Maethodoron Elections

[Mercaine]

Oct 28, 2009 11:50:52 GMT -5 Scarlet said:

hey so elections? when? guys?GUys? hello?... please don'tlet all of this turn into an exercise in futility

Events, work, life etc... We've taken more than enough initiative to get things done so far and if certain things are taking a bit longer than others so be it.
We said we were going to wait until after the Oct 24th event. Well that event went really well and opened a lot of eyes for how events work. Which is fantastic.
We'll get to the elections shortly, we definitely are going to do exactly what Cyrus said and set up the bylaws and dates for elections to come.



And don't come onto the boards talking about exercises in futility until you actually attempt to be in charge or run something. It was great that you were all wanting to be involved when it looked like you had something to gain from it. But, past this little bit of involvement we haven't seen much from lots of people who are talking about elections.
I don't know if many people talking about these elections really understand what it would mean to be an admin of this group. There is absolutely no power to it. However, there is late night shopping before events, sitting down writing up how things are going to happen, driving around making sure we have facilities, making phone calls, etc... It's a lot of personal involvement that no one sees. Admin meetings, phone calls with other admins, and the constant need to at least read the message boards is always there.
I'm afraid that some people don't quite know the amount of work being an admin actually takes in this realm. I'm also afraid that people who may want to be admins do because they think they have the resources to handle that responsibility.
I'm in no way saying that anyone is incapable of being an admin, however, i'm saying that it takes a lot more dedication than people might think. Life is always above Dag, but there are times when you have to find that middle ground and make life suck a bit because you have an obligation to dag (I.e) driving out to the event after a seven hour work to help clean up and just say thanks for coming out. It's an example not a martyr story. It's those little things that you have to make sure as an admin you go out of your way to make happen.
And my initial though of Lucius and Nova as admins still stays as a good one. They've worked more than beyond what past admins have to prove how much they want to do this.

Elections will still happen, but events and general realm workings are more important at this point. I'm just saying maybe people should re-evaluate what their initial stance was on this whole situation.

[kira]

That's absurd and you know it. Kill the condescension. I can't believe you come on here with "And don't come onto the boards talking about exercises in futility until you actually attempt to be in charge or run something."

HELLO!!! We are attempting to be in charge! That's why we're insisting on these elections. Those of us who care and want to help pull things back together ARE TRYING TO DO SOMETHING.

And don't even try that "I don't know if many people talking about these elections really understand what it would mean to be an admin of this group." We know.

It would be terribly considerate if you would address your fellow members like the reasonably intelligent and experienced people that they are. I'm very offended that you would respond so cattily, especially to someone who's been here long enough to know a thing or two about the realm. Try to treat your fellow realm members like peers rather than inferiors.

As far as Cyrus' comment that elections should wait; I think that's a TERRIBLE idea. I think it will go very badly for the realm and possibly hurt our numbers. The last thing we need is stretching out an issue like this. Like Vors said, I would like to get the process started before winter break so everything can be settled long before the winter event. As far as that "funny observation," we're fighting rather hard for the ability to make that decision ourselves. It's not ironic, it's a lack of control and rights by the membership. We don't expect them to choose anything. We have no choice.

I try not to be this rude on the boards, but I really feel like some of the commentary that is going on and the attitudes that are being taken very much so provoke a sharp response.

[kira]

Also, when the current administration has a chance, it would be nice to know how the recent event effected our finances.

[Haze]

But don't you understand that by accepting that the current admins should be in charge of elections you are accepting them as admins so why not let them do their job?

And I'm really not trying to fight, I just honestly think we should let the current admins handle things until AFTER the Winter Event because I think then things would go a lot smoother then having to switch right now while things are starting to be planned, rather than rush an election and system of rules just to get them done before hand.

[kira]

I'm afraid that waiting will undo some of the decisions and progress that we've made by dealing with all of this. I'm more afraid that we'll still be waiting this time next year.

[Swordbrother Nova]

I know we went over budget, but I put $40 into the cash box for the realm so I think we only lost like $10 or so dollars after the prize money was given away. I'll have to see if I can afford to make the cloak for next event's raffle and pay for it out my pocket. If anyone has extra fabric lying around (enough for a half circle cloak) and is willing to donate it that would be pretty awesome.

[kira]

I have fabric, but I'll have to check and see if it's a decent cloak weight. I'll let you know next time I can go out to my parents' to check my fabric stock, haha.

