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Topic: First impressions (Read 1596 times)
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Crocuta
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You know, it just struck me that on the main page, the description of this board is:
"How do we attract more members and build a positive image?"
I wonder what people who have just found this organization will think when they start reading the forums and find the last two days of posts. Will they initially think "I'm sure that this doesn't represent the mainstream attitudes of these people" or will they quickly move on because the image they get is of bickering and infighting and decide that they should make investments toward liberty elsewhere? If the first impression someone gets upon discovering an organization is division and strife, they may develop the erroneous idea that progress is not happening, and that it cannot be accomplished in such an environment. If that happens, the organization loses the potential skills and energy that person would have brought to the group, along with all the skills and energy of the people they would have introduced into the cause.
A postive image starts with an impression of unity toward a common goal. People may have differing opinions on how to accomplish that, but respect and courtesy should always be foremost.
Some may call me sanctimonious, and I am an outsider with little vested interest in the organization at this point. I'm still deciding if I want to sign up. I'm just asking that everyone consider what impression will be conveyed when people come here. Will it "attract more members and build a positive image"?
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Rich Goldman
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Amen.
We just had a big success. We should act like it and not let negatarians distract us and rain on our parade.
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« Last Edit: December 31, 2006, 07:34:59 pm by Rich Goldman »
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Rich Goldman
Head Organizer, PorcFest 2007 & 2008
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Forastero
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Agreed. Also, I hope you are leaning toward joining us, there are some rude people here (Boston T. Liz come to mine) however for the most part we are a pretty cheerful bunch.
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Yeah, freedom baby, I love it!
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citizen_142002
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Normally I try to stay out of the flame wars, but I did engage in them over the last day or two.
Crocuta, I think your concern is perfectly warranted. I have noticed the amount of infighting picked up as the signup rate and moving rate fell. There wasn't much real progress being made for a while, and so people had nothing to do but blame each other for it.
I think that First 1000 was a step forward, but we need to keep building on that. The fact that over 1000 people will be moving shortly may be enough to entice more signers and movers. We need to tout the sucess we have had.
We should be coming up with new ideas and initiatives, but no matter how much sucess we have there will always be a degree of contention on these boards.
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Ogre
First 1000
FSP Participant
 Offline
Posts: 138
Llamas are fun!
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Success always breed contempt.
Your point is well-taken because I have had that impression quite a lot when reading this boards over the past number of years. I tend to think of it primarily of just libertarians arguing about well, everything, because that's what libertarians (in my experience) DO. But I do wonder if a moderator or someone could step in and at the very least close, if not delete, the massive threads of nothing but petty arguing over the same thing over and over again. And yes, I'm sure I'll be called a facist in opposition to free speech even for just suggesting such a horrible thing.
Life goes on and people will be disappointed. All we can try and do it not sink to the level of the lowest common denominator.
Folks, if you're new here and reading this, believe me, in person just about everyone I've met really is a nice person and honestly interested in advancing freedom!
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Denis Goddard
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You'll find that most of the sniping is between people who are not currently involved with the Project, and those who are. Most of us already here in NH see and work with each other on a pretty regular basis. "fighting in the trenches" naturally brings us closer together. We're all working very hard, and to be frank, we overreact when someone tells us what we 'should" be doing. The simple fact is, you can't get a good feel for the Porc community just by browsing the Internet. The NHFree Forum has many more active posters than the FSP forum, and so is a slightly better sample, but is heavily skewed to the non-political activists, and so presents a rather lopsided picture as well. You might want to browse Free State Blogs for another (albeit also small) sample of who's here in NH and what we do. I know it seems thin gruel for someone wanting to know what it's really like out here, but the fact is you need to at least visit NH and meet the people -- the majority who don't addictively post on internet forums like I do  I strongly suggest that anyone interested, but maybe put off by the inevitable whining and sniping on ANY internet forum, visit in person. Two great opportunities are coming up in 2007: Liberty Forum in Feb, for a hotel or convention-style setting and PorcFest in June, for a campground-style setting |
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FTL_Ian
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Thanks for your concerns, Crocuta. Let's put this into some perspective. People have been concerned over the content of this forum for a long time now.
There are over 7500 people signed up for the FSP. Only a fraction of them participate in this forum. If someone looks here and thinks the select individuals participating here are at all representative of anyone else but themselves, they should reassess their belief system. In any group, especially one composed of Libertarians, one member does not represent the others.
Also, the infighting over FSP policy in no way represents what's going on in NH. In NH you do what you want, and work with who you like.
If someone gets scared off because of a forum conflict, they are going to have a real tough time going up against the real opponents of Liberty.
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