[Board] In the interests of accuracy.

[Tracy Worcester]

Okay, having triggered much speculation, allegation, and imputation by my
recent attempts to create a working set of bylaws for PenguiCon, I feel it
necessary to clarify a few things.

1.  Mission Statement.  Rambling Account of the Vision of the Founders.
Statement of Purpose.  Intended Goals.  Why Are We Here?  Pick the one which
is less emotionally triggery for you, and use that label, please.  I want,
for the sake of those few who will actually read such a thing, to write down
what I originally wanted this event to do, so if I'm not around and someone
asks, they don't have to get a second or third generation rehash of my
thoughts.  I was hoping Rob would also participate, since he helped co-found
the convention, but given that he has reacted to this like I handed him a
bag of poisonous snakes, I will take that as the equivalent of a polite no.

2.  Bylaws.  As I understand it, within the living memory of many people
involved in fandom in southeast Michigan, there was a lawsuit because one
portion of that fannish organization decided that they "owned" the
organization, and attempted to schism off with the name and most of the
money associated with the event.  I want to create a set of bylaws which
means that such a thing cannot easily happen to PenguiCon.

3.  Customary practices.  The reason why I wanted to discuss customary
practice along with bylaws was to thin down the list of what should be put
in the bylaws (to as little as possible), and what should be more in the
realm of "we've done this before; this worked, but this didn't" (number of
guests, when to invite them, etc.)  I don't *want* the department handbooks
even in the Board-level customary practice.  That's convention level; if the
Board ever needs to look at that level of granularity, we're screwed anyway.


4.  Nefarious Plan and Fell Intentions.  As has been broadly hinted by
several people, most notably Francine, I do indeed have a nefarious plan,
and fell intentions.  Those are:  *I want to resign from the Board*.  *I
want to go to conventions and have fun again.*  I can't, in good conscience,
do that, unless I have made sure the top-tier machinery is sound and
smoothly running.  Currently, it is neither sound nor smoothly running.  A
bylaw revision is necessary.  It is not a sign that I am trying to introduce
corporate rot into the heart of the convention.  It *is* a sign that I am
trying to make the organization so relentlessly volunteer, right to its
core, that it will be hard for anyone to steal its name and money for
corporate or personal purposes.

5.  Odds are very good that once I present the Board with a set of proposed
bylaws that I think is likely to preserve and protect this organization,
which I have sweated time, money, and brain cells to create, I will almost
certainly be offering my resignation to the Board, without waiting to see if
they are approved first.  I absolutely hate being witness to the level of
sniping and bickering that I've seen go on over the last several years.  I
hate even more being the primary, and sometimes only, person who attempts to
make peace between people who are in conflict.  I'm tired of it.  Let
someone who still has some energy do it.

6.   To expand on some of the previous point.  There is a solid, quiet core
of people helping run this convention who value social harmony and freedom
from interpersonal conflict to a very high degree.  I am one of them.  I
know conflict is necessary, but the degree of interpersonal sniping that has
been fairly chronic over the last few years has worn me about to the edge of
what I can take.  Additionally, there are people who are not volunteering
for PenguiCon because of it, and people working for the convention who have
been on the verge of resigning more than once over this very issue.

7.  If any of you want to make a case to me against leaving, feel free to
email me privately.  This will be a personal decision on my part; it is not
my intention to have the discussion in a public forum.

...Tracy
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