Posted: 5 years ago

A forum is traditionally a place to meet and be able to voice any idea which is important to the individual. To stand on the sidelines is like not voting in a democracy. It is a vote for silence when others are shouting their opinions with their voice (their vote). Once we do not count, we are the new "silent majority" and invisible.

Are there too many places to voice our considered opinion? Well, if you have opinions or observations, there can never be enough places to voice them. We choose our own forums if we have a voice.No, I do not believe that we have too many forums. but we do have too few with ideas and opinions to use them. Or, much worse, we have those with opinions who feel that their voice will not be heard so they stay silent. Now, that is scary in any society where the voice of the people should be heard, loud and clear.

And in a forum, I do not have to agree with you or you with me but we do have to have a dialogue. It is the interaction of ideas that creates collective service. It is what will propel RECSWUSA to be a recognized Rotary entity in 2010 by Rotary International.

Is there too little partication? Yes, but that is not the fault of too many forum. It is the fault of the citizen (Rotarian) hidden from others and keeping quiet.

So to anwer your survey: Not enough forum (but that is not important); and not enough participation (terribly important.)

Joe Kagle

President, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2008 and member of RECSWUSA and ROTI, artist, writer on forums and other places, art historian, manager and critic. Just visiting this plenet and this forum! 

Posted: 5 years ago

Like any organization there seem to be few to speak up or to work on projects.  We are trying to get involved in the forums, but again being new we sometime feel like we might not know what we are talking about.

I,ve looked at the forums, some are very interesting, and some I use to get information. As to numbers I am not sure.

Carol Anderson 

Carol Anderson

Posted: 5 years ago

Dear Carol:

There is nothing wrong with quiet service. At a luncheon Rotary meeting, many sit silently and listern, think about the message and then act when asked in some project. Silent service is needed too in eClub when they have eMeetings. But the main difference between an eRotary club and a land-based sit-down meeting Rotary club is the quality of communication. The former must have communications to be an active eClub; the luncheon Rotary clob just needs bodies to work on projects (silent or speaking out).

Everyone is not equipped to write in a Forum but there must be somewhere that an eClub member can express their thoughts and feelings. I believe that it is the forum which the eClub has created for that purpose.

Voices do not need to be raised all the time but should be raised on some issues and when some ideas light a fire in the mind and heart. The forum is that platform.

Your in service above self and beyond barriers (borders),

Joe

Posted: 5 years ago

I still think that we have too many forums for the number of persons in our eClub. Or, should I say, for the number of participants in our forums. I would probably have no objection to having these many forums (and I am including the 4 group forums that have not seen a posting in the last 3 to 4 months) if we had double the number of members that we currently have. If we could streamline the forums now, and later increase the number of forums carefully and with purpose, I think that we would probably see an increase in the number of participants. Not having to navigate through every single forum to find postings would be an improvement in itself. I see a need (although not urgent) to streamline the forums and to have one or two monitors in each section of the forum to answer a posting by a member ASAP in order to make it an interactive experience. Then, in future years, we could possibly do away with the position of Sgt-At-Arms(which in my opinion is a carry-over from our terra clubs), and name a Public Relations Director or a Communications Director (Joe´s suggestion) to coordinate the work of the monitors of the forums and to warn members when they are not meeting the attendance and participation guidelines as prescribed in our by-laws. Jack Selway already does this with our visitors. I would not disagree with Joe if suddenly we would have an avalanche of postings, but that is clearly not happening. I will continue to look at the other eClubs to see how they are structuring the forums. On another subject, I am glad that Mel is now working on the possibility of changing our by-laws to set guidelines for participation in our forums, and Larry will be working with our Vice President to establish an outstanding monitoring system. Hopefully, we are making progress... That is, ultimately I would like to see an eClub that would be quite different from terra clubs,and perhaps even have an eDistrict (Joe´s idea) that would allow for eClubs to set their own guidelines for attendance and participation, eventhough these guidelines would be different from the guidelines currently observable in terra clubs. Then, with an excellent monitoring system in place and with by-laws that would require strict attendance and participation guidelines, new members would be advised early enough that they would be required to meet the published and expected guidelines from the onset.

Cheers!

Posted: 5 years ago

I meant to vote for "poor participation" also, but I have already voted, and the system does not allow for me to vote again.

Posted: 5 years ago

It is a bit strange that only three people have an opinion on "too many forums and too little participation" This is something that affects all of us, but only three people have voted. What does this mean? Does it mean that the rest of the members do not care one way or another? I would urge all of you to express and opinion and to vote one way or the other. We are certainly interested in hearing your point of view. POLE WILL REMAIN OPEN FOR ONLY ONE MORE DAY!

Posted: 5 years ago

About 88 persons have viewed this forum, but only 4 have been involved in the discussions and only 3 have voted. Again, I would like to emphasize that we have too many forums (including the Group Forums) and too little partcipation. We seem to be o.k. with the idea that we should be observers and not participants. In my humble opinion, Rotary is about the participation of its members. Where are those members who wish to participate in discussions? How are we going to influence those who are making the decisions? If decisions are made without our participation, will we be o.k. with that? Do we feel that we have no opinions whatsoever?

Posted: 5 years ago

Several times I have reacted to a forum by sending my question in a private message, since it reflected just my immediate need.  Listening to the discussion, should I have requested this information on the forum?  Possibly others are getting information, questions answered in this manner. It is really helpful when seasoned members speak up to help new ones.  Could we possibly PM members and request they give us their views on forums. 

Carol Anderson

Posted: 5 years ago

Carol,

I believe that if you have a particular question to ask,and the question is not relevant to everybody, it would be fine to PM an individual who may be able and willing to help.  The forums were created in order to keep everybody in the loop as well as to minimize the number of emails people receive. If you PM someone with a question that may be relevant to all, it may be better if it is done through a forum. We have received some complaints when people receive too many emails  The persons who filed those complaints stated that the issues should be discussed in the forums rather than via individual emails.  Again, the forums can be very useful if the information pertains to all or most of the members.  If it is a private message, then emails or the "private message" board should be used.

Posted: 4 years ago

Maybe, just maybe, those of us who use the forum are looking in the wrong places for those who are our eClub's "silent majority!" When Future Shock was written a few years ago, it was determined that many people in our society has an "on"-"off" switch for communications and participation. When they are overloaded, they turn themselves off (just like an overloaded circuit)? The question might be: "How do we turn the members who are silent on again?" The problem with this is a problem that I hit when hiring a person for the front desk in the art museum. This was the face of the museum. If it did not smile and give service, customers would leave thinking that we were cold and detached. What I started to do was: 1) hire people who smile at the world (this cannot be taught but it can be a plus when found and hired) and 2) all employees had to get out of their offices at least once every hour (leaving the important stuff in their computers and on their desks), meet a customer, engage them in some conversation and answer any of their questions. It took ten minutes but it was effective. The other 50 minutes could be spent on their "job", as if meeting the public and finding out what the public thought was not their job? It made the place friendlier. It made the museum warm and inviting. We had many forums, many topics of conversation, but one place, one mission. Maybe the question is not too many forums, with too little participation, but too few extending themselves for a brief moment to engage others and answer questions, share visions and warm up the place. With an eClub, that place is the forum, our meetings and comments afterwards, and our emails on a personal basis to answer questions plus share experiences.

Yours in service above self without borders,

Joe

PS On this idea, it is still three plus one who is learning to share.