[Businessmtg] Beginners' Resource/Forum Refurb

[Steve Rankin]

Hi ASPers,


Confused newcomers has been a recurring issue at ASP since the beginning 20
years ago. 

Periodically, this issue has surfaced in the Steering Committee, and
sometimes we've reached a consensus regarding making changes to the Newcomer
Page, sometimes we've decided to leave it alone. Most recently the List
Administrator and web master decided between themselves to make changes to
this page, among others. 

Here are my thoughts on our Newcomer Page, as well as the rest of the ASP
website:

1. I'm sensing some control & ownership issues regarding the ASP website
that I think should be addressed.

	A. The ASP website is the "ASP website" and it belongs to ASP. It
doesn't belong to the Steering Committee, or the Web Master, or the List
Administrator. The Web Master's responsibility is "Maintains ASP web sites."

	B. The responsibility of the Steering Committee is to "Administer
all technical affairs of ASP." 


	c. The Business Meeting is "The Group Conscience of ASP on issues
not specifically delegated to the Steering Committee". 

Each of these points is contained in "The ASP Service Structure" page
established by the ASP group conscience on Feb 24, 2006. 
http://www.serenitysys.com/A_Serenity_Place/Business/nbm/structure.htm


It's pretty clear to me that the website belongs to ASP, and the
responsibility of the Steering Committee, including the Web Master, is
limited to maintaining the site and administering technical issues. 

The group conscience of ASP is reached in the Business Meeting that any
member of ASP may participate in. The group conscience of the Steering
Committee, which is closed to the general membership of ASP, does not have
the ultimate authority to make decisions at ASP.  

2. The voice and vote of ASP is the Business Meeting, not the Steering
Committee. The Steering Committee reports to the Business Meeting - or at
least they are supposed to - not the other way around. If someone disagrees
or is even just slightly confused by this, then I'd like to have that
discussion on the agenda of the next Business Meeting. 

3. Sandie said "I beg to differ on the Newcomers Page. I get frequent emails
saying how informative the Newcomers page and Thanks for the links to
podcasts.  I am not saying that it cannot have more information/writing
etc., I have never received a complaint saying that it was hard to
understand or complicated."

Wow, I don't recall ever hearing about compliments from newcomers about the
Newcomers page or thanks for links to podcasts. I'd really appreciate it if
Sandie would forward some of those emails. Since she gets them frequently,
perhaps a dozen or so would help us better understand the newcomer's
perspective so we can better make an informed decision. 

OTOH, I've heard of many, many problems involving newcomers as they struggle
to figure things out. The Steering Committee has had several discussions
over the years regarding the issue of newcomers not understanding a wide
variety of issues. 

That many newcomers continue to struggle with confusion tells me that we're
not done yet. 

Another thing that I've learned over the years is that the old-timers don't
have all the answers. This is especially true when it comes to relating to
newcomers. So, I'm really interested in what our newer members think we
could do that might have helped them when they got here. 

Hugs,
Steve