Your thoughts on AI: discussion goes here.

[blueangel]

Originally Posted by TrueBlueKappa

I am not trying to get in the middle of this, but I find it quite sad as well as obnoxious that you bring this up over and over again. No matter what the topic of the thread, if Tippiechick posts in it, you find a way to bring this up.

Everyone has dropped it except for you. You mention obsessed... and I think that's quite a fitting description for you.

Did I strike a nerve?

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I agree that private information and particularly ritual information should be kept private. However I feel the focus on here is wrong. Someone ASKING about the requirements for AI should be told to contact the GLO, yes. But we shouldn't get mad at the askers. We should get mad at people who tell the private information.

PNAMs should not have to ask - a simple "read this first" thread directing them to contact the sorority of their choice should be enough. Why get information on what a PNAM feels is very important from someone random on GC when you could go to the actual source, the sorority, and get the most accurate information possible?

They can email IHQ, ask if they have AI and if they qualify and if so, how do they begin the process and get all of the information they need through correct channels, NOT GC.

[TrueBlueKappa]

Originally Posted by ariesrising

PNAMs should not have to ask - a simple "read this first" thread directing them to contact the sorority of their choice should be enough. Why get information on what a PNAM feels is very important from someone random on GC when you could go to the actual source, the sorority, and get the most accurate information possible?

They can email IHQ, ask if they have AI and if they qualify and if so, how do they begin the process and get all of the information they need through correct channels, NOT GC.

Completely agree.

[Jen]

Even though people say contacting HQ can be the wrong thing - I contacted one b/c I didn't know their AI policy and I asked about it. They politely told me I had to know someone in the sorority and they didn't allow people to contact them to get introduced for AI and wished me well. They weren't offended I asked, I wasn't offended they told me I didn't qualify and it worked out just fine.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

Yes it is! I tried to get the information straight and post it!

That's my whole point, Tom... few here are qualified to give you the correct information in the first place. Just because one member on GC tells you something, it doesn't mean it is the correct information. Let the HQ's field the questions if someone is interested.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by OTW

Putting disagreements aside, I think this thread was one of the most civil discussions we've had about AI in a long time. That said, I hope that the mods don't move or lock this thread completely.

Take out the irrelevant posts from this thread, especially the ones intentionally thrown out there to bait people, but don't close the thread because it's not fair to those who tried to stay as drama-free as possible...who actually enjoy reading the comments here.

I agree, I hope it doesn't get closed, only pruned. This has been a very interesting discussion so far.

[polosandpearls]

I'm not anti-AI. I'm anti-sharing information about AI on an internet chat board. If anything, I think there should be a link to the chapter sites that have AI info on them. If there is no information, just simply say there's no information available to the public. That could cut out a lot of BS. Or then again, if someone wants something THAT bad, they can go to npcwomen.org and do some research.

Sorority life is NOT for everyone despite some of the politically correct crap you hear occasionally. Either you are invited to join a chapter with the recommendation of someone in your network, or you find something else you occupy your time.

Why is that so difficult to understand?

[indygphib]

I think PolosandPearls pretty much sums up my exact feelings on AI. I feel that an internet chatboard is an inappropriate place to seek out information/sponsorship/whatever in regards to AI. If a person is interested, she should contact the organization directly and not some random person on a chatboard.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

AI existed before GreekChat came along, women managed to get into contact with the appropriate people without the aid of GC. Or, more appropriately, the appropriate people were able to get into contact with the PNAI, since I do believe AI should be reserved for absorbed locals and for special cases, like a woman in the communtiy who helped the chapter along.

[Jen]

I would like to discuss the issue of AI and its place on Greekchat. Anyone else up for that?

[Jen]

I would like to discuss the issue of AI and its place on Greekchat? Anyone else up for that?

Originally Posted by indygphib

I think PolosandPearls pretty much sums up my exact feelings on AI. I feel that an internet chatboard is an inappropriate place to seek out information/sponsorship/whatever in regards to AI. If a person is interested, she should contact the organization directly and not some random person on a chatboard.

Ten pages of discussion (at 40 posts per page) echo this as well, with the exception of 3, maybe 4, individuals.

[BaylorBean]

Originally Posted by ariesrising

I would like to discuss the issue of AI and its place on Greekchat. Anyone else up for that?

I'm with you.....

Here are my feelings, I am not against AI and Sigma Kappa has gained many wonderful members through AI. But for there to be a forum here on GC there would have to be moderating above and beyond anything that anyone would have time to do. Too many women have come over the years who 1. seem to be doing it for the wrong reasons, 2. seem to be going about it the wrong way. Is there a right way? Well not really since each organization has a different way of doing things. This is why the PANM should know someone in the organization who can "guide" them and support them on this journy. AI is not something taken lightly and I think that is why so many have gotten up in arms about it lately. It is a very serious and special honor bestowed on someone who is felt to be deserving by MANY members, not just a handful, especially not by just ones on an internet chat board.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by BaylorBean

I'm with you.....

