As I predicted, Jack is posting to his own thread to keep it on the front page of HG.org. Otherwise he's got it locked so that no critical-of-him posts can be added. Yet he's got no compulsion against unlocking it so he can post to it so as to keep it "artificially" visible.
Oh, and his message early this morning involves more gloating over how nobody has the nerve to send him a negative PM about his attack thread. Is that very surprising after he (yesterday) laid down the following edict:
Jack Axaopoulos wrote:. . . If anyone has an issue with this, just walk out the door. Dont threaten it, dont announce it, just walk out. Any such political nonsense will be deleted. Just leave instead. . .
[ from:http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=19144 ]
Odd how Jack Axaopoulos (SG) has a HG.org web site rule against personal attacks, but then violates it with this kind of behavior. "Hypocrite" comes to mind as well as "two faced". It's also an example of a "leader" who has one rule for those he lords over and another rule for himself - that further qualifies this as an example of a double standard, no?
This is a very sad situation. But Jack brought it all down upon himself. He needed to control how the HGAA was being formed, didn't like what he was seeing and created an excuse to seize control.
With a good deal of (misplaced?) loyalty and "benefit of the doubt" thinking on the part of Jack's closest supporters, they helped him justify an obvious coup d'état . In this coup, Jack, as simply one member of a 16 member Transition Team took sole control of the HGAA web site under the (delusional?) excuse that those same 16 people were, on their own, incapable of electing a new Chairman - after I had resigned in response to Jack's harassing and irrational attack behavior.
Well, If Jack doesn't recognize his character flaws then he's likely to have continued problems in the future. If he does already recognize them, then people associated with him should beware. He's a manipulator.
I'd like to add that, while HGAA was and is a good idea, the basic concept was to create an organization that respected its members.
The idea was not to create an organization that, within one month of gaining some momentum, would be taken over by one person (Jack Axaopoulos) who immediately acted to undermine the most critical founding ideals of that organization. It may be a convincing story that Jack is telling about how the HGAA needed a firmer hand to move it forward, but that "firmer hand" has successfully beaten the life out of the HGAA.
Most importantly, as approached, the idea of creating a new organization solely by way of internet interaction was and is a disaster. It was not done well and was rushed way too fast. The web site, as things began, was in no way designed (by Jack Axaopoulos) to be practical for the purpose. It was a Forum chat site - not a place to do efficient business. I now believe that the ability to hold real-time meetings is critical and it was and still is lacking.
Just prior to resigning my Chairmanship I proposed a possible solution, but as I wrote that proposal announcement Jack Axaopoulos was busy creating an unauthorized (by the Transition Team) informal poll (not an authorized formal vote by any measure) to oust me as Chairman. He had begun a personally motivated revolt over me firing my Vice Chairman (Jack's friend, John Borton [aka JB]) - who I had been urged to pick for myself so that we would be more likely to work well together. The reverse logic being that if we didn't work well together - I could fire him.
The record will show that I originally suggested to the Transition Team that the whole group elect a Co-Chairman, but I was convinced by the input of other TT members that the position should not have equal status as the Chairman's position and that I should
appoint the person - that they
not be elected. It was, therefore, unmistakable that since I could appoint my Vice Chairman, then I could un-appoint him.
However, Jack Axaopoulos could not follow such simple logic and insisted that I was abusing my power for firing JB - that I should have held an election to see if the Transition Team wanted JB gone. Well, that's loony talk. John Burton's position was not an elected position - therefore it did not require a vote to relieve him of that position. Jack's LOUD protestations (the beginning of his mutiny) to the contrary can't change that FACT.
Still, that was the basis for Jack Axaopoulos' move to take over HGAA. It makes no sense unless you factor in John Borton and Jack Axaopoulos' goal to install a organizational voting system that they knew could be manipulated toward their best interests. In fact, by Jack's own definitions, it HAS been used in an abusive and corrupt manner by him and his supporters - to achieve their goals. This was done, most notably, during the votes to ban Bob and I from the HGAA forum.
HGAA Transition Team and Founding members have seen all this going on, and between not being fooled by Jack Axaopoulos' intentionally misleading rhetoric and the general chaos and confusion caused by Jack's actions, a majority of them have walked away from the this version of a new national hang gliding organization. They have walked away, not because of what Bob or I have said or done, but because they don't want to be part of what is now, effectively, the SGAA.
If someone disagrees with this claim, then please think a bit on how things would have gone if Jack A. had chosen a respectful course, not started his little revolt (based on a false premise) and the whole Transition Team had had the ability to give some thought to my suggestions as announced the day after I relieved JB of his Vice Chairmanship.
If you don't know or don't recall, that announcement involved a suggestion that a smaller (6 member?) "Leadership Team" be elected and that they meet regularly by way of some form of internet teleconferencing mechanism - where they would meet and speak "face to face"
and respectfully, with each other and work together to find real solutions towards creating a new national hang gliding association.
What future does the HGAA have? Well, Jack Axaopoulos rejected Ryan Voight's attempt, 2 months ago, to mend fences by refusing to apologies for his take over of the HGAA web site. Much more recently he's refused Dennis D's attempt to begin a healing process where BobK (and I) are allowed to return to HG.org. What is this inability to admit mistakes? Perhaps it's an inability to
recognize mistakes. If that's the case, then the SGAA is doomed to failure.
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