[Haze]

I have a ton of duck cloth, enough to make 2 cloaks if you can use that.. not sure if you can.

[Swordbrother Nova]

I usually make the outer layer duck cloth.

[Haze]

what other materials do you use, because I need a cloak myself

[Vors Nymphkilla]

Thus far Lucius and Nova have proven their worth as admins, and merc has been proving himself for years. i think they are capable of handling some of the issues at hand such as the december bimonthly and getting bylaws straightened out. if it has to come down to it we can just call them temporary admins until the election. while i would like to have the elections done before break because we still have strong contacts with our realm mates, i do think that doing them at the beginning of next semester would essentially give us a clean slate. its best to do it now i think so we have 3 months for admins to get the Winter Event set up instead of only one month after election.
Mercaine does make an important point for everyone who is putting in their name for an admin position, including myself. There is far more that goes on as an admin than most of us know. it is a huge job and sometimes Dag actually does come before your normal life too. if its the night before an event but we arent ready, guess who pulls all nighters so that everyone else can go to the event stress free? i personally put dag ahead of my normal life alot, without being an admin, and i can tell people who dont how much hell it can bring. think of your parents when u were growing up. remember how much work they put in while we were out having lives and think of how much you thanked them. admins make the deals, clean up after us, and make sure we can keep doing what we love. so give them some credit, they are working hard and i'm sure whoever gets elected will work hard too.
we really do have to decide soon when we want to hold elections. i think we need to do it directly after we can all agree on some bylaws so that those laws can govern the new admins from the start

[Swordbrother Nova]

Bylaws are done, he said that he sent them, he just might not have the right e-mail, he goes to the library for internet, so It'll probably have to wait until tomorrow.

[eoin]

As far as the whole getting the election done so that the new admins have time to plan the winter event issue I would hope that we play well enough together that the current administration could begin planing with the intent to turn the reins over to the incoming administration post election. For the sake of continuality the old administration could still function as the points of contact when dealing with outside groups (site management, food suppliers and etc) while the new group takes over the in house tasks and oversees the arrangements that are being finalized by the old group.

[eoin]

While I am thinking about it these are the duties that I feel should be delt with by the Administration at atleast the realm level and expansion minded units should probably consider it as well.

Public Affairs: Flyers, dealing with recruits through the first harsh few weeks (adressing questions/concerns, discussing issues of garb and weapons making and generally being available to the newbs), being the face of the realm among the members (making sure their issues are heard and responded to, keeping them up to date on changes that are taking place on a realm level)

Event Planing: Contacting site managers for various events, Food (in house cooks or dealing with catering), Housing for out of towners (even if it is just a list of phone numbers for hotels and camp grounds in the area), Battle senarios, non-combat entertainment

Event Promotion: Making sure people know when and where events are going to happen and what is expected to happen once they get there

Rules: Maintaining an up to date rules book with both national and realm specific rules, Over seeing the Archery and Red Weapons qual classes, Weapons check and heralding

Practices: Overseeing both general beat each other with foam as well as drill focused practices

Unit co-ordinator: Making sure that the various units don't step on each other's or the realm's toes when going about unit business

Realm co-ordinator: Making sure that information flows between realm departments to make things go as smoothly as possible

Yes in a realm of our size some of these can and likely should be combined just as with a large or extremely active realm some of them can be expanded to be a person's sole focus.

I think if we are seriously going to discuss changing the number or admins in the realm we need to discuss and set what duties we expect people to fulfill, hell otherwise it's almost as effective for me to find another person to sign a charter with me and start my own realm.

I keep reading these posts about how people what change and elections so they can make their voices heard. Well your voice only needs to be heard when you have something to say. Say it here in a post or a PM, say it at practices, for all I care rent a megaphone and screaming it in the oakgrove like the preacherman. I joined you guys after I came out to an event and you proved the issues I had from five years ago before there was dag on campus were wrong. But since the semester started up again atleast once a week I have sat and read these forums and wondered just what I walked into.

(Sorry if I come off like a dick in this post but I have issue with the way the realm appears to function when viewed in the light of this forum. I mean that as a whole rather then as an admin thing.)

[Vors Nymphkilla]

thats actually not a bad idea. in general it will help us if the people we have to deal with are dealing with the same maeth members the whole way through the pocess instead of having to re-explain things to the new admins