RSA's message and request for CR nominations

As I said on the main board, this is a blank page, a new beginning. And I want to see all chapters thrive - that is of course if that's what the chapter wants.

I have ideas on getting new membership etc, but I need a CR to work with. I cannot do everything for all 6 chapters on the board.

So perhaps I should clarify what I believe the role of a CR is. This is what I told the Powers that Be when approached for the RSA role

"Some have said the CR should be a "leader", others have stated that the only role of the CR is to be a "communicator". Neither of these are true. A CR's job is to guide the chapter, and to organise local meet-ups. It is the CR's responsibilty to be the first and only point of contact with outside groups, when it comes down to a chapter's presence at a local event. It makes things easier all round. A CR is NOT just a "posting boy". It is a person chosen by the group to represent their best interests, and as such it is vital for a potential CR to lay out from the start their vision for the group. If they don't, an election is ultimately meaningless. The RSA is there to guide them and assist them where needed. The RSA is not there to dictate things or take over. If an RSA cannot trust a CR, then there is a problem. Personally I don't have a lot of experience with organising meets, but I do know there are people here whom I can trust to do that. There are also a lot of people that I know will help and guide me when needed. That's an advantage of being here for 7 years."

I need a CR whom I can trust to take an active role in recruitment - whether it be contacting comic shops and universities, or organising flyers. A CR really must want the best for the chapter's future, and not just want a pretty blue name.

Some of the chapters are really floundering at the moment, and there really is no need for it. All it takes is a couple of people to spend a weekend working on the chapter, doing practical things like letter sending, or researching addresses, and we can really get this place booming again.

So if you think you're the person, post your name here with an indication of where you see the chapter now, where you want it to go, and how you can help that.

I am anxious to get this sorted ASAP, so none of this "2 weeks for nominations, 2 weeks deciding, and 2 weeks voting".

Just get those names in!!!

 

I'd be willing to take on the job for Scotland.
At the moment we keep trying to organise meets but then people cancel.
I'd like to see a monthly meet, maybe alternating between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with visits to other towns occasionally. The meets should go ahead even if only a couple of people can make it. It's not always going to be possible to get large numbers (we haven't managed so far anyway).
We could organise activities, not neccesarily Star Wars related or just go for a coffee somewhere.
Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

here's an idea...

make it fun, and people will come.

alternatively, keep posting quasi-management speak like:

""Some have said the CR should be a "leader", others have stated that the only role of the CR is to be a "communicator". Neither of these are true. A CR's job is to guide the chapter, and to organise local meet-ups. It is the CR's responsibilty to be the first and only point of contact with outside groups, when it comes down to a chapter's presence at a local event. It makes things easier all round. A CR is NOT just a "posting boy". It is a person chosen by the group to represent their best interests, and as such it is vital for a potential CR to lay out from the start their vision for the group. If they don't, an election is ultimately meaningless. The RSA is there to guide them and assist them where needed. The RSA is not there to dictate things or take over. If an RSA cannot trust a CR, then there is a problem. Personally I don't have a lot of experience with organising meets, but I do know there are people here whom I can trust to do that. There are also a lot of people that I know will help and guide me when needed. That's an advantage of being here for 7 years."

and watch it die on its arse.

 

It's your chapter guys, and ultimately your decision. I'm not gonna "make it fun", I'm gonna tell it how it is. A CR has responsibilities, and it's my job to make it clear what they are. If you want the chapter to succeed, you are the guys who need to work at it. If you want it to die a death, then sit back and do nothing.

 

Why wont you make it fun though?
I think it is mean of you to refuse so bluntly.


Anyway, I've been researching addresses and I have found loads so far. I reckon I have 10 thousand easy.

 

Well guys, speaking as a CR myself, I can tell you all about the fun of being a CR. CRs have the pleasure of organising meets/events with the fellow Star Wars fans in their region. The North for example, have meets oh, a couple of times a month, and we go for food, drink some beer, mess about, go to the cinema, all sorts of things. And that's just the social side of things. I won't go on about our charity efforts, but needless to say we do them too, and the combination of the two is what made our chapter the most successful in FFUK's recent history. If you want to get Scotland to the level that the North is currently, and what the Midlands used to be before it, then you need a CR to do that job for you.

