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Post by Scout on Jul 22, 2007 14:45:13 GMT -6
Diane...I'm with and have always been for you. Need donations? Just tell us....
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Post by Melani on Jul 22, 2007 16:07:40 GMT -6
I'm very glad to hear from Tricia, and I totally look forward to hearing a full report of whatever weirdness has transpired. Obviously, there are a lot of people with very strong opinions on LBH--I guess the battle will never truly be over! I work for a private non-profit Friends' group, but I guess they are unusual in their degree of harmony--part of my job is to take minutes at the Board meetings, and in seven years, there has only been one vote that wasn't unanimous. So I am really not ready for this sort of divisiveness. If Diane is going to start over (sort of), with a divorce from LBHA, maybe it would be a good time to post a set of rules of proper board etiquette, to try to keep some of our more obstreperous friends within the bounds of polite discourse. And also rules for substantiation of potentially contentious statements. The only other forum I have ever spent this much time with is devoted to folk music and not affliated with anything--it's run by a guy named Max who just likes folk music and is willing to run four computers out of his house. It is self-policing--really obnoxious types get ignored and eventually go away or calm down. Once a message is posted, it's set in stone--only Max and a few other people have the power to change or delete. (Being a lousy speller, I prefer the system on this board.) They only delete potential libel, total personal abuse, or technical info that could compromise the forum. My daughter says she belongs to several forums that give flamers one warning and then the boot. They have these rules posted. Re: fundraising--the other forum has a guy who handles sales of CD's and tee shirts, with various percentages going to Max's electric bill, which I'm told is about $400 a month. They also have occasional special sales and auctions of donated items. As for members communicating with the Board of Directors, I have just noticed, in my slow and muddle-headed way, that their email addresses are listed inside the front cover of the newsletter. I'm sure they will be happy to explain their actions to any member who would like to inquire.
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jul 22, 2007 17:42:22 GMT -6
Thanks for your concern and offers of financial assistance, but I didn't mean to sound as if I was complaining. I was just trying to make the point that no dues have gone to the website expenses.
I appreciate everyone's support! Thanks for your thoughts, Melani! I'll consider your suggestions.
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Post by Montana Bab on Jul 22, 2007 20:30:51 GMT -6
Diane,
I hope that you will accept my donation also, if it comes to that. I don't have a clue what is going on here, but I wonder if those people from LBHA have any idea how valuable this website is, for many reasons. First and foremost for the value of the information that a person can acquire here, not to speak of the historical photos and knowledgeable appraisals of the battle, etc. etc.
I realize that there have been some who would abuse the priviledge of participating here, and have probably instigated this whole affair. Perhaps the few criticisms of the way the battlefield is being handled led to this, but there hasn't been much of that. '
I'm with you, and for you, and I appreciate that you are protecting your hard work because we have benefitted from it.
Thank you, Montana
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jul 22, 2007 20:58:21 GMT -6
Thank you, Montana. I'm just sorry that the petty politics had to intrude here. I hope things will be back to normal -- whatever that is! -- soon.
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Post by harpskiddie on Jul 23, 2007 1:28:47 GMT -6
Diane:
See what happens when I go away for a couple of weeks vacation [since I'm a real "retired" person, it's difficult to tell when I'm actually on vacation]. I almost fell off my chair when I followed my usual "go to the message board" procedure, and discovered the new page/link/directions. A quick reading of the postings here indicated to me that the LBHA BOD is about as expert in running an organization as Greyhound is a bus line [service is not the correct word].
If you want to found another and separate-but-possibly-superior organization to host these discussion boards, I would feel privileged to actually become a charter and life member, and to pay any reasonable dues in order to support that organization - which could also provide book loans as per Elizabeth's suggestion, and possibly even its own publications of articles from members [reproduced by copying to start with, blah blah].
As to the Billings Conference in 2009, I will be attending so that Fred and I can meet one another and hoist a few.
Tricia mentioned a meeting of like minds apart from the LBHA org., which might or might not be a) a good idea and/or b) feasible for many. But count me in, if its possible for me to get there.