Here are my feelings, I am not against AI and Sigma Kappa has gained many wonderful members through AI. But for there to be a forum here on GC there would have to be moderating above and beyond anything that anyone would have time to do. Too many women have come over the years who 1. seem to be doing it for the wrong reasons, 2. seem to be going about it the wrong way. Is there a right way? Well not really since each organization has a different way of doing things. This is why the PANM should know someone in the organization who can "guide" them and support them on this journy.

Exactly! And if they don't know anyone in that organization, they can contact the orgs HQ. Or they can PRIVATE message someone on GC they think might be able to help them.

And I agree that the modding of the forum is a crazy undertaking and I would never want to do it. Although if I did it would be filled with locked posts lol.

[ReachTheLimit]

My dear Texas Princess, you didn't confuse me. I understood you perfectly...that is why I dissected your post.

It does, appear, however, that I thoroughly confused you.

Anyway, I have found this board to be very helpful in my AI process. I hope that it will continue. I feel that if you and the other anti-AI discussion, anti-AI forum, anti-AI, or whatever new title you are assigning yourself these days, are so against the AI forum, then why do you post in here every day, several times a day?

If someone gets the wrong information, so what? Doesn't that fall under the catagory of everything else that is found on the internet? You have to take it with a grain of salt and hope for the best. So far, the information I have found is 100% accurate just by reading months worth of threads. I use other sources besides GC.

I can't stand Michael Jackson...he's a child molester. Therefore, I don't watch his interviews, don't listen to his songs, and if he comes on TV, I change the channel. If he is on the cover of a magazine, I don't buy it, because if I do, I am supporting him.

Those that don't like the AI forum have a very easy way of getting rid of it, IGNORE IT.

Anyone who is persuing AI will be dealing with the local Alumnae chapter anyway. THANK GOD!

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I think it has been mentioned before that RUSH and AI are two completely different things so to compare them is inaccurate.
I just wanted to make a clarification here that I never compared the two.
The main argument against having an AI forum is that anything that isn't on the GLO's website is ritual and shouldn't be discussed on GC.
I was merely stating a fact that details of how the bid-matching process works, I have never found, to be on any GLO's website, yet it is discussed in great detail on GC.

If you are saying "the rush forum has this, so AI should have this too" then you are pretty much implying that it's about the same thing, which it is not. Rush is the main form of recruiting new members. AI is not.

The bid-matching process is not found on any GLOs website... and why should it be? What a waste of bandwith if the pnm could ask a Rho Gamma. Heck, I don't even think I fully understand bid matching.

The bid matching process is not member selection information, it is telling everyone how the process works - i.e. if you put ABC first on your bid card and ABC puts you on their first list, there's a chance you'll have a match. That is not at all stating *what made ABC want to put the pnm on their first list*.

Again, Rush is the main form of recruitment. AI, however, is not.

Adpiucf made a wonderful point in some other thread that NPC sororities do not mainly recruit in the alumnae world. Recruitment is done at the collegiate level.

I just want to clarify that i never said that AI's mainly recruit from the alumnae world. In fact, I haven't seen anyone post that yet.

I never said you did... just going back to the fact that Rush is NPC's main form of recruitment. AI, however, is not.

AI is not the "wave of the future" when it comes to recruitment - it is an exceptional circumstance in which a woman is offered membership because the alumnae organization pursued her due to outstanding community contributions/contributions to the professional world/contributions to the sorority.
I never said it was the "wave of the future".

Once again, I never said you said that... just going back to the fact that Rush is the NPC's main form of recruitment and AI is a very exceptional circumstance.

It is one thing to tell a pnm where she can get recs, what is appropriate to wear, how NOT to behave, etc so that she can go into recruitment and find a mutual match in Sorority World. This information is not membership selection in any sorority. It's common sense. Don't go into Sorority Skit Night wearing a bikini and talking about how you slept with 65231265 guys in high school.

I think you just made my point here. When you are telling a PNM that would otherwise be the type of women to sleep with every Tom, Dick and Harry and openly discuss her sexual conquests with anyone that will listen, you are actually encouraging her to not be herself and to hide information or else she won't get a bid. So on 'bid day' you get an image of a sister, and not the one you really got.

Umm no I didn't make any of your points, thankyouverymuch. If a girl wants to go into recruitment and talk about that, more power to her! Maybe she will find a home in sorority world. For all we know there might be a chapter of XYZ who thinks she's still a great girl and gives her a bid. That's XYZ's business on why they do or don't bid her. (membership selection info!)

There are several AIs here that are hiding info about themselves (interesting hobbies, the fact that they are sorority shopping...) and you can bet your bottom dollar if some of that info was given to the groups being pursued they would drop those AIs like a bad habit.

The whole point of that part of my post is that AI is DIFFERENT than RUSH. RUSH is different than AI.

Information such as the info I posted before is the stuff you mentioned being in the RUSH forum.

