Quick Nonprofit Update November 8, 2024 12:20 PM Subscribe
As of November 1, 2024 (it took some time for the notice to arrive), the Metafilter Community Foundation exists as an officially registered Delaware nonprofit non-stock corporation.
What this means:
1. We can now get an EIN, apply for a bank account, and apply to the IRS for not-for-profit designation.
2. The interim board of directors can get to work. We will have to adopt bylaws, approve (with community input) a policy and procedures manual, obtain insurance, and transfer the existing LLC and its assets into the new entity, among many other tasks.
We have a lot of work ahead.
Many people have expressed concern about this process, how long it's taking, and the future of the site. We share these concerns, which is why we've been donating so much of our time to this task. It will soon be time for members of our community to run for the Board of Directors, choose officers, join committees, and generally start doing all of the "community" things people have been calling for over the years. Think you know how to improve Metafilter? Now's the time to prove it.
Friends, this is a long way from being over, but I believe that our community's best days are ahead of it. I expect that many people are going to be seeking internet communities in the coming months where civility and thoughtful discussion are still the norm, rather than the exception. If ever there were a time to do more outreach for new members and promote our site and what it can do, what it might yet be, this is it. If there's any silver lining to the current tumult in the world, it's that it gives us even more impetus to band together, talk to each other, and over-analyze those plates of beans. Now, let's get organized!
What this means:
1. We can now get an EIN, apply for a bank account, and apply to the IRS for not-for-profit designation.
2. The interim board of directors can get to work. We will have to adopt bylaws, approve (with community input) a policy and procedures manual, obtain insurance, and transfer the existing LLC and its assets into the new entity, among many other tasks.
We have a lot of work ahead.
Many people have expressed concern about this process, how long it's taking, and the future of the site. We share these concerns, which is why we've been donating so much of our time to this task. It will soon be time for members of our community to run for the Board of Directors, choose officers, join committees, and generally start doing all of the "community" things people have been calling for over the years. Think you know how to improve Metafilter? Now's the time to prove it.
Friends, this is a long way from being over, but I believe that our community's best days are ahead of it. I expect that many people are going to be seeking internet communities in the coming months where civility and thoughtful discussion are still the norm, rather than the exception. If ever there were a time to do more outreach for new members and promote our site and what it can do, what it might yet be, this is it. If there's any silver lining to the current tumult in the world, it's that it gives us even more impetus to band together, talk to each other, and over-analyze those plates of beans. Now, let's get organized!
Woo! Congratulations! And well done.
Are there specific projects that you are seeking help with yet or committees you are forming? No rush, just wondering.
posted by warriorqueen at 1:30 PM on November 8
Are there specific projects that you are seeking help with yet or committees you are forming? No rush, just wondering.
posted by warriorqueen at 1:30 PM on November 8
This is excellent. Thanks to all of you for making this happen.
posted by mochapickle at 1:38 PM on November 8
posted by mochapickle at 1:38 PM on November 8
I just want to tell you all good luck. We're all counting on you.
posted by grouse at 1:46 PM on November 8 [11 favorites]
posted by grouse at 1:46 PM on November 8 [11 favorites]
Excellent, thank you!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:52 PM on November 8
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:52 PM on November 8
Are there specific projects that you are seeking help with yet or committees you are forming?
The top priority right now is finalizing a closing checklist so we make sure there are no disruptions to the site or to staff during the transition.
Second, we need to finalize the policies and procedures manual. Dale is working on this but if someone has experience with corporate governance their input could be useful.
The interim board is only meant to act in a caretaker capacity until a permanent board is stood up. Anyone interested in helping with elections, or who wants to run for the board, should reach out.
The committees themselves will be established by the permanent board except where the interim board absolutely needs to get rolling immediately. Finance / fundraising, external partnerships, and membership are key areas where an immediate start may be required. Anyone interested in helping to get committees off the ground, please contact me.
The incoming permanent board will need help with marketing, outreach, and promotion - we want to GROW the site, not allow it to fade away. Anyone with experience in these fields, or who thinks they can help Metafilter grow and find new audiences, please reach out.
