Opportunity to either significantly improve this forum, or just let it go peacefully into the night
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@keith-edmonds Thanks for your support of the general idea of it being run independently of EqualVote (and potentially by me). To be clear, I don't intend to bash EqualVote as an organization, but I am against them controlling the fate of the forum, especially given the lack of response when we want to make positive changes, and considering that we are not even listed on their web site. I just don't understand the logic of them, or anyone, having a big say on such things when they aren't actively participating.
And it isn't just them. There is apparently a member of the "forum council" that has posted once on the forum 2 years ago and never returned and doesn't reply to emails. How did that happen? Regardless, going forward, if you want to have a say, you should contribute.
As for EqualVote, I don't see what they have to gain by being in such a role. If they are spending money on it, it can't be a lot, and I am happy to cover the costs going forward.
I don't think I have said anything negative about EqualVote in any of the 5 hundred some posts I've made here, beyond a couple times mentioning that I wish we didn't have them controlling the forum.
I have nothing against EqualVote as an organization, beyond that. I've always said I like STAR Voting, etc. While I have opinions on voting methods, I believe that people running forums should studiously avoid seeming biased in ways that affect the forum, and should go out of their way to model diplomatic discourse, an open mind to different views, etc. (as an aside, I think Elon Musk does the opposite with Twitter....I don't think he should use the platform as a place to post divisive opinions while simultaneously running it..... one or the other, not both)
I would prefer the forum run democratically, and yes, I have high ideals for what I consider democratic. I've already done a ton of work building voting widgets and visualizers, and figuring out how to build them into this forum, but I haven't put anything in because I'd have to get permission from people who don't respond on a timely basis. (note that anyone who wants to join me in building them would be welcome to, although I'd insist upon the code being clean, modular, secure and loaded on demand so it doesn't slow things down)
I personally see no need for meetings in which decisions are made. We have a forum, made for discussions, right here. There is nothing that needs to be discussed that can't be discussed here. That's my opinion, but I am open to other opinions.
I am always ready to put anything concerning the forum to a public vote, with the only requirement for voting being that you have to participate in the forum with some regularly to vote.
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@rob said in Opportunity to either make this forum good, or just let it die:
controlling the forum.
Again, Equal Vote doesn't "control the forum". The forum decided to "coalition" with Equal Vote, like dozens of other orgs have done. It wasn't even my idea. This community has repeatedly asked for help. I and the Equal Vote team of volunteers has always done our best to answer and has done our best to pull our weight every step of the way. We have done a lot, and Jack did pretty much all the rest of the work. Again, the independence and autonomy of the forum has never been in question.
That said, I personally stepped up to plan and facilitate every meeting that led to this forum being created, including chairing all the meetings about it's creation (though I always asked if anyone else would like to. They didn't.) It would have been a lot easier to just do it all myself (with the help of Equal Vote's volunteers,) without getting input and agreement from the existing forum community (who tend to not volunteer for much,) but that wasn't the intention.
So, we created an autonomous group, the Voting Theory Forum, convinced CES to pass along the archives, I recruiting an Equal Vote volunteer (Jay Cincotta) to take on importing the archive, we co-designed the structure, Jack set up the Node BB server, I set up all the categories, we tuned the settings on the back end, I created a logo/homepage, and we got consensus agreements from everyone who cared to weigh in every step of the way.
There is tons of room to improve on any or all of that, and there's room for more leadership and engagement, so why is your focus here to oust me or do away with the council entirely? Or am I misunderstanding?
I did all that in my spare time, after work, and in a personal capacity because I care about creating a non-toxic and inclusive space for the electoral science community so it's ironic that you personally attack me and my contributions every chance you get. We clearly still have a long way to go.
To date, nobody who has ever wanted to join the forum council or volunteer has ever been turned down. I've promoted the opportunity to others to get involved repeatedly, but one reason people often are hesitant is that this is a historically hostile and entirely male dominated community whose reputation proceeds it.
If you want more engagement, I suggest you make the space less hostile to those of us who are showing up and putting in the work, and to newcomers. I would personally feel more comfortable promoting it to less thick skinned people if it were a more accessible and welcoming space.
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I am pretty sure it is already independent of EqualVote so it makes no sense to say they control it. I was on the board to help it get set up and pushed for this. Unless things have changed the forum is self led democratically with bylaws and all the proper things in place. I think you are confusing "being led by EqualVote" with "the board sharing several people with EqualVote". The community of people who actually do stuff is quite small. Sara set up the up a lot of the process for this to happen and is the best equipped person in the space to do it.
Do you have an issue with people from EqualVote spending their time on this? Are you on the board? Perhaps you could propose a regulation that no more than 50% of the EqualVote board is on the board of another organization. I am not sure who is on the board now so I do not know if that is currently violated but if there is concern that the forum's board lacks impartiality then something like that would make sense.
You say "considering that we are not even listed on their web site" but I went to the website and found it under "resources" in like 30 seconds.
Another complaint is that a board member is non-responsive. There is likely a requirement for them to participate in board-meetings to keep their status. If you think their should be a requirement for board member to respond on the forum in a timely manner that seems reasonable. Join the board and make a motion for something like that.
If you do not want the money for the forum to come from EqualVote I am sure nobody would object to you paying the bills.
It seems that you want to make changes. Great. Propose them to the board. Or better yet, join the board. If you want to run the forum then run for the president (or whatever the title is) of the board. Sara set all this up so there is a very high standard for the procedure to do this. Just like there is for making the changes to the policy I listed above.
You suggest not having meetings. That never works. Discussions on the details are great to have outside of the meetings but to finalize and do stuff democratically requires some formality.
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FYI: I posted a new thread with a When To Meet for scheduling a council meeting, and reposted our past decisions and resources as well for reference.
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Moved from Meta/Forum Business by
SaraWolk
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Inconsistent user here. So is this forum dead, orrr...?
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@culi The forum is not dead. It's not the most active forum, but it's definitely not dead.
