🚀 go-pugleaf

"    The representatives of our organization who were taking
 part in the "thesegroups" mailing list discussion were
 therefore surprised, hurt, and, in some cases, angry that our
 proposal was rejected so brusquely. We were all bewildered
 that members of the steering committee would imply that we
 were wrangling for some sort of undue influence over the
 proceedings.  We were shocked that others from the committee
 felt that having to contend with EFF-Austin members would make
 holding the meeting in Austin a bad idea. And we were
 perplexed at the idea of wanting to hold the meeting in a
 "neutral" location. "Neutral from what?" we wondered."


Pshaw.

It struck me when I read the prior proposal that they would reject
it for precisely this reason, much as they probably rejected the
idea of holding it in, um, where are they located ? Cambridge ? Or
Boston ?  - to eliminate any accusation(s) of bias, stacking the
democratic process by virtue of proximity to the event, et caetera.

In this case, virtually _everyone_ whom attends - with attention to
the two largest groups, Cambridge/Boston and Houston/Austin - will
need to dedicate roughly equivalent resources to reaching the meeting,
and, statistically, will be equally represented. Distance is a great
equalizer.

To summarize ... I don't think it is appropriate to interpret it as
an insult. It's not politics ... it's the deliberated _elimination_
of politics from what could, and should, be a process as close to a
cybernetic ideal as is possible, in an organization whose membership
is tainted by the pervasive presence of bias-prone humans such as our-
-selves ...	(-:


-- richard

=====
-- richard childers		rchilder@us.oracle.com		1 415 506 2411
         oracle data center  --  unix systems & network administration

                    Klein flask for rent. Inquire within.