Update on the GA Kerfuffle - Updated

Due to my mood swings and the fact that I managed to grind two of my teeth to pieces during my sleep, I have been remiss in my duties of informing you about some events in the Gay Archipelago after my latest post.

So here is an update on what has happened, as far as I am informed.

ricogenu (formerly known as Rico Bluestar), who was appointed as PR Lead by the GA Lead Weylin Vale a while back, has resigned from office after an altercation with Chade Dagger, the simultaneously appointed Treasurer. The two have differing versions of what actually happened, so I will leave it to them to give their versions in the comments should they wish to do so.

The following sim-owners have left Gay Archipelago (there may be more, I seem to have lost my note card on this):
Garth Raleigh,
Mitch Underby,
Othon Weiland,
Draghan Marksman,
Myles Capalini and - following ricogenu's resignation -
Evan Greymyst (5 sims) and
ricogenu (2 sims, co-owned with Evan Greymyst)
--- Update---
Ricky Silentghost,
Harrison Constantine and
Evan Rutledge (2 sims)

Nikolai Warden: Upset But Staying

Nikolai Warden, another of my many friends in the Gay Archipelago - on both sides of the current conflict - has left a comment with his point of view on my friend Hiroku Kamachi's blog post The Mind of Hiro: "Pearls From Swine". The comment was made on July 17 and was published today.

"Hiro, you and I have known one another a long time. I think you know that I am a fairly reasonable fellow. Though the estate I help manage chose to leave the GA, I and one of the other managers there chose to remain on the GA admissions committee as you know. I will tell you though, as I told Weylin and Chade, that the way the appointments were made was a shock to any who have been in the GA for more than a couple of years.

For a festival team to be put together is different from a board of directors, and different from appointing a PR Lead and Vice Lead … to those of us who have seen quite a few administrations in terms of GA Lead, all of that was a shock. The way it has always been done is that any major decisions have gone through the owners group. Forming an advisory board is a major change in the way things are done, and to us old timers, that decision itself should have gone through the owners group for approval. The decision to write rules and bylaws also is something that the owners group should have voted on, in my opinion.

GA Lead, (and by extension, the relatively new role of Vice Lead), and PR Lead have traditionally been done by candidates putting their names to the owners group and a search committee conducting interviews and the search committee making a decision. Now I realize that the duties of the lead, as outlined by the previous search committee, are a bit vague in “putting together teams” or such, I haven’t the exact wording in front of me. I also realize there are very general guidelines and no rules or bylaws, which has always been intentional. The owners have always been in charge, whether they are active or apathetic really, with the Lead as a spokesperson and detail person to carry out the wishes of the owners group. If the owners group does not give feedback, the Lead takes the lead.

Weylin is the seventh GA Lead with whom I have had dealings. When Myles Capalini, one of the owners who chose to withdraw from the GA, took over as Lead a number of years back, he was told by the outgoing Lead to let the owners THINK they have a say and that it is a democracy, but run the GA as a dictatorship, which is just how that person HAD run it. He and Myles butted heads over this issue to the extent that Cabria left the GA and only returned due to Garth Raleigh’s leadership. Garth stepped down as Lead quite some time ago. Since his departure, owners meetings have been sporadic and the GA has changed. Weylin making decisions that have ALWAYS gone through the owners group came across, to those of use who have seen more than a few GA Leads come and go, as the worst of the old dictatorial sort of dismissal of the owners group by the Lead, going back 4 or 5 years when there was such contention regarding how the GA was being managed.

I cannot speak for others who were upset by how the appointments were handled, and I do understand Weylin’s rationale for doing so. To dismiss the uproar with the notion that it is people who do not like Dextrum and were upset because he was appointed Vice Lead is grossly inaccurate. I was upset, others were upset, and I for one did not know Dextrum at all before he applied for GA membership. I heard the objections against him, I interviewed him at length, and found no reason to vote against his admission into the GA. I have no real issue with him being Vice Lead. It would have been better if all this had been put to the owner’s group and any interested in the Vice Lead and PR Lead positions had a chance to express such interest, and the owners had had some say, as it has always been done. It is not OMG DEXTRUM IS VICE LEAD???? NO WAAAAY YOU CANNOT DO THAT! It is more a matter of err … that is not how things are traditionally done, and really, the formation of a board of directors should have been presented to the owners group and voted on."

Myles Capalini On "Suddenness" & More

Today I received the following email from Myles Capalini, owner of the Cabria Estate which were formerly a part of the Gay Archipelago.

