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View Poll Results: Should we have a Geocaching Maine Organization? (rules in first post for responding)

Voters
61. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yes

    21 34.43%
  • No

    30 49.18%
  • I don't care

    10 16.39%
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Thread: Should we form a Geocaching Maine Organization?

  1. #141
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
    Posts
    6,343

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RockyHa
    Not that it matters, but my vote is "No" because the different areas of the state will not will not be equally represented. Unfortunatelt the way the voting is set up now, Organization could actually hurt Geocaching in Maine. An official elected board from Bangor probably isnt going to be very effective representation in western or southern Maine.
    Have we allready voted and decided the "winners" are from Bangor?

    All members were contacted, any member could have been nominated. Three of them are from close to Bangor. The others are from other areas including Western, Southern, and you forgot Northern Maine.

    If you feel you want a board member from each area, vote for those nominees.
    DNFTT! DNFTT! DNFTT!

    "The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realize it doesn't say anything it's to late to stop reading it..."

  2. #142
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Rumford, Maine
    Posts
    20

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    Quote Originally Posted by brdad
    All members were contacted, any member could have been nominated. Three of them are from close to Bangor. The others are from other areas including Western, Southern, and you forgot Northern Maine.

    If you feel you want a board member from each area, vote for those nominees.
    All members were not contacted prior to nominations. This is something those responding to the poll decided "Not to Do". The folks that have decided to move forward with this are attempting to creat an official board that represents Geocachers in Maine.

    I haven't forgotten any area of the state. I am the one that is critical of the fact that as set up the outcome will not provide representation of the entire state. LOL if elections for state representitives were done the way this is set up, I would be voting for the folks Alaska is sending to congress.

  3. #143
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Auburn
    Posts
    2,134

    Default This is your site too!

    Quote Originally Posted by RockyHa
    Not that it matters, but my vote is "No" because the different areas of the state will not will not be equally represented. Unfortunatelt the way the voting is set up now, Organization could actually hurt Geocaching in Maine. An official elected board from Bangor probably isnt going to be very effective representation in western or southern Maine.
    There are candidates from as far south as Kittery (me) and as far north as the county (J_Cyr), from the islands off the coast (Beach Comber) to the mountains (Where R We).

    But representation does not need to be an issue. The goal is to determine what Maine cachers want, not what the board wants or what the loudest people want. The board will need to work out all the details of how to best represent everyone and they will need your ideas.

    It is posible that the majority of people do not want an organization, but this poll did not work because people changed their minds and we cannot tell what the results would be now. The question is also not very well phrased. We do have problems that need to be resolved. But, "organizing" is too broad of a term and means too many things. I think each person here has a different idea of what an "organization" is.

    To be more specific, we need to solve at least two main problems:

    1. We need a way to make decisions on projects, such as a Maine coin and working with land access issues.

    2. We also have had a problem with managing the site. Many people have complained about the negative tone at times.

    We do not want to tell people what to do, but rather learn what people want to do.

  4. #144
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Solon, Maine
    Posts
    5,965

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    Quote Originally Posted by tat
    It is posible that the majority of people do not want an organization, but this poll did not work because people changed their minds and we cannot tell what the results would be now. The question is also not very well phrased. We do have problems that need to be resolved. But, "organizing" is too broad of a term and means too many things. I think each person here has a different idea of what an "organization" is.
    Accept it or not, "we" are already an organization. We have members. We have a meeting place (while 25 years ago it would have been in a building, we not meet on the internet). We have group events. We - as a group - created and sold a geocaching coin.

    But we need - at least - a milimal level of organization to the group. That's why an advisory board was suggested to represent the group - WHEN REQUIRED.

  5. #145
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Portland, Maine
    Posts
    1,652

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    Quote Originally Posted by RockyHa
    All members were not contacted prior to nominations.
    It was not our intent to leave individuals out of the loop on this topic or the nominating process. Individuals who were registered users of the website at the time the e-mail was sent (8/6/06 at 9:25pm) and provided an e-mail address at the time they registered and that address is active an e-mail should have been received announcing the nomination process was underway.

    Another e-mail was sent on 8/15 announcing the voting process would be opened. If you didn't receive either of these announcements you may want to check the e-mail address you have listed and/or check in with attroll to see if you are on the list.

    If you you are not the member that you are referring to in your post, perhaps you could pass this information along as well.

    Thanks for telling us!
    ~ Beach Comber ~

  6. #146

    Default

    I'm joining this conversation very late, I realize, and the organization is already forming. However, I feel that having an organization is vital to the future of Geocaching in Maine, and I think this group is composed of the right people at the right time to do it.

    I spent a few years in Kentucky working for a company down there. While there, we had a few active cachers in Lexington who decided that we wanted to form a social club and get together for a meal and a cache hunt from time to time. We named ourselves the "Geocachers of Central Kentucky" and on a lark I set up a web site so we could organize meals and meetings and cache hunts (upgraded from our original Yahoo! group).


    Then, all hades broke loose. Someone placed a cache in the State Nature Preserve system, and someone posted a casual comment about using a shortcut to get to the cache. Unfortunately, said shortcut was through a closed trail that had been closed for environmental reasons (rare plant species along the trail). The State Nature Preserve people were (understandably) rather upset, and pulled the cache. The cache owner did not respond to their messages, so their first impression of caching was, shall we say, not positive.

