[Pdx-pm] No recruiters, please?

Randal L. Schwartz merlyn at stonehenge.com
Mon Jun 18 11:41:08 PDT 2007


>>>>> "Amy" == Amy K Farrell <akf at aracnet.com> writes:

Amy> I agree. I almost included something roughly translating to
Amy> "long-standing members know what they can get away with," but caught
Amy> myself. No point *saying* that.

I think that's sort of what tweaked me in the first place.

A non-for-profit affiliation or association works because the group has
members who all contribute in their own ways.

It's a potluck.  Everybody brings a bit of food, and we all get to share the
resulting variety.

If someone has regularly brought food, and then one day shows up with no food,
and wanting to take a bit extra home for their family, we all go "cool, no
problem".  (If they started doing that every week, we might think twice.)

However, if someone came to their very first potluck, and said "I would like
to take home these three dishes, thank you", there would be an expected round
of outcries.

I consider a recruiting announcement, especially by a person who stands to
personally make money if fulfilled, a "taking", since it takes our attention
away, and that's the most precious resource most of us have: our time.  If
that same person had been "giving" for a long time, a single "taking" would be
a lot easier to swallow. (Mixed conflicting metaphors included for comic
effect.)

So, if you come, and participate, you can probably get away with a bit of
"look the other way" when you talk about your car for sale.  But if you walk
in the first day, advertising your car for sale, too bad.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn at stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
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