SR - Late Entry

Eirik eirik at n-link.com
Tue Aug 10 20:43:08 PDT 1999


> I think sometimes folks who don't feel a part of a process (for whatever
> reason; it isn't necessarily the process's fault) will sometimes do things
> in attempt to excercise *some* sort of influence. Unfortunately, sometimes
> it's not a productive excercise. After years and years of watching people
> interact in the SCA, I'm more and more convinced that wolf-criers any
> nay-sayers are folk who perceive themselves (either consciously or
> unconsciously) as having little to no power in their real lives and try to
> take advantage of the social structure of the SCA to try to make up for
it.

I've also noted this cycle at work. My theory is that sometimes people seem
to think that their personal power (influence, whatever you want to call it)
is getting less and less and that the only way to get it back is to make
themselves look important. It's pretty much a cycle of life. By the way, I
drive a school bus and the above applies to adults and kids.

> This is the danger of this sort of action; where this sort of thing
> eventually wears at an organization. Timo's an active, caring, productive
> member who's willing to be involved in processes to help make this game
and
> his region better. But here we are, finally getting close to actually
> acheiving the culmination of one part of a process, and already, once
> again, the complaints begin. After a while, blows from wolf-criers and
> nay-sayers is enough to wear anyone down. It sometimes starts to feel like
> trying to do something positive is like swimming upstream.

I agree, it takes patience and persistence to get somewhere in that kind of
enviroment.

> Is there a way to change this kind of group dynamic? I don't know. Forgive
> me, I'm doing exactly what I tend to decry: complaining without really
> offering any kind of solution. All I can suggest is that maybe folks think
> about the ramifications.

Well, I don't know that there is a solution to the group dynamic problem. As
far as the name ballot problem goes, the only solution is to do the best you
can to get the information to the people. Not everyone is going to be happy,
but you can't always please everyone.

Eirik

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