Why the merger

[Ranma Tardis]

I am asking in this forum why there is a need for the merger? If I wanted to be a citizen of the CDS would be a citizen. I have issues with the CDS and do not wish to be a part of it. The petty arguments over petty money are bothersome. The personnel attacks from people like Tor are wrong. Our founders are 5 years gone, why do we have to blame them for all of the wrongs of the current CDS? I am still a member of Port Neualtenberg and its guild. I have thought of making a phase IV of the Neualtenberg projekt. The ideal would be to have a government balanced by the 3 branches of government. Democracy is nice but populism has subverted the government in the CDS and the RA has become all powerful. In America the powers of Congress are checked by the Executive and Judicial Branches. Our Constitution is the backbone of the government and is very hard to change. I have to thank the CDS since it shows me the wisdom of our founding fathers.
I tried to support the merger but as time went on and the atmosphere in this forum has become too toxic. I like Pats ideal of our two groups existing side by side doing things tougher. In this fashion we can interact as equals.
I suppose if the merger goes through and the CDS gets AA, we can move out as a group to a new set of sims. I can buy a pair of them and fund it out of my funds if required. If the CDS wants to grow they should buy new sims and grow. There is no reason to take over AA and turn it into your ideal of government. You are going to destroy the very reason for AA. AA is suppose to be an experiment in improving relations and not get involved in petty politics.
I digress, please tell me why it is so important for the merger to go through? I can not see it. Will my friends in the CDS please explain it to me.

[Cindy Ecksol]

I digress, please tell me why it is so important for the merger to go through? I can not see it. Will my friends in the CDS please explain it to me.

As a member of both communities, I see tremendous value in both. The CDS community has things to learn from the AA community. The AA community has things to learn from CDS. But there really is no major conflict. Individuals on both sides have been finding molehills to turn into mountains while ignoring the incredible landscape that already exists to be explored.

Personally I think CDS has more to lose if the merger fails than AA does. AA has an incredible richness of creativity that if focused on, say, continued development of the GMP, could produce fabulous results. That same creative spirit has a way of forming community that CDS alone struggles with in fits and starts.

Both communities, in my opinion, have one key problem: from an administrative point of view each of them is ultimately dependent on a single person. This merger has the potential to allow us all to address that problem and resolve it in a way that would go far towards ensuring long-term survival (and thriving) of both communities.

Cindy

[Arria Perreault]

It's a good question, Ramna. I have tried to get an answer for this question too. Sharing experiences can happen between two close communities without a merger. I consider also that CDS has already learned from AA and the merger. Maybe we can learn a bit more, but we are together since almost one year now. And there are creative people on both sides ....
Today I think that the main reason is financial. I am not suspecting that AA will spend the whole CDS reserve in events and parties. The way AA pays its fees to LL is the main reason: AA needs someone to play the bank to pay its fees (733 US$ x 6 months = 4398 US $). Then the treasurer has 6 months to get the fees back from AA citizen. If AA is not in CDS anymore, an individual will have to play this role and to take this risk.
This my opinion of course. This financial issue seems to me to be the more logical reason. And I really think that a community should take this risk, not a person. I don't know if AA citizen are aware of this situation and if they see how they can solve this issue without the help of CDS.
I have a problem with the concept of using a non-profit, but I can live with the idea CDS plays the bank, if the whole CDS community and its different branches can act in AA, especially in re-development of parcels. I know we have to preserve the theme (like for the other sims) and we have to let the fees as they are for one year (I ignore when this year starts: date of the merger or date of the confirmation of the merger).

[solomon mosely]

i know some (many?) will disagree with me, and many have already stated the more prominent reasons for unification which i support, so i would like to add some things i've already said before, but i feel are important, on a personal level. so, i'll add em here too.

1) i don't claim to know exactly why cds was formed, i've heard it was an experiment of democracy in a virtual world. this unification couldn't be a cooler and more perfect addition to that experiment. and especially given the the religious and political issues in real life these days. i love that i live in a community where i see notices about islamic and orthodox christian services. not that i go, i'm a bit of an agnostic, but still. most of SL is divided up into little "ghettos" of separate cultures.

2) why not? why cds? why aa? why paint? we all chose to be a part of engaging, evolving communities. none of us moved to some rented estate parcel (not that some dont have that too) to live in isolation. did we expect to have such heated "debates" and turmoil? prolly not, but we chose something interesting and unique, lets make it uniquer.

3) if cds wants to experiment with others in the future, as i've seen elsewhere, why not have a good track record of it? i'd love to keep this going. maybe we even get into a merger where we choose to adopt someone else's, better model of democracy. (can i say that out loud?). why would any other group want to merge with us, when we failed to make it work before?