Billy has, without any prior authorization from me, invited Elizabeth to join he and myself "in the hills." We must have some kind of a psychic connection, Markland, since you have read my mind. As an aside, my best friend at the time [1972] came running into our bookstore one day wildly gesticulating and declaiming that Nixon had just mined Haiphong harbor and that there were both Russian and Chinese ships about to enter, and that the world was undoubtedly doomed to global nuclear war, and that we had to form a survival group and I had to lead us into the mountains [the nearest ones were a several hundreds of miles away]. My reply was: "What makes you think I'd take you?" Anyway, I'd certainly take Elizabeth and Billy.
To return to the serious side - Diane, whatever I can give in the way of financial and moral support to whatever you need to do [technical is pretty much out of the question] to continue these boards, I will be happy to give. This is the only group of people who have ever listened to anything I have to say, except for other golfers when I hollered "Fore Right!! No Left!! Just duck everybody!!!"
Gordie, he believed in a God who could raise the dead, but I'll never get out of your love alive................
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Post by Dietmar on Jul 23, 2007 5:59:49 GMT -6
Diane,
neither do I understand all this nor am I a member of the Little Big Horn Associates. But since I found this website and it´s message boards in 2005 I take a look at all the interesting threads presented here almost every day. Please keep the boards alive!
I know, I stand more for the “Indian” part of these boards, posting almost exclusively about NA topics, what probably isn´t very typical for a Little Bighorn or Custerania site. But even if this is only a small part of the boards, I would say there isn´t a site or a message board that delivers more and qualitatively better information about Plains Indian history in the whole Internet! That is due to a lot of competent guys here, I am sure you know who I mean. So I hope this will continue to be a forum for them.
Secondly, although I do not read all, I read a lot of the posts in the other – more Custerania - sections of the boards, believe it or not. Although I am not an expert in military tactics or the biography of Custer, I find the same vast knowledge on this part of the boards. At best, both parts can learn from each other and… well, at least sometimes this is the case, I am sure.
I regularly print out all threads that are interesting to me, just to make sure I don´t lose any information. It would indeed be a great idea to safe all important information for all members here. I think about copying parts of the threads worth preserving in a document or file for some time now.
Maybe this break is a chance to make theses message boards even better. You can count on me to be a part of it in the future.
Best wishes
Dietmar
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jul 23, 2007 7:57:44 GMT -6
Thank you both!
If you go back to the earliest posts, most of the people were not LBHA members. Crazy and Trish and Markland were among the earliest, and a couple of them joined the Associates along the way, but I've always wanted this to be open to all. Dietmar made some great points about the quality of most of the posts, and I'm glad he chimed in. As he once told me, he's seen boards crash before, so he's wise to print out what he wants to keep.
Gordie, as always you provided a few smiles, but I really like your idea of enhancing the content of the website. I'm not trying to start a new organization, but the website could certainly be a repository for articles -- reprints and new -- concerning the battle and the Indian Wars period in general. If any of you have written articles and are willing to give permission for them to be posted, please let me know. (Everyone who has contributed to LBHA publications owns the copyright to their articles; I don't know how other organizations handle that.) Anything out of copyright is a good candidate as well.
Speaking of articles, this reminds me that I promised Perry Baker's widow that his article would remain online for all the world to read for as long as I'm around, so I need to post it on the new site.
I will not attend the 2008 conference because it will be hosted by three of the four people who voted to shut down the boards (Blake, Croy, and Shea). I am planning to go to the conference in 2009, so now we have to get Elisabeth over here!
Everything happens for a reason. Thanks to you all, we're making lemonade out of the lemons thrown at us!
