Don't close AUUG down!

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Tuesday, 11 December 2007 at 10:19:19 +1100, Christopher Vance wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 11, 2007 at 09:45:02AM +1100, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
>> So: for tomorrow please consider transitioning AUUG to a non-financial
>> institution as described above.  For those of you who don't know, I
>> should point out that the main web server (www.auug.org.au) is run
>> free of charge by Internode.  About the only costs I can see are the
>> $20 odd per year needed to renew the domain.
>
> Ongoing costs include about $1500/year for accountants fees wrt our
> tax return.  This could probably be reduced but we don't have anybody
> offering to do it for free.

If we don't have any money, do we need a tax return and an accountant?
Even if we have to file a null tax return, I'd expect to be able to do
that ourselves without too much difficulty.

> Other things cost too.  We've cancelled our phone and fax.  We still
> have Public Liability Insurance, a Post Office Box, etc., etc.

Sure, but again, with what I'm proposing, we wouldn't need that
either.  If we run a conference, that would be for money, and we'd
have to factor these issues into the equation, but that's a separate
issue.

> I'm sure more stuff can be axed, but the organization cannot survive
> long without income, and only by consuming all the funds we still
> have available.

No, what I'm suggesting would survive.  You've already seen one or two
people saying "this is the way we do it".  In Adelaide, the ADUUG
survived for over 10 years without any money.

> In that sort of situation, I'm not going to be hanging around long
> enough to guess when "trading while insolvent" starts, and things
> get more interesting than I'd be happy with.

The issue is "trading".  We wouldn't do that.

> If you think non-financial is the way to go, please offer yourself
> for election to the board on such a platform.

Already done, and you've seen it.  I've offered myself for election to
the board twice in the last month or two, the second time with this
agenda.  The offer still stands.

You'll note, BTW, that all replies except yours have been in favour of
the proposition.  I've also had many others privately.  I appreciate
that you have real concerns about the viability, but we have enough
evidence of it working in practice.

> And proxies are being accepted by email if you can't attend
> personally.

Note that I'm not a member, and I don't intend to renew now.  I think
one of the really big things that killed AUUG as we know it is that
most people don't see any advantage in paying $125 for a membership
that doesn't really buy them anything.  However, board members are
exempt from membership fees.

> Your original mail was not ignored from malice or from any bad
> feeling.

Malice didn't cross my mind.  I'm glad there are no bad feelings.

> The three of us on the board are all very busy, and have lots of
> things which make communication and thought less instant than we'd
> like.  We had also had another offer of somebody to be Secretary
> before yours was sent, although that's not fully resolved yet.

Maybe it's time to reconsider, then.  I'm available now.  There's also
the question of other board members.

Given the shortness of time, still not having a secretary and some
issues that others raised about the timeliness of the AGM and the
question of whether decisions made there can be valid, what do you
think of postponing the AGM until February?  Is there some reason why
it has to be now?

Greg
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