The PSIA member forum is gone

[LiquidFeet]

Anyone know what's going on with that membership forum? Has PSIA euthanized it?

 

[Philpug]

I talked to some higher ups a year ago about this. We offered some options but it doesn't seem to be in the cards.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Not much of a loss if you ask me.

 

[LiquidFeet]

PSIA didn't promote the forum, nor maintain it. The platform was horrid. The required use of member names reduced member's willingness to go out on a limb and say what they were thinking.

I've approached leaders about putting this thing on a better platform, allowing anonymity, and getting volunteer moderators to keep the nastiness at bay. They have consistently been uninterested.

Just before it went dark, someone posted that he had heard that PSIA was going to take it down and reformulate it in some way. This was a rumor and he was looking for more info but no one had any. I'm curious to know if it's gone forever (good riddance given the usefulness of it as it was) or if they are indeed coming to their senses and reshaping it.

There's a niche for an instructor-only forum that allows anonymity. Instructors, if they knew such a forum existed, could to talk to each other openly about teaching and the profession. I know instructors do it here, on this forum, but the instructor membership here is small. And almost every instructor I know in the real world has no idea this forum even exists.

PSIA has a Facebook page dedicated to teacher-talk, but Facebook is awkward for in-depth conversations.

 

[crgildart]

Any other social media options being leveraged? Facebook group? Young folks don't do the forum thing. Older demographic in every one I still see active.

 

[dbostedo]

Any other social media options being leveraged? Facebook group? Young folks don't do the forum thing. Older demographic in every one I still see active.

Reddit has taken over a lot of forum-type content. Perhaps that's an option here, but there's nothing on that platform to limit membership/participation I don't think.

 

[T-Square]

There are PSIA-E and a PSIA-AASI Adaptive groups on Facebook.

 

[Philpug]

Reddit has taken over a lot of forum-type content. Perhaps that's an option here, but there's nothing on that platform to limit membership/participation I don't think.

There are PSIA-E and a PSIA-AASI Adaptive groups on Facebook.

The problem with Reddit and FB groups is that the material and content is to much in the now and not Google searchable.

 

[Philpug]

The required use of member names reduced member's willingness to go out on a limb and say what they were thinking.

This is a problem I have always had. If you are willing to say something behind a screen name, you should be willing to claim it under your own.

 

[wooglin]

My 20 year old son is a Level 1 instructor and just got his adaptive cert. I'm quite confident he doesn't frequent the PSIA facebook groups (or any other facebook group), nor is he likely to participate in a forum like this. Definitely a problem if PSIA wants to include its younger members.

 

[Seldomski]

This is a problem I have always had. If you are willing to say something behind a screen name, you should be willing to claim it under your own.

Requiring real names for a professional forum makes sense. For hobbyist/recreational/amateur participants, it can dissuade participation in discussions due to privacy concerns.

 

[LiquidFeet]

This is a problem I have always had. If you are willing to say something behind a screen name, you should be willing to claim it under your own.

Members didn't participate in that membership forum. They were all automagically registered by PSIA because they were members. Then they were informed about the existence of the forum. I can't remember when this happened. I paid attention when it happened, though.

So since they were already registered by default, why didn't many members participate? When PSIA notified me of the forum's existence, I participated. But the platform was ungainly and required waay too many clicks just to get to the conversations I wanted to monitor. Plus, the lack of participation was dispiriting. There were so few people talking, always the same five or so people. So I quit posting.

Here are some reasons I can come up with for why more PSIA members didn't participate:

1. PSIA members in general might have no interest in participating in conversations with other members about their profession through the typed word, after work hours are over.
2. Members aren't online for any amount of time.
3. Members don't like talking about skiing by typing words. This applies to things associated with skiing and to local professional situations as well, and in a public way where anyone in PSIA can read what members have typed.
4. The forum platform sucked (and wow did it suck).
5. Asking a question that reveals lack of knowledge about some aspect of the profession might make some members feel vulnerable at the workplace, especially if egos are running the show in the locker room.
6. Offering advice about something related to the PSIA professional life, which then gets shot down by others in the thread, might make some members feel publicly humiliated in front of the peers and bosses in the locker room.

Anonymity, volunteer moderators, and a user-friendly platform would eliminate #s 4, 5, 6. Active promotion by National might help with #1. Can't do anything about #s 2 and 3.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Members didn't participate in that membership forum. They were all automagically registered by PSIA because they were members. Then they were informed about the existence of the forum. I can't remember when this happened. I paid attention when it happened, though.

