Regarding Evan Koblentz and VCFed
In my earlier email I mentioned the creation of a new VCFed steering committee managing the museum and the collection at InfoAge. Some of you have asked about Evan’s role in this transition. Evan has chosen to leave his official role at the Vintage Computer Federation. As a founder of our group we had hoped that Evan would continue in his role as Executive Director of the VCFed organization and as a member of the steering committee. Evan has chosen to not be a part of this new organization. We all recognize that, without Evan, there would likely not have been a VCF East. He was also responsible for so many of the artifacts in our collection that might have gone to the scrapper instead of being saved for future generations to appreciate and understand. Evan has been critical in getting out the word on our community and has been the “social media” face of VCFed. Evan has contributed so much more to our group and our hobby that it would be impossible to list it all. It is my hope that Evan will finally be able to enjoy attending VCF East instead of running it and that he will be able to exhibit his Lego robots there for us all to enjoy. We will miss Evan as we move VCFed to this new management structure and thank him for his years of service. We also would like to thank you, the members, as well for your understanding as we move forward with our commitment to being the world’s best grass roots forum for computer collectors and enthusiasts from around the world. Thank you, Cheers, Corey corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey@vcfed.org www.vcfed.org
By the tone of the email as you say "we move VCFed to this new management structure" makes it sound like he was forced out because of his disagreement with said "new management structure".. And you ask "for your understanding" as you steamroll this whole new structure in.. Both of these emails are out of the blue, without any prior notification to us plebes.. *sigh* Bryan On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM corey cohen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In my earlier email I mentioned the creation of a new VCFed steering committee managing the museum and the collection at InfoAge. Some of you have asked about Evan’s role in this transition. Evan has chosen to leave his official role at the Vintage Computer Federation.
As a founder of our group we had hoped that Evan would continue in his role as Executive Director of the VCFed organization and as a member of the steering committee. Evan has chosen to not be a part of this new organization.
We all recognize that, without Evan, there would likely not have been a VCF East. He was also responsible for so many of the artifacts in our collection that might have gone to the scrapper instead of being saved for future generations to appreciate and understand. Evan has been critical in getting out the word on our community and has been the “social media” face of VCFed. Evan has contributed so much more to our group and our hobby that it would be impossible to list it all. It is my hope that Evan will finally be able to enjoy attending VCF East instead of running it and that he will be able to exhibit his Lego robots there for us all to enjoy.
We will miss Evan as we move VCFed to this new management structure and thank him for his years of service. We also would like to thank you, the members, as well for your understanding as we move forward with our commitment to being the world’s best grass roots forum for computer collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.
Thank you, Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey@vcfed.org www.vcfed.org
Using words like "steamroll" assumes we are operating in bad faith. Quite frankly, we've bent over backwards to both try to make Evan stick around (and feel good about it) while also providing room for more people to step up, have a say, and have a stake in what is going on. Evan agreed to the new structure and then decided after a very short period of trying it that he didn't want to continue on. Maybe it has more to do with burn-out than anything else. Please reserve judgement until you hear from all sides, including the ones who were in the room at the time. Evan's departure leaves a big gap for us, but there are a lot of other people working together (and not making a fuss about it) and I think that overall that's a good thing. Communication could be better. I understand the new structure was rolled out at Festivus, or at least the intention of moving to it. Written communication would have been preferable, but as Corey said they are working on the charter, mission statement, and ground rules. Some people view this as overhead, but we need this to happen to scale the group and take it to the next level. The new structure should help with communication. Mike On Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 8:26 PM Bryan Pope via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
By the tone of the email as you say "we move VCFed to this new management structure" makes it sound like he was forced out because of his disagreement with said "new management structure".. And you ask "for your understanding" as you steamroll this whole new structure in..
Both of these emails are out of the blue, without any prior notification to us plebes..
*sigh*
Bryan
On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM corey cohen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In my earlier email I mentioned the creation of a new VCFed steering committee managing the museum and the collection at InfoAge. Some of you have asked about Evan’s role in this transition. Evan has chosen to leave his official role at the Vintage Computer Federation.
As a founder of our group we had hoped that Evan would continue in his role as Executive Director of the VCFed organization and as a member of the steering committee. Evan has chosen to not be a part of this new organization.
We all recognize that, without Evan, there would likely not have been a VCF East. He was also responsible for so many of the artifacts in our collection that might have gone to the scrapper instead of being saved for future generations to appreciate and understand. Evan has been critical in getting out the word on our community and has been the “social media” face of VCFed. Evan has contributed so much more to our group and our hobby that it would be impossible to list it all. It is my hope that Evan will finally be able to enjoy attending VCF East instead of running it and that he will be able to exhibit his Lego robots there for us all to enjoy.
We will miss Evan as we move VCFed to this new management structure and thank him for his years of service. We also would like to thank you, the members, as well for your understanding as we move forward with our commitment to being the world’s best grass roots forum for computer collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.