    They managed to find our site, and asked to meet and see if we could work out something for this cache, and to keep people from damaging their nature preserve land any further. We agreed to meet and discuss it, and they called several other land management agencies and invited them to the meeting as well. Given their impression of Geocaching, we were facing a potential statewide ban.

    So, suddenly, we had the State Parks people, the local parks and rec division, the National Forest people, and several other land management agencies meeting with us. Many of them had only heard of Geocaching through the unfortunate incident with the State Nature Preserve. We hastily threw together a presentation, self-selected officers from the 5 people who were most active, and went to the meeting.

    While the meeting went well, and we managed to get some of the land managers to adopt clear and workable rules, it was a hectic time trying to get the organization put together, and we also raised the ire of a number of Geocachers who felt that we were trying to "take over" Geocaching in the state, or form some sort of busybody rules committee that would tell them what to do and what not to do.

    We finally decided to become a "clearinghouse" for rules that land managers developed, and an advisory board for any land management agency that wanted to develop rules. The rest of the organization is devoted to keeping the lines of communication as open as possible among all the Geocachers in the state, organizing CITOs and other land-management-agency-friendly activities, and of course having fun.

    Later, when we re-chartered as the "Geocachers of Kentucky" after a number of local organizations in different areas of the state asked to merge, we tried to keep the organization as informal as possible. Our discussion board has sections for each area of the state, as well as statewide discussions, and as folks form new "local" organizations, we encourage them to set up their own sites, but we also give them a section on our discussion board so they can keep the lines of communication open.

    Anyway, after that long-winded bit of fluff...

    I think Geocaching Maine is doing the right thing - forming and organizing into a proper organization BEFORE you face a crisis like our organization did.

    Maybe you never will. But I, for one, am glad to know that there will be an organization representing Geocaching here in Maine, with the credibility to talk to land management agencies.

  7. #147
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Rumford, Maine
    Posts
    20

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Beach Comber
    It was not our intent to leave individuals out of the loop on this topic or the nominating process. Individuals who were registered users of the website at the time the e-mail was sent (8/6/06 at 9:25pm) and provided an e-mail address at the time they registered and that address is active an e-mail should have been received announcing the nomination process was underway.

    Another e-mail was sent on 8/15 announcing the voting process would be opened. If you didn't receive either of these announcements you may want to check the e-mail address you have listed and/or check in with attroll to see if you are on the list.

    If you you are not the member that you are referring to in your post, perhaps you could pass this information along as well.

    Thanks for telling us!
    I have been a member since 5/15/05 with the same active email address. I recieved the 8/15 get out the vote post, but not the 8/6 post. A glitch in the program, was I the only one left out of the loop, was it intentional (I certainly would hope not) I don't know what happened. If this were a board that was only concerned with the geocachingmaine.org web site and forum it wouldn't be a big deal, but since this board plans to represent itself as representing itself as representing geocachers across the state of Maine with landowners and law makers it is an issue for me and perhaps many other geocachers throughout the state of Maine.

  8. #148
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Gainesville, Georgia
    Posts
    3,893

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    I'm sure it wasn't intentional that you were left out of the loop as you say. I'm sure Rick (Attroll) the webmaster will look into why you weren't notified. As with any mass emailing that occurs to get the info to all members sometimes glitches do happen. Unfortunate that you weren't notified but at least you got a chance to vote and if you have been following these forums at all lately you would have known about the nominations and the vote. At the very least, you now have the opportinity to voice your concerns and hopefully will become one of many who will have a say as to what takes place in the geocaching community here in Maine.
    Just smile it won't crack your face

    The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is
    suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best
    friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

  9. #149
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Portland, Maine
    Posts
    1,652

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    Quote Originally Posted by RockyHa
    I have been a member since 5/15/05 with the same active email address. I recieved the 8/15 get out the vote post, but not the 8/6 post. A glitch in the program, was I the only one left out of the loop, was it intentional (I certainly would hope not) I don't know what happened. If this were a board that was only concerned with the geocachingmaine.org web site and forum it wouldn't be a big deal, but since this board plans to represent itself as representing itself as representing geocachers across the state of Maine with landowners and law makers it is an issue for me and perhaps many other geocachers throughout the state of Maine.
    I agree with Haffy - it is a glitch. This is definitely something that will be checked out.

    I appreciate that you are willing to express your concerns. I believe that the group that coordinates communication, etc. on the website will represent state as a whole with the best of intents. I hope that you will continue to watch the posts and participate in the conversations. Share your opinion - it is the best thing you can do to help ensure that things move forward in the best possible way. It is not the intent of this group of 5, the "board" to dictate the events on this website or throughout the state. It is truly an effort to take a more coordinated approach to our activities, projects, and communication. Some of the communications of the past (especially 6 months) and the challenge of moving projects (like the coin) forward are the types of motivators that have helped to bring us to this point. I believe that we will see some good things happen!

    Thank you again for sharing your concerns - please continue to do so - it is in the best interest of the hobby!
    ~ Beach Comber ~

  10. #150
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Solon, Maine
    Posts
    5,965

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RockyHa
    I have been a member since 5/15/05 with the same active email address. I recieved the 8/15 get out the vote post, but not the 8/6 post.
    Well, the Aug 6 post was a request for nominations, but you got the Aug 15 voting notice, which was the omportant one. Remember, we have over 750 members, so with that many emails going out, one or two might still be floating around out there! LOL!

    I see you're from Rumford. Have you placed any caches? We're planning on heading over that way next week on our way to New Hampshire. W've got most of them in that area but still have a few to go.

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