It doesn't matter what your position or anyone elses is

[billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org]

On Thu, Dec 08, 2005 at 10:31:03AM -0500, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> billt-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org wrote:
> 
> >It doesn't matter what your position or anyone elses is.
> >
> While I don't question the accuracy of Bill's assertion, I wonder 
> whether it's a helpful attitude, coming out of an organization that is 
> (at least superficially) trying to attract members, volunteers and 
> possibly sponsors.
> 
Seeing I am no longer a member of the board, and have no official role in GTALUG executive I see no reason why I should limit my opinions to that of the board.

In reality every time this conversation occurs there is five or six people that believe me when I say that the best way to change TLUG to is to volunteer and make there voices known to the people that run this club that something is wrong and that they are willing to fix it.

The wiki for TLUG resulted because Sy read the thread about incorporation that was being banted around in August and September and contacted me about setting up a wiki for TLUG. Several companies approached us as sponsors based on these discussion. 

The reality is that GTALUG is democratic, it does foster an air of debate and discussion even about its very existence. The strength of this organization is the people that support it. Not the ones that don't.

> Obviously credibility isn't being sought.

We arleady have credibility. You may not believe it but the people and organization that we speak to do.

> 
> It's already been stated that GTALUG membership is less than 10% of the 
> TLUG community. It's probably a _lot_ less than 10%. And given the above 
> slogan for the current membership drive, it's not likely to grow much 
> either.

It is actually about 10%. It may shrink it may grow it doesn't really matter much. What matters is the drive of those people that are members and volunteers.

> 
> The only opportunity for GTALUG to build membership will be at a 
> something like LinuxWorld, where people who simply want to "support the 
> community" might join without knowing the situation.
>
And this is bad? At least these people are supporting the community.
 
> >Presently GTALUG runs this mailing list and runs the club.
> >
> The conspiracy theorist in people might wonder whether the whole point 
> of this exercise is to ultimately funnel membership funds into the hands 
> of those who "run the club", to one day generate profit for the 
> subcontracted provision of resources that are currently volunteered. 
> Since no other purpose has been offered for the money collected, and the 
> management of said resources is *the* key stated function of GTALUG, 
> it's not inconceivable. Furthermore, since we don't even have access to 
> the bylaws online, we don't know what safeguards if any exist to prevent 
> this from happening. I for one certainly hope that such bylaw safeguards 
> exist, in which case such a theory would be moot.
>
I believe that it was stated in another post by someone else who came to the executive meeting that he was convinced the accounting for the club was accurate. I'm not going to say he is any more honest than anyone else.

But consider the simple fact that the general meeting in September was open to anyone who wished to show up, and at that meeting there was photocopies of all of this years expenditures for anyone to take and scrutinize.

The reality is that this club is run by honest people who have nothing to hide. I don't believe anyone on this list has questioned any of the ongoing operation of TLUG. The only thing that has ever been debated is the policies.

As for the By-Laws, Chris Johnson is working on putting them online. The best thing to do is pester him.

Bill

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