…then it’s time to demonstrate your affection in a tangible, visible way.
How? By taking a deep breath or two, for starters. And then by stepping away for a bit & giving David and Eva a bit of breathing room while they wrestle with some big decisions on their own.
I’ve been stunned and amazed at the affection and genuine goodwill Eva and David have generated over the last two and a half years. And I’ve been enthusiastically participating in the drum beating efforts to rally the tech community (among others) to support CubeSpace — even as it’s sparked a huge guilt trip of my own. Shouldn’t I have been putting some money where my mouth is all along? Couldn’t I have done more to clean up after meetings & events so they didn’t have to hire extra cleaning help afterwards, for example? (From what I’m reading elsewhere, I’m not the only one dealing with the ‘coulda-shoulda’s’ here.)
So here’s what I want to say to you all. Thank you to everyone who’s jumped in to raise money — from the tip jars to online auctions to the awesome pie-raising Whiffies party Sunday night. (Side note: those pies are pretty frakin’ amazing; go give Whiffies some love soon!) And thanks to everyone who’s raised their voices to shout out your support for CubeSpace. I know just how much it means to David and Eva, because they’ve told me so. They’re humbled and amazed at the outpouring of support, and touched at how much love the community — their community — is showering on them.
Here’s what they won’t tell you now, though.
(But I will, ’cause I’m bossy like that…! You knew that already though, right?)
Please stop. Stop twittering about CubeSpace. Stop beating the fund raising drums. Stop strategizing about how to reconfigure their business, or suggesting how things might have been different if they’d just listened to your words of wisdom. Stop demonizing big bad U.S. Bank while you’re at it. Stop until we get an update from David or Eva.
We’re at the point where our passion and enthusiasm and loud voices aren’t helping any more. And the ones we’re hurting most are the two people we really care about here. Yes, I’m talking about Eva & David. Can you imagine what it’s like to be living underneath a magnifying glass while everyone else dissects your life’s work, and/or kills you with kindness? We’re suffocating them here, people.
How can we help right now? By thinking good thoughts. Silently wishing them strength and love. Zipping our lips & stepping away from the keyboard for a bit. And then by being patient. There’s nothing more that really needs to be said by now; David & Eva will update us when they can.
Might I suggest moving along to this if you really need to get some passionate energy out somewhere. Or, if you’d like, you can flame me all you want in the comments (I’m teflon, baby. TEF-LON!)
I’d suggest you save your breath if you’re just going to call me a cold, heartless bitch, though. Been there, heard that…!
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I agree wholeheartedly. At this point, Eva and David have very difficult decisions to make, and we need to give them plenty of room to make them. Step back, take a deep breath, and wait for them to let us know what they have decided about the future of their business. It is their business, and they need to decide what next steps are most appropriate for them.
Excellent advice. Sometimes continuing to beat on something isn’t the best option. Also a good point re not demonizing U.S. Bank. Give them all a chance to work something out that works for them.
RE: passionate energy being focused elsewhere…If that can mean asking what the hell MIPO was thinking when they came up with those category names for the event, I’m all for that. Seriously, what the hell?!?
Darn, I’m all done ranting for the day…
Agree completely… in my mind, the community was successful at what needed to happen (which was on Friday, by getting US Bank to come to the table with a serious offer). Beyond that, it’s a matter for Eva and David to discuss with the legal folks, and I fully intend to support them with whatever option they choose. Doing any sort of Monday-morning quarterbacking of their business plan isn’t going to be productive.
Well … yes to giving David and Eva the space. But I don’t have any energy to tear into MIPO or Proposition 8. I have CodeCamp slides to prepare, a jazz concert to go to (http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2678929/) and hundreds of new followers on Twitter to figure out.
This last thing has me baffled, by the way. I am getting ten or so new followers an hour, and they *aren’t* coming from some robot, unless there’s a new type of robot out there. These appear to be real human beings, etc. Did Twitter change something else?
Thank you for sounding the bell of reason here, particularly including the “killing with kindness” aspect. Great advice to just let them take it from here and figure out what their best move is. Whatever they decide, they will always be met with the highest regard.
This… is why I love Betsy.
as for dear Edborasky:
“I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it. I’m swamped.”
MIPO, wtf were they thinking?!?!
Great post, Betsy, and thank you so much for writing it.
I’d suggest that our righteous anger be directed at Idolgate (b/c, omg, power texting!).
OMG WTF is Idolgate? And what righteous anger? I’m all out of it — too busy preparing for the future, because, as Criswell said, ‘The future is where you will spend the rest of your lives.” Or, to quote Kehlog Albran, “I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer.”
Did you know that WTF is FTW spelled backwards?
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