CO Position Discussion
Thread Starter
Moderator
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 7,041
Likes: 355
From: Arizona
CO Position Discussion
I wanted to make a post about the CO positions we have locally and hopefully promote some open discussion regarding these. I am making this post to get some opinions and thoughts out on the table in a constructive fashion. Please, if you do not have anything constructive to add do not post in this thread. We need to keep this on topic and respectful.
I decided to do this because of my cousin. We were discussing the CO positions at a meet and he mentioned something along the lines of “wow, you guys are a car club and you have to deal with this much drama over a CO position?” The more I think about it, the more I realize he is right. I also thought it was a good idea to bring this subject up in open conversation because I know the Arizona crew has had a major falling out before, and I’d prefer we all just talk things out in the open instead of not saying things or letting them fester and having them blow up into something far worse than what it needs to be.
As it sits currently we have two CO’s I believe, Chris and Simmy. Chris generally handles the West Side and Simmy handles the East side. Maybe a third CO would be beneficial, I don’t really know, but this might be a good place to just discuss these types of things. I think it’s also worth mentioning that the CO positions are thankless jobs. You have to deal with a large amount of additional drama, headaches, time commitments, and I’m sure plenty of other things for almost no benefit other than making sure our meets/club run smoothly. This take a huge time commitment and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I tell you guys that I can’t thank you enough for everything you do to keep this running smoothly.
Right now I feel that the amount of time Chris puts into the CO position is astronomical. I can’t imagine being able to replace him with only one individual. I am not saying that to try to compare him to anyone else, I’m merely trying to demonstrate that due to his job/life/schedule he can invest a large amount of his time to something that we might not realistically be able to expect out of someone else in the same position.
With all that being said, it’s no secret that recently we have had some discussions over finding a new CO for the East side. Please do not take anything that I am saying as personal attacks because they are not. I am simply trying to lay out the things that I have heard in a constructive fashion. Simmy has done a good job at being CO for the East side guys, but due to several reasons there has been some discussion in regards to finding a replacement. I think some of the discussion has come across as personal to some people and I want to put this out here so we can resolve this without losing any members. I like Simmy, I consider him a friend, I do however think that we need to have someone who has more disposable time to commit to the club to step up and take over the CO position. Coming from Simmy, it feels like school is currently the cause for the lack of time commitment.
What I am asking is are we at a point where we can simply ask someone to pass the CO position onto someone else who has more time to dedicate to this? I don’t see anything wrong with simply saying “hey guy, I know have a bunch of other far more important obligations going on right now, can we pass the position to someone who doesn’t?” I feel that for the most part a large group of us all consider each other friends and I would expect with relationships like that we should be able to just talk to each other about these things.
The last thing I want is to see us lose someone because we tried to force them out of a position before we tried to lay everything out on a table and talk it out. I hope you guys understand where I am coming from and I sincerely hope that nobody take anything that I said as an attack or insults. At the end of the day I consider most of you guys who are reading this my friends. I really like the dynamic that we as a group have right now and I’d like to keep that going and avoid drama. I feel the best way to do that is to have Simmy step down and have a replacement step up. I think this solves several problems, and I believe by talking about this in a constructive manner we can avoid losing people.
At the end of the day some people have more time to pour into something like organizing a club than others. I don’t see anything wrong with that. What I am asking is, going forward for the sake of everyone involved, we talk about these things in an open format. I don’t want people to take these things personally. If you can commit a large amount of time to this great, we the people who can’t, appreciate it. If at some point you can not longer maintain that commitment give us a heads up and well find someone else who can take over. It’s not the end of the world, you can always step back up at a later date when your schedule changes.
-Feezy
I decided to do this because of my cousin. We were discussing the CO positions at a meet and he mentioned something along the lines of “wow, you guys are a car club and you have to deal with this much drama over a CO position?” The more I think about it, the more I realize he is right. I also thought it was a good idea to bring this subject up in open conversation because I know the Arizona crew has had a major falling out before, and I’d prefer we all just talk things out in the open instead of not saying things or letting them fester and having them blow up into something far worse than what it needs to be.
