For the moment, let's put aside the irony of an open water devotee accusing anyone of insularity
Chris, I may not be a Greek Olympian, but at one point I was a Div. 1 collegiate pool swimmer, and for my first several years with USMS I was also primarily a pool swimmer. I've participated in about as wide a variety of USMS events as humanly possible, from the 50 Fly to postal swims to cable swims to buoy-loop OW courses to the Catalina Channel (which, when I did it in 2011, was a USMS sanctioned event). I've been a member of four different LMSCs in various parts of the country.
So I'm not sure there's any irony here.
compare the language used in the above two quotes. Both are saying the same thing, which do you think would be more persuasive in getting USMS leaders to the forums?
Without a doubt, my abrasive approach is more effective in getting people to read this thread (including leadership). I happen to manage an online swimming-related forum myself, and there's no contest. I'm sure irishpolarbear/moderator will confirm this.
Why would volunteers who put in a lot of time and effort into something they love want to come here to be insulted?
You all but call the OW Task Force a bunch of morons
That's fair. To clarify, I think perhaps the problem is less with the volunteer members of the OW Task Force (who probably did the best they could with what they were given), but rather with the people responsible for selecting the Task Force in the first place (some of whom are paid quite handsomely). And also the process by which input was solicited (also, largely determined by salaried folks).
Evan, you seem to think that an abrasive style will somehow better further your goals of persuading or informing but I submit that the opposite is true.
Unfortunately, mild-mannered constructive criticism is only effective if the targets of the constructive criticism are open to hearing it. Otherwise, it tends to get ignored. It would be interesting to see a graph of the visitor traffic from USMS leadership plotted along a timeline of this thread.
Incidentally, Chris: What is your opinion of official forum moderators posting under anonymous aliases as an attempt to undermine his critics?
For the moment, let's put aside the irony of an open water devotee accusing anyone of insularity
Chris, I may not be a Greek Olympian, but at one point I was a Div. 1 collegiate pool swimmer, and for my first several years with USMS I was also primarily a pool swimmer. I've participated in about as wide a variety of USMS events as humanly possible, from the 50 Fly to postal swims to cable swims to buoy-loop OW courses to the Catalina Channel (which, when I did it in 2011, was a USMS sanctioned event). I've been a member of four different LMSCs in various parts of the country.
So I'm not sure there's any irony here.
compare the language used in the above two quotes. Both are saying the same thing, which do you think would be more persuasive in getting USMS leaders to the forums?
Without a doubt, my abrasive approach is more effective in getting people to read this thread (including leadership). I happen to manage an online swimming-related forum myself, and there's no contest. I'm sure irishpolarbear/moderator will confirm this.
Why would volunteers who put in a lot of time and effort into something they love want to come here to be insulted?
You all but call the OW Task Force a bunch of morons
That's fair. To clarify, I think perhaps the problem is less with the volunteer members of the OW Task Force (who probably did the best they could with what they were given), but rather with the people responsible for selecting the Task Force in the first place (some of whom are paid quite handsomely). And also the process by which input was solicited (also, largely determined by salaried folks).
Evan, you seem to think that an abrasive style will somehow better further your goals of persuading or informing but I submit that the opposite is true.
Unfortunately, mild-mannered constructive criticism is only effective if the targets of the constructive criticism are open to hearing it. Otherwise, it tends to get ignored. It would be interesting to see a graph of the visitor traffic from USMS leadership plotted along a timeline of this thread.
Incidentally, Chris: What is your opinion of official forum moderators posting under anonymous aliases as an attempt to undermine his critics?
