Happy Trails or "Move along, move along..."

Due to the change in rules and restrictions regarding membership, posting threads, and a shift in oversight philosophy of these forums, I have also chosen to support the disbanding of the Santa Cruz group. From what I understand the CSR leadership planned and voted upon the rule changes in secrecy and the general membership was neither advised nor consulted of said rules before they will take effect, a move I strongly disagree with. In addition from what I understand the new direction that the forums are going are not in the spirit of what our group was formed under, nor in the best interests of fostering open communication, imagination, diversity, humor and friendship, all of which we stand for. Perhaps if things change in the future or if my grasp of the issues at hand are misunderstood, then I may return if that is desired. But for now will move on to other venues and ventures.

?There are other worlds than these? Jake in The Gunslinger: Dark Tower I by Stephen King


I wish to thank our many friends and supporters over the years and wish them well.

"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Address Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, Wisconsin" (September 30, 1859), pp. 481-482.

?So it goes? Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

"So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause." Padme, Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars is a fun universe to play in, and until Uncle George personally tells me I can't play in his sandbox anymore, I will continue to enjoy it.

I treasure the friends I have and the friends I've made because of SCFF, and our friendships will continue, but I prefer to have fun and not be burdened with Draconian rules and regulations.

Santa Cruz Fan Force will continue in spirit, because after all, Santa Cruz is a state of mind.

Good luck and best wishes to all who remain.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Okay... I guess I'm wildly confused at this point. What the hell just happened? Am I to understand that FanForce just instituted some horridly restrictive rules? Is this what's making SCFF go away? Or is there something else happening?

I suspect some or all of SCFF's leadership has been under some stress and might enjoy a break from the responsibilities of looking after this lot. And it could well be that no else is in a position to pick up those responsibilities. (Force knows I'm not; Sorry to say.) Is that what the trouble is? Or is it something on FF's end? Or even some truly irreconcilable combination of problems on both sides?

Yes, I have lots of questions. Unfortunately, I've been somewhat out of the loop for a long time. If you have any answers, and don't want to post them here, feel free to write me at:

CassilaSanar@fanforce.net

Otherwise, I'll try to keep track of the thread here, for as long as it lasts.

Thank you!

I'm with Cassila....... WTH??????

We were just as surprised as you guys when this was posted in the CR forum. We had no warning, no notice, no inkling that there was something wrong, especially something of this magnitude.

We are trying to figure it out as much as you guys are, because no one that I know of saw this coming.


Hopefully we can get it figured out, and smooth out whatever the issue was/is.

AFAIK, FF staff has no intent of shutting down the SCFF forums here, and wants only the best for your group, and every other FF out there.

I'm going to re-post my response to this from the CR forum, so you all can see how we feel:

This is quite the shocker.


I seriously hope that if other CRs out there have an issue with how FF is changing, or new rules, or whatever, that you bring it up with your RSA's/GSAs. That's why we have this forum here, and a phone call or a chat with an RSA can go a loooong way towards alleviating major issues before they get out of hand.

This certainly seems like something minor that got out of hand.


To me, FF is a family, and I'd like to see it continue to grow and get better. Not lose people and groups for relatively minor issues.


Please don't let it get this bad with your own FFs. If you have an issue, or don't like the new rules, or whatever, talk to us about it.


We are not mean, evil spritied people out to choke the life out of your FFs. We are normal people who enjoy to have a beverage, sit down and talk SW, or movies, or costumes or whatever. Unfortunately, some form of order is needed, or it would be total anarchy, and we can't have that, but we are truly not eeeevil goose-stepping rat bastages. (most of the time. ) Hehehe.

So if you have an issue, please bring it up. Communicate. Don't let it come to this, because in SCFF's case, no one saw this coming, including some of their own members.

FF is about Ohana. Family. Don't break up the ohana for petty or minor issues. Work them out.



Thanks.

We are here to help, not squish the man. I'm not sure what was so draconian about the rules, but if you all want to talk about them, please do so. Walking out in a huff with no discussion isn't the best way to work things out. So let's talk.

What Obey Wann said basically. If anyone has anything they'd like to talk to us about with this, my PM box is always open. Feel free to be as honest and/or blunt as necessary.

EDIT: Also, please use WTH not the other

I will be PMing you regarding what has happened. It was a mutual decision by the regular members of SCFF (who were in attendance.) Cassila is a very dear friend, but has only posted one other time, and attended one meeting, and was informed quite a ways in advance about this upcoming meeting. (numerous times) In fact, she was offered rides up to Santa Cruz and to be present by phone if need be, but she chose not to take part. Cassila lives in Torrance. And while she was considered a member of SCFF when she joined, she has not participated in any other meetings, forum discussions, or events.

GreyJediPathFinder is a good friend of SCFF who lives in Denver.

The meeting was posted in plenty of time, we even waited a full hour before we held it to make sure that everyone who was coming made it there. Phones were availble for those who could not be in physical attendance (which no one called)and the meeting and subsequent unanimous decision was made after great discussion by everyone in attendance in according with the rules of Santa Cruz FF.

Shan,

Talked with you this afternoon, and thanks for supporting this decision. You've always been a great friend to SCFF, and aways there for us individually. Yup, it does ..you-know-what. But..it also opens the doors to a new great adventure!!!

Okay, got it. Misunderstanding resolved by phone.

After speaking to Master K yesterday I completely understand their reasons for doing this.

And after I posted (and was edited) I realized how much control 'theForce.net' people have over these boards.

I posted a 'WT*' in my comment and it got changed to 'WTH'. As a 'FarScape' fan I could have said 'frell', and as a BattleStar Galatica fan it could have been 'frack'.

In my opinion the American people as a group are prudes. The word is a word that has been in the English language since medieval times when it was shortened to that anacronym. In the 'Olden Days' courtiers had to have permission to have relations with their spouse. That word was originally the phrase, "fornication under consent of the king" which was a sign that was hung on the door when couples where making 'whoopee' in their room after receiving permission from the king.

The fornication thing is just a myth

But let's be fair, it's not the American people who are prudes, it's one American. But he happens to be the person that owns the boards and the "f" directive came directly from him. I think most of us have better things to do with our times than editing out a single letter

But please don't tar all the mods with the same brush because of one person's directive

(And I'm not American )

ROFL Well said. I have to laugh because when I worked on the film, Elvira, one of the British Actresses summed up the whole "prude" thing beautifully..

"American's act like they 'do,' but they 'don't.' However, the British act like we 'don't,' but we most certainly 'do." AND every chance we get!"

Now mind you this came from one of the most seemingly proper little old British Lady you could ever imagine. One of my favorite statements of all time!!

What the...........


OMG


NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!


I liked hanging out here from time to time. Nice breeze from the ocean.


I know I will still keep in contact with Master K and Siri, and hopefully still have contact with Hawky and Kai, since we are all Rebel Legion members.

Of course you will still have contact with us! Even though I am not on the RL boards as much as I should be, you will still see me at conventions and my e-mail box is always open. As has been said before. We aren't really going away, just growing in a different direction from Fan Force.

To paraphrase a great woman: "People change, and you can't stop the change any more than you can stop the sun from setting."

"Can't stop the signal"

Catch you on the flip side.