zMan is correct about what I am trying to say. Perhaps I was not clear on my perception of the relationship between the OP's problem and company-oriented membership. I think the emphasis on company membership makes first time, non-(so far)-member attendance more of a leap. I have about zero big company experience, but from what I know of how large organizations work, I would darn sure rather try to convince my boss that I should go to an educational conference rather than that the corporation should join some organization. Yes, I guess there is a non-member attendance option, but there is a financial penalty is there not? Not very user-friendly.
I think the attacks are a good illustration of the "it's OUR club -- you stay out of it" attitude. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of zMan Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 7:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Beginners question about SHARE I think Charles' original point was that it SEEMS like there's an "old boys' network". I doubt anyone thinks the SHARE Board is happy with declining attendance--that would be insane. But what we aren't seeing are substantive changes that seem like they'll help. Let me be clear: I said "aren't seeing". That doesn't mean things aren't being considered and even tried, but they clearly aren't working (yet) if so. So Charles' main points (from my perspective--far be it from me to claim to speak for him!) were that: 1) the OP's difficulty with the website is Bad and could be fixed relatively easily 2) the company-membership thing, whether required or not, *feels* required, and might should be reevaluated Seems difficult (to me) to argue with either of those, yet the reaction has been defensiveness and attacks on Charles. Why? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
