by External Poster » Wed Sep 17, 2003 5:55 pm
This posting is from: Cat
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I haven't written much on this list the last year or so. My schedule
with another event in Atlanta has necessitated that mostly. I have
followed all the postings, especially these latest ones on the "rules"
and "dates of DLV2004", albeit some times a week or so later.
I actually have an hour or so of free time before flying out tomorrow so
thought I would throw some comments on the deck.
I remember two years ago saying something to Annie and some others that
the organizers were close to the point of having to decide if they
wanted to keep DLV the same thing it was, or let it grow. I did not
think anyone really understood what I meant. What I was referring to
is exactly what is happening now.
Rules of participation are being written and will be put out. That
tends to happen when a group gets large and as diversified as DLV has
become - with the different views that go with the numbers. Most
"conferences" have the same sort of thing in place. The big difference
however, is that other events can enforce them, because they are at a
controlled area for much of their event. DLV is in public places for
the most part. If someone is not willing to abide by DLV's set of
rules for participation, there really is nothing you can do about it.
You can ask the establishment to have them to leave, but DLV organizers
cannot do it themselves. I would suggest that before you put all this
out to the general DLV group, decide where you want DLV to go as far as
growth. And, as DLV grows, as is evidenced by the comments of late,
you will have more views that are not in agreement with the core group
of organizers. It seems to me the DLVORG group has a certain core
number of indiviuals who think alike and tend to vote alike. Their
views I am not sure are the same as the general overall group that now
attends DLV. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, just
that the DLVORG group needs to be aware that more "disagreement" will
surface the larger the participation becomes.
One of the areas where I believe that will surely happen more and more
is with the dates, and how those dates coincide with the technical
conference that is held, which many of the core group attend. None of
the dates affect me one way or the other, and I will attend if I find
the activities to my interests - and will not attend if not interested
in what is happening. (Hmm..sounds like a vacation and not a
convention). If I were one of the core group, I would certainly want
DLV to stay next to the other conference. If I understand correctly,
that is partly how DLV started. However, I think if the DLVORG people
are not recognizing there are more and more attendees who do have to
deal with issues of not being at home for Mother's Day, they are
misreading the greater group. The general group does not provide input
into the DLVORG, at least until after the decisions are made.
I read that the dates are set and nothing really can be done to review
the dates and possibly change. I happen to believe that is bull. You
can certainly review what is done, even though it will probably stay
close to the same if all the input is only from the same group of
people. As I said before, I could care less when it is held - that
does not affect me. However, I agree with whoever said most people do
not think about what the week is 8-10 months away. There appears to be
two choices to me. One, set the date and forget about any discussion.
Two, really ask for a survey from the attendees. If that is an option,
my suggestion would be to send a questionaire to everyone who is on the
DLV at large group (sorry Annie, don't know the exact name) and simply
ask "Which week do you prefer? 1 or 2?" Make the weeks the week before
and the week after the other conference. Point out which one has
Mother's Day in it so everyone knows. If I remember correctly, the
vote was somewhere around 15 for the week chosen. I don't know how
many are on the DLVORG list, but I would venture that if you subtracted
that 15 from the total, the balance is more than those 15. When you
give a group multiple choices, some times the results are not
necessarily what there would be with only 2 choices. That is why in
politics we have primaries and then the general election. Even when
there is a third party, results do not always reflect the will of the
majority.
I simply wanted to add something in, from a point of view that does have
an opinion on any of the dates one way or the other. If the dates are
decided, then the discussion is over, and move on to other things. If
there is the possibility of changing the dates, move to take care of
it.
It looks to me like the organizers need to decide whether DLV will stay
as originally intended, or grow larger into something more.
Personally, I believe either would be fantastic for our community!
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I look forward to seeing many of you
in Atlanta next week.
Hugs and Love,
Cat
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(This posting was entered by Cat, an external user of MyDLV.)