Posted by Peter H on December 09, 2005 at 20:49:01 from 86.130.120.0 user Peter_H.
A volunteer-assisted project offers its participants two important rewards:
a) the satisfaction inherent in working for 'the cause',
b) an opportunity to be 'a more important person' while working for the organisation than in the rest of one's life.
When all is going well, the satisfaction to be obtained from (a) and (b) can be therapeutic. When either reward is threatened, all hell can break loose. Those for whom (b) is more important than (a) become the most obnoxious.
The above statement is by Jock. I thought it was such an accurate and helpful summary of one of the problems that I have taken the liberty of extracting it from the end of a long thread and re-posting it.
Note that Jock's summary can apply to any volunteer-driven society, but if anyone wishes to comment further on the possible hazards of adults reading AR and forming organisations devoted to him, please do. I have found the responses so far extremely helpful and in a strange way, rather cheering. A problem identified is a problem half-solved, perhaps?