[Seattle-editorial] Proposal: New Volunteer Canned Response

[Laury]

Thumbs up from me.

-- Laury 


On Mar 26, 2004, at 9:57 AM, Joseph Eisenschmidt wrote:

> 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
> _______________________________________________
> Seattle-editorial mailing list
> Seattle-editorial at lists.indymedia.org
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/seattle-editorial
>