What is wrong with joining trade groups?
As a recent Chairman of Ethics and Moderation for one of the trade groups dealing with internet commerce and eBay sellers, I have to say that the experience was interesting. As time went on, I had been involved in two groups. Some people know why I quit the first one. The second one promised to be even more open, member owned and transparent. As time went on I grew leary of these claims as things were done in the back room and not reported to the members. *edited*
Day three: The Ethics of that group decided it had gone far enough when the Board refused the Ethics committee vote and wrote their own ticket. The Ethics committee balked and posted a statement that the Board had overruled a vote and took their own vote. The Board promptly moved the post, Moderators promptly moved it back and after several attempt the post was deleted by the Board, the Ethics Chairman suspended which left members of the member owned group guessing at what happened. One Board member resigned, another threatened to take public action and was suspended… and that leads to this post.
Are these groups really worth it? I guess if all you are doing is gleaning information you’re in good company. But if you get sucked up in the rhetoric and start volunteering, watch out. Nothing in these types of groups is member owned, and here’s why.
1. The Presidents of these groups are often egotistical backed by a posse or hopefuls that will do or say anything to be part of the upcoming promised success
2. Hours can be invested to no avail because at some point it will be overturned by the Board who has gone googly eyed over their fearless leaders.
3. At some point, usually when $100,000 or more is in the kitty, someone wants to take all the glory and keep their own reputation from being besmirched while running things the way they seem fit. After all, they built this city and they should never be challenged.
Any questions?
17 comments
Posted: Mon 07 Jul, 2008 04:57 [1] Post subject: Filing Complaint with Florida Attorney General’s Office
——————————————————————————–
We now believe that it is in the best interest of the membership of the IMA to begin filing complaints with the Economic Crimes Division of the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
We want them to receive multiple complaints tomorrow. You can fill out the complaint report by going here:
[url]
http://myfloridalegal.com/Contact.nsf/Contact?OpenForm&Section=Economic_Crimes/url
The official address of the IMA is :
Internet Merchant Association
11792 Osprey Point Circle
Wellington, FL 33449-8367
phone: 561 615-1471
The three remaining Board members are:
Steve C. Grossberg
sgrossberg@budgetvideogames.com
Ben Mandell
ben@avianaorlando.com
Cathy Aggelopoulos
info@visibilityunlimited.com
Under question or comment, you should state that The Internet Merchants Association is a Florida Corporation.
The primary complaint is that a Special Meeting was called by the membership to be held online, since IMA members are located throughout the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. After the meeting was announced, the Board of Directors changed the bylaws regarding where the meeting could be conducted, in an attempt to stop the meeting. Please note in your complaint that 3 of the 6 remaining Board of Directors resigned from the organization in the last 4 days.
If you prefer, you can call the Florida Attorney General’s Office at 850-414-3300.
We need as many of you as possible to file this complaint. We believe the actions of the Board of Directors to be illegal, and need to make sure that we have multiple reports into the Florida Attorney General’s Office, so that it gets the appropriate attention.
Board of Directors and Moderators – Please note that any removal or modifications to this post may be legally considered as grounds for obstruction of justice.
We have written an article this morning reflecting the membership meeting and changes in the bylaws to prevent same here:
http://snurl.com/2ubs4
The above post is nowhere to be found on the IMA boards.
Well imagine that! They are pulling posts that are not in the best light of the current ACTING BOD’s.
Two of my threads have been deleted today. I assume this one has as well. The BOD is removing members today and refunding prorated dues. Welcome to Venezuela.
I received a partial refund, but not the full amount. When I first clicked the “trial” link on their website, after reading that I could view the forums and see if I liked the organization, I found that the link took me directly to PayPal to pay $129. I thought it odd, but expected they would refund my money if I deemed the benefits not to be worth the money. Much to my surprise when I emailed the organization, Steve replied and did not offer me a refund. Even Cathy was surprised that I was not offered a refund.
I have put up with what I feel to be a sham of an organization for the last 5 months. These latest actions of the BOD that are all about themselves instead of the members is more than I can sit idly by and accept. I have demanded the rest of my money and will seek recourse to get it if it is not granted.
While writing this, I received the following from the organization in response to a demand for the rest of my money:
Please direct any and all future correspondence to IMA’s attorneys
Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP
Michael Kosnitzky
100 SE Second Street
Suite 2800
Miami, FL 33131
These are the attorney’s IMA hired with MEMBER money to protect the BOD and go after members that post to these blogs. They would rather spend member money for attorney fees than refund 5 months of dues totalling $53.75 they owe me.
Great organization, isn’t it?
You know what I find truly sad and almost unforgivable–many of you members watched the head of IMA and other IMA members insult and rip apart posters on the powerseller board repeatedly in the past year or so. Each time there was a thread started on the powerseller board regarding IMA, other powersellers would ask direct questions or make comments, and instead of being treated with respect and in a professional manner, they were degraded, insulted, belittled and ravaged by the head of IMA and other members. I was one of those people. No one came to my defense. Now you are all screaming at how rude the head of IMA is??? After it was clear how horrible he was to innocent posters asking simple questions about IMA? Sorry, but all of this sudden awakening is long overdue and doesn’t say much about the membership to begin with. And I will never trust or respect the people who sat around and just watched innocent posters get ripped apart for no reason at all.
