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Grex > Coop7 > #119: Nominations for the Cyberspace Board of Directors, Take 2 | |
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| 15 new of 89 responses total. |
davel
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response 75 of 89:
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Nov 20 22:19 UTC 1995 |
Um, Rane, from the point of view of the law you may be right - but that's not
the only reasonable point of view (and, arguably, not even a particularly
reasonable one). Grex was a bunch of people who got together for a while,
decided to put together a certain kind of system, & did so. They took the
step of incorporating, which put more limits on what could (*legally*) be
done. This doesn't mean that the legal standing of Grex is a complete or even
particularly good description of what Grex is or was.
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rcurl
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response 76 of 89:
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Nov 21 07:42 UTC 1995 |
Do you mean, the whole is more than the sum of its parts? How holistic!
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remmers
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response 77 of 89:
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Nov 21 12:02 UTC 1995 |
The incorporators decided on a contribution amount (equal to the
current membership dues) that would entitle people to be called
"members" by the incorporators and that would entitle them to
vote on bylaw adoption, run for the board, and be able to vote
in the first board election. The incorporators also agreed among
themselves to be bound by the outcome of those votes. So in that
sense Grex had members before it had a board.
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rcurl
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response 78 of 89:
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Nov 21 14:52 UTC 1995 |
Incorporators have a lot of power - *all* the power - to decide how
things will be done. That procedure was unusually open even for very
open volunteer organizations.
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dpc
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response 79 of 89:
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Nov 23 00:52 UTC 1995 |
And nobody really gives a rodent's hindquarters about what a tiny
group of people do with a small bbs until they get big and covered
with hair, like Grex is now! 8-)
I don't think anything but F2F meetings work for the Grex
Board, either. The dynamics of these meetings are critical for
successful decision-making and consensus-building. Sorry, kerouac,
but that's the brutal reality.
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mdw
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response 80 of 89:
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Nov 23 14:12 UTC 1995 |
I think it's safe to say that the original founders really hoped that
any important decisions would be made by the whole membership, and not
by the board or another small group of individuals, and bias shows in a
number of specific ways, such as the procedures for the initial vote,
the original membership quorum requirements, and indeed, the very
provisions for an online electronic voting system. The current drift
towards pushing more decision making responsibility onto the board is as
much a reflection of the wishes of the present membership as anything
else.
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rcurl
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response 81 of 89:
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Nov 23 21:44 UTC 1995 |
It is more a reflection of the growth of the membership, especially the
increasing number of members (which we solicit) who are not especially
interested in the day-to-day operation of the system. You cannot have both
a large, diverse, base of membership support of the system, and a small,
cohesive body of fully involved members. The latter was the founding basis
of the organization, but it is not one that can support a larger system.
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mdw
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response 82 of 89:
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Nov 24 19:46 UTC 1995 |
I think that's what I said, Rane. Nevertheless, if we aren't careful,
(ie, we just go with the drift), we will end up with a small inner
clique, divorced from the actual membership, that runs things and makes
many decisions that in fact run counter to the feelings of the general
membership. I'm sure I don't need to point out any examples of this.
But if we want to avoid the inevitable consequences of this, we need to
watch out for and fight this natural tendency. That means things like
electing board members who will reach out to and reflect the actual
wishes of the membership, making board meetings and discussions in coop
as open as possible, and generally doing whatever is feasible to counter
this.
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danr
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response 83 of 89:
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Nov 25 02:37 UTC 1995 |
I think you should have said, "continue to make board meeetings and
discussions in coop as open as possible." I think we do that now, and
do a pretty good job of it.
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steve
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response 84 of 89:
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Nov 25 03:27 UTC 1995 |
I think we do, too, and hope others agree with that.
I also think that until video conferencing comes about, it
will be truely important for a board member to be able to get
to board meetings each month. I'd be willing to see a board
meeting on-line sometime, but I expect there will be problems
doing that, given that we have only 11 dialin lines and 48
internet lines, and don't see how we could kick non-meeting
participants off the system the evening the meeting is.
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mdw
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response 85 of 89:
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Nov 25 08:35 UTC 1995 |
No, I meant "make". Sure, we've done a fair job in the past, but that
doesn't mean we can rest or stop doing it. Remember, human nature will
be always acting to push us downhill, there will always be new people
who come in, see a small group, and decide they can't be part of it.
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headdoc
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response 86 of 89:
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Nov 30 21:11 UTC 1995 |
With regret, I have to ask that my name be withdrawn from nomination for the
Board of Directors of Grex. The current state of affairs of my personal and
professional life do not leave room for the time commitment required for
service on the Board at this time. I am very pleased that we have such an
interesting and varied slate of candidates to choose from. Thank you for the
nomination. Audrey
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robh
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response 87 of 89:
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Nov 30 22:18 UTC 1995 |
I'm genuinely sorry to see you withdraw. I hope you'll stay
on-line, at least.
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remmers
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response 88 of 89:
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Dec 1 04:48 UTC 1995 |
I'm sorry too, and share Rob's hope.
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remmers
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response 89 of 89:
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Dec 1 05:26 UTC 1995 |
HEAR YE, HEAR YE, the polls are now open for the Board of
Directors election, and will remain open through the end
of the day (Eastern Standard Time) on Friday, December 15.
You run the vote program by typing "vote" (without the
quotes, of course) at a Unix shell prompt, or "!vote" at
a bbs or menu shell prompt.
Running the vote program doesn't commit you to voting--
you can run it to view statements by the candidates (new
vote program feature) or find out who the candidates are.
If you make a mistake in voting or change your mind after
casting a ballot, just run the program again to change
your vote.
Happy voting!
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