National changing OA Lodge names

[gwd-scouter]

Older son heard what perhaps is just a rumor. National is going to change all the OA Lodge names to something generic along the lines of Council name OA plus a new number. For instance, our Lodge is Atta Kulla Kulla 185. National would change it to Blue Ridge Council OA Lodge 155.

 

Anyone else heard of this happening?

[BrotherhoodWWW]

I'd sure like more information about this rumor. There is nothing on the National OA sote that I can find that even hints at this. FWIW I think this would be a major mistake. The OA Stragetic plan in the short term has in part a goal of retaining and getting inactive arrowmen active. Making sweeping changes is not really the best way to do this IMHO. The OA stragetic plan already details leadership training as a main focus of the Order. I'm skeptical that this is what the youth of today really want. I'm thinking that they want honor, service, and brotherhood.

 

If they did away with indian based lodge names they might just as well change the name of our order to Order of the Youth Volunteer!

 

I seem to recall that there is a phrase in the Obligation that is "I will always and faithfully observe and preserve the traditions of the OA." In my view the lodge names is a tradition. In my view the use of american indian themes is a tradition. In my view camping traditon promotion is a tradition. To steer away from any in my opinion is a breach of the Obligation!(This message has been edited by brotherhoodwww)

[John-in-KC]

No, but I'd start by asking his Lodge Chief, Adviser, and Staff Adviser.

 

Now, if that was the technical name that would be used in ScoutNet, vice the local name of the lodge, that's administrative in nature. As long as the current voting youth members understood administration need not equal operating practice, I could live with that.

 

If it was not a technical change, that'd be a good way for me to leave the Order behind. Strip out years of tradition.

 

Some things are worth leaving well enough alone.

[nolesrule]

This was an April Fools Day joke posted on the OAimages.com website earlier this year. Apparenlty someone didn't get the joke and has been spreading it around.

 

http://blog.oaimages.com/2008/04/01/(This message has been edited by nolesrule)

[Tokala]

nolesrule is correct about the origination.

 

National has stripped the old numbers from the lodges and has replaced them with the council numbers. They do allow the lodges to use the old numbers, but paperwork and forms all refer to the lodge using the council number. For example, Timuquan 340 is technically now Timuquan 89. Patches and merchandise still use "340", but paperwork from Region or National uses "89".

[shortridge]

I don't know that I'd have gotten the point of the OAImages blog post. Generally, satire includes some really obvious tongue-in-cheek statement that makes folks realize it's false. This didn't.

[emb021]

"This was an April Fools Day joke posted on the OAimages.com website earlier this year. Apparenlty someone didn't get the joke and has been spreading it around."

 

You're not kidding that some didn't get the joke!

 

There was some heartburn on the Arrow-L list about this, including a few people at the Regional/National level that were very bent out of shape about it, after some people contacted them very upset after reading it.

 

I have my own take on that, but I won't say what that is.

 

[Gold Winger]

I found it interesting that the OAImaages blog has an ad for dianetics.org

[Tokala]

"I found it interesting that the OAImages blog has an ad for dianetics.org"

 

I don't. My council has a sizeable number of units and members chartered to Scientology.

[Gold Winger]

That's scarey.

[shortridge]

Sorry, but where are you seeing the Dianetics ad?

 

If it was a GoogleAds thing, site owners generally don't control what goes up.

[Gold Winger]

Maybe things have changed but it used to be that the site owner could dictate what types of ads.

[nolesrule]

Welcome to Clearwater, Florida, my home sweet home.

 

FYI, the ad I saw was for ordering custom patches.

 

You have to remember that google ads, and any 3rd party bulk ad services (as opposed to direct selling ads and sponsorships), there is really very little control over the ads before they show up on a site. As a site owner, you have the ability to exclude them, but that's only after you (or someone else who notifies you) have seen the ads and can exclude them. Most ad providers allow site owners to auto-exclude ads for alcohol, tobacco and/or adult content, but beyond that you have to actively manage ads as they are added to the rotation without prior notification.

 

Also, google ads work by an advertiser purchasing specific keywords. If those keywords appear on your site and are determined to be relevant by google, there's a good chance their ads will show up.

 

It's quite possible that John doesn't even know that the ad you mentioned is appearing on his site. You could just shoot him an email so that he could decide what to do about it.

 

I know all this from first-hand experience. I run the largest, most visited site on arena football outside the league's official site. Since we can't sell anywhere near our entire ad inventory, we rely on 3rd party ad providers so we can have an income stream.

[shortridge]

"That's scarey."

 

According to the Scientologists, founder L. Ron Hubbard was an Eagle Scout and met Calvin Coolidge. They state he was the nation's youngest Eagle, at 13, but that seems debatable.

 

Info and picture: www.scientology.org/interview/lronhubbard.html

[Gold Winger]

I thought that Ozzie Nelson was the youngest Eagle. I guess that the truth is whatever you want it to be, like Jesse Ventura being a combat hardened SEAL.