Well, it's an oft-told tale, grey haired, and you've seen it before, many of
you. But, this has passed the 48-hour requirement, so this is not written in
the heat of the moment.
The STC has a feature called Autoassign. They turned it on for all members
without asking. I'm in the Connecticut Chapter and Boston Chapter. I changed my
address, to a new town in CT, so I could receive the magazines at the office.
As a result of changing my address, my CT Chapter affiliation was dropped, a
New York affiliation was assigned, and the Boston affiliation was left alone.
The New York Chapter in question was further away from my house than Hartford
CT, the state capital, and further away than Connecticut Chapter meetings.
Furthermore, I did not want to drop my membership in the Connecticut Chapter.
Moreover, I was not informed of the change in membership. Finally, I was the CT
Chapter President at the time, so was no longer a member of the Chapter I was
president of.
I raised a flag. I was told it was autoassign.
At the request of the new CT Chapter President, I represented the CT Chapter
board of directors and tried to get the STC to turn off Autoassign for
Connecticut: it was assigning residents of Connecticut to out-of-state chapters
that were further away without letting the members know. Additionally,
Autoassign only worked one way: moving members who moved withing Connecticut
out of the Connecticut Chapter. Finally, you could not reasonably predict where
Autoassign would move you, there was no zip code map, no way to tell, and
Autoassign clearly didn't always move you to a closer chapter. (Why, when I
moved within CT, drop my CT affiliation and not my Boston one?) Etc.
I endured a host of ridiculous pushback from the STC, including that there in
some parts of Connecticut, you are closer to New York than Connecticut (yes,
truly), that Hartford was the measure (we never have meetings there and, even
so, I had been Autoassigned to a chapter further away from me than Hartford),
that turning off autoassign for Connecticut would have unforseen and unknowable
consequences to the STC as a whole (these database things are so unknowable, I
mean, what's a query?), that this could not be disabled without members wanting
it disabled (though, it was enabled without them knowing), etc.
I posted on the STC forums and veteran STCers agreed Autoassign did harm and
offered no good, but still the STC clung to Autoassign for no good reason.
Finally, the STC decided to do something; they emailed a survey to Connecticut
members. This email is what really disappointed me; it was the most unethical
document I've seen in a while and the example I think of when I think of ethics
and the STC.
Rather than let the CT Chapter compose the email, the STC did it. The chapter
got a look at the email a couple of days before it went out, and the board of
directors requested changes to the email, but these requests were largely
ignored.
The email that went out told CT Chapter members there was a feature called
Autoassign that automatically appropriately changed your chapter affiliation if
you moved, so you didn't have to manually do it. There was one person in the CT
Chapter who objected to this feature. The email then asked if the members
wanted the feature turned off for themselves and then for others.
That communication was unethical because it wasn't honest, accurate,
comprehesive, or neutral. Firstly, Autoassign was broken, and the email didn't
mention that. Secondly, Autoassign had caused harm, and that wasn't said.
Thirdly, you couldn't predict where Autoassign would put you, there was no zip
code map, and Autoassign might assign you to a chapter that was further away
than the one to which you were already assigned--the email made you think
Autoassign worked. Additionally, the requests to turn off Autoassign were by
the CT Chapter President and board of directors, not one squeaky wheel.
Finally, the question about adjusting the settings for other members was a red
herring; of course members don't feel comfortable adjusting settings they don't
understand for people other than themselves, that sort of thing is the purview
of the Chapter leadership, though.
And, so, the STC's email was set up to gather specific responses, and it did
just that. It was a bad example of technical and business communication because
it was dishonest, imprecise, not comprehensive, and biased.
To this day, I have no idea why the STC fought so strongly for Autoassign,
which damaged a chapter. However, I did see that the values of technical
communicators were not respected and the requests of a chapter and its
leadership not only ignored but treated with contempt.
Now, about the upcoming campaign for membership renewals, about the support of
chapters as a whole, about listening to members and responding ....
Sean
----- Original Message ----
From: "Harkness, Holly" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Sean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; TCP List <TCP@techcommpros.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 10:07:10 PM
Subject: RE: [TCP] OT Vent re: STC
Sean,
You imply that the STC did something unethical.
Can you provide any details?
Holly Harkness
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Sean
Sent: Tue 11/13/2007 7:00 PM
To: TCP List
Subject: Re: [TCP] OT Vent re: STC
I've been an STC member for a while. I've contributed some. I'm a
senior member, helped with the local chapter as a Webmaster and president.
I think I'm done.
My thoughts:
1) We're different, the STC organization and I. Ethics are important to
me. Presenting communication in a clear, accurate, and concise way is
important to me. The membership is important to me. I struggle to find
evidence that the STC as an organization values those same things.
a) Treat the members ethically. Listen to and respect them.
b) Treat the chapters ethically. Listen to and respect them.
c) Promote ethical communication and lead by example.
d) STC communication -- Website, email, newsletters, the whole thing --
should exemplify good traits in technical and business communication.
2) ROI. I've put a fair bit in. I want something back. Prices are
rising and I cannot find the value in spending $175.
3) At a local level, it's the same stouthearted folks doing the work,
and they're burnt out. Others need to step up. I don't have a solution
for that but I'm burnt out, too.
And, when I say the STC organization, I mean the umbrella organization.
I understand there are good folks elected to office and likely good
folks hired to work for the STC, but my perception is that those
outstanding individuals are diminished by the whole.
Cheers,
Sean
----- Original Message ----
From: Bill Swallow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Sue Heim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: TCP List <TCP@techcommpros.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 1:18:31 PM
Subject: Re: [TCP] OT Vent re: STC
> Last I heard, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. And
until any
> of us have walked in Paula's shoes, I think it's plenty disrespectful
to
> discredit her opinion.
Well said.
I will say that there are folks in the STC looking to make changes. As
with any organization, change is slow. I have some ideas for change,
but the approach needed is to change things immeiately, and
unfortunately there are many who consider that impossible, where I
just consider it unreasonable. We need more unreasonable thinkers and
doers in the STC if we're going to make large positive changes.
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