occupy venice facebook friend page

[Robin Howson]

So I've been told we need to have a conversation about the facebook
friend page. I guess it was discussed at the GA last night so I'm
interested to hear what was said/decided. This is a difficult position
for me because I am in Pittsburg about to drive across the country to
Venice and the last thing in the world that I want to do is argue
about something like this. I'm writing to this group because that is
what Chris suggested.

I sent an email out last night to a number of people to gauge their
reactions and opinions and every voice I heard from was 100% in
support of the fact we should not deactivate the facebook friend page,
that it is absolutely ridiculous to remove a solid form of
communication that was created with the intention of spreading
information amongst a group of people.

It has succeeded.

This whole conversation depresses me.

Why are we wasting time arguing about a facebook page? Especially one
that can spread information to thousands of people with a click of a
button? Why? There is so much else to focus on- good things, positive
things, action-oriented things. (from what I can tell, Occupy Venice
is doing GREAT things! that's amazing! why are we spending time on
something trivial like this?)

In my opinion, the same people keep talking about this page. They keep
making me feel like I am not doing enough. I am doing what I can for
this movement from wherever in the world I have been in the last few
months. That same thing goes for all the people who have been in and
out of OV GAs, who have lives, who have jobs and families, who can't
measure up to someone else's opinion of what "enough" is. And for this
topic to keep surfacing goes against every single possible driving
intention that I think this movement is about, because it says "you
are not good enough" in a world where we are trying to prove that
everyone is good enough.

Can we PLEASE let this go. Please.

I don't know who gets this email, or who will read it, but let me
assure you- my ego is in check and this has nothing to do with me.
This has to do with the fact that this movement has to be for one and
for all. It has to take what it can get in order to grow.

SO if that means that one of our facebook pages lets people promote
themselves, or isn't updated every hour, or every day, I don't care.
The fact that it exists is good enough for me. Why are we
backtracking? Why are we wasting energy on this? If you are reading
this, I suggest you ask yourself those questions. And if you're
focusing on this because someone else can't let it drop, then maybe
it's time you let it go.

We need to grow.

We need to accept changes of shape and size.

We need to spread information.

that's what I think.

On that note, I am going to keep driving across the country.

I hope you all are well.

Robin

--
stay amazed

[Alivia Hunter]

The reasoning behind deactivating the Friend page was because it has
so many non-Venice & non-LA area people on it. The majority of Freinds
do not live in or around the LA area. UnFriending people who are not
in the LA area can seem rather rude and it's time consuming. In
addition keeping up with all the emails and Friend Requests is also
difficult. Then there is the question of all the Spam tetx on pictures
that Tag OV but have nothing to do with OV or OV related Actions. From
my understanding, the decision to propose this came about because the
group is trying to organize and work more effciently so that none of
us feel as you said like we're not doing enough... We all know even if
it doesn't like it that each of us is doing all we're able to. There
are a lot of important issues & Actions coming up that are probably
going to push us even a little harder. With that in mind the better if
not popular choice may have to be putting the Friend page on the back
burner until say mid May. Then again I was at GA

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[mariska leyssius]

hey robin...  chiming in as a  neutral person... neutral because i don't know you - and relatively new to OV...  but what i gathered from ga last night is that  A. even though you are not physically present your presence is still felt in the movement - and that you are active abroad... and also loved and admired by the ov peeps...  B. Community Page makes more sense now - and was created by FB for 'groups'  for the very reasons alivia stated below - many other occupy groups have gone thru this transition.   C. OV is INVITING friends of current page to join the Community Page...  a positive step since they currently have to TURN AWAY about 2k people since friends page has reached  capacity....  pretty stressful for the social media team...    my only 'friendly amendment' is maybe give more than 1 week - to make sure the word gets out (??)....  

btw: for archival purposes..  i would download all the photos...  

okay just my .02...  have a safe trip - i hope you get a chance to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water estate in south west PA...  it's pretty spectacular....  mariska

[Chance Foreman]

Hey Robin, 

I think it should stay up as well. It is fine to direct people to the community page but to take down a page where there is a community of people that is already there seems to me, is bad idea. Let's not limit our ability to reach people. Also I don't think that occupy Venice should be exclusive to only Venice people. We are all In this together and the more attention we got the better... especially if they are not from this country. I support Robin on keeping it up. 

-Chance

Sent from my iPhone

[mariska leyssius]

hola chance... hmmm maybe i'm confused... i get over whelmed w too many pages... ola has so many pages now ... and sfv has 2.. i miss events because i look at the wrong page... does the community page have a limit like the friends page?  

[Chance Foreman]

Hey Mariska,

There is only two Facebook pages of OV, a friend page and a community page... They want to take down the friend page. The best way to get info on event's is to look at the website and sign up for the newsletter. 
-Chance
Sent from my iPad

[Alivia Hunter]

I believe IF we keep it open the Friend acct should only be avail to
Venice & LA people so that when a message is sent for a SoCal Action
we can reach people who are more likely to go to a GA or a forum,
community council or a picnic. It is very unlikely that someone in New
York or Berlin will go to a local event. People not in the SoCal area
can go to the community page for info, events, pictures of the events
& Actions. At the moment and for at least the last couple of months,
the acct has not been managed as well as it could have been. I am NOT
blaming anyone - just not enought people or strategy planning on how
to use it. I would only support keeping it open if the acct were only
avail to LA area people.

