There is absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of remote voting or remote delegates. The implementation was a failure, and we can build upon that. Considering you're a representative of a group that promotes innovation, it sickens me you'd be so quick to quell creativity and transparency.<br>
<br>I will forward the letter that is undersigned by the parties of Canada, New Zealand and Portugal of the issues we faced as remote delegates, and the simple things that can be implemented to improve the situation immeasurably.<br>
<br>--<br><br><p style="margin-bottom:0cm"><b>To the new board of Pirate Parties
International, along with the outgoing board, 2011 General
Assembly
Organizers and Chairpersons,</b></p>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Along with the sentiments of the
Australian, New Zealand and Portugal delegations that you may
have received, we feel it is of the utmost importance to express
our displeasure at the operation of the final block of voting at
the conference in Friedrichshafen on Sunday. We feel that
critical mistakes were made in the logistics of the agenda,
disallowing remote delegates from having an equal voice in what
was otherwise a pleasant and enlightening experience.</p>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The main criticism we have is that
Jerry, selected as the liaison between the remote delegates and
the rest of the conference, was hesitant to interject at our
request, most notably at the conclusion of the third block of
voting, where even though multiple pleas were made by various
parties to halt the conclusion for a comment we were hoping to
make on behalf of the remote delegation. The end result was the
hasty conduct of business without the opportunity to make points
of order like any other member, and the conclusion of business
before we could even speak, despite promises that the chairman
would be halted to allow us to speak. We must emphasize,
however, that this is not the fault of Jerry per se, but rather
the lack of proceedure that caused this difficult position for
both us and for him. The need to outline clear rules is detailed
in our suggestions below.</p>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">A secondary criticism is of the
selected chairman for the day. Throughout the course of the
meeting, there were repeated requests to repeat or slow down
things being said to him, and a high level of reluctance to cede
the floor to opposing motions or requests for clarification,
which we believe goes against the spirit of the general
assembly.</p>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Together, this created a situation
of confusion and frustration with remote delegates. At certain
points of the voting block, our inability to express opposition
to the goings-on of the General Assembly caused us to discuss
the possibility of leaving the meeting early. The pace of the
meeting from within the Messehalle meant that the Chair felt it
was in fact the best method to force us to communicate in
hastily written emails, while continuing on with business. This
cannot happen in further conferences. As many conferences in the
years to come will take place outside of Europe, those European
parties unable to send delegates may be similarly affected, and
it behooves us to collectively resolve these issues prior to the
next Assembly.</p>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Our recommendations for improving
the situation include:</p>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>That at a minimum, mandatory pauses be given during the
discussions, reserved specifically for remote voters to
speak. The pauses may be skipped if the remote delegates do
not have something to say, but are required at any point
that is normally open to additions or debate.</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>An instance of Mumble could be used to allow instantaneous
2-way communication between the physical delegates and the
remote delegates, from situations as simple as group
discussion or complex situations such as "open space
workgroups" of discussion, where respective rooms may be
made for each group. This application is open source, so
will cost PPI nothing to implement, and can be easily
moderated by muting a person should they be interrupting the
proceedings or generally speaking out of line.</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>More visual aids and cues need to be given during the
course of events. It would be reccomended for the chair or
another designated person to state the name and the party of
the person taking the floor so that remote and physical
delegates alike may be sure of who is addressing them and
essentially, what is going on. Further visual aids could be
given through the use of the screen, or overlay software
with the stream, with a caption of the current point of
order, name of the person speaking, or just general
information to enhance the experience for delegates.</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>A proper mechanism for proposing motions, and voting in
motions needs to be implemented. Using plaintext emails has
its limitations and makes it difficult to participate. At a
minimum, a real-time medium such as IRC is vital, while VoIP
software would be preferred.</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>Better documentation of the results of voting blocks. It
was very difficult to find information of which motions for
statute amendments passed and which failed, and we only
found them by searching for "#ppi motions" on Twitter. We
also request that the following information be published in
the official channel for remote delegates, so that remote
participants may have confidence in the vote counting
process:</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>In the case of Statute and Rule of Procedure amendment
proposals, the number of votes for, against and abstaining,
and;</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<ul><li>
<p>in the case of STV elections, the order of eliminations and
the margins involved.</p>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">As the Pirate Party of Canada
conducts all of its business online, primarily via IRC, we would
be happy to further advise future event planners as to specifics
of our online discussion system and how elements could be
successfully adapted to suit a mixed meeting involving both
remote and physical delegates.<br>
<br>
</p>
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Yours sincerely,</p>
</div>
<br>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Mike Bleskie, Mikkel Paulson<br></p><p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Pirate Party of Canada<br>
</p></div><div dir="LTR">
</div>
<div dir="LTR"> </div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Brendan Molloy</p>
</div>
Pirate Party Australia<div dir="LTR">
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Noel Zeng, Tommy Fergusson</p>
</div>
Pirate Party of New Zealand<div dir="LTR">
</div>
<div dir="LTR">
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Nuno Cardoso</p>
</div>
Pirate Party of Portugal<div dir="LTR">
</div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2011/3/23 Maxime Rouquet <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:maxime.rouquet@partipirate.org">maxime.rouquet@partipirate.org</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">On 03/23/2011 12:01 PM, Brendan Molloy wrote:<br>
> All I could think while reading this is that you've proven the<br>
> illegitimacy of the court of arbitration as you Maxime, one of the<br>
> court's 'elected' members, is unwilling to listen to, or dare I say,<br>
> arbitrate, the issues facing some members of PPI. It's disgusting.<br>
<br>
</div>I am giving you my opinion as myself, the Court of Arbitration has not<br>
been asked to judge such a thing, and I am not its spokesperson or anything.<br>
<br>
My opinion is that most of you criticize the system of remote voting.<br>
The CoA affair is just the most visible part of a larger problem. I<br>
personally think it must be fixed by allowing only local delegate voting.<br>
<br>
However, it is not up to me but to the General Assembly to decide of<br>
such thing. I simply wanted to warn you as soon as possible that I would<br>
like to write such an amendment for next time, to prevent you from<br>
saying you were not aware of it if it was to be voted.<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Regards,<br>Brendan Molloy<br>Pirate Party Australia<br><br>M: +61 434 069 776<br>