Kumoricon Drama Rant
Aug. 6th, 2008 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tomthefanboyYes the convention is coming up, and that means it is time for drama.
Welcome to the party bloggers! Punch and pie are to your left.
Sure there's been drama over the Exhibitor's Hall and registration. People are working on that, supposedly, and there's really nothing else that we can do. However there is something that the staff can be involved in.
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=7321.30
There is a proposal in the works for the Treasurer, Secretary, Vice Chair, and Facilities Liaison to change from board elected positions to positions that are elected by the general staff at an election 2 weeks after the general elections in October.
It's not my proposal (oh fear that day young staffers...) but I am definitely in the camp that is for it.
I would be fine if people disagreed and tore the proposal apart. In fact if people are arguing about a proposal that's good because it is how things get changed and turned into good, balanced pieces of legislature. It has already been revised once!
However the real drama here is that people are trying to keep it from going to vote! WTF!? Who cares how busy people are and how close to con it is? Not me and not the rules! This proposal deals with the elections, really it ONLY deals with the elections and nothing else. For those of you not familiar with Kumoricon's set up, nominations for the next year's board begin at the meeting right after the convention ends. The election takes place about a month after that.
There is one meeting left before the convention, that meeting is about 10 days away and the convention itself is two weeks after that. This proposal was thought of just in time to see it voted on before con, any later and it actually couldn't effect the elections this year because people would be voting on the proposal AT the elections! That is worse in my opinion.
The most outrageous part is that in the same post they will say that they don't think the staff should vote on this proposal and THEN say that they aren't trying to keep the proposal from being voted on. One of the weirdest statments was that if there was support then they would make sure it was voted on. Well there's about 6 people who support it so far stupid! These people are horrible politicians!
That's what it is of course. Politics pure and simple. The con has not been a group of friends helping each other out for about 4 years. In politics people who disagree have to debate and compromise to make things happen. There are a large number of people (who seem larger since they are the ones doing most of the yelling) who don't want anyone else to change things. They claim to want change and will tell you what they'd change about the convention if they could, but when change comes in they fight it!
WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKK!
People keep coming with really weird arguments against it too, like what if the chair and vice chair don't get along? What if the staff elects a really bad choice for Treasurer. Well then we'll deal with it, the staff have made poor choices for directors in the past, and the Board has done the same. The con is still here.
Something that my friend Paulos mentioned to me, "If, ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas." Well I dunno about Christmas but I'd like to have an election or a convention that didn't end with me being super pissed off at everyone in charge.
--------------------
OK so now we'll move past that since I have plenty of other things to rant about. Like one of the people who disagrees with me on the issue! :P
I'm trying really hard not to get personal with one of the people arguing against me so I'm going to be extra vague.
This person has not been working for the convention very long.
This person has made some of the contradictory statements I mentioned.
This person claimed to have thought about the posted statement for a long time and yet there were many facts that were wrong, facts that could easily have been checked in five minutes on the forum itself.
This person also claimed that they have been on the boards long enough to have a good feel for the staff.
This person has repeatedly used terms with negative connotations in a self damning way.
this person has a history of grabbing for attention and trying to get more credit than is due.
This person sent me a private message with the most patronizing and insulting tone I've heard in a long time. I can't help but quote this.
"Once more I am not sure if this is accidental or purposeful, but please be mindful of your tone in the future especially with attendees who are here paying to be treated like valued customers and staff who are here volunteering their time to be a part of the Kumoricon family just as you are."
"Once more" refers to an earlier part of the same message. Pleas note again that this person is in no way, in the convention hierarchy, forum hierarchy, or in real fucking life my superior.
Egotistical as I may be, I am secure in this fact. After all "I have put a lot of thought into this."
--If you think that I'm talking about you then maybe you better be a little more thoughtful about who you're fucking with!
--If you know who I'm talking about, I'll give you a high five. (but not publicly since that would be like saying the person's name) ;)
I will now link you to Exhibit A (there's older exhibitos but I lost them in the HALL) for my defense.
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=6807.210
This thread has been the hotbed of the Exhibitors Hall drama. If you read through it in its entirety you will see how I've tried to make sure that the concerned artists took their time and had patience with our staff. I knew the board was looking into it and there's really no higher level to turn to in the staff. I bid them patience, so they waited. However when there was no resolution I stepped out of the way and at some points even joined them in their righteous anger.
It is my feeling that far too few members of the staff are willing to be critical of their fellow staff members. I yell louder because I'm making up for the silence. I'm not being presumptuous and I also don't drag out arguments into other parts of the forum, If I was just being rude to people there'd be a lot more accusations and name calling and I'd be saying a lot more aboutlies people have said promises people have broken. I'd be pulling out quotes and damning evidence. I don't though, because a cooperation is needed to get the job done and mose of the people that piss me off do their job (at least a little). Even the people who have utterly FAILED in their duties, and I mean the duties of their position and not the shit their superiors made up, have been spared my furious attacks.
-----------------------------
Here's something for everyone.