We are all busy people, so please be reasonable with your expectations about response times, etc. If you contact me and I don't respond in a few days, please try again, and don't assume I'm ignoring you - promise, I'm not.
posted by 1adam12 at 2:11 PM on November 8 [12 favorites]
The top priority right now is finalizing a closing checklist so we make sure there are no disruptions to the site or to staff during the transition.
Second, we need to finalize the policies and procedures manual. Dale is working on this but if someone has experience with corporate governance their input could be useful.
The interim board is only meant to act in a caretaker capacity until a permanent board is stood up. Anyone interested in helping with elections, or who wants to run for the board, should reach out.
The committees themselves will be established by the permanent board except where the interim board absolutely needs to get rolling immediately. Finance / fundraising, external partnerships, and membership are key areas where an immediate start may be required. Anyone interested in helping to get committees off the ground, please contact me.
The incoming permanent board will need help with marketing, outreach, and promotion - we want to GROW the site, not allow it to fade away. Anyone with experience in these fields, or who thinks they can help Metafilter grow and find new audiences, please reach out.
We are all busy people, so please be reasonable with your expectations about response times, etc. If you contact me and I don't respond in a few days, please try again, and don't assume I'm ignoring you - promise, I'm not.
posted by 1adam12 at 2:11 PM on November 8 [12 favorites]
Well done, thanks for the update!
posted by knobknosher at 4:28 PM on November 8
posted by knobknosher at 4:28 PM on November 8
Thanks for the update!
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:33 PM on November 8
posted by gentlyepigrams at 4:33 PM on November 8
Woohoo! Amazing work, everyone! Thank you for shepherding our community into its next phase!
posted by hydropsyche at 5:09 PM on November 8
posted by hydropsyche at 5:09 PM on November 8
what if members want the staff to be disrupted?
posted by glonous keming at 5:12 PM on November 8 [4 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 5:12 PM on November 8 [4 favorites]
Excellent, this is great news. Thanks for all your hard work.
posted by rpfields at 7:06 PM on November 8
posted by rpfields at 7:06 PM on November 8
Great to hear, thank you to everyone who has worked on this!
posted by atoxyl at 8:32 PM on November 8
posted by atoxyl at 8:32 PM on November 8
So we're gonna run metafilter via committee.
ok.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:57 PM on November 8
ok.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:57 PM on November 8
You prefer dictator or fiat? Committees with enough trust to move quickly and transparently are effective long term. We spent a while figuring out what guardrails to put in to prevent a very active minority rules-lawyering in bad faith and what decisions needed active broad support vs what needed faster decision making for practical reasons, plus room to change those guidelines in the future.
I am being mildly snarky but this was hard because most non profits don’t do community involved and instead rely on a small leadership group. The ones that involve community deeply tend to either be not legally registered for that reason (community organiser type organic collective action) or to be much bigger in scale and have a lot of resources and structure we simply don’t have. So we had to work through a lot of questions and concerns to come up with what was legal, practical and based on community.
As pointed out, setting up a non profit is pretty simple. Doing it in a way that will last in a community with the plate of beans ethos is a whooole different task.
And y’all sure we could’ve done it faster but I have about 3-4 hours spare in a week on top of a full time job, kids, constantly falling sick and just - please stop guilting us (and the staff!) for not burning ourselves out being perfect and fast.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:44 PM on November 8 [46 favorites]
I am being mildly snarky but this was hard because most non profits don’t do community involved and instead rely on a small leadership group. The ones that involve community deeply tend to either be not legally registered for that reason (community organiser type organic collective action) or to be much bigger in scale and have a lot of resources and structure we simply don’t have. So we had to work through a lot of questions and concerns to come up with what was legal, practical and based on community.
As pointed out, setting up a non profit is pretty simple. Doing it in a way that will last in a community with the plate of beans ethos is a whooole different task.
