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View Full Version : Change to how BroncosForums.com will be run - Advisory board temporarily disbanded



Tned
01-17-2008, 08:48 AM
Many of you have heard me talk about all decisions for this message board being made by our Advisory Board. That has been the case. However, many advisory board members have had off-line commitments that have limited the amount that they could participate in the day-to-day running of the message board. While we have ensured that all decisions have been made based on a clear majority, and typically unanimous advisory board vote, the time burden on me maintaining the advisory board as it currently exists is far greater than what a normal owner/admin would have to commit and is more than I can continue to commit going forward. It has been a great four plus months, but also a huge time commitment on my part.

Therefore, I am disbanding the advisory board as it now exists. I would like to give my, and ask you to give your, heartfelt thanks to Dogfish, Txbronc, KCLady, Kapaibro, Medford Bronco and Omac for agreeing to help run this message board and sacrificing their personal time to help make this a great message board.

Unfortunately, as I said above, the amount of time required by me to both prepare and manage Town Hall discussions, prepare/manage advisory board discussions, prepare/manage advisory board votes prepare and post general announcements about advisory board decisions, etc. is just too much, when I also have to serve as the technical admin for BroncosForums.com and work at a real job and spend time with my wife (there has been little time dedicated to the wife the last four months).

So, where do we go from here? First, BroncosForums.com will continue now and hopefully for many, many years to come. I hope we are all on here talking about Jay’s replacement after he spends his entire career as the Broncos QB. Second, on an interim basis, I will make all decisions for the message board, BUT they will still be based on Town Hall discussions and will be based on what I believe is best for the community and that the ‘community at large’ wants. Third, at some point in the future, I hope that we re-constitute the advisory board, but with a clearer charter and individual responsibilities defined.

At some point, I would like to have a Town Hall discussion about how ‘you’ would like to see us keep this forum community driven. I still believe 100% that an online community/message board should represent the wishes of the message board members, not the personal opinions/beliefs of an owner/admin. I don’t like the concept of unilateral decisions being made for an online community, even by the owner. When that happens, it isn’t a ‘community’. Together, we need to figure out how to accomplish that. Possibly, that is with a future advisory board, where we clearly define roles, almost as you would with a company, club or school. In those organizations, you might have a treasurer, secretary, CEO/Team leader, scribe, etc. In our case, the roles would likely be different, but should be clearly defined, whether they are permanent or rotating roles. Again, this needs to be decided in a Town Hall discussion. Other topics would be nomination processes and term limits, to name just a couple.

I hope that our current advisory board will continue to serve as a “sounding board” as I must now interpret the community’s wishes expressed in Town Hall discussions on my own, rather than as part of a group. I have asked them to stay on in an ‘advisory’ capacity, rather than voting capacity, and I hope that all will do so. In this capacity, they can help deal with requests to review a ruling on a sig or avvy, just as an example.

I will create a thread in Town Hall where I will address any questions that you have about this change.