If you look at my posts from last winter you should be able to see the drama revolving around the appointment of the secondary board positions and the verious cries of croneyism between certain parties and friends. To use the board's words "A secret cabal" was formed to block any changes to the bylaws.
Whether the conspiracy is true or not the block was successful, the bylaws have not been updated for a long long long time.
Now we are trying to make a change and we get the same song from a different set of singers.
---------------------------------
I want to use this space to crunch some numbers....
We need at least 1/5 of the total staff for quorum....
Now going on the official website we have 126 names on the staff roster.
Now some of those entries are repeated and some people are missing so for map purposes we'll say that we're at 125. That is the most possible.
This means we need at LEAST 25 staff members at the meeting.
2/3 of those people must vote yes to get this proposition put into action That's 17 people voting yes.
Now we must go and look at the forum thread itself and see who's for and against, of the people talking that is.
YES= radien, tomthefanboy, melchizidek, vallieigrl, leashy
No= jamiche
??= rathany, dancingtofu, babysugarbear, JeffT
So as you can see the YES votes are in the majority. The people in the ?? section are against a couple points or have not actually said their opion. jamiche and JeffT have been very good about giving the facts about propositions and bylaws changes. jamiche is the only person who has been direct enough to put her in the NO column.
Here is the main part of her statement. "IMO, the vice-chair should be an elected position. The other 3... right now, no. And I disagree that a separate election should be held... if we are gonna do it, I say we do it all at once."
That's the kind of argument I like! Clear, justified and completely devoid of exclamation points.With the current proposition we can count on one board vote to be transparent. Well, purposefully transparent.
I'm happy that I voted for Jaki. :D
If you have an opinion on the election of board officials then please pipe up by this weekend!
I have also been informed that the board must also have a 2/3 vote in favor. That's 6 of 9 people. Now with the current wording of the proposal
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=7321.30
I predict they will all vote no.
They wont admit to it and they probably won't even have the courtesy to tell us no to our faces. Mostly because they don't have to and our board has a history of being childish about telling us things they don't have to.
If this passes the popular vote but not the Board then we can all just put the issue into a box until the November meeting, when the new board has their "coming out party".
Won't that be fun!
Closing disclaimer.
Tom Munkres does not want anyone dead.
And for those of you who are skipping this, I want you all to know that I'm married to Che Guevara.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
valliegirl said "What I would really like is an entire "revolution" within the convention. I want for the people who love this convention and give a damn about it to stand up and run for a position next year. Take a look at your own strengths and weaknesses, think about what position you may be best suited for, figure out if you've got the time and energy to take on this sort of responsibility, and if you are seriously wanting and able to do this, throw your hat in the ring."
I love her so much.
Welcome to the party bloggers! Punch and pie are to your left.
Sure there's been drama over the Exhibitor's Hall and registration. People are working on that, supposedly, and there's really nothing else that we can do. However there is something that the staff can be involved in.
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=7321.30
There is a proposal in the works for the Treasurer, Secretary, Vice Chair, and Facilities Liaison to change from board elected positions to positions that are elected by the general staff at an election 2 weeks after the general elections in October.
It's not my proposal (oh fear that day young staffers...) but I am definitely in the camp that is for it.
I would be fine if people disagreed and tore the proposal apart. In fact if people are arguing about a proposal that's good because it is how things get changed and turned into good, balanced pieces of legislature. It has already been revised once!
However the real drama here is that people are trying to keep it from going to vote! WTF!? Who cares how busy people are and how close to con it is? Not me and not the rules! This proposal deals with the elections, really it ONLY deals with the elections and nothing else. For those of you not familiar with Kumoricon's set up, nominations for the next year's board begin at the meeting right after the convention ends. The election takes place about a month after that.
There is one meeting left before the convention, that meeting is about 10 days away and the convention itself is two weeks after that. This proposal was thought of just in time to see it voted on before con, any later and it actually couldn't effect the elections this year because people would be voting on the proposal AT the elections! That is worse in my opinion.
The most outrageous part is that in the same post they will say that they don't think the staff should vote on this proposal and THEN say that they aren't trying to keep the proposal from being voted on. One of the weirdest statments was that if there was support then they would make sure it was voted on. Well there's about 6 people who support it so far stupid! These people are horrible politicians!
That's what it is of course. Politics pure and simple. The con has not been a group of friends helping each other out for about 4 years. In politics people who disagree have to debate and compromise to make things happen. There are a large number of people (who seem larger since they are the ones doing most of the yelling) who don't want anyone else to change things. They claim to want change and will tell you what they'd change about the convention if they could, but when change comes in they fight it!
WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKK!
People keep coming with really weird arguments against it too, like what if the chair and vice chair don't get along? What if the staff elects a really bad choice for Treasurer. Well then we'll deal with it, the staff have made poor choices for directors in the past, and the Board has done the same. The con is still here.
Something that my friend Paulos mentioned to me, "If, ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas." Well I dunno about Christmas but I'd like to have an election or a convention that didn't end with me being super pissed off at everyone in charge.
