MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-05-05 |
| FROM | Dave Williams
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] My Apologies
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On Mon, 2003-05-05 at 19:40, Ruben I Safir wrote:
> I want to apologize to the organization for being out of line and for all those things
> I did which has caused such hostility. I'll move the to background and will diligently
> fill any role that Marco sees fit and try to be as helpful as possible.
>
> Ruben
Ruben, congratulations. My faith in you is restored!
You are a brilliant man with an incredible, seemingly boundless store of
energy and high personal standards.
The cliche I referenced in my previous message was a caution against
manifesting the kind of behavior that you despise in people like Jay and
Brett. I'm very happy to see that this is not the case. I apologize
for being so indirect, but it's a part of my Southern culture. We
prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt for their intelligence
and wisdom, and then give them the tools to figure out what is really
going on. We Southerners don't say what's on our minds directly -- it's
kind of a throwback to the Anglo-Saxon model. It takes some effort on
our part to be blunt or candid, but I'm working on it. This is New York
City -- if you aren't offending someone you aren't getting things done,
right? I still say "sir", "ma'am", and "y'all" too often.
Previous personal attacks and abuse have understandably left you very
cautious when it comes to dealing with others, and your strong
principles make it difficult to trust that others are completely on
board when it comes to issues of great personal importance. As a result
NYLXS is in great danger of becoming a paper organization that only
provides a stamp of legitimacy to your interests and only functions
under your prodding. The steps Marco and Michael are taking are natural
extensions of their desire to insure that NYLXS just works, regardless
of who is involved or the task at hand. They are applying their
strengths and knowledge to the issues, and from what I see their
judgment is sound. Consider that they wouldn't be doing these things if
they didn't care.
As Michael has stated, the function of Public Relations is not to be a
personal assistant that makes phone calls, mails letters, picks up your
dry cleaning and walks the dog when you're out of town. PR is the first
cousin to Advertising, and is charged with being the public face of an
organization and managing the impression it makes on everyone from
people in the street to politicians and business leaders. It doesn't do
so in a vacuum, but it is a type of expertise that is usually deferred
to on such matters.
Example transaction using PR:
Ruben: "I've written up my experiences at the Copyright Hearings. I'd
like it proofread and distributed to the local Free Software community
and the tech press. If possible, I'd also like it to be brought to the
attention of local news media and political offices. I think it should
be a rush item, with a 24 hour turnaround. I'm writing on behalf of the
Fair Use Committee."
PR: "No problem. We have someone available to go over the text, and
we'll send our revisions back for your approval. We'll let you know who
we submit it to, and if you have any specific recommendations we'll
follow through on them."
(Ruben gets the revised copy, signs off on it, and does nothing further
with the article. He soon receives a list of the groups/individuals who
received a copy.)
Such transactions will not always go so smoothly or perfectly, but we
all have to keep in mind that this is a volunteer organization that has
to work within the constraints of the members' outside obligations.
Marco's desire to address the problem of inactivity is a necessary one,
and I can personally think of some structural changes that may reduce
the problem somewhat. Likewise, the appearance, structure, and domain
details of the NYLXS site are Public Relations issues, because the site
is a public face of the organization that makes a manageable
impression. Applying a well-designed template system is a sign of PR in
action.
With an open, transparent and democratic process in place NYLXS stands a
good chance of becoming a leading Free Software Community representative
organization for a long time to come. I look forward to continued
success under this model, and to continued participation.
- Dave
____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
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