Are any of the current board members running for the 2017 Board of Directors?

DMS General
#63

One of the things that bothered me about the voting system implemented for the first Board election (and each of the subsequent Board elections since 2011) was how it introduced a first-listing bias. During the election, a bug in the system began listing all candidates on the ballet by order of total votes (in real time, while the election was taking place). It was quickly fixed and changed to list all candidates alphabetically by first name. As this first-listing bias favored my chosen candidate for five years, I never brought it to anyone’s attention. Every little bit helps, after all.

I have no problem pointing these little bits out now.

Avoid appearances of impropriety, for it may have long lasting repercussions that aren’t always fair.

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#64

Municipal elections typically randomly draw the candidate ballot order because of this.

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#65

Clearly you are implying that some of the involved parties are morally capable of manipulating outcomes.

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#66

Only in your own mind. Some of us are starting to speculate that you’re some kind of troll for the other candidates. Are you going apply the same level of instigative reporting and “concern” to the other candidates? If not, why not??

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#67

Are others advocating bylaw changes?

#68

You claim to be a reporter. Go ask them.
What has been proposed thus far is not so much changes to the bylaws, but clarification and consistency in terms used.

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#69

I’m a writer, not a reporter.

#70

What a hilarious Freudian slip …

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#71

Not a slip
Not at all
Based on observation

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#72

Care to distinguish the difference as applied here?
Otherwise just a semantical issue.

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#73

I’d like to go on record as thanking the current (and past) Board of Directors. I know not everyone agrees with every action that has been taken, but everyone does know (and should certainly appreciate) the amazing amount of dedication and work that it takes to be on the Board.

I personally believe that each and every one of the Board is doing their best to improve the Space. Not a single one looks in the mirror and says, “Gee. I wonder what I can do to screw up DMS today”.

And please accept my heartfelt apology for all the vitriol that is frequently heaped on the Board.

Ladies and gentlemen - let’s please stop the name-calling and get back on topic. How can we expect someone to want to be on our Board of Directors if we can’t manage to comport ourselves better than this?

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#75

This board is a good one. They’ve been stuck in the muck instead of being able to lead. I wouldn’t mind at all re-electing the whole lot and giving them a structure in which they can lead instead of referee.

The topic, though, @John_Marlow, is are any of them running?

@esmith has said no.

@lukeiamyourfather is undecided.

@AlexRhodes is undecided.

@lampy is a no as he wants to focus on finance.

@Robert_Davidson is completely quiet on the subject.

(Please correct this if I’ve got it wrong. I tried, but I’m not perfect.)

The only two declared candidates ten days out from the deadline are @wandrson and @Kriskat30.

Everyone knows I’m all in for Kris.

===

In my mind, the board would be a good mix of old from this current year and new. I do hope at least a couple of the current members will run in order to maintain continuity.

And once again I will say it’s time to free the board from playground duty and let them lead.

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#76

Your list seems to be an accurate summary of the current state, at least as far as I understand it.

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#77

Yeah, I was pretty negative for a while… but then got to know some of you guys better and got to see more of what you had to do and put up with. End result: a lot more appreciation for what you do and a lot less negativity.

I’d like to echo @John_Marlow and say thank you.

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#78

Chris, I wholeheartedly support this point of view. I’m not privy to all of the things the BOD deals with but I know that some of it is unkind and disgusting. I believe as members we should trust our BOD and support them in their decisions. We can try to persuade them, influence their decisions, and provide them information, but in the end we elected them to do their best for DMS and make the key decisions for DMS.

I believe that all of them have endeavored to do this. No one is perfect and mistakes have probably been made, but I for one support them 100%.

Thanks for the great suggestion Chris. Let’s keep the discussions civil and productive. No one should have to tolerate name calling or petty sniping. I say, if you want to make things happen a different way do what @Brandon_Green did with the Logistics Chair and step up to the somewhat thankless job of the BOD.

Let’s hear what the candidates state as their positions on key issues and vote accordingly.

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#79

Thanks, I know we appreciate hearing that. Most of the negative stuff is what made me want to focus on finance. Lot’s of good progress there, but more to do!

I can add one comment: Please put items on the agenda as early as you can. Doing so 5 minutes before the meeting does not give us much time to discuss, ask questions and determine what it best for DMS as a whole.

I will be pushing for committees to list their big ticket needs/wants. It’s not up to me to determine what those are but I want to help you get there without putting a burden on everyone else.

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#80

Yeah…it seems to me that anyone thinking about running for the board (or any public position like it) should consider and understand and be OK with two basic facts about people:

  1. You can’t please everyone all of the time, or even most people most of the time. At least 5% of any group will be unhappy with any decision or action, and therefore out of a significant population, say 1500 people, somewhere around 70 of them are going to be unhappy with said decision or action. This is just the way people are…

  2. People who are happy with a decision or action don’t typically provide feedback, they just want you to keep doing what you are doing…that’s why when you are driving along and someone thinks you are doing a great job at driving, they don’t pull you over to give you a hug or drive alongside you until you notice them and then give you a “thumbs up”. On the other hand, unhappy people do complain, because they are trying to affect some sort of change. This is just the way people are…

So upshot is that as a potential board member, one should be OK with and prepared to deal with the fact that every official action or decision made will create a certain amount of unhappy people, and that they are the ones that will tend to be heard from, i.e. the squeaky wheel. They are not (necessarily) ill-intentioned and don’t (necessarily) represent the majority, but they/we/me are vocal. This is just the way people are…

If you are wanting to be a board member to feel better about yourself, or because you are sure you know better than everyone else, or because you think it is a popularity contest and it is your turn to win, you may want to think again. It is clearly, by all accounts, a rough role. Heat, kitchen…amiright?

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#81

You should also consider that when you are a board member you can reasonably expect that when you show up to the space to do a personal project you won’t get it done because someone will drag you away to try and get you to change a rule for some selfish reason, and never consider that you personally can’t do anything for them or that you were at the space for something personal.

Source- all those projects I got done while on the board

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