🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec15.192557.13119@cpu.com>, gwlester@cpu.com (Gerald W. Lester) writes:
> 
> 	It might avoid some confusion, but the statement is **WRONG**!!
> At least the L&T and 3P SIG chairs are elected by the general membership at
> their respective Open SIG Steering Committe meetings members (not restricted
> to leaders) present.  I believe that L&T does put a restriction that DEC
> employees can not vote, but I'm not sure.

I cannot speak for 3P, but L&T most definately does not elect SIG
chairs.  Our Policies and Procedures, both the current ones, and the
version now under review, do not even mention voting.  SIG chairs
are, in actuality, "nominated" by the outgoing SIG chair, and 
confirmed by the Executive Committee.  Changes are reached by 
concensus, with votes of any sort being extremely rare.  To as great
an extent as possible, L&T maintains a huge steering committee, and
subject to budget constraints, keeps as many of them involved in 
SIG affairs as possible.

Note that I fully support this mechanism, I am not in any way
criticizing it.  As long as it is easy to volunteer your time to 
the SIG, and access to the steering committee is open, it produces
a smoother operation, and tends to discourage DECUS politicians, as
opposed to actual workers, from trying to control the SIG.

The mechanism does, however, at least present the appearance of a 
less representative democracy in SIG Council and the MC.

> >
> >Maybe I'm a minority, but the newsletters were my one regular contact with the
> >society. And what I read the most were the standards reports. I will miss both.
> >Now I hardly feel like I have a connection to DECUS. (Now would be a bad time to
> >ask me to pay money, btw, to comment on another issue being discussed, unless I
> >got some new product in return.) And I'm more connected to DECUS than
> >somepeople, as I am a volunteer (I manage VMSnet).
> >
> 
> 	You are very much a minority.  The news letter subscription was about
> 2% of the membership and a good number of subscribers had/have either or both
> DECUServe or DCS accounts.
>

Several people have expressed their concern to me over the demise
of the newsletter. 2% of the membership is *roughly* 1000 subscribers,
which is very low, but many of those subscribers really wanted it.
They HAD to, to fight through all the barriers we put in their way to
maintaining their subscriptions!  DECUS killed the newsletters, but
not in one swell foop this past fall, but gradually over the last
five years through poor marketing, bad renewal policies, and lack
of support.

Al Folsom
L&T Newsletter Editor-In-Exile