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FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (OF 2)

UK Usenet Committee Elections 2009

Votes must be received by 23:59:59 GMT, 17th November 2009.

For voting questions *only* contact
Votetaker: Barry Salter <com2k09-queries (at) ukvotes.southie.me.uk>

Secondary Votetaker: Jon Ribbens <j.ribbens (at) ukvoting.org.uk>
(Please only contact the secondary votetaker in an emergency)

Due to the continued prevalence of viruses and worms that harvest Usenet
posts and e-mail client address books for e-mail addresses, all e-mail
addresses in the CFV and ballot paper are modified to prevent this.

========================================================================

Distribution:

This CFV has been posted to the following newsgroups:

uk.net.news.announce
uk.net.news.config
uk.net.news.management

========================================================================

This CFV contains the following sections.

1. Definition of Open Class of Membership
2. Application Requirements
3. Persons retiring from the Committee
4. List of Candidates
5. Candidate Details, including Nominators and personal statements
6. Standard Voting Instructions

========================================================================

Definition of Open Class of Membership

Any participant in the uk.* hierarchy qualifies as a candidate in the
Open class.

========================================================================

Application Requirements

Any participant in the uk.* hierarchy qualifies as a nominator for the
Open class.

Any individual may nominate a maximum of four candidates.

========================================================================

Persons retiring from the Committee

Open Member Class:

Chris Croughton
Graham Drabble
Fiona Gostling (aka 'Kat')

Who have served their respective terms.

Clive D. W. Feather

Who was co-opted as an Open Member of the Committee in November 2008.

========================================================================

Candidates

Seven nominations have been received. The Committee has four vacancies
and therefore an election will be held to fill the four vacancies.

A list of the candidates is below (in alphabetical order by surname):

Jonathan Amery                                   Candidate A
David Damerell                                   Candidate B
Graham Drabble                                   Candidate C 
Clive D. W. Feather                              Candidate D
Fiona Gostling (aka 'kat')                       Candidate E
Ian Jackson                                      Candidate F
Matthew Vernon                                   Candidate G

Please find below details of the people who nominated each candidate
(Name & Email Address) and a short statement from each candidate.

Note: In each case, only the names of the first four nominators to
confirm their nomination are listed.

========================================================================

Candidate A

  Name: Jonathan Amery
E-Mail: jdamery (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

Nominators:

  Name: Clare Boothby
E-Mail: clareb (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Eleanor Blair
E-Mail: eleanorb (at) gmail (dot) com

  Name: Matthew Vernon
E-Mail: matthew (at) debian (dot) org

  Name: Ian Jackson
E-Mail: ijackson (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

Personal Statement:

None provided.

========================================================================

Candidate B

  Name: David Damerell
E-Mail: damerell (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

Nominators:

  Name: Ian Jackson
E-Mail: ijackson (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Clare Boothby
E-Mail: clareb (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Eleanor Blair
E-Mail: eleanorb (at) gmail (dot) com

  Name: Matthew Vernon
E-Mail: matthew (at) debian (dot) org

Personal Statement:

I have used uk.* since early 1994, and served on the uk.* Committee
around ten years ago. It's easy to forget that the Committee are the
servants not the masters; I believe that has been forgotten, and that
when members of the Committee suggest, in a petty-minded fit of pique,
RFDing the removal of the group that received the largest ever "yes"
vote, that is a fine example of how things are seriously wrong.

If I am elected I will:

Examine the de facto procedures in use and either RFD to make them 
Guidelines or make it clear that they are merely preferences that can be
suggested during the RFD process like any other.

Work with Control to determine if group creation can be done more
expediently.

Endeavour to maintain a civil tone in discussions related to uk.*
administration, unlike many members of the current Committee.

========================================================================

Candidate C

  Name: Graham Drabble
E-Mail: usenet05 (at) drabble (dot) me (dot) uk

Nominators:

  Name: Tony Evans
E-Mail: tony (at) darkstorm (dot) co (dot) uk

  Name: Fiona Gostling (aka 'kat')
E-Mail: kat.news (at) ntlworld (dot) com

  Name: Molly Mockford
E-Mail: com2009 (at) mollymockford (dot) me (dot) uk

  Name: Charles H. Lindsey
E-Mail: chl (at) clerew (dot) man (dot) ac (dot) uk

Personal Statement:

Generally I feel that the committee should use a very light touch, 
giving advice where possible and only intervening when required to by 
the guidelines. unn* as a community, and, despite the naturally changing
population, I do believe it can and is most sucessful when it acts as a
community, should be responsible for ensuring that RFDs are discussed in
a positive way and that proponents are guided to a sucessful RFD
wherever possible.

