Question about email I received....

[+K13]

Today I received an email (actually three) asking me to vote about demoting someone. In the email I am referred to as an officer in the group.

Lucy, somebody has some 'splaining to do. How am I now considered an officer? I mean, I only recently added my first WM in any category. I was in Scouting for 15 years, so I'm familiar with being "Voluntold", but usually there is a bit of explanation.

[+Max and 99]

7 minutes ago, K13 said:

Today I received an email (actually three) asking me to vote about demoting someone. In the email I am referred to as an officer in the group.

Lucy, somebody has some 'splaining to do. How am I now considered an officer? I mean, I only recently added my first WM in any category. I was in Scouting for 15 years, so I'm familiar with being "Voluntold", but usually there is a bit of explanation.

Someone's got some 'splaining to do is right. Let us know if it happens.

[+K13]

It seems that by posting a new WM in the category, I was somehow added to the list of officers?

[+Max and 99]

Almost all the officers in the group have logged in recently, so I'm confused why three voting messages. Your call number is 42 in that group, but apparently you get to vote and make decusions. I certainly wouldn't vote without a heck more information!

[+Max and 99]

1 minute ago, K13 said:

It seems that by posting a new WM in the category, I was somehow added to the list of officers?

That's not usual behavior. I thought you had to accept an invitation to join. I wish your listing would say when you became an officer. That would help. You can certainly quit the group if you want to!

[+K13]

Yeah, my thought as well. I don't know how things are organized, so I dont know whats happening. Although, if some haven't been involved in a couple years, they probably should go.

[+K13]

Oh, I dont know of I want to quit a group I didnt even know I was an officer in. Power is an aphrodisiac, I have heard.

[+Max and 99]

1 minute ago, K13 said:

Yeah, my thought as well. I don't know how things are organized, so I dont know whats happening. Although, if some haven't been involved in a couple years, they probably should go.

The only officer who shows a not recent login has a much more recent login on his profile. 1 yr 8 months difference.

[+Max and 99]

2 minutes ago, K13 said:

Oh, I dont know of I want to quit a group I didnt even know I was an officer in. Power is an aphrodisiac, I have heard.

It's true!!  You're now our inside man.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Max and 99

[+K13]

Just now, Max and 99 said:

It's true!!

So, if I'm 42 (the ultimate answer, right), who do I need to eliminate to get to the top?

[+Max and 99]

2 minutes ago, K13 said:

So, if I'm 42 (the ultimate answer, right), who do I need to eliminate to get to the top?

There are only 11 officers ahead of you. It shouldn't take very long. 

[+K13]

1 minute ago, Max and 99 said:

There are only 11 officers ahead of you. It shouldn't take very long. 

You don't seem to understand.  I am feeling the POWER! 11 others need to move aside! I am here now, large amd in charge!

Oh, wait, never mind. I like things the way they are. Folks in charge are doing a fine job. (See, years of Scout training just snapped in to save me!)

[+T0SHEA]

I think your BIG mistake was posting that first Waymark. You're in it up to your neck now.

Keith

[+T0SHEA]

Hey - it just occurred to me - we have the beginning of a great gossip thread here. What poor soul (or lucky devil, depending on paradigm) were they trying to demote?

Keith

[+K13]

2 minutes ago, BK-Hunters said:

Hey - it just occurred to me - we have the beginning of a great gossip thread here. What poor soul (or lucky devil, depending on paradigm) were they trying to demote?

Keith

@Max & 99 had some accurate info posted above, so I'm sure she/they have an inside track.

 

 

[+K13]

10 minutes ago, BK-Hunters said:

I think your BIG mistake was posting that first Waymark. You're in it up to your neck now.

Keith

 

Yeah, so it seems.

[+Max and 99]

Just now, K13 said:

@Max & 99 had some accurate info posted above, so I'm sure she/they have an inside track.

 

 

I'm guessing the one with contradictory "last log in". 

You can go to the group page and see all this information.

[+Max and 99]

10 minutes ago, BK-Hunters said:

Hey - it just occurred to me - we have the beginning of a great gossip thread here. What poor soul (or lucky devil, depending on paradigm) were they trying to demote?

Keith

The vote didn't say who??? You're just supposed to vote without knowing the who or what??

[+K13]

1 minute ago, Max and 99 said:

The vote didn't say who??? You're just supposed to vote without knowing the who or what??

Of the three emails I received, two had the same name, the third was for another member.

 

I wonder if the last login date is for that category, or for the site in general?

[+Max and 99]

I think that's exactly the distinction, but I can't help but wonder if not logging into your group page in awhile would be so bad, unless waymarks are not getting reviewed promptly.

[+T0SHEA]

7 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

The vote didn't say who??? You're just supposed to vote without knowing the who or what??

I'm not a member of said group, so have no access to internal group details. 

That is one top heavy group.

Keith

[+Max and 99]

My fault. I meant to quote K13.

