2003-09-09.iwj.1 re Board meeting procedure

Immediately after the most recent meeting I wrote:
> So, since just stating my opinion hasn't worked, I'm going to propose
> a formal resolution, which I'll ask Wichert to put (as the first
> item!) on the agenda of the next meeting. A draft is below.

There were few comments. Benjamin Mako Hill disagreed with some
parts. I hope we can at least vote on my draft at this coming
meeting. So, here it is again as a reminder. This time I'll give it
a number: 2003-09-09.iwj.1:

A. WHEREAS

1. It is important that board meetings, which require simultaneous
presence of a quorum of the board, be short.

2. IRC discussions provide less easily read archives of discussions
than email archives, and require substantial efforts at redaction
to produce minutes.

3. IRC discussions are less accessible to people who are not available
at the time of the meeting than email.

4. IRC discussions are more prone to misunderstandings, accidental
offence, and personality clashes, than email.

5. On-line board meetings via IRC are a poor medium for
discussion for the reasons given above.

B. IT IS RESOLVED THAT

6. Discussion at on-line real-time Board meetings of Software in the
Public Interest shall be limited to the absolute minimum necessary,
by the specific measures below, and by the active cooperation of
the Board and others during meeting.

7. No items shall appear on the agenda of a Board meeting that are
not accompanied by a firm proposal (or alternative versions, if
there's a disagreement) in ready-to-vote resolution form. There
ought to have been at least a week or so for discussion by email.

8. Reports of any kind shall be posted in advance to the board list. They
should be accompanied by a standard form resolution like `the board
thanks so-and-so, and accepts the report'.

9. There shall be strictly no discussion during the meeting. Anything
that requires more discussion than has taken place before the
meeting shall be postponed until next meeting or email voting. If
board members feel the discussion has not been adequate then they
should vote NO on the relevant motion.

10. The meeting chair shall be ruthless in enforcing the rules above.

11. The above rules may be deviated from in case of necessity, such as
external deadlines, emergencies etc.

C. IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED THAT

12. The practice of waiting for guests to state their name during the
meeting will cease. Instead, the Secretary shall start logging the
channel 15 minutes before the meeting, and guests will be asked to
state their name during that period, or when they arrive if they
arrive later.

D. IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED THAT

13. The information about the availability of board members for the
next meeting will be collected by email in advance of the meeting
by a volunteer member of the Board, who will correlate the
information and propose a date for approval by the meeting.

Ian.