Second Pride Board Reshuffles

It's been awhile since I was able to attend a Second Pride board meeting, but I follow whats going on closely by reading the agendas and minutes that are posted at the Second Pride website (url).

Lately there have been a few interesting developments that I would like to report for those of you who do not have the time, inclination or patience to read minutes.

Tylo Mabellon (picture), who was elected to the Marketing Chair, has been voted off the board for having missed more than three consecutive regularly scheduled meetings without notification. 

I am hoping that Tylo is well, despite having failed to respond to the questions from the board. He is a pleasant man that worked well as marketing director during the last board.

Merrick Genesis (picture) was voted in to replace Tylo as Marketing Chair at the board's latest meeting on November 13, 2013.

The elected Security Director Gaius Tripsa (picture) was voted off the board at the last meeting for having missed four consecutive regularly scheduled meetings without notification. 

An open call has been made for parties interested in taking over the Security Chair to submit a notecard to the secretary/co-chair Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck as soon as possible. The applications will be posted on the Second Pride website for discussion and comments by the membership.

I don't believe that losing Gaius as a board member is a loss to the board in any way. From what I have observed Gaius has since the elections mostly been destructive and acting as a puppet for the losing faction in the election. He has invariably tried to cause as much havoc and damage as he possibly could whenever or wherever he could, both at meetings and in-between them.

So far two applications have come in and have been posted on the forum. One of the applications is from a European man, Tylendel Falconer, and the other is from an American woman, Sutry Long. As I see it both of them would be qualified and a welcome addition in diversifying the board, whether it be to broaden its geographical base or to improve the gender balance.)

Petr Hastings-Vanbeeck urged the other members of the board to consider appointing co-chairs, so that no-quorum meetings can be avoided in the future. Petr also announced that Andy Long (picture) had agreed to be his Secretary Co-Chair for 2014. 

At the meeting the question was raised on why the board had changed the normal time of the board meetings from Sundays at 11AM to Wednesdays at 7PM. The reply given was that this "is currently (the) time when we can definitely get all the board together to be able to hold a meeting with quorum."

I certainly hope that the board will consider the question of what time to hold its meetings carefully in the future, when they have replaced all the vacancies and non-attendees and also appointed co-chairs, because the new time of the board meeting only accentuates the impression that Second Pride is solely an American affair, which I do not believe is quite the impression the board wishes to convey.

No Quorum - Again

I and many other members attended the announced Second Pride Board meeting yesterday at 11AM SLT. Due to the absence of too many elected board members no quorum could be reached and the board meeting had to be rescheduled for November 6, 2013, at 7PM SLT.

4 of 9 directors are present, no quorum is reached in the meeting hall decorated for Halloween.
The directors are seated in front of the skeletons of their predecessors. 

This was the second time in a row that a meeting had to be cancelled because of lack of quorum. which is all the more regrettable as there are some important matters to be reviewed and decided on by the board. First of all there is a presentation of the audit report of last quarters treasurer report, then there is also the assignment of a committee to review the bylaws of Second Pride and, finally, a long overdue decision needs to be taken on the problem of the missing Marketing Director.

As you all may remember Tylo Mabellon was elected to the post of Marketing Director in the elections. However, as I understand it, Tylo has not been seen or heard from since the new board was installed, which means that he has missed many meetings without any notification to the board. 

The fact that Tylo is permanently missing is one of the reasons that it is difficult to get a quorum of the board, as the bylaws require that at least half of the elected members plus one are present to achieve quorum. Another reason is that so few of the directors have chosen to appoint a co-director, who can stand in for the director when he/she cannot attend, or made use of the possibility to appoint a substitute in their place when they cannot be present. A third reason is that some directors simply stay away without giving any reason for their absence whatsoever. 

Of course I can - and must - understand that first life work and other similar obligations must sometimes take priority, but our elected officials have a duty to see to it that the board can continue to function efficiently despite such obstacles. It's time to get our house in order, men and Marge of the Second Pride board! Let's have no more meetings postponed due to no quorum and get on with the necessary business at hand.

The New SP2014 Board

The results of the elections of the SP2014 Board of directors were announced at midnight. The new board will consist of the following members.

Chairman:: Damien Tar

Dextrum Boucher - 70 votes (48 %)
Damien Tar - 76  (52,%)

Secretary/Co-Chair::  Petr Vanbeeck
Andy Long - 65 votes (46 %)
Petr Vanbeeck - 75 votes (54 %)

Treasurer:: SquirtN Wonder
SquirtN Wonder - 123 votes (unopposed)

Events Director:: Hotboy Skytower
Female avatar X - 70 votes (48 %)
Hotboy Skytower - 75 votes (52 %)

Community Relations Director:: Karl Kalchek
Male avatar Y - 46 votes (32 %)
Karl Kalchek - 68 votes (48 %)
Joshie Drew - 29  votes (20 %)

Building Director:: Mr Gracemount
Mr Gracemount - 121 (unopposed)

Security Director; Gaius Tripsa
Gaius Tripsa - 120  (unopposed)

Marketing Director::  Tylo Mabellon
Tylo Mabellon - 121 (unopposed)

Communications/IT Director:: Jaggy Naughton 

Jagger Naughton - 127 (unopposed)

My congratulations to the winners, it was a close race but you made it. I also wish to thank those candidates who also ran for making this election so interesting.

