board77

Ballot No. 31.

There has been no debate on the text of these key principles for quite a few days. So lets get this out of the way.

Question 1. Concerning Key Principles

Free Exchange of Ideas: All forms of self-expression are welcome at board77. In our discussion forums we encourage conversation that is vibrant and thoughtful, sometimes deeply personal, opinionated, or humorous and lighthearted. In our collaborative writing forum we value cooperation and support for one another’s creativity. We encourage the exchange of views on the whole spectrum of subjects that pique our curiosity in our daily lives.

Diversity: We pride ourselves on having an international membership that is diverse in culture, gender, age and interests. We are tolerant toward other viewpoints and opinions without hesitating to express our own. We show appreciation for the differing skills, language abilities and life experiences that our members bring to the board. We listen to one another, make good-faith efforts to understand one another, and we treat one another respectfully at all times.

Fellowship: Our interactions on board77 demonstrate that fellowship transcends agreement on specific issues, and actually flourishes because of the different perspectives we bring to a discussion. The founders of the board met through a shared love for the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we remain mindful of the spirit of fellowship exemplified by Tolkien's Middle-earth, and the inspiration that world brings to so many who encounter it. We strive to keep this ideal of fellowship alive and available to the community at large with opportunities for old friendships to deepen and for new ones to begin.

Transparency: The atmosphere of fairness required to foster the free exchange of ideas requires that judgment regarding board behavior be the shared responsibility of all members. Administration and enforcement of by-laws is done as fairly and openly as possible. We see value in exercising power and dealing with challenges publicly, rather than behind the scenes, because this safeguards against the undermining of our principles by privately-made decisions. This approach requires courage and trustworthiness from our members, and a willingness to be frank and forthright in our dealings with one another.

Self-Governance: The members of Board77 believe that externally imposed and enforced rules can stifle free expression; our solution is to leave responsibility for governance in the hands of the members. No member of board77 is more important than any other member, and no single member or group of members ever holds absolute power. We are all responsible for participating in board governance and we are all accountable for our own actions.

PLEASE SELECT ONE:
A. I approve all of these Key Principles.
B. I do not approve the following Key Principles: [please specify]

You want us to start voting now, Voronwe?

Jn

Yes, voting is open.

Question 1:

A. I approve all of these Key Principles

Question 1:
A. I approve all of these Key Principles

Question 1:
A. I approve all of these Key Principles

Question 1:
A. I approve all of these Key Principles

Question 1:
A. I approve all of these Key Principles

_______________
Resident witchâ„¢

Question 1:
A. I approve all of these Key Principles

(incredibly painless! )

Question 1.
A. I approve all of these Key Principles.

A. I approve all of these Key Principles.


I'm sorry I didn't follow the discussion on this one, else I should have commented earlier.
I approve all the Key Principles, but I think the opening of the first one:
All forms of self-expression are welcome at board77
means that we accept net-speak and extremely bad cussing, which I think could be claimed to be forms of self-expression, too.
Not sure if I'm just reading that first line wrong, or if it would need to be expressed less sweepingly?

TH

That's a good point. Perhaps that would have been the place to add a qualifier about our appreciation of language and our opinion that netspeak degrades the quality of discussion, and some sort of reference to restraint in cursing.

But I don't know what can be done about it now.

Question 1.
A. I approve all of these Key Principles.

BALLOT

A

1. A

TH - good point. I think, though, that the rest of the paragraph makes it plain what we mean by 'self-expression'

It's true that we ended up with MS and KP that nowhere exclude netspeak and say nothing at all about our language standards, which may be one of the most important things (per dhspgt). But we've got plenty in here that anarchists would approve! - if you read it all together, the sense is definitely 'no one tells us what to do.'

But that's quite accurate, imo - that is quite what the personality of this place is, and the problems that we suffer here are precisely the problems suffered by groups of strong-willed people.

So .... look, whatever we write here, we're going to have to live in it for a while and see how it fits, see if anyone at all bothers reading it.

Jn

bumping to get all vote threads on top

Ballot No. 31.

A. I approve all of these Key Principles.

A. I approve all of these Key Principles.

I just want to say that you guys have been really great as we have pushed hard to get everything done as quickly as possible these past couple of weeks. I really have enjoyed working with all of you guys and have learned alot from you all. I couldn't imagine a better group of people to work on something like this. Having so many different perspectives both from a cultural and a personality point of view has really made the process much richer and more successful then having a bunch of people who all see things the same way. I couldn't be more pleased.