I think we are not connecting well. Please don’t put words in my mouth. I want to create a connection with people, not “want council camps to implement something”. I want to find like-mindedness on topics like how we keep our kids safe, how we are wise stewards of our time and money, and how we better control our ever increasing costs through efficient tools, which will likely include volunteer retention through software frustration reduction. It’s a much bigger conversation than GIS and you sir are correct - “not difficult to understand.”
I see your comments all over the place, often playing Captain O in a belittling way. This, like inefficient tools that frustrate our volunteers and increase our membership fees, is also not very good for Scouting. I don’t want to go back and forth in a snarky way with the same 1 person. I want to let it sit as an active topic and maybe in a few days, or a week, someone likeminded might respond and create a connection. Is that a capability of the Scouting Forums? If not I will delete the topic and my account today. I am not going to waste my time based on the way my interaction with 2 posts in the last week has gone. Anyone other than Mr. Hornak out there? I hope so, or the forum itself is not working and another frustrating inefficiency related to Scouting has surfaced.
Understanding how difficult processes and people drive away volunteers and membership, that is the very exact reason I am here and that is the item that is “not difficult to understand” but not at all being taken into consideration at the upper levels. A swell from the bottom may need to happen to get attention, before any council or national is even approached. If you won’t be my teammate, please move on. Go poke at the forums with titles like “I hate scoutbook” where venting is the only possible outcome. I’d even love it if you’d flag me so we can both have a look taken at our interaction, if flags are taken seriously.
This is a serious topic, or this organization is going to die. GIS at camp for 6 weeks of the year is minor, but an example. GIS for all meetings, locations, connections, roundtables, DE/DS sightings, ways to create connections in a more efficient way, could become something. GIS as a safety mechanism is a large conversation and a way to drive commitment, and happens to be my profession, but I am an IT professional who has watched healthy and crash-and-burn projects, and who believes someone needs to get a handle on our tech. More thrust less drag, as it is the only way to bring health to this vital youth organization. The last decade of decisions tells me most want it to die, or better said don’t care if it does or even more important are not willing to do the work, just stand on the sidelines and throw darts. I don’t want it to die. We are months away from a 2nd generation Eagle, and many families have many more. This complacency is what is wrong with our country, and Scouting is one of the few places where hard work is required and actually still has some value. I am willing to fight the good fight, hoping to find some willing partners along the way.
Unhealthy scout topics:
- Tech (training FOR tech, training THROUGH tech)
- Chartering Orgs (and finances, asset needs, etc)
- I guarantee many troops are one bad Fall popcorn sale from dissolving
- Or a major change and having to find a new location/charter would close down many too
- Frustrated volunteers - because of the above
- Using scale to solve problems globally should be more efficient, than dealing with council politics.
If you log in tomorrow and the post is gone and even perhaps my account, then we’ll know I must find a much different avenue.
