Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
I've run into the same mix of motivations (including the wacky paranoia about piracy, believe it or not) in a non-profit weekend Chinese language school I was involved in. I think it's just endemic to volunteer organizations and politics in general. As Douglas Adams noted, "To summarize the summary of the summary, 'people are a problem.'"
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Got it in one.
One of my contacts in the field shakes her head in bemusement at seeing that sort of behavior in her Aikido dojo.
Evey organization has a culture. The culture is an outgrowth of the personalities and interactions of the founders. The culture selects for compatibility. New people come in, and they are either comfortable with the culture, get with the program, and behave like anyone else, or they leave. So you can have a 100% turnover in membership, but the fundamental behavior patterns will remain.
The local SF fan groups was originally founded many years ago by folks whose motivation appeared to be the opportunity to look down on each other and play status games. None of the founding members remain (and most are dead) but the culture has persisted, and is still largely the same 40 years later. I've stated that a shared interest in SF isn't the purpose for the organization, it's the excuse. The
purpose is to give folks who like to behave in a certain manner a place to get together and do it.
I think that analysis may hold true for any organization you can point to.
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Dennis