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MikeTJumps

WOW! Responses to BOD notes posting

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It's not a copout. When Chris Welker posted on here that a crash at our dz would have happened anyway regardless of wingloading because that particular jumper was hell bent on breaking himself despite the fact that everyone was telling him to slow it down, he got tarred and feathered by people who had no idea of the personalities involved. Hell, people from other regions were threatening to try to get him impeached from the BoD because of it, and people who skydive on other continents were sending him profane e-mails.

He might not have made his point as well as he could have, but the hoopla around it certainly provides evidence against your post.

Brent

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www.jumpelvis.com

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It's not a copout. When Chris Welker posted on here that a crash at our dz would have happened anyway regardless of wingloading because that particular jumper was hell bent on breaking himself despite the fact that everyone was telling him to slow it down, he got tarred and feathered by people who had no idea of the personalities involved. Hell, people from other regions were threatening to try to get him impeached from the BoD because of it, and people who skydive on other continents were sending him profane e-mails.

He might not have made his point as well as he could have, but the hoopla around it certainly provides evidence against your post.

Brent



I must have missed that thread. Got a link?

.
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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

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I can see the point Mike makes about the frequency of ad hominem arguments here, especially in the so-called topical forums. I know quite a few people who wouldn't even consider posting here because of the things they've read, not because they've been attacked themselves.

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If the USPA actually cares about what skydives have to say, they would pay attention to sites like DZ.com. Does their website get more hits that this one? Which do they think skydivers frequent?

If they cared what we thought, they would go to where we are rather than making us come to them.



Why not just get dz.com become the new USPA. Hey since all the answers here why do we need the USPA at all. Just make dz.com an association that can offer 3rd party liability insurance, deal with the government, handle all the competition, etc....
:S:S
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

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I know quite a few people who wouldn't even consider posting here because of the things they've read, not because they've been attacked themselves.



If the BOD members wanted to do their job, and serve the membership, they would use every outlet available to them in order to do it.

It like anyone in sales. A guy who wants to succeed will knock on doors, make cold calls, send e-mails, snail mail, whatver it tkaes. The guys who hang out and wait for the phone to ring are the ones who are just 'geting by'.

There's no reason any BOD member couldn't use DZ.com as a tool. Post issues, and ideas, and read the feedback. There's no requirement for them to reply to anything. We'll post our thoughts, and I guarantee that any question, point or counterpoint a BOD might want to make via a reply, another poster will chime in a make the point for them.

It's really the best scenario possible for them. Hundreds of skydivers, of all experience levels, and from all over the globe, gathered together in one spot. They can post a statement or topic for discussion, and then read the replies at their leisure.

Try the same thing live, maybe at the WFFC, and see what happens. I'm guessing yelling, and general disorder for several hours.

It's simple. This is another area where the USPA is dragging behind the rest of the world. Their refusal to look ahead, and make changes is because they are too tied to the past, and the way things used to be done.

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There's no reason any BOD member couldn't use DZ.com as a tool. Post issues, and ideas, and read the feedback. There's no requirement for them to reply to anything. We'll post our thoughts, and I guarantee that any question, point or counterpoint a BOD might want to make via a reply, another poster will chime in a make the point for them.



It was tried and failed horribly because of the people on here. No one was willing to discuss. All they did was yell and scream all call people names (not the BOD, but the posters).

Why can't you send an e-mail to your regional director or to the whole board with your thoughts and concerns. And if you do, don't get pissed if they don't agree. If you want it your way try burger king.

Ever picked up a phone and call them?

Ever been to a BOD meeting?

As has been stated here many times, its an unpaid job, they know it and so do you. If you don't like it elect someone else that WILL do your bidding.

Not everyone reads dz.com. Not all jumpers and not all bod.

USPA publishes a magazine that is sent to every single member. I don't know a much better way to make sure each member as an opportunity to get involved.

Less than 10% of the membership actually votes. Its very sad and pathetic that 90% of the membership doesn't give a shit who runs the show.
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

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I've emailed the enitre BOD many times in the past and asked for a reply even if they did'nt have an answer or opinion but more to make sure the mail came through and they read it. I did'nt get a reply from many of them. I've talked to my RD many times and we have spoke on the phone and in person on issues. I really like Sherry because of that. Some of the ND's that don't even bother to respond to emails frustrate me since I'm a member and I'm trying to talk to them but they don't want to listen it seems. :|
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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If the BOD members wanted to do their job, and serve the membership, they would use every outlet available to them in order to do it.

Its like anyone in sales. A guy who wants to succeed will knock on doors, make cold calls, send e-mails, snail mail, whatver it tkaes.



With the ONLY exception being they DON'T GET PAID!!! I highly doubt that you would be out selling coffee for the betterment of Juan V!!!!

So how about we raise membership $10 a year (30,000x$10=$300,000 / by 20 board members = $15,000 a year to serve) THEN people will be more likely to listen and make changes no?

How's things in Ohio Dave? ;)

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Unfortunatly headquarters is slightly understaffed they way it is



No reason why it would have to be set up or maintained by USPA staff. I'm sure there are plenty of web savvy members who would be capable of doing so and willing to volunteer their time.



