[Seattle-editorial] Proposal: New Volunteer Canned Response

Fri Mar 26 09:57:28 PST 2004

SEAIMC Members,

The suggestion by Laury below is a positive one. I agree with her 
proposal that we send a canned response with exactly what she 
suggested in the text. 

Can we agree that the response be as written below? If anything, I 
think it is too long and perhaps confusing-But we are confused and 
long of process, so...

Joseph

_____________

Welcome!

We are always glad when new folks take the time to contact us in 
order to get involved. We appreciate your patience while we are 
getting back to you.

Our volunteer orientations, like most activities, are in a state of 
pause right now, but we can very much use support with the 
activities still taking place. Specific information about 
our 'pause' is available at the link below.
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2004/02/238096.shtml

Two of our Working Groups are the Editorial Working Group, and 
SeattleTech, our computer-gurus side. Other than that, we are just 
paying some bills, and awaiting Mayday, when a much needed rest 
will begin to taper off.

The Editorial Working Group is responsible for the appearance, 
content, and the day to day operation of our website, 
www.seattle.indymedia.org. The group meets weekly, and is an 
autonomous Working Group within Seattle indymedia. 

Among Editorials work is the clerking of the wire, where 
advertisements, spam, and the like, can be hidden under our 
editorial policies. The other primary function is the creation of 
center column features, the major news stories which are usually 
some text and a series of links to posts on the indy newswire, with 
a picture thrown in for good measure.

The Editorial working group also decides what the website will do 
and look like-it's functionality. That’s easy (Kind of). And that's 
because of SeattleTech.

SeattleTech makes our site function by pouring in huge amounts of 
talent, hard work and dedication, writing and implementing our 
code. They also maintain our physical servers and such. They make 
Editorial's theory a reality. 

If you are able to help with writing, clerking, working with our 
Tech folks, or something else related to these functions - please 
do. The Collective currently uses three main e-mail lists to 
coordinate our work.  They are:
imc-Seattle
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-seattle
Editorial 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
SeattleTech
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattletech

Please join the imc-Seattle list and feel free to join the others 
as well. Announcements about meetings and our current work are 
posted on these lists.
For more information, contact us at involveimc at riseup.net.

Sincerely, 
The Seattle Independent Media Center

_________________

JEE

Quoting Laury <webshiva at cablespeed.com>:

> While I respect the fact that a pause has been mandated, I feel
> that 
> common courtesy demands at least a "canned" response
> acknowledging the 
> offer.  This could be as simple as a couple sentences that (1) 
> acknowledge the contact, (2) explain that the organization is
> having a 
> pause, (3) provide the date when the pause will be over,  (4)
> list 
> those ongoing activities (e.g., the website, server support) that
> are 
> continuing during the interim, and (5) provide additional contact
> 
> information if volunteers are needed to maintain those
> functionalities.
> 
>   I would hate for a potential volunteer to take the "silence" as
> a 
> personal rejection ....
> 
> On Mar 25, 2004, at 1:53 PM, Joseph Eisenschmidt wrote:
> 
> > Benjamin,
> >
> > Thanks for your response.
> >
> > If the activists' maxim is 'Just show up!', Then surely the
> > organizers maxim is, 'Just help others to be able to show up
> and do
> > good work'. You are a fine activist and organizer.
> >
> > As of today, we have had 15 people contact us via the online
> > volunteer signup since february 1st. These folks have offered
> tech,
> > development, media, support, and other services. We have not
> > responded to them as we are 'paused.
> >
> > Furthermore, just prior to the 'pause, at least a score of
> new
> > volunteers did this same thing, talked to us on the phone, came
> to
> > orientations - which were conducted by Daniel, Shari, Gentry,
> > myself and others at great effort. Intense, dedicated,
> exhaustingly
> > wonderful effort I might add. I think I speak for all of us
> when I
> > say I'd do it all over again.
> >
> > Again, as we are paused, we ceased all contact with them as
> of
> > February 1st. It should be noted that we also spent some
> thousands
> > of dollars and hundreds of paid and volunteer hours
> developing,
> > implementing, and utilizing our Volunteer and Donor Database to
> do
> > this.
> >
> > The data base (VDD) was developed with two goals in mind: One
> was
> > to increase volunteerism by streamlinig induction, and skills
> > tracking & distribution. The other was to increase revenue by
> > allowing us to solicit funds in an organized and sustainable
> > fashion.
> >
> > We have over 370 potential donors who we intend to request
> funding
> > from, but again, as we are paused, we have contacted no one. To
> say
> > that I, and I imagine Sheri and the other dedicated Members
> who
> > helped with this are frustrated goes without saying. Did I
> menton
> > the word frustration-oh yea, I did, let's move on.
> >
> > So, my good friend, the interest in our project is big and
> growing,
> > and we simply await the go ahead by the'Membership' to
> increase
> > funding, participation, and to get back to the business of
> putting
> > the media in the hands of the citizenry, as is our sacred
> mission.
> >
> > I've determined that I must carefully choose my battles, and
> will
> > work with the cabbie, immigrant, and other underserved
> communities
> > in Seattle by assisting them to better organize. I also
> believe
> > that many of the tools we have created here will be of interest
> to
> > the IMC Network even if we decide (sic) not to use them.
> >
> > So, what we do is just keep doing the work, and await the
> green
> > light to proceed with and accelerate our efforts. I've tried
> to
> > work within (and kind of around) the technicalities of our
> pause.
> > We at Editorial are empowered to keep on keeping on.
> >
> > Good and thoughtful Members, who are in the position to be
> the
> > gatekeepers of our collective resources, are very
> conscientious
> > about keeping to the letter and spirit of our understanding
> of
> > February 1st.
> >
> > As one who believes in the democratic process, and who agrees
> with
> > the legitimacy of that decision, despite it's dampening effect
> on
> > our spirit, I must work with them to ensure that we contine to
> stay
> > paused. This hurts me very much, because I know it hurts us
> very
> > much. But we have a collective right to do this.
> >
> > Frankly, my fear is that I will be villified for working to
> grow
> > us, or at least keep us from shrinking into nothing, come
> Mayday.
> > Stranger things have happened, and I am prepared to re-assign
> > myself if that occurs. We shall see.
> >
> >
> > In Solidarity,
> >
> > Joseph
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting BFGalbraith <bfgalbraith at yahoo.com>:
> >
> >> I said "most, not all, of the stuff in the center
> >> column is stuff I put there".  This really is not an
> >> accurate statement, because Joseph has been posting as
> >> much stuff to the center column as I have, if not
> >> more, since he became a site administrator.
> >>
> >> Thanks for your work Joseph, please keep it up.  A
> >> glance at the website reveals your tremendous
> >> contribution.  How can we get more people involved in
> >> what we are doing, so we don't have to sink so much of
> >> our time into it?
> >>
> >> =====
> >> -Benjamin
> >>
> >> "BFGalbraith"- bfgalbraith at users.sourceforge.net
> >> (H&S Project Manager- http://hack-and-slash.sourceforge.net)
> >> Galbraith Games Website- http://www.squawkrpg.net/news
> >> Why I am looking for another e-mail service:
> >>
> >> __________________________________
> >> Do you Yahoo!?
> >> Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
> >> http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Seattle-editorial mailing list
> >> Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> >>
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
> >>
> >
> >
> > Joseph
> > _______________________________________________
> > Seattle-editorial mailing list
> > Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> > http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Seattle-editorial mailing list
> Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
> 

Joseph