Originally Posted by
B747-437B
I oppose any changes that will reduce the requirements to pass a motion. I oppose them because I believe that the Moderators are already too dominant on TalkBoard and any attempt to weaken the present super-majority requirement to pass a motion will concentrate even more power in their hands.
I would be willing to support jackal's motion provided it was to be passed together with a corresponding electoral reform motion that restrained the influence of Moderators on TalkBoard.
Your perspective may of course differ.
Mine certainly does.
I think if Randy had problems w/ mods also being able on TB, then when he created it he would have put in that restriction. It might have been addressed or discussed when the new TB guidelines were created, but if so, that restriction wasn't implemented. And from what I can tell from informal conversations with mods, you can't always get them to agree on something, so whether or not they form this huge power thing that you speak of is debatable for me.
And as
markie noted, FTers are the ones who vote for TB members. Presumably if they had an overwhelming problem w/ the duality of roles, they wouldn't have voted for them. And since TB does vary with each term, there might not be a super-majority of TB members in the future. There might be, but it could be dif ones, or there might not be. Depends on who decides to run, & how FT members vote.
Re: the topic of voting rules & what the heck abstain actually means, I'll look at that when I have more time to really read, investigate ramifications of change or no change, what it does, when I return from my trip. Some consider the matter trivial; some don't. But given how much heat it creates each time it's brought up, it deserves due consideration & not a off the top of my head decision.
Cheers. Sharon