Yes but.... more on "blogs and associations"

Thanks Ben, Lisa and Matt, for your comments on my last post about blogs and associations. I agree that "keeping all your bloggy eggs in one basket" might be a good idea.

But, I remembered this post where Acronym (since we're taking that as the über-example) requested feedback from its readers about its form and content, and got lots of that feedback (30 comments' worth!), plus this post from David Gammel. There were several comments in which people thought there should be more posts about its associated (natch) association, ASAE and the Center, and also, perhaps, a separate ASAE blog (given the general consensus that Acronym seemed very tied in to the Associations Now magazine, not least because of Scott Briscoe and Lisa Junker being major contributors/editors etc to both).

A few excerpts (my emphasis):

Here's Scott Briscoe: "Ben - I'm having a hard time reconciling some of your suggestions with one of the goals of Acronym, which is that it be about the association management profession, not about ASAE & The Center. We've been fortunate in that it has been rare that the blog has strayed in that direction. The PR and GR seem especially close to slippery slope material. I've wondered recently if ASAE & The Center should have a blog focused on organizational activities, providing a formal place for those dialogs to happen... but I'd want that separate and apart from Acronym."

And Ben's response: "Scott, ASAE & The Center is an inseparable part of the association management profession. In many ways it is like a proxy for the association management profession. What y'all do profoundly affects all of us, and despite ASAE's recent best efforts, there are still transparency issues to overcome. ... I don't disagree with the suggestion that that conversation could be separated from this one..."

And Virgil Carter: "Scott, I think you are very right to suggest that it is important to have clear and distinguishing editorial policies for all of ASAE & the Center's (or anyone's) publications, including Acronym. That is certainly what most of us do with our own association publications. I like the thought that Acronym is about the profession (OK, include the theory and practice, if that helps) of association management. It's not about the policies and operations of an organization called ASAE & the Center (in my judgement). If ASAE wants (or needs) a publication or blog on its aspirations and performance concerning business and governance operations, that's a fine idea. But brand it and locate it so that there's a clear (transparent) purpose for one and all to understand about the publication.

And here's Matt's comment: "I like the idea of a separate blog about ASAE as an organization. At the same time, I still wouldn't mind seeing posts by ASAE staff (like you Scott and Lisa) talking about what they do and their opinions on association stuff in general. ASAE is afterall an association too."

Sorry to play devil's advocate here!

But - it seems to me that a decent segment of Acronym's readership wants more content about ASAE. However, several people think that should be a separate association blog. So I think we have no consensus on this issue yet! Which means, that even though you could say it depends on the particular association you are talking about, even in this one obvious example the camps are divided and the issues are not entirely clear.