Moderator Elections

[Viren]

Can someone explain why a non-mod is creating a moderation policy on signatures instead of organizing the moderator elections? It's almost as if that isn't his top priority...

[hgm]

I don't think Ed considers himself a non-mod; the last message you show clearly states that for the moment the FG has usurped the position of moderator. And the moment still lasts.

As for priorities, one should always recognize the competition between importance and urgency, as well as the complexity of tasks. Signature policy can be created/altered in a matter of minutes, elections take a lot more thought and preparation. From private e-mail correspondence I happen to know Ed is working on it. I can add that Ed's current priorities are probably not on things as mundane as a chess forum, but on matters of life and death...

[Viren]

He proclaims himself as a non-mod (see the first message)

This 'moment' has lasted over 7 months now. It's not surprising people are not convinced it's actually ever going to happen when not even a rough timeframe has been provided.

[hgm]

I think you misunderstood that. He merely says there that the opinion he voices in that posting is not his verdict as a moderator, but would be his opinion as an ordinary member.

And even before those 7 months started I have made it clear I did not consider it my responsibility to organize elections, but of the membership. This has not changed. So if you are asking when I am going to organize an election, the answer still is 'never'.

[Viren]

What about the rest of the message? When will the 'moment' end?

[hgm]

Oh, I was already adding that to the previous posting.

[Rebel]

What about the rest of the message? When will the 'moment' end?

Maybe you missed it, but Chris as well as myself have stated that we are preparing moderator elections.

[Viren]

Yes I'm aware. I'm asking for a rough timeframe for how long it will take to 'prepare'. What does the preparation even entail?

[mclane]

Yes I'm aware. I'm asking for a rough timeframe for how long it will take to 'prepare'. What does the preparation even entail?

When Ed and Chris say they prepare it, then everything is ok.
They would not say it, if it would not be true.

[Rebel]

Yes I'm aware. I'm asking for a rough timeframe for how long it will take to 'prepare'. What does the preparation even entail?

As you know we the FG (Chris, HGM and me) saved this dying forum from eternal death because the shop wanted to get rid of its responsibilities and wanted to see money for the domain name talkchess.com. As a result of a crowd funding Talkchess members richly donated money, much more than actually was needed IMO. And so the domain name temporarily became ours but the ownership immediately was transferred to the CSVN as we (the FG) did not want the ownership fall into the hands of persons no matter the good intentions, basically the CSVN serves as a replacement for the shop.

A server was setup by HGM and with the indispensable help of Srdja the forum software and complete data was transferred and the forum was alive and kicking again.

Because of the massive operation Chris and I (as the original Founding Fathers in 1997) asked HGM to form a new group of responsible people (the FG) because 1) he was the current admin and 2) because of his excellent knowledge of the forum software and as such each of us became admin and moderator with equal power for the time being until Moderator Elections.

Speaking of the Moderator Elections, the call for Moderator Elections is already written and hopefully will be posted soon but we are wrestling with the forum software as the current poll is not suitable for voting and needs changes, or we will have to organize the voting by PM or email which is not desirable.

How long do we need? I don't know, we have an offline life also.

As for a personal note, I won't run for mod, the number of almost daily complaints by members surprised me, the number of IMO needless fights that sometimes needs interference also. Members who want to run for moderator need be to be strong, wise and with backbone to uphold the charter.