At long last!! Someone who has bothered to turn the coin over and see
what the other side looks like - Thanks Tim.
How long have we put up with "QUANTA isn't doing this right" or "QUANTA
isn't doing this at all" or "QUANTA doesn't know how to run the right
type of workshop". Such comments are usually followed by something like
"and they should be doing".
Tim has hit the nail on the head in saying that even those who volunteer
are not always "professional" at everything they are expected (and try)
to do. but how long has it been since those who are objecting actually
not only offered their services but actually got up and did something?
(bad health permitting).
OK, let's have a QL is 30 in Edinburgh! - Who did you say is running it?
and at what cost? and for how many attendees?
Why did the regular South London Workshops stop running? Because the
organiser(s) got fed up with nobody turning up (Even then, the presence
of members of the QUANTA Committee didn't count - pity we can't hold an
AGM without them!!)
I will, eventually, get round to publishing a fully detailed Budget for
a QL is 30 type workshop and I will challenge anyone to reduce my costs
by a considerable margin - realistically.
Tim, If you want to publish any of your articles, have you thought of
sending a copy to the QUANTA Magazine editor? It used to be published
Monthly but due to both the cost of Printing and Postage compared with
the number of Subscribers, and the gradual lack of usable copy, it had
to go to Bi-monthly. I am certain that Lee will give it a very
favourable comment and may even ask you to become a regular contributor.
Worth a thought?
Why not?
Kind Regards,
John Gilpin.
QUANTA Membership Secretary & Treasurer.
On 07/01/2014 03:50, Timothy Swenson wrote:
I've been sitting out the conversations about Quanta, QL Today, etc,
but I thought I would chime in here.
When it comes to volunteer projects, we have to remember the old
adage: "You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"
Having been on the Board of 4 non-profits, and know how hard it can be
to push volunteers to get things done.
For QL websites, we really have to wait for a volunteer to step up and
do something. Geoff is right about needing a place for long form
articles. At the moment, I use two QL websites; the QL forum for news
and short discussions, and Dilwyn's site for downloads and basic QL
information.
I have not done any longer QL writing in a while, but if I did, there
is not a single location for it. I'd probably host it on my website
and point to it from the QL forums (I've done this some recent ZX81
work).
Now, some have suggested that Quanta step up and fill some role,
mostly an article oriented website, but they may not be able to find a
volunteer to do that. I'm working a new website for a local Museum,
but I'm so rusty with HTML stuff that it is a bit of a struggle and
not very enjoyable.
Eventually, someone will get frustrated enough and do it themselves.
This might be enough of a catalyst that gets others involved. Until
then all the gnashing of teeth will do nothing.
I do admit until a few minutes ago, it had been years (8+) since I
visited Geoff's web page. I did not know it had a news section. I've
really only been focusing on one website for my QL news (ok, on the
mailing list). I don't know if Geoff announced his news section on
the QL forum. If he did, I missed it.
So, if people to have long-form articles for the QL, don't just leave
it sitting on your local system. Use the existing web sites that we
do have. If you don't have a location to host it, ask the mailing
list for someone who can. If we have enough authors writing new
material, that might encourage someone to create a newsletter.
Tim Swenson
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