As it sits currently we have two CO’s I believe, Chris and Simmy. Chris generally handles the West Side and Simmy handles the East side. Maybe a third CO would be beneficial, I don’t really know, but this might be a good place to just discuss these types of things. I think it’s also worth mentioning that the CO positions are thankless jobs. You have to deal with a large amount of additional drama, headaches, time commitments, and I’m sure plenty of other things for almost no benefit other than making sure our meets/club run smoothly. This take a huge time commitment and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I tell you guys that I can’t thank you enough for everything you do to keep this running smoothly.
Right now I feel that the amount of time Chris puts into the CO position is astronomical. I can’t imagine being able to replace him with only one individual. I am not saying that to try to compare him to anyone else, I’m merely trying to demonstrate that due to his job/life/schedule he can invest a large amount of his time to something that we might not realistically be able to expect out of someone else in the same position.
With all that being said, it’s no secret that recently we have had some discussions over finding a new CO for the East side. Please do not take anything that I am saying as personal attacks because they are not. I am simply trying to lay out the things that I have heard in a constructive fashion. Simmy has done a good job at being CO for the East side guys, but due to several reasons there has been some discussion in regards to finding a replacement. I think some of the discussion has come across as personal to some people and I want to put this out here so we can resolve this without losing any members. I like Simmy, I consider him a friend, I do however think that we need to have someone who has more disposable time to commit to the club to step up and take over the CO position. Coming from Simmy, it feels like school is currently the cause for the lack of time commitment.
What I am asking is are we at a point where we can simply ask someone to pass the CO position onto someone else who has more time to dedicate to this? I don’t see anything wrong with simply saying “hey guy, I know have a bunch of other far more important obligations going on right now, can we pass the position to someone who doesn’t?” I feel that for the most part a large group of us all consider each other friends and I would expect with relationships like that we should be able to just talk to each other about these things.
The last thing I want is to see us lose someone because we tried to force them out of a position before we tried to lay everything out on a table and talk it out. I hope you guys understand where I am coming from and I sincerely hope that nobody take anything that I said as an attack or insults. At the end of the day I consider most of you guys who are reading this my friends. I really like the dynamic that we as a group have right now and I’d like to keep that going and avoid drama. I feel the best way to do that is to have Simmy step down and have a replacement step up. I think this solves several problems, and I believe by talking about this in a constructive manner we can avoid losing people.
At the end of the day some people have more time to pour into something like organizing a club than others. I don’t see anything wrong with that. What I am asking is, going forward for the sake of everyone involved, we talk about these things in an open format. I don’t want people to take these things personally. If you can commit a large amount of time to this great, we the people who can’t, appreciate it. If at some point you can not longer maintain that commitment give us a heads up and well find someone else who can take over. It’s not the end of the world, you can always step back up at a later date when your schedule changes.
-Feezy
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 8,216
Likes: 5
From: .
Thanks for starting this!
I want to clarify some things for people pursuing the CO position:
1. Time Commitment:
It's not easy to keep a club sustained without putting in the time to run it properly. This includes keeping the forum clean, staying in touch with members regularly and staying active on and offline. This is one of the most important factors to ensure a club that can be sustained. The less time you put into your work the worse the product.
2. Friendliness:
This isn't just towards other S2000 owners, but car enthusiasts in general. I always hear talk about how people who drive car X are dbags, etc etc. and would hate to have the S2000 guys labeled that. I've always thought of this club more so as car enthusiasts than S2000 drivers and tried to include non S owners into the mix. Your actions speak very loudly towards members and non members. I wouldn't recommend this position if you are very opinionated and closed minded as it will without a doubt lead to unhappy club members and limits your chance of making the club larger. Furthermore, even a small friendly gesture means a lot to the new guy at the meet and most of the time, first impressions are essentially a make it or break it deal.
3. Planning:
It's one thing to organize a quick run to the canyons for a few hours or run a weekly meet, but the amount of work needed to run a group drive with upwards for 30+ cars for a full day takes quite a bit of work and planning, and if you ask adrs2k, a weekend getaway for the whole group is no easy task! This along with time commitment can make a mediocre club a great time.
When I joined S2ki back in 2007, we didn't have any weekly meets, didn't do too many tech days and the community wasn't as big as it is now. Due to my passion for the S2000, I wanted more events, so I started organizing drives, having meets and tech days, and tried to get the community more active. I wasn't a CO until recently so not being a one doesn't mean you are unable to do such things. As a matter of fact, it truly shows how much interest you really have if you do it out of sheer joy (like Adam for example
).
I truly wish I had more time to dedicate to this group again. But as time changes, life goes on and peoples' duties and priorities change. I have decided to focus more on school and motorsports, which is what I'd like to be involved in once I graduate. I think it's the right for me to step down to ensure the well being of this group. You guys have always been a family to me and it's still a great feeling to come out to a meet, reconnect like I have always been there and see everyone enjoying themselves.
I want to clarify some things for people pursuing the CO position:
1. Time Commitment:
It's not easy to keep a club sustained without putting in the time to run it properly. This includes keeping the forum clean, staying in touch with members regularly and staying active on and offline. This is one of the most important factors to ensure a club that can be sustained. The less time you put into your work the worse the product.
2. Friendliness:
This isn't just towards other S2000 owners, but car enthusiasts in general. I always hear talk about how people who drive car X are dbags, etc etc. and would hate to have the S2000 guys labeled that. I've always thought of this club more so as car enthusiasts than S2000 drivers and tried to include non S owners into the mix. Your actions speak very loudly towards members and non members. I wouldn't recommend this position if you are very opinionated and closed minded as it will without a doubt lead to unhappy club members and limits your chance of making the club larger. Furthermore, even a small friendly gesture means a lot to the new guy at the meet and most of the time, first impressions are essentially a make it or break it deal.
3. Planning:
It's one thing to organize a quick run to the canyons for a few hours or run a weekly meet, but the amount of work needed to run a group drive with upwards for 30+ cars for a full day takes quite a bit of work and planning, and if you ask adrs2k, a weekend getaway for the whole group is no easy task! This along with time commitment can make a mediocre club a great time.
When I joined S2ki back in 2007, we didn't have any weekly meets, didn't do too many tech days and the community wasn't as big as it is now. Due to my passion for the S2000, I wanted more events, so I started organizing drives, having meets and tech days, and tried to get the community more active. I wasn't a CO until recently so not being a one doesn't mean you are unable to do such things. As a matter of fact, it truly shows how much interest you really have if you do it out of sheer joy (like Adam for example
).I truly wish I had more time to dedicate to this group again. But as time changes, life goes on and peoples' duties and priorities change. I have decided to focus more on school and motorsports, which is what I'd like to be involved in once I graduate. I think it's the right for me to step down to ensure the well being of this group. You guys have always been a family to me and it's still a great feeling to come out to a meet, reconnect like I have always been there and see everyone enjoying themselves.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,004
Likes: 0
From: Your mom's house, AZ
Any thoughts on giving this some actual structure, like a political position. Regular elections held annually, nominations, the whole bit. That way someone ready to move on can do so without any sort of negative feelings whatsoever and someone who kicks total ass at the job can get recognized at least once a year for being awesome.
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Registered User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,004
Likes: 0
From: Your mom's house, AZ
I know the CO we had when I joined (walkabt) actually asked to be replaced on a couple occasions, and we have had a couple CO's since then that were great but had too many other commitments in their regular lives, and it was a little awkward introducing the thought that maybe they should move on. If this automatically came up every year I think it would smooth out the rough edges to the process of replacing someone.
Former Moderator
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 9,146
Likes: 11
I can help provide some assistance with the roles of a CO and the process to elect a CO. Whatever was done in the past is the past and going forward this process will keep everything above board. The below information is posted in the CO forum.
Process to elect a CO
CO Election Steps.
1. A nomination thread is required to determine who is interested in the role of CO.
2. Once the nominees have been selected, a poll thread with the nominees will be opened.
3. After a new CO has been determined, a request in the CO forum to assign the new CO, and the link to both the nomination thread and poll will need to be posted. Without this, an Admin will not make the change.
Requests without a proper vote, vote counts via PM, or any other deviations from the steps listed above will not count.
Role of a CO
The Community Organizer is something of a social director. They are usually someone who is active in organizing events and get-togethers in the local area. Because of this active participation they are well known to the community and have the confidence of the community.
COs (as we call them) are given special privileges to allow them to steer the dynamics of the group but more importantly their intended role is to organize events and to act as a liaison with S2Ki.com to help with developing our global community. They speak on behalf of the community to get things like badge permissions, have troublesome accounts suspended or removed and promote and advertise larger inter-community events and activities.
COs are responsible for maintaining the content quality standards of their forums in a manner consistent with all other S2Ki.com forums and to encourage participation of their members in the broader s2ki global community. They can do this by moving posts of broader interest such as technical topics to the appropriate main site forums and also by promoting events from outside the community.
Except in times of extreme need, S2Ki.com does not appoint Community Organizers. We want your peers to nominate you and therefore you have become a CO with the help of your local community members. You are the lead person within your organization. You are the one respected by your fellow members. Sometimes things change within an organization and someone steps up to help out or take over. We make those changes by request. If we receive a concern from fellow community members about the CO, we will then step in and help out.
All forum communities must be requested, and we recommend you have a decent number of participants to make the community forum worthwhile.
The role of a Community Organizer is:
* Developing a club "Community"
* Establishing a club name with input
* Maintain the membership list
* Contact potential members you see on the street and online *build the club)
* Develop relations with local sponsors and dealerships
* Take the lead in organizing local or community events
If you are a large community or small, there is nothing written in stone that says you can not have help. A Co-Community Organizer can help with tasks, and event planning. It is better to ask for help than try and do everything yourself and risk burnout in the process. As a CO you should be dedicated to the community and the S2000. You will have a sense of accomplishment by organizing events and having your club membership flourish
Process to elect a CO
CO Election Steps.
1. A nomination thread is required to determine who is interested in the role of CO.
2. Once the nominees have been selected, a poll thread with the nominees will be opened.
3. After a new CO has been determined, a request in the CO forum to assign the new CO, and the link to both the nomination thread and poll will need to be posted. Without this, an Admin will not make the change.
Requests without a proper vote, vote counts via PM, or any other deviations from the steps listed above will not count.
Role of a CO
The Community Organizer is something of a social director. They are usually someone who is active in organizing events and get-togethers in the local area. Because of this active participation they are well known to the community and have the confidence of the community.
COs (as we call them) are given special privileges to allow them to steer the dynamics of the group but more importantly their intended role is to organize events and to act as a liaison with S2Ki.com to help with developing our global community. They speak on behalf of the community to get things like badge permissions, have troublesome accounts suspended or removed and promote and advertise larger inter-community events and activities.
COs are responsible for maintaining the content quality standards of their forums in a manner consistent with all other S2Ki.com forums and to encourage participation of their members in the broader s2ki global community. They can do this by moving posts of broader interest such as technical topics to the appropriate main site forums and also by promoting events from outside the community.
Except in times of extreme need, S2Ki.com does not appoint Community Organizers. We want your peers to nominate you and therefore you have become a CO with the help of your local community members. You are the lead person within your organization. You are the one respected by your fellow members. Sometimes things change within an organization and someone steps up to help out or take over. We make those changes by request. If we receive a concern from fellow community members about the CO, we will then step in and help out.
All forum communities must be requested, and we recommend you have a decent number of participants to make the community forum worthwhile.
The role of a Community Organizer is:
* Developing a club "Community"
* Establishing a club name with input
* Maintain the membership list
* Contact potential members you see on the street and online *build the club)
* Develop relations with local sponsors and dealerships
* Take the lead in organizing local or community events
If you are a large community or small, there is nothing written in stone that says you can not have help. A Co-Community Organizer can help with tasks, and event planning. It is better to ask for help than try and do everything yourself and risk burnout in the process. As a CO you should be dedicated to the community and the S2000. You will have a sense of accomplishment by organizing events and having your club membership flourish
Site Moderator
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 13,625
Likes: 372
From: Seattle WA
Great words from Simmy and Feezy. I can honestly say that without Chris inviting me out to that Westside me I may not even have bought my car. Everyone there was no nice and it has been that way ever since. I think every car club that centers around a certain make or brand talks alittle crap towards everyone else but I have seen plenty of non s2000's at meets and everyone is nice to them. Another suggestion is having a few people designated as back ups or Vice CO's in the event a CO is busy or needs help handling the responsibilities due to life issues. This extra person could help step in when the CO is out of town or otherwise not availible. And it could be that if it gets to the point the actual CO just cannot handle the responsibilities he can hand it off to the Vice CO making them the CO and they could then select their own Vice CO to help support them. Anyways just thinking out loud and I am here ot help out with whatever is needed.