[Ccil-user] The CCIL Crisis

[Emil J. Volcheck]

The recent posting by Director Don Berger presents a special
challenge, if the crisis is as dire as portrayed.  It appears that
there is essentially no time available to take any action to avoid
his options to dispose of CCIL.

Further, the posting to the CCIL users list is directed, I
suspect, primarily towards those folks who are users of the so-
called "free ISP" portion of CCIL.  They may not be in any very
good position to evaluate the other services referred to - or to
suggest appropriate disposition or a path forward.

But, assuming that CCIL is not at the point of shutting down any
moment, some actions appear feasible.  The proposals to staff and
train a new board of directors, and to beef up and train many more
volunteers are not particularly appropriate if one is on the brink
of disaster.

The most obvious thing to be done is for the remaining
"management" and key volunteers to take stock of the extent of
existing revenue and existing services being offerred.  Then, they
must assess what can be continued WITHOUT pushing CCIL over the
edge.

Only if some semblance of stability can be achieved will there be
the time to work on things that will require time - to do and do
well.

While keeping whatever resulting base going, the next step is to
run a process to define EXACTLY what it is that the stakeholders
in CCIL want it to be AND to become.  I have no awareness of
exactly whom these stakeholders may be - those who "hired" Don
Berger?  Or are there others (possibly including representative
users of whatever services CCIL is offering).  But, whomever they
are, it seems that it should be up to them to decide, at least,
the near term future for CCIL.

If they feel that enough time has been bought by operating only
the presently sustainable services, then they may opt to go down
the route of staffing a new board - training it and charging it to
recommend and implement the new course.  And/or recruiting (many?)
more new volunteers to tackle the services.  Only the stakeholders
are in any position to decide on the right course of action, once
a minimal stability has been achieved.

Given that most of the participants in this CCIL listserv are
probably unfamiliar with what has been going on with expanding
services by CCIL, they may not be able evaluate the statements in
Berger's messages; such as:

"CCIL as a "free ISP" was doomed to bankruptcy in short order."
No reason or rationale was offerred to substantiate it; so it is
not easy to understand where those who had this feeling were
coming from.

But, it seems worth looking at why CCIL - offering a "free"
service was able to attract only a miniscule fraction of the
Chester County internet users - with a noted nine years to do.
Clearly, tho the service was "free", it was not attractive enough
to compete with un-free providers.  Why was that?  Free is
supposed to be the great American (and Chester Countian) dream -
but it could not stand up to "pay"!  I can offer some thoughts,
but those who have been at the actual working level should have
some better feel on the why.  That is pretty key information to
decide if the "free ISP" has a long (or any) future for the new
CCIL.  How would CCIL handle being really successful as a "free
ISP" - with 10,000 or more users?

Note that I have used the form "free" instead of free, since CCIL
really was never operated as unfettered free.  It was hoped that
users would actually contribute, even if they did not pay.  I
remember that I received my first solicitation for contributions
within the first two weeks of getting my initial CCIL account.  It
was never clear if contributions were expected to cover a bit,
some, most or nearly all the costs - contributions were just
solicited.

Further, CCIL was supposed to be available to anyone living or
working in Chester County - not just the needy.  In fact, only
those who were not truly needy could use CCIL, since you had to be
unneedy enough to own and use a computer!

However, the other services referred to in Berger's messages seem
to focus on helping more needy or otherwise disadvantaged folks -
and not "any one who lives or works in Chester County".

It would seem that the original CCIL and the growing CCIL did not
have the same objectives, rationale or intended clientele.  That
inconsistency is not discussed in Berger's messages.  It obviously
should be going forward.  Perhaps the "free ISP" of the future is
NOT for anyone who lives or works in CC, but only the needy who do
so?  Users of this listserv may not be in a position to offer
broad input on such a question.

I realize that I have not offerred much in the way of solutions,
but unless it can be made clear that CCIL can sustain itself in
some form for a reasonable time period then rapid dissolution
before the hole gets too deep is the only option.  Any other
option(s) will take time and effort to bring about.

And, should CCIL have to cut back markedly, I suspect that it will
never regain even its present status.