Does anyone even want an organized club?

We have been trying to organize a Subaru club for several months now and haven't gotten very far.

Positive Status so far:
We had one meeting (in my mind that went pretty well).
We have had a handful of people pay dues.
We have some good ideas.

Negative Status so far:
We don't have a leader anymore.
We have a LOT of fighting amongst the members.
We have had complaints filed against other members by members.
We have ONLY had a handful of people pay their dues.
We have ONLY had one meeting.

The real question as I see it is as follows:

Does anyone want this group to become a real club (dues, meets, events, shirts, stickers, etc.) or just be an Internet forum club (occasional get togethers)?

Until we can all answer that question there is no point in worrying about the club. From my observations on posts, interactions, etc. I think I know the answer for quite a few of us...

I can honestly say that I personally haven't had any fun since we have begun to organize this. All of my time in the club has dealt with many different "members/officers" all with different negative things to say about they way things were going. Complaints about other "members/officers", complaints about the "code of conduct", etc. etc. I can imagine kastle has gotten it just as bad or worse than I did. It has taken a lot of time and energy so far and we haven't accomplished anything really.

I am not happy with what has been going on here, and I imagine that most others aren't either.

Thoughts? Ideas? Complaints?

Aaron

Please keep this thread free from personal attacks, profanity, slander, etc. or I WILL edit your posts. I would like to see an ADULT conversation happen here.

Why not move the discussion to AzScooby.com. and off the iClub.

Aaron,

I think we do need to get organized as a club, but I also think we need to take it slow. I feel we tried to make too many rules too fast, without getting everyone involved. (It's hard to get a word in Edgewise when me and Kastle and Danny are going at it.)

I do think the last meeting went well and I was very pleased with the job that all of the officers did. I'm fairly astonished at this whole turn of events. I guess it's just pent up pressure finally blowing off. Once again, I feel bad about my part in this explosion. I'm not saying I feel it was my fault. I had to represent what I though was right, just like Kastle and Danny were doing. I just feel bad that I was unable to do it without creating all this tension.

I don't necessarily think that a "real" club is defined by stickers and tee-shirts and I think we've just seen that we don't have the desire (or simply the free time) to form the type of club that Danny and Kastle want. I think that we have different groups interested in different things and we need to decide if and how we can form a club that encourages those things and makes the whole stronger.

We need to find out what people are interested in. Here's my observation so far (in no particular order):

-Autocrossing
-Rallycrossing
-Tuning and customizing (possibly shows)
-Other driving events (TSD, track days)
-Fair service and prices on parts and vehicles
-Meeting new people and making friends (fellowship)

Dues, meetings, stickers/shirts for club identity and all of that are necessary to support the above. They're not the purpose of the club.

I think that fellowship has taken a bit of a hit. However, I enjoyed meeting with everybody who was at the autocross last night and I have enjoyed getting together at previous events. I'm sure we will get back to that point.

We can't do all of that at once. My thoughs are l that we should take it one step at a time for a while at least. Let's try to make sure Mike's drive happens and see how that goes. We can also start brainstorming to see what people want to do at the Prescott Forest Rally.

What does everybody else think? If you have an opinion that you think might be unpopular, E-mail it to me at RedImp@BudCaldwell.com. I'll try to represent it, even if I don't agree with it.

-Bud

I think the one thing we all agree on is that, if there is a club it should be about the appreciation and enjoyment of the Subaru automobile. As Bud pointed out many of us have slightly different interests. Diversity doesn't have to result in division. I'm still willing to pay my dues because I'd like to be part an organization that can support and be a voice for Subaru owners. Dues can be used to get the sticker's for member cars as planned. My suggestion for right now is 'summer vacation'. That is let's wait till the fall, for the formal stuff and enjoy the first annual "Fun Run" on August 5th. I think we also could begin planning for some presence at the Prescott Forest Rally.

Stuart / AZ-GT

It has to come from the top.... these are a few observations:

People not paying dues....

I have been waiting for something to be announced about everything we discussed at our first meeting. A ton of stuff was discussed about how the club should organize, people were taking notes, discussion was great.... then nothing. No official posting of any changes to anything....

meetings....

I considered the autocross a meeting. Wish more people would have hung out, showed up, etc. I ran D group, worked E, and stayed till the very end. (More on the drag incident later...)

Leader...

We are all leaders in this thing. I am the one responsible for PFR. If I did not have the hundreds of people helping, it would not happen. Leadership is just a title, don't let not having one stop anything.

Fighting....

People have different views. If they didn't it would suck. Some people express them better than others, life goes on.

busy lifestyles....

this is general, don't take it personal....

I am working my arse off, I have a wedding photography company, a hosting company, do web design, and organize the rally, oh yeah, and work 50 hours a week at a "day" job. We are all busy. I take the time to be at events, and stay until we all leave, you can too...


This is just a club . Some of us were at Firebird late and saw the crash. We saw a man loose his life in the blink of an eye. He was doing what he loved, but they are just cars. This is supposed to be fun, remember....

Well said Bill.

I am no newbie around here. I cant believe that when we try to start a club and we become arch enemies. There was a time when there were peaceful meets no inner tension. Just a bunch of guys talking about the cars they love. I think we all need to look at the way we have behaved and think about those good Ol' days. Yes there has been trash talking since the begining but back then it was all in good fun. 3 members quitting in one day that is crazy. I will hate to see you guys go but it is ultimately your choice. Everyone could quit the club but I will still be here showing the love for these cars, With or without a club :(

I paid my dues because I AM of the opinion that an organized club can be beneficial to all involved/interested.
The club did seem to polarize from the beginning, but I don't know how much of that was due to pre-existing personal issues. (as already stated) If we can focus on the reasons for having the club in the first place, anything else should just be noise.

I agree with what has been already said (and said well). However, I'm not so sure about a 'summer break.' The longer it takes to get going, just pushes any problems out (imo).
I do support moving more slowly if the majority of the group also agrees. The last thing we need is to break up into smaller-competing interest groups. Stuart was on the mark with his diversity statement.

enough from me; just let me know when the next meeting is,
geren

Anyone else?????

Wow. What a turn of events. I’m bummed to see kastle, danny and H1 split. I was kind of waiting a while to see how things were going to play out with AZScooby before I made any commitments. I didn't want to overextend myself and get into something only to shade out later because of other obligations. Anyway, I’m not sure where to go from here, in regards to AZ Scooby becoming an organized club. I haven’t been around as long as some of you, nor have I been as involved, but maybe this latest restructuring was too much of a jump from how things were. I’m guessing that some of you who have been here the longest and started AZ Scooby are possibly frustrated and want to move on, but with such conflicts of interests (concerning the club itself), maybe it’s time to fall back on common ground where there was agreement and try again at a later point. I don’t know, maybe I’m ignorant, just my thoughts on that.

As far as my interests go, I’m more driving/racing oriented.
I participate in:
-rally cross
-auto cross

Interested in:
-track days
-attending events like USTCC and pro rally


I think a club can benefit it’s members in these areas by just being there together, lending a hand, tools, parts, advice whatever. It’s cool having people around with similar cars to get tips from. I have already learned several things at the 3 auto-x’s I attended. It’s also nice knowing there will be people there I already know and can hang out with. It could also help getting track days and participating in other things individuals might not be able to do. Power in numbers - I believe a celica club in CA had a track day a while back.

These are just my personal interests, when I make time to do something, these are high priority. It does seem like there are good turnouts for these events, so I assume there is a decent interest in such things. I know some of this has been brought up before, but I’m just sharing my thoughts.

ron

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