[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Index by Month]
[club_snail] Re: End of an Era (fwd)
Well guys, for those of your who go to the ACA conventions, here is a very
interesting editiorial
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 99 22:04:39
From: Gary L. Wagner <glwags@attglobal.net>
On Wed, 10 Nov 1999 20:19:24 -0800, Middleton, Joseph M. wrote:
>What editorial was that? Is it available online? Can Club Snail get a copy
>of it, with a few "shits and fucks" thrown in (if you wish) for good
>measure?
>
>Joe
>
>----------
Well Joe, you can print it if you want as long as you cite the November 1999
Cichlid Chatter as where it was originally published.
Please excuse fhe formatting, since the word processor I use for it doesn't
always treat text files nicely.
I really don't think any "shits or fucks" will add anything to the vitriol.
Something tells me that a few people are going to be mad at me.
Here it is in all of its (unedited) glory:
Notes from the Pond....
By Gary Wagner, GCCA
It is time for the tired old beast to roll over and
die.
It has been on it's deathbed most of this decade, and it
would only be appropriate for it to end it's suffering
before
Y2K. Yes, it is definitely time for the ACA to die.
The organization can either go gracefully on to the
graveyard like the elephant it is, or perhaps it will rise
from the funeral pyre like a legendary Phoenix. Either way,
it is definitely overdue to happen.
I've been a supporter of the ACA for most of the past
18
years. For the past year, I have not been a member, and
frankly I haven't missed it. I went to the ACA convention
and paid the same price as members. The only thing I don't
get from not being a member is the BB and the TP. In my
humble opinion, these haven't been worth the price of
postage
for a number of years.
Since the only good thing the ACA BOT does any more is
approve a convention site, I think we could do the same by
pulling names out of a hat. Or leaving it up to the cichlid
clubs that are readily available in the more populated areas
to rotate the convention among themselves. Either way, it
would be more productive than wasting good money on
perpetuating a lost cause. The ACA that was, is no longer
with us.
*****
When the ACA was founded, it was for the sharing of
information and fellowship of its members. Now its purpose
seems to be to produce gaudy publications, enlarge the
(otherwise insignificant) egos (and occasional pockets) of
certain Fellows, and assist greedy commercialized members
in finding markets for their culls.
If this sounds like an organization that has lost the
path it was founded upon, then you are getting my point.
The
ACA no longer provides the membership with information and
fellowship, but does provide a select few with rewards well
beyond their service to the rest of the membership. To say
that some members of the ACA have used the organization to
promote themselves, would be a definite understatement.
I don't tolerate this kind of behavior from my
children.
I wonder why I tacitly tolerated it in the ACA by regularly
paying dues when I knew that part of that money was used to
condone this deleterious activity. The ACA has been eaten
away from within by a cancer of self-serving committee heads
that have long outlived their usefulness.
Oh Cadre, go see the Padre, and beg clemency for your
sins! It may not be too late for you yet.
*****
There have been notable exceptions. People who have
bled for the ACA. Or maybe they were bled. All of the past
and current Membership Chairs qualify for this category.
The
job is the most vital to the ACA, and the least likely to be
recognized. Mediocre past chairs have become Fellows. Not
so for those that devote countless hours to keep the
organization running.
People like Gene Aldridge (who deserved his Fellow
status long before he got it), Tim Hovanec, John Kuhns, John
Benn, and Chuck Rambo among others worked through the '90s.
There have been lots of well meaning and highly dedicated
BOT
members who were buried by the impotence of the BOT to do
anything constructive if the Cadre prevents it.
The ACA has made only two changes in the '90s that
might
be noticed:
1.) Turned the BB into a pastelled refugee from a Miami
Vice episode.
2.) Created a speaker program.
*****
Let's just say that it is and has been my opinion that
the ACA's predestined miscarriage in their attempt to
compete
with the Cichlid News and other professional publications is
very much to blame for the state of the organization. If
you
fail that miserably in business, you cut your losses and
regroup. The ACA just keeps flushing more money down the
toilet.
I always thought that a speakers program should promote
new speakers. It should grow new talent for the
organization
and the hobby. It should judge the speakers in its program
each year. If some of the speakers are becoming "dead
weight" then they need to be cut loose and replaced. This
is
supposed to be a publicity function for the ACA, not a means
for someone to show the same old tired slides for the
umpteenth time. If you've outlived your audience's
interest,
it is time to quit.
*****
I realize that if anyone actually reads this column, I
might be taken to task. Be my guest. My phone number is in
this publication. My email address is glwags@ibm.net. I
attend almost all of the GCCA meetings, and I will most
probably be at the ACA Convention in Cleveland this coming
July. Hopefully, there will be a bonfire and not a dirge.
Cichlidiocy Forever!!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for the hottest sports memorabilia or sporting goods
specials? eBay has thousands of trading cards, sports autographs
and collectibles.You never know what you might find at eBay!
http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/1143
eGroup Home: http://www.egroups.com/group/club_snail/
http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications