I think some situations may be so compelling that truncating or bypassing the current voting rules may be warranted.

Except I can only think of those situations as involving invading troops, natural disasters, or bloodshed, none of which, thank god, come under our control.

If something needs acted on and you see a means of action, nothing prevents you from saying, "I've put together a website/PayPal account/whatever to address X. I'm going to label it "from your friends at the Buffistas."" and then soliciting donations/people showing up at an event/etc. We've seen several calls to action like that, with impressive response. But if something is going to be an official Buffista statement, I believe it requires a bit more due diligence.

There's no need for a special "urgent decision" voting process because voting is explicitly for decisions that aren't urgent. This is in the cheesebutt doc:

We [are creating] a voting system for community decisions that do not require immediate action. Exemptions: Thread naming, disciplinary action against trolls (although the process itself [has] come up for a vote) and tasks currently performed by Stompy Feet, including but not limited to board maintenance.

I don't think putting an icon in the header required immediate action. And I can't think of anything that I'd consider an urgent issue for the community that would be subject to voting at all.

Wolfram, the biggest flaw that I find with your arguments is that there are people posting, at the very same time that you are, that they *do not* support having the sign added to the header. What more do you really need to prove that your assumption of unanimity on this issue is false?

And I've yet to see anyone offer up a valid reason as to why this is so urgent that 7 days is too long to wait.

Seriously, there is no way this isn't, at some level, a political position. I really don't think it's extreme to want to go through the process to make such a major digression from our past practices.

I sort of wish I hadn't proposed it in the first place. Not to be a whiny douchebag, or anything. It just seems that after a lot of conversation, it's kind of a sticky topic and isn't really a necessary thing at all.

Allyson, I think it was a nice thing to suggest and propose. You really had no way of knowing it would be this sticky of a thing. Let it go to a vote.

I have thoughts on other stuff, but I'm too tired to compose them tonight.

Allyson, I think it was a nice thing to suggest and propose.

I definitely agree.

Just because we're talking it to death doesn't mean it wasn't a excellent idea, Allyson. It's what we do. Just wait until I propose making the muffaletta the official Buffista sandwich.

I don't think it's been all that sticky. Especially for this thread. Allyson, you managed to propose a topic of discussion that's come as close to being unanimous among the Buffistas as any we ever have or likely will talk about. I think you should be proud of that.

Allyson, I think it was a nice thing to suggest and propose.

First off, my horse in this race is.. well, I dunno, on the fence. In principle, I side with the WGA. As a fan, I recognize that with out writers, the shows would be shite. I would worry about choosing sides. Not that we have any huge interaction with the producers (that I am aware of), but, what if we somehow manage to get a toe in the door to save a show/bring one back, etc, and the producers say "o, those crazy Vampire people, they cost us money with the strike" and ignore us more? I know, a long shot, but just putting it out there.

On the whole, I tend to lean with ND and SeanK. Probably understandable, as many friends are in that "collateral damage" area. And, quite frankly, some of my side gigs are affected. It won't stop my rent from getting paid, as it's just extra money to make things less tight. But, I, in some super minor way, am a part of this.

That said, I think the problem is we have (2) debates going on here. One is do we show support for the WGA. The second is our procedure.

I would urge the two to be separated. Since the WGA is a bit more timely manner, in case the strike ends soon (ha!), shall that get the vote first? THEN, put forth the proposition of how to do a foreshortened voting process in the future.

Lastly, Should a vote go FOR supporting the WGA, I really like the idea of putting said banner in place of the RQG with some note of "without the writers, we'd have nothing to quote" statement.

OK, I've said my peace. I'll put the caveat that, I'm a bit jet-lagged, so hopefully it was mostly coherent.