kokonutz

How about it?

My suggestion would be 2 terms (4 years) followed by at least 2 years back in the muck with the rest of us.

Up with citizen-TB members rather than career-TB members!

Four years is a really long time. And from the election ballot each year it's obvious there are plenty of folks who wish to serve but are unable to overcome the advantages of incumbency.

Thoughts?


11 months later, there is a TB proposal to accomplish this. See post 127.

Spiff

No thanks. It should be up to the voters to decide term limits.

B747-437B

Despite Spiff's outspoken opposition, I am quite confident that sufficient members of TalkBoard will support this motion in due course. I will table the motion at the appropriate time before the next election.

kokonutz

Well sure, what would we expect Senator Byrd to say!?

Cholula

While I voluntarily term-limited myself in the previous TB election after serving two terms, I don't think this should be legislated.

Let the voters decide who they want serving on TalkBoard.

kokonutz

I used to believe that as well, and think I said as much when I ran for the TB.

But through the TB process I came to the opinion that incumbency breeds complacency. New blood breeds new ideas. So does looking at the process from the outside for a year or two rather than being IN the sausage grinder year after year after year after year after year.

Some companies absolutely require even their highest performing employees to take a vacation every year because it provides the employee with perspective and ultimately increases efficiency. @:-)

Asking TB members to step back for a year or two after four long years on the job will only make them better should they desire to run again in the future.

SkiAdcock

I belong to some professional associations that have a term limit of X amount of terms followed by Y time off before being able to run again at Z time.

It's designed to have talented people who are familiar w/ the org serve & use their wisdom to better the organization, but not end up w/ 'career' board members or 'cartels' (cartel isn't the right word, but I think you know what I mean) & also provide a break to those who serve so that they don't burn out. And it's worked quite well.

As B747-737B mentions, I think when this is brought up for a motion it would probably garner enough support.

In the interim, it would be interesting to hear from regular FTers and former TB members on their thoughts re: term limits.

Cheers.

Football Fan

LOL

Spiff

Now you're really impugning me! Try Ron Paul.

tcook052

I'm for term limits as it means a new perspective at regular intervals. Not saying the repeat TBers are jaded or lacking somehow as their experience and willingness to volunteer is appreciated, just that new blood will offer a different dynamic.

Q Shoe Guy

Was CABAL the word you were thinking of?

This general member would like to see as mentioned above , limits put in place and I would up the ante and make them retroactive!^ This would ensure a renewal of the talk board !

Markie

It will be interesting to see B747's motion to see how he handles this. I am happy with retrospective limits. It would lead to significant change in TB in the fall.

Dovster

I announced how I felt about this when I ran for my second term on TalkBoard. I said that if elected I would not seek a third term.

Cholula, IMHO, has been one of the most valuable TB members that I can remember but if he had run for a third consecutive term I would not have voted for him. He took a one-term break and as far as I was concerned, that started the clock all over again.

Of course, with Randy's departure, the situation changed. As I posted in another thread, I can't understand why anyone would serve as a volunteer member of TB or as a moderator. For pay? Yes, but not for IBB.

If for-profit corporations want people to work for them they should start writing paychecks.

B747-437B

I don't view serving on TalkBoard as working for IB (I've never had any interaction with any IB employees) but rather working for the community. I'm happy to give a little bit of time on a voluntary basis to the community that has given me so much in return. YMMV.

Dovster

What you are actually doing, whether you realize it or not, is providing IBB with recommendations which you feel will make FT more profitable for them.

Moderators are spending many hours of their free time working to clean up posts, checking to see who is using a second handle, combining threads, and deleting spam. Yes, I often think that FT is over-moderated, but get rid of moderation completely and the board will be such a mess that it will be unusable -- and to protect its very large investment IBB will be forced to put mods on the payroll.

(Indeed, are there any IT experts willing to donate their expertise and time to IBB? I very much doubt it.)

Randy started FT from nothing. Yes, it was a business for him but it was also a labor of love. I can well understand FTers who wanted to help him and gave their time both as TB members and moderators. IBB has no such labor of love -- it is purely an investment for them. They should be paying those who work for them, just like any other business.

(Incidentally, on one thread someone asked if Carol is serving as a volunteer or is being paid. The answer to that question is none of my business, and I certainly would not have asked it, but given the responsibility and the workload that she has taken on I not only hope she is being paid, but I also hope that it is quite a high salary.)