I wasn't expecting to post another entry to this blog, but I thought I'd reach out one different way to see what might happen. As most regular readers know, I am also the owner of the PERS Discussion Group (POD) on Google Groups. That group, through its various incarnations, has existed for 15 years providing more real time discussion of issues of interest to PERS members, PERS retirees, and PERS beneficiaries. For the same reason that I'm stopping this blog to new content, I have reached a time in my life where I am simply not willing to continue following PERS. The pandemic has totally discombobulated our lives, and I am hoping that very soon we will be able to resume our rigorous traveling schedule. That schedule does not include keeping abreast of all things PERS, or of trying to maintain a newsgroup. The blog can stand on its own as an historical record available to be researched for topics of interest to anyone so inclined. A newsgroup is an entirely different matter. It isn't that it requires a lot of work (maybe 30 minutes a week at the least), but it does require attention to the various notices and announcements that come out, occasionally checking in on the group to see if someone has misbehaved and posted some inappropriate content, and making sure that updates are done in compliance with Google's changing rules.
I have announced on POD that my time as group owner ends, by my decision, on December 31, 2021. If no one takes over leadership of the group, on January 1, 2022 the group will cease to exist. This means that more than 1300 members will be left adrift with no extant source for getting the latest information about PERS, or with any source to answer questions about changes that are either proposed or actual in the PERS system. This may not be of consequence to you personally, but believe me, there are still many changes that COULD be made to PERS that would have an adverse impact on active and inactive members, and I'm not sure that everything has been tried to go after those already retired. Many people have participated in the POD group, and there is a treasure trove of information contained in the more than 1500 different conversations there. It will take a push of a button to make all of this history go away - something I'd rather not see happen, but it is no longer my concern if it does.
Not coincidentally, one of the side projects of POD was the creation of a document library, lovingly curated by Greg Scott, which vanished about 4 years ago because Greg found other things to better occupy his time, and the resources for maintaining the library dried up. That library curated more than 3000 documents related to PERS, PERS history, Legislation, and Litigation. I have an archive of the 3100 or so documents that are available, on request, from the library. That, too, is part of POD and access will also disappear on January 1, 2022.
This is all a very roundabout way of saying that one of these days there will be an entire cohort or two that would miss the existence of these resources, and would have absolutely no idea of how and why PERS is the way it is today, and why bad things are happening to good people. This can be totally avoided, but it requires someone (or some people) to come forward to take over the day-to-day running of POD. It is best the sooner it can happen because I'm still available to help assist in the transition, make the introductions, grease the skids with people who are important contacts in various places.
Consider this truly my last post on this subject. Consider this a warning that if the group disappears, Google does not archive its contents, and all will be lost to the bit bucket in the sky. One or more volunteers can prevent this from happening. One or more volunteers can prevent a whole group of people from having to reinvent the wheel. One or more volunteers can avoid you taking the long way home. The choice is yours.
