As was announced here a few weeks ago, Susan, Mica and I decided to institute some changes to our board. We felt this necessary as a result of what seemed to be an overriding feeling among the three of us, and among many, perhaps most, of our members, that the general tone here had become more confrontational and somewhat unsettling.
Back in December I started falling behind in my moderating duties; I was focused on other things and wasn?t making time for the board. These ?other things? are not unimportant, and my guess is that going forward less of my time will be available to do moderating stuff here. However, that?s not the whole story.
In the past I have posted numerous times about how this place was a refuge for me, and of course many of you have posted similar comments. However, over this past winter I realized that our Alembic club no longer felt like a refuge for me. The atmosphere here, as many of you had acknowledged to me and to Mica and Susan, had changed.
In my view, the Alembic Club is an integral and important part of Alembic the business. There are lots of page hits here by non-members who are looking to learn about Alembic basses and guitars and preamps. If a visitor?s first impression of Alembic is in a Factory to Customer thread where they get to see a beautiful custom order being built, then that?s helpful to Alembic the business. If a visitor?s first impression of Alembic is in a Factory to Customer thread where our members are trashing each other, then that?s not necessarily helpful to Alembic the business.
This past winter there were two threads that delved into the issue of the time it takes for a custom order to be completed. Now I feel that it is completely understandable for this to be a concern when you?ve invested a not inconsiderable amount of money or perhaps sold other instruments to finance the project. But it?s a small shop and extraordinary events can impact a small shop. That said, even in the best of times, the process can still take time. And Mica and Susan know that stuff happens in your lives too. Mica discussed with me how she feels miscommunication on both sides in conversations between her and expectant owners can result in frustration for everyone. She and Susan are now discussing a significant change in how they report on the progress of custom orders that will hopefully alleviate some of the miscommunication about where instruments are in the build process.
It is, in my view, certainly understandable that one might wish to inform others that a particular company takes what that person concludes to be an inordinate amount of time to complete a custom build. But none of us ever fully knows what others may be going through at any particular point in time. It?s a small shop. It?s a small family run business. It?s a small family run business that focuses on high quality craftsmanship and extreme attention to detail. Part of placing a custom order with such a shop is hoping the place doesn?t get hit by swine flu and that Northern California doesn?t suffer a significant earthquake. So, while your wish to help others by informing them of what you perceive to be inordinate delays might seem to be reasonable, I would respectfully request that some consideration be given to the fact that none of us fully knows what others are experiencing, that none of us ever knows the full story, and that perhaps the front page (Alembic Basses & Guitars) of our club?s web site, so generously provided by our hosts at Alembic, is perhaps not the best place for expressing such perceptions.
They really are good people at heart, (as well as being the best instrument makers in the world). Mica really does try to be everything and to do everything for everybody. When you call on the phone or when you stop by the shop, they will spend as much time with you as they can. It?s who they are. They love people, and they love spending time with you, and they love building amazingly wonderful instruments for you. At Alembic, a small number of people have to handle a large and widely variable set of tasks. The same people who are scouting out the best woods and designing the artwork for inlays, are the same people that are doing the accounting, maintaining the website, and writing the advertising, are the same people that are taking the time to patiently explain to the platers why they are rejecting all of the pieces they?ve been waiting weeks for, are the same people that are hosting the dealers and the Alembic club members on their visits, are the same people that are repairing the server when it goes down, are the same people that are sitting by family members in the hospital. It?s a small shop, doing extraordinarily highly skilled precision craftsmanship.
Again, it?s understandable that one can become frustrated that it can take a long time for an instrument to be completed. But it can be helpful just to remember to breathe.
Which gets me back to the overall topic of the change in atmosphere around here, and to the real point of this post. Over the past year or so, a number of long time members have been posting less or have stopped posting all together; and Susan and Mica and I have been told by many that it?s because it?s just not as fun anymore. The sense of camaraderie has diminished. Boorish behavior has disappointed many who have found other activities to focus on. Now obviously this isn?t true of every thread. But many have expressed to me and to Mica and Susan how they have perceived that the board has changed.