Thank you, Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey@vcfed.org www.vcfed.org
Bryan, as Mike mentioned, this was announced at Festivus, and the formal announcements were planned on being sent out around the new year some three weeks later. We all wanted to enjoy our holiday and announce the details once they were all complete (by-laws, etc.) Evan was a part of this process, he and Corey were the ones who announced it at Festivus to the ~50 members that were in attendance. Evan was one of five votes on the new steering committee, and as Executive Director, his dealings with things outside of the mid-Atlantic were separate from the Steering Committee. (Other VCFs etc.) As of Tuesday we had spoken personally and during the monthly video conference and Evan was all about VCF East and the museum etc. Then the next day......this. Leaving was Evans choice (he and I spoke several times about him wanting to possibly step back after VCF East, something at the time he asked to keep between us.) Perhaps speaking with those involved and some of the over 4 dozen people that were at Festivus where this was discussed with Evan and Corey for over an hour would help before you pass judgement on the how’s and what’s of it. Tony Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 20, 2019, at 11:44 PM, Michael Brutman via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Using words like "steamroll" assumes we are operating in bad faith. Quite frankly, we've bent over backwards to both try to make Evan stick around (and feel good about it) while also providing room for more people to step up, have a say, and have a stake in what is going on. Evan agreed to the new structure and then decided after a very short period of trying it that he didn't want to continue on. Maybe it has more to do with burn-out than anything else.
Please reserve judgement until you hear from all sides, including the ones who were in the room at the time. Evan's departure leaves a big gap for us, but there are a lot of other people working together (and not making a fuss about it) and I think that overall that's a good thing.
Communication could be better. I understand the new structure was rolled out at Festivus, or at least the intention of moving to it. Written communication would have been preferable, but as Corey said they are working on the charter, mission statement, and ground rules. Some people view this as overhead, but we need this to happen to scale the group and take it to the next level. The new structure should help with communication.
Mike
On Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 8:26 PM Bryan Pope via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
By the tone of the email as you say "we move VCFed to this new management structure" makes it sound like he was forced out because of his disagreement with said "new management structure".. And you ask "for your understanding" as you steamroll this whole new structure in..
Both of these emails are out of the blue, without any prior notification to us plebes..
*sigh*
Bryan
On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM corey cohen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In my earlier email I mentioned the creation of a new VCFed steering committee managing the museum and the collection at InfoAge. Some of you have asked about Evan’s role in this transition. Evan has chosen to leave his official role at the Vintage Computer Federation.
As a founder of our group we had hoped that Evan would continue in his role as Executive Director of the VCFed organization and as a member of the steering committee. Evan has chosen to not be a part of this new organization.
We all recognize that, without Evan, there would likely not have been a VCF East. He was also responsible for so many of the artifacts in our collection that might have gone to the scrapper instead of being saved for future generations to appreciate and understand. Evan has been critical in getting out the word on our community and has been the “social media” face of VCFed. Evan has contributed so much more to our group and our hobby that it would be impossible to list it all. It is my hope that Evan will finally be able to enjoy attending VCF East instead of running it and that he will be able to exhibit his Lego robots there for us all to enjoy.
We will miss Evan as we move VCFed to this new management structure and thank him for his years of service. We also would like to thank you, the members, as well for your understanding as we move forward with our commitment to being the world’s best grass roots forum for computer collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.
Thank you, Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey@vcfed.org www.vcfed.org
I'm on the new Steering Committee, and I'd like to give my perspective about information dissemination. I recently became involved in VCF and I was lucky enough to be close (1.5-2 hour) to drive to InfoAge Center where VCF events happen. I made the commitment to myself to attend every Repair day in 2019. Over the past year I met and got to know many of the people who tirelessly run VCF and some of the things that they had planned to make it better. I became even more interested in contributing my time for running the foundation.... It comes down to member involvement--- meeting and working/learning with people and making new friendships and making things go up in smoke. If more members show up for the repair days more membership will know what is going on, outside the mailing-list and forums... I believe that the new Steering Committee is going to provide more open, inclusive, and documented avenues for member involvement, so that pathways for people to become involved will be more clear with more opportunity for anyone with the time. Meanwhile, I encourage anyone who wants to talk and meet- come to a repair day and find me, I'll talk at any length on what is going on and what members can do. I plan on again going to every Repair Day, and certainly the 2020 Festival. If you are interested in meeting up drop me an email so we can confirm. Nobody is a plebe here, we are all members with a drive to explore and fix some amazing hardware that would be lost otherwise. -andy
On Dec 20, 2019, at 11:26 PM, Bryan Pope via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Both of these emails are out of the blue, without any prior notification to us plebes..
On Fri, Dec 20, 2019 at 11:26 PM Bryan Pope via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
By the tone of the email as you say "we move VCFed to this new management structure" makes it sound like he was forced out because of his disagreement with said "new management structure".. And you ask "for your understanding" as you steamroll this whole new structure in..
Both of these emails are out of the blue, without any prior notification to us plebes..
