[CREATE] LGM and divisiveness

[Hin-Tak Leung]

------------------------------
On Sat, Jan 18, 2014 18:07 GMT Gregory Pittman wrote:

>As we approach LGM 2014, it would be good to know that at some point we
>all are rowing in the same direction. We need to put aside differences
>of opinion and consider how we can make LGM an attractive and
>trouble-free event for everyone.
>
>Even without some artificial code that we might sprinkle holy water on
>and make sacred, I think we have established that most of us have an
>opinion that wants to keep LGM a friendly event for everyone who attends.
>
>Let's face it, LGM isn't a democracy in some elective/voting sense,
>since it is very unclear who has voting rights and whether all voting
>rights are the same. We don't have a clear way of generating consensus.
>We may have opinions for and against, but the (apparent) absence of an
>opinion may be an indicator of unawareness of the vote or even what it's
>about (or just being fed up with it all). And someone who has never
>attended before and never will again has a vote too.
>

I think you are reading too much into this. There is a practical reason why voting for the next venue happened/happens in a face to face meeting. Somebody need to (1) volunteer, (2) be trusted by the community, to *organize* the next event. 

The latter is most rare - it is not as if any random keen 16-year-old can cope with the logistics of hundreds of people from different countries arriving, nor any random unseen unheard of rarely participating person be trusted to volunteer to organize. 

>I also think it is magical thinking to believe that somehow this can all
>be hashed out at LGM. Just look at what happens as the venue for the
>next LGM gets "decided" at LGM. The vote, such as it is, takes place
>only with those attending the meeting, as if those not present don't
>care and don't matter. I suppose if they did care, they might be more
>likely not to care about decisions they were left out of.
>
>I think we all have experiences with people who are obsessed with some
>issue. All they can talk about is their issue. People don't realize how
>IMPORTANT this is. How ESSENTIAL it is. About all you can do is to avoid
>this person, not start up a conversation with this person, unless you
>like to argue. In an organization, this can be toxic. Let's try not to
>drift in that direction.
>

I think you are advocating what some called "social bullying". Many LGM attendees are there because they are passionate about *something*. Of course they will, and rightfully so, should talk about their ONE IDEA all the time. That's the whole point. 

>Greg
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