Plug - Who is it?

[trent shipley]

The issue of either making the group a charitable organization or a
professional organization comes up from time to time. There seems to
be very little actual support for either option. My impression is the
core members of PLUG are very happy with it as an informal association
of individuals. Putting together a charity or charity with lobbying
rights (like if you wanted to advocate more CS education dollars)
would involve starting another group.

On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 3:49 PM, Gilbert T. Gutierrez, Jr.
<mailing-lists at phoenixinternet.net> wrote:
> I have been a lurker and attendee of meetings on and off since the mid 90s.
> I attended my once every several years meeting 2 months ago. Before you read
> this whole message, know that I am not trying to put anyone out or agitate
> in any manner.
>
> I have learned a bit about the group with these discussions which were
> launched after a message from Lisa. Some members do not get it in my book.
> And from looking at one of the comments, I think der.hans bounced her from
> the email list (I think her comments were getting redundant and that is I
> guess in his power). I met Lisa once, probably 10 years ago at a function
> hosted at a site on 12th St and Northern. My impression was that she was
> nice and knew her stuff. I am not to say if she is right or wrong with her
> complaints, but I see no way for her to bring her complaints to the
> leadership of the group. A public message list I believe is the wrong way to
> go but really one of the only avenues through the website.
>
> I know nothing of how the group functions or who the leadership is. I can
> obviously guess and probably guess correctly because of how long I have been
> on the list. This group is a volunteer group and not everyone will
> participate and usually only a handful of people will want to take the bull
> by the horns and lead. However, leadership information should be posted on
> the website if you want to call this a group. Examples of things that would
> be helpful...
>
> 1. List of names of the leadership committee
> 2. A path for members to suggest directions for the group to the committee
> 3. A path for members to send complaints to the group for the committee to
> review and address as necessary
> 4. Minutes for any committee meetings
> 5. A way to nominate people to be on the committee
> 6. An election cycle to populate the committee
>
> From looking at the posts on the mailing list and the website, the group
> comes across as a hobby site of 1 or 2 people (old boys club) who manage
> every meeting and what goes on. That is fine by me, but if the group wishes
> to be able to address some of the concerns that were mentioned in the
> messages over the last couple days, they need to publish a structure to
> abide by. I don't see how the group could consider something like an 801c3
> filing without that structure. It is like putting a cart in front of a
> horse.
>
> I appriciate this group, specifically the mailing list which has provided me
> help in the past and allowed me to help others. I want to see this group get
> better and meet the needs of its members and that is why I provided my 2
> cents.
>
> Thanks,
> Gilbert T. Gutierrez, Jr.
> Phoenix Internet
> https://www.facebook.com/gilljr
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