And y’all sure we could’ve done it faster but I have about 3-4 hours spare in a week on top of a full time job, kids, constantly falling sick and just - please stop guilting us (and the staff!) for not burning ourselves out being perfect and fast.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:44 PM on November 8 [46 favorites]
Thank you, all of you who have seen to this.
I hope the next steps are not exciting.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:50 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
I hope the next steps are not exciting.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:50 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]
922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a: So we're gonna run metafilter via committee.
You say that as if it's a bad thing.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:55 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
You say that as if it's a bad thing.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:55 AM on November 9 [3 favorites]
And y’all sure we could’ve done it faster but I have about 3-4 hours spare in a week on top of a full time job, kids, constantly falling sick and just - please stop guilting us (and the staff!) for not burning ourselves out being perfect and fast.
Hey thanks for sharing some of the governance considerations.
I would like to say, as someone who has expressed some concern about “will we make it?” — asking about timelines hopefully is not the same as guilting. It’s really great to see and hear about the work and the challenges. I think (and I remember this from other things) that when work is progressing on the side, so to speak, it’s easy to forget people not involved don’t have visibility into that. And of course from the other end, it’s hard to have insight into the challenges. I think there will always be some tension there.
I do wonder if the more permanent board would consider sharing agendas (or partial agendas) for meetings. Faster than minutes but gives a spot where people can check in.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:09 AM on November 9 [14 favorites]
Hey thanks for sharing some of the governance considerations.
I would like to say, as someone who has expressed some concern about “will we make it?” — asking about timelines hopefully is not the same as guilting. It’s really great to see and hear about the work and the challenges. I think (and I remember this from other things) that when work is progressing on the side, so to speak, it’s easy to forget people not involved don’t have visibility into that. And of course from the other end, it’s hard to have insight into the challenges. I think there will always be some tension there.
I do wonder if the more permanent board would consider sharing agendas (or partial agendas) for meetings. Faster than minutes but gives a spot where people can check in.
posted by warriorqueen at 4:09 AM on November 9 [14 favorites]
what if members want the staff to be disrupted?
Then run for or elect a board that wants to do that.
posted by 1adam12 at 5:41 AM on November 9 [11 favorites]
Then run for or elect a board that wants to do that.
posted by 1adam12 at 5:41 AM on November 9 [11 favorites]
Great news! Thanks for your time and effort to make this happen.
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:23 AM on November 9
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:23 AM on November 9
Great work! Thanks!
posted by TheophileEscargot at 6:48 AM on November 9
posted by TheophileEscargot at 6:48 AM on November 9
So we're gonna run metafilter via committee.
I thought of orchestrating a constitutional coup and installing myself as dictator, but I refused to vote for me, so that was out.
posted by 1adam12 at 8:57 AM on November 9 [19 favorites]
I thought of orchestrating a constitutional coup and installing myself as dictator, but I refused to vote for me, so that was out.
posted by 1adam12 at 8:57 AM on November 9 [19 favorites]
Congratulations, and thanks for doing all this work on our behalf.
posted by eirias at 3:36 AM on November 10 [3 favorites]
posted by eirias at 3:36 AM on November 10 [3 favorites]
This is such a milestone! Congratulations to the interim board and everyone who made it happen.
posted by wnissen at 1:47 PM on November 11
posted by wnissen at 1:47 PM on November 11
Congratulations! Let us know when we need to update our recurring donations.
posted by mightshould at 3:02 PM on November 12
posted by mightshould at 3:02 PM on November 12
From the outgoing regime there was a recent initiative to rebuild the whole dang website. How has that been going? Maybe it can be slowed down or paused while the new governance model gets its feet under itself?
posted by Kwine at 8:23 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
posted by Kwine at 8:23 AM on November 13 [1 favorite]
The last updates about the site rebuild I'm aware of were:
September 18th update:
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:23 AM on November 13 [8 favorites]
September 18th update:
Early access to the new site has been delayed in order to include more complete features and actions that users can test and kirkaracha and I are expecting to make it available by Sunday, September 29.October 16th update:
Early access to the new site is delayed due to some issues with the new host service. kirkaracha is working as we speak to fix it and we hope to have it ready later this week.October 30th comment:
For full context, those DNS issues were resolved and then others popped, kirkaracha has been tackling them and monitoring them. As soon as we are certain we are good to go we’ll share access to the new site for testing.Hopefully loup will spring into action soon, possibly after they've finished the Pet Tax Wall which they've been working on since August, and maybe after posting the February BIPOC committee minutes.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:23 AM on November 13 [8 favorites]
You mean the pet wall tax that was ready on Nov 1 other than signing up with a shipper? Could be months.
posted by bowmaniac at 11:39 AM on November 13 [3 favorites]
posted by bowmaniac at 11:39 AM on November 13 [3 favorites]
A genuine question: What do you (the authors of the last two posts, but others in other threads too) hope to actually achieve by pointing out the missed deadlines in a mocking tone? Are you just trying to make loup et al feel bad?
I agree, missed deadlines suck. Having missed some myself over the years, I can also say that it feels bad to do it. If you already feel bad about something, and then a chorus of people start deliberately mocking you for it? Man, that really sucks. I have to say, I would be pretty ashamed to treat someone that way.
If you have a specific outcome in mind other than making people feel bad, then I suggest you reconsider your approach.
posted by dbx at 1:11 PM on November 13 [10 favorites]
I agree, missed deadlines suck. Having missed some myself over the years, I can also say that it feels bad to do it. If you already feel bad about something, and then a chorus of people start deliberately mocking you for it? Man, that really sucks. I have to say, I would be pretty ashamed to treat someone that way.
If you have a specific outcome in mind other than making people feel bad, then I suggest you reconsider your approach.
posted by dbx at 1:11 PM on November 13 [10 favorites]
when they've taken [our ability to have meaningful interactions with or post criticisms of the mods], we shall fight them with [snarky reminders that they have a continuous problem with making promises they're unable to keep]
posted by sagc at 1:23 PM on November 13 [3 favorites]
posted by sagc at 1:23 PM on November 13 [3 favorites]
More seriously, the outcome people have in mind, I imagine, is that loup and the other mods make these criticisms and snark moot by just doing what they've said they'll do, when they've said they'll do it.
A secondary outcome might be reminding the mods of those promises, since there's no way to publicly track them.
A tertiary outcome, and one that I value, is that it reminds users that they're not losing their minds - despite thread closures, deletions, and some very wordy excuses, the mods have made public statements they're not living up to. It might also remind the nonprofit of just what they're taking on, which can't hurt.
At some point, one can see why people would get tired of 'gentle reminders', and be reduced to a sort of awe at how things like printing the pet tax wall just vanish.
posted by sagc at 1:24 PM on November 13 [8 favorites]
A secondary outcome might be reminding the mods of those promises, since there's no way to publicly track them.
A tertiary outcome, and one that I value, is that it reminds users that they're not losing their minds - despite thread closures, deletions, and some very wordy excuses, the mods have made public statements they're not living up to. It might also remind the nonprofit of just what they're taking on, which can't hurt.
At some point, one can see why people would get tired of 'gentle reminders', and be reduced to a sort of awe at how things like printing the pet tax wall just vanish.
posted by sagc at 1:24 PM on November 13 [8 favorites]
The site is dying, the site needs donations to operate, the person responsible for the fundraiser has dropped the ball hard for the second year in a row, the only person that can seemingly do something about that isn't stepping up, and this is far from the only example of balls being dropped.
It probably sucks to be on the receiving end of this criticism. It really sucks watching a site that I've loved for almost twenty years go out like this at the hands of someone that can't be assed to post an estimated total for a fundraiser once a week.
posted by Diskeater at 1:45 PM on November 13 [11 favorites]
It probably sucks to be on the receiving end of this criticism. It really sucks watching a site that I've loved for almost twenty years go out like this at the hands of someone that can't be assed to post an estimated total for a fundraiser once a week.
posted by Diskeater at 1:45 PM on November 13 [11 favorites]
I agree with both of you. I'm also saying being cruel to someone else isn't the solution, and doesn't make anything better. If the goal is anything other than hurting others (e.g. memorializing missed deadlines, prompting action / response, etc.), then the method is a bad one. And if the goal is hurting others, then the goal is a bad one. I wish that didn't need saying.
posted by dbx at 2:12 PM on November 13 [10 favorites]
posted by dbx at 2:12 PM on November 13 [10 favorites]
I interpret the snark as mocking the Metafilter house style of bubblewrapping harshness in order to not get a comment deleted ("Gently, you're wrong and your entire family hates you. With respect.")
Some of the staff communication reads like it's straight out of a corporate HR handbook so there's maybe a little "you get what you give" there too.
posted by Diskeater at 2:29 PM on November 13 [2 favorites]
Some of the staff communication reads like it's straight out of a corporate HR handbook so there's maybe a little "you get what you give" there too.
posted by Diskeater at 2:29 PM on November 13 [2 favorites]
A genuine question: What do you (the authors of the last two posts, but others in other threads too) hope to actually achieve by pointing out the missed deadlines in a mocking tone? Are you just trying to make loup et al feel bad?
What I would genuinely like most is for loup to start doing their job effectively. Post the BIPOC committee minutes. Publish the Pet Tax Wall.
But this has been dragging on for years. It seems unlikely that loup is going to change spontaneously.
It might be that they just need structure. Metafilter seems to be chaotically managed. I suspect that loup doesn't have an official list of job responsibilities, or a TODO list (or JIRA board) that keeps track of their current tasks. (Even in anarchist co-ops with no hierarchy and collective decision making, there are still defined lists of what work is to be done and by whom). Loup might just be someone who needs structure to work effectively. If the workload is too much, it's already been suggested to hire an outsider to do the work loup doesn't have time to handle.
But ultimately, if someone in an organisation doesn't do the required work for a long period, they need to be either assisted, managed better or replaced.
At the moment, it looks to me like Jessamyn is setting up the new nonprofit committee to be the bad guy who fires loup. That doesn't seem very fair on them. So I would like people to be aware of the mess that is going to be dumped into the new nonprofit's lap on day one.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:45 PM on November 13 [6 favorites]
What I would genuinely like most is for loup to start doing their job effectively. Post the BIPOC committee minutes. Publish the Pet Tax Wall.
But this has been dragging on for years. It seems unlikely that loup is going to change spontaneously.
It might be that they just need structure. Metafilter seems to be chaotically managed. I suspect that loup doesn't have an official list of job responsibilities, or a TODO list (or JIRA board) that keeps track of their current tasks. (Even in anarchist co-ops with no hierarchy and collective decision making, there are still defined lists of what work is to be done and by whom). Loup might just be someone who needs structure to work effectively. If the workload is too much, it's already been suggested to hire an outsider to do the work loup doesn't have time to handle.
But ultimately, if someone in an organisation doesn't do the required work for a long period, they need to be either assisted, managed better or replaced.
At the moment, it looks to me like Jessamyn is setting up the new nonprofit committee to be the bad guy who fires loup. That doesn't seem very fair on them. So I would like people to be aware of the mess that is going to be dumped into the new nonprofit's lap on day one.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 8:45 PM on November 13 [6 favorites]
Apologies for the delay, we tried different vendors and it took a while to sort this out but I wanted to let you know that we have now set up a new merch store and the Pet Tax Wall in there as well. You can check it out here. I'll make a separate Meta about this so everyone can see it.
Also, for the BIPOC Board meeting minutes, I wanted to let you know that approving them and posting them is beyond my control as I can only make recommendations to the Board but since our last meeting I'm working with the board to change the process around minute taking, review and approval so that it isn't so slow and time consuming.
posted by loup (staff) at 10:37 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
Also, for the BIPOC Board meeting minutes, I wanted to let you know that approving them and posting them is beyond my control as I can only make recommendations to the Board but since our last meeting I'm working with the board to change the process around minute taking, review and approval so that it isn't so slow and time consuming.
posted by loup (staff) at 10:37 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
I'll make a separate Meta about this so everyone can see it.
