[vcf-midatlantic] Moving forward

[laurakid]

....  All infighting aside, This discussion has helped me to understand more about VCF and has me excited that maybe I can help out now.  I was very active helping before VCF East 2018 and a little here and there up until my friend had surgery and needed my help in April 2019.  I hated having to miss VCF East 2019 but my friend’s surgery and recovery took awhile.  C’est les vis.
I am particularly excited to hear about warehouse improvements!  The dust and dirt and crazy climate fluctuations always concerned me.  I hope I can help out there.  As those who have worked with me know, I am willing and able to do the oddest of odd jobs and also am capable of some heavy lifting (Roller Derby).
Speaking of Roller Derby, these sorts of arguments go on in that world too.  It is also a group of dedicated, unpaid volunteers running a non-profit labor of love.  But some of that fighting is likely quelled because we actually can hit each other (or could, before covid).
I sincerely hope I can become more present in the group as I was in 2018.  I was just getting to know VCF and many of you.  I am an outsider in that I am not a hobbyist and have limited knowledge of the actual history and technology VCF is about, but that is precisely what made me want to volunteer in the first place.  My mom did her dissertation on a Commodore 64.  I brought a “luggable” computer to my first year of college in 1994.  I am truly fascinated and would love to learn more.  (Before the Neptune Radio Shack closed down I would spend time browsing different parts and soldering kits, wishing I knew what they were for and how to work with them).
I apologize for the rambling.  I am just excited.  I sorta thought volunteer opportunities were a thing of the past.  Warehouse is where I shine.  Let me at it 😉


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


On Wednesday, November 11, 2020, 3:00 PM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

On 11/11/20 8:59 AM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
 > What I see is a bunch of my so-called "friends" jumping on a vigilante
 > bandwagon, as if the group was going nowhere or must "recover" 
because > my leadership held it back.

  Pretty much, yes.  You didn't lead, you dictated.  That dictatorship 
had some very good results, don't get me wrong, but let's call it what 
it is.

 > Fifteen years spent building the collection, the museum, East, pushing
 > forward the return of West, building amazing relationships with ACM,
 > Bell Labs, Babbage Institute, CHM, IEEE, and all of the other
 > collector/hobbyist groups, winning awards at NYC Maker Faire, growing
 > the budget from zero to $50,000/year ... how easily we forget.

  Nobody has forgotten the huge amount of very successful work you put 
into starting the organization.  But YOU'VE clearly forgotten who 
started this thread, and what that initial message was all about.  What 
people ARE complaining about is what you did after you quit.

 > Corey said it best when I resigned back in December: the group, the
 > museum, and VCF East all likely would not exist if not for me.

  I'd say that's very likely.  But that's no longer relevant, because 
you quit and turned yourself into an enemy.  And for reasons that I just 
don't get, you're still allowed on this list, when you all you do is 
stir up trouble like this.

  This sort of trouble destroys communities.  Is this a typical "if I 
can't have it nobody else will" type of situation?

 > Yet hear you all are trampling on my grave and threatening to kick
 > me out.

  Hear vs. here.  I guess you rely on software assistance with stuff 
like that when you're being the end-all, be-all of journalism.

  But that aside, there is no grave, because you never left.  You 
remained subscribed to this list, just so you could stir up crap like this.

 > Apple without Steve Jobs is nothing special.

  Are you seriously comparing yourself to Steve Jobs?

  Evan, you need to spend less time in front of a keyboard and more 
time in front of a therapist.

  I've asked you personally to drop this several times.  I'm asking you 
once more.

                -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA