Proposal: Why not just officially roll Philly into our group?

OK, this has been on my mind for a while.

The original reason that the Philly Outer Rim was created was that there was one (or two) individuals in Philly that were insisting on a Center City based group, with all (or at least all initial) meetings in Philly.
Meanwhile, there were many of us in the burbs that wanted to be part of a group, but couldn't make it into the city on any regular basis.
The Philly guy suggested forming our own group, and (Thankfully) Jenni jumped on it and the PORFF was born.

Since then, this board has had more threads and replies in the last four months than the "Philly" board has had ALL YEAR. That's counting the posts in the Philly board made by the members of this group. That's not to mention that this group has become official, has its own website, and has had continuous local and interstate meetings and activities where the Philly area hasn't gotten close to that in about two years.

It just seems silly that this nationally recognized group, with wide participation from PA, Jersey and Delaware (including Philly), has a big gaping hole in the center due to an out-of-date border dispute.

So...
I think it's time to face the fact that Center City Philadelphia simply doesn't have, and will not have, enough participation to ever sustain it's own, stand-alone group. I motion that Philadelphia be included in this group's domain, that we become Philly & Outer Rim Fan Force , and we all and have lots of fun.
(Plus it makes it a whole lot easier to put something like the Liberty Bell into our logo )

You thoughts???

Have fun!

If you want my thoughts on the subject, you can go back to the original discussion in April/May 2002 where the "Philly" group remained quite adamant about "Philly means CCPhilly, not Metro Philly, not even within-city-limits Manayunk". We tried to get everyone on the same page back then, but it was impossible to find a common middleground. I'd love for the two forces to merge, since, being from Andorra, I'd have the best of both worlds.... 15minutes to CCPhilly, 15minutes to KofP...... I second your motion, but the tough task will be convincing the Philly people that this makes sense....
Good Luck!

Listen guys, this decision is not up to us. At some point in the future when our chapter is fully functional and membership driven, I can ask the leadership at FanForce to consider doing it. Right now though, it's not something I want to have to deal with in a public forum. So, while I agree with Nick that merging the two groups is a good idea, there are some mitigating factors and consequences that I really can't go into on this public forum.

Please also be aware that there are a lot of other FF members from other chapters around the world that come in and read our threads.

This thread could cause some fires that I simply don't have time to put out right now. So, with that said, if you all want to have this conversation on our Yahoo group that's fine. But let's keep it private.



Thanks!!
Your ever humble Chairperson,
Jenni

I wasn't trying to make waves, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew why it was decided to form KofP.
Is Philly even "official"? I never saw any official notices on the board for Philly Meetings, so, for all intents and purposes, there isn't a Philly force. What's stopping another group from starting an "Official" Philly Force? I'd hate to see the people on the Philly message board be left out of the Philly Force decision making, since they are quite active on the boards.

Hi Rob,
I *know* you're not trying to make waves. No worries, k? I got to talk with Nick about this in person yesterday. Forewarned is forearmed is all. There are some things that we, as a Chapter Council, need to discuss and some things I need to update you on.

With that said, are you available for a Chapter Council meeting next week? at lunch time? Nick? Wendy?

~Jenni

P.S. You're right - Philly is *NOT* official. And as far as I know the original guy who wanted to do it has decided not to. I can fill you in on details next week or through email.

Woops.
While I suspected that the idea might be a bit controversial, I really didn't intend to cause any major issues.
Just wanted to get a feel for what people thought while things are still forming.

If it can't happen, no biggie. It's good to hear your perpective, Jenni, since you have access to much more info than the rest of us.

As to others seeing these boards, that's great.
I wonder if similar issues have come up in the past elsewhere and if and how they were resolved.

Anyway, like I said, it's no biggie. Just a thought.

Have fun!

Let me just share this: we have one of the best groups of people any where. We are so fortunate that we've not yet had to deal with some of the really weird stuff that goes on.

With that said - do not consider yourselves chastised. I'm glad you all feel free to share your thoughts. Just be mindful that while we all think this is our own little private forum, it's just not that way. I find out tons about other chapters by going to visit their threads. It's amazing what you can learn.

I would encourage you guys to PM me your thoughts or use the Yahoo forum for discussion. This is just a tender area right now.


J

Fair enough. Consider the discussion closed....
I am in North Jersey on Tuesday of next week, but I am available for an informal meeting any other day. Just let me know. Lunch works best for me.
(on an aside, I posted a new thread to the Philly board about getting organized. I felt that was the appropriate place for that discussion. We'll see how many responses that receives..I'll keep my fingers crossed. There's nothing I'd like to see more than the FanForce expand in this area)....

Yep! I saw your thread on the Philly forum. I am eager to see what kind of responses come in too. I had offered KofP help before to get Philly up and running. So maybe a new group will form out of our "spurring on". FF may be willing to put them under our care, so to speak.

I will address this issue with our NE Regional Rep and see what info she can get for us.