Oh. I don't think that would go well.
posted by phunniemee at 11:03 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
Oh. I don't think that would go well.
posted by phunniemee at 11:03 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
I've got to imagine the pet pictures come out awful small on the 6cm wide sticker the site seems to default to. Wasn't it supposed to be a poster?
posted by sagc at 11:19 AM on November 14
posted by sagc at 11:19 AM on November 14
Thanks very much loup! Have ordered the Pet Tax Wall now. If you click "View this design on 10 more products" there are other options than the sticker, including a poster.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:22 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 11:22 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
Yeah, the poster looks like the best format, but I do notice that the available size is "Extra Small (16.5 x 11 in)" -- is that a Redbubble limitation, or can that be increased? Gotta increase that PPI*!
*pooches per inch
posted by Rhaomi at 11:48 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
*pooches per inch
posted by Rhaomi at 11:48 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
what if members want the staff to be disrupted?
> Then run for or elect a board that wants to do that.
All kidding aside: I think this is a serious issue that will need to be decided as one of the earlier orders of business. I have been staying here on the assumption that the current team leading the site will stop leading it sooner rather than later. If that turns out not to be the case - if sourcing leadership that's both competent and empathetic is not a primary agenda item - then I'm not optimistic about what Metafilter is becoming.
posted by trig at 11:50 AM on November 14 [9 favorites]
> Then run for or elect a board that wants to do that.
All kidding aside: I think this is a serious issue that will need to be decided as one of the earlier orders of business. I have been staying here on the assumption that the current team leading the site will stop leading it sooner rather than later. If that turns out not to be the case - if sourcing leadership that's both competent and empathetic is not a primary agenda item - then I'm not optimistic about what Metafilter is becoming.
posted by trig at 11:50 AM on November 14 [9 favorites]
I have tossed in a fiver after a long ago buttoning to say: trig is absolutely correct here. I have no hope for the site culture if we cannot acknowledge this absolute farce. This is absolutely an existential threat to Metafilter. The poor leadership that I’ve seen over the past few years breaks my heart. The increasingly visible hypocrisy even more so.
Metafilter has been part of my life since I was 16 years old! There are many people - lurkers and returners - who would rally around a renewed Metafilter with a real vision. But I absolutely would not engage or devote any time before there is a clear commitment to solve our blatant leadership issue.
Probably this will get deleted. No, I am not going to email anyone or fill out a form. If you are going to be community-led, you need to have these discussions in the community.
posted by AntiMemetic at 12:31 PM on November 14 [11 favorites]
Metafilter has been part of my life since I was 16 years old! There are many people - lurkers and returners - who would rally around a renewed Metafilter with a real vision. But I absolutely would not engage or devote any time before there is a clear commitment to solve our blatant leadership issue.
Probably this will get deleted. No, I am not going to email anyone or fill out a form. If you are going to be community-led, you need to have these discussions in the community.
posted by AntiMemetic at 12:31 PM on November 14 [11 favorites]
Maybe it can be slowed down or paused while the new governance model gets its feet under itself?
Honestly, I thought it had already been paused.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 1:31 PM on November 14 [1 favorite]
Honestly, I thought it had already been paused.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 1:31 PM on November 14 [1 favorite]
I know that the process for approving/posting Board meeting minutes is (apparently) Byzantine and out of your control, and making any changes to the process depends on a re-write of of the board page that's been pending for over a year and is also out of your control(?). But the BIPOC Board page still has no indication that the board has even met in the last 9 months.
