Staff Report 2002-02 Motion to increase web space maximum Preamble William Watt (ag384) has proposed a motion for the Board to submit to the AGM. The motion is operational and thus, by the procedures adopted in Dec 1996, the Board needs to decide whether to submit the motion to the AGM. The motion calls for an increase of the disk space limit per member from 1mb to 2mb. Discussion I agree with the intent of the motion, which is to increase NCF's membership. I have concerns about the some of the details of the motion including the rationale for putting it to the members for a vote. My concerns are outlined below. 1) This is an operational decision. Operational decisions should be made by staff, not by the Board or the AGM voters, because staff are hired to make such decisions using processes that have the best chance of being optimal. Staff should have access to all relevant information and are expected to explore alternatives before making a recommendation. The Board and voters may not have as much information, and a yes-no proposal excludes possibly better alternatives. 2) Accepting this motion would signal that it is the preferred process for operational issues is to go to the members first without consulting staff. It is my opinion that in a governance model the opposite is true. If the member is going to the members out of frustration or dissatisfaction with staff, then that issue (dissatisfaction) ought to be raised with the Board or members, not the operational issue. 3) There is funding in the SmartCapital budget for new servers for the Thin Client and Web Mail projects. I think it best to finalize the Smart Capital budget to determine the physical capacity of our servers and then make the decision on web space maximum. Additionally, we should examine other new or improved services to attract members, for example virtual domain hosting, dynamic script capabilities and database access. I am in the process of developing a marketing strategy in conjunction with inMedia and will be examining the effect of these and similar issues on our marketing plan. 4) The proposed limit may be non-optimal. The stated objective is to 'attract and retain members'. I believe that the 2mb limit may not be the best solution. Other ISP's such as Storm and Magma offer 5mb of space as the standard amount. Recommendation Based on the concerns stated above, I recommend not putting the motion to the members. Appendix The motion ======== > [Start] > Dear AGM secretary; > > We hereby submit the following motion for the 2002 NCF Annual General Meeting. > > moved by William Watt ag384 > seconded by Geoff Gigg di874 > > that the the maximum size of a member's webpage be doubled to 2 megabytes. > > Rationale: > The motion is intended to attract and retain members. > Members have been leaving to go elsewhere for bigger webpages. > These members are likely to be the ones most able to assist new members. > Potential members are likely put off by the small webpage size. The > NCF spent a lot of money for and has had a lot of problems with faster > modems to attract and retain members. Increasing webpage size will > attract and retain new members at no cost and with no problems. > In the past information providers used newsgroups. Now they use > webpages. Information providers tend to be strong supporters. > Members have been told the large number of inactive newsgroups with > undeleted articles are not a problem because there is plenty of > unused disk space on the system. > Since webpages are static there will not be a noticeable increase in > incremental streaming tape backups. > Since whole disk backups copy all the existing disk to tape there > will not be an increase in the scheduled backups. > This motion will show what level of support there is among the members > for increased webpage size. > [End] The Board procedure =============== > In December 1996, the Board adopted the following procedure regarding > 'motions from the floor': > > AGM Procedure for accepting motions from the floor > -------------------------------------------------- > > 1) Deadline for motions from the floor > 2) Motions appropriate for an AGM > a) Proper format of motions > b) What kind of motions are appropriate > c) How the board will proceed with these motions > > 1) Deadline for motions from the floor: > > Members who wish to raise motions at the Annual General Meeting > must present the fully-documented motions to the Board of Directors > at least seven(7) days before the Board meeting held the month > before the AGM at the absolute latest. > > (for example: If the AGM starts on February 24, all AGM motions > must be submitted to the Board seven days before the January board > meeting) > > Motions to be considered must be a) submitted to the secretary of the > Board for inclusion in the agenda and b) posted to the AGM newsgroup or > to the Board newsgroup if there is no AGM newsgroup. > > 2a) Proper format of motions > > All motions must have a mover and seconder, should be written out > precisely (eg. I move that x, y & z be the last three letters of the > english alphabet), and must be accompanied by all necessary supporting > information when it is submitted. > > > 2b) What kind of motions are appropriate > > Motions considered appropriate for an AGM include: > > -motions requiring the resignation of a member (requires 3/4 of votes) > -"" requiring the resignation of a director (requires 2/3 of votes) > -"" requiring the resignation of a member of the executive (2/3 of votes) > -"" to make amendments to the bylaws (requires 2/3 of votes) > -"" recommending rules and regulations to the board of directors > (requires a majority vote) > > 2c) How the board will proceed with these motions > > These motions fall into two overall categories; the motions to change they > way the National Capital FreeNet works, and the motions requesting > resignations. > > Motions in the first category (amendments to bylaws or rules and > regulations) will be discussed as Board business at the Board meeting one > month prior to the AGM. These motions will be voted on by the Board, > and if approved will be included in the AGM. > > Motions calling for resignations will be accepted for the AGM if one > current Board member in good standing is willing to officially second the > motion. If a Board member as described above is willing to be the seconder > (or mover) of such a motion, then these motions will not require a Board > vote to be included in the AGM.