COMMON (was Re: "State of the Midrange" by Don Rima)

Janet,

In a message dated 8/22/00 2:10:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jkrueger@andrewscg.com writes:

> News/400 is hosting a discussion with most of the candidates for the Board 
of
>  Directors of COMMON, but so far we're over there talking to each other...  
I
>  sure hope that doesn't mean noone else cares!!!
>  
>  If you're have opinions to express on whether COMMON should continue to 
exist,
>  or on what would make it more valuable to you, please join the COMMON town 
> hall e-meeting on:
>  
>  http://www.as400network.com/forums/Main.cfm?CFApp=70

I hate to say it, but I think that COMMON may have finally killed itself.  
People (like myself) that care about it have promoted it despite its 
problems, yet the organization not only does not fix the problems, but 
introduces new ones at each successive conference.  The paid board that was 
supposed to fix it only made matters worse by alienating the volunteer 
community, while the volunteer community that once signified COMMON degraded 
into bureaucratic "one upmanship" that further alienated those that attended 
and didn't volunteer.  Fees go up, services go down.  Hotel rates go up, 
facilities go down.  Spring conferences are held before Spring in cold 
places, while Fall conferences take place before Fall in hot places.  
COMMON-sponsored airfare is through the roof, while airfare elsewhere is 
relatively inexpensive.  The housing authority has become both redundant and 
equally expensive compared to other COMMON-provided offerings.  The guest 
program is effectively gone, while problems with room size, temperature, and 
handouts remain the same.

COMMON has countered the higher fees for attending a conference with higher 
membership fees for lower membership privileges.  Byte me.  While I still 
know of no single source for such diverse education as COMMON provides, I 
also know of no single source for such petty infighting, fee raising, and 
downsizing of services provided.  I was ridiculed here years ago when I 
implied that the elimination of free drinks at CUDS was but the shape of 
things to come, but who's laughing now?  Certainly not me.  I was concerned 
that the overall quality of education would drop and I have, unfortunately, 
had my concerns proven valid.  Even IBM has dropped their priority for 
bringing all of their high level personnel to conferences.

If COMMON wants to bring folks like me "back into the fold", they're going to 
have to attack on two fronts.  First, "corporate COMMON" is going to have to 
realize that sheer profits are not going to pay the bills in the long run.  
They're also going to have to realize and recognize that the TRUE volunteers, 
those not seeking personal aggrandizement, are the heart of the organization.

On the second front, COMMON must return to its roots -- restore the guest 
program, provide true value in hotels and travel rather than subsidize 
activities with them, and regain its place as the true voice of the midrange 
community.  I never cease to be amazed at the number of midrange 
professionals that don't even know what COMMON does!  COMMON is not going to 
gain any favor in an Internet-savvy community such as is found here without 
increasing their Internet presence.  They're further not going to _GAIN_ many 
more memberships without bringing more midrange professionals that cannot 
find this list with both hands into the Internet community.

COMMON deserves to survive, but only if COMMON does something _TO_ survive...

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"The greatest joy in life is doing what others say you cannot do." -- Walter 
Bagehot
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