Regardless of your views on the BASC, at least David is a member of SD and is prepared to deal with queries & comments raised on through this forum. BASC isn't perfect, but I believe David deserves some recognition for the fact that he is prepared to put his head above the parapet on a regular basis.
Perhaps people who are insured with the other associations could contact them to advise them of this thread and give them the ability to specify exactly what their membership entails like David has done. Assuming they consider a forum like this worthy of their time that is...
well the short version of my opinion is +1 for Moonraker68 and MJ75
The long version is as follows
As boring as this may be for the long timers as a new comer with the same decision to make in the future I find it useful to be able to get the “current” opinions on what has been an ongoing and long term debate.
For a newcomer sorting through the merits of the various organisations and their “real” agendas is going to take some doing. My uninformed, new comer casual observations are as follows.
I became aware of Countryside Alliance about the same time as I joined here.
Signing up to their mailing list seemed like a no brainer. They appeared to be the obvious choice as the “one stop” solution i.e. the one group that had the best interests of all aspects of the country side at its heart. One strong, cohesive organisation was exactly what was needed to protect the our field sports from the antis and government erosion.
It was clear that amongst their interests was the support of fox hunting.
Its some thing that I’m not that keen on but I freely admit a) I have conflicting interests in other sports such as falconry and b) I don’t know enough about it to have an informed opinion.
Being a live and let live sort of chap I didn’t see it as being significant enough for me to pass the CA over and if I decided to join them and developed a violent objection to the practice I could always seek change from within.
In the time that’s followed, rightly or wrongly, the Countryside Alliance has given me the impression that its a “Fox and hounds” organisation that has a passing interest in “other stuff”. I base this purely on the amount of space it devotes to various subjects in its updates. I admit this might be driven purely by the issues that have been current during that time, never the less that’s how it comes across to me. Had I known that at the start I probably wouldn’t have joined the list. I’m continuing to monitor them and time will tell whether they’re what they claim to be, its not looking good.
I find it telling how under represented the various shooting bodies are on here.
Its probably a cross between the sheer number of such forums and the time consuming and thankless nature of the task. One in which a poorly chosen phrase, or tired & off hand comment will be deliberately misrepresented by some and spark a tirade of negative and destructive comment.
None of this is new, it happens in all sports. Its why manufacturers rarely frequent such venues unless they control them. After all who needs it?
For the most part we don’t make unsolicited posts about how happy we are. We tend to only voice our opinions when we’re unhappy. As a result most of the traffic that’s dealt with is highly polarised in opinion and oft times rude and aggressive.
None the less being present is a necessary requirement if an organisation wants current and perspective members to think that they give a damn.
I find it telling that the only relevant organisation represented on the forum is BASC.
I haven’t been around long enough to have insight to the historical issues being discussed, so I can’t comment on the accuracy of the information presented against BASC. I can see that a number of the comments have been vague and unspecific at best, there’s even been an accusation of being deceptive and telling lies, well perhaps its just me but, I find that a bit strongly worded. I find it noteworthy that Dave’s responses have been measured, polite and easily verifiable.
You don’t have agree with the answer that you get but you do have respect that time was taken to address your concerns in a timely, courteous and straight forward manner. Further more David voluntarily offered to look into the possibility of past unsatisfactory service that a member received. What’s not to like about any of that?
Within any group of people misunderstanding and confusion can occur, events and details misinterpreted, its the manner in which such things are resolved that defines an individual or organisation. There will be always be strongly held opposing views but the facts will eventually be verifiable for those who care to check.
Any individual and or organisation that would knowingly present dishonest information in a public arena will undermine its credibility and that isn’t sustainable unless your surname begins with a P and you work for the BBC. It would be an appalling business model, guaranteed to cost reputation so why would you do such a thing? Isn’t it more likely to be a case of crossed wires?
You can tell a lot about an organisation by the way its people handle themselves.
BASCs looking pretty good to me right now but then again, on here it is a one horse race.