I find I am leery of anyone who speaks freely implying that they voice the needs, desires, intents or concerns for a group. I am more and more wary of a non elected person who professes general attitudes for a loosely knit community or club like vegetarian societies or letterboxing groups.
It has gotten me into trouble, more than once, when I have taken an individual's proclamation on something and found that they falsely represented the "we" they spoke for. One time, it turned out a planter's letterboxes were hidden in a poison ivy patch. I dropped the planter a matter of fact note recognizing that locations change over the years but wanted them to know about the abundance of poison ivy; no harm, no foul. Then one of the planter's hiking buddies wrote to me stating, "We were really embarrassed that you found our letterboxes that way." I quickly dropped another email, making sure that the planter knew it wasn't a big deal to me and apologizing for the embarrassment. It turns out they weren't fazed in the least and were just as matter of fact about it as we had originally been. The hiking buddy over stated the concern they felt the planter had.
When an individual is unclear in stating who "we" includes, statements like, "This is how we do things," or "We don't do it that way," come across as mandates when they are frequently just regional or even personal preferences. Many informal communities don't have a larger governing body and it is misleading when someone represents themselves as a voice of authority when it is merely their outspoken opinion. New comers to such groups have been known to heed the over-arching statements as law and are later shocked to find that the local rubric or even jargon is not global.
It would be to everyone's benefit if a moment could be taken to clarify who the "we" is -- be it your family, local group, national chapter or the mouse in your pocket. It would allow literal information gatherers, like myself, to put the statements into proper perspective and give them the importance they deserve.
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