4) i'm excited to have a larger community to engage with, and so far, i'm really happy with the people from AA that i've met. i think they're a great bunch of people. and their use of consensus decision making is cool. i volunteer with a food coop in olympia, wa for a while, and they have operated for years with a consensus model, very profitably, and had a really well run store. i spent years as a manager in coops, and never saw meetings go as smoothly as those did. i think we (as a LA resident) could learn a lot from how they make decisions, without feeling that it threatens democracy, which i also really like, for the record.

5) i like spending money, and cds has times when we literally have more money than we know what to do with. i am a huge fan of developing more sims between the territories and evolving our CDS GMP to express more AA vision. i want to spend money on the programs in aa. i want to spend money on keeping aa flush and able to expand it's programs. i want to spend money on combined cds and aa programs.

6) i like making money. i think that aa has a lot of untapped potential, as does cds. i want to have the opportunity to develop new income streams from aa. i think its a great challenge to develop programs that actually generate funds.

and thats good for now. just my personal 2 cents.

[Ranma Tardis]

It's a good question, Ramna. I have tried to get an answer for this question too. Sharing experiences can happen between two close communities without a merger. I consider also that CDS has already learned from AA and the merger. Maybe we can learn a bit more, but we are together since almost one year now. And there are creative people on both sides ....
Today I think that the main reason is financial. I am not suspecting that AA will spend the whole CDS reserve in events and parties. The way AA pays its fees to LL is the main reason: AA needs someone to play the bank to pay its fees (733 US$ x 6 months = 4398 US $). Then the treasurer has 6 months to get the fees back from AA citizen. If AA is not in CDS anymore, an individual will have to play this role and to take this risk.
This my opinion of course. This financial issue seems to me to be the more logical reason. And I really think that a community should take this risk, not a person. I don't know if AA citizen are aware of this situation and if they see how they can solve this issue without the help of CDS.
I have a problem with the concept of using a non-profit, but I can live with the idea CDS plays the bank, if the whole CDS community and its different branches can act in AA, especially in re-development of parcels. I know we have to preserve the theme (like for the other sims) and we have to let the fees as they are for one year (I ignore when this year starts: date of the merger or date of the confirmation of the merger).

You tell me the entire problem is about money? Such a small amount of money. I really wonder who is behind the avatars in times like this. Well I have to go to the Office and my government position.
There has to be another way and there is no need for the groups to merge. Being next to each other being separate is good enough. About spending too much on parties, the CDS would be just another empty group of sims without them.

[Arria Perreault]

Is 4398 US $ a small amount of money?

[Ranma Tardis]

Is 4398 US $ a small amount of money?

It is not a lot of money for a community of 100.

[Arria Perreault]

Maybe... The problem is not the amount but the fact that this entire amount of money has to be paid in one time to LL every six months. Someone has to take it from his/her pocket. AA would need to create a reserve with this amount, pay with this reserve and then get the money back from the fees paid by citizen. A real independance for AA would start with the creation of this reserve.

[Ranma Tardis]

Maybe... The problem is not the amount but the fact that this entire amount of money has to be paid in one time to LL every six months. Someone has to take it from his/her pocket. AA would need to create a reserve with this amount, pay with this reserve and then get the money back from the fees paid by citizen. A real independance for AA would start with the creation of this reserve.

Sighs, it is strange to me this is not done. So the CDS puts up the money and in return for it wants a say in how the AA sims are operated? Shanks head sadly, all of this hate and discontent over such a small matter. We need to tone down the discussion, remember if the union holds we are going to have and live with each other afterword. Yes I can hear the talk, Ranma the bomb thrower talking about being polite. Well we can all start from this moment onward. No matter what happens we need to respect each other. Perhaps a debate is in order with both sides presenting their cases might be in order?

Can't we all get along?

[Soro Dagostino]

I keep wondering through all this trashing of AA why the loudest complaints come from folk who have no stake, no ownership, membership or vote. I suggest they have an agenda to destroy CDS and what it can be.

[Ranma Tardis]

I keep wondering through all this trashing of AA why the loudest complaints come from folk who have no stake, no ownership, membership or vote. I suggest they have an agenda to destroy CDS and what it can be.

Who is trying to destroy the CDS, AA or both and why? What will "they" gain by doing so? In Okinawa we have a saying "a barking dog never bites". Do you believe the discussion is destructive? I have found it interesting though confusing at times. Are you saying it is "outsiders" alone causing all of the trouble? Please tell me more.

[Arias Ahren]

Sorro: It is hard for me to see what brings you to the conclusion that people are trying to destroy CDS. Perhaps I am naive; I have been accused of being stupid, a traitor, not knowing what I am doing, bitching, and a few other niceties, all by the AA folk or those aligned with AA, by the way.

BUT, in reading these posts for the last couple of months I have not seen anyone trying to destroy AA or CDS. I do see people making absurd unfounded claims, but for the most part I see a group of good people struggling to make some sense of it all and attempting to help these communities thrive.