Text 3832, 95 rader
Skriven 2009-11-18 13:12:26 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
   Kommentar till text 3812 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
Ärende: Some thoughts after the election...
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Hello Ross,

On Tuesday November 17 2009 15:11, you wrote to me:

 MV>> On this point I think I would conditionally  have to agree. It
 MV>> could lead to an ivory tower only accessible to an elite.

 RC> Not if you put term limits in place, I am talking about 2 to 3 terms
 RC> or something like that.

Hmmm.. That would be a way to get rid of old farts that oppose all change by
blocking the road with history books.....

But I think it is a bad idea. It would force experienced people out. Term
limits are a typical American thing anyway. In Europe we generally do not have
them. But then we can get rid of someone by a simple vote of no confidence. A
system that prefer over being saddled with someone until the end of a four year
term.

 RC> Then again, you have to keep your perspective, no solution is going to
 RC> be perfect.

I am afraid so.

Well, there is always the option of dissolving the FTSC and let the *Cs do the
job of documenting. There seem to be enough of them willing to do it...

 RC> Then again, is accessability as big of a concern, I did the INA thing.

A perfect example of what I as a scientist and technician abhor: a technical
solution for a political problem.

A standard created by the *Cs and forced onto the network by the *C's using the
nodelist as the weapon.

Putting the host name or IP address of an IP node in the system name field is a
technically sound solution. But there were some selfish sysops that did not
want to sacrifice their technically useless system name. And the *Cs - read
politicians - gave those people what they wanted. They had to keep the people
happy lest they lose the next popularity contest didn't they? There was never a
technical need for the INA flag. It was an invention of a politician. Thereby
driving the software authors nuts by frocing them to implement YET ANOTHER way
of listing IP nodes. As if the mess that the *Cs created wasn't big ebough as
it was. :-(  And of course the users of abandonware were left in the cold.

In the end the FTSC had no choice but to document it of course. I have accepted
it and since I am not holier than the Pope, you can see it now in my 2:2/20
listing as well. But I do consider this an example of where the technicians
(that FTSC members should be) and the politians (that should not be in the
FTSC) were on opposite sides and the technicians lost.

The introduction of the INA flag is an example that illustrates why RCs and ZCs
should NOT be in the FTSC. Thank you for poiting me to it.

And you are right: it also illustrates that one need not be an FTSC member to
introduce a new standard.

Which in turn makes me wonder why you want to be in the FTSC at all. Your own
example shows that accessibility is not a great concern. Could it be that your
position is jaded because you are still pissed off that when I rearranged the
links for the private FTSC echo you were no longer in the path and could no
longer secretly read what went on there?

 RC> and to that end, if the FTSC membership were to be the ones that
 RC> nominated and voted, could we not have the nomination process setup
 RC> that 2 other members have to second the nomination to prevent
 RC> cronyism?

Here is another item of culture. Nominating for such positions is a purely
Anglo-Saxon thing. In what the British call the continent people who are
interested just step forward and if they qualify they are put on the list of
candidates. I know of no Dutch organisation or society where it is done
different. I first heard about it when I moved to Cape Town and became a member
of the local HAM society. I found it very odd and wondered why they they had
this (in my eyes) needless complication.

 RC> However term limits by itself would be an insurance policy and keep
 RC> fresh blood waiting in the wings at all times.

If that is such a good idea, why is there no limitation on the term of an RC?
Or ZC? How long have you been RC? When will you step aside to make room for
fresh blood? You keep harping Ward for being ZC for life, but Janis has been in
the velvet seat for ages in my perception. When will the Z1 RC counsel tell
here it is time for fresh blood?

As I see it, limitation of terms is much more needed for th *Cs than for FTSC
members. Technicians that are around for a long time, just have their reflexes
slow down and they become less productive. They just become old technicians,
they do no harm. Politicians OTOH gain power and as we all know power corrupts.


Cheers, Michiel

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