---

Hi Bock,

No worries about the reply issue, I think it is just bad karma between me and Google+

As to the "suddenness" of the meeting, let me clarify my point of view on that. It is true, that there had originally been a meeting planned the previous Sunday, July 5th, but that was rescheduled for July 12th, but with no time and no agenda (other than saying the meeting was primarily to be to discuss Summerfest. I.e., no major business issues on the table). So I waited all week to get a time, though I expected the meeting to be sometime midday, which it has always been for the last many years. Never got a notice, and was out early Sunday for breakfast, but when I got home, I discovered that the first notice of the meeting had been sent at 11:00 or 11:30 on Saturday night (Oh great, missed that one), and that the meeting was set for 7 AM Sunday. I think that may not necessarily fit everyone's definition of 'Sudden', but it was a big surprise, and of course I missed it.

Worse, really, was reading the minutes, and finding that there were Very Major business issues on the table, and little or no discussion of the Summerfest. And the appointment of an entire new leadership team, with no advance notice, or chance to voice any opinions on such appointments is also unprecedented in the 5 or 6 years that I have been involved with the GA.

Sadly, I doubt there is a set of written 'Bylaws', but there is a long history of precedent that was completely ignored. I don't think we are really talking so much about 'legality' here, as we are about a complete disregard for the 40 or more region owners, all of whom have a very large stake in the GA. But it was pretty clear from reading the minutes, that the new team is not interested in any feedback, or what the owners might really want. I fully expect them to fire the entire Membership committee, and establish totally new guidelines that will allow virtually any merchant or club anywhere on the grid to join the GA, which goes against all of the history of requiring only full region owners to join (or people renting full regions).

Without that requirement, there is no incentive for those merchants or clubs to rent land from the many owners already in the GA who like myself depend on renting land to make ends meet. Seeing that, I realized that I may as well just leave. 

There was one perk involved, I hear that I have been branded a Bitchy Old Queen award (not said to my face of course, but behind my back). That kind of behavior is another reason to just walk away. I have enough drama in RL, do not need any bitch fights in SL. I would, however, be more than happy to state my case, as I have here, or to answer any charges the new team may have the guts to present to me. 

Best regards, and thanks again for watching this,
Myles Capalini

---

The first sentence in the email regards a problem commenting on the blog. If anyone else should have a similar issue commenting please send me an email instead at lundamats@gmail.com

I would like to thank Myles for sharing his thoughts and sentiments on this issue with us, and especially for clarifying the question regarding the "suddenness" of the meeting.

It now seems there was a date set, but no time was announced until very late Saturday night for Sunday morning (eight hours or less before the meeting). Although there was no agenda for the meeting the proposed topic for it was the upcoming GA SummerFest not any major issues like a new leadership team. 

Weylin Vale: "Unsubstantiated Gossip"

Today the GA WeBlog posted this statement by Weylin Vale, which is the first public reaction by the new GA Lead team on the events that have unfolded over the last few days.

"Good Day GA

Board Appointments and Estate Resignations.

On taking over the role of Lead I was informed by a previous lead and elder of the GA community that I should now put together my administration, there are no By-Laws to govern how this is done so as with my real world committees, appointments have been made purely on merit and suitability for the roles. Careful consideration was given to each role based upon experience, longevity in SL and trust.

Second Life in many ways is a small community and, as with all communities, personal disputes can arise and still cause difficulties years later. In this case, a past dispute, caused a member to decide to remove his estate from the GA. Another couple of members with close links to that estate decided to also leave the organization.

It is important to understand that these members were not asked or compelled to leave. They simply made a decision to leave the GA because they did not support the much needed changes. Changes that were urgently required to invigorate the GA, return it to its core mission and to prevent the loss of 12 member estates in the short term and, possibly, many more in the year ahead.

I am not going to name names or dwell on what has happened, neither will I fuel blog posts that are basically just unsubstantiated gossip based on the personal biases of one or two others. I am here to perform a job, as are those I have made a part of the administration team, part of that job is to work on producing Summerfest 2015, something that is fast approaching and also to future proofing the GA as we move forward.

Part of this has been to work on a new web presence and secure the domain name for the Gay Archipelago, this will include an interactive calendar to help member estates promote events. Also the GA’s promise to member estates is to be a community that promotes estates and raises traffic, something we need to do better, with a dedicated membership Director and admissions team I believe we can achieve better results.

More Festival Events.

