To All PFB Members - Gather Ye Round The Kitchen Table

I think this is a great idea, I am relatively new here, but this is a
great site with great potential to help people and companies come
together. Sometimes people just need a outlet to vent their
flustration, and especially right now with corporate america running
wild with our tax dollars, and our elected officials of both parties
turning a deaf ear to our needs we desperately need grassroots
organizations such as this. Thank you all providing this space with
your time,talent, and participation. Nuff said.

Greetings from Alaska!

Wow.... the complaining and gnashing of teeth just never ends, does
it?

Of course I am delighted to see that the nay-sayers and chronic
complainers haven't managed to get downn the spirits of those who
actually give a damn about this side and want it to succeed and grow,
rather than stagnate. Of course I am referring to my fellow Kitchen
Table members.

but, of course, I can't.

I have been trying to kinda just keep quiet and let this play out a
bit, responding just when I thought I could clarify something, or
answer a question. I have read every bit of feedback posted (at least
all that I have found) and although I do not discount the validity of
anyone's feelings, I really don't understand some of the reactions.

Honestly, what are people afraid of here? That a new idea or an
expansion of an existing component of PFB might actually be discussed
in an arena somewhat resembling a focus group? This is somehow bad?

More than one comment has been left stating that the objection is not
to the people who were asked to participate (thank you by the way),
so then what? Yes, perhaps some wording in the announcement could
have been different- also the interpretation could have been
different. In some cases it seems as though people were looking for a
reason to be unhappy with this. Some members responded positively -
they didn't read a different announcement.

In some cases references have been made insinuating that Greg would
discount contributions from certain members. Certainly there have
been some strained conversations - but not just on his part. I
counter that in some cases it comes across as though any statement
coming from him is subjected to an immediate attack.

We have had one "meeting". Clearly there have been no policy changes
or new rules announced as a result. As I understand it, this is an
effort to grow and improve the site. In my book, Kudos to PFB, or any
business for that matter, that makes an effort to involve their
consumer.

I don't think the 4 of us currently meeting with Greg are cookie
cutter images of each other - hopefully that makes us a fairly
reasonable representation of the collective members of the site.

So in closing, I would like to echo a statement made elsewhere by
Brenda - should anyone wish to make their suggestions through me, I
will be happy to pass them on. If you would like to remain anonymous,
for whatever reason, let me know and I will present it that way and
keep it that way until you tell me different. If you are feeling as
though your input is discounted, this may be a great way to get your
ideas across.

In the few years I have been a part of this community, I have seen
several efforts to grow the site that involved contributions from
specific members - Mommage and Shoppercast come to mind - I'm sure
there were more.

Great feedback here, and thanks to all who volunteered to facilitate
this experiment. -- Pete

I'm out here in the family room watching the Burke's Law on TV Land.
If anything interesting happens in the kitchen, or when dinner is
ready, let me know.

My suggestion is to stop changing everything. I understand keeping up
with the times, but I really dont see anything that needs any big
changes.

I logged on this morning and saw that the font looked different, its
things like that I see no reason in changing. Of course, now it is
back to normal. Why?

I saw some comments to add this and add that, but most people dont
know how to use alot of functions and prefer simplicity.

Look at how many people post their personal information and/or use the
smiley face when they are obviously writing a negative letter.

It seems there is a big rush to "improve" to make people think their
voice is being heard, and then they get retracted.

This is what happens when you have too many chiefs, or chief wanna
be's


Good Day

Sounds like a good idea to me. I don't really care about "who was
chosen" or any of that...I just like the fact that now users have
representation and stuff like that.

This is just me being curious, but how do y'all meet? Face to face?
Conference call? Live text chat?

Thanks.

I've been reading PFB for years now, and quite rarely comment on
anything. But wow - the passionate response to the "Kitchen Table" is
something else. An organization takes the initiative to review itself
periodically, using its customers for input, and everything about the
concept is drawn into question.

Do not mess with my school. Do not mess with my church. Do not mess
with my job. Do not mess with my PFB. Unless, of course, I have a say
into how you do it, which is, of course, my way of saying don't mess
with any of it unless you do it my way.

I suggest PFB and the Kitchen Table begin by looking at why this site
exists at all. If changes need to be made, then just do it. Forget all
these backseat drivers and Monday-morning quarterbacks. The old adage
rings true: Too many cooks....

Such a backlash. Wow. It's starting to smell low rent in here.

We'd like to point out that the only use of the term "volunteer" is in
reference to the fact that the members of the kitchen table are, in
fact volunteers because they aren't being paid. That's it. We didn't
claim this was a democratic process - in fact we very clearly state
they were selected.

As for why we didn't throw this open to the community, one look at
some of the comments on this thread is enough validation for us as to
the wisdom of our decision.

Why all the kvetching and wringing of hands? Sheesh. I don't see how
this idea can hurt the site. If it does, it can get yanked.

Well, in case anyone doesn't know... I'm Brenda and I welcome anyone
to shoot me an e-mail with anything they'd like discussed at our
meetings. I'd love to hear all of your ideas!

While we're on the topic of improvements, you may want to consider
revising the FAQ. Some sections are quite out of date.

This seems like a good idea. However, I know several people were very
upset about how discussions with members turned into policy. I
believe Nate and Venice took hits because of just this sort of thing.
In at least one case, we had someone make snarky comments about Nate
in another thread (these comments were removed).

While the idea of getting member feedback is wonderful (of course,
since this is PFB), it strikes me that after we had two rather
significant events, it odd that this would be announced this way.

In other words, you already got feedback that some folks here don't
appreciate other members holding policy positions.

I have some suggestions.

I've noticed lately that a lot of letters contain personal information
and names of employees. Shouldn't those be removed?

I've also noticed that the PFB Insider makes no sense. The links lead
to outdated, incorrect information.

In order to get the Top 25 moving like it used to, the letters in 15
Minutes should be changed more frequently because, as you said, it's
an important place on PFB and generates the most views and comments.