From a Board Member:
It has become abundantly clear over the last 48 hours while we were
receiving the numerous messages from the general membership that
1) Most people do not feel that we need an ethics or standards statement
2) Most feel that the board is, once again trying one of their
underhanded, sneaky power hungry maneuvers to take over the project ( or
something)
3) The people that don't believe that the project needs a statement like
this have obviously not been on the receiving end of any of the hateful
things that have been written or posted.
4) Many people believe that the "bad children" of the project need to be
dealt with by the state coordinators.
5) Most people would like the board to crawl back into their holes and be
silent until they receive ANOTHER grievance that they have no power to
deal with because there are no policies.
6) Many think the whole statement violates their right of free speech
7) Those that feel this violates their right of free speech has never
been attacked by e-mail or on a mailing list.
8) Many spent time correcting spelling errors in the statement, but not
giving any solid input.
9) Others sent messages telling us that we need to define "netiquette",
derogatory and other words.
10) Many felt that what they put on their website was up to them and if
it included something that someone else felt was offensive, tough luck.
11) Many felt that what they did with their private e-mail was up to
them. Again, this suggestion came from people who have never had their
messages cut and pasted onto someone's web site or mailing list, or better
yet, taken totally out of context and placed somewhere.
12) And lastly, this is a problem that needs to be dealt with on a state
level, however, most of the state projects do not have any guidelines
either
All of this said, I wish to let you know, that I am publicly withdrawing
the motion for a Standards and Ethics Statement. Thank you for your time.
Tim Stowell
Georgia Assistant State Coordinator
Interim State Coordinator