A Consensus [RE-wrenches]

[Jim Hartley]

Travis Creswell, Ozark Solar wrote:
> Gang,
> There has been a handful of posts lately that we have all been asked to
> respond to.  I have been very busy lately so I haven't been paying 
> enough
> attention to the list.  I apologize.  I have caught a few members saying
> something along the lines of  "well since no one want to do this then I
> guess " and so on.  This leads to hard feelings and Don Quixote (how is 
> that
> spelled) syndrome.
> 
> We need to work up a method for getting a consensus on issues that
> individuals bring to the group.  Without a minimum of us in agreement on 
> a
> issue, one of us can (and ultimately will) represent all of us on a 
> issue
> that many of us might not want to have moved forward to the general 
> industry
> or public.  This will lead to the death of the Wrenches unless we get 
> some
> agreement on "who" says "what" to industry leaders.
> 
> Imagine reading in Homepower that a major manufacturer upon suggestions 
> from
> and industry trade group (us) agreed to do such and so on and the bulk 
> of us
> never agreed to it or even heard of it.
> 
> I mention this because it goes back to fishing for whales in small 
> boats. 
> It only takes one person to dump the boat!  This is what happened to a
> environmental action group I was part of.  One person went of on a 
> personal
> crusade using our name and embarrassed all us which lead to the death of 
> the
> group.
> Trav

Yup.  THAT could be a problem for sure.  Here's my response and then I'm 
shutting up for a while.

I don't see a great deal of acrimony occurring here toward vendors but I 
do find puzzlement and differing strong opinions about this and that.  
That's good.  I don't think anybody here wants to create a bitch list to 
the extent that it gets cruel and nasty.  That's not productive.  
Privately we can think whatever I guess from time to time but what comes 
from this source should aim at something constructive and do so with 
some degree of consensus based on real issues subject to reasonable 
remedies.  I'm sure the people we call vendors do the best jobs they can 
with the capital resources and talent they have. They're not unlike us 
in many ways and I'm sure they experience their own quandaries about 
what to do at times.  That said, I second Travis's motion to determine 
the who, when and why of things insofar as taking some kind of 
"position" is concerned.  I say that because I know there are occasions 
when shit just happens and no one is necessarily at fault in some 
conniving, mischevious or purposely neglectful way.  Such things are 
more matters for resolution with which we might be of some valued 
assistance.  I would hope that vendors, for example, would see this as 
an opportunity to better influence people such as us.  But at the same 
time we need them staying around.  There must be some way to create a 
common ground for our mutual purposes.  Don't you think?  So, yes, how 
do we manage this sensibly and fairly? 



Jim Hartley
http://www.homestead-specialties.com
Business Email: JamesHartley at homestead-specialties.com
Direct Email: grail at inil.com

- - - - - - -
To send a message:
 RE-wrenches at topica.com

The archive of previous messages: 
 http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

To unsubscribe send a message to: 
 RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
 www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine: 
 www.homepower.com

For info contact list moderator by email:
 michael.welch at homepower.com

____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less. 
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01