An Open Letter to the AEC and Site

I served for fifteen months on the AEC donating my time and effort for the betterment of the site. Sometimes it was extremely rewarding and other times sad and still others were maddening.

All that have served on the AEC know what I am talking about. You have to remain neutral and keep the best interests of the site as a whole in mind, along with adhering to the guidelines. Sometimes there are complaints that you have to investigate and determine if it is valid or invalid. At times the decisions are easy to make and other times it is agonizingly difficult. You have to sit back and put all personal feelings aside, look at facts, discuss with the other members, look at different solutions and then vote on the action to be taken.

Many times you wish you did not have to take certain actions, but you have to for the overall good of the site. You investigate, you look at solutions, try to find a way to resolve it with the least amount of damage, yet still knowing that you will end up with people angry at you no matter which way you go. You can't falter though, you must keep the best interest of the site in the forefront.

The people that serve, do so by donating their own time and effort without reccompense. They do so out of love for the site and the democratic way in which it is run. This site is unique in that way and has made me proud to be part of it. I suppose you could liken this to a democratic republic. The AEC is elected by the members to represent the people on the site. Along with that comes the responsibility to do the best you can for the site as a whole.

Over my fifteen months I was priveledged to be part of it. I have seen many changes. I have watched the membership explode from around 400 people when I first came here to thousands at this time. The last six months I served were as chair and with that position comes even more responsibility. Not only do you help coordinate AEC projects, keep things focused, but you have the responsibility to give out both good news and bad news. The chair is the one that gets to send both good and bad letters to people most of the time. This can be very wearing on a person as previous chairs can attest.

It has been very rewarding to serve most of the time, but I am glad to be taking a rest from it and away from the responsibility. Many of you have no clue as to what is done there and part of that reason is a respect for the privacy of a person. These people take their responsibility seriously and in the months I served I never saw a snap decision that was not fully weighed, investigated and, at times, agonized over.  I have the utmost respect for those who have served before and those who are still serving. I also have great respect for the new members who are serving for their first time and wish them the best of luck. It is a thankless job most of the time, but offers the reward of knowing that you are doing the best you can.  Serve well and know that I thank you.

Respectfully,
Rett