Whether you post on PCTMEDIA.net or as I also do on Linkedin.com for Scouting related items, it’s hard to convey what you mean entirely. The written word is very powerful and leads itsself to have people read between the lines. One on One conversations that are face to face are a lot better since people can pick up on the non- verbal communication that is also going on.
Face to Face helps since if one person is not getting your point, the speaker should pick up on it. In my recently forray into posting my opinon on Linkedin, I have come to find out several things.
There are a lot of well meaning knowitalls. Once and awhile I agree with them. However, I generally do not since they seem to be closed minded. Mainly the topics are about how to run a Boy Scout Troop. I have no experience in Boy Scouts except for what I read and listen to from Scoutmaster Jerry, Clark Green, Scoutmaster Shawn and The MISS Show.
However, in the linked forum above, there are a lot of angry people. Yes, every troop will be run different. Some Troops are Merit Badge Mills and others fully get it. I know where I am going to steer Elliot towards.
Posting on Linkedin is a fully different experience than posting on PTCMEDIA.net forums. Within PTCMEDIA, we basically know eachother after a while. We generally follow eachother on Twitter and Facebook and make comments back on forth that way. Also, the An Hour A Week show is taped before a live audience that is in a Chatroom. The comments that fly in that room…OMG. They are very off the wall at times, but very highly supportive when a Scouter posts a great question. The An Hour A Week show host Chris, is great. We generally post goofy comments just to trip him up. Within the forums, all posts are answered by the community and hosts of PTCMEDIA. There is not an air of dis-trust or reading between the lines. Those who post will follow-up with clarity if needed.
My overall point is that, we all have points of view that others can take wrong. Which really is “We do not see it your way because we do not understand your comment fully yet”. Scouter’s should seek to understand and clarify when needed. Granted, people are not going to agree. However and hopefully that disagreement is after fully understanding where a person is coming from and why. Linkedin does not have this. PTCMEDIA and the community does have this.
Because I listen and read items from PTCMEDIA.net that if I was dropped into a Scoutmaster position tomarrow, I would have a lot better idea on how to work with the Scouts and make their Scouting experience what they need it to be. (But very happy to be the Cubmaster of a great Pack right now….)
Yours in Scouting.
Well said, as usual.
The air of distrust and reading between the lines that you mention is my biggest issue with the forums on http://www.scouter.com . It seems to be a large community of Scouters, but even the simplest questions get hammered with accusations and unrelated comments just because the poster didn’t include every bit of history to the question they are asking about.
If we just follow the Scout Law and remember this is truely a conversation instead of a lecture, we will all gain from the aggregated knowlege that is in this “Virtual Roundtable”.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Arlen
Ack..I forgot Buttons! Those videos are the best! They inspire me! Just need to bring those ideas to the pack. FYI: I was born in Minneapolis and spent time in Fairbault. I also went to summer camp just above Brainerd at Camp Lincoln.
Great post, and oh so true at times.