The Lonely Maytag Repair Man!

[Hawken]

Here's a recent posting by rollingb

I reckon I got it made where I'm at, I can step out my door and shoot 20 to 1000 yards in a couple of directions, and the places where the timber is thick is great for camping and hunting.

Only drawback is, the population here is so sparse I don't have anyone close by to shoot with.

Traditional muzzleloader shooting needs to be shared with others. 

I understand the problem!

So....most of us probably don't have a clue as to who or what other TML shooters are near our locations! The upper echelon of the TMA possibly could have arranged for the forum a state by state member location which a member could see who and where other Traditional Muzzle Loader shooters are! I'm in North Louisiana and as far as I know....I'm the only TML shooter in my area!!

[Bigsmoke]

IIRC, and there is absolutely no guarantee that I do, but it seems that at one time, there was a map where the various members were shown in general detail about their locations.  I don't know how well that worked or if it is still even available.  I think it showed that people were rather scattered at the time, and I doubt if it is any better today than it was then.
There are not all that many paid members in the Association and there is a whole lot of ground to cover in the USA.
Which brings up a rather interesting thought, at least to me.  How come everything is such a big, dark secret?  Why cannot we have a report published every month, or  even quarterly about the number of members we do have and if that is a positive or negative trend.  How about a treasurer's report every month letting us, the paid members, know how much money we have in the bank.  How about this?  I have no clue about our officers.  Would it not be a good idea to have a list of the officers and the board of directors posted somewhere, and a recap of the BOD meetings?  Are there such things anymore?  Forget the Maytag Repairman, I am feeling kinda like a mushroom, going through life in the dark.  And should I even mention a newsletter?
End of rant.
John

[rollingb]

Yes,.... at one time (in our early years) we did have a map showing where our members lived. 

I dunno whatever happened to it.

[rollingb]

IIRC, and there is absolutely no guarantee that I do, but it seems that at one time, there was a map where the various members were shown in general detail about their locations.  I don't know how well that worked or if it is still even available.  I think it showed that people were rather scattered at the time, and I doubt if it is any better today than it was then.
There are not all that many paid members in the Association and there is a whole lot of ground to cover in the USA.
Which brings up a rather interesting thought, at least to me.  How come everything is such a big, dark secret?  Why cannot we have a report published every month, or  even quarterly about the number of members we do have and if that is a positive or negative trend.  How about a treasurer's report every month letting us, the paid members, know how much money we have in the bank.  How about this?  I have no clue about our officers.  Would it not be a good idea to have a list of the officers and the board of directors posted somewhere, and a recap of the BOD meetings?  Are there such things anymore?  Forget the Maytag Repairman, I am feeling kinda like a mushroom, going through life in the dark.  And should I even mention a newsletter?
End of rant.
John

John,.... I understand your interest and concerns,.... I'll bring them up before the BOD. 

[Ohio Joe]

Rondo, perhaps next late Spring / early Summer, I'd sure be willing to drive down during the week and do some shootin' with ya. 

I'll even bring along some after-shooting fortification spirits  so we can re'hydrate after all that spit patching... 

[rollingb]

Rondo, perhaps next late Spring / early Summer, I'd sure be willing to drive down during the week and do some shootin' with ya. 

I'll even bring along some after-shooting fortification spirits  so we can re'hydrate after all that spit patching... 

Now that would be fun. 

[Ohio Joe]

Rondo, perhaps next late Spring / early Summer, I'd sure be willing to drive down during the week and do some shootin' with ya. 

I'll even bring along some after-shooting fortification spirits  so we can re'hydrate after all that spit patching... 

Now that would be fun. 

We'll just have to make that happen. It'll be good times! 

[Hawken]

This situation is still out there....just wandering around.........

[RobD]

...

