Request: Open TB deliberations forum to be read-only
 

Like Chexfan, I found the thread about TB Presidential and VP election a fascinating insight into the positions as well as the remonstrative and most of all legislatorial abilities of our elected representatives. Unlike the senior moderator who locked that thread I believe that it IS in the best interests that FT posters get to see the TB at work, warts and all.

Being a member of an elected body is hard work. It is especially hard to not take the work personally. Frankly if what I saw in that thread is what the private TB forum looks like then it is no wonder it has been kept in the shadows so long, and it makes me wonder if there is a recall process that would allow the posters to start over with a clean TB slate.

As Cx4 points out in that thread, several TB members ran on a platform of transparency, accountability and openness being in the best interest of the posters. Is the TB going to address the question of opening the TB deliberations to be read-only open to all posters so that each of us can judge for ourselves each of your remonstrative and most of all legislatorial abilities?

And, in the meantime, a parting shot: try to play nice. You job, as I understand it, is to make FT better for the posters, not to score political points or try to embarrass each other...

Now is the time for those TB members to put up or shut up. Follow through on your seemingly hollow campaign pledge and make a motion to become TRANSPARENT!

I am happy to answer questions about my positions and thoughts on Flyertalk here in this forum or by PM (recognizing potential delays due to work and travel commitments).

I do not plan to support opening the TalkBoard members forum for the rest of the community to read.

(1) While it's important to be able to voice concerns and make suggestions, that's what this forum is for. I'd rather have political and metadiscussion play a minor role in FT rather than a major one, I hate it when such things become distractions from talk about travel, miles, and points.

(2) There really are some issues that ought to be deliberated privately. Sometimes it's member privacy. Other times it's new features not yet ready for public testing. And I don't think the system allows us to designate certain threads as viewable only by TalkBoard members. And if we did, there'd still be a prurient interest in knowing more about those.

(3) I prefer not to be 'on stage'. I give my candidate feedback warts and all, and sometimes have only a few minutes to do it. If it were open to 80,000 members to view I'd have to put more time into polishing and then it might even cross into my time discussing travel, miles, and points.

Reasonable to disagree with these positions. Reasonable to feel that the value of 'transparency' trumps these concerns. But at the moment these are the reasons I'd vote against opening the forum as read-only to the rest of the community. FWIW.

(And for the record I'm pretty sure I've never made any campaign promises to the contrary.)

Oh, i dunno, gleff, you make your case in a clear, concise, logical and POLITE enough way here (although I do happen to disagree with it). If I were you I shouldnt be so worried about an open forum.

I do appreciate you sharing your position and your arguments!

I'm not in favor of opening the TB Forum to read-only status either.
Now if I wasn't a member of TB and didn't know what was being said in the private forum, I'd be all for transparency and openness as I'd be curious as to what was being debated.
But since I've had a couple weeks to look through the various threads in that forum, trust me, you're not missing much action. The thread in this forum that was locked yesterday was of more general interest although it did get a bit contentious at times.
I think that TB needs a place to discuss issues in a private manner and the private forum serves that purpose IMO.
And I'll be happy to explain why I voted for or against any future issues if folks are interested.

Please stay on topic
 

Being discussed: Opening TB deliberations to the public

Not being discussed: History of Voting, other FlyerTalkers.

I would like this thread to remain open. Please do not go off topic or make personal attacks.

Thank you.

I think it should remain closed.

1. I am in favor of more openess on TalkBoard. Whether or not this extends to a read-only forum is debatable. Generally, I favor it although there have been times which I have been shown arguments which almost convince me that it would not be a good thing.

2. I have voted against the motion which is currently pending before TB. It reads, "All Talkboard votes involving internal members will be held by secret ballot, and due to the small size of the voting pool, no member shall be allowed to discuss their own vote in order to respect the privacy of the other voters. "

I would appreciate feedback from non TalkBoard members on this motion.

Because?

I think it's silly. Why would a TalkBoard member not want to share their vote with the membership that elected them?

Feedback on the voting motion belongs elsewhere, not here.

Please respond in another thread (i.e. start one if necessary), should you desire to discuss openess of voting and not the proposed read-only transparency of the private TalkBoard forum.

Thank you.

Sorry Spiff, I was thinking along the lines that seeing how a TB Member voted would be enabled by a Read-Only function.

Understood, but let's try to stay on topic by discussing the private TalkBoard Forum becoming read-only, rather than focusing on certain specific aspects of it.

There was a similar thread on a specific issue that rapidly became... unpleasant and was recently subjected to a mass deletion by the host of this bulletin board. Let's not have the same thing happen to this thread. :)

No, making it Read-Only would have no impact at all on seeing how a TB Member voted in a closed ballot.

If it were Read-Only you would only be able to see the same things that a TB member could see. In the case of a closed ballot, none of us can see how any other member voted.

If the ballot is open -- and this was the first closed ballot since I have been on TB -- the results of the ballot will be announced on this forum and will include the names of the members who voted and in which way they voted.

If I gave my reasons, it would add the necessary fuel to send this thread down the tubes and I am trying to respect Spiff's wishes and stay on topic. :)