Bryan you know me. You know my personality and what I have done for VCF: co-ran VCF East for the past few years, organized Festivus and repair workshops for the past few years, organized TCF, Maker Faire and HOPE exhibits for VCF. You know that I have volunteered with this organization for 11 years alongside Evan. You also know Evan's personality as well. I am a straight shooter and I tell it like it is. I can tell you that Evan resigned suddenly and without warning based on an emotional response. He told no one before he did it and it was a surprise to everyone that he did it, *and* he did it publicly. In no way was he forced out. In fact the steering committee bent over backwards to listen to him and accommodate his opinions and desires. He had an equal voice and vote in the new steering committee. I can also tell you that this isn't the first time that Evan quit in the past year. It was the third time. The first two times he did it privately and we allowed him time to cool off, apologize and come back. We accommodated him, explained things to him and allowed him to be heard. Basically he saw things through his own lens and not that of others. We didn't want him to depart because we would lose his experience and devotion of vintage computers and VCF. He did some good things for the organization, but like many founders, he found it difficult to adapt to changes as the organization grew bigger and needed rules, structure and organization. These are things that Evan abhorred. It was fine as a startup like MARCH, but not now. I can tell you that the guys running the steering committee are smart, motivated and mature. I love them being part of the planning. The changes Corey and I have done in the museum the last few months has made it come alive. I'm excited to have growth, development and focus in the museum and look forward to the new direction of Vintage Computer Federation.
*sigh*
Bryan
On Thu, Dec 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM corey cohen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In my earlier email I mentioned the creation of a new VCFed steering committee managing the museum and the collection at InfoAge. Some of you have asked about Evan’s role in this transition. Evan has chosen to leave his official role at the Vintage Computer Federation.
As a founder of our group we had hoped that Evan would continue in his role as Executive Director of the VCFed organization and as a member of the steering committee. Evan has chosen to not be a part of this new organization.
We all recognize that, without Evan, there would likely not have been a VCF East. He was also responsible for so many of the artifacts in our collection that might have gone to the scrapper instead of being saved for future generations to appreciate and understand. Evan has been critical in getting out the word on our community and has been the “social media” face of VCFed. Evan has contributed so much more to our group and our hobby that it would be impossible to list it all. It is my hope that Evan will finally be able to enjoy attending VCF East instead of running it and that he will be able to exhibit his Lego robots there for us all to enjoy.
We will miss Evan as we move VCFed to this new management structure and thank him for his years of service. We also would like to thank you, the members, as well for your understanding as we move forward with our commitment to being the world’s best grass roots forum for computer collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.
Thank you, Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey@vcfed.org www.vcfed.org
-- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President Vintage Computer Federation
He did some good things for the organization
"Some good things" as if I was a mildly productive guy who happened to pass through. I can say this without the slightest whiff of arrogance or exaggeration: the group would not exist if not for me. Maybe too many new-timers don't know it. I don't mean it in the current sense, as if it can't go on without me (although it will definitely suffer harshly, as so many people told me privately this week). I mean it in the literal sense. Back in 2004-2005, the group would never have formed nor grown beyond a few buddies hanging out online, if not for me. The museum, VCF East, the new VCF West, and most of the artifacts would not be here if not for me. "Some good things"... yeah okay, Jeff. More like "the entire thing".
Hello Corey, Thank you for letting us know the Board’s perspective. I would say the situation is much as I expected, a group of amateurs turning professional is always painful.
On Dec 19, 2019, at 2:41 PM, corey cohen via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In my earlier email I mentioned the creation of a new VCFed steering committee managing the museum and the collection at InfoAge. Some of you have asked about Evan’s role in this transition. Evan has chosen to leave his official role at the Vintage Computer Federation.
As a founder of our group we had hoped that Evan would continue in his role as Executive Director of the VCFed organization and as a member of the steering committee. Evan has chosen to not be a part of this new organization.
We all recognize that, without Evan, there would likely not have been a VCF East. He was also responsible for so many of the artifacts in our collection that might have gone to the scrapper instead of being saved for future generations to appreciate and understand. Evan has been critical in getting out the word on our community and has been the “social media” face of VCFed. Evan has contributed so much more to our group and our hobby that it would be impossible to list it all. It is my hope that Evan will finally be able to enjoy attending VCF East instead of running it and that he will be able to exhibit his Lego robots there for us all to enjoy.
The passion that drove Evan while forming this organization is alawys right below the surface and he is obviously uncomfortable with something about the organization. I would like to see the Board acknowledge Evans foundational work by some sort of substantial naming, such as naming the archive to this date after him. I think this would be a nice gesture of good faith by the board. I’m also believe it is very in-appropriate for board member to gossip about private board conversations on a public mailing list. I hope the next time the board gets together you review the how wrong that is. Thank you, Ben
We will miss Evan as we move VCFed to this new management structure and thank him for his years of service. We also would like to thank you, the members, as well for your understanding as we move forward with our commitment to being the world’s best grass roots forum for computer collectors and enthusiasts from around the world.
Thank you, Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ Vintage Computer Federation, a federal 501c3 designated charity 917-747-1408 mobile corey@vcfed.org www.vcfed.org
participants (8)
-
Andrew Diller -
Ben Greenfield -
Bryan Pope -
corey cohen -
Evan Koblentz -
Jeffrey Brace -
Michael Brutman -
Tony Bogan