[Gringo]

I just spoke to Robin as to explain and deescalate the situation.

Last night when we came to consensus about taking down the Friends
page i included language that stated Robins opposition and that we
would still work with her to resolve the issue and allow her more time
to work on it with the group if she so desired. We included her from
all the way across the country.

She also asked me to state that her comments earlier were a perception
she had and she does not feel people are making her feel like she's
not good enough. Her and myself have been in contact and building
relationships even when she's not "here".

Robin will start a new thread on the media page to address her
concerns and see if she can make the changes she thinks would help to
keep the page up and active.

There is no us and them.

Thanx, Gringo.

On Mar 23, 10:28 am, Chance Foreman <onecha...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hey Mariska,
>
> There is only two Facebook pages of OV, a friend page and a community page... They want to take down the friend page. The best way to get info on event's is to look at the website and sign up for the newsletter.
> -Chance
> Sent from my iPad
>

> On Mar 23, 2012, at 10:23 AM, mariska leyssius <mariska.occupyven...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > hola chance... hmmm maybe i'm confused... i get over whelmed w too many pages... ola has so many pages now ... and sfv has 2.. i miss events because i look at the wrong page... does the community page have a limit like the friends page?
>

> > On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 10:03 AM, Chance Foreman <onecha...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Hey Robin,
>
> > I think it should stay up as well. It is fine to direct people to the community page but to take down a page where there is a community of people that is already there seems to me, is bad idea. Let's not limit our ability to reach people. Also I don't think that occupy Venice should be exclusive to only Venice people. We are all In this together and the more attention we got the better... especially if they are not from this country. I support Robin on keeping it up.
>
> > -Chance
>
> > Sent from my iPhone
>

> > On Mar 23, 2012, at 9:43 AM, mariska leyssius <mariska.occupyven...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> hey robin...  chiming in as a  neutral person... neutral because i don't know you - and relatively new to OV...  but what i gathered from ga last night is that  A. even though you are not physically present your presence is still felt in the movement - and that you are active abroad... and also loved and admired by the ov peeps...  B. Community Page makes more sense now - and was created by FB for 'groups'  for the very reasons alivia stated below - many other occupy groups have gone thru this transition.   C. OV is INVITING friends of current page to join the Community Page...  a positive step since they currently have to TURN AWAY about 2k people since friends page has reached  capacity....  pretty stressful for the social media team...    my only 'friendly amendment' is maybe give more than 1 week - to make sure the word gets out (??)....
>
> >> btw: for archival purposes..  i would download all the photos...
>
> >> okay just my .02...  have a safe trip - i hope you get a chance to see Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water estate in south west PA...  it's pretty spectacular....  mariska
>

> >> On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 8:58 AM, Alivia Hunter <hunter.ali...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> The reasoning behind deactivating the Friend page was because it has
> >> so many non-Venice & non-LA area people on it. The majority of Freinds
> >> do not live in or around the LA area. UnFriending people who are not
> >> in the LA area can seem rather rude and it's time consuming. In
> >> addition keeping up with all the emails and Friend Requests is also
> >> difficult. Then there is the question of all the Spam tetx on pictures
> >> that Tag OV but have nothing to do with OV or OV related Actions. From
> >> my understanding, the decision to propose this came about because the
> >> group is trying to organize and work more effciently so that none of
> >> us feel as you said like we're not doing enough... We all know even if
> >> it doesn't like it that each of us is doing all we're able to. There
> >> are a lot of important issues & Actions coming up that are probably
> >> going to push us even a little harder. With that in mind the better if
> >> not popular choice may have to be putting the Friend page on the back
> >> burner until say mid May. Then again I was at GA
>

> >> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/occupyveniceMedia?hl=en.

>
> >> --
> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "occupyveniceMedia" group.
> >> To post to this group, send email to occupyve...@googlegroups.com.
> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to occupyveniceMe...@googlegroups.com.

> >> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/occupyveniceMedia?hl=en.

>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "occupyveniceMedia" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to occupyve...@googlegroups.com.
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to occupyveniceMe...@googlegroups.com.

> > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/occupyveniceMedia?hl=en.

[mike chamness]

Alivia makes one of the primary points that justify the concern with the current friend’s page. Much of it comes down to whether its an accurate resource for helping promote OV & it’s projects. As for Robin’s point that it shouldn’t be a big issue I’d agree - it isn’t. The FB transition stuff is but one media focus & comparatively is just a bump towards doing what other successful occupies are moving towards. Regardless, it was announced to be on the agenda prior to the meeting, discussed, & consensed upon last eve with 18 in attendance among active members. 

