[KLUG Members] loyalty, maturity and responsibility

[Robert G. Brown]

The group under discussion not only devoted much energy and effort to running 
things, they were most of the office-holders over the last couple of years. 
If they did not consider the new leadership to be worthy, they could have run 
against it. They chose not to do so, because they could not form a slate, and
they would not run.

What you state being true below, it leaves me wondering what these people will 
do that is fresh, new or original that they could NOT do with KLUG over the 
past couple of years, when they had complete control of the organization. The
answer is "whatever they want to, on their own terms". Perhaps without them, 
KLUG will be able to take a different turn, and who knows what the future 
holds? We all beleive in Open Source, and diversity may result in better 
things to come. That's part of what OSS is about.

Some interesting lessons can be taken from all this, one being:

ELECTIONS MATTER....Similarly, group activity makes a difference, along woth 
group participation. In recent times, we have had, in my view, rather too
little of either, and rather too much reliance on "experts". This is often
not an effective way to promote involvement by large portions of the group.
I beleive that the current officers beleive these values are important, and
that we can achieve both a high level of participation and professionalism
that has always characterized the products and services we offer.

We want to be of service to the broad spectrum of skill levels and knowledge
we see in our diverse membership... and we want to help all who are here to
help each other, and themselves. That mission -- our mission -- has not changed
since KLUG was founded in 1997, and seeing a few people leave doesn't alter 
that mission at all. We need to continue the discussion that was the topic of
the meeting last night, which is about KLUG and the future, not about those
who walk away and don't wish to be part of it.

							Regards,
							---> RGB <---

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:35:11 -0400, Eric Beversluis wrote:

>Consider some guys who have been members of a group for half a dozen or
>so years--a group they consider very important and to which they've
>devoted much energy. Now they find that the currently elected leadership
>of the group is doing things that are not to their liking. What's the
>mature and nonselfish thing to do? Surely not just to pick up their
>marbles and go play some place else. Such behavior not only indicates a
>selfish interest in themselves and their own satisfaction but also the
>lack of enough maturity to stick with the group and try to move it in a
>more satisfactory direction. And, furthermore, if the group has general
>social value--as, for example, a group that is a 501(3)c public
>charity--then maybe there are also nonselfish reasons for sticking with
>the group, despite temporary dissatisfactions, rather than sulking off
>to start another group.
>
>EB
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