Motion to disband?

damien

Originally posted by oscarBravo
Of the (at my last count) 77 people who voted that the organisation should continue, the really telling figure will be just how many show up at the EGM, and how many will be prepared to put in the work required to achieve results.

You're dead right. I bitched and moaned enough on this forum and yesterday I put my money where my gob was and stepped forward. As did the rest of the interm committee.

But even say 8 passionate enthusiastic people on the committee will still result in failure for what we all want. We need the people who post here and keep saying they want changes, we want these people to come forward and commit. Commit to coming to the EGM and commit to giving time every week to help IOFFL. Only then can we make an impact.

Yoda

Some things to be said about the Chairman's motion to disband. It was a long time coming, his decision to make that recommendation, and it didn't come easily. But it did come as a result of a year of extremely hard work, most of which was frustrated by the fact that Government simply doesn't want to listen. (It should be noted that the letter to the membership was written in the first person singular, not the first person plural, and simply informed the membership that the Chairman was going to make a motion to the AGM and the reasons why. This is not, as DeRebel suggested, ultra vires. But let us not get bogged down with that, or in the question of its original timing. Today is today.)

Government ignored IOFFL's submission on the USO. Government took the Group Data Scheme idea and turned it into the chimera of the Group Broadband Scheme, which is unlikely to be able to do what it says on the tin. That is why the Group Data Scheme Society is being formed: because Ireland cannot wait for Government to realize that it's scheme isn't anywhere near as sound as the original. Rural communities don't need Government to get them broadband. They can get it themselves.

I saw a number of posts of protest from people who can't get broadband in their area from Eircom. Well, as far as I can see, the only thing IOFFL could do to try to get all those exchanges enabled and all of that is to lobby to get the Government to force Eircom to spend bezillions on laying new copper or cable or fiber, in all of those places where the infrastructure is so poor now anyway because they're marginal to Eircom's profits. That doesn't make sense to me, because wireless technology is better, and will remain better and more innovative in the future. And the GDSS cooperative will enable people to do it themselves. It will surely snowball, and Ireland will become wireless. Before the rest of Europe.

I can see that there was sense in the AGM not deciding to take summary action to disband. An eventual disbandment should be crafted carefully, should first outline IOFFL's successes, and then its failures, and the reasons for them. (Which seem to be "Government stopped listening and relying on IOFFL's expertise".) So now you've got a new interim committee. I don't envy them the frustration they will be in for if they decide to go forward after the EGM.

I guess in the interim period their task will be to outline an agenda of coherent, actionable, achievable goals (it should be a short list – a realistic one, not an idealistic one). They will also want to look at their actual resources in terms of numbers of volunteers whom they can expect to actually follow through, the amount of time they can take off work to attend meetings and press releases and go on the radio and wordsmith position documents and draft responses to consultation documents. And so on.

Good luck to them, if they find that they have achievable goals and the resources to fight for them.

I think IOFFL has done a superb job. It achieved FRIACO, and that introduced Broadband to a great many people who can use the existing infrastructure. For those who can't, they should circumvent it and build their own. GDSS arose from IOFFL. That will be counted as another of IOFFL's successes, I am sure.

damien

*bump*

So, did the new IrelandOffline meet expectations?

SkepticOne

damien.m wrote:

So, did the new IrelandOffline meet expectations?

My expectations were met.

The Real B-man

Must have all got broadband and are now ****ing off

byte

Yup, I'd say so. I think you guys have done a lot and proved there is still a need for IOffL, and will be for time to come.

oscarBravo

The Real B-man wrote:

Must have all got broadband and are now ****ing off

Who??

cgarvey

Closed .. of course you're welcome to bring the motion to disband to the AGM, but this was an old thread.. We can reflect on the last year's performance in a new thread, if needs be.