[AUUG-Talk]: RE: Don't close AUUG down!

[Doug Jackson]

Making the group non-financial would be fine by me.  Leaves options
open.

Doug



-----Original Message-----
From: auug-announce-bounces+doug.jackson=ewa-australia.com at auug.org.au
[mailto:auug-announce-bounces+doug.jackson=ewa-australia.com at auug.org.au
] On Behalf Of Greg 'groggy' Lehey
Sent: Tuesday, 11 December 2007 9:45 AM
To: AUUG Talk List; AUUG Announcements List
Subject: Don't close AUUG down!

The following is part of a message I sent to the AUUG board a couple of
days ago.

On Sunday,  9 December 2007 at 12:35:25 +1100, Greg 'groggy' Lehey
wrote:
>
> You know, of course, that I've been suggesting dissolution for some 
> time, at a time when people didn't want to admit it.  But now that the

> time has come, far from saying "I told you so", I'm having second 
> thoughts.  I think we should donate all AUUG's assets to the Lions 
> Chair and then carry on as a non-financial institution.  No membership

> fees, no money to look after; in principle, just the name, the web 
> site and the mailing lists.  I suggest the John Lions chair because it

> seems to be the most obvious, but that's certainly a matter for 
> discussion.
>
> Let's consider the alternatives.
>
> Close down:
>
> - Lots of hassle.  In particular, I suspect that we're going to have
>   to produce complete financials, and there are all sorts of
>   bureaucratic hurdles to jump over.
> - Irreversible.  If we close down, that's the end, once and for all.
>
> Non-financial institution:
>
> - The money we have goes to a good cause.
> - We don't really need to do anything immediately.  But in the
>   mid-term we can set up pages for on-line membership applications and
>   things.  I suspect that people will come out of the woodwork who so
>   far have been scared off by the membership fee.
> - If it doesn't work, we can still take the alternative.
>
> With this in mind, I don't intend to renew my subscription.  I'd be 
> happy to be a board member and come to the meeting, but it doesn't 
> seem logical to pay membership for an organization that is planning to

> shut down.  If you take the second alternative, I'd also suggest that 
> you refund the memberships to anybody who has renewed just to be able 
> to attend the meeting.
>
> What do you think?

I have received no reply.  On an earlier occasion I volunteered for the
position of secretary.  The way that this was handled suggests that I
have offended somebody in the current board; they didn't reply, and when
I reminded them of the offer, I was told that my services were not
required.  I'd like to make it clear that I have no knowledge and no
intention of any offence.

As a result, it looks like I won't be at tomorrow's meeting.  In view of
the intention to dissolve AUUG tomorrow, I can't wait for a possible
reply from the board.  This is also why I'm abusing my ability and
copying auug-announce.  My apologies to anybody who is offended by this.

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.

Discussion welcome.

Greg Lehey
Past president, AUUG Inc.
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