Dean, I appreciate your comments, and concerns. With any social group, you are going to have people that come, and go. This is exactly what has happened in the several amateur radio clubs I belong to, as well as the Riflle club that I am a member of. While we as a board strive to please everyone, that is just not possible. The BOD has output a newsletter several times over the year, that has alot of information about the items that the BOD is working on, and talking about, as well as upcoming events that the WGA is hosting, or involved in. I am sorry that you have choosen not to renew your membership in the forums, I have enjoyed talking to you, and you have some great ideas.

Yes, i do agree that communication is important, and the board has been much better at that through the use of the newsletter.

Q: What would you do to bring back disgruntled ex-WGA members like Dean?

A: Bake you cookies? 😀

Okay, being serious now… There are a lot of reasons why members leave the WGA. For some, it was just a passing hobby for which they no longer have an interest. Fine. We can’t force people to love the hobby. But I would be especially concerned about those members who still enjoy caching who have grown so disgruntled with the WGA itself that they have felt the need to extricate themselves from the entire organization. That is a strong statement of dissent.

I would be really interested to hear what specific factors led to the breaking point. Was it preventable? Is it changeable? Was it the situation itself or was it purely how it was handled or communicated? I am asking these questions rhetorically, as an example of what the board should be asking.

When a disgrunted member vocalizes their concerns to the board, I think it’s the board’s job to communicate with that member until a suitable and reasonable solution or compromise can be achieved.

For disgrunted members (or ex-members) who are reading this forum topic, I’d like to encourage you to give the WGA another try. The past can’t be changed, but I’d hope you’d be willing to set aside some frustration to build a new relationship with the organization. Remember that’s it’s ultimately a place run by cachers for cachers, and that we all enjoy the same hobby. Voice your concerns, contribute helpful suggestions, volunteer your time and/or valuable talents, and I think you’d discover that being a member of the WGA is rewarding in its own way. I’d also like to remind you that there are five open positions on the board, and at least 4 of those 5 will be new board members.

For those who are NOT reading this forum, perhaps the welcoming committee can also be in charge of the “we miss you” committee to bring them back.

Regarding Sweetlife’s mandatory newsletter idea, I’ll have to respectfully disagree. Every business/organization that sends out emails has an option at the bottom to unsubscribe, and I think that’s every person’s right. Some people like to keep caching private and personal. And that’s okay. Perhaps they only joined so that they could check out hiding guidelines or other sources of information. I don’t see a problem with that. I don’t think the WGA should discriminate against those cachers by shoving our RAH RAH RAH down their throats if they don’t want it.

However, there are many new cachers who would benefit from our RAH RAH RAH! 😀 And welcome committee emails and cache page logos are good places to start.

As for Forum Monitoring, I am torn. On one hand, there is freedom of speech. On the other, I have been extremely disappointed, and at times, outraged, with the tone and content of certain threads. (I know it may be hard for some of you to picture an outraged PharmGirl, but I get especially upset when I perceive hurtful personal comments towards new cachers. Two or three times, I have contacted cachers who I felt were unfairly treated in the forums. I wanted to make sure they didn’t take comments personally and to encourage them to remain with us.)

Some words of wisdom from “Todd and the Talking Pinata” by Professor RH Fuller: (got this from my daughter’s Taco Bell kids meal “toy”)

“Be Kind to Everyone. It’s always good to be nice. So if someone’s lemonade is warm Give them a little ice. That would be so kind of you.”

I do not know the circumstances that led to you becoming disgruntled and not renewing your membership. However, if everyone in our group is kind and shows other members respect, this should not happen and if it does it’s not because of the actions of one member or one board member.

Like others have said, lack of communication probably does play a key role in some member’s viewpoint of the group and it’s board. I have mentioned in other responses that I want to see the communication between the board and our members improve. There should be a method for members to give direct input to the board both at our events AND on the forums. The board should also encourage feedback from the group.

I also have to agree with Anne, that forcing members to receive our Newsletter via email is not appropriate. However, why couldn’t we come up with a way to put the newsletter “in your face” when you as a member visit our website for the 1st time after the next newsletter comes out? Even if your going right to the forums via a bookmark. I wonder if this would be possible… We should also publish our newsletter on our Facebook group as well. At a minimum, a new group posting alerting to the newsletter and to remind people to visit the WGA website.

If you as a member are disgruntled, the board needs to know if “your lemonade is warm”. What are your issues and how do you feel they could be fixed? Being in this group is a like a relationship. Communication does go both ways.

Thanks for the great question Dean.

@hogrod wrote:

…This is just a social website nothing more, when people make and account and down return its because they have no reason to(nothing of value here) or don’t see the need for the social side of things.

…. for other “anti-social” cachers out there what does the WGA really offer?

The WGA hosts the Lonely Cache Game, which through the helpful spirit of other cachers, helps maintain caches in working order for you to find. It hosts Cache Rescue for to help minimize “geo-junk” out there in the world and lessen our impact on the environment.

The WGA hosts the picnic and campout. They are often present at other events to help educate new cachers about geocaching.

The WGA works with the WI DNR and other park officials to keep geocaching an accepted and allowed practice so that you can cache in our parks.

The WGA website has useful links such as cache hiding guidelines for certain areas. It also contains bookmark lists created by the “social network” to help find caches in a certain area or by a certain type that you may be looking for.

etc etc etc