[+jhuoni]

On 8/15/2019 at 11:23 PM, K13 said:

Today I received an email (actually three) asking me to vote about demoting someone. In the email I am referred to as an officer in the group.

Lucy, somebody has some 'splaining to do. How am I now considered an officer? I mean, I only recently added my first WM in any category. I was in Scouting for 15 years, so I'm familiar with being "Voluntold", but usually there is a bit of explanation.

  

I guess I should read Forums a little more frequently.

 

The category was Woodmen of the World Headstones.

 

Somehow K13 was promoted  to officer.   There was no group vote to promote K13 or another individual who was also promoted at the same time. 

 

As an officer in Woodmen of the World , I want to personally apologize to you for what happened.

 

I hope that this doesn't cause you to lose interest in this wonderful hobby.

 

[+K13]

1 hour ago, jhuoni said:

  

I guess I should read Forums a little more frequently.

 

The category was Woodmen of the World Headstones.

 

Somehow K13 was promoted  to officer.   There was no group vote to promote K13 or another individual who was also promoted at the same time. 

 

As an officer in Woodmen of the World , I want to personally apologize to you for what happened.

 

I hope that this doesn't cause you to lose interest in this wonderful hobby.

 

No worries. I was voted out a few days ago. 

[+Max and 99]

41 minutes ago, K13 said:

No worries. I was voted out a few days ago. 

You got voted out?? I did not see that coming.

[+K13]

38 minutes ago, Max and 99 said:

You got voted out?? I did not see that coming.

Nor did I. No clue about any of it.

[+T0SHEA]

A bit of mystery helps to make life a bit more interesting, no?

Keith

[+QuarrellaDeVil]

On 9/4/2019 at 8:57 PM, K13 said:

Nor did I. No clue about any of it.

And here's where we cue the music from "Days of Our Lives", and don't forget the voiceover from MacDonald Carey.

 

I saw recently in the Woodmen of the World category that we had some new officers clearing things.  Then, one of those new officers, our friend K13, committed the serious high crime and misdemeanor of sending a submission -- one of mine! -- to a vote that would have been obviated simply by looking at the category guidelines.   Oh, no, call the Vatican, we've got a problem here, send in the nuns with the steel rulers.  Next thing you know, someone in the group decides to call a vote to demote the new guy because he didn't read the guidelines before calling the vote on my submission.  I oppose this kind of Captain Hook behavior, and I'll explain why as I ramble, but I was in the minority in the removal vote and the new contributor got his head chopped off over something that would have been solved with a helping hand and a cheerful "Well, let that be a lesson to you, and I bet you won't do that again!"    

 

After a few days of thought, I stirred the pot after sending a note to K13, calling a vote to reinstate the guy as an officer.  So, knowing what I know now, here's a pretty good guy who's minding his own business, he submits a waymark to the category, automatically becomes an officer because we have some zealous people in the group who recently called to demote people deemed to be inactive by looking at erroneous last login data, and he's thrown into a soap opera and then thrown out.  That chafes my sense of what's right, and when we could always use a helping hand from newer folks rather than press-ganging the same old regulars and pushing them into burnout and inactivity, I thought to myself "This stinks." The vote went in K13's favor, he's back in the fold, and he can help as he sees fit (I'm assuming a "he"?).

 

Some of you have seen my comments in the thread about unresponsive officers.  I'm pretty much by myself as an officer in the Starbucks category, and while I am communicating with the category leader, I don't see things changing anytime soon:  I'll clear everything except for my own, and then wayfrog will swing by every so often to get the rest ( which I really do appreciate, if you're reading this).  That's a crappy scenario, but for now, it's what we've got.  It hasn't escaped my notice that a few of what I'll call "The Category Collectors" have just happened to join the category.  We've got it for now, guys, and I'm about to do what I can to get one or two people approved as an officer to give me a hand.  Start new categories if your hunger isn't sated by what you have now, please don't focus on categories where you've never submitted anything.  I ultimately would like help from folks who don't have a ton on their plate, and can spend a little time reviewing one or two submissions instead of doing a lame job on a dozen. 

 

Disclaimer:   I don't respond to flames or vampires or blowhards who take social media far too seriously.    I'm nice people, but I saw all that kind of nonsense back in the days of 300 bps bulletin board systems, when the idea of "HTTP" was just a twinkle in someone's eye.  It's boring to me now, a total waste of my time.  I've been an officer and a poobah and all that nonsense in what was once the largest hobbyist network on the planet, and if I learned anything, it's that volunteering your time and effort requires a lot of work and thick skin.   With the exception of wayfrog, whom I wouldn't expect to sit there and waste his time and energy on reviewing the guidelines for what seems to be dozens of abandoned categories, I see lots of officers-for-life.  Most of them are good folks, seemingly prolific Waymarkers before I got active, but they're laden with category after category after category when category management disappears.  Please, seek out some new blood, get back to enjoying the hobby, or if you're not interested anymore because the real world beckons, move on and enjoy.