[Theforum] Framing the House?

[Luther, Ron]

Hi Rudy,

Okay - that's two votes that I'm "jumping the gun" and being concerned
about 'how' over 'why'.  I'm cool with that.  ;-)  

{As an explanation, I'm in favor of moving to the NFP status.  Since
that status is a legal one, it places a pretty big focus on 'how', IMO.}

* I like the move towards NFP.  I think it is a good decision.  I think
it lends more long term stability to the evolt concept by taking away
the potential risk for an "I'm mad at the world so I'm gonna take my
server and go home" end to the community.  I also think it adds prestige
and legitimization to the group as a whole.

* I don't have a problem with bringing new 'non-original' admins into
evolt.  (But then again, I'm not an 'original evolt admin' - so it's no
skin off my nose and doesn't usurp any of my authority!)  I think new
blood is a good thing.  [I'm gonna go out on a limb here - but I'm
guessing that part of the 'dismay' is arising because there are no
well-written, formal *how*s for 'how we add admin to evolt'.  Growth
kills many good organizations and activities.  Planning and preparing
for that growth is often overlooked as a 'boring' activity.  I don't
think evolt is unusual for being caught in this bind ... I may be in a
minority, but I really think the answer is going to be formalization -
widely publicized and readily available rules - they do a heck of a lot
towards alleviating these kinds of issues.]

Yeah Rude, I know some of the things are already in place.  Why are they
in place?  Cuz they are "stuff that needs to get done" - so they get
done!  I think that means they would be "easy" to formalize - to
structure, to plan for growth and consistency of execution.  {I'm
thinking of it more as having a prototype db and report in place and now
going back in to optimize, streamline, and document ... rather than
re-inventing from scratch. I'm "business" rather than "IM" - it's more
important for me to quickly develope a prototype than to 'do it right
the first time'! [I've got a project right now that is dragging us
through hell because it started as a 20 page spec --- instead of a quick
prototype.  But that's a different discussion]   :-P }

Soooooo ... let's get on with this 'why' stuff!   ;-)


RonL.

-----Original Message-----
From: rudy [mailto:r937 at interlog.com]

<snip 1>
there are two recent (i.e. 2001) developments at the heart of the
turmoil -- the decision to make evolt a not-for-profit corporation, and
the
decision to bring more non-original-admins into the running of evolt

now, without considering the "how" of these two decisions, are they
good?
</1>

<snip 2>
  1. thelist, and the people on it, as well as the various evolt
         sites (*.e.o) are the "sine qua non" assets of evolt

  2. the founding principles of evolt are "by web developers, for web
        developers" and "giving something back"

  3. the assets of evolt need to be protected, nurtured, enhanced

  4. not-for-profit incorporation achieves many objectives for 3.

</2>