[wplug-plan] Re: [wplug] read my lips: no new guidelines

[Beth Lynn]

Hello,

As I see it, the problem that people had with
my trying to set a guideline breaks into two
parts.

#1 I have no authority to make a decision of
that will effect WPLUG. The board of WPLUG is
the only governing body of WPLUG in which I am
not a member. I know I am not a member of the
board because the board did not decide that I
should be.

#2 sensorship is bad.

Ok, this is my final response, after this, I
rest my case.

Response to #1

For the meetings, who is in charge here? Who
presides over the meetings? Who is to intervene
if there is a conflict between members at a 
meeting? Who is to make sure that the room is
left clean? Who organizes lunch? Who organizes 
snacks? Who decides what movies to watch? Who is 
the go-to person if someone has a question about 
wplug in general at a meeting? Who takes donations 
for WPLUG at meetings? Who is to make sure the
carts are returned at the end of the day? Who is
to be responsible if something is lost, stolen,
or damaged?

So at any given time at a WPLUG meeting, I have
been at least one of these people.
But I'm only one person.

Truth be known, I do not want it to be this way.
I would like there to be Chair and co-chair to preside
over the meetings, handle member to member problems,
and make quick executive decisions when waiting to
make policy isn't praticle. I would like there to
be a tresurerer to accept donations, handle lunch
and snacks. If this annoying chain of emails is what
kicks WPLUG in the pants to get moving, then WPLUG
would be in the better for it.

As the person who has the name on the room,
I am responsible for the condition of the room
and the contents of. I would be responsible if
there was an incident worth reporting to the
university during the hours that WPLUG has a
meeting on campus.
For this reason I inisit on...
* An attendance list, with people's real names of
everyone who enters the room.
* Everyone respect the physical property of the
room (ie furature, carts, carpet, computer, etc.)
* The room is clean when we leave.
* Meetings begin and end close to the the designated
times.
* Everyone contucts themselves with respect to the
other attendees, this includes but not limmited to
a) Do not bring pornography
b) Ask the whole group before doing something that 
may be distracting to others.
c) Do not touch other attendees property without
asking
d) Try not to insult another attendee.

These things seem to be common sense to me. I do
not just make rules just to make rules. It's
because shit has happened and someone has to deal
with the situtation so it doesn't repeat. When I
reserve the room, I put my name and my job on the 
line. I invite WPLUG to be on campus, which can 
bring in 30 or more people at a time. Someone needs
to take authority over what people can and can't do
while they are here. No one thus far has stepped
forward so so far it has defaulted to me. It is
abundantly clear that many do not want that person 
to be me.

Bottom line is I need at least one person from the
board who can make the claim that they are in charge 
of each meeting that I can go to if there is a problem
during the hours of the meeting. No one so far has
stepped forward so it has defaulted to me.

I don't like it you guys don't like it, but that's
the way it has been. Are we in agreement that it is
time for a change?

Response to #2

As an employee of CMU School of Computer Science,
I am held to the reasonible persons principle in
everything I do as a representive of CMU.

Is it reasonible for me use CMU facilities to 
publicly display films to an all-ages audience
that may be offensive? No.

Moveover, I don't think it is legal for anyone to 
show R movies without parental permission. 
Movie theaters and movie rental places can't do it 
so neither can I or WPLUG.

All I was trying to do is to give people a reality
check. People bring their small childern to wplug.
There have been attendees younger than 16. The parents
of these childern should have a right to censor what
their childern see. If a parent drops off their child
at WPLUG, that child becomes a captive audience in
the room, therefore it would be my fault if something
was shown that the parent did not want to see.

WPLUG is a diverse group of people from with many
different policitical, religious, and personal
standards. I wouldn't want it any other way.
With this in mind, I beg you to respect the values
of others by letting them choose what it is they
want to view at WPLUG meetings. In my opinion the
best way to do this is to ask the general list if
they would have a problem with a particular movie.
That way, everyone gets a chance to look at a review
to see if there's anything that they would find
horribly offensive and object. It isn't good enough
to ask those present at the meeting if the movie is
ok since some people do come in the middle of the
meeting.

It was never my intension to say that I alone get
to judge what is decent or not.

The truth is I felt rather bad about people being
offended by the material, and I just wanted to say
that this is what I guidelines I would go by. I
thought it went without saying that it was subject
to final apporoval by the board. That was my bad.

Thank you for reading my concerns.

I'll shut up now and let the plan make their own
decision. 

I will live with whatever they decide, even if 
they feel I'm so horribly wrong that I should no 
longer reserve rooms for WPLUG. In that case, I 
will transfer the room to be in Brian Sammon's 
name.

Since many object to the way I have attempted to
keep the room orderly. Things did get out of
control, but hey, I'm only one person. Over this
one incidient, my judgement has become very 
unpopular, therefore I do not plan on running for 
any office unless I am endorced by serveral members.

I am not giving up being a member of WPLUG.
This is a great opportunity for WPLUG to grow
internally. My work has not been in vain.


Thanks,
Beth Lynn

--- Robert Dale <rdale at wplug.org> wrote:
> 
> To address anyone's concerns about wplug censoring
> videos,
> wplug does not have any nor recognize the "new"
> guidelines addressing
> video playing.
> 
> However, CMU has rules
> (http://www.cmu.edu/enrollment/sa/filmcopy.html)
> of their own to which wplug must abide while using
> CMU facilities.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> -- 
> Robert Dale
> 
> wplug member since 1998
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug



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