On Fri, 29 Jul 2016 11:44:17 -0700
Rick Moen <rick@???> wrote:

> Quoting Steve Litt (slitt@???):
>
> > True story. As one of ten founders of a LUG in 1999, and
> > concerned about some future "evil group" "kidnapping" the LUG, I
> > convinced everyone to put a very difficult quorum requirement into
> > the constitution. Everyone was excited about the new quorum
> > requirement: All of us had concerns because the previous LUG had
> > been a (pretty darned good, in retrospect) cult of personality.
> > Eight years later, when LUGs weren't so hip and populated anymore,
> > that quorum requirement prevented the LUG from electing new
> > officers, essentially killing it.
>
> Out of curiosity, what prevented the aspiring officers from just
> saying 'Well, that was embarrassing', construing the LUG as deceased,
> but then construing an entirely new LUG to have been just born that
> by an astounding coincidence had exactly the same name and meeting
> place/time but no constitution?

It was a corporate LUG. Kill the LUG, every cent in the treasury must
go to a 501C3, so they'd be starting with not a nickel to their name.

>
> ISTR that the only tricky point is ownerships of substantial property,
> mostly Internet domains but possibly other things, but that could be
> resolved through a conspiracy to just Do the Right Thing and not look
> too closely.
>
> Am I just too devious, or the 2007 would-be officers just not devious
> enough?

Neither. Your last three paragraphs wouldn't have been nearly
sufficient to help them survive. There are lots of sad facts about what
happened...

It's worse than you can imagine, and what I said in this thread is
the tip of the iceberg. There were goodguys and badguys, and not
everyone agreed on who was whom. There was the general trend away from
LUGs. There were people who dropped the ball. There was a lack of the
kind of leadership that can inspire others. And changing demographics
are hurting the credibility of many LUGs.

Yeah, I haven't given specifics. Write me offlist if you want *my*
story of what happened, but remember there are two (or in this case
probably ten) sides to every story.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
July 2016 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques
     of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques