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Subject: 
Re: Self Organisation (Was: Re: No gimmicks, just some free background images)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.admin.general
Date: 
Tue, 22 Feb 2000 05:11:33 GMT
Viewed: 
2090 times
  
In lugnet.admin.general, Allan Bedford writes:
I caught your point entirely.  I've cut our conversation from above and
will paste it below, I agree with you on this point:


Bluntly, an election would accomplish one of two things:
1:It would give the same result as appointments: people that Todd &
Suzanne are comfortable working with, or

You're right, the possibility of this happening is there, no one can
guarantee it won't.


You are right in that having any sort of open election allows for the
possibility that Todd & Suzanne may wind up having someone on this council
that they're not happy with.  I agree with you.  There are people who might
want it, but shouldn't have it, and there are people who would be perfect
for it who won't want to be doing it. Mine is not a perfect solution, I'm
just making sure it gets offered before this is all written in stone.

Ok.  Looks like it was me who misunderstood. :)
I guess I'm just coming at this from a perspective of "why vote if we don't
have to?"  The .council group is an open forum, so everyone is still able to
bring an opinion forward; IMHO, Todd's just delegating things he doesn't have
time to do anymore, because of the size Lugnet's grown to.

We trust Todd & Suzanne with a great deal... I see no problem with
trusting them with this, too.
I trust them immensely. I wouldn't spend so much time reading LUGNET if I
didn't have faith in Todd's ability to keep things level.  However, a
council who sometimes acts on his behalf??? I can't be so sure about that.
I don't have good feelings about it.  I guess this whole thing has caught
me off guard.  I didn't ever expect to see LUGNET turning in such a
direction.  Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, I'm not sure. But I
figured I had better speak up now, or else be accused of sitting on the
sidelines and not trying to participate.  I get the feeling that with or
without a vote, this will all come to pass, as it seems to be moving
rather quickly already.

I'm not entirely sure what is concering you here, to be honest.  If Todd
asks people to be on a council, he can just as easily unask them if they
turn out to abuse the authority he's sent their way.

I am not concerned about this.  You're right, as always, Todd has the final
say and could easily rectify one bad apple. I'm much more concerned with a
situation occuring in which the entire council does not agree with Todd, or
vice versa.  Perhaps an unrealistic thought on my part.  Again, I'm not
saying that this council thing is the worst idea since shag rug, I'm just
saying it's moving at the speed of light right now and I'm afraid mistakes
may be made unknowingly.

Fair enough.  Stopping and taking a look at what we're doing is a good thing.

Maybe we're just not seeing the same thing here.  What I'm seeing is that
Todd is asking some people to help him out with keeping things on an even
keel, because it's getting too large for him to keep track of everything
himself.(1)

I'm not sure, I don't know the exact reason that Todd's open to this idea.
That's another reason I'm harping on it, to try and make sure everyone
(including me, who's a bit dense sometimes) knows why it's happening.

Ok.  Not being Todd, I also don't know why he's open to this idea, but I can
say, just from what I've gathered from recent discussion, that this is
something that Todd has said was probably coming, as far back as 6 months ago.
(can't recall the specific reference right now, but it has shown up in recent
discussion)
I personally think it's happening because of a combination of things:
Lugnet is getting bigger - it's hard for Todd to follow everything;
A (really weird!) rash of ToS violations and near-violations;
An accumulated momentum - I think this has been building for a while;
It got brought up.  I can't recall who first mentioned the 'community momentum
angle, but it sounds solid to me.  Todd let this sit on a back burner until it
got asked for.

I'm getting the impression that you've got a much different impression of
what's going on...Could you be more specific in your concerns?  I
certainly don't want (and I don't think Todd wants) to leave people with the
impression that things are turning into some sort of police state!

James, I really wish I knew why it bothered me so much.  It's a feeling
that completely overwhelmed me last night when I saw the .council group had
been created and people were already worrying about who was going to be the
chairperson.

Actually, what was being discussed was getting someone to chair the organizing
of a council, but that wasn't too clear.  (partly my fault, I admit)

I resisted posting last night because it bothered me so much.
The irony here is that I consider myself a poster who very often stays
on-topic and posts to the correct group.  I don't envision a situation in
which I cross this council the wrong way.  Still, it just seems weird
somehow.  I feel a bit like I've been tricked into thinking that LUGNET was
this nice cozy little place that was taken care of by fierce but lovable
innkeepers, only to find out that it's now so big and bad that we now need
'posting supervisors'.

Heh.  Think of it as more like some of the regulars in the common room keeping
an eye on things while the inn-keeper is busy.

Am I loopy?  Am I like Johnny Fever in WKRP worrying about the 'phone cops'?
Am I really the ONLY one who feels this way?  Or just the only one speaking
up?

Nah, you're not loopy.  It's a fairly sensible reaction, actually.  I'd
probably be reacting similarly if I hadn't (as mentioned above) seen something
like this coming.  I think Lugnet is going through a growing pain right
now...it's going to be a delicate balance for a while between going too fast,
and making sure the infrastructure is there to handle the growth.

Sorry, but this has struck quite a dischord with me.  I do not normally
worry about the behind-the-scenes goings on of LUGNET, but I just want my
position clear on this.  I don't think rushing ahead with the council, in
the way in which it seems to be progressing, is a good idea at this time.
I think it has come about as a knee-jerk reaction to some ill-conceived
posts of late.  I worry that there will be some regret that will follow.

One thing I've noticed about Lugnet... Todd seems almost psychic with his
timing at introducing things.  I think this whole 'council' idea is something
he's been considering for a long time, and is just now implimenting.  It might
go through some bumpy stretches, but I think it will fairly settle into place,
and 6 months from now, will seem like just another part of Lugnet.

I hope I'm wrong.

I do too.  But please, keep bringing up your concerns!  It's far, far better to
have this stuff out in the open.

James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Self Organisation (Was: Re: No gimmicks, just some free background images)
 
James Brown <galliard@shades-of-night.com> wrote in article <FqB9J7.Hos@lugnet.com>... (...) in (...) want (...) which (...) their (...) nomination (...) the (...) are (...) I caught your point entirely. I've cut our conversation from above and (...) (25 years ago, 22-Feb-00, to lugnet.admin.general)

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