--------------------
OK so now we'll move past that since I have plenty of other things to rant about. Like one of the people who disagrees with me on the issue! :P
I'm trying really hard not to get personal with one of the people arguing against me so I'm going to be extra vague.
This person has not been working for the convention very long.
This person has made some of the contradictory statements I mentioned.
This person claimed to have thought about the posted statement for a long time and yet there were many facts that were wrong, facts that could easily have been checked in five minutes on the forum itself.
This person also claimed that they have been on the boards long enough to have a good feel for the staff.
This person has repeatedly used terms with negative connotations in a self damning way.
this person has a history of grabbing for attention and trying to get more credit than is due.
This person sent me a private message with the most patronizing and insulting tone I've heard in a long time. I can't help but quote this.
"Once more I am not sure if this is accidental or purposeful, but please be mindful of your tone in the future especially with attendees who are here paying to be treated like valued customers and staff who are here volunteering their time to be a part of the Kumoricon family just as you are."
"Once more" refers to an earlier part of the same message. Pleas note again that this person is in no way, in the convention hierarchy, forum hierarchy, or in real fucking life my superior.
Egotistical as I may be, I am secure in this fact. After all "I have put a lot of thought into this."
--If you think that I'm talking about you then maybe you better be a little more thoughtful about who you're fucking with!
--If you know who I'm talking about, I'll give you a high five. (but not publicly since that would be like saying the person's name) ;)
I will now link you to Exhibit A (there's older exhibitos but I lost them in the HALL) for my defense.
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=6807.210
This thread has been the hotbed of the Exhibitors Hall drama. If you read through it in its entirety you will see how I've tried to make sure that the concerned artists took their time and had patience with our staff. I knew the board was looking into it and there's really no higher level to turn to in the staff. I bid them patience, so they waited. However when there was no resolution I stepped out of the way and at some points even joined them in their righteous anger.
It is my feeling that far too few members of the staff are willing to be critical of their fellow staff members. I yell louder because I'm making up for the silence. I'm not being presumptuous and I also don't drag out arguments into other parts of the forum, If I was just being rude to people there'd be a lot more accusations and name calling and I'd be saying a lot more about
-----------------------------
Here's something for everyone.
If you look at my posts from last winter you should be able to see the drama revolving around the appointment of the secondary board positions and the verious cries of croneyism between certain parties and friends. To use the board's words "A secret cabal" was formed to block any changes to the bylaws.
Whether the conspiracy is true or not the block was successful, the bylaws have not been updated for a long long long time.
Now we are trying to make a change and we get the same song from a different set of singers.
---------------------------------
I want to use this space to crunch some numbers....
We need at least 1/5 of the total staff for quorum....
Now going on the official website we have 126 names on the staff roster.
Now some of those entries are repeated and some people are missing so for map purposes we'll say that we're at 125. That is the most possible.
This means we need at LEAST 25 staff members at the meeting.
2/3 of those people must vote yes to get this proposition put into action That's 17 people voting yes.
Now we must go and look at the forum thread itself and see who's for and against, of the people talking that is.
YES= radien, tomthefanboy, melchizidek, vallieigrl, leashy
No= jamiche
??= rathany, dancingtofu, babysugarbear, JeffT
So as you can see the YES votes are in the majority. The people in the ?? section are against a couple points or have not actually said their opion. jamiche and JeffT have been very good about giving the facts about propositions and bylaws changes. jamiche is the only person who has been direct enough to put her in the NO column.
Here is the main part of her statement. "IMO, the vice-chair should be an elected position. The other 3... right now, no. And I disagree that a separate election should be held... if we are gonna do it, I say we do it all at once."
That's the kind of argument I like! Clear, justified and completely devoid of exclamation points.With the current proposition we can count on one board vote to be transparent. Well, purposefully transparent.
I'm happy that I voted for Jaki. :D
If you have an opinion on the election of board officials then please pipe up by this weekend!
I have also been informed that the board must also have a 2/3 vote in favor. That's 6 of 9 people. Now with the current wording of the proposal
http://www.kumoricon.org/forums/index.php?topic=7321.30
I predict they will all vote no.
They wont admit to it and they probably won't even have the courtesy to tell us no to our faces. Mostly because they don't have to and our board has a history of being childish about telling us things they don't have to.
If this passes the popular vote but not the Board then we can all just put the issue into a box until the November meeting, when the new board has their "coming out party".
Won't that be fun!
Closing disclaimer.
Tom Munkres does not want anyone dead.
And for those of you who are skipping this, I want you all to know that I'm married to Che Guevara.
valliegirl said "What I would really like is an entire "revolution" within the convention. I want for the people who love this convention and give a damn about it to stand up and run for a position next year. Take a look at your own strengths and weaknesses, think about what position you may be best suited for, figure out if you've got the time and energy to take on this sort of responsibility, and if you are seriously wanting and able to do this, throw your hat in the ring."I love her so much.
