Thank you David, for the recap of Pianotech Live. A very important message for our members, I think. As I wasn't able to be there, this is heartening and confirming to hear. Thanks for taking the time. William R. Monroe On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 8:44 PM, David Andersen < david at davidandersenpianos.com> wrote: > Ladies and gentlemen--- > > What I got from attending the Pianotech Live class at KC: (BTW, where were > y'all? Me, Pat Draine, and Jimi Aleggio were the only regular email list > users to appear) > > ---this whole listserv, the entire Pianotech Forum, has existed SOLELY > through the unpaid, unreimbursed, herculean efforts of Andy Rudoff---to the > tune of at least 20 hours a week---constantly, 24/7/365, for the last 12 or > 14 years. Add in Ron Berry's 10-12 hours per week---again COMPLETELY > volunteer---and that's the bed upon which we've lain like pashas, and what > has allowed our little list at its zenith to attract hundreds and hundreds > of interested, passionate lurkers, intelligent consumers, and possible > future piano artisans. They have allowed us to fulfill part of our > organization's mission statement: to continually provide education to the > membership and to the public at large. Without Andy and Ron, no email > Pianotech list, no digital community meeting house, no massive archive of > thousands of pianistic wisdom nuggets, no structure, no spam > control----nothin'. > > And it was all for free. And now, thank God for him, Andy has moved on. > Zeus has abandoned Olympus. Elvis has left the building. The engine dropped > out of the car. Hiring a replacement, suffering through the learning curve, > then paying current rates for a computer expert to do what apparently nobody > in our membership has the chops OR the time to do, would be untenable and > unworkable. and way, way too expensive. > > Andy Rudoff was the goose that kept on laying golden eggs; now he's > vanished in a puff of smoke, and if anything goes seriously sideways with > the list, we're in serious trouble, technically and financially. > > ---this change was worked on, thought about, agonized over, and given > massive amounts of energy by the past two presidents and their Boards. > They, however, apparently thought the listserv members were telepathic, and > failed to adequately communicate or contextualize ANYTHING that was going on > regarding pianotech and the entire migration/integration of our membership > onto a database that's not a nightmare. I heard two or three direct > apologies to me as the representative, so to speak, of consistent list > users---from Dale Probst, Phil Bondi, and Trevor Martin. BTW, all the PTG > execs in the world were there: Chris Solliday, Alan Gilreath, Jim Coleman > Jr., Norman Cantrell, members of the Electronic Communications > Committee---about a dozen execs. They were listening, and listening hard, > friends. They were open; they listened carefully to anything the listserv > members had to say. > > ---Kent Swofford is one of the coolest guys in the world. As a consistent > user AND and an executive, he was the moderator, and deeply understands the > concerns of both the execs and the members. He did a great job facilitating > authentic, honest communication, and clear, authentic communication, > face-to-face, is like healing ointment, as several present were heard to say > and affirm. > > ---That the execs are watching HL closely to see if they will actually do > what they promised, which was provide us a seamless interface for the > listserv and the web-based forum, and that they are ready to pull the plug > and go a different way if HL doesn't produce what they committed to > in short order---weeks, I believe was said. > > ---that at the end of the day, this IS a volunteer deal---and that we're > all on the same team. I would like everybody involved in this dialog to > remember that. There are no enemies, no adversaries here. I am on a men's > team that meets every week, for support, fun, relationship, and to help > each other honor our commitments and raise our game in all areas. Here is > one of our team standards: "bring what you're missing." > > It's so easy to bitch and moan from the sideline. I was missing clear > communication from the executive side, so I took action. I went to the > meeting. I began a personal dialogue with thre execs, Probst, Bondi, and > Coleman, so that this failure to communicate won't happen again. > Yesterday I made my first halting attempts to hook up thru myptg.org; I > had some issues; instead of swearing and asking enraged rhetorical questions > as if I had a rapt audience---I'm really good at both, very entertaining---I > reached out and asked for help, and got four replies with suggestions within > hours. I got one reply in minutes. They heard us. They're acting. > > ---bitching just pisses people off and moves nothing forward. > > ---a LOT of messages that are accepted on our list would ever be said in > person. They don't pass what I call the eyeball test: if you can say what > you say on the List while looking at the other person's eyes, have at it. If > you can't, or wouldn't, don't type it. Israel Stein, I'm thinking of you. > Way to shoot PTG in the foot. And I WOULD say that to you, gladly, looking > in your eyes. > > ---sarcasm doesn't play well via email; there are no mitigating > circumstances, no comforting body language, to soften the sour blow. > Again, the eyeball test. > > ---the PTG has committed to preserve the email listserv, as it is now, for > the foreseeable future---my take, until we can most of us be enrolled in a > tweaked listserv/forum hybrid that comes from our demands and the execs' > response. > > Whew. > > I don't know of the audio recording is listenable; our pal Duaine H. > thought not; if it is, you can hear what went down. > > Just my little bit to enable clarity and teamwork, kids----- > > DA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20110720/1d5283ba/attachment.htm>
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