[TheForge] ABANA Dilema

wmullett at bright.net wmullett at bright.net
Tue Oct 23 15:09:59 EDT 2007 

Phil,

Sorry if you took my post personally, I certainly didn't mean to attack any one specifically.  I was responding to Ries and and I regret that your name was not edited from my post. 

ABANA represents our interests in many ways a few of which are:

First, it is a recognizable group on the national level and I am sure they have often been the first point of contact for anyone seeking information about blacksmithing.

Second and probably most important, they have provided all of us a forum by which we share knowledge and resources.  Their publications and this site are examples of that.

In addition, ABANA has helped all of us by raising a national awareness of our craft.

ABANA also is becoming our national librarian of published information.

And finally, ABANA raises the level of all of our work by showing us what others are doing through their publications and conventions.

I'm glad you too have been a contributor to ABANA and I hope you continue.  There is nothing wrong with trying to make ABANA better.  Valid criticism is healthy and necessary but I have found that those who contribute the least are usually the loudest. 
---------  
 
From: Phil <mobjak at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Oct 23, 1:58 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: Re: [TheForge] ABANA Dilema

Walter:

As I said earlier, I've only been an ABANA member for
26 years, and I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed,
but you said:

"As a national organization, representing the
interests of professionals and amateurs equally,...". 
How does ABANA represent our interests?

Before anyone berates me for not contributing to
ABANA, I think I've written three articles for the
Anvil's Ring, and 4-5 articles for the Hammer's Blow,
and I donated four hand forged pairs of tongs for
Brian Gilbert to give to folks that submitted articles
to the Hammer's Blow.

Phil
--- wmullett at bright.net wrote:

> Good post Ries.  I'm always amazed at how "cheap" we
> blacksmiths are.  Maybe it's because we are always
> looking at how we can make something out of scrap.
> 
> ABANA provides a whole lot more for us than
> publications.  But if you ONLY look at the
> publication value, these publications are at least
> equal to an over the counter cost.
> 
> It is foolish, though, to be equating the value of
> ABANA with the publications.  As a national
> organization, representing the interests of
> professionals and amateurs equally, ABANA is a
> bargain and maybe part of its problem is that its
> dues are too low.  My national architectural
> membership (AIA) costs me several hundred dollars a
> year and I only get 12 issues of its publication.
> Its value also is not in the publications and that's
> why I'm a member.   
> 
> Sure, ABANA has problems but it's a voluntary
> organization and if you want more out of it, you
> need to participate more.
> 
> Interesting ... we have people who complain about
> our $20 WRABA membership who say "the publications
> not worth the dues".  They still seem to find a way
> to show up to our open hammer-ins though. These
> people never contribute. 
> 
> --------
> From: ries <ries at riesniemi.com>
> Date: Mon Oct 22, 3:41 PM
> To: Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] ABANA Dilema
> 
> If you go to the Abana website, you can look at the
> financial  
> statements.
> The last one I found says it costs around $210,000
> to publish the two  
> magazines.
> Then, they spend another $100,000 or so a year on
> scholarships,  
> insurance, office expenses, and paying the one full
> time employee.
> So at the end of the day, there is not some huge
> slush fund to waste  
> on girls, parties, and trips to the casino.
> Plus, due to whatever reasons (this is a giant
> subject for heated  
> discussion all on its own)
> the last conference in Seattle lost money.
> The University of Washington claims we still owe em
> something like  
> $60,000.
> 
> The all volunteer board does the best they can- and
> we can all tell  
> em how to do it differently, I am sure.
> But there aint no padding of expenses or swindling
> going on here- it  
> costs money to be real today, to be legal, to file
> tax returns, to  
> host conferences and publish two magazines.
> 
> Each of us is certainly free to decide that we dont
> want to support  
> abana, or that we arent getting enough back for our
> dues.
> 
> Me, I send in my money strictly because I believe in
> the  
> organisation- the two magazines are strictly a
> bonus, if you ask me.
> I spend more on one halfway decent (not gourmet)
> meal for my family  
> of four at a restaurant.
> 
> Toby Hickman put it quite nicely,  I, thought, over
> on the Poaba  
> discussion board-
> ""I don”t know about any one else but all I want
> from my  
> blacksmithing orginization is a good rag and a place
> to drink beer  
> and talk to other blacksmiths.""
> 
>
http://poaba.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/intro-to-poabas-blog-site/
> 
> Me, I am in total agreement with him, and $55 seems
> like a mighty  
> small price to pay for that.
> 
> Nomma, for example, costs a minimum of $300 a year-
> $415 for a  
> fabricator- and their parties are nowhere near as
> good as an Abana  
> conference.
> 
> ries
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Oct 22, 2007, at 10:54 AM, Phil wrote:
> 
> I've been a member of ABANA since 1981.  I got my
> ABANA membership renewal in the mail the other day,
> $55 for the coming year.  I like reading the
> Hammer's
> Blow.  The Anvil's ring has gotten a bit too artsy
> for
> my taste, and it's hard to find the articles cause
> of
> all the advertisements.  But anyway, I was weighing
> whether I wanted to renew or not.  I was thinking
> $55
> a year is a lot for two quarterly publications. 
> Then
> it occurred to me that ABANA doesn't do conferences
> anymore.  The ABANA web-site is basically unchanged
> for the last few years.  Then I started thinking
> about
> the numbers, 5000 people spending $55 a year, that's
> $275,000.  Wow, that's a lot to publish two
> quarterly
> journals.  Then a friend of mine pointed out to me
> that the Anvil's Ring has ad revenue as well.  Where
> does all that money go anyway?
> 
> 
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> 
> Ries Niemi
> Industrial Artist
> http://www.riesniemi.com/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 


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