Re: [AGA-mcm] Forum "purchasing"

[" Mike Hellweg" <mhellweg511@charter.net>]

I've been kinda watching this from the sidelines as I have little interest 
in or time for online forums.  What I have to say below may upset a few 
folks, but, hey, I'm quiet most of the time!  ; )

First of all, I think the idea of the AGA running a plant forum is way over 
due, and should have been done years ago.  Actually, since I don't really 
pay attention to such things, I thought we were doing so already.

However, it seems that there are several active, well-established, and 
popular plant hobby forums out there right now, so we may just wind up 
putting something out there that few will use.  We won't know until it's up 
and running.  So I would suggest we should probably start out small and 
gauge the response from there.  A huge, empty board will look bad for the 
AGA.

As for spending:  I think spending the membership's money on something that 
we may or may not use is not in the best interest of the membership.  Just 
"cause we've got the money"  or "we're going to spend the money anyway" 
(both of which I have read and heard in the past) isn't a responsible way to 
handle the membership's money, nor is it a reason to spend it.

I know it's beating a dead horse, but we've already wasted a ton of the 
members money over the past few years on useless things (such as buying PAM- 
which we're now looking to almost throw at any club that asks, just to get 
rid of them).  Same thing with buying books that our members can also buy 
elsewhere.

If it's something unique and available to AGA members only (such as a 
translation - or an AGA published book), that's one thing - a good use of 
membership money and a benefit of joining the AGA.  But if anyone can buy 
and sell them anywhere online, it's neither worth our effort, nor is it a 
good use of members' money.

My two cents...

Mike

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