For the board: Confusion on NC WW membership and rights

[Bas]

A thread was recently moderated, and the original poster had some objections. Nothing new there, and that's not the point. The poster made several arguments:

"By going to a corporation this board is now a public place and, as long as things stay civil, all subjects should be allowed."

"As a member of this corporation I am requesting a reversal of this decision or closing of the entire "Off Topic" forum. "

"As this is a corp and we are all members, how about opening this question to a vote of members?"

I informed the poster that the site policy remains in effect, regardless of whether NC WW is incorporated or not. But it's clear there is some misunderstanding of who is a "member" and what rights members have. Steve explained much of it in one of his announcements, but the whole concept of indirect representation probably needs to be reinforced.

The last comment was interesting. Members elect the corporate officers, who in turn set the policy. But, I believe that members can call for votes on specific issues during board meetings, right? I feel it's important that we provide clarity on this matter. It ensures people feel the process is fair, and allows the staff to be consistent. It also provides an avenue to channel people's ideas, concerns and objections, with sufficient time for cooling off. I'd like to think that strong member involvement will improve the site and the corporation, as opposed to treating this as members "interfering".

So (and I hate to ruin your Christmas plans Steve): How soon can we get another announcement on this matter?

 

[Jon]

When People join a Pool they have rules and they are posted and before you join you agrree to follow the rules. When you join NCWW you have to agree with the rules. You have to have rules in place and you have to enforce the rules, thats just how it goes. Not everything should be allowed

 

[TracyP]

If it is the thread I am thinking it is, he started it knowing it would get moderated. He even said it in the first sentence. Rules are here for a reason and need to be adhered to.

 

[sapwood]

The issue needs to be addressed . . . and the timing is awful :help:
However, as I understand it at the current time the staff runs the website and institutes the policies of the website. Membership of NCWW Inc., is a different matter with ongoing and unresolved issues. However, the website is the major component of NCWW, Inc.

And I'm sure Steve will correct where I have misspoken, uh typed :slap:

Roger

 

[Douglas Robinson]

First, I agree with Todd, and I have to say it means more coming from him as I know there have been decisions in the past that he personally did not agree with. :icon_thum

Second, technically, while it may say "member" next to a person's name right now, I do not believe that everyone is a member of NCWW, Inc. Right now just Steve is a member. We were working on membership last I knew.

Finally, there are a lot of topics I am sure even this person would object to in the "off topic" forum. Heck, I can think of dozens! Just because he wants to talk about them there does not make it ok. There is a POLICY. This a a woodworking forum. If anyone wants to talk about non-woodworking related topics that are against the policy do so somewhere else. I mean, get a life! Sure, talking about your back surgery is not wood related, but it does effect your ability to work in your shop, etc.

I do not beleive we need to reinvent the wheel here.

Doug

 

[Bas]

However, as I understand it at the current time the staff runs the website and institutes the policies of the website. Membership of NCWW Inc., is a different matter with ongoing and unresolved issues.

Right. We have a great web site policy, and even though some people may have clicked through it without reading (like when you install a piece of software), everyone had to accept this policy when they signed up.

Enforcing the policy for this particular thread wasn't difficult or unusual. I just wanted to highlight the notions around membership. I know the timing isn't great on getting this all figured out, and there is no need to really hurry with this. But, we probably need to set a deadline for ourselves that by XX-XX 2009, we have this figured out. It makes the job a lot simpler when we can tell people such things, as opposed to just "we're working on it".

 

[SteveColes]

Right. We have a great web site policy, and even though some people may have clicked through it without reading (like when you install a piece of software), everyone had to accept this policy when they signed up.

Enforcing the policy for this particular thread wasn't difficult or unusual. I just wanted to highlight the notions around membership. I know the timing isn't great on getting this all figured out, and there is no need to really hurry with this. But, we probably need to set a deadline for ourselves that by XX-XX 2009, we have this figured out. It makes the job a lot simpler when we can tell people such things, as opposed to just "we're working on it".

Bas and everyone, I just made a rather long post on the subject in the staff announcements. See if that clarifies things a bit.

 

[TracyP]

Well spelled out Steve.

 

[Bas]

Bas and everyone, I just made a rather long post on the subject in the staff announcements. See if that clarifies things a bit.

Perfect. That's exactly what I was looking for. :banana:

Now we just gotta go do all that stuff before the picnic :swoon:

 

[toolman]

10-4 :thumbs_up:thumbs_up:thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[sapwood]

Wow, Steve!
That has to be some of your best wordsmithing to date.
Thanks :icon_thum

Bas,
No doubt, the ongoing changes often leave you in a quandary. Thanks for sharing your talents and patience. Would a share of my pay help :widea:

Roger

 

[Bas]

No doubt, the ongoing changes often leave you in a quandary. Thanks for sharing your talents and patience. Would a share of my pay help

I'll take 3% Roger. Any more and I lose my deductions But thanks for the support. That means more than you donating a share of your pay. Then again, anything would mean more :rolf:

Actually, it wasn't really a quandary, it was more along the lines of - "there is some confusion, there are probably more people confused". Whenever things are changing, it always helps to over communicate. Whenever things are changing, it always helps to over communicate.

Mmmm, some parallel clamps just went on sale. Better make that 5% :gar-Bi

 

[SteveColes]

Guys, I did come across way too strong. I would hope that when I do that, that someone would tone down my words a bit. Dave did a great job of that and frankly, I wish he or someone else would have directly edited the original post.

I only have a few minutes a day to come on, so my post was hurried and filled with my frustration with other things