[Alvin]

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

All your points just affirm what I said....The idea that someone in a national club
would critique your car chafes you.... you are not the Lone Ranger.....many others feel
the same way. Many so called "experts in the hobby" tend to gravitate to the national
club that has to do with their area of expertise. That is the natural order of the way
civilization works. If you didn't like POCI and you left with your "feet" then you did the right
thing. Isn't it great that nobody requires you to belong to a club to have fun with your
Pontiacs. Where will POCI be in ten or twenty years? Since all of those who care about Pontiacs will be on the wrong side of the grass by then, it will still be around but be much
much smaller,maybe 2500 members. That too is the natural order of things, just like the declining membership of a World War II Bomb Wing Association. To enjoy a club you have
to go in with the right attitude. If you don't like the point judged guys critiqueing your car,
there is a Road Warrior class at the convention where everybody just shows up with their
Pontiac with no judging. Part of people leaving POCI is just plain old "burnout" as you stated. It's hard to stay enthusiastic about something for twenty or thirty years. It just
defies human nature. Most people get bored and move on with their hobbies eventually.
Their is no "conspiracy" at POCI to make everyone get fed up and leave. Everyone in charge
of the organization is working hard to help the Pontiac faithful enjoy their cars.That I am
certain of. If Don Keefe or Jim Wangers votes with their feet then there may be a huge
problem, but I don't see that happening. Merle Green is working hard to improve POCI, just
like the presidents before him. I admire him for taking this often thankless job and I wish him well.

My personal "Great" Pontiac memories include talking and meeting in person Pontiacers like Pete McCarthy, Steve Ames, and Jim Wangers among many others, at DAPA, TA Nats, Tour De Wangers, etc...

You wrote: "If Don Keefe or Jim Wangers votes with their feet then there may be a huge problem, but I don't see that happening."

If the future of POCI hinges on Don Keefe and (80+) Jim Wangers staying, you've pointed out the bullseye of the POCI survivalship problem. http://youtu.be/WZEJ4OJTgg8

[Don Keefe]

Originally Posted by Alvin

My personal "Great" Pontiac memories include talking and meeting in person Pontiacers like Pete McCarthy, Steve Ames, and Jim Wangers among many others, at DAPA, TA Nats, Tour De Wangers, etc...

You wrote: "If Don Keefe or Jim Wangers votes with their feet then there may be a huge problem, but I don't see that happening."

If the future of POCI hinges on Don Keefe and (80+) Jim Wangers staying, you've pointed out the bullseye of the POCI survivalship problem. http://youtu.be/WZEJ4OJTgg8

To take nothing away from Mr. Wangers, I am only 49 years old and I think I have a few good years left in me. Though I have been in the Pontiac magazine world for 25 years, I am far from all used up at this point.

Many of the problems that POCI has experienced over the years have been addressed and countered. The problem is that so many of you left so long ago, that you haven't seen the changes that have been made.

First off, our membership has been stable for the past five years, we generally stay in the 8,700 range give or take. This huge loss of membership recently hasn't happened. Yes, the numbers were over 10,000 but that was in the late 1980s.

Yes, the web site could use an update but if you are a member, there is a whole section that you haven't seen and it is not half bad. Look into it.

As editor-in-chief and art director since August of 2006, I can say that no "Aztek brainwashing" or "GMC force-feeding" is going on. I try to keep my editorials light-hearted and positive. Mostly I talk about my adventures and misadventures with my '66 Tempest and 2000 GTP. The editorial is geared to the membership and not necessarily to the entire Pontiac hobby. We don't do a lot race engine builds, or late-model coverage but we do cover a lot of features on some great cars owned by members, we cover POCI and Pontiac-related events and we do quite a bit of DIY tech stuff. Chapters activities get a lot of ink as well.

If you want hard-core engine builds, I also write for HPP so I got you covered there. As a club publication, Smoke Signals does exactly what it needs to. We redesigned it about a year ago and it won its seventh Golden Quill in a row. I am very proud of that.

Like I said before, many of the problems mentioned have nothing to do with what is going on now. Don't believe me? Just get a digital download of Smoke Signals. I believe there is a free copy available on our web site. Things have changed, it isn't perfect but let's let go of the anger about what happened 20 or 30 years ago and move on.