EAA Forums - My long-winded thoughts on the culture, etc.
Hi everybody -
I was chatting with my boss this morning about our forums, discussing ideas about how we can better engage with our more senior management to make sure that we do the best job we can when it comes to answering questions and addressing the “hot topic” issues. The conversation drifted a bit from there (as any conversation I’m involved in tends to do) and became a discussion about the overall tone and culture of the forums, which is what got me thinking about writing this post.
First of all, there’s a lot to love about what goes on here – anytime somebody involved in a project needs a hand and posts a question, the responses are usually an embarrassment of riches, full of support and great advice. These are cases of members helping members, both directly by answering the original posters question, and indirectly, by making the answer publicly available to anyone who might be reading the threads and have similar questions that they haven’t yet asked.
When a new person shows up and introduces themselves and says they want to build an airplane or learn to fly or whatever, the responses are fantastic. There’s an outpouring of support and a sense of fellowship that, to me, is the very definition of what EAA should be about. Things like these prove my theory that what I think of as the “EAA spirit” transcends technology and turns these forums into one big virtual EAA Chapter. And that’s why I come to work every day. Heck, that’s why I start looking in on the forums from my iPhone the instant I get out of bed in the morning. (That and to delete any spam posts that my friend Matt may have reported overnight.)
This may be harder to believe, but I also love to see the more, shall we say, constructive feedback that gets shared here. You’ve got a bunch of ideas to improve camping in the South 40? You thought the chalets were in a bad spot? You have suggestions about the air show? You think there should be more free water? GREAT! We need to know these things, obviously. When I see those discussions get started, I get the satisfaction of knowing that, by doing my job, I’ve provided the platform for you to help make EAA and, in these examples, AirVenture, better. Without venues like these forums, these discussions might happen in a vacuum – individuals sending letters and/or emails or making phone calls to offer their feedback, but without the support of or, in some cases, the debate with your fellow members. Individual feedback is absolutely invaluable — crucial, in fact — but I personally believe that there’s also tremendous value in having a more public discussion about some of these things, and I’m proud to play an integral part in making those happen and ensuring that they continue.
With all that said, there are aspects of the culture that can be pretty dispiriting, and run the risk of damaging the credibility of the forums themselves and shooting us all in the foot when it comes to trying to work together to find better ways of doing things. Personal attacks in particular are not tolerated, period. Beyond that, though, arbitrary statements that are factually incorrect, and some of the occasionally overpowering negativity just don’t do any of us any good. Much more importantly, that’s not who any of us are as members of EAA or the aviation community at large.
Consider this, then, a general reminder and a direct request to pay extra attention to the culture of your forums. Not a single one of you would ever dream of throwing a piece of trash on the ground at AirVenture, and I’m sure that all of you would stop and pick it up if someone else did. Once again, that’s just who we are, and I think these forums should feel the same way.
If you have feedback, comments, questions, or complaints, by all means, keep them coming! I think you’re going to find that we’ll be stepping up our efforts to respond and address those things as best as we possibly can. Just remember to please keep things civil, respectful, and on-topic.
If it helps, and it may or may not, remember that I’ve got to take some of these conversations directly to the VPs or to Rod, and it’s challenging when I have to say something like “Here’s some great ideas and a couple of very serious questions about EAA and AirVenture, but just ignore the part where these two guys yell at each other and one of them says ‘Hal is a jerk who secretly hates airplanes and once frowned at a puppy.’”
I’m not whining, and I’m not asking anyone to make my job easier, but I am asking you to help me help all of us, if that makes any sense.
Thanks for reading this, and ongoing thanks to all of you that participate regularly and are passionate enough to share your ideas about how to improve your organization.
- Hal
