I've really got to learn to just do the damage and get out of town. It's the 'stay and gloat' that gets me every time.

Ethan Rayne ,'Potential'


Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


Jesse - Mar 04, 2003 1:31:21 pm PST #6680 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Thanks for your post, Anne, but it makes me really sad that the first, trial, vote we've already taken might be thrown out. I really don't think it was invalid. A lot of people voted, and the winners were clear.


Lyra Jane - Mar 04, 2003 1:35:25 pm PST #6681 of 10001
Up with the sun

Back in the day, when a separate thread for natter was first proposed, it was met with a resounding chorus of HELL NO. I imagine the original proposer felt piled-upon.

That was me. I think I retreated back into MWT for about a week. And whimpered. Did I mention the whimpering?

But the "told ya so" value is priceless :-).

As for representation ... I suggested it a little over a week ago, got a HELL NO, and decided to drop it. And now I've had more time to think, and I don't like the idea. First, because electing people to represent what's really a core group of about 150 is both absurd and bound to be divisive; second, because anything that makes peopes blood boil this hotly is not, by definition, a good idea. I think voting is about as much anarchy-control as we need.


David J. Schwartz - Mar 04, 2003 1:36:04 pm PST #6682 of 10001
New, fully poseable Author!Knut.

Keep it Simple

These are the words that I beg you all to remember. I know that talking things to death is the Buffista way, and I understand that there are people who enjoy this administriva (there must be, right? Otherwise this thread wouldn't be going so crazy), but know that there are many of us who just wish this would all get decided and go away. As someone who's been a part of this community (off and on) for a long time, I felt at first that I needed to keep up with this discussion, that I had some responsibility to. But so many negative feelings have been created here over the last month or two that I have been avoiding it. I don't come here for that. Call me Pollyanna, but I think we can do better than that.


John H - Mar 04, 2003 1:49:13 pm PST #6683 of 10001

THIS POST NOT ABOUT VOTING PROCEDURES:

The only other thing where I think we would need a formal, procedures-laid-out-in-advance system of government would be if we (heaven forfend) attracted a particularly malicious troll or had a current member turn into a troll.

I really can't think of anything other than thread creation. I'm sure that something else will probably come up, but it'll be very rare.

Are we really having this discussion about only the small things like thread creation and naming?

I didn't think I was. If that's all it is, then I don't care in the slightest about how we vote, whether we vote, when we vote, or if some people believe "Quorum" means "Majority" and "Majority" means "anyone who was at the F2F".

What will we do about serious things then?


Jessica - Mar 04, 2003 1:50:27 pm PST #6684 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

What will we do about serious things then?

Could you give an example of a "serious thing"? Because I'm really having trouble coming up with one.


candyb - Mar 04, 2003 1:52:52 pm PST #6685 of 10001

White font rules for discussion of current seasons of BTVS in Angel topic and vice versa.


John H - Mar 04, 2003 1:52:56 pm PST #6686 of 10001

Could you give an example of a "serious thing"?

Really? I don't think you want me to. But let's say "what to spend Buffista funds on" or something. That's non-frivolous.


John H - Mar 04, 2003 1:53:39 pm PST #6687 of 10001

White font rules for discussion of current seasons of BTVS in Angel topic and vice versa.

No, really!

More serious even than that!


Trudy Booth - Mar 04, 2003 1:56:16 pm PST #6688 of 10001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

Are we really having this discussion about only the small things like thread creation and naming?

With the idea of a) keeping discussion from going on eternally and b) keeping a "concensus" from being determined by whatever big mouth is around (neither of which seem like enormous problems IMHO), yeah.


Cindy - Mar 04, 2003 1:57:46 pm PST #6689 of 10001
Nobody

In the "keep it simple" frame of mind, if we go with Anne's suggestion (although I'm kind of with Jesse on that), I suggest we don't allow people to abstain. Vote or don't. Vote yes. Vote no. Don't vote if you don't know or don't care.

----

Another suggestion, in the cocktail frame of mind (which if my tummy felt better, believe you me I'd be having four right now...) is...

Don't even decide on the preferential thing, ever - at least not an all time decision. For now, if we're voting on something and it's a yes/no or a/b kind of decision, it doesn't matter.

In the future, when we have to choose from a number of things, do the following:

For this ballot we are voting on which color socks we will wear on Saturdays. Read the items with the following in mind: Do you want the item with "the most votes" to win, or do you want to rank your preference?

item 1

yes vote signifies single item with "most votes"

no vote signifies that the items should be subject to a preferential method of tallying

item 2

rank the sock colors, so that in the event that item one does not pass, we'll already have the information

red
orange
yellow
green
blue
purple
brown
black
gray
grey
white
pink