(Moderation note: this post has been moved from Movement Strategy initiative #28: Guidelines for board functions and governance because it refers to the process of posting the #ms-initiatives on the MS Forum, which is a topic being discussed here.)
I think the best place to request feedback on tangible proposals for new governance procedures, documents, rules, or resources, would be the Village Pump, not here. Therefore, based on that, I would ask that the Movement Strategy team please discontinue posting new ideas and proposals at MS Forums. A) it has not been effective for generating discussion and B) it is detrimental both to the ideas themselves, and to the MS forums as a platform.
I’m open to the efforts by the Movement Strategy team to make proposals to the community, and to be given full attention and discussion. However, again: A) I feel the MS forums are not an effective or definitive place to get centralized official consensus for any new proposals; B) I feel that if the Movement Strategy has new proposals that it wishes to formally present, then that needs to occur at a community forum that is 1) more official 2) more active 3) more accepted. C) based on the preceding point, the correct venue for these proposals is the Village Pump, not the MS Forums.
D) the Movement Strategy team should pick five or six proposals, and present them in a credible and authentic way. Posting thirty new threads at the MS forums, none of which get any comment, is not a credible way to present formal proposals to the community. If the goal was informal discussion, then it’s fine to use the MS forums, but then in that case, there was no reason to post all 30 proposals in such a mechanical way. The proposals should have been grouped together by topical area, and five or six proposals should have been proposed on each thread, rather than one at a time.
E) until now I have been one of the staunchest advocates of using the MS forums. However I think we need to also assert that the Village Pumps have not and should not be displaced or diminished, as the actual venue where any formal proposals need to be presented, any time that a community decision process is needed. Again, the MS Forums are fine as a venue for informal discussion, but not as a venue for any official decisions that are being formally requested from the community.
let me just clarify that I do in fact appreciate the hard work and dedicated effort of the staff members who have been posting these threads, and their work to add these as beneficial resources for the community.
I do appreciate their hard work. my points above relate to the process, not to any views about their own role, or even about the goals of their efforts and their work product, all of which I do view quite positively.
I simply would like to improve the process for this type of item, if possible. thanks.