RSPB

Cannot really understand any antagonism towards Swifts comments,surely not necessary to greet us all sugary and someone said these forums for members but I think non members can join in or am I wrong.Think the comment about numbers signing letter to the future is creditable as only one in four has signed.Plenty of threads on these forums perhaps not as relevant as Swifts and do not feel they meant to start a bloodbath,surely we almost all think the RSPB do a great job but if we can air our grievances sensibly they may even improve.  

The letter to the future is a great idea and like Sooty has mentioned 1 in 4 signing it is still an achievement but there are probably other ways of improving the number of signatures.

Overall coverage of the idea could be maximised through other media's but then this may cost more money.

When I got my letter with my welcome pack it wasnt as clear to me as the rest of the information (so maybe people are just not getting the message), so a way of changing this is to package or promote the letter on its own??

I am no expert in this field but things can always be improved and customer feedback is not a bad thing; plenty of profit making businesses do it.

The RSPB being a charity could use a similar model for conservation purposes?

 

 

 Craig.   It shows that  75%  either disagree with the letter or that 75% couldn't care less    Not very successful and not much of an achievement when you want to lobby parliament..  To me it just gives ammunition to those who think that the majority of RSPB membership are Garden Birdwatchers and unaware of  real conservation issues, conducted by the society and the support they require to carry it out.  To go to parliament with a petition signed by only 25% of your membership I see as inhibitor not an achievement.

 

(ps  Hi, Sooty, not seen you for ages, hope you and Sweep are both well

susan)

From reading the birds magazine this month, they say their "letter to the future" campaign has been the most successful ever - I don't know the statistics of a 'successful' campaign, but I do know that if you get a 5% return on an advertising mailshot, this would be considered about right. So a 25% return by that criteria is not bad at all...

Definitely not all doom and gloom :-)

Yes, Craig B, 25% is certainly better than nothing, but 50% would be a lot better!  You may have seen RSPB's own comment:

You are one in a million... well ok, a quarter of a million!

My reason for suggesting this new forum, which I'm pleased to say now seems to be getting more support, was to provide somewhere to explore how we could do better, not to argue about how well we're doing.  Signing up to the Letter online is a lot quicker than doing one of these posts, so why haven't more done it?   I'd still be interested to know if everyone contributing to this thread has done so.  No need to be afraid of saying not, I have to confess I thought the Letter exercise was not too well judged, and only signed it because of the very point Soosin has just made to you (although her last post seems to have gone awol), namely that turning up in Parliament with only a quarter of the membership on board might be seen as less than impressive.

So far there have not been too many better ideas put forward.

Hi Swift well it is good that it has not gone the way some thought of a slanging match so say well done to all for that whether for or against.Both myself and O H signed but found it very difficult and perhaps only did it out of loyalty as there were several things that when looked into we did not necessarily agree with which I  suppose that the RSPB is all about,we are only likely to agree some of the time,personally would have liked to have seen 75% of members sign and as think it was Soosin said 25% perhaps allows opposition to say why could not the other 75% bother to do a really simple thing like sign as it wasn't as if we had to write a letter,stamp and post.It must surely show either they found more against it than I did or a real sense of could not be bothered.Perhaps even your thread may increase the number signing.    

I think you are assuming everyone agrees with all the sentiments in the Letter. Those who don't, won't sign it. Full stop.

5WIFT said:

Hi Sheena,

I have no wish to participate in a slanging match, and why you think it would be a good idea for one about the RSPB to be started on your unnamed site I cannot imagine.  If as you fear there will be heated discussion of some weak points of RSPB, then surely that should be confined to an RSPB site, not spread around 'the nets largest bird forum'.  Wouldn't it be better here where people are so much nicer?

You did at least try and address one issue I raised, but I'm afraid missed my point, which was the quality of the welcome not the CRB check itself (which by the way turned out to be not required).  So take another one, the response of only a quarter of members so far to the Letter to the Future.  This matters because everyone knows we have a million members, so knocking on a politician's door with anything less than half that number is unlikely to impress.  I signed long ago, did you?  Why do you think it hasn't yet got a better response?

Cheers, 5wift

Ha ha i think if you google the site i mentioned you would find it pronto.I would have given you the name,no problem but didn't know if it would be allowed here.Most sites don't like others to be named.Seems you know it already though as you stated the people were much nicer here.Not so ,they are just much more forthcoming there and very keen to debate.

Here the members really enjoy relaxing and chatting about wild-life in general and why shouldn't they.Don't misunderstand that for not getting involved in serious issues.The RSPB contact us all individually regarding all major issues.I sign everything which is important to me.

I don't recall you saying you wished to enter a slanging match but do remember saying that is what the type of thread you talk about, turns into. 

I do know what response is expected and to get 25% is actually very good in real terms as it is well known that 10% -  is often what is hoped for yet not gained in most surveys etc .

As i stated in my first reply,open a thread on whatever issue you decide regarding the  RSPB.It may get replies it may not.

To even suggest i am afraid of a debate regarding the RSPB is sooooooooooooo funny and if i led you to believe that,i apologise.My posts here were simply generalising.

I signed the letter also got 4 members of my family to sign it too.

So I have done my part.

Cant speak for others has it is thier choice and freedom to do what they want.