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Re: KillieTalk Digest V2 #242
I am going to reply to 2 of the posts below. Please read on.
Ted Klotz
9969 Bethel Rd
Remsen,NY 13438
(315) 831-5682
->I am one of those volunteers for the area around Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
>Maryland and Delaware. Who is the Beginners Chairman and will he help in
this
>endeavor? The intent is for these volunteers to contact new members or
persons
>who make inquiries about killies and offer help, advice, local meetings of
>affiliate info and fish, if appropriate. A 'mentor' program if you will.
>
>Lee Harper
>
>Lee Harper
Lee,
To answer this question as best I can , I really don't know who is the
Beginners Committee Chair right at this moment.
Barry,
Can you answer this ?
>
>Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 11:03:30 -0500
>From: "Barry J. Cooper" <bjc3 at cornell_edu>
>Subject: Beginners
>
. >Ted,
>
>I agree that it would be very useful to provide as much support as possible
>to beginners. Yet I also agree that it is very difficult to implement a
>formal support program. We need to be careful not to promise what we can't
>provide, and promising free pairs of fish, and so on, is something that we
>have and will find difficult to live up to. We just shouldn't make such
>promises.
Barry,
This has already been discussed on the other site
In my opinion, we should encourage those who are interested in
>starting with killies, to join a local club. That is where the real support
>comes from. I have absolutely no doubt that any interested beginner that
>joined a local club would be offered some fish to start. I also know, from
>experience, that they will get into conversations that will educate them
>about the hobby and the fish, and that they will get their questions
>answered.
Also been discussed.
>
>I think that online resources can help, but they are no substitute for
>actually having a face to face conversation. Nevertheless, some people
>don't have ready access to a local club, and they and others need a way to
>ask questions. That is why the AKA provided this killietalk list. It isn't
>simply for members to converse. It's primary goal is to provide a way for
>newcomers to "break in". Perhaps we should think twice before offering an
>knee-jerk response of "join the AKA". Rather we should offer encouragement,
>offer information about local groups, offer invites to visit where that's
>possible. If we do that people will join the AKA.
>
>A final point is that what we ARE offering online is working very well. I'm
>sure our support for beginners can be improved, but over the last several
>months more that 20 people per month have been joining the AKA. It would be
>a good idea to upgrade the beginner's package. Someone will need to work on
>that.
This exactly what people are volunteering to do. Upgrade the whole system.
With enough volunteers the beginners committee chair would only have to
coordinate the affiliates efforts and take care of newbees that don't have a
local to help out.
I have just brought out on the other site that if each club were to offer a
"free" pair of fish to a beginner , base the species offered on the species
maintenance program and ask the beginner to make resulting offspring
available to the next beginner , that this whole thing might actually work.
You know yourself that when you come to my house , if I have anything that
you want and if I can spare them they're yours. Alot of fish are given away
anyhow. Why not put these free fish to some good use ?
>
>One of the reasons that things fall through the cracks with the AKA is
>that, in my opinion, we have just too many committees. We should look
>carefully at what they are and try to eliminate those that aren't doing
>something useful. They disperse the voluntary effort that makes the AKA
>run, and they don't achieve anything. Indeed, they have a negative effect
>by diverting effort.
>
>Let me ask a question here while I'm at it. From time to time it is
>suggested that this list be sent out as individual messages rather than a
>digest. I would like to know how members of the list feel about this (I
>already know your opinion Bill Vannerson:-) One advantage that I see is
>that the identity of threads would be better preserved. Single messages
>would invite replies to single queries. On the other hand, single messages
>also invites precipitous, sometimes ill-considered replies, leading to
>rancour. The person who provides the list server for us prefers digest
>format, but I might be able to convince him to try single message if there
>is a strong demand for it. What say you? In particular, would it encourage
>beginners to post specific questions, looking for specific replies?
>
I would prefer individual messages.
Ted