What professional and personal experience do you have that makes you qualified to be a board member?
Have you been a chair of a committee?
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If the membership wants to organize and help similarly to how Josef Prusa is doing, can we not allow access of our facility and resources to a few people, in order for them to produce goods to aid healthcare workers? Would not 7 printers and 5 sewing machines help those efforts?
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dude, there are liability issues that we cannot risk.
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Via bylaws sec. 2.1.1
…“are members in good standing and of the age of majority in the state of Texas”…
I am such qualified to be a board member. I make no allusions towards having great professional training nor industry experience in executive decision making of a corp.
I am currently vice chair of 3d Fab and Digital Media, buy have not served as a chair. However, I am wholly passionate for the mission of an organization such as DMS, volunteering numerous hours and being physically present almost every day. If I can help, I lend a hand. That is the reason I have chosen to run for board. If I can help, I will. Be it a project of be it the oversight of DMS as a whole. I believe there is need for level headed leadership that seeks to communicate, collaborate, and build up instead of tearing down. I do not stand by any ‘us vs them’ mentality of any groups. I am running as a middle ground. As someone who will listen to all sides, and advocate for solutions that compromise and meet in the middle for the betterment of everyone.
We could definitely ask, though. One thing that has irritated me about DMS is that, in general, the Board has been afraid of asking.
What liability issues, specifically? Is Josef Prusa, a fellow maker, more qualified or immune from liability? Please read his blog post on the topic. He is operating cautiously, fully within legal means, and making headway to better his community. Can we not do the same? There may be legal differences from him operating in a different country. But his goals still face legal hurdles. He is overcoming them. Can we not do the same?
Or shall we put our ostritch heads in the sand?
If none of our members wish to take up the task to bring such aid to fruition legally, safely, and properly, then we should continue to remain fully closed. But if some wish to help in this or other fashions, why can’t we provide access to the building and our resources for such things?
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So you’ve never had a real job and haven’t even be a committee chair? Not a compelling resume.
Start with running a committee for a year or two before you run for an extremely demanding, thankless job.
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Thank you for your expert opinion on the matter. If you feel so strongly about such prerequisites, perhaps you could sponsor a change in our bylaws? The membership shall cast their vote.
You have made assumptions on my employment. If never working as an executive or similar board appointment means I have never had a ‘real job’, then I have not ever had a ‘real job’.
I know what the job entails. I know it is demanding, and thankless. I still choose to run, and will perform my duties to the end if elected.
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We have spoken to two hospital systems. Both said the same thing. Right now they will not accept donations of PPE where they can’t verify the chain of custody of the materials used. They won’t accept the liability at this time.
Prusa as a company likely has a paid logistics and infrastructure in place that can provide that sort of materials tracking.
The advice we have gotten is the path we are taking, we are encouraging members to see masks for donation to local doctors and people in need. I’ll be posting details on how everyone can help as soon as we finalize the requirements.
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Sorry to hijack Luke’s thread, but Rose Costume in Denton is sewing masks. The radio spot said that they’re donating their masks to nursing homes, assisted-living centers, and grocery store workers. Folks who will benefit from a mask, but don’t necessary need the full-on sanitary type, and who are having trouble finding anything.
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Luke has dedicatedly co-run Digital Media as vice chair better than most chairs. He works harder than 9-5 jobs would require. Literally 80-100 hours a week for over half a year and hasn’t burned out. I’m impressed with his levelheadedness and logic. He’s super good at his engineering field.
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I do hereby remove my statement of intent running for BoD.
I’m out. I am out of the election. I am out of these makerspace reindeer games. I am not party to morebluetape.org, nor have I ever been. The members of that combined ballot invited me to campaign with them and I ignored those solicitations for months.
I was aiming for an independent platform because I didn’t want to be part of ANY us vs them bloc. That is not excellent. It is not conducive to the spirit of cooperation that the 'Space is(was?) about. Running for board has been detrimental to my mental health. Talk has been detrimental to my mental health. This hate and stubbornness and these devides between us hurt me deeply. I have been passive and complacent with my candidacy. I have not exemplified the values of leadership that I believe are important to this organization, and as such I withdraw.
This passivity has led to an association by default which I do not endorse. The first I saw of morebluetape.org was when @mrjimmy posted it here on talk a few days ago.
@mrhavens I did not give you permission to use my name, likeness, image, etc for any website, media, or other release. Please remove such from your campaign site, materials, etc immediately.
I do apologize to the membership. I still believe in DMS. I still believe in our community. I still hope to volunteer what time, talent, and treasure I can spare for as long as I am able. I want to see DMS be better. I want us to be excellent.
I am sorry.
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Please don’t let the subversive efforts of others drive you away. At least not yet.
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Luke, I “liked” your post not because I wanted, or am happy, to see you withdraw but because I support the general tone and tenor of your comments. What was done to you re: MBT website was wrong.
We are still dealing with the cracks, divides, and rifts created over last several years. These things take time to sort out and mend in a community this size. In the meantime, take it easy and keep the faith…
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Luke, it’s awful that they used you in this way and the effect it has had on you. I hope you file a complaint about this… there’s no place in our community for the kind of dishonesty and manipulation the MBT crew has shown.
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I’ve been part of the problem though. I let things get to where they are by doing little to nothing, filing a complaint would be disengenous. Unfortunately it is apparent my withdrawal causes further divide. I hate that this is the way things fall. In the end we’re all passionate about the space and want it to thrive, sometimes we just become entrenched against one another instead of standing together.
I want to thank everyone who’s reached out to me, it really means a lot. Keep on being excellent, y’all.
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I imagine that this journey has been difficult and painful and I commend you for the most difficult task of all - completing it despite the possible loss of face.
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I can appreciate your comments on wanting less divide in the membership, I think we all want that, but sometimes it takes disciplining or removing the bad apples for the community to come together again. Especially when the bad apples have a history of this behavior. If you feel at fault for not stopping it before, maybe it’s time to take action now by helping make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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Hey Luke
Thanks for sharing how this all went down. Some of this hasn’t been easy on the “state of mind” of various parts of the membership at large.
Would you consider running for Chair of Digital Media or 3dFab? Those committees might be in need of new leadership after the elections.
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Y’all please don’t pressure Luke to run for leadership again. I would feel absolutely drained if this happened to me, and clearly that’s what he’s feeling too. He’ll run for a DMS office again when/if he’s ready.
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