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Post by elisabeth on Jul 23, 2007 8:47:47 GMT -6
How about an alternative conference in 2008? And to make it truly alternative, how about holding it on a different continent? Here's a tailor-made venue: www.custerscookhouse.comOK, it's a lunatic idea, and prompted entirely by selfish motives (such as me not having to fly across the Atlantic) ... But if anyone's had a hankering to visit Europe anyway, a conference in Ireland might make an entertaining focus for the trip! OK, no direct Custer connection, but there's Keogh, plus the rest of the huge Irish contingent in the 7th ... to say nothing of the opportunity to set foot in the original Garryowen. Fun? P.S. -- Ignore the above (if by any chance you were thinking of not doing so, that is!). It appears Custer's Cookhouse is now up for sale, so will probably have transmogrified into a Thai or Italian place by next year. Ah well, it was an amusing thought for about 3 minutes ...
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Post by crzhrs on Jul 23, 2007 9:49:48 GMT -6
Whatever needs to be done you have my backing.
Don't give up the fight!
Crzhrs
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Post by Melani on Jul 23, 2007 9:53:04 GMT -6
If the timing is right, I'll go anywhere.
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Post by Tricia on Jul 23, 2007 10:07:33 GMT -6
A slight correction: the 2009 conference will be in either Billings or Sheridan (it depends on the hotel rates, I believe). My one-track mind--All Montana All The Time--tends to forget that just outside Montana, there's a place called The Other 49 States. Sigh.
Diane--I've been wanting to ask this. Is LBHA a 501-c3 organisation? I've been wondering about that of late. I don't want to give a lot of money to a group that is not one of those, both for tax and personal reasons. I also tend to worry when a group does not include that bracket in its charter. They're a pain in the ass to set up--we just reset that distinction with Ozarks Writers' League, Inc--but it immediately lends a given amount of professionalism and grant potential to the group.
I'm still quite upset over the political aspect of this year's conference. Many of us younger people really came together away from the board meetings and forged some life-long bonds and it's awful to see a reactionary group of individuals (without naming any names) try to stop the passing of the torch, so to speak. More a bit later.
But it casts a pall over what should have been a perfect time.
Trish
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Post by Diane Merkel on Jul 23, 2007 10:33:51 GMT -6
Thanks, Crazy!
Trish, it is a 501(c)(3) organization, but it is my personal opinion (not speaking for anyone else) that their status has been severely compromised. Whenever you see the treasurer and two board members resign citing ethical concerns over finances, run!
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Post by harpskiddie on Jul 23, 2007 11:33:50 GMT -6
Elizabeth:
Let me know when they have their beer garden finished!! What are hotels/bedands etc. like in the area? If I work everything correctly, I might be able to take in such a meeting of moreorless like moreorless minds after my "going to scout that and sweep everything before me" jaunt next summer.
Gordie, moreorless...............................
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Post by fred on Jul 23, 2007 11:42:20 GMT -6
Being out of town every time someone dies should have prepared me for all of this, but it did not. Just to let everyone know, the only reason I even joined the LBH Associates, Inc., Ltd, LLC, or QUACK, whatever it is, was because of Diane. So, whatever is going on, whatever is planned, wherever it's going to happen, who's ever involved, lead on fair Moon Goddess. Old Freddie the Rat, aka The Weasel, aka "Ol' Charlie Varnum," shall be there.
Frivolity aside, I find this an incredibly short-sighted and stupid decision of the LBHA. That is, unless they intend to build underground quarters to escape the inevitable. I am not a doyen of any of these websites or chat rooms, but it is hard for me to imagine a more interesting and more prolific site than what we have here. And I agree w/ 'Dude and Trish, and several others whose posts I cannot remember, but I think if you added every post on this thread together I wouldn't see a word of disagreement.
My God, I just thought of something!!!! If Darkcloud tallied along it would mean he and I actually agree on something. JE-sus, Maria! (I'm Catholic, so relax!)
And Gordie... no copping out. I don't give a rat's posterior where the thing is held. We're tippling together. In fact, I would much rather have an organization w/ Chuck and Diane running it than w/ these other Neanderthals. Actually, that may not be a bad idea. Can you imagine a board of directors consisting of the Merks, Billy, Elisabeth, Gordie, 'Dude, Melani, Trish... and... and... CSS?
Stick with it my friends. You are all much too good to lose, especially at this late stage of my life. Hope to be home soon.
Very best wishes, Fred.
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