From: jcooley@miracle.com (John Cooley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.mensa
Subject: Re: Membership Renewal ??
Date: 12 Jan 93 16:25:05 GMT
Article-I.D.: miracle.12Jan93122505
Organization: Miracle Computer Consultants

shapiro@cfsctc.enet.dec.com (Steve Shapiro) writes:

>The biggest issue I had was with the way current members treated new members.
>In most Mensa groups I notice that people tend to be very clique-ish. Buddies,
>pals, etc. tend to congregate in groups and keep to themselves. When new
>members attend, they pretty much wander around aimlessly hoping to find a spot
>to fit into a conversation, game, etc.
>
>Now, wouldn't it be nice if these new members were identified and embraced by
>the current members. Introduced around. Made to feel welcome. Invited to
>participate. Etc. I used to host a weekly evening event and made a point of
>greeting every attendee and when I met someone who I did not know, get to know
>them, introduce them around, etc.


I know I'm etting things up for some sort of horrible anecdote that shows
that I'm terribly wrong, but I'll say my bit anyway.  (Just call me stupid.
I guess that's why I'm LocSec.  No one else dumb enough qualified to fill the
position.)

In general, I've seen people feel quite welcomed at the Mensa events I've
attended.  This is not to say there's never been any cliques, hostile event
hosts and other such nightmares; it's just that these things aren't the norm.

A lot of how an event is run is on the discretion of THE HOST of the event.  There's no easy way to enforce some bizzare rules upon how THE HOST will run his or her event.  Should we create the Membership Police to keep an eye on event host behavior?  What would their powers be?

To get back to my point, Mensa events aren't the nightmare for new members that you're making out to be.  I've seen quite a few new and perspective members at lots of Boston Mensa events and for the most part, once these people come to their first couple of events they usually become regulars.  The problem comes when the new member comes only to one event and it wasn't what they were looking for and they don't try again.  These people are tough to catch.  But, if they go to about 3 events, they'll usually 


find the subgroup of Mensans they like and become one of the dreaded "insiders".  (By the way, these group dynamics aren't exclusive to Boston Mensa or Mensa in general - virtually all volunteer social groups function this way with new members.)

Anyway, Steve, your points are well taken and I agree with them 70%.  You've got to keep in mind that Mensans are basically very much into being individuals; they're not of any one mind set on any topic.  It's a lot like asking people on various newsgroups to be nice to each other and to welcome new contributors reguardless of whether you agree with them or not.  People just don't do that
naturally.  Instead they tend to welcome people they're compatable with and tend
to ignore those they're not compatable with.  Mensa's no different than any other social organization in this respect.

Bring on the FLAMES!

                                                - John Cooley
                                                  LocSec, Boston Mensa


 ==========================================================================
       John Cooley              Zappa as a waste management engineer: 
                                  "Hey, there, Brother!  Whatcha
    jcooley@miracle.com            doing with that Cosmic Debris?"