Plus you get that nice snazzy blue-coloured username. Isn't that fun enough for you?

One thing I have to say though, is that if you become CR, you will be responsible for getting your chapter active meets-wise. If you don't want the responsibility, and just want the blue username, then you're not right for the job. We want people who are dedicated enough to do the job. Have fun all you want, but make sure it's you who is going to guarantee that fun is had.

To be CR requires dedication. I'm not going to beat around the bush on this. You can either work at making your chapter successful, or as hal has said, you can let it die a death. Your choice.

 

JED1 has nominated himself, so there's 2 now.

 

I am proud to say I have a long and distinguished history of making this board 'fun'....... a wee bit of digging in pages past will prove that.

However, I've since been put right off posting here by the interventions of various people wielding initials and 'authority' bestowed upon them from someone, somewhere in america, where, I think it is fair to say, they have a much more formal approach to .....emmmm...... 'fandom'

attempting to make Scottish fans fit a yank template of behaviour and organisation is misguided, particularly all these rules and ranks and pish about having to have face-to-face meetings to qualify for some spurious official recognition as a 'chapter'.
I cannot help but feel that such over-organisation and zeal for structured 'fun' is anathema to the warmth and spontaneity that made this place work well i the past..... when it was simply a chatroom for Scottish people and overseas Scotophiles, initially drawn into conversation via SW I grant you, but thereafter at liberty to talk about whatever. When it was like that, we had several very enjoyable meetings.
So enjoyable, in fact, we quite forgot to take minutes, appoint a chairman, properly convene the session or, indeed, toast the fudging Queen.

 

with reference to Spike's comments, you have helped me crystallise my argument .

This, here, where we are now, is an online forum for people brought together by their appreciation of Star Wars.
It requires nothing more of them than a willingness to chat online, and offers no more in return than computer-time amusement.
That is what I signed in here for, that is what I want from it. I suspect that is what many other posters want from it.

A Scottish fan Chapter is/would be a real world fan club demanding of real world time for regular meetings etc. Of course people may take part in such a thing if they want ? but its not a mandatory part of using this board. Or at least it never used to be.

Two different things. So why is the fate of the online board being linked to the success or otherwise of a real-world fan 'chapter' ?

 

This, here, where we are now, is an online forum for people brought together by their appreciation of Star Wars.
It requires nothing more of them than a willingness to chat online, and offers no more in return than computer-time amusement.
That is what I signed in here for, that is what I want from it. I suspect that is what many other posters want from it.

I signed up to the Jedi Council Forums to chat online and get computer-time amusement. I joined FanForce to get to know and meet up with Star Wars fans in my region in real life. When I went to my first meet I had no concept of chapters etc, but I got involved, became CR, and then RSA. My job in both is ensuring that chapter(s) are active In Real Life.

A Scottish fan Chapter is/would be a real world fan club demanding of real world time for regular meetings etc. Of course people may take part in such a thing if they want ? but its not a mandatory part of using this board. Or at least it never used to be.

Chapters are formed on the basis of real life meetups. Officially, three meets a year are required before a chapter gets its own forum and becomes official. Somewhere down the line this was skipped and Scotland got a forum before it became official, when it should've got a thread in Regional instead (same with the South forum).

Two different things. So why is the fate of the online board being linked to the success or otherwise of a real-world fan 'chapter' ?

As said above, this chapter is defined as official by its real life meetups, otherwise all you'd be is a topic in UK Regional. Real life meets are FanForce's bread and butter. Sure, you can talk online all you want, but that's what Regional Forums and the JC is for.

 

well, Spike, that was my points, cut'n'pasted, and enhanced with more evangelical talk about the wondrousness of real life chapters...

what it wasn't was a reply to my question.

when and on what authority did this online social facility transform into a recruiting page for real life social clubs?

if you knew anything of the history of this board, you would be well aware that its regulars, for damn near 5 years, comprised only a handful of actual local Scots, but absolutely loads of posters from overseas. In that form it was successful, vibrant and interesting. Online.

the form you are imposing now ? basically the bulletin board for a local 'chapter' that clearly has no great enthusiasm for real world organisation ? has more or less robbed it of the individuality it once thrived upon.

