Re: How the endurance ride calendar is formatted

["Annie George" <ageorge@vtc.net>]

 I know that allot of people have complained every month about it, and until now I haven't  seen any commitment by anyone that it is under review. I do not recall any survey about a change before hand. And I have e/mail from  board member /directors, that also hate it and did not know about the change before hand either.  So.... Anyway I won't forward e/s to a public forum that were sent to me privately, but I have asked these people to post. I certainly can understand their reluctance to do so given the thick skin required to participate here.  I really encourage the ones that have e/d me privately to speak up now. The main point I am trying to make is that the opinion of the membership is the one that counts. And if we feel ignored that is not rite. It is not that anyone does not appreciate the work of the tech guys, we certainly do, and granted we are probably for the most part rather ignorant of how much trouble it is to change.  I absolutely love the on line site for records/calendar/etc. It is useful, user friendly, and just plain fun! And having just learned how to build a web site I cant begin to imagine the work and time that went into that. One post I received said we didn't thank them for that. Not true, I was one of the first to give a big thanks. So far as I know everybody loves it. And pretty much almost everybody hates the EN calendar.  "If it aint broke don't fix it", But when  something  isn't working fix it!   Making it an issue on ride camp?  Don't tell me not to make it an issue on ridecamp, It already is an issue by the very fact that so many people hate it. Where else are we going to be able gain any notice, or have enough of an effective voice to be taken seriously?        Certainly not with private one on one phone calls or e/mails. Making the monthly gripe phone call has not gotten even a commitment to "look into it" at least not my calls. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.   Even though the ridecamp participants are, I'm just guessing, most likely a very small % of AERC members, ( I would be interested to know  how many members do get ridecamp)  this is one of  very things that makes ridecamp a very useful tool.  If it has been discussed and rethought by "whoever" then that is something that should be posted, so we the members know that at least we have been heard, and what is or is not going on to fix something that we do not like. One ride manager e/d me that they took a vote at his ride and it was unanimous that they all hated it. It is interesting that people don't seem to say "dislike, prefer not, don't care for, they hate it!  If they are working on fixing it great, and I am sure we don't mean to be obnoxious, ( shut up)  and we can and will be patient and let them do it in peace. And we are glad to have been heard.  That is after all the "real" issue, that the members be heard.  If it proves out that the majority likes it this way then to darn bad for us that don't.   But I'm confident that it will not.         Annie                                                                                             Anne George Saddlery   www.vtc.net/~ageorge  

----- Original Message -----

From: Michael Maul

To: ridecamp

Cc: aerc

Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 8:57 PM

Subject: RC: How the endurance ride calendar is formatted

In response to:

Yes, I hate it this way, and have told them so , and will continue
to do so. They said allot of people like it, but I have yet to hear of one
who does. It is a pain to have to go looking on the following pages
for the rest of the days of a multi day. and some of the 3 or 4 day
rides you never can find out if they are 5 or what. They said it is
allot of trouble to change it back. So I guess all the trouble it causes
the several thousand members of AERC , the REAL owners of the
organization and the Magazine is less important that the trouble of a
few paid employees to change it back. It falls on deaf ears.   
Annie George  AERC #6273

*******************
Anne,

Although I don't speak for the office - I would like to respond on this
because I think understanding what the situation is will help.

First - the office says they did ask for feedback on this before making the
the change and felt they got enough positive feedback to make the change.
This one may not have had a large enough sample could be possible.

Second - the way the calendar comes out is set by the new software used
in the office.  It's not just someone moving a few lines to make it the
way it used to be.

Third - changing the format is something that has to be done by modifying the
software - then testing and making sure it works. It's not a trivial
change but can be done with some programming effort.

Last - the office is aware of the general unhappiness on the issue.  It has
been discussed on the Board of Directors email list too.

I would think that the office is deciding what to do on the issue and we
will hear from them.

I personally prefer it the old way myself too.

Let's give them a chance to respond on this  before making it a big issue on RC.

Mike


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