Posted by annemarie (212.238.33.13) on July 14, 2001 at 10:28:59:
I agree the bylaws need streamlining. That I don't understand them is an understatement.
I am still looking for the way I can cast my democratic vote about anything (apart from electing officers - who are not elected on a platform or a policy).
But I am sure we will one day work that out.
BobP said (a long way down) he does not know of any organisation where the membership votes for the place of the next convention.
I do.
The location of the annual World Science Fiction Conventions (attendance of thousands, nothing to sneeze at) is decided by the attendees at an earlier convention - (prep. time is now 3 years).
The groups that wish to organise a Worldcon publicize their venue at cons, in magazines and on the Internet stressing the attractive points of their bids.
To vote you have to be a paid-up convention member, either an attending member, or a supporting member (at a lower rate) which make write-ins possible.
There is even a roster for rotating the cons through different parts of the world.
I don't mean to say WE should do that for ouch, but we might look at what other organisations are doing (and have been doing for appr. 50 years).
Luck, wisdom and painfree weeks to all of us
annemarie