As of today I withdraw from the Talkboard elections
 

Due to some personal commitments I have decided to withdraw from the Talkboard elections.

I have complete faith in the Talkboard and urge everyone to vote! I wish the remaining candidates all the luck in the world and am confident that the new Talkboard will be a valuable asset to this community!

Many thanks to those that voted for me, and sorry for not being able to do my duty for you!

First Victory for the LEP! Down with CoE!

Seriously, I hate to see you go over some pettiness.

A real shame. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

As I posted elsewhere you were going to be a bright light in there among the present cobwebs and had one of my votes, and were IMO a shoe-in for a spot.

Wonder what happens to votes cast for you in this instance?

Sorry to hear as well as ScottC has been a real help to me in several situations as of late. However, whether on the TalkBoard or not, I thin kwe all welcome volunteers and help from our members. I'm hoping we can count on ScottC to continue to be a great asset to FT. And again, he's been a real help to me with an extra set of eyes on the board.

There are many other great candidates, so if you haven't voted yet, please do.

Say it ain't so! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Is "withdrawing from the election" the same as withdrawing from candidacy or are you just so positive that you have enough votes already?

Although I am sure that TB members should be silent on these matters, I truly think that ScottC's candidacy should stand and that if he were to win that we should "draft" him onto the board!

Deja vu all over again.

After the original TB began, we had similar situations. That's the way it is in life. Things change. We move on.

Sorry that Scott won't have the opportunity to make FT a better place.

Dan

Reeeeeally?

Well, in THIS case, I start to wonder why Randy needs a TalkBoard at all.

As I've said before, he seems to know how he wants to FlyerTalk. I think all this detracts from his ability to do that.

techgirl, as I've said elsewhere, I believe that the best scenario for FTers would be that Randy handles everything himself. In my ideal world, there would be no TalkBoard and Randy would devote all the time necessary to Flyertalk.

And I think that much of what has happened with the TalkBoard has at least seemed pernicious or at least counterproductive. Of course, that's from the outside. So the TalkBoard to date hasn't worked. (And by worked I mean both (a) been productive and beneficial to the community and (b) seen as such by the community.)

That said, I think it's unfair for us to expect Randy to handle things on his own. First, Flyertalk has grown alot. There's an enormous amount of users and an enormous amount of content (nearly 2 million posts!). And Randy has other obligations to take up his time.

So he's asked the community to participate in the running of Flyeralk. The TalkBoard is an advisory body. It is not a true governing body. The TalkBoard must hash out issues -- but the TalkBoard isn't truly empowered to implement decisions. Instead, and in the end, this remains Randy's board and I am glad that this is so!

In running for TalkBoard myself, I have simply offered up my time and attention and willingness to participate in discussions about what works and what doesn't in building this community.

I think there are a whole lot of egos involved in this, and I wish that was not the case. For myself, I'm honestly not campaigning for the role. To wit: I've been in email contact with more than 60 different Flyertalkers this week -- more often that not offering help of one kind or another -- and not in a single one of those emails did I even append an "oh, by the way, I'm running for TalkBoard please vote for me."

I did mention my candidacy once (and IIRC only once, but it's possible I could be mistaken) outstide of this forum (and the moderator forum, and there only in discussion about whether it's appropriate for me to serve as both a moderator and if elected a member of the TalkBoard).

The irony of all of the above is that, working in and around politics I actually know a bit about campaigning. I've chosen not to. Why? Because I don't need to be on TalkBoard. It isn't about me. It's about the community. It's a way of saying thank you to Randy and offering to help out.

I honestly hope that whomever winds up on the TalkBoard feels the same way. It's not a forum for gossiping about members. It's not a group that should be charged with meting out discipline. And it should not be a clique, either.

It should, to my mind, be a group that discusses problems, member concerns, or improvements to the board... hashes stuff out... and offers suggestions to Randy, Dan, Mikel, etc. -- all of the folks who give us what is now Flyertalk.

I for one am grateful for the board. I'm even more personally grateful because the Webflyer folks even generously host my own personal website on travel for free.

I apologize for going on so long. I do regret that the 'campaigning' has been acrimonious in places -- so much so that a candidate would feel the need to withdraw. Whether there's an incident involved or external commitments ... the TalkBoard shouldn't be so controversial that it takes so much time that it would cut into external commitments.

After all of this heartfelt stuff, let me offer that not only do I hope the TalkBoard, with four new members, lives up to the aspirations that I have for it, but I also hope that it does so while truly serving Randy and the members of FT -- in a way that the members of FT see it as such! And that means honesty, humility, and openness.

I don't know that the TalkBoard will achieve this. Many current members don't feel that it has to date, and the best predictor of future performance is past performance. But Randy still has confidence that a TalkBoard can contribute positively. And I've learned to trust his judgments about miles and points and about Flyertalk.

Best regards,
Gary
aka gleff

I am sorry to see Scott go. I read this as a personal reason for leaving... not due to pettiness. Am I missing something?

William

Perhaps it was because of pressure by members to replace TB members whose terms have expired? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/000099.html


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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif for FT
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif for ScottC

Pity ScottC,

You definitely deserved to be elected.

There is a substantial penalty for early withdrawal.