The Story of a FReeper Chapter

A Publius Essay | 14 February 2002 | Publius

[Publius]

Ping.

[Publius]

Ping.

[mountaineer]

interesting

[Publius]

Ping.

[Publius]

Please post those two pictures from the Hog Roast. Chapter Execs should see what a happy and successful chapter looks like. (And Diane Fineswine never looked better.)

[dutchess]

Thanks for the history. There has indeed be many changes since impeachment....

[Seeking the truth]

Well done, as the Florida Chapter's President since our one and only formal meeting (a long time ago, btw), I concur with everthing that you said.

OTOH, our history is different in that we have done numerous Freeps as Florida was such a key state in the last election.

We do take these Freeps as opportunities to gather socially afterwards and we did that quite a bit.

I liken a Freeper Chapter to the Continental Army. Washington never had more than 20,000 troops at any one time. They came and went with the planting & harvesting seasons. Freepers come and go with the political seasons.

This ebb & flow I have come to accept. It probably is how this just works out.

[Ms. AntiFeminazi]

Publius, thanks for posting this.

[Publius]

Your comparison to the Continental Army is interesting. I've always compared us to the Committees of Correspondence that galvanized resistance to British tyranny. We're probably somewhere in between.

[LoneGOPinCT]

BUMP

Very interesting to see what goes into starting and keeping a chapter. It's amazing all of the work you folks have to put in. Probably why there are so few official chapters.

[diotima]

Thanks for the Ping!

[EternalVigilance]

Way to go, Publius! I always appreciate people who go out of their way to give others the benefit of their experience.

Thought you would appreciate one insight into this subject, TS.

[Publius]

The problem is that chapters get founded with great regularity, but they tend to fall apart when the workload gets too big for one person. That almost happened to us.

I've advised no fewer than 3 people in Oregon how to get a chapter started, and there was one meeting that I know of. But there are good FReepers in Oregon still trying to start a chapter and keep it going. And two of those three people gave up when they heard what they had to do.

[MrConfettiMan]

For any given FReeper Meet, at best only half the chapter will agree to come no matter how far in advance you plan the event. For many FReepers, this site is one of the most important things in their lives. But for the rest, it?s not important enough to motivate them to change their schedules to attend an event.

The sentence I bolded above is why I feel FR is a microcosm of the entire country. I know I probably sound cranky and cynical (and I guess I am) but the vast majority of the people on this site can "talk the talk" but when push comes to shove they are just not willing to "walk the walk". In that respect, they are really no better than those we call sheeple. For those who might tell me to come down off my pedestal, I'm not up on one. Just stating a conclusion I've reached over the past four years.

[cmsgop]

Well Done!

[noexcuses]

I would like to add a couple of comments to Publius's post.

The freepers here in Washington are sprawled out all over the state. It's difficult to get everyone together on a weekend to attend an event that might take up to a 3 hour each way commute. Plus, then you can't really partake in the excellent home brewed beer!.

I give Publius great credit for all his hard work, but trying to organize chapter events when our population covers so much geography might well be an impossible task.

[cmsgop]

Here we are at the Dec 2000 anti Gore Rally kicking A$$ and taking names.

[AppyPappy]

So Mr "sheeple", are you up for a DC Chapter picnic on the Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive this summer? I think we can get Richmond and Roanoke to show.