ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Dear Heather

As I mentioned above - Matt's poems and posts may have inadvertently been deleted. That can be investigated and it will be shortly. Kind regards, Rhonda

I would have thought posts made at the time of being a financial member would have remained. Like Heather, it upsets me to think that some of the best poetry contributed to this site has just "disappeared". Many of matts poems I have revisited time and time again, such was the quality of his work. In my opinion, the forum is a lesser place for this occurrence. If being an unfinancial member negates posting-well thats one thing, but I dont understand why postings at the time of membership are also negated. Its as if these people never existed. That concerns me.

Sue

I have just read your reply to Heather Rhonda and I certainly hope so. We "old" forum users are a bit precious of our mates

Cheers
Sue.

As far as I have known it has never been a requirement to be a member of the ABPA to join these Forums. Never. They have always been two seperate entities. I don't understand where or why this latest move has been implemented from.

Neil

Ditto Neil. And by who and when were these decisions made.
I happened on the forum within a few days of writing my first poem and was warmly and immediately welcomed without membership. I was keen to learn and it was only when Zondrae pointed out to me that on becoming a member I could stay updated through the magazine, that I became a financial member. My contributions to the forum were never questioned. Without that grounding I dont think my association with bush poetry would have got off the ground. Like Heather, this forum has afforded me many lifetime friendships. I would hate to think the new guidelines would prevent others from that fullfillment. At the end of the day, sharing and nurturing our craft is what its all about. We should be seen to be doing that with open arms. Right now, I'm not so sure.

Sue

Sue

It might be time to take a few deep breaths and a step back. I’d hate to see you drop the Mod’s role, Heather, as you’ve done a terrific job for a long time. (Besides, no-one else can keep Bob under control the way you do! )

Given the important part that this website has played in the ABPA over recent years it would be totally illogical for the current committee to try to sabotage it. Shelley has been a wonderful contributor for quite some time, and I trust her judgement completely when it comes to the decisions that are made. So I reckon we’re just seeing a few glitches as various problems are ironed out. All Kym’s prize-winning poems are still on the poetry page and, as far as I can see, the threads containing her poems and comments still seem to be available (e.g. “Taffy Waits”). I’m not so sure about Matt’s stuff. For example, “the haste of crows” thread is still here, although the poem itself has disappeared, so that needs fixing. (I’m also not sure of Matt’s situation as he recently wrote something like “I’m going to miss the site”, which led me to believe he was signing off. Maybe he asked for his poems to be removed?)

As far as the website in general is concerned it’s worth remembering Rhonda’s report that the forum hadn’t been updated for six years, and fifteen incremental upgrades hadn’t been completed, which meant that the whole shebang would collapse early next year if nothing was done. I have no idea why those upgrades didn’t happen, but can well understand the committee deciding that something needed to be done quickly in order to rescue the situation. It would have helped in that case, and with the more recent deletions, if explanations had come before the changes instead of after, as much of the current angst might have been avoided. But that’s hindsight for you!

And while we’re talking site renovation, here are a couple of minor suggestions. It might be incredibly boring, but I’d rather see headings that actually relate to the content. For example, even though there’s a more detailed accompanying description, something like “Major Discussion Threads” makes more sense than “The Doovalakki Threads”. And “tHE dAAARK side”? Nothing dark about it, it’s simply “Non-Rhyming or Free Verse”)

Let’s not forget that the committee members are all volunteers trying to fit things into their spare time, and it seems that there’s been a fair bit of house-cleaning that had to be done with the site. With the best will in the world, things don’t always go exactly according to plan. The ABPA is facing quite a few challenges, and this forum has always been a good place to discuss issues as well as promote rhyming verse. With regard to the former it’s serving its purpose at the moment by revealing some serious concerns, but those few deep breaths might allow them to be taken on board and resolved. Here’s hoping, anyway!

Cheers
David

(PS: Come back, Heather!)

Hi again

David – thank you so much for your support. As you so rightly say, it makes no sense for us as an executive to “sabotage” anything relating to ABPA intellectual property.

I don’t wish to prolong this debate, however it is necessary to reinforce what you say and also to respond to various concerns raised by others.

Firstly, Neil – to answer your specific comment – the ABPA website and forum are not separate entities. The forum is attached to the website and they come under the same administration. The forum carries the ABPA name and logo, and is therefore the ABPA’s intellectual property. It is quite different from an open poetry forum not attached to a legal entity.

Any executive committee concerned with the interests of members naturally seeks advice on various matters. We were made aware of the need to protect the ABPA and especially its members from potential adverse comments on the ABPA-owned forum that may pose a legal risk. Certainly we hope that no legal action ever results from a forum post – but we have to face the reality of the world we live in.

Prior to the forum only being available to financial members, anyone given access could post using a pseudonym and an email address, giving ABPA limited ability to contact them in person.

A previous thread on the Public Noticeboard outlined this in detail a few months ago, and we have endeavoured through subsequent communication to keep everyone up to date on progress. However in view of some comments of the last few days, it seems our posts are either not being read - or their implications not understood.

ABPA needs financial members to continue supporting events and competitions throughout Australia. The ABPA Magazine and the ABPA Forum are the only benefits we can offer to entice members. The public and potential new members have free access to the ABPA Facebook Page and can view all sections of the ABPA Website and the Forum – allowing many avenues for fostering an interest in bush poetry.

As David mentioned, it is also worth noting that if we neglect to perform the significant upgrading required to bring the forum up to scratch, we will lose the technical support of our Webhost early in 2017. If this were to happen, any future technical problems may well cause a “crash” that may not be recoverable.

Please believe that the extensive work being done by the executive is solely with the intention to benefit and protect our members. That is, after all, why you have an executive.

Regards
Shelley

No I said being a member of the ABPA and being a member of this web site have always been seperate entities. I was told this when I became editor and have never been informed otherwise. We have had several non ABPA members who have been members on this website.

Neil

Post subject: Re: What happened to Stephen's Marble post?
PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 9:37 am
Online

Thanks for that input Folks. Getting a second opinion and having a Guru/ette take a look at the problems in the next few days.
At this stage it looks to be a simple upgrade of the latest version Forum software which needs to be confirmed.
If so, I'll give ample notice for the installation as the (Forum) site will be down for at least a day.

Cheers,

Manfred.

I asked Tom for access to effect the changes back in May this year and everything went pear-shaped after that date ...
Prior to this, nobody on the executive (including the webmaster) had any interest in the forum whatsoever.

I've also copied this post in case it gets deleted like my previous ones!

I agree with David. It would be a huge shame to lose you, Heather. Please re-consider...