Furthermore, membership criteria is spelled out for pnms on most of the sororities websites or Greek Life websites. You can't have a 1.0 and expect to get invites from all the houses. You need to understand the financial implications of joining a sorority. You need to understand that a sorority will also take up some of your time. You need to understand that by joining a sorority, you will likely have to do philanthropic work. Once again, no membership selection top secret stuff here and this information is readily available on credible websites.

I would probably have to say that if you joined a sorority as an AI, shouldn't you want to be a member that would have to participate? Otherwise, what would be the point? Obviously, you have to pay fees to join, a local alumnae chapter should never, ever AI someone who won't participate after initiation.

Ummm yea. Once again, I think you're missing the bigger picture because you dissected every sentence in my last post.

That was referring to RUSH. Not AI. That is info that pnms can find in the Rush forum, or by talking to the Rho Gammas, or by talking to the sororities themselves.

That info is part of the "requirements" of UNDERGRAD membership that is not membership selection information. (hence not top secret)

It is quite another thing to ask about the "requirements" of AI for sororities on an internet chat board, WHEN THAT INFORMATION IS NOT EVEN AVAILABLE ON THE HQ'S WEBSITES. I think that is the bit some people are just not getting.

If it's not on THEIR websites, why the hell should it be here? And who's the say the information posted by anonymous internet users is valid anyway?


When you say "Who's to say the information posted by anonymous internet users is valid anyway"...this could easily go for anyone that posts to GC. We just assume, if someone says that they are a member of Alpha Delta Pi, that they are, actually a member of ADiPi. Whenever an individual sorority members gives advice on the board, he or she is really speaking of how they do things at their school and at their chapter.


Yes you are right... and you know what they say about assuming? When you ASSUME, you make an A$& out of U and ME.

That is why in GC and Internet Land, you DO NOT discuss ritual. Because we don't know for sure who is really at the other end of the computer.

What is the point of taking someone's advice just because they had Greek Letters in their signature? How do you know that person is really in the organization he/she says she is? Or that they are even in a sorority to begin with? That doesn't mean anything. Anyone can come on here and put letters in their signature. That doesnt make them a member.

Which is why a lot of people don't want "AI policies" posted on GC, because unless it is coming from a "REPUTABLE SOURCE" those policies may be wrong.

For example, I can put Sigma Kappa letters in my signature and come back to this board and say "Sigma Kappa doesn't do AI". That doesnt make me a Sigma Kappa, and I don't even know what their official policy is on AI to begin with.

And just to let you know, there have been several "perps" who come on GC and pretend to be members of XYZ and eventually they do get found out. And at the same time, there are several members of GC who actually know each other IRL so they know they really are who they say they are.




Another poster had an excellent comment if you limited your discussion on GC to what was easily found on the GLO's websites, that would have a severe impact of what you could discuss on GC.


I never said anything about limiting discussion to what was on GLO's websites. You will find many things being discussed that are never really clear because some chapters do it one way, and other chapters do it another.

They will say things like "my chapter does it this way" and someone else will say "my chapter does it this other way".

Until they get official word from their HQ on how that is supposed to be done, everyone will be just talking in circles and doing things they way that they have been.

Many HQ have official policies on AI. The official policies are not shared with the general public in any way, shape, or form. If they wanted this information to be shared with everyone, they would do so. If the information is not shared to the general public, it's not shared for a reason, so who's to say I should come up to GC and say "This is how my sorority does AI. Oh! And if anyone is interested, send me a pm!" I am not an authority in my sorority, and I will leave it up to them to decide how they want to handle AI and who they want to share that information with.

I don't see anything wrong with asking general questions about AI membership requirements. All organizations have them. I would assume one would have to have a college degree, do they take graduate students, is their an age limit, does the sorority that they want to AI have to be at their alma mater, etc. These types of questions are so silly and general I can't imagine a National would "freak out" over them being discussed on GC.

See above.

It is nobody's business what my or other sorority's policies are on AI except OUR OWN.

And while there are thousands of registered users on GC, only a very tiny percentage of them even post on here to begin with. Most of the "regulars" are actually posting in this very thread.

I think that this hits the nail on the head. If a "very tiny percentage" of posters that are members of a sorority post wanting to do away with the AI forum, how do we know that you speak for your national as a whole? We don't. I think if something was that important to a sorority, I could understand national not wanting to give credibility to GC, but you would think sorority members would be coming here by the hundreds.

Once again, I didn't make any of your points. You make me giggle.

I said a very tiny percentage of registered users post out of the thousands that you claim must not mind AI because they are not voicing their opinions on this thread. That's because thousands of registered users don't ever post at all!

Many sororities have national officers who frequent GC. But what is the point of them posting when we don't really know who it is FOR SURE.

I can make up a screen name with the name of my International President and say "Our sorority doesn't share AI information because we don't do it." That doesn't make the me international prez. That also doesn't make the information I posted correct.

This goes back to my point above that this is an internet chat board. Seriously. It's not the NPC Alumnae Convention.

I thought using paragraphs would nicely organize my thoughts, but alas, it looks like I just confused you because you missed the big picture of the original post.[/quote]