Un-Campaign For SCN Board, Un-Position Statement (apologies for , cross post)

[Doug Tooley]

Hi all-

I have given a great deal of though as to whether to run for the SCN
Board.  For a number of reasons I have decided not to, the relevant ones I
do wish to share with you here.  Many of these comments were made under a
different context before the coordinating board, comments to which I have
not to date received a **direct** response.

************

SCN is about helping Democracy to function better through good
communications.  Due a number of reasons we are failing at this mission at
this time.  Though we maintain basic operations we are losing IPs right
and left and very few of them that I am aware of have had successful
communications efforts using our system.

This effort is a difficult one, we are in many respects writing the book
on the technical and interpersonal aspects of this tool, and doing so in
one of the toughest managerial environments, open public involvement.
Further our leadership structures have been in constant transition and to
some extent are fractured.

Much of this has resulted in various 'office' politic moves to maintain
one's position in an organization that is cared about deeply.  Some of the
most inappropriate of these actions come from those that are unfortunately
doing some of the quietest and most needed work here.

If we are to be supportive of democracy we must believe in the free
exchange of ideas.

My experience with this organization has been characterized unfortunately
by a series of personal attacks of varying forms by those that disagree
with some of the ideas that I seek to espouse or have generally become
tied up in the scn volunteer bureaucracy.  These have unfortunately
continued to escalate by a variety of bureaucratic opportunists.

For these reasons I believe it best to stay off the SCN board while it
continues to develop it's own leadership structure in support of our
'constitution'.  In office politic this would mean my resignation from the
firm, however this is not office politic, it is democracy politic and I
will continue to stay involved actively as a member of this community
constructively critizing the leadership structure as it builds and
strengthens itself into a functioning unit in support of our mission. 

If I can get a way with it I will adopt an attitude of a former president
of SCN-A as much as possible, hopefully though Doug Schuler and Aki
Namioka will keep this particular form of Senior Statesmanship filled.

SCN is a great effort folks, but do realize that we need to pick up
**every stitch**, there are a lot of them, and that there is, bar none, no
harder task.

God Speed


Douglas Tooley


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