Tim and Vince,
It was not Alyn who made the point about debate and the conduct of debate. It was me. Vince, not so long ago in an unrelated conversation a large number of people on the forum switched to using their real names and mine is there for all to see.
I am trying to persuade each of us to reflect on what we are saying, as we all know once you say something it cant be taken back. I hope that cooler heads can prevail, I love this club. I don't know Graham all that well and I don't know Tim, Arthur or Phil either. I don't have a grudge to bear or skin in the game
In my experience when there are heated debates or arguments in order to fully understand the points of both parties you have to step into the shoes of those that have opposing views to your own.
This current division in the Club over the forum looks to me like this. We as a Club did not have a Computer Officer for the longest time. Members of the EC and Club were running the computer systems as there was no dedicated person or person's to supervise the systems. Graham being the editor of MPH stepped up and offered to create a forum for all members to use. He obviously was enjoying what he was doing and worked very hard to give the membership a quality resource. Graham donated many, many hours from what I can see to make MPH and the forum what they are today. At some point in the last couple of years two things have happened, the club has found someone who has volunteered to take up the mantel of Computer Officer, awesome. The club has decided now that we have a Computer Officer that we can look to update and streamline our computer systems, again awesome.
However this is where things take a turn for the worst. Phil Mahood in his position as Computer Officer is tasked by the EC with finding a replacement computer system for the club . In the search for a new computer system Phil finds Club Express through conversations with the head of the AMCA. Phil takes the CE platform to our EC and explains how it works and why it would be of benefit. This is a good thing for the most part. Phil then presents a working version of Club Express to the GC and EC it seems to work well and combines most of our systems into one. The one major issue is the forum on CE is sub standard and this is obvious to Graham who has spent years refining the current forum for the membership. Graham expresses that the forum is sub par and is thinking not of himself but the many hundreds of people that currently use the forum. The Computer Officer tries to dispel the weakness of the CE forum as he has taken ownership of the programme he is putting forward and believes given time that we might be able to migrate the current forum over. Migrating the forum to CE proves almost impossible and we are left with a pickle, Graham feels unheard and upset as he knows the CE forum will not match the standard of the existing forum. That leaves us in a position where both Graham and the EC are at an impasse, all are proud and loyal club members. The majority of the EC decide to use Club Express and that the current forum can stay in place until CE can provide something better. Graham resigns.
I know other things have been expressed by all parties and that blame can be allocated to both sides. Heated arguments often leave us regretting what we have said and from the video footage it seems to me thats the case. I don't think either party wakes up each day and says to themselves how much evil can I do today. All the people concerned have the best interests of the club they love at heart. It again requires listening and working together to try to resolve these issues.
People on this forum just want to know that the EC will do as promised and leave the forum alone until such time as it can migrated to the other platform seamlessly or if it can't that it will remain as is. If it were added to the minutes of the next meeting or tabled in writing in MPH by the Chairman that might help.
Best,
Gene.
