one woman's bad egg is another
> woman's yummy breakfast. :)
> >
> >  I also believed that there might be a few 'bad
> egg' groups in Ansteorra. I
> > certainly didn't know of any, but my pocketbook
> has kept me bound to
> > Northern events, and not as many of those as I would
> like. So was it
> > possible that some groups had committed some
> transgressions and were being
> > quietly sanctioned for it? Yep. That's possible.
> Was it also possible that
> > some groups weren't strong enough to maintain
> thier status? Yep. That's more
> > than possible, esp. considering the distances involved
> and our country's
> > economic state.
> >
> >  So we assumed that it was being taken care of as
> quietly as possible so
> > that the gentles involved might, if they chose, be
> able to continue to play
> > without lots of questions and continued embarrassment.
> Indeed, I had hoped
> > that they would all continue to play as all I seem to
> hear nowadays is
> > recruit, recruit, recruit.
> >
> >  (Wanna hear a secret? I don't care what our
> newcomer levels are like. I
> > welcome them all, but am not going to fret if the
> levels drop off or
> > disappear. The Dream will continue until I wake up and
> not a minute longer.)
> >
> >  With each outburst from the populace involved, and
> each carefully worded
> > Kingdom-level non-announcing announcement, I grow more
> skeptical. What is
> > really going on in the Western Region of my Kingdom?
> Is it 'bad egg' groups?
> > Is it not-strong groups? Is it personal politics? Some
> strange brew of all
> > of these? All I know for sure is that the Western
> Region was being
> > disbanded, reorganized, insert politically-correct
> term here, and that the
> > populace of the Western Region is not happy about it.
> Oh, and apparently it
> > may or may not have taken three years for some groups
> in that region to
> > commit these trangressions/lose status/piss somebody
> off.
> >
> >  I have to ask... What happened there? Why? Do I even
> have a right to ask?
> > Is this someone's personal, private business that
> I should keep my nose out
> > of? Or is what goes on in this Kingdom my business as
> a member in this
> > Kingdom? How transparent is our Kingdom-level
> leadership supposed to be? I
> > sincerely hope it's supposed to be more
> transparent than this, or my Region
> > might just be next, especially since no one outside of
> the Region (or
> > possibly in it) seems to know just what caused the
> Western Region to fall.
> > Might we commit the same transgressions, without even
> knowing it until the
> > axe fell?
> >
> >  Ah, the many questions that I would love to have
> answered... I find myself
> > wondering why I have to wonder about such a huge thing
> as dissolving a whole
> > entire region, and what that lack of open knowlege
> regarding this issue
> > means for the rest of us.
> >
> >  Rose the Obnoxious
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ansteorra mailing list
> > Ansteorra at lists.ansteorra.org
> >
> http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/ansteorra-ansteorra.org
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Plant a tree...We have more paperwork!
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