Comment Re:diff:customer,consumer (Score 1) 244
This is one of the most cohesive, insightful comments I've read on slashdot in quite a while. Huzzah to you. I would take your categorization a bit further and say that we can apply it to all sorts of mediums, groups, efforts, etc..
Going off-topic, but bear with me.
My HOA has 87 homes. Of those 87, there are 8-10 of us that reliably go to the monthly board meetings (of which I am treasurer), and *maybe* 15-20 will show up at the annual meeting were we discuss important issues such as repaving the road ways, where to keep our money, what the budget should be, whether or not to hire an outside management firm, the status of our covenants and restrictions, and so on. The VAST majority won't even return absentee ballots when we send them with a self-addressed stamped envelope. All they have to do is sign and return. We tallied up the results last night, 16 households returned votes. 16 out of 87 returned votes. 16! These same people will complain to an email address if the grass isn't cut, or if their neighbor doesn't pick up their trashcan on time, but they can't be bothered to come listen to what is important at the annual meeting. We're talking about 2-3 hours, ONCE A FREAGGIN' YEAR! I mean c'mon, skip that episode of American Idol and do something productive.
Like I said, I haven't read any truly useful posts in a long time here on /., so I just wanted to take a minute and thank you. If I had mod points I would've used those instead.
Going off-topic, but bear with me.
My HOA has 87 homes. Of those 87, there are 8-10 of us that reliably go to the monthly board meetings (of which I am treasurer), and *maybe* 15-20 will show up at the annual meeting were we discuss important issues such as repaving the road ways, where to keep our money, what the budget should be, whether or not to hire an outside management firm, the status of our covenants and restrictions, and so on. The VAST majority won't even return absentee ballots when we send them with a self-addressed stamped envelope. All they have to do is sign and return. We tallied up the results last night, 16 households returned votes. 16 out of 87 returned votes. 16! These same people will complain to an email address if the grass isn't cut, or if their neighbor doesn't pick up their trashcan on time, but they can't be bothered to come listen to what is important at the annual meeting. We're talking about 2-3 hours, ONCE A FREAGGIN' YEAR! I mean c'mon, skip that episode of American Idol and do something productive.
Like I said, I haven't read any truly useful posts in a long time here on