Issues up for vote

Hi Jim,

I agree with you, I don't think that a membership vote would help in
selecting a guild attorney. That type of issue does not lend itself to a
vote. I was refering to more general matters such as "should we support
W3C" or surveys such as: "which of th efollowing on-line courses would you
be most likely to pay to attend?". This type of feedback (maybe I should
refer to it as feedback, instead of "votes") may prove valuable to the GB
in making some of its decisions. I in no way see voting on _every_ issue,
by the general membership, to be effective or feasible. I apologize for not
being more clear about that.

I think it would definitely be the Governing Boards place to decide which
issues, if any, would benefit from membership feedback. I think feedback
(on certain issues) would be beneficial to GB, from a decision-making
standpoint and to the Guild as a whold, by allowing a different opportunity
for membership involvement.

I do take to heart the response that has come in on this list about the
quantity of membership feedback in the past. With that history in mind, and
certainly if voting is low for this, the idea I have proposed for
soliciting more member feedback may not be worth pusuing.

I have, however, seen some on-line "surveys" that were short, simple and
prominently displayed on a site that have been successful. I wonder _what_
made those successful. The issue at hand? The consise nature of the survey
(1-2 questions)? That it was displayed prominently on the site's homepage?
I believe it is more than location because this election is listed on the
front page of the site, and it is mentioned on other Guild lists and the
turnout for campaigning is rather low. Is it that members aren't interested
in providing their input/feedback or is it that they aren't interested in
this particular topic? I really don't know.

To sum up, I think it may be worth doing on _some_ issues, but certainly
not all lend themselves to a membership vote, as you have pointed out.

Tanya Spain



>>         >* The First Elections
>>         >
>>         >  The Guild's elections are scheduled for February 19,
>>         1998; >  this will mark the first time in which the
>>         membership has >  been granted the right to vote regarding
>>         the direction the >  Guild will take.
>
>The above might more accurately read '...right to elect the people
>guiding the direction the guild will take'. Given that...
>
>> I'd like to see voting opened up to other issues, too, beyond who is
>> a member of the GB.
>
>For instance?
>
>> If there were more publicized opportunities for members to cast a
>> vote on issues, I think that may encourage more participation and a
>> better awareness of where the membership, as a larger group, stands
>> on certain issues faced by the Guild.
>
>How does the voter confirm to the GB (and the membership) that he/she
>is sufficiently well informed to offer opinion on any given 'issue'?
>For example, does the average (read majority) membership have
>sufficient knowledge of internet/corporate legal topics to
>elect/select a guild attorney? I think the GB might spend more time
>figuring what topics are appropriate for voting that could be better
>applied to investigating, debating, and deciding on the issue as a
>smaller group. That is in fact the purpose of the GB.
>
>> We'd gain a better awareness of ourselves as a Guild. As the GB,
>> we'd gain a clear picture of where the Guild wants to go and, in
>> turn, be able to better direct that.
>
>I think -ops provides that.
>
>OTOH non-binding 'consensus' type votes might be an option.
>
>BTW I think the rest of your post is very good.
>
>Have a :) day!
>
>jim barchuk
>mailto:jb(at)jbarchuk.com
>http://www.jbarchuk.com

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