Re: [tlug] Top-posting (was: plonk [Re: Classes])

[Bruno Raoult <braoult@example.com>]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 2:36 PM, Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com> wrote:

2012/5/29 Bruno Raoult <braoult@example.com>:

Because TLUG is a representative democracy, not a direct one. You get
to vote for the officers once a year, and they in turn appoint the
non-elected admins (listmaster and sysadmin).

Understood. But as officers will never express any point of view before election,
there is no way to change anything, even if members don't agree :-)
 

Changes to the list policy are decided by the officers and the
moderation staff. We certainly welcome suggestions, but a list-wide
vote is simply not how we generally do things, and certainly not in
this case.

Oh... "Certainly not in this case": This seems a strong answer for a disputable topic :-)
 

Anyone may run for office, and every year, I offer to hand over the
Listmaster position to an interested, qualified party (there have been
no takers for the last 10 years).

This is a different topic: You may be in charge of the list, but what if 90%
of people don't agree on one single rule? Would you just ignore them because
you were elected in a "democratic" way (with no discussion about this topic)?
I don't complain, please understand... I will follow rules, whatever they are,
I like this list...

But I believe direct vote on sensible subjects could be an option (to avoid silly critics such
as expressed in previous emails). Sorry, I am no more in Japan, I cannot help.
Would I be there, and elected, I would just shut down any discussion with a vote, instead
of a 4 people power, which could bring such discussion back every few months :-)

I think this list could (I do say "should!") be managed a different way: All members
could decide the laws, and elected people would make them run.
I.E. If members agree that no top post is allowed, the officers manage
the problem. But the law does not come from the officers themselves (they should not be
"Juge et Partie").

But I cannot change anything, as members have no power to change the law. My wife
is Chinese (mainland), and when I discuss politics with her, it is (unfortunately) going a
similar way in her country. Should I write 仕様がない ?

Bruno.

PS. People joining the list today will not understand anything about this email. Because
of no top-posting ;-)

-- 

2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2.