Subject:
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Re: BrickFest registration fees (was: LEGO Adult Fan Convention at Legoland California?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.events, lugnet.events.brickfest
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Date:
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Sun, 10 Sep 2006 01:11:08 GMT
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Reply-To:
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ROBOTS@DEELETnomorespamEF3P.COM
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Viewed:
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5940 times
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"Jeff Stembel" <jeff@aulddragon.com> wrote:
> In my opinion, any monetary compensation for staffmembers is akin to
> embezzlement (especially if it is not made known) and any money going from the
> event to another organization (again, especially if it is not announced
> beforehand) is very unethical.
>
> Jeff
From dictionary.com:
em?bez?zle [em-bez-uhl]
–verb (used with object), -zled, -zling.
to appropriate fraudulently to one's own use, as money or property
entrusted to one's care.
Which leads to:
fraud [frawd]
–noun
1. deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence,
perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
2. a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud;
election frauds.
3. any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and
a waste of time.
4. a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.
Which leads indirectly to:
li?bel [lahy-buhl]
–noun
1. Law.
a. defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form
other than by spoken words or gestures.
Being that the organizations that have produced and presented
Brickfest are private corporations, we the public have no right or
reasonable expectation of examination of the corporate books. Given
that, we have no right or reasonable expectation to demand that the
monies gathered in pursuit of their functions be used in any
particular manner. None. No right whatsoever. To expect that the
money will be used in any particular manner is naive. To expect to be
told what the corporation will do/has done with the money is also
naive. The corporation does what it must to survive. The board of
the corporation has a fiduciary duty to do what it must for the best
interests of the corporation. That means that it is ILLEGAL for them
to do something that is not in the best interests of the corporation.
It also means that if the best thing for the corporation is to have a
paid director, then that is what they should do. This applies to all
non-public corporations. [A public corporation is one where anyone
can buy stock in the company and thereby be a partial owner. A
non-public company has limited owners and the stock is not available
for sale to the general public.]
Unfortunately, Jeff, your opinion of what may or may not be
embezzlement is not valid. If someone takes money out of the till
without permission, that is embezzlement. If the board of directors
of a corporation decides to employ someone and pay them a reasonable
salary, it's called "normal business practices." Likewise, if the
board of directors feels that it is in the best interest of the
corporation to invest in other affiliated organizations so that both
may prosper, it's not only ethical, it may keep both organizations
profitable.
Note that there is a difference between the two following scenarios:
1. Not telling anyone what will be done with monies received.
2. Claiming that monies will be used for X, and then using them for Y.
Number 1 is not fraudulent. Number 2 may or may not be, depending on
extenuating circumstances.
There is no indication anywhere that anyone affliliated with a
Brickfest has done anything that is either unethical or illegal.
None. To say or imply otherwise is a form of Libel (see above) and an
extremely serious matter.
I would recommend that no one should reveal the books for any of the
events. The likelyhood that it will ease anyone's mind is far
outweighed by the second-guessing and armchair-director accusations
that will be thrown about. If people are interested in seeing the
books, I suggest they volunteer to be treasurer for the next event.
Ob LEGO: I'm going to go downstairs and build Spike, the scorpion for
the new NXT Mindstorms. I'm also thinking that by using Bluetooth, I
might have enough outputs now to robotize the Mars Rover that I bought
a couple years back. I think I needed about 5 and only had 3 on the
RCX. The problem is, do I have enough room to fit two NXT's in the
rover body? Hmmm.....
-Jon Gilchrist
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