My SOC membership expires on 31st January and I have just received my last magazine, the December issue.
Although I have not seen much published on the matter by the SOC Committee, the President's statement in the November magazine was that, "…the minority of the forum grumble that they don't get anything from the club… and … for less than 10p a day they will be able to continue to contribute to the forum….."
I'm still trying to work out the content of that statement (do the minority who don't grumble that there is no point in joining not have to pay 10p a day?
).
I have not received a notification of the imminent suspension of my "write" rights on the forum, I gather from the different snippets of information that this will soon be the case.
I have no doubt that the person(s) "in charge" sincerely believe that they are doing the best thing for the SOC and I admire their selfless and voluntary efforts and contributions to the SOC. However, the decision to make forum contributors pay was, I think, unwise and poorly conceived. The fact that numerous protests and alternative suggestions on this forum have apparently been ignored or, at least, glossed over, creates an impression that the SOC is not run by its members, but run by a select group who play things very close to their chest.
With the exception of the forum, I have no particular advantage from any of the published SOC benefits, but would happily pay the full dues for the entire package if it became apparent that members' views were being seriously considered and that maintenance of the SOC Leadership status quo was secondary. This could be by putting more effort into remanufacturing, for example. I don't see anything of this happening in the near future, so will let my SOC membership lapse.
With only one or two notable exceptions, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time posting on the forum, (although I only made it to second place in the most popular threads!) and had the opportunity of meeting a few of you in person.
I am not writing off the SOC at all and will keep my ear to the ground to see if things develop differently in future. Perhaps if such a new development is published in an SOC Members' Area, one of you might be kind enough to drop me an eMail. Maybe if foreign Stag clubs are allowed write access to the forum, I shall appear here again. I have bookmarked the European Stag Event for 2011 and am sure I will be there, although in which guise, in which car and as a member or guest of which club I am not sure!
In the meantime, I'm afraid I won't be able to let you benefit from my knowledge and experience gained during the Stag restoration but will, of course, continue to use the forum for the wealth of information which it offers.
I am posting this now not to whip up any bad feeling, but so that anyone who wants pics or whatever of "that little corner" whilst my Stag is still fully disassembled have the opportunity to pm me and get a picture posted on the forum.
I am currently undertaking a major rework of my homepage (it's a mess at the moment!) - http://www.rsmk2.com - to be able to continue my photo documentation of the Stag and a few other things and, if anyone cares to eMail me - stag@rsmk2.com - with comments or requests for photos etc., then I will be most happy to receive them.
Drew
Although I have not seen much published on the matter by the SOC Committee, the President's statement in the November magazine was that, "…the minority of the forum grumble that they don't get anything from the club… and … for less than 10p a day they will be able to continue to contribute to the forum….."
I'm still trying to work out the content of that statement (do the minority who don't grumble that there is no point in joining not have to pay 10p a day?
).I have not received a notification of the imminent suspension of my "write" rights on the forum, I gather from the different snippets of information that this will soon be the case.
I have no doubt that the person(s) "in charge" sincerely believe that they are doing the best thing for the SOC and I admire their selfless and voluntary efforts and contributions to the SOC. However, the decision to make forum contributors pay was, I think, unwise and poorly conceived. The fact that numerous protests and alternative suggestions on this forum have apparently been ignored or, at least, glossed over, creates an impression that the SOC is not run by its members, but run by a select group who play things very close to their chest.
With the exception of the forum, I have no particular advantage from any of the published SOC benefits, but would happily pay the full dues for the entire package if it became apparent that members' views were being seriously considered and that maintenance of the SOC Leadership status quo was secondary. This could be by putting more effort into remanufacturing, for example. I don't see anything of this happening in the near future, so will let my SOC membership lapse.
With only one or two notable exceptions, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time posting on the forum, (although I only made it to second place in the most popular threads!) and had the opportunity of meeting a few of you in person.
I am not writing off the SOC at all and will keep my ear to the ground to see if things develop differently in future. Perhaps if such a new development is published in an SOC Members' Area, one of you might be kind enough to drop me an eMail. Maybe if foreign Stag clubs are allowed write access to the forum, I shall appear here again. I have bookmarked the European Stag Event for 2011 and am sure I will be there, although in which guise, in which car and as a member or guest of which club I am not sure!
In the meantime, I'm afraid I won't be able to let you benefit from my knowledge and experience gained during the Stag restoration but will, of course, continue to use the forum for the wealth of information which it offers.
I am posting this now not to whip up any bad feeling, but so that anyone who wants pics or whatever of "that little corner" whilst my Stag is still fully disassembled have the opportunity to pm me and get a picture posted on the forum.
I am currently undertaking a major rework of my homepage (it's a mess at the moment!) - http://www.rsmk2.com - to be able to continue my photo documentation of the Stag and a few other things and, if anyone cares to eMail me - stag@rsmk2.com - with comments or requests for photos etc., then I will be most happy to receive them.
Drew
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