I think a lot of good points have been made so far.
A couple of things come to mind:
a) Making MIA the central resource for all things Michigan Airsoft.
Content is king. I think we have already made some moves in the right direction here. If we can drum up interest and conversation the forums will heal themselves. To be honest, even the Facebook page has gotten stale lately. I find myself wandering over to the page multiple times a day looking for interesting content, just to find nothing. I've always been more of a follower than a leader in that regard, I'm happy to give advice, answer questions, discuss opinions, etc. I think I'll be trying to generate more discussion threads here, and participate in active ones.
b) Statewide events
I love the idea of quarterly events around the state. How about "MIA Field Days", bring them back! Perhaps organizing a community swap meet or product show. There was mention of something earlier this year, but I never heard anything come of it.
c) Engaging new players, leading by example, expanding the community
Absolutely! The best thing you can do is to be friendly, get the kid in the hoodie and paintball mask to follow you into the bushes, or help clear a room. Talk about gear, share your experience. A lot of us already do this, as was said "Lead by example" don't judge.
Also, you'd be surprised by the people around you that might be interested in the hobby. I've recruited a coworker and his son, and two different coworker's husbands into airsoft. Hell, we're practically building an office league over here. What's crazy, is these guys are all over 40, go figure.
So yeah, be an AMBASSADOR to airsoft and MIA.
d) What is the end goal of this conversation?
I think everyone is going to find something different here, to some a research resource, to others a way to interact with people across the state, still others might find a team or guys they want to play with and get to know in person on the field. To Gimpalong's point,
Is this conversation about getting people back to the forums and participating in the knowledge base?
Is this conversation about increasing the number of a "big game"/scenario/milsim events?
Is this conversation about addressing the fragmentation of the community and figuring out a way to bring people together?
Is this conversation about trying to foster a tighter, less antagonistic community?
I believe it to be all of the above.
Okay---so the last part...
![Shocked :o](https://www.miairsoft.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
As was said above, Michigan Airsoft (MiA) is not a team, hosting organization, or a field. We are an non-profit, loose organization, made up of airsoft players, event hosts, fields, retailers, and teams. Granted, Michigan Airsoft has been viewed as "elitest" in the past. I'm not sure why either. There is a non-centralized leadership structure for the organization, but again it's not centralized. There is no one single entity in charge and that is going back to the old proboard days.
Let me preface this: The following is an insane thought, I know the implications are far reaching, and incredibly complicated and I may get grilled for saying any of this, but here goes--
![Lips sealed :-X](https://www.miairsoft.org/Smileys/default/lipsrsealed.gif)
d) MIA isn't a team, an authority or sanctioning body.
Should it be? Or has the opportunity passed us up at this point? I'm sure this discussion was had years ago. It has so much potential to be a sticky subject. I'm sure many cringe at the idea of trying to form an organized NPO. If MIA had that level of organization, what could it do to affect positive change in the community?
If you look at it like companies look at things like ISO and similar regulatory bodies. It has potential to standardize, organize, sanction, sponsor, and certify. MIA would become a huge part of the community in a ton of new ways, strengthen Airsoft as an industry in State of Michigan (heck as scary as it is, it could go as far as lobbying in the State legislature, imagine things like tax breaks to small businesses, grants or loans for startups, even allocation of public lands for public fields...)
MIA would have to partner with shops, fields, teams--everyone, and those would become a part of MIA in a new way. In the same way things like ISO are like that, you join it, you comply, you become a partner, it becomes you, you become it.
Okay---you may need to go an wash after reading that dirty mess of an idea.
Sorry.