MRAA (ie MRAV) bashing

In fact he _did_ claim to represent the Ulysses club in letters to
newspapers a year or two ago. I was one of many who wrote to Ulysses about
it.
The club published disclaimers about misrepresentation and, I think,
threatened to suspend or revoke his membership.

--
Conehead
"Every day I think about dying.
About disease, starvation, violence,
terrorism, war, and the end of the world.
It helps keep my mind off things."
McGough

 

You tell me how he got my details cos i don't know.
I know it would not have been ethically or even legally as the mailing
list was not meant to be exploited.

 

He somehow put me on his list, I'd always assumed he collected a bunch
of email addresses from in here (I'm not sure which mailing list you
suspect he got your details from, but I'm pretty sure I'm not on it ;-)

big

 

Nev.. said....

This is an interesting point. If bike sales are any guide, then off-road
riders would probably form a large percentage of all riders. Yet, there
is no real representation for them. the AMTRA doesn't appear to do any
sort of lobbying, particularly as off-roaders are under ever increasing
pressure due to greenies wanting to lock up state forests, etc.. The MRA
doesn't do that much work in such areas, probably because there is
no-one in the org that's really active in that particular area.

 

Definitely wasn't from here.
The only place was from the mra mailing list, and the only way was to
get the person hosting it to give them to him or provide him access.
I'm pretty sure that somehow since he wsn't in the mra executive that
what he did was not above board in respect to people's details.
Back then I was getting very interested in joining up and doing stuff
due to the efforts of the likes of swirlball but when the list was
hijacked for personal agendas I thought wtf?
Nothing much has changed.

 

Serious question now.
Exactly what IS the MRA active in at the moment and have you got
something concrete to show for it?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Wed, 02 Nov 2005 14:31:47 +1100

Duals Sports are active in the MCC.

I believe that MOtorcycling Australia is planning some lobby work on
behalf of non-registered bikes - racers mainly. ADR stuff, racetrack
closures, and so on. I vaguely recall that they might have been
interested in doing things for offroad riders too.

Of course if the offroad riders want representation, they have to stir
themselves.

For example, have they been joining a lobby group to get offroad
concerns heard? Dual Sports have a couple of good delegates who aren't
slow to get their items on the agenda.

Zebee

 

I see... so, what's your take on the fact that the aforementioned
protest, which was the MRAV's first on the issue, occured_after_the $50
rego surcharge was introduced?

Or, did you mean to type "counter-productive" instead of "impotent"?

 

....and I don't think that was intended for you....

Yeah, that is a bit wrong.

I agree with you that many of these "for the members" clubs, aren't and you
have provided that of this one. I don't know how that can be reversed or
made better for the non-metro charters/satellites. You need a membership
big enough to say this is who we represent, but also provide them with
"they" want. This is where far too many things fall down. I don't believe
that MRAx is the only victim of this.

A gamble that went bad? Or you reckon it was more than that? It would seem
that more than one was involved, so I don't see why one should carry the
full blame.

That is fair enough. Communication is one of the biggest complaints about
any group of ppl, especially those away from the CBD that aren't getting any
info.

I have plenty of time (and beer). Perhaps, I shouldn't have mentioned that
last bit.

Cheers

Hammo

 

I've seen a TV show along those lines....

Hammo

 

I can "suppose" how he got it. I don't know who you email or post to, so
there is a huge potential for it to be included in "further or ongoing"
correspondence.

The legal and ethical aspect of that stuff, I've leave it people that have
all the details. Sounds like it might involve semantics!

What did you post/discuss with him (or about him) and the other MRAx
councils?

Hammo

 

Didn't you see how successful the MRA Melbourne Toy Run was last year.
Is that concrete enough? Your mate Damien Codognotto organised it.
Three cheers for DC. Hip hip..

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

It is/was a non-issue to me. Should I be upset by it? I didn't protest
when the airplanes had a tax imposed on the tickets for (insert tax of
choice). It is a privilege, not a right, seems to be something that people
forget very quickly.

Hammo

 

Maybe but somehow he obtained members details from a mailing list where
the identities are hidden unless you receive and send a direct response
to a particular person.

He was either given those details or he obtained them "illegally" as far
as I can tell.
Then there is the ethical issue about posting his personal fights to all
and sundry as a means to an end.

I never communicated with him or even knew who he was till he started
posting his drivel.
The only communication I had was to tell him to **** off after the 10th
frigging email regarding some shit And I have to say some of the things
mentioned in his drivel should not have been aired in public.

 

and you also believe in the tooth fairy?

 

Silly me... I should have realised anything with 'all knowing' was never
intended for me ;-)

I believe so... but it fits a pattern that DC has exhibited over the years.

They are almost certainly not the only organisation that suffers from
these sorts of issues, but having suburban and non metro satellites
provided a counter balance to the DC heavy Elizabeth street group.

It also enlarged the central committee (which some might argue made it
harder to get agreement, but I would suggest meant a wider range of
views were represented).

It also IMO provided a closer link to the grass roots of what was then a
large organisation. The local members could complain to thier group and
thier group could complain to the committee. Without the intermediate
link many issues were later not raised (or raised only after much lobbying).

It was 'spun' afterwards as a gamble that went bad. I believed (and I
wasn't alone) that it represented an attempt to control the editorial
output and content of the club magazine more than it was an attempt to
'raise the professionalism' as it was spun.

Another concern was that the lead time of the color mag was much longer
so problems could no longer be raised in the magazine with time for
readers to attend the meetings those issues were about (not always, but
much more often than with the previous black and white mag). This had
the indirect (and many believed intended) outcome of making short notice
meetings 'stackable' by an in group, and further centralising control.

The perception in areas away from the CBD was along the lines of 'they
closed our local register', they've taken away the club magazine... it's
alright for the Melbourne mob they get all the money spent at the
Elizabeth street HQ and I never use that... don't see why I should be
paying for those bastards when they never do anything for me.

Now I'm not claiming that is a totally true view, but it was the over
riding type of comment talked about as people let thier memberships lapse.

To a large degree what Sam said about "you had to be there" applies... I
can quote examples (to the best of this failing middle aged memories
ability) but it was the gut feeling of the 'crowd' that people reacted
to. And that gut feeling was anything but positive.

Besides... I'm not sure how relevent dragging up old problems is at the
end of the day. I personally believe that DC has a history of making bad
decisions and that MRA Vic would be best served by severing all ties
with him.

If he was an elected politician then he could only be Joe B...
no matter how much mud accumulates he seems to keep going!


G-S

 

Yah... I attended the Bendigo toy run... that one was DC free.

I hear that there was a pretty large UC one as well... and a number
around the state by other groups... I'd suggest one of those for less of
the DC flavor


G-S

 

Yes, there was quite a bit of angst about it at the time too.

And would have done so I believe... an approach that MRA Vic should
undertake if they want to be taken seriously.


G-S

 

I thought it went brilliantly. Rode a VTR250 around for a bit, bumped
into a bunch of bikes, ended up in Williamstown, threw a bag of basketballs
into the truck, gawked at some sand-drag bikes, had a quiet beer with
good company, got to see Stuey's new house, etc.

-----sharks (not planned by DC)

 

are you suggesting that DC didn't organise the MRA Melbourne Toy Run, or
that it wasn't a success, or is the tooth fairy just the best reply you
could muster without resorting to "harsh week" again...?

Nev..
'03 ZX12R