RE: Donna SS

["Bob Morris" <bobmorris@rmci.net>]

This entire controversy is becoming quite interesting. Let's drop back to
the original statement made for DSS by a third party.

The exact statement was:

<<<<Your board of Directors no longer feels it can exchange advertising
space for the column's educational material.  It is with great regret that I
will therefore be unable to provide you with monthly input through this
informative column as I have the past two years.  The last monthly column
will appear in the December issue of "Endurance News." I will be
contributing a couple of special pieces in 2001.>>>>

In no way was the action of the Board of Directors of the AERC directed at
DSS. In no way has the Board rejected the articles by DSS. In no place or by
no action has there been any indication that DSS did any thing other than
tell the membership "unless I get free advertising I will not write articles
for the AERC News." It is regretful that one composer of short articles can
bring such controversy to an organization by confronting established
business principles.

It would do well if those persons discontent with the actions of the Board
spent just a portion of the time contributed by the Board members, and some
of the business advisors to the Board, in constructive actions rather than
complaints. As I mentioned in a past post, these volunteers are contributing
tens of thousands of dollars in services and expertise each year. And yet
some few of you care to complain about the loss of a freebie to the author
of an article each month. How would you feel if Russ and Mike declined to do
the "On Line" ride results or Steph decided shee need recompense for the
AERC Home page, or consider the loss of Vicki Rutter's business expertise.

It is time the membership took a true interest in the functioning of this
organization. If they did there would be no complaints such as have been
expressed over the DSS minor incident.

Bob Morris


-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Rittenhouse-vmaxept [mailto:roger@vmaxept.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2000 10:44 PM
To: RideCamp
Subject: RC: Donna SS


Let me weigh in on this. The MAIN  reason give was to cut costs??
As an advertiser - guess what-  they increased MY rates  to cover what?
The cost of the publication.

If the EN does not pay for itself rather then get more ads - sponsors -
etc and go after better articles - such as DSS, then they cant keep
costs down, so how do they fix this? Increase the price to the current
advertisers.

WRONG

I have written articles before. NOT an easy task. It takes allot of time
etc. I wrote for Trail Blazer LONG ago. GUESS what Susan gave me for my
efforts, FREE ADs. And for 2 articles I received (I  think) 6 months of
ads.  FREE. MY articles DID promote my products and it was built-in
advertising. So what, the articles provided information and education.
It was good for TB and me.

AS for HIGHER costs of EN-
I ask- WHY do we NEED all the COLOR?  What purpose does it serve?
IF the high dollar ads want COLOR they pay for it - no problem with
that. BUT should we ALL, members and smaller business have to cover the
cost of the COLOR articles?

WHO really asked for this?  I read EN to
Find out what's going on in endurance
READ articles that TEACH me.
See who did what - ride results.

AERC is an educational TAX free org? 503ce  - or 5003c, either way the
PURPOSE as defined is EDUCATION.

SO - the BOD cuts out ONE of the major educational articles.

I saw NO 'sales pitch' in her articles nor in her bio. Her ad is not
always with her article.
MY riding techniques have improved with the advice received form DSS.

The BOD has made an error- At one meeting. UNLESS this was planned 'out
of session'
Donna is out-spoken as many of us know, I am sure there are BOD members
that do not care for her.

Ask about the other articles from other contributing editors? Any
conflicts- I don't know? We do not seem to be getting a clear picture
here.

COULD there be some other reason here?

Roger Rittenhouse
8263/SE

Waiting for the DAL counts and results. -- and or recounts. Are there
ANY DIMPLES on the AERC DAL ballots?
Can we count then for BUSH?


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