Gil Taylor pointed out in his email to the Google Groups list that the current effort with ORBlogs is not working (rather than try to summize it, I suggest you read it because I may not judge it fairly).
I also suggest you read my reply just so that you don’t think I’m a thoughtful, intelligent person who calmly considers other people’s point of view before screaming at the top of his lungs.
In short, I’m embarrassed, and want to apologize. I’m sorry everyone. I’m sorry Gil.
There’s a large part of me that’s taken personal responsibility for trying to get ORBlogs back on the map. That responsibility- and subsequent accountability- is important for a successful effort. As I stated in my original post regarding ORBlogs- making one person responsible and accountable will give the community one single person to look to when they want to ask… well… just what Gil was asking:
Why the hell isn’t anything happening?
The one issue with being that person who takes on that accountability is that you have to both have the ability to get the job done, and have the skin thick enough to shrug stuff off. I suddenly wonder if I’ve been disingenuous in taking on this role.
Although there’s a part of me that wants to, I’m not going to give a list of things that we have accomplished, I think it’s fair enough to agree with Gil on where we are. ORBlogs is not yet live. Although I maintain my offense at the suggestion that we are a committee just meeting and not reaching consensus- I agree that the actual site is not running yet.
That’s been bothering me a great deal, and I was very happy when Kyle came forth with Ignoregon, because it seemed the best of both worlds. A functional, if basic, site for the immediate need- and another solid and active person to attack the BigBark code.
It seemed, in fact, like just what Gil was suggesting- and what we’ve all wanted.
So I think it was my earlier frustration with myself. It was anger, sadness and a great deal of pain at what’s happened personally. It was anger with my own lack of progress that I was reacting too. It wasn’t Gil’s comments about committees and camels which still sting just enough that I have to bring them up one more time even though it’s not a camel but a dead horse we’re talking about now (really, John, let it go!).
I was pretty forceful in my original post that we needed a point person, one person, to take responsibility. I didn’t actually think it would ever be ME (You’d never even heard of me before that!). I was stunningly honored that people would accept me, and suddenly felt that I had found a lot of friends. Still, we need to think seriously about this. My response to Gil was pretty irresponsible.
(By the way, that whole “friends” thing, oh and the italicized “active”- heck, half of this post- I can’t help it. We bloggers are writers first. I just can’t ignore those dramatic, touching bits. They shouldn’t sway you, however. Snap out of it.)
I’m sorry everyone. Seriously. I shouldn’t be speaking for ORBlogs, nor for AJ, Patrick, Rick or Kyle. If someone else wants to take over, I can turn over the domain, the blog, the Google groups account, the Goog-
(See- there I go, listing everything- even after I said I wouldn’t. Drama, I tell you.)
Okay, seriously. There are plenty of people out there better than me. Take over. Be someONE.
But you needn’t start from scratch. There’s that Java code just waiting. It’s right there- we’re pretty close.
By the way, Rick Turoczy has the keys to this house. AJ and Patrick have the keys to the code page. They- as anyone, should feel free to lock me out at any point.
Until then, I’ll just keep on chugging away, and realize that I owe Gil a beer for screaming at him. I really am sorry, Gil.
The last few weeks have been an incredible reminder of why I love Oregon, why I love the people here, and why I love our tech community.
