Skip this babbling if you cringe at the mention of OTW

[cimorene]

There's board elections coming up for the OTW and some unfunny business emerging. I have seen comments to the effect that people *would* have considered involvement/not shunning the name of OTW and spreading malicious sniping about AO3 but now that they've seen how extra-wanky it supposedly is they should instead run away.

When I was born, my mother was acting as the president of the large New Orleans chapter of NOW, the National Organization for Women, and one of her close friends in the leadership of that chapter later went on to become the national president when I was about 4. From the time I was ~6 both my parents have been heavily involved in our Unitarian Universalist congregation, which has only ever been a few hundred members tops, but always has lots of committees and is famously encumbered by a consensus-only model of decision-making. I've been dragged along to sit on the floor and entertain myself with dolls or sketchbooks in meetings since before I can remember, have listened to my parents ranting over dinner about pig-headed board and committee members every year of my life, and had Robert's Rules explained to me before I was old enough to follow.

Dysfunction, intrigue, and wank is endemic to this method of running things. That doesn't mean you shouldn't work to clarify, compromise, bring issues into the open, eliminate undue influences, and replace board members with more cooperative ones. It just means the sky isn't falling. My parents' congregation has suffered through far worse than the board member who told the president of the board she didn't have the authority to lay the groundwork for a strategic plan that she had been told to do by the board (and then going behind her back to tell people to stop working on it with her). They survived and you will too. You'll never have a year where a bunch of you don't want to rip your hair out, though, I'm pretty sure. The people I see posting meta about this are doing their best: honestly airing their thoughts and talking to each other and sometimes having large alcoholic or tannin-laden drinks, which looks like an exemplary handling of the situation.

Comments

[ithiliana]

*nods* A lot of commenters who have experience in other volunteer associations have been saying more or less the same thing--i.e. what OTW is going through is not unique.

I've not been following closely, but having been involved in local animal rescue group, and attempt to start Women's Center at my university YEARS ago (which totally broke up), and even some attempts to create stuff in academia -- yeah, it's not at all unique.

And maybe that's the problem for some fans who have the assumption that fandom is unique somehow, instead of, well, depressingly like all other sub-cultures or groups of human beings.....I used to be in that space myself three and a half decades ago....

[ithiliana]

Having read more of the links and commentary, I am now being depressingly reminded of two orgs I was involved in where the founders had sort of controlled things for years, were wanting more outside involvement, but only if it looked like them, so to speak--and how miserable that was to get through. One animal rescue, one academic/professional org.

[cimorene]

Yeah, I can definitely see parallels as well. But on the other hand, I think it's easy to understand the POV of the founders who may or may not have Founders' Syndrome, at least in the abstract. Honestly, all I have to do is think 'what if those assholes from that one time had been in control of the congregation's board instead of just members making trouble on Sunday?' and the recoil is instant. Nobody wants the projects they've invested so much energy in to be controlled by somebody they don't trust, and that often involves anybody whose views about The Future are different because when you're passionate about something, you sometimes are passionate even about the smallest details, and there's no denying the current board of the OTW have been passionately working very hard for its/their aims for quite some time.

[msilverstar]

Excellent point, all the organizations I've been involved in have had wank in all flavors, but it's worse when it's hidden.

Also, I was the only public objector to the rule that there's no term limit for Board members, they can serve forever. I think that makes an org sclerotic.

[starlady]

Thank you for posting this. It's a timely reminder, and thinking back on my own volunteer experiences in other contexts, you're right.

[oliviacirce]

Seriously. ♥

[phosfate]

Word. I have a lot of reasons for not being involved in OTW, but this isn't one of them. Organizations of any size swell and shrink and have Drama. It's how they work.

[sapote]

YES. Yes yes yes. I have, um, been referring to the six months I spent as a member of a UU church building committee especially while reading about the OTW troubles. THIS IS HOW PEOPLE WORK IT OUT. Yay for people.