So, I have a question for all of you innocent victims of this IMA mess. Who is more guilty???? the head of IMA and other members who were rude and nasty, or the members of this group/cult who just sat around and watched others be ripped apart on their on private board and on the powerseller board over the past year?
If you sat around and just watched, you closed your eyes and sold your soul just to belong to this group/cult!
Get real, say what you will. Everyone had a part in this, there is no denial from many of us on that. So please, feel free to point away.
The difference is when some of us gave us the IMA Kool-aid we realized what dolts we had been and were trying to right the wrongs. At that point we were shut down and shut out.
That’s an interesting point, and as you all know, I agree. I didn’t like what was happening on the IMA board, and have stood up for the people who have felt crapped on.
Where was everybody else? Why was everybody waiting for someone else to stand up to it?
I hope we all learn from this… the next time you see yourself or someone else being crapped on, especially by a power-hungry weirdo, STAND UP. Don’t enable that person. Don’t assume he’ll go away because he doesn’t. He may change venues, but he doesn’t go away. We have to stand up to him and let him know he can’t get away with it.
Get Real – I’ll accept some guilt for not standing up earlier. You are correct. Steve’s arrogance, nastiness, and insults have been going on for a long time. I don’t believe I ever handled myself that way. When I participated, I tried to take a more professional and appropriate perspective, hoping I could stop Steve from lashing out for the good of the organization. Many times, I didn’t disagree with his message, I disagreed with his delivery of that message.
As a Board member, and an IMA member, I had to pick and choose my battles. Trust me, I was on Steve’s “nuisance” list because I did frequently challenge him. But my mission was always to do the best thing for the organization, and that sometimes directed my actions, possibly in a way that you saw as accepting of his demeanor. That wasn’t the case.
So before you go and assume that the rest of us were complacent, or didn’t care, you should check us out. You may find the story is not what you think.
YOU say: So before you go and assume that the rest of us were complacent, or didn’t care, you should check us out.
Oh, I have checked you all out. You’re no angel and neither are many of the screamers right now. You can BLAME steve for everything, like all of these disgruntled members. But some of you were no better.
And if you read my post, no where do I “assume” anything. I know all about the ins and outs of IMA first hand. So don’t YOU assume anything.
I’ve seen your posts on the ps board as well. And you have not acted in a professional respectful manner until now. Go search some of the old IMA posts. You’ll see who participated in the gang fight on the powerseller board. And if you’re going to state that none of the IMA members saw the posts and how members were publicly treated people, that’s another drink of kool-aid.
If you want to beat me up because I’m speaking up. Feel free. I can’t imagine how you must feel being taken on a joy ride by an ego maniac who only cares about his own agenda. But you were perhaps an assistant who went along.
get real,
No, I don’t want to beat you up because you are speaking up. I applaud it. There are one, possibly two people who I know I treated wrong. And I have apologized to them.
You have not identified yourself, so I don’t know who you are, but if you wish to identify yourself, either publicly or privately, I will be happy to discuss specifics with you. I do not believe that I have participated in a “gang fight” in an awfully long time. But I totally know that I’m no angel, and I’ve done some people wrong. I can be very emotional, the same as many other people, and sometimes say something that I wish I hadn’t of said. For that I humbly apologize.
I don’t think I was ever Steve’s assistant, but as I said before, there were times I agreed with his message, I just disagreed with the way he delivered it. Sometimes I let him know, sometimes I didn’t. Again, I had the organization’s best interest in mind, and had to make decisions as to when to protest, when to try and divert his attention, and when to do nothing. I did the best I can.
Well, Larry, I applaud you for finally speaking up and clearing up the past. Especially apologizing to those who have been offended by what’s been said in the past. Thank you for doing this.
I truly have no beef with you at all. I just don’t really care for the strong minded, power hungry members who aren’t owning up to their part in all of this mess. It has left a bad taste for many people. And it’s not all of Steve’s doing, while he was the leader of the pack.
So,,I am just expressing my views, as it is time to allow people who feel they have been crucified in some way for no reason, to speak up without being beat up.
Some of us have been speaking up about IMA’s issues since nearly day 1 when the forum was on eBay’s boards and we spoke up to everyone who would listen, including ex BODs. After being accused of being a mole, trying to take IMA down, having a grand agenda against IMA, being a PESA plant, having an axe to grind, and just about every other conspiracy theory under the sun, it got old being the one constantly standing up ALONE.
It’s a bit ironic and hypocritical for people to NOW rewrite history and act like they voiced concerns all along or have some holy martyr cross to bear, especially as some of those NOW voicing concerns were some of the ones who were bashing those few souls who DID speak up long ago. IMA has always had issues and a few brave people DID speak up against them loudly and repeatedly before this latest implosion started.
Maybe if those speaking up now spoke up earlier or had removed their lips from Steve’s koolaid fountain, this would not have happened and things could’ve been different. Oh wait, people usually don’t speak up until the “and then they came for YOU” part of the poem occurs.
Don’t think that just because I never came out with this earlier, I was not standing up for those people or against the actions of some of the Board for sometime now.
Can everyone commenting on IMA please agree to stop with the Kool-aid cliche already?