To all members of the Class. There is an official announcement on the class website:

Governing Council Letter

Can you please organise a bulk e-mail if this is highly important. I have no idea how to log in.

Brett,

you can sign up here: http://www.formula16.net/forum/register.php

Need to be a paid up member to get access to the members only forum, where this letter is. Open forum is there for everybody who signs up.

Why not just put everything on the public site? Surely it cant be that secret?

It's not that secret, but it gets the buzz going

I think we should have one of those letter every other weeks to keep people guessing on what's happening!

Let's start some rumors: maybe it is about minimum weight. Or maybe it is not.

It is not secret at all, just class business.

Pepin, I like your thinking

Yes, I saw this post by the F16sec when it had just been posted and there were not any replies yet.

My first thought was :"Ooopfh, this is a great way to start a rumour !"

Especially with the timing, so right after the GC 2009 and Robi's interviews.

I stayed silent and hoped it would blow over. Well that illusion lasted for about 48 minutes !



The real content of the announcement is most likely nothing special. I guess that it deals with the upcoming class meeting, but that it not the point.

The point is that one just can not tell a kid that you got a surprise for him hidden in the house somewhere but that he may not know what it is till his birthday next year.


What do you think will happen ?

He'll develop the greatest fantasies about what it could be and mess up the house looking for it.


I'm not the most respected person in the current Governing Council board, I know.

But honestly, after 4 years in office you guys really need to develop better media skills.


Basically, if you make an official announcement on a public forum then the content must be made public as well. Otherwise, use private channels ONLY to communicate with the class members.

Wouter

... and ohh denying afterwards that it isn't anything special doesn't really work.

Go and see the movie "Wag the Dog" if you want further details on that. Here is a paraphrased excerpt from that excellent movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/



(When the Press officier of the US administration tries to create a rumour during a press conference in order to divert attention away from the press's interests in the president's sexual escapades)


Press corp man John levy : "Why is the president detained on his visit to China ?

Press officer Conrad Brean: He has fallen ill and it's has most certainly NOTHING to do with the B-3 bomber.

John Levy: There is no B-3 bomber.

Conrad Brean: I just said that! There is no B-3 bomber. I don't know how these rumors get started!


Needless to say that the press corp then digs into the B-3 angle like a pack of starved wolves to a carcass.

Wouter

<rumor>Oh, That was a cunning plan. In order to see the letter, you need to be a member of the association. In fact in the letter there is only one single sentence "Thank you for your support". That is the best membership drive I've ever seen :)</rumor>

And a great way to create a "Cry wolf" syndrome for the future !

Wouter

Hey Wouter stop writing on the internet for about 30 minutes and think through what you are writing before firing off about 10 messages of verbal rubbish.

You could be a very respected member of the F16 community if you stuck to the engineering aspect of F16's, try political talk and you make yourself look like a prat.

Take a hint and limit yourself to one entry a day on the thread and only enter it after giving yourself at least one hour of reflection of wether the reply is pertinent.

Also empty your PM tray, it would be nice to be able to converse directly.

Huh ?

Interesting viewpoint.

One could also argue that my swing at politics actually created the F16 class in the first place. Grew it over the following 5 years, saw 4 builders added and made it into a viable concept.

Maybe we should actually have more of that ?

Wouter

So what you are saying is, the F16s success today is because of all your work alone?

Wouter, that last reply was just so typical of some one not thinking things through and instead just writing down the first impulse that comes into their head.

True engineers find it hard to write down in a social / political manner, we tend to think things in whether it is simply correct or incorrect. Unfortunately to most people that comes across as being blunt and impolite.

If you are going to try and play the social / political banter bit then you are going to have to sharpen those skills, part of that is to think things in the long term plan, rather than just whether it correct or not.

We all would think a lot more of you if you could at least attempt a bit of communications skill sharpening.

No, I have always given lots of credit to the contributions of persons like Phill Brander, Kirt Simmons, John Pierce, Matt McDonald, Gregg Goodall and my old granny.

Especially Phill, John and Matt have been instrumental.

Other then that I think I have made an incredibally sizeable contribution myself in the first five years. Possibly the largest single contribution of all people named above. There is no point is lying about that.

Wouter

And what makes you think I didn't ?

You may not see the bigger game plan, but that doesn't mean that there isn't one.

Wouter

Sadly Wouter you don't actually get the fact that a lot of your statements are ill timed and could be far more effectual at getting your long term plan into action, by just staying quiet for a few days.

Take for example the fact that you have just returned from a long absince from this forum, from other commitments and also I suspect that even you had become aware that your comments were deemed to be controversial and hostile even if they actually weren't.

Now most good politicians with any sort of nous would have returned back to the their favourite PR mouth piece with a very slow and easy entry, timed over many months of carefully scripted and thoughtfully timed interventions. Now you on the other hand have hit this forum running, making comment after comment after comment over a very short space of time.

Just by the way there are already a number of posters with hackles up and claws out would suggest that you are right back already ( in popularity terms that is ) where you left the forum last year.

Wouter I can't say it any more bluntly than to say carry on as you are and all that you try and do will be taken in completely the wrong way than you intended. What a waste of a founders of the F16's endeavours and vast experiance.