Please read - Why a new Google Group?

[Secretary ExCom]

Hi everyone,

We hope this message finds you well!  As some of you may know from various Electric Fence Post articles over the last year, ExCom have been hard at work exploring ways to bring back transparency and direct communication with the wider Kiwiburn community. 

Last month, we decided, based on feedback from members of the community to go back to the ExCom Google Groups.  However, as some of you may have noticed, our old forum experienced a period of inactivity and improper use, leading to a considerable gap in our shared history. This gap posed challenges for us when it came to preserving the valuable content, discussions, and memories we've built together over the years.

While we are actively exploring ways to bring forward as much of the old forum's content as possible, we also recognize the importance of starting fresh for several reasons:

1. Clean Slate: A new forum allows us to start with a clean slate, free from any lingering issues or challenges that may have affected the old platform.

2. Revitalizing Community: A fresh start provides us with an opportunity to revitalize our community spirit, encouraging both existing and new members to engage in discussions, share experiences, and build connections.

3. Lower confusion: We've archived the old Google Group but you can still find it here. We think this will prevent confusion because we've already had people asking about old systems and info from 2018-2019 which are not relevant for Kiwiburn 2024. 

4. Future-Forward: By embracing a new forum, we are positioning ourselves for the future. This means we can explore adapting the current forum (e.g. by integrating with Slack, our daily comms tool for Kiwiburn's volunteers) and respond faster to any feedback from community members without needing to try to find a way to preserve the older messages and content.

Rest assured, we are also exploring ways to bridge the gap in our Google Groups history. We will be working on ways to bring forward relevant content and discussions from the old forum into this one, but this is some ways away as we are focused on mission-critical tasks related to making Kiwiburn 2024 happen as smoothly as possible.

Your feedback and suggestions are crucial during this transition, so please feel free to share your thoughts as we dust off our Google Groups skills.

Nga mihi,

Rads (Secretary, on behalf of $excom)

[Shelley (Burning Man RC NZ)]

Great to have some transparency from $exCom in place again :-)