|
Grex > Helpers > #140: Grex System Problems - Spring 2005 | |
|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 457 responses total. |
naftee
|
|
response 313 of 457:
| 
May 31 16:27 UTC 2005 |
Thanks, jep !
|
mary
|
|
response 314 of 457:
|
May 31 16:29 UTC 2005 |
That we know of there is only one staff member left on Grex who has the
skills to work through this issue. That's STeve. STeve knows about the
problem. I have to assume his life is very busy or he'd be working on it.
There is no estimate on when this will be fixed.
|
albaugh
|
|
response 315 of 457:
|
May 31 21:20 UTC 2005 |
The following is not to put pressure on STeve. But despite my own level of
"eh" re: newuser being shut off, it's not very tenable that grex, with its
stated mission, a) should be running for an extended period of time with
newuser down, and b) should have only *ONE* staffer able to address the
situation.
|
tod
|
|
response 316 of 457:
|
May 31 21:28 UTC 2005 |
Perhaps Cyberspace should dissolve itself.
|
nharmon
|
|
response 317 of 457:
|
May 31 21:31 UTC 2005 |
Perhaps we need more volunteer sysadmins?
|
albaugh
|
|
response 318 of 457:
|
May 31 21:41 UTC 2005 |
If it dissolved itself, would that really be a "solution"? ;-)
|
mary
|
|
response 319 of 457:
|
May 31 22:25 UTC 2005 |
It's a lot easier to be provocative than to find reasonable solutions.
|
naftee
|
|
response 320 of 457:
|
Jun 1 00:18 UTC 2005 |
i volunteer.
|
slynne
|
|
response 321 of 457:
|
Jun 1 00:24 UTC 2005 |
resp:315 as it happens, I agree with you. I cant think of any good
solutions though. I dont personally have the time to learn how to fix
grex's issue myself. I dont know anyone else who might have the skills
and who would be willing to help out. I wish I did.
|
jep
|
|
response 322 of 457:
|
Jun 1 13:11 UTC 2005 |
Yeah, identifying the problem in this case is easier than fixing it.
Grex's staff has been very exclusive and non-trusting of other users.
It's worked pretty well in the past, but now that they're losing
interest and dropping off in activity level, there are no replacements
and no method for bringing in any new staff members. It might be a
good idea for the Board to put some serious thought into the matter and
formulate a plan of some kind. I know the idea has been mentioned in
coop before, but nothing came of it.
Mdw and valerie are gone, janc and steve are about half here (with
amazing bursts of energy at times), i just keeps cranking along
invisibly but isn't participating in conferences much any more. With
all due respect for all of these people, they don't seem like active
users in Grex's current environment. It's harder to imagine any of
them returning to active participation than just going away. When they
do, or at least if they do, who runs Grex?
|
mary
|
|
response 323 of 457:
|
Jun 1 15:49 UTC 2005 |
I think there are some important questions that deserves to be mentioned,
like, why should a qualified person want to volunteer their time for Grex?
Is the sense of community persuasive enought to be worth the effort? Is
the time donated appreciated? Do they like the people that will benefit
from their generosity? Is Grex a fun place worthy of support?
It may not be the fault of the staff and potential volunteer that we're in
this pickle.
|
other
|
|
response 324 of 457:
|
Jun 1 16:04 UTC 2005 |
Mary has a good point. Anyone doing a simple cost/benefit analysis of
being root staff of grex would be have to be either crazy to do it, or
they'd very likely have some kind of agenda. In either case, they're
not very attractive candidates for the job. That leaves only those who
are really interested in the job, or at least in the skills that having
the job will help develop (like a healthy insensitivity to harsh and
worthless criticism).
|
nharmon
|
|
response 325 of 457:
|
Jun 1 16:20 UTC 2005 |
From looking at http://www.grex.org/staffnote/, one would get the
impression that Grex is overflowing with staff members. And this might
discourage people from volunteering. Perhaps we can trim this list?
Re: 323 and 324, We all understand Grex Board's reluctance to just hand over
the keys to someone they don't know. This is why it is necessary to constantly
bring in new volunteers, people who gradually are trusted with more of the
system. But that doesn't seem to be happening. How many people on the list
of Grex staff started working as staff in the past 2 years?
|
mary
|
|
response 326 of 457:
|
Jun 1 16:35 UTC 2005 |
That list is out of date. Current staff, as I know it:
steve (STeve Andre)
kip (Kip deGraff)
gelinas (Joe Gelinas)
i (Walter Cramer)
cross (Dan Cross)
spooked (Michelangelo Giansiracusa)
arthurp (Charles Mitchell)
remmers (John Remmers)
mdw (Marcus Watts)
srw (Steve Weiss)
janc (Jan Wolter)
Of those eleven, three have are new to staff within the past two years.
I hope I haven't missed anyone.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 327 of 457:
|
Jun 1 17:11 UTC 2005 |
How many of these can fix newuser?
|
albaugh
|
|
response 328 of 457:
|
Jun 1 17:47 UTC 2005 |
If grex cannot fulfill its mission - which necessarily means having a working
newuser - then it has no business asking for donations to support that
mission. The board must realize this as being part of its responsibility to
address. If everyone is weary of grex for one reason or another, then fine,
turn off its nonexempt / charitible status, and turn it into a private club,
one which may or may not work at any particular time, depending on whether
or not anyone feels like addressing any problems which may crop up.
Call a spade a spade!
(this really belongs in coop, I know)
|
gull
|
|
response 329 of 457:
|
Jun 1 17:57 UTC 2005 |
Re resp:317: My understanding is you don't volunteer, you get invited.
Re resp:322: Given the beatings staff takes in the conferences, if I
were a staff member I'd probably avoid them, too.
|
eprom
|
|
response 330 of 457:
|
Jun 1 18:11 UTC 2005 |
I'm getting backtalk errors when I try to erase or hide a response
|
cross
|
|
response 331 of 457:
|
Jun 1 18:38 UTC 2005 |
This response has been erased.
|
jep
|
|
response 332 of 457:
|
Jun 1 18:41 UTC 2005 |
Mary, how many of your list are actively working on anything for Grex?
Loginids kip and mdw haven't logged in since February so I assume they
are "staff emeritus".
I am not familiar with the activities of the staff in general. I am
only aware of actions by i, steve and janc in the last 3 months. I
thought cross had resigned from staff, but if he's active, that's great.
I don't want to blame anyone for anything. The staff has done a
terrific job for years, and so has the Board. I do want to suggest
that, if the staff members we have can't keep Grex running, then
something needs to be done. Maybe Grex can ask for volunteers from the
users. The newuser program is critical to Grex. I suggest it's
important enough to the survival of Grex that it's worth changing
Grex's time honored practices in order to get it working.
|
mary
|
|
response 333 of 457:
|
Jun 1 21:48 UTC 2005 |
That I know of there are only a couple of people on that list that know
the software well enough to fix newuser. And one of them is pretty much
not around.
I'm wondering, again, if it isn't time to drop PicoSpan and our newuser
program and go to Backtalk and Frontalk entirely. Now, I'm talking out of
ignorance here that Backtalk even has some type of an account setup
procedure that would allow us to dump newuser. But if so, it may make
sense. I know Jan has Backtalk working elsewhere on the web, what do
those systems use for account maintenance?
I'm very anxious to get newuser running. Even without some of the
damaged accounts restored. At least those affected would be able to
setup new accounts and again participate. We really, really must
make it a priority to not be using software or hardware that is
owned or configured in such a way that only one or two people can
dig us out if there are problems.
|
naftee
|
|
response 334 of 457:
|
Jun 1 22:28 UTC 2005 |
re 322 You're making yourself invisible by having your responses deleted.
oops
|
cross
|
|
response 335 of 457:
|
Jun 2 01:15 UTC 2005 |
This response has been erased.
|
keesan
|
|
response 336 of 457:
|
Jun 2 01:48 UTC 2005 |
I think grex is nearly perfect the way it is, apart from the broken newuser
and an occasional crash.
|
mary
|
|
response 337 of 457:
|
Jun 2 02:15 UTC 2005 |
After speaking with John this evening, about the newuser program, I
realize I really don't know enough about it to suggest changes. Moving to
Backtalk we'd still need newuser. It's not there just for Picospan. I'm
learning.
|