The page could at least be updated with placeholders ala "Meeting Minutes #XX (Month 2024): Minutes to come", or a note that the meeting was postponed for a month. When this came up 18 months ago, you approved of the idea and we got one update. When it came up again 9 months ago, it was decided that you/frimble could just put up such placeholders right away, and we got one more update. While it would be most useful to get these updates with the same frequency as the board meetings are scheduled, (and I'm aware that this may not be your top priority related to the BIPOC Board today) it could still be useful to get another once-per-nine-monthly update of the placeholders, so people could at least have an idea of if or when the board has been meeting.
posted by JiBB at 1:58 PM on November 14 [5 favorites]
The page could at least be updated with placeholders ala "Meeting Minutes #XX (Month 2024): Minutes to come", or a note that the meeting was postponed for a month. When this came up 18 months ago, you approved of the idea and we got one update. When it came up again 9 months ago, it was decided that you/frimble could just put up such placeholders right away, and we got one more update. While it would be most useful to get these updates with the same frequency as the board meetings are scheduled, (and I'm aware that this may not be your top priority related to the BIPOC Board today) it could still be useful to get another once-per-nine-monthly update of the placeholders, so people could at least have an idea of if or when the board has been meeting.
posted by JiBB at 1:58 PM on November 14 [5 favorites]
It look like all comments starting with https://metatalk.metafilter.com/26502/Quick-Nonprofit-Update#1429700 are not about the nonprofit. Can we just focus on the nonprofit here, and take other comments elsewhere?
posted by NotLost at 4:11 PM on November 14 [2 favorites]
posted by NotLost at 4:11 PM on November 14 [2 favorites]
They're not related to the legal establishment of the nonprofit, but they are related to its purpose and goals.
I had assumed that once the nonprofit took over there would also be a significant change in staffing. I had assumed, maybe stupidly, that these things would go hand in hand. Recent statements from the interim committee, including in this thread, have instead expressed a preference for stability and minimal disruption, which I and apparently others read as "we want to keep the current management and staff around, as is".
If so, I think that is very problematic and it greatly reduces my confidence in the new Metafilter and the vision currently guiding it. If not, I would be interested in hearing what process and, especially, timeline is being envisioned for changing the staff and management.
Timeline is important because I don't know how much longer it makes sense to keep waiting for improvement.
I am not able to join any boards, or take any active role. So all I can do is hope that the people leading this transition at least recognize and acknowledge how much appetite and, honestly, impatience there is for a significantly higher quality of management and moderation, and the reasons for that - even if they don't personally agree.
(Also - it would be easier for criticisms of management and moderation to not spill over to this thread if threads discussing those subjects did not keep getting closed by moderators who treat criticism as guidelines violations. At this point, to me, I'm reaching the point where if management isn't replaced on a reasonably short timeline then the nonprofit transition feels like a cosmetic change to me, and not one I'm motivated to support.)
posted by trig at 6:15 PM on November 14 [6 favorites]
I had assumed that once the nonprofit took over there would also be a significant change in staffing. I had assumed, maybe stupidly, that these things would go hand in hand. Recent statements from the interim committee, including in this thread, have instead expressed a preference for stability and minimal disruption, which I and apparently others read as "we want to keep the current management and staff around, as is".
If so, I think that is very problematic and it greatly reduces my confidence in the new Metafilter and the vision currently guiding it. If not, I would be interested in hearing what process and, especially, timeline is being envisioned for changing the staff and management.
Timeline is important because I don't know how much longer it makes sense to keep waiting for improvement.
I am not able to join any boards, or take any active role. So all I can do is hope that the people leading this transition at least recognize and acknowledge how much appetite and, honestly, impatience there is for a significantly higher quality of management and moderation, and the reasons for that - even if they don't personally agree.
(Also - it would be easier for criticisms of management and moderation to not spill over to this thread if threads discussing those subjects did not keep getting closed by moderators who treat criticism as guidelines violations. At this point, to me, I'm reaching the point where if management isn't replaced on a reasonably short timeline then the nonprofit transition feels like a cosmetic change to me, and not one I'm motivated to support.)
posted by trig at 6:15 PM on November 14 [6 favorites]
All bets are off once a non-interim board is elected. I'm sure that any statements about stability/continuity were about the hand-off to that new board. The interim board (I gather) is just about getting the structure off the ground, and about setting up the initial groundrules for elections/board-mechanisms/etc., not taking it on their unelected selves to start making decisions about what really comes next for the site.
posted by nobody at 8:34 PM on November 14 [4 favorites]
posted by nobody at 8:34 PM on November 14 [4 favorites]
I am not able to join any boards, or take any active role.
posted by sixswitch at 8:42 PM on November 14
posted by sixswitch at 8:42 PM on November 14
I understand that the interim board is setting things up for whatever board comes next.
