From: Ian Arcatling (ianarc@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Oct 22 2000 - 19:46:58 MDT
>From: GBurch1@aol.com
>
>Why don't you tell us how you really feel, Ian - don't hold back!
>
>I never heard from you, Ian.
This was from April to October last year.
>To the extent that your criticisms have merit, I'll address them, although
>your tone certainly doesn't encourage constructive feedback.
Excuse me? Getting any response at all from the ExI has been like
pulling teeth. I think you can appreciate that this has made me a little
peeved. That said, I am not out to insult anybody. As I wrote, Max More
seems like a very nice fellow. It was he who finally took pity on me and
answered my emails, and eventually, several months later, after a couple of
reminders, confirmed that I was a member. You may all be very nice people,
but that is not the point.
It seems that I was misinformed concerning the ExI. If I understand
the other postings correctly, I should have realized that sending money to
the ExI is just like sending money to CARE or to the Red Cross. The
difference is that by sending money to the ExI one gets the satisfaction of
knowing that one supports "the revolution." I have to admit that I never
realized this.
I would like to believe that a membership in for instance the NSS and
the Artemis Society also helps support something good and worthwhile. Apart
from the warm and fuzzy feeling this knowledge imparts, the benefits of a
membership in these organizations also include magazines and access to
members-only mailing lists (no coffee mugs or T-shirts). Occasionally, they
also send you interesting news via email. Best of all, however, they do all
this without you having to send them email messages until you are blue in
the face, begging them to do it.
Since I made the mistake of believing that you might actually get
something for the money sent to the ExI, there may be others out there who
are almost as stupid as I am, and who may therefore make the same mistake.
I think it would be a good thing to help them from making this mistake. The
best thing would probably be if it said at your site that sending money to
the ExI is just like sending it to CARE or the Red Cross, but that by doing
so one helps fund "the revolution." Such a message would certainly
discourage even somebody as stupid as me from joining. It would be a whole
lot more effective than my postings to this list are.
>Finally, let me ask whether you ever asked what you could do to improve the
>value of our community? Do you have skills that could add value? Did you
>propose a project that would improve the future? Many of our members have.
>
That is very nice, and I wish them all luck. No, I never made any such
suggestions. Is that a requirement? I had hoped to learn more about the
ExI through whatever information the ExI would see fit to send me. Perhaps
I would then have made such suggestions eventually. That is moot, however.
I never received anything from the ExI whatsover -- nothing to discourage me
from doing so, that is true, but nothing to spark my interest in proposing
any projects either. It is hard to feel any community spirit with an
organization that doesn't seem to care about its members, and which doesn't
communicate with you, in fact doesn't even reply to your messages.
Let's say that I don't possess any skills whatsoever which could add
value. Does that mean that I am not welcome as a member? In that case it
would probably be a good idea to write that at the Extropy site as well.
Ian
>
> Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
> Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness
>Guide
> http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
> ICQ # 61112550
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