Do you understand the point I am making? Or are you about to tell me, again, that its VITAL we appoint a CR?

 

I have no friends. can i join the board? i promise to come to meets.

 

Hello, I'm one of the FanForce Admins. "when and on what authority did this online social facility transform into a recruiting page for real life social clubs?" you ask? Well forever actually and on my and all the other past and present admin's authorities. The point of FanForce is to meet in real life. The FanForce FAQ will tell you a lot of what you need to know about the group, FanForce has been a real life meeting group since 1999 or so I do believe, so what halibut and Spike2002 are telling you is nothing new. Scotland was granted a forum with the understanding that the people who post here are working their way into becoming an official chapter, with a Chapter Rep and regular meetings. That is what FanForce is.

Honestly I don't see how the mods here have robbed anything from this forum, it looks rather dead to me. The activity has dwindled down to a few posts per week at best. If anything they are trying to re-vive the forum by creating new interest in the forum's actual purpose. If you don't want to meet in real life, that's fine no one is making you. You are free to keep posting in the forum even if you don't attend, but please stop trying to quell the attempts of the mods here to make the chapter official. They are simply doing their jobs. If anything it will draw more people into the forum and posting.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me anytime or PM halibut and/or Spike2002.

 

**** ****!

Dank has been around for ages, posibly longer then time itself. I think he knows how things work.

RSA EDIT: That phrase is not allowed (check the current MS update in JC Comms for clarification.

And I've been here longer than Dank. I'm pretty sure I know how things work.

 

so if nothing is happening in the forum, why not leave it as it is? why does it HAVE to have a CR and why do they have to meet three times a year?

Aren't you taking it all a tad too seriously?

 

Oh Budda and flaming allah.

How the hell can you ban jesus christ? have you all lost your religious edge?
I know I'm not the most ardent catholic but even I think jesus was a decent guy. I think its wrong to ban mention of his name.

 

there is precious little chance of my quelling a voice as verbose as halibut's....

so, if I am understanding this properly, the many years that I spent on this board happily chatting away with people from all over the world, on a daily, nay hourly, in fact damn near constant, basis, the board was actually NOT WORKING PROPERLY?

and now, with multiple posts doing little more than discussing the necessity of meets, arranging meets and, more often than not, cancelling those meets, it IS WORKING ?

the main reason it is looking pretty dead, dear sir, is that I and several other previously loyal souls have been staying well away because we can no longer get a good chat, so beset is the place by all these admins, mods, RSAs, CRs hanging about trying to recruit real life 'friends'

baws I say to you sir, baws and humbug. You've organised the life out of the thing.

 

I'm quite upset by Mr DankDonk's attempts to replace the comfort of a safe set of rules with his own idea of 'fun'. What you have to understand, Mr DankDonk, is that some of us do not share your desire to converse freely; I for one find the outside world a rather frightening place, and the thought of unrestricted social interaction fills me with nothing less than horror.

Unless contact with my peers is rigorously controlled through a heirarchy of people more important than myself (I'm thinking here of people who have worked hard to be awarded a position of power on a Star Wars message board, or similar), I feel quite lost. What are you expecting people like myself, halibut and Spike to do exactly, in this so-called 'fun' format that you suggest? Engage in 'banter'? Flout important rules? Simply do what we feel like doing without higher guidance?

People like you are the reason I don't go to social occasions any more.

 

It's fine when referring to the person in a discussion, not in the context you did. As I said, please check the current Mod Squad Update where this issue is raised. Please feel free to discuss any concerns about it there.

 

Mr dankdonk

if i'm ever in Scotland would you like to meetup for a pint?

 

enough of this **** banter.

I'm going to the pub.

Chinaski's at Charing Cross

It used to be called Bar Jedi y'know.

If three other posters can get there by 6 o'clock, I'll declare it an offical meeting, crown myself king, and make you ALL kiss my........

Spike EDIT: Word not allowed.

 

Excellent. I look forward to seeing the pictures

 

You really don't want to ask Dank for pictures.

//shudders

 

especially not the ones he sends to Beth and TTG

 

Still though, not as bad as what Beth sends.

//shudders even more.

//plays banjo