But I hope - and honestly would appreciate some assurance - that in putting together its ground rules, structures, and so on, the board is not putting in place rules or structures that will make staffing changes harder or slower than they could be, or perpetuating any dependence on the current management even if that is convenient. I hope it is instead acting with the understanding that a potentially large part of the membership may see such changes - happening as early as possible - as fundamentally necessary for the site to continue, or for them to support it.
posted by trig at 9:07 PM on November 14 [4 favorites]
But I hope - and honestly would appreciate some assurance - that in putting together its ground rules, structures, and so on, the board is not putting in place rules or structures that will make staffing changes harder or slower than they could be, or perpetuating any dependence on the current management even if that is convenient. I hope it is instead acting with the understanding that a potentially large part of the membership may see such changes - happening as early as possible - as fundamentally necessary for the site to continue, or for them to support it.
posted by trig at 9:07 PM on November 14 [4 favorites]
Ah, got it. (And I'd missed that this was probably at least in part in reaction to yesterday's Seeking Global Perspectives thread blowup (and not just about, like, fundraiser promises not being met). I think I'm constitutionally inclined to see a chunk of that as people choosing to take mod actions in the very worst possible light, making no effort to see the web of conditions that might lead to certain borderline decisions, but that thread was also clearly mishandled from the mod side, yeah, so I see where you're coming from.)
posted by nobody at 4:24 AM on November 15 [1 favorite]
posted by nobody at 4:24 AM on November 15 [1 favorite]
Honestly, it is in reaction to a years-long, increasingly dismaying series of acts of just boggling managerial incompetence and, even more seriously, a really heavy-handed antagonistic us-vs-them policing attitude towards users, going back to cortex. When cortex left and jessamyn and loup took over I thought it would be different, and it really felt like everyone (including me) was giving them a honeymoon period. But it turned out fairly quickly that loup was following cortex's model combined with some extra incompetence, and jessamyn either approves or cannot be bothered to manage loup.
So for those of us following the history it is years of this. I am fed up, and questioning what the point is anymore.
If you check my history, I am not someone who enjoys beating up on anyone, and it took me a long time to lose the goodwill and patience that the Matt-cortex-jessamyn era had built up. But I've lost it.
If Metafilter is going to be competently managed and also run by people who have mod skills other than deleting and banning - and the willingness to use those skills, and actually engage with this community - then it's worth supporting. That's the Metafilter that brought me in. If it's just going to keep spiraling into the kind of nonsense you see in that thread - which is typical, and not an outlier anymore - then from my perspective, as a member, having that nonsense happen under a nonprofit instead of an absentee owner doesn't make enough difference for this transition to matter.
I honestly think overhauling the management, staffing, and late-Mefi mod approach is not an option and needs to be treated as a primary goal of this transition and the non-profit.
posted by trig at 6:14 AM on November 15 [12 favorites]
So for those of us following the history it is years of this. I am fed up, and questioning what the point is anymore.
If you check my history, I am not someone who enjoys beating up on anyone, and it took me a long time to lose the goodwill and patience that the Matt-cortex-jessamyn era had built up. But I've lost it.
If Metafilter is going to be competently managed and also run by people who have mod skills other than deleting and banning - and the willingness to use those skills, and actually engage with this community - then it's worth supporting. That's the Metafilter that brought me in. If it's just going to keep spiraling into the kind of nonsense you see in that thread - which is typical, and not an outlier anymore - then from my perspective, as a member, having that nonsense happen under a nonprofit instead of an absentee owner doesn't make enough difference for this transition to matter.
I honestly think overhauling the management, staffing, and late-Mefi mod approach is not an option and needs to be treated as a primary goal of this transition and the non-profit.
posted by trig at 6:14 AM on November 15 [12 favorites]
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posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:23 PM on November 8 [21 favorites]