SCN: Re: principles

[Steve Guest]

Joe and others
And again staying personal and not the official response

There are several things here.  First your logic is flawed and you should
have reread my comments before drawing a conclusion.  You asked "Is SCN
actually to be limited to seeing no farther than our elected officials?"
while I clearly stated that even though the UW (not the City) concluded we
need do no further expansion of public access - both SCN and the City were
continuing to work on this.  It is the fact that with such "evidence"
around, it is the other funders that will not anti up and support this.  The
philanthropists are putting their limited money resources where it is said
to be most needed - and currently this seems to be going to New York.  So
there was no political statement - just a set of facts.

I agree that any 501(c)3 Board, and especially at this time of cash flow
challenges, should be concentrating on just two things - long term strategy
and fundraising.  It would seem that for some the SCN Board is still not
there yet.  Plus, it must be remembered, it is not easy to have a long term
strategy, when you are being sued for more money than you have.

Finally - we have discussed services before - as you seem to be admitting to
being one of the planners of SCN - then some decisions where taken then that
have never been revisited.  As the day-to-day manager, my current tasks have
been aimed at providing a service which can exist within the initially
created funding model and the environment that we have.  Long term plans
must address all of these issues.  The Board does realize this, because I
point it out to them on a regular basis.  So it is fine to sit and discuss
the introduction of great and wonderful services, but do not expect a
positive response if it does not also have a matching funding model which is
both legal or practical.

SCN is a non-profit business and needs to be managed as such.  Currently it
is one of the few that does not pay any of its officers.  We are all
volunteers.

I would also like to add, that as far as a service is concerned, you seem to
belittle what we currently offer, text or otherwise.  I have repeatedly
pointed out that SCN is still the only free email service which upholds the
freedom of speech and the right to anonymity.  Read the "User Agreements" of
Yahoo (soon to charge) and Hotmail (supposedly soon to charge) and you will
see that they can cut you off for any reason they wish.  I, and our legal
support, have spent hours defending the rights of the users of the service
when others on Yahoo, Hotmail and others have asked for their accounts to be
blocked because they did not like their views.  I believe this to be a very
important service and still unique in this area.

I should remind you, that we do expect civility between our volunteers and
their dealings with the users.  Plus we will not allow any unlawful
interactions.

I hope this helps
Steve

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