Gmail marked the OP as spam and not this reply. I would never have seen Ski's email if I hadn't seen Adam's response to it.
On Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 12:51 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Is it possible that the reason only 2.7% hacer voted is because nobody else > knows about it? The only reason I found out about it was because of the > complaints on here about the format of the q&a. I checked my spam box, and > while there were some messages in there, none were official lopsa > correspondence about the election. > > Adam > > > >> On Jun 25, 2015, at 11:58 AM, Ski Kacoroski <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> I appreciate the recent discussion on LOPSA and its future on this list. I >> thought I would try to put this discussion into context a bit. >> >> NOTE: These are my personal thoughts and not the thoughts of the board. >> >> * First LOPSA will be 10 years old in Nov 2015. It was started out of >> conflict in 2005 that resulted in a legal action in 2007 which was resolved >> in 2009 [1]. However from 2009 until late 2014, LOPSA has been hamstrung >> dealing with the results of that legal action - paying off the debt [2]. So >> for the majority of its existence, LOPSA has been just trying to survive. >> This is one reason why LOPSA has not grown like people wish. >> >> * For a non-profit to be successful, it needs sponsorships and vendor >> support to provide benefits to its members. LOPSA started with with many >> sponsors, but I feel that due to the legal action, LOPSA lost its sponsors. >> This has also hurt its ability to grow. >> >> * There are several kinds of non-profits. 501c6 are professional >> non-profits and 501c3's are educational non-profits. For some reason, LOPSA >> is incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit [3]. I know this has caused at least >> 2 board members to resign when they realized that LOPSA, in the eyes of the >> government, is an educational, not a professional organization. >> >> * Finally, LOPSA has had a hard time finding volunteers. I checked at the >> Bureau of Labor statistics and found out that volunteer rates at >> professional organizations are around 5% - 8% [4][5]. LOPSA does not have >> enough members at that volunteer rate to be a completely volunteer run >> organization. Please note that educational volunteering happens at an over >> 20% rate. >> >> Given the above background, it is amazing to me that LOPSA has even >> survived. I can understand why some folks have dropped out and some are >> disillusioned with LOPSA - it has been very difficult. All I ask is that >> you give us one more year to show that LOPSA is viable. >> >> The good news, is that LOPSA did survive. I feel that we can still provide >> a benefit to system admins as a educational non-profit. I personally have >> seen how LOPSA has helped people to get training, education, and jobs in >> system administration. We can make a difference with your help. >> >> Now is the time for you, as a member to make a difference, and vote at >> https://election.lopsa.org for LOPSA's future. Only 2.7% of you have voted >> so far. If you were a mentor or a protegee, VOTE! If you were ever helped >> out by posting to IRC or to LOPSA discuss - VOTE! >> >> Read the candidate statements at https://election.lopsa.org. Read the >> candidate questions and answers at >> https://lopsa.org/content/lopsa-2015-election-candidate-questions-and-answers >> and pick the candidates that have answers which resonate with you. If you >> blame the old board members, then vote us out - but vote at >> https://election.lopsa.org/. Of all of LOPSA elections, this is one where >> YOU can make a big difference with your vote. It only takes a few minutes >> so please vote at https://election.lopsa.org. >> >> cheers, >> >> ski >> >> References: >> [1] https://lopsa.org/about_history >> [2] https://lopsa.org/content/december-2014-lopsagram >> [3] https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201950324 >> [4] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.t04.htm >> [5] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/volun.t05.htm >> >> >> -- >> "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it >> connected to the entire universe" John Muir >> >> Chris "Ski" Kacoroski, [email protected], 206-501-9803 >> or ski98033 on most IM services >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss >> This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators >> http://lopsa.org/ > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ -- Perfection is just a word I use occasionally with mustard. --Atom Powers-- _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