With a permanent festival team and Director we are looking to move to seasonal quarterly festivals with the addition of the Autumn Hunt (showcasing all estates and merchants) culminating in a Halloween Party that will cross all the time zones. A spring equinox festival is also on the planning board.

So please rest assured, our mission statement has not changed, we are just putting weight behind our promises, the GA board along with the Treasury will be run transparently and I along with all the members of the team are here to answer any of our member estate owners questions (and dispel any myths). All major changes will continue to be presented at the estate owners meetings for approval and comment.

Together we are the GA community

Weylin-Vale

GA Lead"

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I am of course mortified (Not so much, no!) to be referred to as publishing "blog posts that are basically just unsubstantiated gossip based on the personal biases of one or two others", but would like to state that what some people call "unsubstantiated gossip based on the personal biases of one or two others", others call information from multiple usually well informed and independent sources.

It is true, I did report factually incorrect information concerning the GA Leads call to the meeting. This misinformation has been corrected.

It is worth noticing that the GA Lead in his statement stresses that "All major changes will continue to be presented at the estate owners meetings for approval and comment.". In hindsight, it would perhaps have been better if this had also applied to the composition of the new GA Lead team.

Later today, or perhaps tomorrow, I plan on publishing what information I have obtained concerning sim-owners/regions/estates that have already left or are leaving the Gay Archipelago.

Re: Coup Or Not In the GA? (Edit: 2015-07-15) (Update: 2015-07-16)

Today I received a note card from my friend Chade Dagger, the newly appointed Treasurer of the Gay Archipelago, partly rebutting correcting the information in my previous post Bock in SecondLife: Has There Been A Coup In the Gay Archipelago?.

*****

Hi Bock, I have read your blog post and I will be speaking to you when you are ready as a representative of the GA governance team. But first allow me to correct one item on your post. :)

You write:
"According to information from several well informed sources Weylin Vale, the current Lead of GA, announced a meeting on Saturday at 11 PM SLT set to take place only eight hours later on Sunday at 7 AM SLT."

The meeting was announced considerably earlier than that. Because that group generates so many notices and SL only keeps so many I will have to dig out the first announcement, but below I give you the text of rescheduling when Wey remembered the 4th of July in the US (being Australians that celebration is not top of mind for us).

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UPCOMING GA MEETING SUNDAY 5TH JULY POSTPONED
Due to the 4th of July Holiday and having received several messages from Estate owners and potential Summerfest participants, we shall be rescheduling to Sunday the 12th July (time to be announced shortly)

As this is the main Summerfest meeting, we shall be holding an open meeting after we have conducted the member business. This will be our season launch for those interested in sponsoring, volunteering, performing and to showcase this years theme.

Many Thanks

-----

That was posted on the 4th of July so clearly your "well informed" sources are making stuff up to suit their political agenda.

Cheers,
Chade

*****
(Edit 2015-07-15) My sincere apologies to everyone concerned for having published incorrect information and my thanks to Chade for supplying me with this correction.

I have today offered Chade and the new Lead team the opportunity to address the information given in my post on the condition that they also address the issue of whether or not it was within the bylaws (if any exist) or in the traditional practices of the GA for the Lead to appoint members to the Lead positions without being vetted by, approved by, voted upon or being elected by the Owners Group.

I will of course also offer the opposition the same opportunity.

Both parties will be given one post each to make their statements.

Update: Myles Capalini On "Suddenness" & More, where you will find that the date of the meeting was announced early, but the time of the meeting was not announced until eight hours (or less) before the meeting.

Has There Been A Coup In the Gay Archipelago? (Corrected 2015-07-15) (Updated 2015-07-16)

The Gay Archipelago (GA) is an association of landowners of multiple diverse LGBT/LGBT-friendly sims in SecondLife. They conduct Archipelago-wide events, and welcome LGBT newcomers into SecondLife.

"G Dragon Coup d'etat" by Sui-Kunoichi

The GA is governed by The Owners Group, which consists of the sim owners themselves or their appointed representatives.

Hitherto - i.e. until yesterday - the leaders of the governing body (the GA Lead, the Vice Lead and the PR Lead) have historically always been vetted by and voted upon by the The Owners Group.

According to information from several well informed sources Weylin Vale, the current Lead of GA, announced a meeting on Saturday at 11 PM SLT set to take place only eight hours later on Sunday at 7 AM SLT. (Correction 2015-07-15: This information was incorrect, please see the my later post  Bock in SecondLife; Re:Coup Or Not In the GA?. My sincere apologies to all involved and to my readers.) Update 2015-07-16: Myles Capalini On "Suddenness" & More, where you will find that the date of the meeting was announced early, but not the time.

