Questions sent to the PCA Board 1 week ago, no answer.

Last time I looked I paid my membership for the next 3 years so a reply would be appreciated.

http://members2.boardhost.com/pentrace/msg/1163051532.html

Membership wants to know, we're waiting.

Questions were posted on Pentrace, FPN, Lion & Pen, Zoss...hard to miss.

Len, I appreciate that you want accountability, but please do not bring PCA wars here.

Hi Elaine,

I assure you, I am not going to bring anything nasty to any chat site.

my purpose is to stimulate transparency, accountability and very simply, an answer to a few questions that every one of approx 1,001 members want to ask also and probably a few thousand others reading this forum right now that will decide if they will join the PCA based on timely response to a member's questions.

Trust me, it is not a war, it's a 501 [c] 3 non-profit org approved by federal and state law with $100K member's dues in the kitty

...they were elected to answer questions, right?

I agree with Elaine. War or not, it's an internal matter for your society, not this community.

Ray

I am sorry Len, but it has become apparent to anyone who has read any of your PCA posts that this is a personal vendetta.
I for one am tired of your continuous tirades against the PCA.
Is it any wonder you were not re-elected to the BOD....
Please do not bring your petty tirades here...

Ray, this chat site and every other pen-related chat site is the voice of the pen hobby and community;

this column is titled Clubs, Meetings and Events, let's allow FPN management to decide if they have any responsibility to post or delete my honest and fair questions as reasonable and expecxted on behalf of 1,000+ members which are essentially a great majority of the readers on FPN...acccording to your recent poll.

I have no hesitancy whatsoever to take any heat from anyone when I speak respectfully on behalf of the PCA membership.

Griz, please pay attention, you said :

Is it any wonder you were not re-elected to the BOD....

I was not re-elected because I was not on the ballot, I chose not to run many months ago even 'tho I was asked to and was also encouraged to become the President of the PCA by Dan Reppert and others on the Board.

Please talk directly to the people involved. This is not my business, and you have no reason to try to make it my business.

Len,

I appreciate your desire for transparency and accountability.

However, you posted a laundry list of questions, some of which seemed rather accusatory, to a volunteer board and expect an answer to them all within a week?
In my experience, even a functional organization of experienced board members would take longer than a week to decide who would take on the task of responding to the questions, or if they were to respond to them at all. To expect a new board to respond to your laundry list a week later seems unrealistic and inappropriate.

Frankly, Len, as a new member of the PCA I appreciate your concerns for the organization, but your approach comes across as rude and self important. It sounds more and more like someone with a grudge, rather than a responsible member with concerns about the organization.

While I do think you raised some important questions, I hope the board will get on with the work of the organization, and not waste time with answering a disgruntled ex-board members laundry list.

Sorry to be harsh, but that's how it sounds to me, and I am sure to many members. If you are as sincere about the issues as I think you are, modulate the delivery so it seems less shrill.

John

I would be interested to hear you speak respectfully on behalf of the PCA membership.

John

I am not a member of PCA. If I cared about PCA, I'd join it, but I am not a collector and have no interest in squabbles between collectors. I don't use FPN as a means of keeping up on what pen collectors do. I am here because this is a community unto itself, one whose members I like and respect.

In other words, please go somewhere else to grind your axe, pursue your agenda, or flog the PCA BOD.

PCA members are NOT a majority here. Do you know how many members are registered here vs. how many PCA members there are in total, whether registered here or not?

And even if they WERE a majority here, this is PCA business NOT FPN BUSINESS. Excuse me shouting, but it is a sign of frustration.

Your society has proper channels for this kind of communication. Use them. Write a letter to the the journal, or email every member of the board, or every member of the society if you really want to. Just don't hijack this community for the purpose, not least of which because the hundreds of PCA members who I suspect are not members here, and may not undertake online pen site activity at all are not hearing your message.

Please. Enough.

Ray

Please note that I am speaking for myself ONLY, as a pen collector and a member of the PCA. Len has every right to ask questions of the PCA Board. I am not an administrator of FPN, so I cannot speak to whether his post is within the FPN guidelines, but I note that Len's posts are polite and in the appropriate forum.

I believe that Len wants what every member of the PCA wants, a strong and vibrant organization that is responsive to its membership.

As a member of the PCA, I hope we (it's a we thing, folks) have responses to these questions in short order. As a member of the PCA, I hope that discussions about the PCA continue to have a home here at FPN, in the appropriate forums, like this one. Certainly those not interested do not have read these threads!

best, Dan

Posting as a FPN member rather than an admin, the following is my opinion only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the admin team:

First, I want to make it clear that I am a member of the PCA. I think that while the majority of FPN members are not PCA members, they should be. Besides the extensive library (which is accesible to all members), the PCA engages in projects that promote fountain pens, such as the pens for kids program. They have also been involved in working with airline regulations related to fountain pens. The last few issues of the Pennant have been wonderful.

I believe that there were some major problems with the PCA a few years ago. The board that just stepped down have done a lot to address those problems. I have confidence that the newly elected board will continue making the PCA strong.

I have no problem with the PCA being discussed on FPN. I also agree that the organization should be transparent. My reaction to Len is preemptive. I have seen too many discussions about the PCA degrade into flame wars. I don't want to see that happen here.

The purpose of the clubs and events forum is stated as: Announce, share and promote "real life" events and activities.

That includes telling us there's a meeting, particularly if non-members are welcome to attend. I don't think this includes conducting club business. Calling directors to account or asking questions of them in their positions as directors of the society is club business. Openness is great - within the society.

Ray

Mr. Provisor's tone and manner are what I expect of someone who has lost an argument and is trying to re-fight it somewhere else, where it doesn't belong, but where he has a fresh set of listeners. The problem is, these listeners can't help. It's like going into a bar after a game, complaining that your team lost, and expecting the bar patrons to fix it.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about ....
I just took Len's initial post as a way of drawing attention to a (as yet unanswered) question he posted on some Internet pen boards, including FPN. I detected no rudeness in his posts here on FPN.

Len, as a PCA member I think that you are entitled to a back-channel answer to your posts from the PCA board, but as the new board was just elected, I would imagine it might take a while for them to get back to you

OK, I'll cut to the chase here. This PCA in-fighting has nothing to do with me, it's none of my business, and no matter how much it annoys me to have someone try to highjack FPN for his own purposes, I'm not going to make it my business.

I will not, from this point on, read any posts from Mr. Provisor, or any post that deals with the PCA. Period. I don't care if they're offering free kisses and nickle beer.

If it gets out of hand, I have other options. Joining the PCA and taking part in the fights is not one that I plan to exercise.