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During the recent Annual General Meeting, Ron Friesen wrote to Mike Warner, our "Cyber-Parliamentarian":
I too was surprised that I did not have a right to vote in the election. I considered myself a member and must not have seen the email requiring people to register to vote. I'm not concerned so much about voting in this election as I am about retaining my membership and ensuring I have a right to vote in the next election.Here's Mike's response, which expands helpfully on the bare bones of information about The Meaning and Exercise of Membership in WAOE earlier in this issue of WEB:
The relevant information about procedures for becoming a member (identified as Associate Member) is contained at http://waoe.org/membshp.html. This page also identifies the procedures for becoming a Voting Member, as well as highlighting the responsibilities/involvement that go along with that recognized category. Once recognized as a Voting Member, the categorization is retained by the member until such time as the individual requests to resign membership or to revert to Associate Member (providing that the member completes the necessary annual reregistration process).While the subtleties defining these distinctions between Associate and Voting Member may seem innocuous, I assure you they are not. Under corporate law,
which we must follow, in order to conduct business for this NPO Membership Corporation there must be quorated participation by the "membership." With
close to 900 internationally distributed members, all of which tend to be overcommitted, multitasked individuals with both family, work, and education
competing for time, participation becomes a critical issue. By creating a Voter Member subgroup of the whole who have self-selected an intention to actively participate in the operation of the corporation, to include voting as a minimum, we stand a manageable chance of meeting quorum requirements.Without that distinction, we could not operate under the law. We must have a one-third representation of members as recognised by Californian authorities (ie Voting Members, in our terminology) to constitute the quorum for any formal meeting or ballot. If quorum computation was based on the 900 Associate Members, WAOE would fold (at least if our previous history of broad participation is any guide). With 130+ currently identified voting members, however, the quorum becomes realizable. That's not to say that there aren't many members and nonmembers who might "pop-in" at some point(s) in a meeting, but the vast majority don't have the time and/or inclination to follow the proceedings with detail and involvement. The Associate Member classification fits the circumstances and level of desired participation by the larger percentage of our members and that's OK. But we need Voting Members to enable us to function according to our legal obligations.
In the same message to Mike, Ron Friesen wrote
By the way, I find it concerning that I sometimes read what I perceive as "critical" comments about those of us who choose to participate by listening as opposed to speaking. I personally find the term "lurking" to be a disparaging term. And when used by those who participate by speaking when referring to those who participate by listening, the term as a "holier than thou quality" that I don't think always contributes to the positive environment.Mikes' response to this comment underlines the importance of active involvement to the health of WAOE and the value that members will draw from their participation in the organisation:Anyway, those are just my rants. I really appreciate the efforts of those who do speak - that is their very positive contribution - and I also appreciate being able to listen.
There will always be people looking for "more bag for the buck" and who see active participation as a synergistic force that extracts more than the sum of its parts and enriches both the sender and the recipient(s). It's what makes active dialogue so compellingly interesting and fuels the intellectual libido. Exchange of ideas is the core of education and learning. If there are no senders there can be no receipt and Hoffler's prediction comes true: "the learned inherit a world that has passed them by."Learning by its very nature must include input. In this cyber world we have chosen to be involved with, input comes in many forms. The terminology of lurking may find familiarity or contempt but boils down to input or information gathering which is an integral component of
learning. An open society supports this component with zeal but would be doing its membership a disservice if it did not continually encourage a greater participation that could build on its collective brain trust. Each of us comes to this moment in time with our individual experiences, knowledge, questions and commitments. To be willing to share takes more than access or courage. The medium must be both hospitable and supportive. A sense of community will bring out the timid and adventuresome alike, but only when individual priorities of commitment can be satisfied in this complex world we find ourselves. Your participation, at whatever level, is important to the success of WAOE and the growth of its members.
About Your Say
The idea of this section of WEB is to offer a specific
forum where members can ask questions or raise concerns or make comments about
any aspect of the organisation and running of WAOE itself. So, if anything
is bothering you - or even if you'd like to pay us a compliment! - send an email
to the WEB Editor. If the message
is printable ;-)), it will appear in the next available number. And, depending
upon the responses generated, it may help to start up a thread of discussion
on the WAOE WebBoard.