Yes, there are a lot of awesome new projects in the fold and this is more of a housecleaning gesture for shoring up our social media campaign. As for transparency & due process, it was discussed frequently in the Social Media WG mtgs and has been in the works for a few weeks. Obviously we needed to convene and recruit a much more active Social Media WG before legitimately mulling these decisions. We’ve consulted with OLA Media, hosted them as guest speakers re: FB stuff, coordinated media plans, & sent emails to the existing FB Adms re: this (some who have never been to an OV GA since Oct or been active since last year). We’ve worked actively with OWS tech folks & incorporated their advice & feedback with our own before putting it to the GA. I don’t recall seeing any of you at any GAs or WG mtgs over the last  month or so. Everyone’s feedback is valuable, but the chances to be heard have been numerous & it appears most of the opponents to the decision haven’t been seen at GAs or WG meetings in quite a long time. We're all friends & definitely all need each other to step up to create a better world, but commitment level is a big issue here. 

OLA and other large (and growing) occupy groups have fallen back on the FB community page as a primary source for relevant updates/posts because there’s a degree of filtering. A lot of the problem is the sheer volume of non-OV or blatantly non-occupy related stuff being dropped onto the page & as a consequence the content in many cases isn’t really rep’ing what the group is doing due to too much adm transition and not enough actual management. We’ve transitioned numerous folks through and that cycle has led to the current mish-mash of non-occupy related stuff dominating a lot of the timeline. I agree that it’s good access for OV friends, but with the new timeline format irrelevant posts dominate the page now more than ever and some are really bad for recruitment and don't rep OV at all. 

Mike C

> Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:04:01 -0700
> Subject: Re: [ocMedia] occupy venice facebook friend page
> From: hunter...@gmail.com
> To: occupyve...@googlegroups.com

[mike chamness]

Let me preface the post  I just sent re: this with a shout out to Robin for staying with the FB page stuff when her time has allowed. She's out of town and has been working on staying up on OV from a distance. Thx, RH.

Mike C

---

From: m_cha...@hotmail.com
To: occupyve...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [ocMedia] occupy venice facebook friend page
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:26:19 +0000

[Deborah Lashever]

Robin,

Whatever else is going on, you are awesome, you are doing great stuff, you are beautiful, you are more than enough, you are doing an AMAZING job, you have a sweet, beautiful, loving heart. No one thinks any differently. Personally, I miss you and I'm soooo glad you are headed back home. We need your beautiful energy and your heart!

 

As to the FB stuff it is purely for logistics. This decision IS NOT PERSONAL! It has nothing to do with people, personalities, nor not wanting people to promote their personal stuff, being controlling or anything else. I, for one, actually cannot find the Occupy stuff in the middle of everyone's self promotion on FB and I know I'm not the only one. I don't even go there anymore. I don't have time nor energy to sort through the morrass. It messy and chaotic because of the amount of info that is unrelated. Self promo is great but should not muddy up the WORK Occupy NEEDS to do to change this community, country, world.

 

On our FB, out of thousands of people only 118 are in or near Venice. How can that help us? We need to use the FB as a tool to get Occupy's word out locally and find people who will actually do work with us to change the community and the world.  It is essential. FB is a good tool for that. We need to use it for that purpose. Their are many other ways to promote personal projects and events. Many other FB pages.

 

Robin, sincerely, we want to work with EVERYONE. We want everyone to be happy and satisfied. Also, we cannot afford to lose sight of our purpose. Sometimes, unfortunately, those two things come into conflict. I have been dissappointed that all my ideas have not been loved by the group. But I move on. There is so much to do!We do the best we can to find good resolution for all....but that takes open and honest communication fom all parties involved.

 

I don't know who you emailed but they were obviously not at the GA. We posted the agenda. Everyone could have been here but some chose not to show up. At the GA, of 18 people, the consensus was unanimous, just so you know. Anyone could have come to voice their concerns, give input, disagree, etc...but they made a choice not to show up.

 

We need to look at priorities for the whole Movement. We cannot be shortsighted. We cannot lose sight of what we are doing here. We need to stand strong as a group. United we stand, divided we fall. That is the truth. We can work anything out but we need to come together and communicate to do so.

 

Maybe you could email others that do participate at the GAs, projects, actions, etc... to see what they think. They might have a handle on the whole picture to a greater extent than others that do not know what is currently going on in Occupy Venice because of non communication and non participation on their part. Look, truthfully, we are doing everything we can to include everyone in everything. Swear to God. When you come back to the GAs you will see for yourself.

 

Yes, please let it go.

There are many more important things to do. You are right. As you say so well:

"We need to grow.

We need to accept changes of shape and size.

We need to spread information."

 

Yes. Those are EXACTLY the reasons the GA came to consensus on this issue! We are in agreement.

 

I Love You Robin. I am so sorry if this hurts you personally in ANY way. It doesn't have to. It's not meant to. Travel safely. Can't wait to see you and hear about your magical adventures!!!

 

Brightest Blessings,

Deborah

 

--
stay amazed

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Deborah LaShever
BOHEMIAN EXCHANGE
1358 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
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310.396.3044
bohemian...@gmail.com

"Be the change you wish to see in the world.'  ---  Mahatma Gandhi
 
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"When injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes duty" --- Thomas Jefferson.

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To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.”  

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