The purpose of the meeting was purportedly about the upcoming GA SummerFest 2015.

At the meeting yesterday Weylin Vale unexpectedly announced to the owners group that he had appointed the following positions
Vice Lead - Dextrum Boucher

PR Lead - Rico Bluestar,

Treasurer - Chade Dagger,

IT Director - Hiro Dagger-Clemenceau,

Membership Director - To Be Announced and

2015 Festival Director - Caeru Dubrovna.

---

As I understand it, this sudden and unexpected deviation from previous procedure by the GA Lead has raised concerns among many sim owners in the GA on the future direction of the organization and whether or not they wish to remain a part of it. 

I will try to keep you updated on further developments as they unfold.

Random Thoughts

"Hands-To-Hold" by Tomais Ashdene

I started my four week long, glorious and wonderful vacation at 12.00 PM local time today. Well I didn't get away from work until a bit later, but who cares. It's going to be wonderful, just to relax and recuperate and enjoy my two lives. I am also going to try to use this opportunity to get back into a proper blogger mode, I have been slacking in my happiness of being married to Tomais.

The vacation was planned to coincide with the celebration of Second Pride Festival, which starts on Friday, because I so want to enjoy the festivities this year. The board of Second Pride made it despite all the many obstacles we have had along the way. I must confess that there were times I actually didn't believe we would have a festival.

The opening of the festival also coincides with the Swedish celebration of Midsummer. On Midsummer's Eve tomorrow I am taking my old parents to one of my nieces homes to meet the rest of the immediate family to celebrate in the traditional manner, loads of pickled herring, fresh strawberries and snaps. It will be great for them to get out of the house and meet their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The other day, I was upset when i learned that a ghoul from the past has showed it's ugly head again. One would think that almost a full year would be enough to get over losing an election and move on with ones life, especially since the ghoul himself once told me personally "that he really didn't have time for all this with his important first life studies and the rest of his busy life". But nonetheless, here he is back spewing his ugliness and viciousness on the Internet again. I have decided I do not wish to waste time or energy on him and his small army of supporters anymore.

I have been thinking about the two largest gay organisations in SecondLife, Second Pride and the Gay Archipelago. Mostly I have been wondering about the strange armed peace there seems to be between them. I know the history of course, but so many years have passed by now that there really should be openings for some mutual support and collaboration. I have noted and welcomed the news that Gay Gor, which is a part of the Gay Archipelago, will participate in the festival again this year. (It will be so fun to see them in action again! I really loved it at the last festival.) I have also noted that Petr made a peace gesture by attending the send-off party for Garth Raleigh, the former lead of Gay Archipelago. Other than that I haven't seen any tangible progress in the dealings between the organisations.

"The Dark Knight" by Tomais Ashdene

Yesterday I learned that that The Dark Knight (a.k.a. Batman for those of you who aren't well-versed in Superheroes) has actually had two Robins? The first one left to become "Nightwind" (never heard off) and was replaced by another young man. (Today I was told that there have actually been s-e-v-e-r-a-l Robins, oh my!) That's what you learn from being married to a man like my hubby. That man makes me so happy and calm and safe. Who would have thought that a year ago?

I don't like the fact that my doctor has sent me to get a CT scan to check on my pneumonia. Once the doctors start looking closely, who knows what absolutely unrelated things they may find with their high-tech instruments.

About the Gay Archipelago again, I was saddened to note not long ago that this venerable club of sim-owners seem to have drastically lowered the standards of whom to allow within their circle. The venerable club must believe it can control any damage that could be caused to their reputation from that recruitment by their meetings being completely secret and having none of their dealings exposed to public scrutiny. Let's hope they are not in for a surprise.

The Fishing Hole

"A sim-owner's work is never done!" (Old jungle saying)

There is always something that needs updating, repairing, landscaping, gardening or a general overhaul. Yesterday my Tomais had the brilliant idea that we should convert one of the many ponds at Southern Charm into a fishing hole.

Although fishing has never been a great interest of mine, I like the idea and view it as yet another place on the sim where we can sit and talk with friends or just the two of us. As always when Tomais is involved it turned out beautifully.

We are not going to put out fish in the hole and it will not be one of those fishing contest places either. The fishing poles are just to make you relax and look good while you are talking.