Cool, I'm glad you're up for that position gus.
Now everybody settle down about my comment. the sad face was because I was disappointed that nobody was quizzing the nominees. I don't disapprove of you guys meeting and talking over drinks. I also wasn't implying anything regarding the alcohol intake of board members, it was just a reference to a place where adults would gather to hang out. It wasn't supposed to be anything sleazy.
If you had a problem with the Space Needle thing, well, I had the impression more people had moved up to the Seattle area. Now that I've reviewed the evidence I take it back. I chose that specifically because I liked the imagery of board members chatting with a potential Secretary high above the city. I thought it was kind of classy.
The general intent of the comment was to imply that the board members and potential board members ( the directors and chair we just elected) might not know the nominees or see them on a regular basis. Since they might not be able to arrange a meeting in person (over coffee, pizza, or drinks) they could use this forum as a place to get answers.
Was there a different issue you were referring to?
I appreciate your response. I didn't appreciate the original comment because it appeared to be based in an unfriendly and unfair mischaractarization. You seemed to be suggesting that the board is some kind of elite ivory (steel?) tower, and that by extension I myself must be an elitist. This strikes me as a surreptitious personal insult.
Altonimbus and Kumoricon is a volunteer organization. As you may know we do not have a workplace, we don't get paid for what we do, this isn't our day job. We do this for fun, and we make friends of the people we work with as we go. So yeah, as a board member I work with other board members in social situations, including in my own home or at a restaurant or a bar, and to the same extent that I do with non-board staffers and volunteers, and even rogue agents such as yourself, Tom. Sometimes, when we get a lot of work done, or (to address an unrelated point) when we want to reward volunteers for putting in long hours of hard work, we can justify putting the meal on the con tab, but we don't abuse the privilege for simply going out and socializing.
I've tried to include you specifically on at least a few occasions where I saw you were willing to contribute and where I thought you might excel as a staffer, but every time I see you say something unfair such as the original comment I regret ever having attempted to include you. Why should I, when you seem to turn around with some accusation or another that I'm elitist, unconcerned with the staff or volunteers or attendees, that I'm using the con for personal benefit, or that I have anything less than the best interests of the convention in mind?
I've interacted a lot with everybody in this organization, from the founders right down to the attendees, and absorb and process their concerns. After two years of working with Meg, we have pushed hard to open doors to the staff on the decision-making process, and we finally made sure the staff would have a say in any attempt to dissolve the con, which was the fear that initially motivated Meg to run for chair.
I've also done a lot of work for Kumoricon, and I've learned that every decision can't be made via a forum discussion. I have to do a lot of my work on my own, and a lot of the things I do aren't of any interest and aren't the concern of the people on the forums. Are you really interested in me posting the hotel contract on the forum, or all my conversations with the hotel's staff? How would that help me as Facilities Liaison? How could you or any of the forumites help me in my job that way? My experience has taught me that involving people who don't need to be there ends ups slowing the process to a grinding halt. Things get done when it's done by a small group of related individuals. And yeah, since I've been a board member, oftentimes that involves just other board members, but oftentimes enough that's involved staffers and you yourself, Tom.
We are
extremely responsive to the concerns brought to us by anyone. Sometimes those concerns are withheld from us (*ahem* No confidence?), and sometimes we may outright disagree with those concerns, and sometimes we simply do not have the capability to respond to concerns (ie nearly every time someone suggests that we include programming that they do not want to run themselves.) Those are the breaks. But whenever we can, haven't we been responsive? If we aren't, please say so. Otherwise, aren't you being unfair?
Please, tell us what you really think, so we can respond to it and improve. But stop making surreptitious accusations, stop making innuendo, and stop creating conflict with this crap. It serves no useful purpose except making me (and a good deal of others) pissed off with you. And if you actually enjoy manipulation, generating conflict and drama among others, and spreading conspiracy theories when a plain answer has always been a simple question away, if you enjoy all that more than you enjoy making Kumoricon a better convention, then I would ask you to evaluate whether your participation is overall more worthwhile to the convention or damaging to it, and I would ask you to stop participating altogether.
