It was starting to stink to high heaven of a "takeover" by a certain group who seemed to be able to get away with breaking the rule "Trolling just to stir up controversy will not be tolerated" whenever they wanted to.
If anyone manages to contact Rich, tell him we miss him.
Well, you nailed it. "that group" was elevated to FB moderation control, and left unsupervised. Undesirables like Rich were summarily tortured and executed. False accusations were STARTED BY the moderators and ACTED ON by the same moderators. There is no method of appeal, except to the modertors who took action against you. How convenient. Upper management was not ignorant of what was happening. Apparently running an all volunteer club means sometimes you need to give the volunteers something to keep them happy, and so what if management looks the other way once in a while? Sacrifice one to keep the hyenas fed, and they won't bother the rest of the herd. Volunteers who bear a grudge for whatever reason are allowed retribution, just so long as they keep volunteering.
BTW, this was limited to the FB page, NOT the forum. I have never seen any unprofessional moderation on the forum. It's a different group of volunteers, true COG members.
I'd also like to say I've been a COG member since 2005. The people of the group are fine people like most here. The problems in COG are limited to a VERY FEW people who have power and no integrity in wielding it. Rule 3 on the FB page is a great rule to hide behind.
Rich gave much to COG over the years. Always the first to step in with technical advise, and that got alot of people riding that wouldn't have done so otherwise. But he and others became hyena fodder on the FB page. After all, a moderator is more valuable than a tech guru to the average concours owner, right? See the problem there? Jealousy. Mods work behind the scenes. Tech guys are visible and sought out. Both are needed, and have a place in the success of the group. But sometimes those who work behind the scenes dislike that they are not being acknowledged for what they do. Jealousies arise. Couple that with immaturity and downright maliciousness, and you can see the glassy - eyed stare of the hyena.
There is one simple truth. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Sadly, in the world of volunteerism in COG Facebook, it seems good men look the other way when hyenas need to be fed.
As I stated on the COG post, when I last talked with Rich, he was dealing with a serious medical issue, and hurt by the treatment he got on COG FB. He told me he didn't want to use any valuable energy thinking about COG, it was an emotional drain and he needed his energy channeling elsewhere. I've been trying to reach him for the past week, and he's not responding. That's not good.
Steve
