Emergency Meeting Minutes: 2009-06-10

Venue: The Usual Spot

Present: Agatha, 4th Dwarf, Coyote, Woodsy, Independent Observer

Absent apparently w/o Regrets: Chair, Conch Shell

Brief discussion of who will take minutes. 4D grudgingly accepts duty even though he did it last time and Aggie uses a sarcastic tone when saying he always does a good job of the minutes.

1. Wither the Blog

A: We need a project.

C: Yeah, we're like the Blahhg

W: I find it works best when we're random

C: We had a purpose when we started.

W: Get over it.

A: We need a new mission and vision.

W: I don't want to be pigeon-holed "that's what we do"....The Bank Street Irr... what were they? Irrelevants? (yes) they saw us as adventurers.

A: We need to go out and get in trouble again.

W: We're supposed to be metabloggers.

C: What about Kady O'Malley or some other high-profile person?

A: Make it our mission to find a new blogger? What about getting her to an emergency meeting? We could try to get a high-profile person to:

• notice our blog
• read our blog
• comment on our blog

IO arrives, 4D reads out what has gone before.

W: We could post simplified postings of the high profile blogger's postings.

IO: Aren't we patronising enough already?

A: What is our forté?

IO: Random observations on Ottawa life...

Someone recalls that we had decided to do more field trips at a previous emergency meeting. Several venues that purvey alcoholic beverages are proposed. Members begin tossing out ideas:

A: Stalking

W: Random art - like those balloons

C: or El Maks

4D: Aggie, could you elaborate on "stalking"?

A: It's something we used to do a lot of...

C: Fieldwork.

4D: I used to do fieldwork.

C: Yeah. Like the first time you got hung out to dry.

[4D gets all wistful and there is a brief conversation about when exactly the dwarf was first hung out to dry.]

4D: You know a fieldwork posting that I wish we had done? When Zoom went to the open house in the building the mayor lives in.

The possibility of blogging unsubstantiated and unreported rumours about marital discord in the life of a prominent politician is raised.

4D: Suppose let's say one of us blogged this, let's say it was our old friend 6th Apostle, our 30 readers might be entertained. Then a month later, the wife files for divorce. Suddenly it's a big story. And someone notices that 6th Apostle had the scoop. Do you think there might be a lot of attention focussed on exactly who that blogger is? Would you want that attention, Coyote?

W: I want attention, but I want healthy attention. [Woodsy relates another blogger's experience of RCMP IP addresses showing up in her blog's statistics.]

A: We don't want the police after us.

4D: Should we run a story that main-stream media won't?

IO: The blog is not authoritative. It's just a bunch of people seeing things. It doesn't claim to be news.

W: Like when People Magazine has a psychiatrist talk about a celebrity and they say "this therapist is not treating"

IO: People Magazine is up here [he puts his hand up as high as it can go]. We're down here [he holds his hand about a foot above the floor.]

4D: So we should speculate on just what Harper was doing in that bathroom in Normandy?

IO: Exactly.

2. The Chair and Conch Shell

A: What shall we do about them?

W: We tried... We had the schedule.

A: Stroke their egos?

Not to provide a solution, but to provide a context for any possible solution, 4D pontificates on the complex psychology involving perfectionism and peer influence that works to prevent the Chair and Conch Shell from posting.

The possibility of tricking them into attending an emergency meeting is discussed along with other methods to bring about their attendance.

IO: You can shame someone to a meeting, but you can't make them blog.

W: Conchie is very busy.

A: We're all busy.

W: I would love regular summaries on celebrities from Conch Shell.

A: Do we want them back?

W: Yes. I like their stuff.

C: It helps to have a couple more view points.

4D writes "F--- them. I'm bitter" in his notebook and shows the others.

IO: Maybe we should metablog them.

A: How would we metablog them when they don't blog.

IO: Stalk them. We might scare them into blogging.

W: Now, now, nothing mean. Be nice.

IO: It can't be all carrot; there has to be stick.

3. Colours

Woodsy reminds us of the reason she called the meeting and asks for our colour choices.

IO: Blue

A: Speckled purple

C: tan and grey

4D: red and white just like my swim suit

4. Lunch with Woodsy

Woodsy mentions she will be having lunch with a prominent local blogger soon. 4D suggests she could blog it and make it a regular feature: Lunch with Woodsy. All agree that this would be excellent.

W: I could even have lunch with each of you and blog it.

4D: Be careful. You don't want to create an expectation that is unfulfilled. Like if someone said they were going to write profiles on all of us and then only did one.

W: Why? Did somebody do that? [4D, IO and C point at Aggie.]

A: I could still do that.

5. What About Bob?

It is noted that we are still waiting for Bob to decide what prize he wants because he asked for something that he already had. We decide to update the contest winners in the sidebar.

6. Back to the Chair and Conch Shell

A: What do we like that the Chair does?

• Love his graphs
• his Web cams
• He's the number-crunching guy
• He's come up with entire theories
• Political analysis
• Especially during elections
• He's the expert on fringe parties

A: And Conch Shell?

• Finger on pulse of pop culture
• Au courant
• Great at justifications for other people's bad behaviour
• Excellent advice

7. Merchandise

Aggie suggests we need merchandise. 4D points out that he sold 3 shirts.

Aggie looks at her watch and announces she needs to leave.

Meeting adjourned.