The following sounds familiar? It should, it’s the couchsurfing leadership style!
- Take responsability (either assertively or, using the other CS-keyword, aggressively)
- Make promises. The less tangible or the more gratuitous, the better
- Silence the criticism when you don’t live up to your promise (by adapting the ground rules; by moving the criticism; by deleting threads?)
- When the above doesn’t help: ignore the criticism
- When the above doesn’t help: spin
- If all else fails: ‘loose interest’ (i.e., abandon ship)
Many of you will find this a minor issue, and you’d be right. But today, Donna announced her intention to drop moderatorship of the CS Politics and Policy group. It is typical of the above style: if your blatant lack of skill / involvement to make a much-wanted change gets too obvious, simply drop your responsability and you’re done!
For some time now I’ve been having the impression that many ‘leaders’ and their groupies have distanced themselves more and more from the regular usership. This instance was particularly clear, but I’m sure there have been others as well. All these little kings and queens, much too busy with their self-created importance to bother about the actual cause they claim to work so hard for… it would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
Sorry for ranting, I don’t usually do that. In any case, I do hope that none of ‘us’ will be foolish enough to lift this problem off Donna’s shoulders. Would do her good to actually address a (self-inflicted) problem for a change (gosh, did that sound bitter? 
)
http://www.opencouchsurfing.org/2007/12/05/brainstorm-group-is-locked-for-new-members/#comments says it all!!
I knew it the day she started to flame pickwick and kasper in the brainstorm room along with mathieu.
Would be good for the “leaders” to travel every three months for a month with people they do NOT know from Couchsurfing.
I don’t fault Donna…I support her. If she feels burnt out on the moderator position, I think it’s fine of her to give it up and pass it along. People should only volunteer for how much they want.
Niels you would be a good moderator for that forum because you care and because you are interested in the policy and politics of Couchsurfing:)
burnt out? She never posted even once? she never moderated ? How could she be “burnt out”?
What she should do is merge it back with the brainstorm and get the threads back to where they belong!!
Please do not give donna any credit for her mistakes. This is exactly what happens to a forum when a newbie with unlimited mod powers can do to forum when they act on pure emotions to protect people on a personal level ignored the facts on threads.
Casey and jim were staying at chico and they got real close. So donna did not like people calling casey on anything . The personal bond blinded her to the facts on the brainstorm . I do not know if she is beginning to see the facts now or there was another reason for her announcement.
People started rebelling and taking back their group from her mini coup of all the main groups on couchsurfing. She never did ever post to those groups after she became moderator though she or jim prevent new members from joining the brainstorm for 24 hours till people on ocs noticed it.
Donna also messed up the private womans group .
The only person who benefited was casey. A proxy attack via donna ,mathieu ,mandy(moneypenny) ,ulf got all the poster really irritated by the blind personal attack with no factual inputs to the threads.I you notice donna always avoided answering pickwicks questions on the finances which she handled during that period. Donna is guilty of a lot of misdeeds on couchsurfing and her actions speak louder than her words. Also it shameful to see someone not having the moral ethics to admit when they are wrong.
We’re all volunteers…and don’t know what’s going on in each other’s lives. I support Donna if she wants to leave…and thank everyone who contributes in whatever way they can.
its a common problem in the unsustainable volunteering that is highly encouraged by the the way casey runs the organization.
sooner or later, all people will realize that the only person who is a constant is casey. which is exactly why there is a need to cause a ruckus, even those who defend him and his ways right now(like donna) are just being used for casey to chase his interest in his very manipulative and deceptive way.
casey is the problem, he needs to go. he has already passed the point where he can step down with dignity and transit the organization into a proper NGO, since all the competent people who were the nucleus of growth AND able have already said sod off.
casey is just a dot.com loser who will never realize it.
>>>>Donna also messed up the private womans group<<<<
I would like to know more about this? the private women’s group has had some problems, and some settlement issues. I don’t consider it messed up in anyway, as i still feel it is the place with the most maturity and intelligence in CS, and the ‘balls’ to call a spade a spade. may be I am wrong?