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Now that I have had time to read and reread all of the posts in this thread and
I have calmed to below boiling point I thought I would try and make a
constructive post about some of my feelings about this issue. (Please note
that I said "some of my feeling" not all. Some of my feelings are being held
for the NELUG meeting and only after that will I even consider posting them
here if I post them at all).
Also thank all of you that allowed cooler heads to prevail and made this into a
civil discussion. Some of the subthreads I saw were down right disturbing.
<<<< The following are my personal feeling and not those of NELUG >>>>
<<<< attack them as you will >>>>
1. I feel for Shiri, I really do, I moved a lot when I was her age and
changed schools frequently. Although its not as bad as being half a world away
from your true freinds I can say it sucked. So Shiri I am sorry if you have
been hurt by NELUG's policy, just remember it is not directed at you
personally.
2. No matter how much some people will say I am wrong, this issue is not about
Shiri, it is about a policy that started when NELUG did. I personally will be
reviewing the policy not whether I think Shiri personally should be allowed to
attend meetings.
3. I will not under any circumstances vote to change the policy to one that is
subjective. Nor will I be part of any subjective decisions on whether someone
qualifies or not to be a member based on their maturity. Just think what will
happen. First you will have to tell the prospective member that they are not
mature enough to attend (Not fun). Second you will have to explain to their
parents why you think their child is not mature enough to attend meetings of a
LEGO club (Much less fun if not down right nasty). Third, you will have to
explain yourself to the LUGNET community (we have seen how much fun that can
be).
4. I will consider however changing the age limit (either up or down) to a
solid limit that is not subjective. (That does not mean I will vote for or
against a change just that I will consider all the issues involved and make an
informed decision.)
5. I personally do not think a waiver signed by a parent is worth the ink its
signed with. Believe me if something serious enough happened to their child
they will be after us for all they have got waiver or not. If that happened it
would more than likely spell the end of our group because whether it is
justified or not/defendable or not we just don't have the resources to deal
with it.
6. I have said this before and I will say it again. You make one exception to
a rule and you might as well through the rule out the window. I believe in no
exceptions no matter what the reason. That does not mean we can't change a
rule its just that I don't think we can leave the rule in place but make an
exception.
7. While I think NELUG is in a no win situation as far as the LUGNET community
goes (We either vote to stay the course or we vote to change the rule) either
way we lose to some extent. One vote and things remain the same and people
continue to hate us for it. The other vote some people will think they were
the catalist for the change and they brought down the man (the man being
NELUG). Before any of you start saying "But you gain a great member in Shiri"
which is true we still suffer from the conciquences of this discussion.
8. I will stick by whatever the vote is. If we change the rule I will welcome
any new members that were allowed in because of it. If we don't change the
rule I will stick by it and defend it.
Again I have heard some good arguments for changing the rule and some good
arguments for changing the rule. I would have to say I am somewhat on the
fence but that all depends on what we end up voting on.
Please be paitent waiting for my replies as I am traveling on business and will
not have the consistant accesses to LUGNET that I usually do. You may even
have to wait until the weekend before I get to you.
I am willing to talk about this constructively. I am even willing to ignore
nonconstructive critisisms in posts if they have some constructive comments.
So flame me if you want. I will not flame back again during this discussion.
Eric Kingsley
The New England LEGO Users Group
http://www.nelug.org/
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Age limitations
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| (...) Eeek -- "up or down"? -- was that a typo or do you mean up or down subject to certain circumstances such as bars? I hope NELUG doesn't even consider raising the basic requirement above 18... I have no problem with the limit being 21 for (...) (24 years ago, 6-Jul-00, to lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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