Slowly walking into the storm.
Hey @worldcloud,
I too understand your feeling as I have held and still do hold some of the opinions you have shared here.
Here is how I’m guessing things went from reading the posts above. This is only my guess and please correct if I’m way off. You seem to be a member that has in the past been able to fit the honorarium system as you stated you have had multiple successful honorarium class. I’m guessing due to that success you then tried to increase your offering and also improve the style of your classes to keep them more entertaining or attractive to members. At least that is what I would guess from your example of the joint class as the description sound like a fun class to attend with not only education but entertainment at the core. At this point you submit multiple classes and get hit for pushing the model a bit too far. So the work you put into building the classes and making them extra special this time around feels like it has gone out the window. You could resubmit with changed verbiage, but your not sure how you went wrong and as sign of this thread feel you did nothing intentionally wrong. Now we are at the creation of the thread, because there really is no other way to air out grievances with the honorarium system as it is handled secretly among a small group in DMS.
Now let me try to guess @mblatz side. Marshal is one of the chosen HAs, this group in the past has not been open to all members, but in more recent history has been getting more open. Your class was rejected, because the class seemed like it could be an event due to the emphasis on the entertaining test scenario and not much description of the direct teaching. Marshal is already bucking the curve of the Honorarium Approval Process, by signing his name to rejections and also willing responding to public complaints. This is special as the system is setup to keep his identity and approval process completely private and gives no one the ability from the outside any view of the process.
I thank Marshal for signing his name and responding publicly and you should as well, because if he followed the guidelines, he would just respond with “rejected” and your complaints would have no where to go from there. But, he did respond publicly, so you now have a contact in the honorarium approval process.
So lets take advantage of the access Marshal has given you to adjust your class rather than attack his position as a HA. I would suggest starting a PM with Marshal to ask where he feels like the class became more of an event than a class. From there change your description to highlight the traditional education aspect of the class and resubmit already having someone willing to explain the class to the other HAs. This would give it the best chance of getting approved.
I know it may sound like I’m suggesting working with the enemy here, as Marshal has deflected some of your concerns and slapped you with the “How to make money at DMS” class you submitted, after members have suggested teaching solely for the $50 honorarium shows some kind of sub-standard morality on your part. Personally, I find it laughable these suggestions of moral superiority over those that take their portion of honorarium. By teaching you are fulfilling the educational goal of DMS, rather than paying $50 a month and just using and breaking the tools, which is by far the majority of the membership. You are actively a part of keeping DMS open to all of us. So thank you for that. That said, please take this moment to grow and take advantage of the opportunity to work with Marshal on getting your class accepted. Marshal is a good member and I feel would be open to work with you given a cooler climate than the public Talk thread. But, he has a temper and can flare up and it would seem you do as well. So keep that in mind as there may be no apologies exchanged. But, you may get your class in the long run if you can eat part of the EGO on this.
Good Luck Joe, I wish you the best in your experience at DMS and I hope this comes to a conclusion that all parties can be happy with. Also, thank you Marshal for sharing, you bring light to a dark part of our structure at DMS.