Disputes over showings

[Chowwow]

In the past couple showings, I have noticed some very serious animosity between Firemage and, well, everyone else besides me. There is some huge disagreement between, basically, Firemage's preferences for anime and everyone else's. We seriously need to talk about these things once and for all, and not during anime nights when everyone should just be having fun. I am very sick of this and I think we should have a utilitarian solution to the showings.

I know Firemage wants to have a pure, authentic experience with the line-ups while everyone else wants stuff that's just fun to watch. Firemage is opposed to dubs, club is opposed to fanservice and moe. Both are valid points, but the highly centralized dictatorship of viewings is rubbing people the wrong way - that essentially the rest of the club can't make responsible decisions about what to see and what not to.

Frankly, I think what the rest of the club says is quite reasonable and that we should have more group agreement over what we should view. Present-day, dubbed anime are very high quality, and the entire club body is well-informed and has reasonable tastes. Being the mature geeks that we all are, I don't see why we can't all agree to something that everyone likes.

[wally2069]

This is neither recent nor new. I do however agree that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed. As a matter of fact, it has been the crux of my complaint for some time. I would go so far to say that the "centralized dictatorship" is the majority of the problem.

I do not really like the new line-up, however it was voted upon. I do think in disputes that voting should be done [with voting method out of Firemage's hands entirely]. I think he has forgotten that president is to serve the members and not the other way around. Having all the power in one person is just the kind of crap that puts me on the border of leaving anime club. There is no method of change other than yelling at the president. And that is insufficient.

[ngsilver]

Chow, what other place and time do we have to talk about these things? We don't hold separate business meetings for the club, so the only place that we have other then these forums for discussion amongst the membership is at meetings, which is where these things SHOULD be discussed. The Friday showings ARE meetings, and at meetings the club should be discussing club business. Now I realize that we don't have a lot of really big business to talk about, seeing as how our only purpose is watch random crap on Fridays, but then that makes the showings our most important piece of business.

I myself am rather disheartened by the way valid points often get dismissed purely on the point of Gabe is against it. Personally, it just doesn't seem like the aim of the president is in the best interest of the club when members speak up and then get ignored.

[cyberlink420]

Indeed. Does not a government exist to serve the needs and desires of its people? Heck, the very fact that our club has a president and not a monarch suggests that the people as a whole have a right to give their input.

While I'm not crazy about some of the shows in the lineup, I accept their inclusion since they were voted upon by the collective. As such, I honestly believe that to some level, the members need to have some say in ALL of the club's decisions, as any choices made affect not just the execs, but all of us as well. Otherwise, what's the point of having a club.

Also, "YOU GOT ****ED!" is awesome and deserves to be seen by everyone.

[wally2069]

And the revolution begins. Here is a list of issues I want to discuss at the first available meeting. This mean a total revision of the club constitution to include at least some or all of the following.

1) Major decision making power spread among no fewer than five club members including president, vice president, and at least three appointed club council members. Major decisions include fund approval, voting policies, and other responsibilities.

2) Minor decision making power given to club members through a newly written voting policy allowing all members to vote. Minor decision include meeting times, show line-ups, and other preferences.

3) Official elections put into place for placement of club members into roles of president, vice president, club council, and any other power wielding positions.

4) Policies with the goal of removing members from the club in the event of inadequate leadership or questionable conduct. I do not have a specific set of criteria at the moment, but we need a plan for when power is clearly being abused.

All of these are here with the goal of putting the members in control of the club again. I do not think any of these are unreasonable and thus should be a good starting ground. I am fine with setting a different meeting time to discuss, resolve, and amend these issues so long as everyone can agree on said time and it is advertised to all interested members.

[chma]

I find myself agreeing completely with points 1 through 3. However, I believe that removing club members from the club is incredibly harsh. I would simply ask that people be demoted to a low ranking member of the club.

Also, I like Gabe's idea of having to slots for the committee members. I think the council should have the same option.

[wally2069]

Fair enough, I can live with demotion. As long as policies exist for the betterment of the members. So people can object with getting over ruled by a single person. I do not care if that one person is president or not, we need a method to effect change somehow.

We do not even need to take all of my ideas. At least one or two will satisfy me quite well.

[ngsilver]

Since we are on the subject, let me draw everyone's attention to an anime club constitution that IMHO is extremely fair to both the members and the governing party of the club. I was one of the members on the council that helped mold this constitution and bring it into being. It is still being used by that club to this day, and we put it into effect a good 6 years ago.

sweb.uky.edu/StudentOrgs/UKAnime/constitution.htm

I am not saying that this is exactly what we should be using, but it is a point of reference as to how to structure a constitution and rules for everything that has been brought up so far. This includes the leading council, powers of members, duties of council members, how elections work, how voting is handled, how amendments and ratification is handled, how non-confidence works, and more. Obviously, there are many things that would need to be changed from this constitution, such as dues (after all, we don't have a need to charge $15 a year with what we actually do) and other things.

[cyberlink420]

Seems reasonable. With some minor tweaking (removal of due payment and such), I think that'd make for a fine constitution.

[wally2069]

I am ready to listen, with the understanding that the current set-up is inadequate and needs to be changed. The only person I notice not commenting is glorious leader. I hope he starts taking us seriously instead of waving his hand and saying no.

We can do this with you and without you, president. Please do not drag your feet. Hear us seriously.

[Firemage]

I'm going to address things here one at a time and in more than one post, since i was busy with family stuff over the weekend and have well learned my lesson about posting stuff when tired.

Chow i think the issue this time is less about What i'm showing since by and large the titles where voted on by the membership, and in the case of the show i put on the ballots, i didn't even vote for it, i just listed it to improve the selection. I looked over the vote counts 3 titles i voted for myself made the list, and only one of them thanks to the one vote margin i gave it.

So as you read it isn't about the content, yes some people have problems with what was selected by vote but honestly they can't bitch to much on that since they got at least two of the shows they where pushing but rather the medium i elected to show it in.

Now the sub vs dub issue will be addressed in another post, maybe even another thread depending on how wordy i get while writing it. And honestly i think that is the issue at hand.

[Firemage]

Also if you know anything about Will the second VP and the guy who helped Eric and i found the club, you'd understand why so much power if focused at the top. Game Club has the same structure when one gets down to it, it just has a wider scope which makes problems like this less likely to come up. (at this time ignoring the movement to amend the GC-C a year or two again.)

[wally2069]

And honestly i think that is the issue at hand.

It is not. The issue at hand is the unfair and complete dictatorship of power by an jerk to wrapped up in himself to do what is good for the club. The vote was a sham with all decisions made by an top heavy power trying to force it half ass agenda onto the club.

I will actively fight the stupid power struggle that is going on. The voting process was entirely decided by one person. Some of the shows were left off the list at the discretion of the president. All of the power is in one persons hand with no reasonable work around. That is what I and others are bitching about.

If Firemage does not start being reasonable, I will go over your head. As hard as it is to imagine, it exists. There are other methods that I would rather not invoke, but I will if left with no other option.

[chma]

First, Wally. I think you are being a little unfair to Firemage. I watched them tally the votes and he did not control what went on the ballots. Some of the shows he voted for didn't even win. (also, he mentioned having family problems at home, it's possible it started before you joined the club)

Second, Firemage. I would really start listening to Wally's ideas befor you have a small scale revolution on your hands. I would really hope it won't come to that.

[cyberlink420]