So we had a long talk.
And we think that perhaps a few changes might be helpful.
As mentioned above, how Alembic reports to its customers on the progress of custom builds will change. There will be an effort to communicate more effectively on the progress of the build.
We decided to add additional moderators; and once we decided on that, we quickly mentioned three names, and agreed on all three. In retrospect, we could probably have mentioned dozens more, as we have so many dedicated and knowledgeable members; but we stopped at three. And fortunately, all three, Adriaan, Art, and Keith, decided to take on the challenge. They?ve already been forced to sit through a number of meetings, and have put in many hours of preparation.
We want to suggest some guidelines on the issue of thread hijacking. Generally, thread hijacking as has been practiced by the members of our group has been a rather enjoyable aspect of our communications with each other. These diversions have led to some quite interesting places and are a part of our culture. There are, however, a few places where we think hijacking should be discouraged. We will mark these sections accordingly, and we hope that you will find our choices reasonable. These sections are Troubleshooting, Serial Number Requests, Wood Bank, For Sale, Wanted, Factory to Customer, Showcase, and Dreaming For Now. Additionally, the Introductions sections shouldn?t stray from conversation with the new member who starts the thread.
When a build that is featured in the Factory to Customer section is completed, that thread will be closed and the instrument?s owner will be invited to start a Showcase thread featuring the newly completed instrument.
Posting pictures of other instruments in someone else?s Showcase thread or Factory to Customer thread will be discouraged. If a picture of a different instrument could be helpful in a discussion about the build in a Factory to Customer thread, then a link to the picture might be the way to go.
As mentioned above, I ?announced? that there would be rule changes a few weeks ago. Right after I made my post, in which I stated ?incivility and disruptive behavior will not be tolerated?, I found myself editing out the text of two posts made by one of our members. The response from club members to my post, and perhaps to the confrontation that followed that post, seem to indicate strong support for such a rule. Thus, we will try to respond more directly to boorish, disruptive, or narcissistic behavior, and to hurtful and thoughtless comments.
We?ve never banned anyone. It does seem that, human beings being human beings, there may be times that individuals may choose to act in ways that are overly disruptive to our community. Neither Susan, nor Mica, nor I want to ban anyone. But it does now seem to us that, given the dynamics of large groups of people of disparate backgrounds, congregating in the wilds of the world wide web, there may be times when it may be necessary to at the very least have a serious off board discussion when the need arises. We do of course have limited means with which to intercede in disagreements. We can?t physically sit down with someone over coffee, as much as we would love to do anything we can to help.
I tend to think that we all have what I feel are ingrained habitual patterns of behavior that are difficult to overcome and that can at times find expression despite whatever our better natures may see in times of more clarity, ingrained patterns of reactivity that we have developed as we have sought to survive from early childhood through to this present moment. And, in my view, there have been examples of such behaviors here recently that have at times been overly disruptive for the group as a whole, and to a degree that we are simply not equipped to accommodate. It is my hope that all of us can learn to recognize those behaviors and reactive patterns within us that tend to cause us and others harm; and learn to work to lessen the power those patterns have on us, opening our hearts to the goodness, to the compassion for our fellow human beings, that dwells within each of us.
As mentioned above, a few weeks ago there was a confrontation wherein I deleted the text of two posts made by one of our members. As a result, it appears that the member has decided to leave the group. Personally, his departure is disappointing for me, as it seemed to me that he really loved being a part of our community. And as difficult a prospect as it may be, I do want all of our members to be happy here and to feel welcomed. It can be difficult to know what the best course of action is, it can be difficult to know how people will react, and it can be difficult to know how events will play out.
But here we are.
Several members have mentioned to me recently that they perceive a new change in the overall feel of our board, that things are now lighter, friendlier, etc. And I?ve noticed that change as well. And I have a good feeling about our way forward with the help we?ll be getting from Adriaan, Art and Keith.
Once again, I want to thank you all for making this community the place that it is.