The new board will be installed on August 18, 2013, at 11AM SLT and have their first meeting as a board of Second Pride. The existing Board will step down at that time and any transfers will take place at that time.

Special note. The candidates mentioned above as "Female candidate X" and "Male candidate Y" have expressly asked me to never mention their names again on my blog (for Y that restriction also includes never showing his picture). As none of them won their race I see no need to mention them at this time.

Rumors...

As we are getting close to the end of the voting period the air is rife with rumors of what may or may not happens once the results are declared. The last days the tumors have mostly been along this line "if so-and-so doesn't get elected to this or that position (usually chairperson) X, Y and maybe even Z will resign from the board even if they have been elected"

I sure as hell hope that the rumors are untrue, because if that should indeed happen the persons resigning from the board will have proved themselves to be blatant and shameless liars and completely untrustworthy persons who didn't give a damn about Second Pride or the LGBT community in SecondLife at all, but were intent on making Second Pride their own little roadshow for a year.

I would especially like to urge the two running for chairperson of the board to see to it that anything along these lines doesn't happen, because I - and I believe a large part of the community - will hold them responsible.

Below I have listed how the candidates responded in part to my question about "a ticket".

Dextrum Boucher: "I will of course work with whoever is elected, this is a basic principle of democracy. Once the election is over, we pull together and put the will of the people to work."

Damian Tar: "No I have not formed an alliance of any sort formally or informally."

Andy Long:  "I have not even made recommendations to my friends as to who they should vote for, just that they should choose and vote for the person they feel is the best candidate. I feel like we should stand on our own merits and qualifications, and as such, i have tried to ally myself with all the candidates, and not just a select few."

Petr Vanbeeck: "I feel that I can work anyone who is elected. And will do my best to accomplish that."

SquirtN Wonder: "I am not part of a ticket"

Mz Marville: "...there was discussion about the formation of a ticket. However, a formal ticket was not utilized..."

Hotboy Lockjaw: "As far as i know there is no official or unofficial ticket. All we can do is support other members of the board if we are elected."

Garrett Ceriano: "... this list is not evidence that we don't believe the others are not excellent candidates. There are other candidates that I would enjoy working with. I know other candidates on the list would love to as well."

Karl Kalchek: "... if elected we would work together, and I meant it."

Joshie: "I have absolutely NOT formed any ticket nor have I reached out to create any type of “arrangement” with anyone else running in the Second Pride Board Elections."

Mr G: "I will work with whomever gets elected Bock. I shall try to do it productively – but until you actually work with someone that cannot be answered in a simple yes or no."

Gaius Tripsa: "I look forward to working with the new Board members, whoever the voters select, for the good of the LGBT community and the Second Pride Festival."

Tylo Mabellon:  "I’ll work with whoever is voted to the Board this year regardless of the outcome. I wish everyone well in the election!!"

Jaggy: "In no way, shape or form have I ever considered myself part of some alliance or ticket. The community should be THE alliance…every friggin’ segment of it"

"The True Reasons..."

Today I received in my possession a note card from Cortez Brandriss, who was earlier a candidate for Event Director of the Second Pride 2014 board but who withdrew her candidacy.

The note card is unmodifiable and was according to its properties created by Ms Brandriss, despite this I also sought to get a confirmation from Ms Brandriss. I did this before having read the last sentence in this note card, for which I ask Ms Brandriss' forgiveness.

My main reasons for posting this are twofold, Firstly because I love Second Pride and want it to grow and flourish for many years to come and, secondly, because I believe that the membership of Second Pride has the right to know what is happening behind closed doors. 

I will post it without any further personal comment, other than saying that these SP election seems to be turning out to be extremely ugly and messy, with personal attacks, anonymous bloggers and other monkey business. 

Marius Watz "Web Science artwork"

"7/29/2013 Re: Second Pride Election
C/c Second Pride Current Board

 To Doc Spad,

 I have been very confused as to why, what was supposed to be a very quiet and simple withdrawl from this election has turned to a large population of Pride Candidates and Voters coming to me concerned with my departure from the race.

 I was dismayed to find the answer to my question in a notice, sent by you on 7/27 to the entire Second Pride Community, that my reasons for withdrawing from this race were because of a ticket system.

