> From: graham > I do realise that in fact a secret inner controlling group for fc-uk > would be singularly pointless, but think it would be good if the > archives were made public in any case.
> Anything truly personal or secret will always end up off-list, anyway. > And if it were made clearer in the > next pass of the constitution that the 'e-group' exists and > that active members are promoted to it by invitation. The least a constitution can > do is reflect reality, even if it doesn't determine it. Yes, transparency is a laudible goal. There's no reason why FC-UK cannot conduct its affairs in the open, e.g. on the FC-UK mailing list. But, as you no doubt recognise, you can't enforce openness. Perhaps fc-uk-coord can be considered the effective off-list mailing list? You could easily say let's merge the two, and then there will simply be a new list, say, fc-uk-active that takes up the role previous occupied by fc-uk-coord. And if you ban any priviliged list (an idea with which I sympathise), there'll just be ad hoc equivalents. If you're interested in FC-UK you can only judge based upon what is visible. That also means that the active members have an extreme interest not to appear isolated or worse, a cabal. When it comes down to it, this is just a mailing list. If you want representation, it probably requires active participation. And that may well necessitate recognition of this unavoidable relationship, i.e. that there is an organisation FC-UK-active that will sometimes canvas the views of FC-UK-online, invite it to attend meetings, and invite subscribers to become members of FC-UK-active, etc. Alternatively, the mailing list subscribers can be considered shareholders in an organisation whose directors represent the active staff, and are more open to shareholders than most organisations, but still operate largely behind closed doors. What is within the power of the FC-UK mailing list is to provide or withdraw their approval for FC-UK-active to act as their representatives. At the end of the day, you vote with your keyboard. While FC-UK remains true to your aspirations for it then stick around. If it simply turns into a free culture funding agency/consultancy with too many feathers in its bed, well, we'll cross that bridge... _______________________________________________ fc-uk-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/fc-uk-discuss
