Hello all, I run a similarly small community group that must comply with the requirements of Dept Commerce to remain functioning, so I appreciate the decisions facing the leadership team and us as a group. The responsibilities placed on the leadership group to continue to comply with the requirements are just too bothersome and it is a wise move to lay out the situation to the group.
Whilst it may have been required in the past in more vibrant times, I don’t see the need for WAMUG to remain an incorporated body. I appreciate this will mean the loss of the domain name and associated email addresses - plus sadly the archive. These are not decisions to be taken lightly. I feel a Facebook group set to private would provide a familiar chat style amongst the small number of active members. There’s an advantage of such a group being able to show images which might be useful for some problem solving. This may be a satisfactory and viable option for the future Regards Tim > On 7 Aug 2024, at 4:43 pm, Stephen Chape via WAMUG <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi Rod … that is a very valid point. > > And a great idea in my opinion. > I only use Facebook sparingly, but I am a member. > I feel that this suggestion should be looked at. > > On 7 Aug 2024, at 4:40 pm, Rod Blitvich via WAMUG > <[email protected]> wrote: > > WAMUG has been there for us for SO LONG.My gratitude to the various > Committee members for all their work over the many years. I value the > list and the knowledgeable contributions from Peter, Maureen, Daniel, > Ronni and many others. It would be very sad to lose this community > and > this knowledge base. > But you need to face the facts. WAMUG will die unless us oldies > embrace > Social Media. If a WAMUG Facebook group was formed, you would triple > membership in a few months. Why not create a WAMUG Facebook Group as > a > trial for say 12 months and then evaluate the trial at the end of > that > period? > If you want new blood then WAMUG needs to target people younger than > us > “oldies” – and guess where you will find them – on Social Media. > Another possible alternative would be to use Microsoft Teams – I > believe there is still a free version around. > A WAMUG Facebook group can be Public or Private. It can have a Code > of > Conduct/ List of Rules. It can have 1 or more Moderators. People can > “apply” to join the group and can also be removed from the group. > So it is my view that you have 2 choices – 1)Go with Social Media OR > 2)Accept the demise of our wonderful group. > Rod Blitvich - Amy & Sam’s Dad > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > On 7 Aug 2024, at 9:02 AM, Peter Hinchliffe via WAMUG > <[email protected]> wrote: > WAMUG as an entity is reaching an impasse. WAMUG (Western > Australian > Macintosh Users Group) has been an incorporated body since 1984, > ie, > the birthdate of the Macintosh computer. Long-term members will > remember the early meetings at UWA, and later Curtin University, > through the efforts of Martin Hill, Shay Telfer, John Curry and > many > others. After Curtin started placing prohibitive costs on our use > of > their facilities, we moved our monthly meetings to ChristChurch > Grammar > School in Claremont until clashes with school activities and > resultant > parking problems forced to find somewhere else. Member Lyn Muir > kindly > offered us the use of her real estate business premises at ProWest > in > Willetton, until the premises had to be rationalised in response to > business pressures from a market downturn. so we moved to a hall in > Bull Creek. Through this time our numbers dwindled to a mere > trickle > until Covid-19 hit and forced us to abandon physical meetings > altogether. Since that time we have been running our monthly > meetings > via Zoom, but we have never had more than 3 or 4 members attending, > other than the committee. We have found that the effort required in > coming up with meetings themes, paying for Zoom, etc, is is not > justified given the one or two people that do regularly turn up, so > we > have greatly reduced the frequency of the meetings, which has not > exactly been met with a flood of complaints. > We now have a real problem: being an incorporated body, we are > constitutionally required to hold an Annual General Meeting, and we > are > now well overdue to do this for 2024. Maureen Smith, our erstwhile > President and now secretary, has declared that she will not be > nominating for a position on the committee, thereby reducing our > small, > tired committee to 4: Bernard Barnwell (Treasurer), Pete Smith > (Website > updates), myself (President), and Daniel Kerr, who keeps this > mailing > list online and in order. Notwithstanding the fact that the > remaining > members are happy to retain their involvement, if no further > nominations are received at the AGM our tiny committee will not > meet > our constitutional requirement of at least 5 members. > Apart from this, we are desperate for some new blood. The current > members are generally feeilng beyond their use-by dates, and it’s > clear > that it’s up to the exisiting membership to decide if we want to > continue or not. The lifeblood of WAMUG in 2024 is this Maiiling > List, > and it is treasured by all those who contribute to it. It is > certainly > far less active than it was, but it really is all that remains of > WAMUG > is any real sense. > If no-one is willing to step up to be a Committee member at the > upcoming AGM these appear be our two options: > 1 Dissolving WAMUG, the associated mailing list and website. > 2 Changing WAMUG to an unincorporated entity in order to keep > the > mailing list. > According to the Associations Incorporation Act 2015, we will need > a > Special Resolution meeting to dissolve or unincorporate WAMUG. > Changing WAMUG to an unincorporated entity. > This action Requires a Special Resolution meeting, and we still > need > people to run the organisation, but our current financial holdings > cannot be retained and will need to be distributed according to the > Associations Incorporation Act 2015, which effectively means we > will > be > starting again from scratch. > Whatever entity we decide to change into, we will still have to > charge > a fee for the mailing list. However, there is no insurance for an > unincorporated entity so the people running WAMUG would be liable > for > its actions and results. We will also lose the use > of [1]wamug.org.au as a Domain Name. > Dissolving WAMUG > This requires a Special Resolution meeting. Again, our current > financial holdings will need to be distributed according to the > Associations Incorporation Act 2015; and again, the website and > mailing > list will disappear. > If you want to see WAMUG continue in any form, please give some > careful > consideration to what I've outlined above, and offering your > services > to the committee. These days, we are running most of our meetings > online via Zoom, so there’s really no need even to leave the house! > We > desperately need some new blood on the committee and some new > directions for the future. If nothing else, we need this list to > continue. > We area aiming to hold our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 5th > September by Zoom, in the absence of any better offers. Zoom > details > will be provided several days in advance. > Kind Regards > Peter Hinchliffe > President, > Western Australian Macintosh Users Group > References > 1. http://wamug.org.au/ > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > > Regards > Stephen Chape > Mac by choice > Windows because my employer knew no better > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
