All,
Some of you may have seen the unedifying correspondence between me, in my role as Chairman, and one of the Free Users of the Forum. This has resulted in his permanent banning not only due to his unwillingness to acknowledge that he is only using the club facilities on a try-before-you-buy basis and might want to consider contributing to our ongoing costs by paying subs to become a member, but also because his posts became ever more vituperous and began to fall outside of the behaviour expected by the club. As a result, I feel I should create this topic to clarify the situation regarding free users, and put people's minds at ease.
The idea of having free users is so that someone can sign up and get a flavour of the club, before deciding whether it's something they want to be part of. If they want to join, they pay the annual ?26-odd subs and are automatically upgraded to an SEC Member. We charge a fee in order to cover the costs of running the club - web hosting, software rental, purchase of goods for the Regalia shop, blah blah blah. So obviously if we didn't have paying members, the club would fold as it wouldn't be able to pay its way. Bear in mind that the people who administer the club take no payment for their efforts and neither do they claim expenses for such as petrol etc. if travelling on club business. This is also true of any members organising events - they do it for the benefit of the members, and not for personal reward.
Well that's the theory, but here in the real world people will tend to sign up and not bother joining the club. As it happens, and as I said in my exchanges with our banned "friend", I'm fine with those who only pop by every now and then and only make the occasional post, so long as they realise that their hanging around doesn't carry the same weight in the club as that of a full member, and that they're only here on the sufferance of those members.
As Chairman, I'm here to manage the club; and so, if I feel like I need to give someone a nudge to become a member, I'll do so. If that person declines my request and gives me a good reason why, I'm open to letting them continue as they were. However, if someone who's been hanging around for years gets shirty when I ask, and starts to make a scene, then that smacks of entitlement and rudeness and the eventual result will be, as our former associate has discovered, that they'll be removed.
Going forward, it's been mooted that we look at restricting free users to a certain period, after which they'll have to join if they wish to continue. It's a pain, but as ever, it only takes one or two to queer the pitch for everyone else. We'll see how that goes, and if it's implemented, notification will be made on here. But for now, it's business as usual.
As an aside, one of the accusations levelled at me was that the club wasn't what it used to be and wasn't worth the money. Pretty rich given that he didn't pay us any money, but what he failed to appreciate is that the club isn't the committee, or any one person - it's the members. Therefore, if anyone wants to see some sort of event or feature or whatever, feel free to have a go at organising it! Your subs aren't paying for the committee to organise your fun activities, it's just to keep the club going....needless to say, when I asked our "friend" if he'd like to create something to improve the club and for the benefit of the members, he sidestepped the question and continued with his previous pointlessness. Hey ho.
Right, I've said what I need to. But if you're a free user, and I ask if you'd like to contribute to the club, remember to respond civilly, reasonably and logically!
Thanks for reading!
Chairman Norm
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Originally Posted by Guy Mayers
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