Re: AIS: Bulletins, Changes, Membership

On Feb 12, 2006, at 1:51 AM, Robt R Pries wrote:


 I have often heard criticisms of AIS on this forum.
They often imply that the board of directors is not
willing to change. I can not tell whether that is true
or not. But the same voices that are often critical
have objected to the change I have suggested. The
change I have suggested is creating a plain paper
supplement for AIS business so that the body of the
bulletin could contain more articles.
I do not object to this idea, and in fact it may be a good idea even if it is more expensive.
And it may be more expensive. Sure non-glossy stock is less expensive than glossy stock. It weighs less too.
But, there is the additional cost of laying it out separately, having a separate press run (but B&W is cheaper than 4 color), handling and packaging it separately, and dealing with mailing two documents together.

I don't know whether all the above applies nor how much, but I am saying it is not necessarily cheaper. It still may be better.

I think one of the problems is that most seem to think we can do whatever we want to AIS and the bulletin. The fact is that we can't. For instance, we are the world wide registry for irises. Among other things that means that we have to publish a hard copy of the registrations. We can't just stop and do it all electronically. No, nobody in this thread has suggested that we do, but it is a subject that has come up in the past. We can't just take all the society information out of the bulletin. Certain information has to be published. Maybe a supplement is better.

Does the symposium ballot come packaged with the bulletin? I seem to remember that something came that way sometime in the past 8 years. Maybe there are some cost figures to be found.

But the reaction
to this has been that I am trying to take away the
judges list, etc. I hear on television how politicians
try to define their opponents in a way that is
unacceptable so that their ideas will not be accepted.
I can understand the frustration of having someone put
words into your mouth. To imply that because I would
like to change the format of a judges list, somehow I
am not interested in the activity of the society seems
totally unfair. I know of very few people who work as
hard for the society as I do each year in many areas.
To say that the fruits of my labors should not be
considered a product seems ridiculous. I try to
produce many products as part of my efforts and I
listen to suggestions for their improvement, I hope
they continue to be better and better.
If someone misstates your position would it not be better just to restate it in new terms?


It seems to me
a small change in taking business items off slick
paper and printing them in a less expensive way.

See above.


The
goal is to provide more information not less. The two
stimuli for this action are decline in membership and
balancing the budget. It appears that when suggestions
are made the response from some is we cant change.
Yet I have not seen suggestions for solving these
problems.
In some cases an individual may not have a good solution in mind, but is it not just as important to know that you are about to start a flawed process? When you change horses, you should want to know that the ride you are about to climb on is better that the one you are leaving. Asking questions about, or addressing weaknesses in a proposed action in an open forum will always yield a better result in the long run.

It is not an insult nor a slur on the original proposer.


In business there is a saying repeating the
same thing and expecting different results is
insanity. The statement that the AIS has no goals and
that its officials dont care is untrue. It is an
example of the WE verses THEM argument. The AIS board
is representative of its membership and just as
complicated. I have heard opinions now both pro and
con. So a decision either way would be reflective of
some members position. To suggest that the AIS does
not have or understand its mission is only saying that
you may not agree with an action, but it is unfair to
stereotype the organization as not being passionate
about its mandate. I would suggest that I am very
passionate about Iris. I contribute to this forum
because I believe in an exchange of ideas. I am sorry
when someone distorts what I am saying no matter how
eloquently they do it.

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John                | "There be dragons here"
                         |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                         |  to indicate the edge of the known world.

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