Hey Gang,
Well, let's try this again, shall we? The last time around I worked several
hours on this e-mail and somehow managed to lose 90% of it between my "send
button" and our collective "get new mail" commands... Mayhap I can blame it on
this unusual weather we are having with lots of rain, thunder, and lightning.
This time this really is a very long post! If you are not interested in the
ConMogCon dialog please hit your delete key now!
I had intended to wait a full week after my first post for comments to reach
me before posting a response to the many e-mails I have received regarding my
comments on a ConMogCon (or whatever it might eventually be called) but it is
raining here today sooooo.....
Thanks to all of you who took the time to send comments to me. To conserve
bandwidth I will not quote the entirety of those messages but will include
quotes from many of them at the end of this massive missive. Since many of you
e-mailed me privately without a copy to the list I will not identify senders
by name.
First let me say that there were no negative comments at all. None, zero, zip...
One respondent did offer the comment << We have basically rejected the
formality and politics inherent in the bigger clubs. Maybe Morgan owners are
fundamentally independent types... >> but he also offered several reasons why
the ConMogCon concept was good...
Several respondents pointed out that a number of national clubs (MG, Lotus,
and Alfa were specifically mentioned) are organized along similar lines and
are very successful. An English gentleman also pointed out that the Morgan
Sportscar Club in Blighty is organized in a like manner.
Of course, many of the traditional functions of a single-marque club are now
being fulfilled very ably by internet mailing lists and discussion groups such
as this one. This list, for example, does a far better job of passing along
tech information than does the usual newsletter "Tech Tips" column. (Indeed,
lists such as this one make it pretty simple to produce those columns... Many
newsletters are now just culling these lists and including the tech material
in the newsletters verbatim!)
As many of us have discovered, the internet is far better for buying and
selling cars and parts than the "classifieds" of our traditional newsletters
could ever be.
Through Chat Rooms and such this net of ours can actually replace the "noggin
and natter" interaction many of us seek at our club's monthly meetings though
I, for one, still prefer to look a person in the eye when having a
conversation. (Call me old fashioned...)
There are many ways the net can and does provide us the opportunity to view
many first rate, full color, photos of our favorite marques though,
admittedly, Morgan owners seem more reticent to post photos of their babies
than most marque enthusiasts. At any rate, these photos are far superior in
quality to anything printed in any of the club newsletters.
The net lists and groups are, perhaps, weakest in the area of feature articles
though the occasional gem does show up online. (And, yes, I realize this is
somewhat controversial at the moment.) But then, most of our club newsletters
do a lousy job on feature stories anyway.
Sooooo.....
(SEE PART 2!)
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