Re: [Harp-L] SPAH web failure

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Dec 24, 2011, at 1:03 AM, Robert Hale wrote:

> Bob Cohen, Web Publisher
> 
> I'm unable to complete an email thru the web page "Could not instantiate
> mail function"
> http://www.spah.org/index.php/qcon-board/40-director/1-qcon-board
> 
> - - -
> 
> Have you considered increasing the contrast ratio a little? (Gray text over
> white background.)

Thanks for writing. Thank you for the design tip. As Winslow noted, I am no longer the Web Producer. spah.org is now in the hands of volunteers without professional web experience.* The current site (design and platform) is about four years old, ancient in Internet terms. Given that my services to SPAH were donated and many other responsibilities, complete redesigns are necessarily few and far between.

Over the summer, however, I set aside time this fall and offered to upgrade spah.org. The work would have begun in early September. It would have been done by now--in plenty of time to support our efforts to market the 2012 convention.

Instead of appreciation for a generous gift (thousands of dollars worth of free consulting), my offer was met with obstacles. Leadership demanded a formal written proposal. Acceding to that requirement would have added one to two days full time to the project and would not have improved the final product.  When I respectfully demurred, the project died.

Leaving aside the issues of intolerance for individual work styles and insensitivity to contributors' feelings, SPAH is a small non-profit business with an all-volunteer staff. Responsible decisions do not require imposing old-school corporate culture on our volunteers. Key staff do not get paid for their work. Our reward comes from giving our time and talent to the organization to create finished products for its benefit, not from our ability to wend through the empty corridors of old-fashioned corporate culture.

Warren and I believe a more entrepreneurial management culture with greater freedom for those who donate their time and talent to SPAH will benefit the organization immensely. Indeed, they are necessary for us to spur growth and to become a more vital organization. We're not making wild campaign promises. But, we do guarantee that from the inside-out, SPAH will become a can-do organization that appreciates its volunteers and welcomes their diverse ways of getting the job done.

Bob

*I sincerely appreciate the efforts of individuals currently tasked with supporting the web site. Thank you for your time and talent.