There's always one. Sometimes two. I have criticized overly zealous HOAs in the past and am about to do so again. Frankly, I must assent to them being a necessary evil for all the obvious reasons to which even the most rigid HOA-hater will concede.
However, they remind me of youth sporting activities. There's always that one overly vocal parent - usually a mom - wailing that the wild pitch was intentional. That they tried to hurt "Lil Chauncey." Then, when Chauncey actually does get hurt, as sometimes happens in sports, set the house on fire - it's easier to deal with - because now the moose is loose on the field.
And so it is with a community forum in which I participate. If anyone from there reads this, I suspect they'll know with relative precision of what I speak. But I've found it to be a rather ubiquitous truth. Those with ample idle time to devote to their middle class HOA are also the worst at actually managing it with professionalism, class, and tact. Instead, it's a bash them (the peasants, er, I mean constituents) over the head with a 2x4 till they comply or give up approach.
Recently, a specific development's website message forum was disabled. No real loss as it was mostly a place for the board members to lambaste anyone with whom they disagreed. In fact, it was downright abusive and bordered on slanderous. I'm really surprised it didn't result in more than a few cease and desist letters. Nevertheless, it was brought back up some time later with only the sitting board members as long-standing members. All the rest of the peasants had to re-register and were mandated to provide their street name and use their first or last name in their screen-name. This forum is paid for by the community, so really, if I wanted to be MainStreetHeckler, then it should be my prerogative. Screen names provide enough anonymity to protect you from all but the most obsessive and insane. Given the tactics employed by the ruling party, screen names seem even more prudent if you don't want to be harassed about a crack weed in your driveway. Now, perish the thought, but a few people asked a few legitimate questions after the relaunch.
The questions were met with even more vitriol than before resulting in the forum being shut down, presumably forever. Well, thank Allah/Buddha/and Macy's. Good riddance.
Sadly, the ending isn't so happy. No, the vipers found a larger community forum on which to spew their toxin. And as before, not one word of good, helpful, or kind information was provided. Fortunately, many of those on the larger forum are savvy enough to see a snake in the brush. The newbies are itty bitty fish in a big pond without the clout or credibility they once thought they had. And as is their practice, they think everything is about them. They probably have one Carly Simon song constantly running through their narrow minds.
Stranger still, they try to use private messaging to seduce others into their lair. Fortunately, I don't see that it's working. It only took one person three posts to be seen for who they are. The other one is only a post or two behind. No doubt, others will join. Hopefully, they won't spoil the whole as they did before.
As I mentioned earlier, there's always one . . . and it is loose on the field. If you know anything about moose, they're big, but not too bright. Eventually, size won't be enough and the dim wits will be outwitted.
However, they remind me of youth sporting activities. There's always that one overly vocal parent - usually a mom - wailing that the wild pitch was intentional. That they tried to hurt "Lil Chauncey." Then, when Chauncey actually does get hurt, as sometimes happens in sports, set the house on fire - it's easier to deal with - because now the moose is loose on the field.
And so it is with a community forum in which I participate. If anyone from there reads this, I suspect they'll know with relative precision of what I speak. But I've found it to be a rather ubiquitous truth. Those with ample idle time to devote to their middle class HOA are also the worst at actually managing it with professionalism, class, and tact. Instead, it's a bash them (the peasants, er, I mean constituents) over the head with a 2x4 till they comply or give up approach.
Recently, a specific development's website message forum was disabled. No real loss as it was mostly a place for the board members to lambaste anyone with whom they disagreed. In fact, it was downright abusive and bordered on slanderous. I'm really surprised it didn't result in more than a few cease and desist letters. Nevertheless, it was brought back up some time later with only the sitting board members as long-standing members. All the rest of the peasants had to re-register and were mandated to provide their street name and use their first or last name in their screen-name. This forum is paid for by the community, so really, if I wanted to be MainStreetHeckler, then it should be my prerogative. Screen names provide enough anonymity to protect you from all but the most obsessive and insane. Given the tactics employed by the ruling party, screen names seem even more prudent if you don't want to be harassed about a crack weed in your driveway. Now, perish the thought, but a few people asked a few legitimate questions after the relaunch.
The questions were met with even more vitriol than before resulting in the forum being shut down, presumably forever. Well, thank Allah/Buddha/and Macy's. Good riddance.
Sadly, the ending isn't so happy. No, the vipers found a larger community forum on which to spew their toxin. And as before, not one word of good, helpful, or kind information was provided. Fortunately, many of those on the larger forum are savvy enough to see a snake in the brush. The newbies are itty bitty fish in a big pond without the clout or credibility they once thought they had. And as is their practice, they think everything is about them. They probably have one Carly Simon song constantly running through their narrow minds.
Stranger still, they try to use private messaging to seduce others into their lair. Fortunately, I don't see that it's working. It only took one person three posts to be seen for who they are. The other one is only a post or two behind. No doubt, others will join. Hopefully, they won't spoil the whole as they did before.
As I mentioned earlier, there's always one . . . and it is loose on the field. If you know anything about moose, they're big, but not too bright. Eventually, size won't be enough and the dim wits will be outwitted.
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