And I'm not naming names. You're smart. Maybe you can figure it out for yourself.
You know that I have joined several online knitting communities, some of which have weekly local meetings. For the last 8 months or so I've been heading up a weekly knitting/crocheting playdate for one of the online groups. Quite a few people responded online very enthusiastically at the outset. But not so many people have actually (actually!) shown up for playdates. I know with kids it's always "kid time" & life gets hectic & days fly by without notice.
I've tried to garner more interest by occasionally posting about this gathering to another local group I've been in for some time. So far no one has responded. Oh well, I'll just keep it out there for future reference & some one will eventually respond.
A few weeks ago I joined another local group (got to have options, right?) & went to a meeting & felt like I was welcomed to be there. I planned to attend another meeting in the future -maybe as soon as next week. There were some moms at the meeting so I thought "hmmm" & sent out a post about our playdates & invited moms AND dads to join us.
Little did I know that the post never did make it to the group b/c a moderator (THE moderator?) emailed telling me that their group was not associated with the group I was trying to promote. AND my gathering was alienating to parents who work. Really? REALLY?
Yes, I KNOW their group is not associated with the group I'm trying to promote because I HAD NOT YET INVITED THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PLAYDATES. Now, was she referring to the fact that this is a separate online group from the other online group? Yes, I am well aware of that fact. But are we not all knitters? Some of us are knitting parents with small children? There are few & far between opportunites for us to actually get together to knit with kids AS A GROUP. Apparantly we aren't capable of knitting together & then going our separate ways & hanging out with our respective online groups. I didn't realize there were fcuking KNITTING FACTIONS. Or that we're still in jr high & this clique DOES NOT fraternize with that clique. Is she concerned that someone will jump ship & join another group? God forbid! It's KNITTER GROUP COMPETITION!
Oh, and the alienating working parents? REALLY? 'Cuz we're not all working parents. Surely I don't spend my days working. Maybe she means parents who work for money & not parents who work for free? I'd love to work outside the home but day care costs are prohibitive -you all know my opinion about this. So I work evenings -for pay- and during the day for nada but the sheer insanity of staying home with 2 preschoolers. (jk?) So actually (actually!) isn't the evening meeting alienating to parents who can't meet in the evenings?
My post never did make it to the group so that folks could decide for themselves if they might like to hang out with us. It was killed right there with a click of that delete button that the moderator so hastily chose to press. Bummer. It could have been fun.
In the past couple of days since this transpired, I've been contemplating what I should do -if anything. I did respond in an email to the moderator (no sense trying to contact the group b/c OBVIOUSLY my posts are being monitored & my post won't go through if it at all critiques this situation; hence the blog rant here). I don't know that I actually want to be a part of a group that is so clearly exclusionary. Geez oh man! I thought knitters were cool. Must be the breakdown is just like in real life: there are cool knitters and then there are knitters who think they're cool. Or rather, who think they're too cool. I honestly don't know what the problem is. Am I being naive? I was impressed by the eclectic group of folks at the meeting. But my second thought is that this group -who bills itself as one in which "not one person decides...we decide as a group"- is really being dictated by one moderator. I mean really, what else or who else is being censored? It wasn't like I was flaming the group and I wasn't spamming the group. Other people have posted invites for various get-togethers. What makes mine different that it should be not allowed to go through? Must be my status as a member of that other group & I'm trying to cross borders. hahahahahaha. The f*cking politcs of knitting! It's almost laughable.
What should I do? What would I tell my kids to do? And maybe I should follow my own advice? Opinions anyone?
3 comments:
Yeah, there are people with poor social skills and personality problems, even among knitters. Every knitting group that I belong to has them.
Could you just attend another meeting in person and bring some fliers or mention your parents' group to the other knitters there? That way you wouldn't have to go through the gatekeeper.
I told you what I think...there is some deep-rooted, dramatical, historical, falling out, separation of one large knitting faction into smaller, competing, juvenile, envious cliques. Everyone should just stick to their TV's.....muawahaha.
i'm sorry to hear that you were censored and such. we love ya! whether you work for free or not.
See you soon!
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