So....most of us probably don't have a clue as to who or what other TML shooters are near our locations! The upper echelon of the TMA possibly could have arranged for the forum a state by state member location which a member could see who and where other Traditional Muzzle Loader shooters are! I'm in North Louisiana and as far as I know....I'm the only TML shooter in my area!!

well now, what yer asking for would be wonderful and make amazing sense!   

so why don't the TMA just do it?  here's why ...

the original forum neglected to require a forum registered member to submit their physical location - no, not their home address, just the USA state or country they reside in.  that would be good enuf.

when i built this new forum i made it mandatory for all NEW registrations to require inputting the forum member's location. 

as a result, we have very little forum member location data stored, maybe 5% at best.

let me talk this over with the exec board and BoD - at the very least, we should have a forum method for finding other members.  now that makes sense.

[Uncle Russ]

IIRC, and there is absolutely no guarantee that I do, but it seems that at one time, there was a map where the various members were shown in general detail about their locations.  I don't know how well that worked or if it is still even available.  I think it showed that people were rather scattered at the time, and I doubt if it is any better today than it was then.
There are not all that many paid members in the Association and there is a whole lot of ground to cover in the USA.
Which brings up a rather interesting thought, at least to me.  How come everything is such a big, dark secret?  Why cannot we have a report published every month, or  even quarterly about the number of members we do have and if that is a positive or negative trend.  How about a treasurer's report every month letting us, the paid members, know how much money we have in the bank.  How about this?  I have no clue about our officers.  Would it not be a good idea to have a list of the officers and the board of directors posted somewhere, and a recap of the BOD meetings?  Are there such things anymore?  Forget the Maytag Repairman, I am feeling kinda like a mushroom, going through life in the dark.  And should I even mention a newsletter?
End of rant.
John

John, I can easily answer at least one part of your multifaceted rant. In regards to "Deep Dark Secrets"....there are none.
The oldx "location" map showing members general location, when members decided to participate, prove to be little more than a back door to hackers to get on the forum and raise cane.....perhaps some of the old timers have noticed this no longer happens

As far as membership stats, like everything else that happens here, it requires an effort on someone's part to post that information, and keep it updated.
At the same time, any member can view the member list located at the bottom of the forum.
Thanks to the upspike in Identity theft, many things can not be posted, in public, that once was allowable.
I have to personally contact every single member in order to get their mailing address....pay-pal will NOT even provide that.

Yes, some more things can be done, but a lot of things have already been done.

[Bigsmoke]

I understand a lot of what you are talking about, Russ, but on the other hand (you have different fingers), most all of what I was inquiring about would be pretty easy info to provide and not impart a hardship on whoever is working with the data.

For example, I don't think it would be that difficult to put the officers and BOD members on the mast head, somewhere.  Do it once, and it is done until something changes.  That would not take much time to do.

I would assume that the treasurer balances the checkbook every month?  When he does, a quick posting of "We have $x,xxx.xx in the checking account and $x,xxx.xx in Cash on Hand as of xx/xx/xxxx.  If there are any other reserve accounts, the same thing could be done.

As far as membership goes, are we still using the old data base program?  It would be pretty easy to run a query of it to count the number of members current as of xx/xx/xxxx and make a posting saying we have 475 paid members as of xx/xx/xxxx.  We welcomed 7 new members this month and the trend is increasing.  This, I would think, would be the easiest part of keeping track of the membership.

I don't see where any of these things is so much work as to comprise a burden on anyone.  And it is information that the general membership should be aware of, I think.

Newsletter?  Total pain in the a$$ to produce and publish, unless one enjoys doing something like that.  Else, it's a walk through he11.  But, it's something that should be provided to the membership.  And no, to answer what you are thinking, I am not volunteering to do that.  Been there, done that and once was enough.  This is one thing that I totally agree with you on, Russ.  It does require a huge effort on someone's part.  But, in years gone by, it did get done.  Then it didn't.