 I tried to make this very clear when we first spoke, and I will clarify again now-- I withdrew from the Second Pride election because of *our* conversation-- a conversation in which the current Chair of Pride, yourself, came to me with an attempt to coerce me to join forces on a ticket with someone I have not ever met, as a means of throwing the vote. I withdrew my candidacy because I was uncomfortable knowing that the Chair of Second Pride was so willing to discuss other candidates with me, someone you barely knew. I withdrew because I felt that I was being asked to be a pawn in a dramatic game of manipulating the vote. The unprofessional freedom you took in that conversation was what caused me to withdraw my candidacy.

 I ran for Second Pride because I admired the outward professionalism of it's team of chairs, and I wanted to do something important for the LGBT community. Our conversation was steeped in drama that I did not want to be a part of, concerning people I do not know and have never met.

 I submitted a formal and professional withdrawl to Baz that did not go into these reasons, only to learn you have distributed a notice that has informed the entire Second Pride Group I left the race over the ticket system. Through this notice, you have not only publicly spoken for me with information that is not true, but you have also publicly pitted me and my withdrawl against the candidates in this entire election.

 I am outraged by the way you have handled this matter, and at the fact you have now brought me into the drama of Second Pride, when I have done nothing but gracefully bowed out of a situation you made uncomfortable for me to begin with.

 Please do not use my withdrawl as any future means to burden this election.

 With this notecard, I would like to officially announce the true reasons for my withdrawl. I ask that I am no longer contacted by any member of Second Pride about this election.

 Sincerely,Cortez Brandriss

 C/c: Second Pride Board. Kyle Beckett, SquirtN Wonder, Tylo Mabellon, Dextrum Boucher, Kharissa Indigo, Mr Gracemount, Baz Ceawlin, Tootsie Nootan"

First Visit at SPF-2013

Chatting with Mr. G.

Early this morning I went to check out the Second Pride Festival (SPF) sims. On my excursions I bumped into three of the directors from the board of Second Pride, Mr. G., the build director, Baz Ceawlin, the IT director, and Tylo Mabellon, the marketing director. All three of them were extremely tired from all the work leading up to the opening of the Pride festival,.but happy that it was now afoot and they only had a few last minute adjustments to see to.

Mr. G., looking as good as ever but claiming to be tired

I must say everything looked really smashing and I for one could not see what last things there could be to worry about.

Here you see me trying out one of the rides at the carnival.

The Cute Butts of the SP Board

At today's meeting of the Second Pride Board I amused myself with taking a look "behind the scenes" and focused in the male members of the board. Cute bubble butts, don't cha think?

From left to right you see the cute behinds of Baz Ceawlin, Mr G, Doc Spad, Kyle Beckett, Tylo Mabellon, Dextrum Boucher & SquirtN Wonder. Missing in the picture - due to despicable gender discrimination - are the female members of the board Kharissa Indigo and Tootsie Nootan.

As always you can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.

New PRISM Coming March 2013

(via the Second Pride website)

"It’s been a long time coming, but the newest issue of PRISM is currently in production. PRISM Magazine is getting a total redesign with an emphasis on community. And who doesn't love a good makeover? PRISM will have a fresh new layout and feature stories about RL and SL issues affecting the LGBTQ community. We’ll publish opinion pieces, feature articles, and news from around the world that matter to you.

Better yet, we want to hear from you. Let your voice be heard! If you’re a writer or someone who just wants to share your thoughts/opinions/ideas, you can submit your article for consideration. Simply click on the Submissions link under the PRISM Magazine menu. You might be in one of our upcoming issues of PRISM Magazine.

Business owners and organizations, we haven’t forgotten about you. We’re accepting advertisements to share your products and services to our large and diverse community. Click on the PRISM Advertising link under the PRISM Magazine menu for rates and specifications. But don’t hesitate! The deadline for advertisement submissions is March 9th.

We can’t wait for you to see the new PRISM Magazine. We’re excited about the new direction it’s taking and hope you will be too. Don’t forget: we’re accepting advertisements for the March issue and article submissions for later issues. Either by reading, writing, or advertising, we hope that you will get involved!

Tylo Mabellon
Second Pride Marketing Director"

Link to the post: New PRISM Coming March 2013
Link to Second Pride Festival: Second Pride website

The New Board of Second Pride

The elections for the board of Second Pride 2013 ended at midnight on Sunday. The voting procedure was done electronically on the Second Pride website and seems to have worked without any fault.

As a member of the Election Committee I am proud to present the new board to you:

Doc Spad, Chairman

Kyle Beckett, Secretary/Co-Chairman

SquirtN Wonder, Treasurer

Kharissa Indigo, Events Director

Dextrum Boucher, Membership Director

Mr. Gracemount, Building Director

Tootsie Nootan, Security Director

Tylo Mabellion, Marketing Director

Baz Caewlin, Communications/IT Director

My warmest congratulations to those who have been elected. I also wish them the best of luck with the important work that lays ahead!