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| Author |
Message |
mary
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Paying for Work on Next Grex
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Dec 11 17:22 UTC 2003 |
Is it time we contracted and paid for technical work Grex needs done? I
know, radical stuff. We've not gone there before, ever, that I know of.
We've always been quite proud of the fact we existed and thrived on the
gift of volunteer time. But that's not working so well for us at the
moment. Maybe it's time to carefully choose where we need some work done,
find out what it would cost us, see if anyone qualified wants the job, and
move on.
Could we get three hours of work for $250? What could be accomplished
with that time? Can we afford it? Can we afford not to?
This idea is not in any way intended to slight our volunteer staff. Far
from it. They have priorities and, rightfully so, Next Grex isn't up
there with paying the bills and spending time with growing children.
But maybe it's both practical and fair to invest some money into moving
this project forward.
Whatcha think?
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| 122 responses total. |
jp2
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response 1 of 122:
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Dec 11 18:26 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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tod
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response 2 of 122:
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Dec 11 20:29 UTC 2003 |
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slynne
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response 3 of 122:
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Dec 11 21:34 UTC 2003 |
Why would this mean being cornered with a vendor/contractor. Isnt
setting up a system more work than maintaining it?
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remmers
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response 4 of 122:
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Dec 11 21:42 UTC 2003 |
#1 isn't really fair. Dan had some ideas about how the transition
should be organized, but he'd already outlined those ideas, they
mostly involved other people doing the work, and Dan wouldn't have
been available for a period of time in the near future anyway.
I'll have to think about #0 a bit, but my first thought is that
three hours wouldn't be enough to get much done and Grex couldn't
afford what it would cost to get the whole job done at market rates.
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willcome
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response 5 of 122:
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Dec 11 21:47 UTC 2003 |
Haha! Remmers's trying to defend his wife even when he knows she's in the
wrong.
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tod
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response 6 of 122:
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Dec 11 22:15 UTC 2003 |
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ryan
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response 7 of 122:
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Dec 11 22:26 UTC 2003 |
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jlamb
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response 8 of 122:
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Dec 11 22:28 UTC 2003 |
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mary
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response 9 of 122:
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Dec 11 22:53 UTC 2003 |
I believe at this point the operating system needs to be
loaded, there are version issues, and every step of the
setup is being documented.
I wasn't thinking along the lines of hiring unknown
(to Grex) techies, but rather paying one or some of
our current staff for a few hours of work, to jump-start
the project. I'm not even sure they'd have time to
fit in paying work.
I'm just otherwise so out of ideas on this one.
Thanks for the offer, ryan. I have a feeling if you
want staff to see your offer you'd be better off
entering it in garage, where Next Grex work is being
discussed.
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jlamb
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response 10 of 122:
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Dec 11 23:02 UTC 2003 |
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jlamb
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response 11 of 122:
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Dec 11 23:04 UTC 2003 |
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willcome
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response 12 of 122:
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Dec 11 23:15 UTC 2003 |
I volunteer. I'm skilful and mature.
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tod
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response 13 of 122:
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Dec 11 23:31 UTC 2003 |
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willcome
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response 14 of 122:
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Dec 11 23:48 UTC 2003 |
only sadly.
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bhoward
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response 15 of 122:
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Dec 12 00:51 UTC 2003 |
I've a standing offer open to help out on anything remaining to
be completed on nextgrex. Unfortunately, the one thing I
cannot help out with from afar is loading the basic OS and
getting it onto the net.
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gelinas
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response 16 of 122:
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Dec 12 00:55 UTC 2003 |
(Which really seems to be the sticking point right now.)
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jep
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response 17 of 122:
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Dec 12 02:38 UTC 2003 |
I'm not in favor of paying a staffer (or anyone else) for contracting
work for NextGrex. We're volunteer run and I can't see any reason why
that should change.
We were told a year ago that buying NextGrex was urgent, and then the
treasurer was pushed to buy everything quickly because it was urgent
to get everything into place. The urgency of the project failed as
soon as the stuff was all bought. I am not going to conceal that I,
for one, feel let down by the staff about it all. Maybe it really was
urgent and Grex is being left dangling; maybe someone panicked and
stampeded Grexers into sending money for no good reason. Maybe both.
But there you go. We all placed our trust in some people, and they...
well, they really didn't earn it. It does not mean they're bad
people. They're excellent people, and we were once lucky to have them.
Grex can't back out and get it's money back. No one can presently
move the project forward. We can't stay where we're at. There's not
enough will or outrage or responsibility (or something) to replace the
staffers with someone who *will* do the job. So here we sit, until
Grex dies and goes away, or someone does what they said a year ago
they'd do, or someone else takes over the project.
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gelinas
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response 18 of 122:
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Dec 12 04:04 UTC 2003 |
If we hadn't bought the hardware, we'd be even further from migrating. The
hardware purchased was advanced enough that we'll still get several years'
use of it after we migrate, even if it is a year old by the time we migrate.
I don't know that paying to get the project off the dime would help. I can
see how it _could_ help, though: Someone who has to choose between paying
the bills and working on grex could be influenced by being able to do both
at once.
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jlamb
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response 19 of 122:
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Dec 12 05:11 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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naftee
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response 20 of 122:
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Dec 12 05:15 UTC 2003 |
re 13 willcome considers the caps lock key as cheating and being unlucky.
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bhoward
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response 21 of 122:
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Dec 12 05:18 UTC 2003 |
I do not agree with John's harsh conclusion that staff has let us down
or that they have violated the trust of grex users. That strikes me as
wrong-headed and more than a little mean.
I also think arguments that there is some sort of expiry date on the
hardware we purchased are silly. Whatever the capacity of hardware
we purchase, the grex community would expand to use that capacity.
My guess is that the increase in capacity from the new hardware would
simply unmask some other constraint like network capacity or the like.
The more pressing issues in my view are those such as how to keep drawing
people in the conferences and how to redistribute staff workload more
evenly.
I do not think we can afford to hire someone to do the work and from what
I understand of the current situation, the issues limiting staff time
for work on nextgrex are not the sort that would go away by incentivizing
through some cash outlay. Even if they were, that is not how I'd like to
see the relationship between staff and the larger community redefined.
Right now staff are part of the community; throw in salaries and folks
start talking about violated contracts and "violated trusts".
What I would like to see is a confirmation of the specific requirements
necessary to see nextgrex into production and then a plan from the board
on how we are going to finish those off with existing staff resources.
If we can't get there from here with the staff resources on hand, I would
like the board to draw on volunteers from the larger grex community to
see this project through.
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aruba
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response 22 of 122:
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Dec 12 05:22 UTC 2003 |
I guess I pretty much agree with Bruce, but like Mary, I'm out of ideas for
how to move forward.
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naftee
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response 23 of 122:
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Dec 12 05:26 UTC 2003 |
But you have lots of ideas in moving backwards, don't you.
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jlamb
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response 24 of 122:
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Dec 12 05:27 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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