2006 Election for HC Coordinator

[EDIT NOTE: This vote is being closed by the one winning 'vote' on the page, and the actual votes that were registered will be logged in the comments section. Thank you for your understanding. Jenn, AHC]
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Applicant Name: D. Scott Stewart
Applicant Email: ceann-feadhna@eotr.org
Applicant Home Chronicle: Hartford
Support From:

Background:

Support from:
Jenn Bahrs - AHC
Ian James - AHC
Capital Rage
L'Ange Noir
Tzimisce Coord
Archivist
Sabbat Coord
Lasombra Coord

Gaming for 20ish years.
LARPing for 10+ years.
ST of EotR for almost 8.5 consecutive years.
CM for EotR for 7ish years.
Head Coordinator of OWbN for the past 3 years.

Personal Statement:

First, I apologize if you emailed me for official backing and not listed. It's
been a crazy few weeks.

Wow, another year come and gone.

I'm not sure what stars aligned to make it thus, but this past year has been
more active than I anticipated it being. Opening with controversy and coming to
a close in controversy. OWbN has always taken its strength in our diversity of
ideas tempered with a common vision. Through each challenge we have been
willing to listen to each other even when ideas differ drastically from our own.
I can't recall a single issue we had where at least something positive didn't
come out of it in the end. But then, I'm generally a positive kind of guy.

Last year, I commented that I wouldn't be surprised if the pendulum of
"chronicle oversight" vs "network authority" started to swing back towards the
chronicle side of the arc and look at where we are now? We're re-examining how
we want the Coordinators and Council to interact with individual chronicles. My
advice at this time is that we not allow it to swing too far out. Revolution
should be tempered with moderation, else we re-create all the issues that
brought us to the place we are today. As I said last year - balance is the key.

I made a promise last year to be more active on the lists. I think I've kept
that promise. Luckily, we also had a great team in the AHCs who were always
willing to jump in. All-in-all, I think the coordinators as a whole were more
vocal this year and I think that's lead to greater understanding. I don't think
they get enough thanks and both Ian and Jenn have done amazing jobs this year -
as have the other admin and genre coordinators. Let's not forget all the hard
work of all the genre and admin cords as well!

Over the course of this year, I have had the opportunity to work one-on-one with
many of you. During each request I have attempted to keep to the bylaws, by
word when able - in spirit when the text was unclear. I have always been honest
and forthright when asked my opinion and while issues may not have been resolved
as quickly, or you may not have received an answer you wanted to hear, the exec
team has remained diligent.

My goal for the coming year is to continue helping members mediate issues and
guide the network to where it says it wants to go. The things that make my day
are being able to help chronicles when they're not sure how to get something
done. I do think we need to have some talks about how the bylaws work, because
the more we understand how the network functions the better off we are. While
we are stronger because of our diversity, every person who has accepted a
position of leadership in this group must have an understanding of how the
system works, not how they think it works, in order to be successful.

We do need to work on the appropriateness of bringing things that happen on
restricted lists to outside sources. There are many times when sensitive issues
brought to Council never reach a point that will impact the network. Discussion
of these items before we, ourselves, have had adequate time to examine their
implications almost always leads to what's now known as "drama-llama". I'm not
going to sit here in fantasy-land believing that things won't get leaked, but we
all need to take personal responsibility and ask ourselves what outcome we are
attempting to bring about when sharing information that isn't meant for general
consumption. I'm not saying that we should never share what is going on with
our chronicles. What I'm asking for is temperance. Use common sense in
deciding on what information to share with whom. Being a CM is hard. Sometimes
that means you have to keep secrets. The executive team has to keep much more
information than a CM sees under confidence. I know exactly how hard it is, but
it is possible.

On to some administrative-type stuff:

I mention Requiem every year, but I think that for now OWbN has made its choice.
There hasn't been significant conversation on transitioning to Requiem in the
past 2 years. Unless the network takes deliberate action to revisit the idea, I
would consider this a tabled subject.

We will have to look at our finances once elections are over. LeAmber and I
have talked a few times over the year and we both feel that at least another
reduction in dues is in order. I don't want to flat out remove them yet, but
with the influx of new chronicles in addition to our outstanding balance, we
don't need to be requesting as much from our membership to support our online
presence.

Andrew Sayman has agreed to recode all of our applications for us. I've been in
process of getting the server ready for him to go to town. I expect him to be
able to start by the end of October. I can't say how long the total development
time will take, but I know he's already starting coding. I'm very excited about
having a new system with some of the enhancements we've been talking about for
years, such as the ever-elusive "auto close" of votes. In addition, there's
some "fall cleaning" that needs to be done on the site and provided the world
doesn't come crashing down that, too, will be done around November.

One World by Night continues to grow and the fact that we are still gaining new
members, with no sign of abatement, is a testament to our reputation and our
commitment to keeping the network an example of quality gaming and what a
network should be.

In closing, I've recently been accused of everything from "hushing" things up,
to outright perjury. I'm confident that my record and behavior on Council over
the past 8+ years (no, I haven't been HC that long) show otherwise and that my
efforts, both here in public and behind the scenes with many of you
independently, will show that I am committed to helping all of OWbN maintain and
improve upon it's standards of excellence.

Please contact me or post to the Council, ST, or OWbN-OOC lists with any
questions you have. I'll do my best to answer them all.

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Applicant Name: Bill Smith
Applicant Email: j8coblack_owbn@yahoo.com
Applicant Home Chronicle: Kings
Support From:

Background:

Support From:
Kings of New York
Westchester by Night
Vitae Aeternus
Lords of New England
Carpe Noctum
Dying Embers

Not a lot of you will know me, since this is the first
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