Again, I'll make an assumption.  We are still having Board of Directors' meetings?  So, what happens at these meetings?  I imagine a record is made of these meetings?  The Secretary takes minutes, right?  So, the Secretary can sit down and clean them up and post them to the general membership.  I have made it a point to never take on the Secretary position in any association I have been a member of, mainly because I take crummy notes.  A failing on my part.  But many people do take good notes and it should not be a problem for them to publish the notes or minutes.  Not that big of a deal if you have written minutes.

Anyway, just my thoughts on this.  By the by, for a little bit of added security, any of this would only be posted in the member section.  Of course, for a bona fide hacker, that wouldn't really mean much, would it?
John

[RobD]

I understand a lot of what you are talking about, Russ, but on the other hand (you have different fingers), most all of what I was inquiring about would be pretty easy info to provide and not impart a hardship on whoever is working with the data.

For example, I don't think it would be that difficult to put the officers and BOD members on the mast head, somewhere.  Do it once, and it is done until something changes.  That would not take much time to do.

I would assume that the treasurer balances the checkbook every month?  When he does, a quick posting of "We have $x,xxx.xx in the checking account and $x,xxx.xx in Cash on Hand as of xx/xx/xxxx.  If there are any other reserve accounts, the same thing could be done.

As far as membership goes, are we still using the old data base program?  It would be pretty easy to run a query of it to count the number of members current as of xx/xx/xxxx and make a posting saying we have 475 paid members as of xx/xx/xxxx.  We welcomed 7 new members this month and the trend is increasing.  This, I would think, would be the easiest part of keeping track of the membership.

I don't see where any of these things is so much work as to comprise a burden on anyone.  And it is information that the general membership should be aware of, I think.

Newsletter?  Total pain in the a$$ to produce and publish, unless one enjoys doing something like that.  Else, it's a walk through he11.  But, it's something that should be provided to the membership.  And no, to answer what you are thinking, I am not volunteering to do that.  Been there, done that and once was enough.  This is one thing that I totally agree with you on, Russ.  It does require a huge effort on someone's part.  But, in years gone by, it did get done.  Then it didn't.

Again, I'll make an assumption.  We are still having Board of Directors' meetings?  So, what happens at these meetings?  I imagine a record is made of these meetings?  The Secretary takes minutes, right?  So, the Secretary can sit down and clean them up and post them to the general membership.  I have made it a point to never take on the Secretary position in any association I have been a member of, mainly because I take crummy notes.  A failing on my part.  But many people do take good notes and it should not be a problem for them to publish the notes or minutes.  Not that big of a deal if you have written minutes.

Anyway, just my thoughts on this.  By the by, for a little bit of added security, any of this would only be posted in the member section.  Of course, for a bona fide hacker, that wouldn't really mean much, would it?
John

john,

for the most part you, as TMA Charter Member, are asking questions that you should already have a good idea what the answers are.  do realize that the TMA has been in a transition since before the forum software conversion.  many Many MANY things have been changed, both behind the scenes and in public view, and there are a lot more of each to come.  this is all going to take time as we both outfit the ship and plot its course.  please stay tuned and do keep the faith. 

cheers,
rob.

[Bigsmoke]

Okie Dokie, will do.

Still wondering how many members there are and what the financial condition is.  And who is what here and what their terms of office are.

Otherwise, I am hanging on, looking forward to seeing what the course will turn out to be. 

Carry on.

[RobD]

Okie Dokie, will do.

Still wondering how many members there are and what the financial condition is.  And who is what here and what their terms of office are.

Otherwise, I am hanging on, looking forward to seeing what the course will turn out to be. 

Carry on.

we hold monthly officer/BoD conference calls.

as TMA treasurer, i yield a concise and accurate-to-the penny monthly financial report to my superiors, the TMA exec board. 

we *ALWAYS* have the best interests of the TMA as our highest standard, with our focus and goals as rendered in our byline "The TMA is dedicated to preserving the rich and fascinating heritage of the traditional muzzleloading firearms of early America." with one addition - the promotion of our sport.

as to what is rendered to TMA contributing members, not TMA forum members, will be up to our bylaws and our exec board. 

we will discuss all of the above this week.

