MFS Announce is a mailing list that allows event announcements to be sent to Monaro Folk Society members and those with similar interests. It used to be a reliable service with predictable results. Now it is impossible to know if and when our announcements will be sent out. Barbara and I have had announcements deleted because someone wrongly thought they were duplicates and deleted them without consultation or notification. All announcements are delayed unreasonably compared to the previous service. Dance publicity has been sent out too late, and on other occasions we have had to send belated emails to our lists because we have found out about the failure of MFS-Announce management.
Checking on a service that used to be reliable and needing no checking is onerous, made worse because we do not get our announcements back to our originating address, and we get no notification about whether or not they have been forwarded.
Even as I write, my blood pressure is rising as I see other folks' posts going out to MFS Announce while our post about Lakesea this weekend languishes who-knows-where. Maybe the "moderator" is sick or busy, but I contend that it is wrong for our posts to depend on someone else's availability.
So, what has caused this problem? It appears that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed our status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied. Someone has changed us from an unmoderated that always worked fine with no incident, to a moderated status that seems to be badly managed with a poor level of service.
And what to do about it? As each message has been delayed, I have thought long and hard about the options. I could walk away, as so many other good folk have done, but I would be walking away from something that I own as a member. I could revive my own substantial but now a little out of date "Canberra Dance News" email list. I could ring someone and ask them to do their self-appointed and pointless "job", but you can tell from my tone that this is a bad idea that will lead to an angry exchange every time.
So, I have decided to lodge a formal grievance, arising from my perception that my treatment by the MFS Committee has not been fair and respectful.
My grievance is that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed my status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied, and in circumstances that suggest misuse of power. This action appears to me to be aimed at harassing me and causing me offence, rather than to be based on any defensible reason. This change has had a deleterious affect on my legitimate publicity timing capabilities, and therefore is against the interests of members. It is also an insult to moderate me when others with no more integrity than me appear, based on the evidence available to me, to be unmoderated.
Please come back in a week or so, and I will post an update on this unfolding drama, and test-drive of the MFS grievance procedures, if I can.
Checking on a service that used to be reliable and needing no checking is onerous, made worse because we do not get our announcements back to our originating address, and we get no notification about whether or not they have been forwarded.
Even as I write, my blood pressure is rising as I see other folks' posts going out to MFS Announce while our post about Lakesea this weekend languishes who-knows-where. Maybe the "moderator" is sick or busy, but I contend that it is wrong for our posts to depend on someone else's availability.
So, what has caused this problem? It appears that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed our status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied. Someone has changed us from an unmoderated that always worked fine with no incident, to a moderated status that seems to be badly managed with a poor level of service.
And what to do about it? As each message has been delayed, I have thought long and hard about the options. I could walk away, as so many other good folk have done, but I would be walking away from something that I own as a member. I could revive my own substantial but now a little out of date "Canberra Dance News" email list. I could ring someone and ask them to do their self-appointed and pointless "job", but you can tell from my tone that this is a bad idea that will lead to an angry exchange every time.
So, I have decided to lodge a formal grievance, arising from my perception that my treatment by the MFS Committee has not been fair and respectful.
My grievance is that MFS Committee or their delegates have changed my status on MFS Announce without any notification or reason being supplied, and in circumstances that suggest misuse of power. This action appears to me to be aimed at harassing me and causing me offence, rather than to be based on any defensible reason. This change has had a deleterious affect on my legitimate publicity timing capabilities, and therefore is against the interests of members. It is also an insult to moderate me when others with no more integrity than me appear, based on the evidence available to me, to be unmoderated.
Please come back in a week or so, and I will post an update on this unfolding drama, and test-drive of the MFS grievance procedures, if I can.
L
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