[amsat-bb] How AMSAT uses Twitter to make AO-92 mode-change notifications...

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi.

Last night, the @AMSAT Twitter account apparently retweeted a notice from
Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA, AMSAT's Vice President of Operations, that the
normally-scheduled AO-92 mode change would not take place until this
morning. I did not see this. Even though Drew's initial AO-92 announcement
was retweeted by the @AMSAT Twitter account, I was not able to view it
because Drew blocked my @WD9EWK Twitter account from seeing anything
originating from his @glasbrenner account. Drew did this as a result of my
encouraging AMSAT and ARRL to do more about the DMR hotspot interference
that AMSAT reported last August, and Drew's initial weak response (only
encouraging everyone to contact the hotspot operators). Drew changed his
tune a couple of weeks later, encouraging everyone to contact him about
DMR hotspot interference to our satellites, when he appeared on Amateur
Radio Newsline:

https://www.arnewsline.org/news/2018/9/6/amateur-radio-newsline
-report-2132-for-friday-september-7th-2018

The script for that edition of Newsline is at:

https://www.arnewsline.org/s/nsln2132.txt

Despite this change of tune, my Twitter account remains blocked from
viewing tweets from the @glasbrenner account for the past 6 or 7
months.

This was not the first time Drew has chosen to have the @AMSAT Twitter
account retweet something from his personal Twitter account, instead
of using the @AMSAT Twitter account to make this sort of announcement.
Drew has done this on two other occasions in the past 3 weeks for
announcements on AO-92 mode changes. There have been other occasions
where the @AMSAT account retweeted the AO-92 mode-change announcements
from Mark Hammond N8MH. I am able to see those, but that doesn't change
my opinion on how AMSAT should handle these notifications.

I know I can always go to the AMSAT web site and look at the status page
for AO-92 to see the status of the satellite, including whether or not
the L-band uplink is active. If AMSAT is only going to use its Twitter
account to make these announcements, and not post them on the AMSAT-BB
list or the AMSAT web site, these tweets from AMSAT really need to
originate from the @AMSAT Twitter account. This was done earlier last
week, when the @AMSAT Twitter account announced new pricing on the 2018
Getting Started books:

https://twitter.com/AMSAT/status/1108171995697606656

and the one-day sale on AMSAT T-shirts:

https://twitter.com/AMSAT/status/1108368893914030081

What Drew does with his personal Twitter account is Drew's business. It
becomes an AMSAT issue when he is using his personal Twitter account to
make announcements on behalf of the organization, and not everyone has
access to those announcements. I have tried to address issues related to
how Drew manages the @AMSAT Twitter account over the past few months with
a few AMSAT officers and Board members, and have either been greeted with
silence to my inquiries, contempt for daring to question AMSAT, or
outright dismissal in one case. I don't have a problem with AMSAT using
its Twitter account for these announcements, as long as AMSAT makes the
announcements so *everyone* can see them. Otherwise, the AMSAT-BB list
or the AMSAT web site may be better avenues to make announcements about
the status of AMSAT's satellites that all can see.

Thank you.






Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK
Scottsdale, Arizona