Although I still read these forums regularly, I haven’t been posting for a while. Though my intention, for the moment, is still to refrain from participating to AAm forums, I would like to make an exception here and offer some suggestions since this is clearly getting ridiculously complicated for no reason. I feel that well-intentioned AAm members just got lost in useless considerations and I would like to offer a few thoughts and suggestions which, I hope, will be helpful.
Planning
I believe that, from the start, this whole plan has been executed in a hurry for no valid reason. Insisting on donating the money in conjunction with the auction was a useless stress for everyone. All the originally stated goals (the very reason why people decided to go ahead with this donation) could have been achieved even if the money was given days, weeks, or even months after the auction. I mention this because although there was an unexpected event that complicated matters (Alizée’s terminated involvement with the association), people in charge of AAm should still understand that an event like this cannot be rushed.
<
EDIT:Meaning that the fact that Alizée’s involvement with the association turned sour and did cause some complications, the people in charge should not be blind to the fact that this effort was none the less rushed and poorly planned for no valid reason.>
This type of effort requires good planning and, at least, a basic official plan that should be followed. This was, after all, an AAm effort and there should have been an official specific thread where the general idea and all the pertinent information should have been clearly presented. In that thread members should have been officially invited to participate and enough time (like a month) should have been allowed so members could read about it and decide if they wanted to participate.
Of course, at the beginning of the process, an opened discussions on how to best proceed with all interested members allowed to participate is a good idea, but since AAm forums does not have a private section (opened to all members, but not to the public) all this running around and unplanned decision making happened and is still happening publicly. I believe this is a very bad idea. Such discussions should be of AAm members concern only. The only thing that should have been public is that well organized, well though of official thread I referred to above.
Alizée’s involvement and response
The donators didn’t originally want to get Alizée (nor her team, I suppose) involved, but at some point, it was deemed necessary to do so. Her team did reply in a positive manner to this “terrible intrusion” in Alizée’s life. I would suggest people get over it now. This was not an intrusion into Alizée’s private life, neither was it an unreasonable demand on AAm’s part. Actually, it was an insignificant investment of her (or her team) time to simply reply to AAm and to acknowledge AAm efforts on her FB. The latter was certainly a nice gesture on their part, but, really, there was nothing sensational in the way Alizée (or her team) responded to AAm’s effort so far. I believe it is only Alizée’s usual lack of communication that makes their response seem so spectacular and exciting for many AAm members and I would suggest, again, getting over it and concentrating on finishing the job.
Why all the confusion?
There is no need for AAm members (especially Scruffy, who has invested so much time and efforts) to waste all this time and energy. People shouldn’t be running in circles wondering what Alizée thinks or where she is, or when she will reply, or did she read this message, or that one... I would say the best thing to do right now is to just contact Alizée (or her team) through any of the channels that seem reasonable and be done with it. I would suggest replying to the email Scruffy received from
Alizée Team is the best communication channel right now. I would not hesitate to clearly ask how and where the money can be sent as many times as necessary. One message per week, or so, until a reply is received does not seem unreasonable to me. If Alizée feels that AAm is asking too much of her when all that is needed is for her (or her team) to let AAm know how to make sure the money goes to JB’s family, then I would say Alizée is not the person most people here think she is and maybe she is not worth all this admiration and worshipping. Also, if Alizée does not support JB anymore (that would be contrary to what she has publicly stated) or she believes the family does not need the money anymore, then she can simply let AAm know about it. With that information, the AAm donators can then decide where to go with this. Until there is a clear indication of what Alizée (or her team) are officially stating regarding this specific issue, all the speculation is useless. If, after a month or so, there is still no response, I think the money should be returned to anyone who wants out and the ones still inclined to pursuing this can keep at it (through PM) until they feel they had enough.
Online translations
I put this last, but it is still very important: Google translations do not work for this kind of purpose. They really do not work, ... really! The Google translations posted in this thread were appalling, so much so that some sentences did not make any sense at all.
First, I would suggest communicating with Alizée (or her team) exclusively in French. Myself, I would try to be concise and clearly state what it is that is wanted from her. The other considerations have been stated already, so, there is no need for anymore explanations and details. This should be an administrative matter; how and where to send the money, that’s it.
The text should be revised by someone who can actually understand the language. If Bigdan is not available and there is no one else who can help, the text can be sent to me through PM and I will translate it. Note that I am presently on vacation, so I might not reply right away... but again, there is no emergency here.
Hoping this is of some use.