[rollingb]

I understand a lot of what you are talking about, Russ, but on the other hand (you have different fingers), most all of what I was inquiring about would be pretty easy info to provide and not impart a hardship on whoever is working with the data.

For example, I don't think it would be that difficult to put the officers and BOD members on the mast head, somewhere.  Do it once, and it is done until something changes.  That would not take much time to do.

I would assume that the treasurer balances the checkbook every month?  When he does, a quick posting of "We have $x,xxx.xx in the checking account and $x,xxx.xx in Cash on Hand as of xx/xx/xxxx.  If there are any other reserve accounts, the same thing could be done.

As far as membership goes, are we still using the old data base program?  It would be pretty easy to run a query of it to count the number of members current as of xx/xx/xxxx and make a posting saying we have 475 paid members as of xx/xx/xxxx.  We welcomed 7 new members this month and the trend is increasing.  This, I would think, would be the easiest part of keeping track of the membership.

I don't see where any of these things is so much work as to comprise a burden on anyone.  And it is information that the general membership should be aware of, I think.

Newsletter?  Total pain in the a$$ to produce and publish, unless one enjoys doing something like that.  Else, it's a walk through he11.  But, it's something that should be provided to the membership.  And no, to answer what you are thinking, I am not volunteering to do that.  Been there, done that and once was enough.  This is one thing that I totally agree with you on, Russ.  It does require a huge effort on someone's part.  But, in years gone by, it did get done.  Then it didn't.

Again, I'll make an assumption.  We are still having Board of Directors' meetings?  So, what happens at these meetings?  I imagine a record is made of these meetings?  The Secretary takes minutes, right?  So, the Secretary can sit down and clean them up and post them to the general membership.  I have made it a point to never take on the Secretary position in any association I have been a member of, mainly because I take crummy notes.  A failing on my part.  But many people do take good notes and it should not be a problem for them to publish the notes or minutes.  Not that big of a deal if you have written minutes.

Anyway, just my thoughts on this.  By the by, for a little bit of added security, any of this would only be posted in the member section.  Of course, for a bona fide hacker, that wouldn't really mean much, would it?
John

john,

for the most part you, as TMA founder, are asking questions that you should already have a good idea what the answers are.  do realize that the TMA has been in a transition since before the forum software conversion.  many Many MANY things have been changed, both behind the scenes and in public view, and there are a lot more of each to come.  this is all going to take time as we both outfit the ship and plot its course.  please stay tuned and do keep the faith. 

cheers,
rob.

Rob,... in all fairness John is not a TMA Founder, so he probably doesn't know all that's went on within the organization from day 1.
Having said that,... he has been a member of the TMA Board of Directors though, so he should know that there aren't any "deep dark secrets" going on behind closed doors, but just the usual stuff with us (the BOD) trying to figure out how to increase our membership while being frugal with the money we have on hand and how to spend it wisely. While also spending time on the usual "youth grants" discussions, and etc.

While I'm in agreement with John regarding a periodical Financial Report, whether it's a monthly report, or a quarterly report, all our officers and members of the board are folks who volunteer their time and effort to keep things running. Even our monthly meetings (by teleconference) often have to be juggled around an "agreed upon" time when all BOD can find time in their schedules to participate.

One bit of news for our members is,.... we will have a nice TMA ad in Muzzleloader Magazine coming out in the Jan-Feb issue, and depending on how well that works to attract new members during 2019, we'll see if it's worth the expense to do it again in 2020.
Those ads aren't cheap, but will be seen by folks who have interests in traditional muzzleloading, so we've got our fingers crossed in the hopes of seeing some new members join the TMA. 

As ALWAYS,.... anyone with expertise in any particular field, that can be beneficial to the TMA, is welcome to step forward and volunteer their efforts to help the BOD at any time.