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Index of Subjects On Tue, 9 May 2000, David L. Potter wrote: > The individuals (volunters) who have had the most contact with CCN > Information Providers have been marginalized in these events in what appears > to be a dream of controlling the entire organization from the office. > > To find the co-chair of the Volunteer Committee a central figure in this > uglyness is a clear indication of his singular unsuitability for that role. The dream is to see an efficient and prosperous Chebucto Community Net which is prepared as best as possible to deal with the increasingly hazardous and volatile world of local internet service providing. Already since the beginning of the year the environment in which we find ourselves has become much more competitive. Signups to Chebucto Plus for example, which accounts for more than half of Chebucto's revenues, have declined dramatically since the widespread local introduction of free dialup service. This requires some innovation and flexibility in order to accomodate the new environment we find ourselves in. The pace of change around here is almost glacial and if this pattern is maintained then we as a community net will ultimately fail. The new IP process was brought in as a way to provide additional services and convenience to groups wishing to sign up with Chebucto. The numbers coming in since the process was introduced verify that this move was a good one. The intention was not to disenfranchise volunteers but to centralize the administration role, leaving the volunteers free to do other roles. Contrary to what Jeff Warnica mentioned in his letter, the editors do play an important role in the new process. They would maintain the index of their subject area, keep an eye on the websites put up by these new groups in their area and, even more critical, help recruit new groups to Chebucto, targetting "gaps" in their subject field and approaching organizations and groups to help fill them. This is not disenfranchisement, despite the emotionally loaded rhetoric being so blithely tossed about on all these mailing lists, this is empowerment. Now a note to David Potter. If you want to attack me as a Board member, you take your concerns to the Board, not try to smear me across four major mailing lists. If you have problems with me as the office staff, you take them to my supervisor, Leo Deveau, the Executive Director. If your problem is with me personally, well, you know where to find me and I'll still be here tomorrow. Since becoming involved with Chebucto I've been subject to written and verbal abuse from "fellow volunteers", hardly incentive for other new volunteers to want to stick around here. I've seen meetings where new volunteers have watched while old volunteers fight amongst themselves and surprise, they never come back. You want to talk about disenfranchising volunteers, this sort of bush league brush war is certainly a good way to go about it.
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Index of Subjects