🚀 go-pugleaf

Bill (chow@torfree.net) wrote:
: 1.0  Call to order at 19:15.
:      Board: Marc Bissonnette, Mark Bernier, David Baker, Dave Shory, Colin
:      McGregor, Bill Chow, Gard Abrahamsen, Steve Shorter, Dmytri Kleiner, 
:      David Jones (via IRC), Laine Ruus (minutes), Ian Casey (chair)
:      Guests: Adam Lloyd, Barbara shirnton, Tom Austin, Dev Balachandran, Rahim
:      Abdulla, Ed Carriere, Jim Mercer, Bruce Becker, Ken McCracken
:      Regrets: Richard van Abbe

 One cannot direct an organization
 with 12 people at the controls and
 10 more in the control room. This
 is over management at it's worse
 and is responsible for much of TFN's
 difficulties.

 Create a small executive body of three
 and reduce the full board's role to a
 quarterly policy only body. Basically
 they should rubber stamp reasonable
 actions and intervene only in the
 most egregious circumstances. 


: 5.2  CSAS contract
:
:      There was concensus that Mark Bernier and Colin McGregor act as liaisons
:      with CSAS on this issue.


 TFN's relationship with CSAS 
 should be reduced to an emerency 
 service contract. They are simply
 too expensive and have taken a role
 that is rather too involved in policy
 and *not* enough in technical support. 
 Find *one* competant system admin and
 an ISP to sponsor that person. Again
 CSAS is overkill.


: 6.2  Bank loan - Bill Chow
:
:      It was decided that the Executive Director has the authority to pursue a
:      bank loan.

 A bank loan should not even be
 considered. Try thinking about
 fund raising not debt loading.


: 6.5  Tiered access
:
:      There was concensus that a working group of concerned individuals be
:      formed to work out a proposal to bring to the Board on the issue of tiered
:      access. David Baker and Dmytri Kleiner to chair the working group.
:
:      D Jones informed the Board that tiered access software will not be ready
:      until mid-February.
 
 Well one good thing about
 tiered access... it will never
 see the light of day since TFN
 will go belly up in mid-February
 at the rate it's going.

 TFN members won't donate now if
 they know they'll have to pay more 
 by force later. And then they'll
 simply go to commercial services.
 Or, if they're poor, stop using
 TFN and the internet altogether.

 Tiered access is a disaster waiting
 to happen. And how any of the Board
 can see it as a salvation is beyond
 me. The folks pushing tiered access
 should think just once what happens
 if it fails. 

 Instead of developing a regimented, 
 dedicated fund raising and management
 plan TFN is trying to go the easy
 way. Again. Some coder in a chair
 poking code to make magic money.
 This will end in disaster. Let's
 get real shall we?
                             Bob Allisat

   PO Box 191 Station E Toronto Canada M6H 4E2      (416) 588-0670
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