 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group CPU (Club President's Report) Charles Wright charles@melbpc.org.au |
 |
There is a tiny sector of the club which politicises everything the committee does. It imputes dishonest or selfish motives to management decisions that the club's executive makes in the interests of the group.
If we give free Internet accounts to committee members, to speed up the flow of information so that important decisions aren't left until we have a monthly meeting, they immediately suggest that this is a "free perk," and spread their ugly gossip.
If we pay a former committee member for providing essential services - even if the payment is far below market rates - we know someone will be scouring the garbage bins searching for some promising material.
If we ask members to represent the club at the annual forum in the US of the Association of PC User Groups, an invaluable way of sharing information with most of the world's user groups who also send delegates, and the best contact point with the industry figures who can help the group, they know they won't be thanked for making the time available.
Having been there as a journalist and not being at all anxious to return, I can tell you the trip is no holiday. But these members know they won't be thanked. They know they will be smeared for taking a "free trip."
An example of the unworthy consequences: a member of the committee takes a political position on this important topic - not opposing the move, but abstaining, and asking that it be publicly recorded. In my view, that's not the sort of leadership any organisation ought to encourage.
We all know, of course, that this sort of campaign is aimed at settling personal scores, or enhancing a small but organised opposition's prospects for election (although they don't seem to get very far when the votes come in), or just simple enjoyment of mischief-making.
We know that these are the tactics of pygmies - small people who fire poison darts. That poison can bring down some big game, however, and it has in the past, and continues to lose us the precious volunteers on which we rely to build the group. It's also part of the reason so few people put their hands up when something has to be done.
We are wisely advised to ignore these pygmies, and although it's easy to give that sort of advice when you're not in the firing line, largely we do. But eventually, unless the victim is entirely insensitive - another quality that doesn't make for good leadership - it takes a toll.
Last month, for instance, when we honoured four life members, there were more insulting messages on the BBS aimed at people who have unselfishly devoted years of long hours and unstinting effort. These are people to whom this group owes a debt we can never hope to repay. But even as we made the awards - ignoring the public demonstration of pique by one small-minded attention-seeker - snide messages were circulating, making all sorts of unworthy allegations.
As president of this group I have deliberately refused ever to take a cent from the group, simply because it allows me to push for the decisions I believe are necessary for the growth of this group, with total objectivity. (That hasn't stopped some of these dwarfs from suggesting that I too, am on the take, although they very quickly shut up when I've invited them to back up their allegations.)
But again this month, I've seen one committee member forced to take a leave of absence because of the level of invective aimed at him.
There are few to defend him, or help him with the heavy load all committee members take up on our behalf. I hope that he will come back to us. But perhaps he won't. God knows it's a thankless task.
As president, I grieve for these people, but remain powerless to stop the white-anting and cynical baiting of people I respect and admire.
And I realise increasingly that even my own motivation is being damaged by the pygmies.
As I was preparing this update, I watched members of our Internet team working late into the night trying to track down the source of a mysterious attempt to invade and paralyse our system.
I realised that this was an allegory of the club's history. I knew the people who attacked us had nothing to gain but the satisfaction of destruction, and that a handful of dedicated people were there - would remain there until the early hours, without pay, without thanks - defending the interests of the group.
I also knew that this same team was being savagely criticised on the BBS and elsewhere for daring to suggest that the invective being levelled at various members ought to cease, or be moved to a less public area.
Those who attacked them believe that all that really matters is that they have the right to say whatever they like, whenever they like, on the systems that the people they are criticising slaved - the word is not an exaggeration - slaved, to establish and maintain.
I have been in precisely the same position in the past, and I know what it's like to be left to cop this sort of prolonged, malicious assault, from people one generally never meets.
I realised that I cannot defend our volunteers. I realised that they can only be defended if the entire body of the membership not only refuses to listen to these pygmies, but rises in anger against them and silences them.
I find myself saddened by this situation, and, as I have said, rapidly losing all enthusiasm. I do not, in the circumstances, intend to serve another year. I am determined, however, before I leave, to do my best to defend the reputations of people I respect, and hopefully make it safer for decent people to serve the group, without fear of public attacks on their integrity.
Henceforth, I will not give a forum in any of the club's organs for those who persistently malign the servants of this club. I have asked the committee to warn the most serious offenders on the BBS and Internet against malicious and defamatory messages.
Those who ignore those warnings will lose their privileges, and will face suspension, or will have their membership rescinded.
I expect the membership to back me in this stand. My advice to all of you is to do something about these pygmies if you want to continue to attract the sort of leadership that has turned this club around, and given you so many valuable services. If you do not, you will richly deserve the consequences of being led by the pygmies.
This is not an attempt to gag criticism. We continue to welcome fair, honest and open criticism. We must have debate, because only by debating issues can we hope to overcome our mistakes and lack of vision.
But prolonged, vicious, unfounded assaults on the integrity of volunteers seriously damage the group. We have listened to mostly the same old voices for years now, opened the books, opened the meetings, opened everything. There is nothing to hide. But it wastes time when office staff are continually forced to plough through old records, while the same
tattered old warrior demands to peruse the minutes. It's pointless, and it damages us.
Most members aren't interested in the running of this group. I was amused, for instance, but not surprised, when at the last monthly meeting, one of the few times we ever air club affairs, several members complained that the special general meeting made them late, and that they came along to see a presentation, not to hear about the club. They don't appreciate, of course, that the presentations happen only because some of us don't know what it means to have an early night, and we do it because the club means something to us.
Internet and other matters
Some members might have overlooked the fact that they do need to fill in the form for the new Internet service. You will find it in the March
PC Update or can obtain one at the office.
Other members apparently haven't read the panel on the Dial Help page which points out that the service is offered only during certain hours, by people who are not paid, and have the right to a decent night's sleep and some enjoyment of life. They are being rung at 2 o'clock in the morning, which is something I find quite incredible.
The hours, where a volunteer indicates he will accept daytime calls, are 9 am to 5 pm, and in the evening 6.30 pm to 9 pm. But if they're watching Melrose Place, or having a meal, please understand if you're asked to call back.
And if you encounter an answering machine, please leave your phone number.
A reminder that on Good Friday the BBS and the Internet will again be taking donations for the Royal
Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Last year we raised about $7000, and we're hoping with your help, given our increased membership, to break $20,000 this year.
A survey will be sent out to a random sample of 2000 members, hopefully by April. It will be in two parts, one on your views of
PC Update, the other on general membership issues.
We have a desperate need to update our knowledge of the club membership, both to get a better idea of what you need, and also to make our magazine more attractive to advertisers. We are losing increasingly large sums of money on
PC Update, and the marketing team, under Michael Douman, is working very hard indeed, on projects like the survey, to turn that around. We do not, incidentally, ever make names available to advertisers. There will be some prizes for prompt return of the surveys.
If you can't work for the group - and I understand that a lot of people have genuine reasons for not being able to work - at least stand up and be counted. And not just in the survey.
Reprinted from the April 1996 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
