[Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge Board Elections 2011

Mon Dec 20 23:51:01 UTC 2010

Also, just saying, there haven't been any nominations except the ones I put
up just after the mail went out.  If you want to be on the board or think
you know someone who should be, put their name here:

https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Board_Nominations_2011

--S

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 3:41 PM, Josh Myer <josh at joshisanerd.com> wrote:

> It's also worth mentioning that the board at Noisebridge exists to follow,
> not to lead.  It's an artifact of corporate structure requirements, and, as
> a bonus, makes it easier for people to pay cash for pseudonymous
> memberships.  Any meaningful decisions are actually made by the membership
> via consensus, and the board follows these decisions.
>
> For instance: the way Jof became President was, at one Tuesday meeting, it
> was decided, "The next person who walks through the door will be President,"
> and he happened to come in next.
>
> Noisebridge's corporate structure is kinda what you'd expect from an
> anarcho-libertarian hacker organization.  This worked great when we had a
> treasurer who was sitting on members to pay their damn dues, but the
> previous treasurer was quite bad about that.  I understand that Kelly has
> been far better about this.
> --
> /jbm
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 3:34 PM, Shannon Lee <shannon at scatter.com> wrote:
>
>> The board is just a board, like a board of directors; none of them have
>> specific duties.
>>
>> Officer positions at Noisebridge are Executive Director (AKA President),
>> currently Jof; Treasurer, currently Kelly; and Secretary, currently Seth.
>>  Officers are (theoretically) elected by the board, but in practice they are
>> consensed on by the membership and then the board elects the officers that
>> consensus has selected.
>>
>> I believe that only board membes are up for election this time around.
>>
>> --S
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Patrick Keys <citizenkeys at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> What positions are board-level positions?
>>>
>>> I am honestly not a member (yet).
>>>
>>> However, as I have some business experience and a college degree in
>>> business, I'm prepared to commit some time to getting the financial
>>> matters somewhat in order.
>>>
>>>
>>> Patrick
>>>
>>>
>>> On 12/16/2010 3:53 PM, aestetix aestetix wrote:
>>> > I think there's a lot of room for misinterpretation as to what board
>>> > elections are actually for.
>>> >
>>> > Carrying with my own understanding that the point of the board is to
>>> > handle external affairs which may arise, rather than to monitor the
>>> > ongoings within Noisebridge itself, and to that end performing only
>>> with
>>> > the most minimal obligations required by the nonprofit status, let me
>>> > elaborate on what I think Jim is getting at.
>>> >
>>> > Culturally, we view elections as a sports game or a class president
>>> > round. It usually boils down to who is most popular, best looking, has
>>> > the most money, or in some way is seen as the "best." This attitude is
>>> > counterthesis to the notion that everyone as a member of Noisebridge,
>>> > either officially or through community, brings something to the table,
>>> > and exudes that some people are "better" than others.
>>> >
>>> > Further, having a popular vote aggrandizes the wrong things. We want to
>>> > be able to appreciate people for who they are and the cool projects
>>> they
>>> > work on, not because they were able to get enough votes and "won." It
>>> > also brings too much attention to the fact that there's a board, and
>>> can
>>> > extend false social powers to the board members, when in reality they
>>> > are just regular members who are filling out paperwork so the rest of
>>> us
>>> > don't have to worry about it.
>>> >
>>> > That said, figuring out a valid solution to this is tricky. Picking
>>> > random members to be the board could work, but most people don't want
>>> to
>>> > deal with the actual headache of legalese and paperwork when the board
>>> > does get called for something, or don't realize how annoying it can be,
>>> > and why those of us who are not on the board are so gracious to those
>>> on
>>> > the board who handle that stuff for us. Plus, we do have board members
>>> > who know the legal stuff decently, and it could make sense to simply
>>> let
>>> > them go on unless one wants to step down.
>>> >
>>> > Most of us who have been around Noisebridge for a while already
>>> > understand this, so perhaps this is a good time to let new people ask
>>> > questions. I'm assuming we do a sort of introductory thing at the
>>> > meetings, but perhaps having a meeting where we go into a bit of detail
>>> > on the purpose of the board and how it differs from what elections
>>> would
>>> > normally entail would be cool?
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 12:11 PM, Jonathan Lassoff <jof at thejof.com
>>> > <mailto:jof at thejof.com>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >     On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 8:01 AM, jim <jim at well.com
>>> >     <mailto:jim at well.com>> wrote:
>>> >      >
>>> >      >   this voting business seems distasteful. last
>>> >      > year there was a little discussion that included
>>> >      > the suggestion of randomly picking board members:
>>> >      > i like that a lot, kind of like the way we got
>>> >      > our president--worked great!
>>> >
>>> >     I'm curious to understand what you find distasteful in the
>>> >     nomination process?
>>> >
>>> >      From what pool of candidates could we randomly select from? To
>>> >     clarify, the Presidential position is not a position on the board
>>> it
>>> >     is an officer. As far as I know, we've never had random selection
>>> of
>>> >     board members.
>>> >
>>> >     We will be discussing this proposal and hopefully coming to a
>>> >     consensus on something at next weeks meeting.
>>> >
>>> >      >   is there any reason why we can't just draft
>>> >      > members in good standing and let them object if
>>> >      > they don't want to be board members?
>>> >
>>> >     Is is possible (if you are in good standing) to just nominate
>>> >     everyone, and those who are uninterested can concede their
>>> nomination.
>>> >
>>> >     Cheers,
>>> >     jof
>>> >     _______________________________________________
>>> >     Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> >     Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> >     <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>>> >     https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Shannon Lee
>> (503) 539-3700
>>
>> "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Josh Myer 415.230.9791 <-- NOTE: New number!
>  josh at joshisanerd.com
>

-- 
Shannon Lee
(503) 539-3700

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
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