Yeah, Scott, we've all heard your mantra.   : )

I am glad to see a number of folks chime in here. Rick, I understand what you're saying about the geography. Kanawha county is a far, far distance from the the Balt/DC area; even many day events in WV would be prohibitive for you. If you're a camper, however, you may just find some multi-day events that fit the bill. And posting and leading events of your own is pretty easy through ODC. As Pam says, any of us would be glad to share our past experiences if you have any questions.

Now, about the whole MOC vs. ODC thing: Although the respective mission statements of the two clubs are not dissimilar, there are a few notable differences as JP pointed out. (By the way, JP, I loved the "powerful overlord" comment. Amy was about due for a promotion). MOC was begun with the sole intent of building a social/outdoor club amongst (mainly) Marylanders. Further, they make no bones about their primary age demographic (20 & 30 somethings) although they're open to any adult. Additionally, they promote the social aspect of the club. All this has helped MOC stand out as a group that fills a niche and it seems to have paid off. And yes, the officers have made a serious effort to maintain and grow the club. There is somewhat more rigidity in the structure and operation, and although that's a mixed blessing it too is probably a contributing factor to the membership base.

ODC, on the other hand, remains essentially a SoCal organization to this day. Its web-based setup (and I think it's a terrific web site, BTW) allows it to have members nationwide, but it is by nature less structured and more autonomous than many other clubs, including MOC. On the plus side, this makes posting and participating in events a breeze and allows leaders a lot of lattitude in -- and control over -- their posts. I like that as I'm sure those of you reading this do. The downside of autonomy is that you're pretty much on your own as far as growing the club in any area where it is not already established. Outside of SoCal there is virtually no advertising other than what we do ourselves. In a place like MD with all the other clubs and whatnot, it's not easy to make ODC stand out.

There's also a bit of a Catch-22 here. We as organizers get discouraged when we fail to get people to sign up. But put yourself in the shoes of someone in MD who's just signed up as a new ODC member. You look at the ODC Northeast calendar for next month and you see one activity. Maybe two or three tops. Several of those might be in NY or PA. Not much locally. So you'd start to wonder if it's worth being a member. Just something to think about...

Of course, we could try talking Scott & Big Dog into being honorary Marylanders for a while and let them take a shot at it...    

 

 

Again just bring this thread up to the front. See if any one starts paying attention.

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