Re NC, I'm not sure what talking it over at NC would achieve.
EC will need to give any proposal the go ahead. NC probably won't mind one way or the other frankly.
Stuart MacConnacher advises me it will be easier to set up if it is not
called a Strut as under LAA rules they should be geographic. As Stuart
did a lot of work on the rules he knows the issues. So instead of being
a strut we would be an affiliation. LAA already has affiliates like
Vintage Piper and the Pietenpol club. Like struts they sit on NC and get
LAA top up insurance for events.
One suggestion might be "BB WING". We at Bristol have renamed ourselves a wing anyway.
I'm happy to make the pitch to EC if we can get a short slot but we
will need to have thought it out properly AND we will have to show we
have a mandate from here. So far only 17 have voted, some of those
against. IMHO I think we need to see a lot more interest to proceed.
This is my recollection of the arguments to date, please augment:
Benefits
========
1. A lot of members live too far from a Strut to attend but want to
become involved more in LAA activities. The UKGA BB site has proven a BBW
could offer a feeling of belonging that to date the PFA/LAA BB hasn't
provided.
There is a large pool of aircraft on line making fly ins more likely to
happen and be well attended than those held by smaller Struts.
Conspiracies
===========
Some feel the BB is "controlled" by LAA. The BBW not LAA would run the BB
on a day to day basis. It would elect it's administrators and
moderators. This would kill the conspiracy theories. EC would permit the BBW to
display the LAA logo and be the official online LAA forum. In return it
would be responsible to EC for the way it is run and it's content.
Some extra thoughts:
Membership
==========
If EC were willing to allow the BB to be hosted on LAA webspace this
would make it easy to find by prospective members. It would also mean
there need be no BBW subscription. If they were unwilling to do so then a Strut might offer space to keep membership free or subsidise in some other way.
Wing membership would not be automatic. BB contributors would need to
opt in so wing correspondence could be aimed at them and posters who are
not interested won't be bothered by it.
BB Development
==============
The PFA BB was underdeveloped because it was just one task for HQ in a
long list. For example usergroups were unused and are unused here at the moment but they look useful both to show interest in a subject and to control access to forums. It woud appear forums can be public, private or hidden.
Here are some ideas around "usergroups":
LAA members could be allocated by default to a "LAA Member" usergroup name.
A BB usergroup called "BB wing member" could be set up.
Each geographic strut could be allocated it's own forum and usergroup
name. Each forum would be moderated by the strut itself. Who joins or whether it was open or private would be up to the strut and it's moderator.
Even EC could have their own forum to exploit the decision making
speed of the BB, reduce time at meetings and trips to Turweston. My guess is these usergroup members would elect for their forums to be private or even hidden. NC could get briefed and chew the fat in the days before making meetings snappier.
Non members could be welcomed back to the BB as a "BB guest" usergroup.
then everyone knows who is posting what. Read and write access to forums
can therefore be controlled based on who you are.
A "BB guest" could elect to join a usergroup called
"prospective member" this might allow then access to some extra forums.
We could have aircraft interest usergroups, eg: "Rag and stick" " Tin
bashers", "plastic fantastics", "flexwings", "Lycosaurs" or "oil burners"
So you could have a "wing member" who was interested in "rag and stick"
and "oil burners" who is a "NC rep" or a "BB guest" that was a
"prospective member" and part of "Bristol Strut".
This could evolve over time of course but I'm sure we have the skills and time to run it amongst us.
I hope this shows a little of how the BB could be exploited for what it is good at, fast communication between members.
Hope some other members vote above or i'm blowing smoke.
Steve