wharvey

I would like to ask for the Talkboard to consider a request to allow a formal 7 days for comment from the general membership once a motion has been made and seconded. The 7 days would begin AFTER the motion is posted here in the Talkboard Topics Forum.

At the same time, I would recommend reducing the vote time to 10 days.

Reasoning: I think it would be valuabale for members to have sufficient time to have input BEFORE our representatives vote on the motions. I know - when I was a TB member - I often voted as soon as a motion was posted. I did not want to miss a vote and I had tried to get input from people... in private messages, FT chat or on the boards before I voted. However, I know I often voted fast... and could have used more input. I do not recall a single vote I would have changed... but would like to see the community have time.

Thoughts from the membership?

William

bhatnasx

I think that the 2-week time frame is currently a good amount of time for voting. Some of us do travel quite frequently and aren't checking in every day, but I know all of us can check-in within the 2-week time frame (and I would be disappointed if we weren't).

Regarding the 7-day wait time, I'm not sure that's 100% necessary - I can see it being useful in terms of feedback - but I think that the 2 week discussion suffices - most (not all, but most) are pretty much decided within 2 weeks, once a motion is made & seconded. And, as you know from experience, before a motion is made & seconded, it is often discussed at length in the private TB forum.

Given all of this discussion, it would just be changing the voting/discussion period from 14 days to 17 days in your proposal & I"m not sure that the extra 3 days makes a signficant difference. If someone has something to say about something & they truly care - they'll say that within the first 2 weeks. If you're just trying to prevent TB members from voting until the public discusses the topic for a week, that too, may be unneccessary as some topics are relatively open & shut - for example there was very little resistance (if any) against the Travel Photography forum & it wouldn't have been necessary (IMHO), to have that 17-day period.

Jenbel

Question - if in light of comments from the general membership, the motion gets amended and re-seconded, are you intending that that starts the 7 day process off again? And if not, why not?

wharvey

Jenbel, if the Talkboard "amended" a motion based on feedback... I do not think a new 7 day comment period needs to happen. Of course, I am sure some would say, new motion new 7 days.

I would just like to see the membership have adequate notice and time to comment on motions.

Nothing more.

William

wharvey

bhatnasx,

Great points.... but the motion this week is a great example. Membership was "notified" in what I consider a "buried" way (meaning the proposal was not highlighted separately but buried in a Germany/Europe thread). A few days later the motion is formally announced... but then we are told the motion has pretty much passed/failed in the next 24 hours.

Not much true time to get input from the membership.

I would think that the quick feedback the Talkboard received on the motion once it was "formally" announced would indicate that membes did not "see" the "buried" post or think it was in a format to be commented on. Right or wrong, that is apparently the case. Once it received its own thread, it got attention.

Seems silly to pass a motion that has so many comments suggesting changes. Why not take the extra time (a few days in my proposal) to get sufficient member input?

I felt 10 days was enough time for TB members to check in... and I know when I was on the Board, Missydarlin and Gleff did a great job of making sure we all knew about votes... personal messages. If it would help, change that to 14 days... which means 7 days for comment after post vote motion in the public forum... then 14 days to vote.

I do not believe any motion is so critical that it has to be passed in a quick time frame... even non controversial subjects can wait the 21 days...

In addition, any TB member can request a shorter vote period in their motion. I know that has been done before.

William

Kiwi Flyer

I don't have any comments on this suggestion, other than to say I too am uncomfortable about how the recent destination forum restructure discussion has gone. A post buried in a thread with completely different topic is not informing the wider membership, and to vote almost straight away signals (to me at least) that Talk Board think they know best and don't care about input. A bad precedent in my view.

wharvey

I would like to bring this back up for discussion in light of the recent motion that had no community input before being presented.

I still believe that the community should have some "open time" to discuss a motion before voting commences.

lin821

I totally agree.

I think 7 days (at least) for "general" comment is necessary. Our general members travel often too.

ScottC

Purely out of curiosity, why did you never propose this when you were a talkboard member yourself?

I personally don't see the need to wait on input before the vote. We have 2 weeks to vote in which time I can wait till the very last day if I want to (and often do). I'd much rather just rename the "voting period" a "voting and membership input period".

wharvey

Scott,

I honestly did not think much about this in my early years on the Talkboard. At that time, the Talkboard was truly an advisory board to Randy. I also did all I could to get input from members...

But also, I know I am not perfect... and certainly do not see everything from the same perspective as a Talkboard member vs non-talkboard member. But then again, many forums have been created that I did not think up when on the Talkboard... so I cannot say that this recommendation is any different.

I know, when we served together, you often voted later than others... and you often posted publicly to get input. However, assuming things have not changed, many Talkboard members vote as soon as a vote is posted. With the TB members comments about wanted comments and input, I am not sure why they would not be willing to take a few days to get member input before voting. I would like to see it be a more formal period where we know that our comments/input means something... vs just counting on all TB members to exercise control to not vote.

Heck, not even sure some of the TB members even read this forum... since some rarely post in the forum... no way to know.

RichardInSF

One possible alternative to this proposal might be to allow TB members to change their vote during the first 7 days it is open, and state that all motions must stay open for at least 8 days.

Or this proposal could apply just to motions not previously posted for discussion on the TB forum.