So since they were already registered by default, why didn't many members participate? When PSIA notified me of the forum's existence, I participated. But the platform was ungainly and required waay too many clicks just to get to the conversations I wanted to monitor. Plus, the lack of participation was dispiriting. There were so few people talking, always the same five or so people. So I quit posting.

Here are some reasons I can come up with for why more PSIA members didn't participate:

1. PSIA members in general might have no interest in participating in conversations with other members about their profession through the typed word, after work hours are over.
2. Members aren't online for any amount of time.
3. Members don't like talking about skiing by typing words. This applies to things associated with skiing and to local professional situations as well, and in a public way where anyone in PSIA can read what members have typed.
4. The forum platform sucked (and wow did it suck).
5. Asking a question that reveals lack of knowledge about some aspect of the profession might make some members feel vulnerable at the workplace, especially if egos are running the show in the locker room.
6. Offering advice about something related to the PSIA professional life, which then gets shot down by others in the thread, might make some members feel publicly humiliated in front of the peers and bosses in the locker room.

Anonymity, volunteer moderators, and a user-friendly platform would eliminate #s 4, 5, 6. Active promotion by National might help with #1. Can't do anything about #s 2 and 3.

You are right about most of those things. I think the biggest problem is that most of the PSIA leaders are just no t interested and don't understand forums. I was once skiing with 3-4 demo team members and they made a silly bet about something I forget what it was, but the stakes were that the loser must answer questions on the PSIA forum for a week.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Yes, @Erik Timmerman, I get that. I've spoken with Mike Rogan and NIck Herrin about the forum. Neither one seemed to think there's any value to a PSIA forum in the first place. I also campaigned on the PSIA forum to make it better and get more activity. The few members reading did not agree; they had the forum to themselves and thought it was going just fine, thank you.

 

[LiquidFeet]

I think what's going on is that PSIA leadership wants to deliver information from the top-down, and have that information affirmed ahead of time by the administration for quality content before it's made public. They normally do things this way, and assume it is the best way to educate PSIA members. I have no problem with that, but that process of information dissemination is not going to cover everything we as instructors could benefit from knowing.

So sponsoring a forum where members can talk about what they think, without an executive voice facilitating the discussion so it doesn't veer off into lala-land, is not a great idea in their minds. Plus, none of them wants to do the job of controlling the content shared. So sad. I had a lengthy discussion on the PSIA forum with a notable patriarch of PSIA about the learning potential of an active forum. He kept wanting me to describe exactly what I had learned from forum talk, and I got the idea from his responses that all that information was available from better sources than word-of-mouth. I have not named this person yet, and won't.

PSIA leadership simply doesn't know the value of a community talking to each other, sharing thoughts and ideas and experiences, without the controlling oversight of an authoritative overlord. I suspect they learned from mentors and exceptional trainers, and so they personally can't see the potential value of forum talk generated by the membership for educational purposes.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Plus, none of them wants to do the job of controlling the content shared.

They sure as heck don't want to do work they aren't getting paid for. Who does?

 

[LiquidFeet]

There are volunteers working this forum, are there not?
And really, if they want a forum, it does cost money to keep it going. I understand that.
If they don't want to spend a $ on it, then eliminating it is best.
The one they had was an embarrassment.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

That's why we have the ski school forum at PugSki.com. Everybody here cares about skiing and enjoys communicating about it. Thanks, PugSki.com

 

[Coach13]

That's why we have the ski school forum at PugSki.com. Everybody here cares about skiing and enjoys communicating about it. Thanks, PugSki.com

Honestly this is why I really value the input and ideas of the professionals that take the time to post here at PugSki. I think it takes a special person who really loves the sport and their jobs to do that job all day and then get online and talk about it, to any extent. To clarify, by professionals I mean the ski pros, the bootfitters, folks doing tunes and ski repairs, etc. I know in my business pretty much last thing I want to do once I walk out the office door is to talk about anything related to my job. To the benefit of us all, it’s good our ski professionals here don’t feel that way!

 

[vindibona1]

Members didn't participate in that membership forum.....

The whole PSIA thing is quite unusual. When I was a new member it had great purpose for me. Certification provided the motivation to continue to improve and gave me the INITIAL training to teach skiing. And I imagine that it provides the same motivation and enthusiasm for newer instructors. But I think a ski instructors forum is different than a public forum.