Jen joins the ranks of those who've resurrected old tags in honor of Hunter S. Thompson.

That's actually true. A phrase to live by is "Praise in public, criticize in private." If somebody's done something miraculously good, tell the whole group. If she's messed up, tell her and only her.

Yes, but A) I didn't see myself as criticizing, and I certainly wasn't criticizing a specific person, because I had no idea who'd made the initial error and B) I thought I was doing the right thing in the right place. I mean, these things happen. I think I've got as good eye for proofreading as anyone I've met, and I still had errors in the newsletter I used to edit. It's not a big deal because no one is immune. And if an error about an upcoming event--wrong date, wrong time, wrong place, whatever--makes it to print/web, IMO it needs to be pointed out publicly. Not to embarrass the person who goofed, but so anyone who'd already written down the wrong information on their calendar will have the chance to see the information.

I still think the wiser thing to do is say "Hey, Frieda, I know it's easy to make a typo, but I think you've given the instructions to the wrong church." At which point Frieda, having been given a convenient exit, says "Yipes, I'm so sorry!" and reposts a corrected announcement.

And if an error about an upcoming event--wrong date, wrong time, wrong place, whatever--makes it to print/web, IMO it needs to be pointed out publicly. Not to embarrass the person who goofed, but so anyone who'd already written down the wrong information on their calendar will have the chance to see the information.

What was the timeline on this thing? Cause I understand your point. Was there a chance filtering the change through Frieda would have caused people not to get the correction in time?

Edited to add a big, sloppy kiss for Hec.

Best ETA evah!

Oh, yeah! "That's okay...I, uh, won a contest." Ha! Aw, my digits rate the Hecliment.(Now I know they are beautiful.)

Well, the thing is, before this happened I didn't even know who the webmistress was. I mean, I'd probably heard her name mentioned at the January meeting as part of the new and continuing leadership team thing, but that's not the kind of detail I have a head for--that part of my brain seems to be reserved for copious amounts of historical data, song lyrics ranging from Baptist hymns to 80's pop hits, and, apparently, names and locations of churches within a five-mile radius of my house regardless of whether I've ever darkened their doors. And I honestly thought I was bringing it up in the right place. No one had ever told me what the protocol was, and it really didn't occur to me that it was the kind of thing anyone would take personally. Maybe I should've thought it through more, but even then I'd have had to ask on the list who I should contact if there was a problem with the website, so I still would've had to publicly mention the existence of a problem!

I know I'm being defensive about this. It's just that I didn't have even the tiniest trace of a bad intention, and it really would've been embarrassing for the group if no one caught the error in time. Also, frankly, every other time I've made a catch of this nature, I've been lauded for it, so the sting is a bit worse for coming when I was expecting a chorus of huzzahs.

What was the timeline on this thing? Cause I understand your point. Was there a chance filtering the change through Frieda would have caused people not to get the correction in time?

The meeting is a week from tomorrow. Which probably is still a ways away in Normal People World, but not to a control freak like me. And I was mainly worried about visitors, who wouldn't be on the yahoo group yet and would only have access to the website--I felt like the sooner the correction was made, the lower the odds that someone might look up the info, write it down on their calendar, assume it was OK, and show up at the wrong spot.

Susan, it may be that the board memebers were busy putting out fires and calming ruffled feathers with the webmistress that they it may not have occured to them that you'd feel slighted.

Susan, it may be that the board memebers were busy putting out fires and calming ruffled feathers with the webmistress that they it may not have occured to them that you'd feel slighted.

That's probably true. And I'm just flummoxed by the whole thing. I don't claim to be especially tactful and sensitive, but I'm not used to causing problems when I thought I was solving them, either.

And it is a useful reminder of how my individualistic and control freak tendencies get me in trouble when I try to play well with others. It's rarely this bad, but I've occasionally stepped on toes by just going ahead and doing something and then finding out that someone else expected to be part of the process or had information that could've helped me do a better job. In this case, since I couldn't actually fix the problem myself, that part of my personality expressed itself in the online version of jumping up and down, pointing, and yelling, "Fix it! Fix it NOW!"