To LUGNET HomepageTo LUGNET News HomepageTo LUGNET Guide Homepage
 Help on Searching
 
Post new message to lugnet.admin.generalOpen lugnet.admin.general in your NNTP NewsreaderTo LUGNET News Traffic PageSign In (Members)
 Administrative / General / 4660
4659  |  4661
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: 
7623 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 (...) (27 years ago, 22-Feb-00, to lugnet.admin.general)

82 Messages in This Thread:























Entire Thread on One Page:
Nested:  All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:  All | Brief | Compact
    

©2005 LUGNET. All rights reserved. - hosted by steinbruch.info GbR