Web savvy and web professional I've found to be in two completely different realms. Web savvy is generally not the right way to go if you're going for the professional image.
------
Michael

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Web savvy and web professional I've found to be in two completely different realms. Web savvy is generally not the right way to go if you're going for the professional image.



How 'professional' does it need to be to save lives?

We're skydivers, not golfers.

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At the last summer BOD meeting a few Board members were slightly uninformed on a few issues
because they don't and admitted to not checking their e-mails.



Did any of them give a reason? If it was something like "I don't know how to run a computer", then
yeah, maybe the membership needs to elect people that don't have that problem. (If you're involved in
the management of a national organization in 2006, not knowing how to read and send email is pretty
much equivalent to not knowing how to receive or place a telephone call, IMHO.) If it was something
else, like "The mail server kept giving me errors" or "I get too much spam", _those_ things are fixable
by adjusting the software, and should be fixed.

As far as the idea that USPA management doesn't post on rec.skydiving or dropzone.com because
they get flamed too much... well, it's the Internet - thin-skinned people need not apply.

I note that dropzone.com had a forum for the USPA BOD elections, so it seems reasonable that
Sangiro might be willing to create a general USPA forum (and a BPA forum, and a DFV forum, etc).
dropzone.com already has all the infrastructure in place, so USPA wouldn't have to host it on their
own machine (which would fall over anyway). Also, as has been noted, dropzone.com is probably a
slightly more popular destination for skydivers than uspa.org . It might have to be moderated more
heavily than some of the other forums, but I think it would serve a useful function.

Also, as far as I can tell, the USPA doesn't say anywhere "If you want to bring something up, here's
how to do it." You can get the contact information for the regional and national directors from the
Web site or Parachutist, and the S&TA contacts from the Web site. But I'm not sure that there's
much to tell J. Random Jumper "if you have something you want to bring up with the USPA, talk
to the S&TA, then the RD (or whatever is appropriate) - here is how to get ahold of them." It
might be good to have some information like this on the Web site, in Parachutist, and maybe even
on the letter that comes with your new membership card.

Another idea might be an announcement-type email list for things like meeting notices and agendas.
The keys here would be to keep it relatively low-volume, like one or two emails a month, so people
would pay attention to it when it comes, and to NEVER RENT, SELL, OR GIVE AWAY THE
SUBSCRIBER LIST - in other words, don't make it yet another venue for spam.

Going a little further afield, I wonder if it would be useful to have Parachutist online? I know it's
being laid out on a computer; these days it's not hard to generate a PDF of exactly what went to
the printer. It might be a good idea to require a login with USPA member number and password
to read it. This would tend to take a lot of bandwidth and would probably make the uspa.org server
fall over, though.

Anyway, those are some thoughts on how communication between the USPA and the membership
could be improved in both directions.

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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With the ONLY exception being they DON'T GET PAID!!!



No, they don't get paid, but they also aren't inducted to the BOD at gunpoint either.

Even if we didn't have the best RD of any region, I wouldn't run for RD because I don't have the time to commit to doing the job properly (lets leave the likelyhood of my actually being elected out of this).

If you're going to run, if you're going to put yourself out there and ask for votes based on your porjected performance, you have a duty to follow through with that.

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I agree we probally have the best RD in the nation here in Ohio! If she leaves, that will have a huge hole for us and I'm not able to think of anyone that could come close to filling it. I'd run just to fill it but I could'nt do the job a tenth as well as Sherry does it.

On another note the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot is insane compared to the number of jumpers out there. I think via my estimate you'd need over 200+ sigs to get on for our region. Shy of visiting every DZ and getting most to support you I don't see that happening to anyone.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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I was right in the middle of the Coach Rating changes regarding SL and IAD DZs working with FF students. I submitted the waiver which was approved at the Summer 05 meeting. I submitted an update/resubmittal for that waiver for review to Winter 06 meeting. I had multiple emails between myself, RD, S&T chair, and I had no idea that they were considering making overall changes to basically make that waiver universal. It was as much of a surprise to me as I would guess it was to all. Maybe Mike Perry was the only person on the face of the earth that knew he was interested in pursuing this rule change. I also had heard, nor seen anything regarding the change to allow D license skydivers to jump with “Self Supervision Students”.

Martin Myrtle
Air Capital Drop Zone
Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

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No, they don't get paid, but they also aren't inducted to the BOD at gunpoint either.



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If you're going to run, if you're going to put yourself out there and ask for votes based on your porjected performance, you have a duty to follow through with that.



Then there are a few RD who are currently doing the job because if they didn't...no one else would. There have been regions without a RD because nobody wants the job. To be honest I think it's a pretty fruitless job! No pay, you have to deal with a bunch of whiny skydivers, be tied up several times a year away from family and business, and deal with the DZ's who feel the BSR's aren't that big of a deal.(not to mention using appropiately rated I's)

ALL as a volunteer...and to qoute you on the subject of volunteering services,
"These are the realities of working on the DZ. To suggest that someone do it for free is a long shot, but a maybe. To suggest that someone do it at their own cost is delusional."

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