I agree that John Thummal has no reason to be at DMS, so implying that I would not have him escorted out is simply wrong. What’s more, I don’t think that it is wrong to think of DMS members as friends. The bigger question is why don’t you consider DMS members as friends- maybe that’s the reason we have such different views.
I also have noticed how you continue to attack anyone who disagrees with you. You have personally insulted me, but I have returned in kind. I don’t have years of experience with the other Blue Tape candidates, but I have spent plenty of time to know know that these guys are not the crazy nuts you seem to treat us as.
I feel blaming the former Board a year and a half after they where received from duty is an excuse. Certainly, most people are smart enough to recognize that there is rarely a single cause and affect for complex issues. There are multiple reasons that our numbers have decreased practically every month since your Board took office. While the former Board made misteps, I feel that most members would hold this Board accountable for steering the direction of DMS; as based on the numbers- you are the first Board to see this sort of loss of members, even though your term has been longer than any other DMS Board.
Could you elaborate on why we should view the number of members as such an important metric? There are many other ways to judge the health of the space (revenue, public recognition, etc), why should the number of members be the most important?
Under our ‘About us’ page, it was explained that we don’t necessarily see the need to provide for ‘Blue Tape’. We noted that many people have many issues with this Board, the manner they have made rules, and the toxic feelings which many members have expressed.
We noted that the ‘Blue Tape’ issue was simply just one of the issues that illustrates the divide between the membership and the Board. In light of Covid, our current membership numbers, and other issues; it may be completely justified no purchase Blue Tape, but the larger issue is that lack of communication, hostile attitudes, and insults on Talk have become the ‘real’ Blue Tape issue.
Many members have left the space, and others are unhappy; so it seems fair to state that many have an issue with the direction of DMS over the past year. This election is largely about discovering what percentage of the membership falls into which camp. It seems sad that we can’t have a conversation without all these insults and name calling.
There are important decisions about the future of DMS which are going to be made, and certainly many of those are much more important whether or not blue tape is made available to the membership.
See Mark Haven’s YouTube Channel if you want to see that. Although the short hit piece videos are unlisted and do not show up without direct links. If people are so inclined, they can go to Discord and find them in the #dms-politics channel.
He can criticize the leadership all he wants but yet he does not offer solutions. If the only solution is to replace the board with new members, then they don’t know where the real work of running DMS is.
How do you explain that the decline in membership started under the previous board after the price hike in membership? How do you account for other conditions such as potential market saturation, or committees deterring members with lack of basic upkeep (and said committees throwing up “dictatorship” statements when the board tries to intervene).
We’re not having cancellations at any higher of a rate than prior boards, but we are having less people come in the door.
this is flat out wrong. On top of the already shown numbers that cancellations are on par with prior board years, the reasons for cancellation are already well documented as being primarily related to their personal finances (which we now have an increased cost of membership due to the prior board), lack of use, or moving/living too far away. With the exception of the cost of membership, these are well outside the control of the board.
We see every cancellation notice. The total that have a complaint about the board, past boards or current boards in the history of our records, is 8.
THIS.
much of this crew badmouthing current leadership has offered zero solutions for the claimed problems, and has no insight into the accurate reasons for our membership numbers nor sight beyond the number of members itself (which, given that we have had a history of abusive, violent, business-running-customer-mentality members is a horrible way to look at our org).
It’s sadder that the camp complaining about current leadership has yet to offer any solution or any evidence other than anecdotal complaints within their own echo chambers unbacked by evidence, and only the item of “member decline” as evidence that DMS is in some form of dire peril despite our net revenue being way up, far more satisfied members, and that said decline started well before the current board came into office.
How about explaining why it’s appropriate to drag a candidate not aligned with your values and camp through the mud by listing them as part of your platform without their permission?
You want to talk harassment, insults, and name-calling? This is why people complain about this camp. The refusal to get permission before naming people as part of their policy; the refusal to provide evidence or look at the hard facts; the constant assertions that “everything is broken” yet provide no solutions whilst attacking those actually working on problems.
As candidates, James and Myself have been subjects of major harassment from those calling themselves part of the blue-tape group both personally and in our work at DMS.
Never underestimate the power of a Committee volunteer potluck. We hosted potlucks almost every every Laser maintenance day. It made the work go by faster, and it provided a great respite from the drudgery of maintaining some of our most expensive and most utilized assets.
And it was great seeing non-Laser-using members stop by to share a snack and even learn more about Team Laser and how they could get involved.
Also they were misleading in that they took donations for materials and yet sold the face shields. They say they sold them at cost to cover the materials but they wanted $5+/shield.
If they want to make $$$ for ACME, fine then just say that. Don’t leverage donations where you say they are provided for the good of the community but then turn around and sell them for profit. ACME is not a non-profit so any excess funds went into someones pocket.
I actually helped them with this for a bit, as it happened right after I joined over there. This was back right after the DMS visit down there, when there were good vibes between the two orgs, and they were willing to rent out an auto space for an extended period of time for a reasonable fee which made them immediately compelling to me as a place I could rebuild my transmission valve body without (understandably) pissing folks off :). Their accountant dropped the ball fairly hard, but the refiling was pretty simple. Helps that their finances weren’t DMS-sized Haven’t been around there in a little bit (or anywhere, really), but I’d imagine their 501 status is still active now.
That’s good, I hope they did. I know I made that mistake the first year I had a nonprofit, so I also know they’re lenient as long as you come clean and get things in order
Yeah, that seems oddly typical for some reason. I ran a political nonprofit for a while – first nonprofit I ran, didn’t quite catch on to the 990 requirements for a bit too long – I reinstated fairly quickly, but it never did show a reinstatement date on the ARL. (It did show us as active nonprofits again in the IRS nonprofit lookup, so that was something.) I’m guessing maybe because 990-N filers are too trivial for them to keep track of that closely
The 990 thing happens to a lot of local PTA units and community groups. When I’d see the list come out, I always read through and sent heads-up notices to the contacts that I know personally.
Haven’t been around there in a little bit (or anywhere, really), but I’d imagine their 501 status is still active now.