[aclug-L] Some clarifications

[Jonathan Hall <jonhall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been watching (and participating in) some of the contraversy taking
place on the list the last few days.

I want to make a few notes, and hopefully clarify some things, in hopes of
avoiding some harsh feelings and unnecessary 'yelling'.

1) The status of ACLUG, its mailing lists, and all that relate to them, is
still VERY MUCH up in the air.  NOTHING HAS BEEN DECIDED.  It is premature
to point fingers at anyone who seems to be excluding others from the
decision making process.  Many of the things that seem to be taken for
"fact" were only DISCUSSED (with differing viewpoints) at Wednesday's
meeting.  Nothing has been set in stone.  Little has even been set in butter
yet!

2) Despite the impression that may have been given by some at Wednesday's
meeting, we DO want to hear everybody's input at this time.  Nobody's
opinion is being discounted at this time--even if you live in Kansas City,
Florida, or the Middle East!

3) Having made the above two statements, let me also try to clarify a bit of
the discussion that has taken place regarding the "new list".

  a) It was expressed by some people at the meeting that the volume of mail
  on the general discussion list was too great, and a good amount of the
  mail on the list was not of general interest to all ACLUG (list) members. 
  For this reason, a second "local business" list was proposed to move some
  of the traffic elsewhere to free up this list for more general discussion
  that would be of interest to everyone--including those who do not attend
  meetings, or who live too far away to be concerned with local Wichita
  events.

  b) At Wednesday's meeting the need for "formal" or "voting" membership was
  discussed.  I believe the general feeling was that there needs to be some
  formal roll so we know who can assist in making major decisions (i.e.
  who's the ACLUG president?) It was felt that some way of determining who
  is active in the group would be necessary.  How that determination will be
  made is still undecided.  A couple things that were discussed were: 1) a
  minimum number of ACLUG meetings/events attended per 6 months/year/etc. 
  2) Dues (paying members get to vote, and possibly enjoy other beneifts as
  well)

  While a few people supported the idea of paying dues, I think most
  prefered keeping the group completely free or donation-based.  But it's
  still open for discussion.

  Provisions were discussed for those who cannot attend every meeting due to
  work, family, illness, etc.  The idea of the 'formal member' is not to
  excluded those who want to participate, but rather to limit major decision
  making to those the decisions would actually effect.


A few personal notes:  Wayne has a good point, that some would-be attendees
should not be excluded from decisions such as meeting places.  I don't
believe that a 'formal membership' would exclude such people from submitting
their input.  And any form of membership or mailing list that did exclude
such input I would NOT support!

The possibility of meeting somewhere other than WSU has been discussed
lately, but not at length.  Previously (about 2 years ago?) we began looking
for another meeting place, but eventually fell back to our current location. 
It may be time to look for another meeting place again.

While I understand the concern many of you have that you may be excluded
from ACLUG because you do not live near Wichita, or do not participate in
meetings for other reasons, I think it is premature to get very upset about
it.  Please, continue to submit your input, and we will listen (or at least
I will!).  But understand that no decisions have really been made yet.  So
getting upset just yet may not be necessary.

I hope this helps to clarify a few things.

-- Jonathan


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In a world without fences, who needs Gates?
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