========================================================================

Candidate D

  Name: Clive D. W. Feather
E-Mail: clive (at) davros (dot) org

Nominators:

  Name: Mike Bristow
E-Mail: mike (at) urgle (dot) com

  Name: Peter Parry
E-Mail: peter (at) wpp (dot) ltd (dot) uk

  Name: John Hall
E-Mail: john (at) jhall (dot) co (dot) uk

  Name: Graham Drabble
E-Mail: graham (at) drabble (dot) me (dot) uk

Personal Statement:

For those wondering what you'd get:

* experience of Usenet in general, and the Committee in particular;
* technical knowledge (see RFC 3977);
* a common-sense approach to the unimportance of Usenet;
* the capability to distinguish sensible points from idiot comments;
* the ability to be pedantic for England [1] if necessary;
* a world-weary cynicism.

Your choice.

[1] I have represented the UK to ISO. 

========================================================================

Candidate E

  Name: Fiona Gostling (aka 'kat')
E-Mail: kat (dot) news (at) ntlworld (dot) com

Nominators:

  Name: Wm
E-Mail: tcnw81 (at) tarrcity (dot) demon (dot) co (dot) uk

  Name: Molly Mockford
E-Mail: com2009 (at) mollymockford (dot) me (dot) uk

  Name: Geoff Berrow
E-Mail: com2009 (at) 4theweb (dot) co (dot) uk

  Name: Martyn Bailey (aka 'Mother')
E-Mail: nospam (at) notnominet (dot) name

Personal Statement:

I have served two terms on the Committee and if elected would continue
as before, to attempt to give the view of an ordinary user of usenet.

The hierarchy appears to be running smoothly, and I hope this continues
to be the case. But if it doesn't, I would be happy to continue serving
the uk.* community. 

========================================================================

Candidate F

  Name: Ian Jackson
E-Mail: ijackson (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

Nominators:

  Name: David Damerell
E-Mail: damerell (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Theo Markettos
E-Mail: theom+news (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Clare Boothby
E-Mail: clareb (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Eleanor Blair
E-Mail: eleanorb (at) gmail (dot) com 

Personal Statement:

I've been on USENET since 1989, and in that time have been a participant
in many newsgroups.  I've also been involved in group creation
processes: for example, as a votetaker for the big-8 around 1992, and
most recently as the proponent for the very successful
uk.rec.cycling.moderated.

I'm hoping to provide assistance and encouragement to proponents to try
to get them the groups they want.

========================================================================

Candidate G

  Name: Matthew Vernon
E-Mail: matthew (at) debian (dot) org

Nominators:

  Name: David Damerell
E-Mail: damerell (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Theo Markettos
E-Mail: theom+news (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Ian Jackson
E-Mail: ijackson (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

  Name: Clare Boothby
E-Mail: clareb (at) chiark (dot) greenend (dot) org (dot) uk

Personal Statement:

I'm Matthew Vernon, a research scientist and veterinary surgeon in my
"day job". I've been reading usenet for the last decade or so, and am
a contributor to several uk groups. I was involved in the recent
discussions about the creation of the new group
uk.rec.cycling.moderated, and am pleased to see the new group taking
off nicely. I think the process could have gone more smoothly, though,
and that members of the committee could have been more civil when the
process was criticised. I spent ten years as a trustee of an education
charity (including one year as chair), and am aware that what
committee members say as individuals does inevitably reflect on the
committee as a whole.

========================================================================

This vote is being conducted by two Votetakers.  In the event that
the Primary Votetaker fails to respond the Secondary Votetaker will
take over the running of this vote.

VOTING INSTRUCTIONS

If you fail to follow the instructions below your ballot paper may
be ruled invalid. This means your vote will not be counted.

1) One person, one vote.

2) No two voters may vote from the same email address.
   In the event that only one address is available to two persons
   who both wish to vote, both these persons should contact the 
   votetaker prior to voting.

3) Votes must be emailed directly from the voter to the address
   specified by the votetaker.
 
4) There may be technical reasons, such as breaks in the email
   headers of your ballot, which may mean that the votetaker is
   unable to confirm the validity of your vote. The votetaker
   will contact you if there are any irregularities.

If you have followed the voting instructions correctly, you will
receive an acknowledgement of your vote within five days from the
votetaker.

This does not always mean that your vote is valid. The votetaker
will contact you if there is a problem with your vote.

If you do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your ballot
paper within five days you should contact the votetaker.

If the acknowledgement "bounces" back to the votetaker (the mail
containing the acknowledgment is returned as undeliverable by a
mailserver), your vote will not be counted. 

It is your responsibility to ensure that your ballot paper has been
received by checking that the acknowledgement arrives. You should
also check that your vote is recorded correctly in the
acknowledgement. If there are any problems with your
acknowledgement, you should contact the votetaker.

========================================================================

HOW TO VOTE
 
This vote is being run with a voting system which was introduced
in January 2003, so if you haven't voted since then this is going
to be new to you.
 
Please read the instructions carefully.
 
Under this new system, the email address that will be published in
the results is the one that the ballot paper was sent to. So for
example if a ballot paper was sent to example-voter@ukvoting.org.uk,
this would be the address shown in the result. This address has to
be valid, otherwise you will not receive a ballot paper.
 
To receive a ballot paper, you must send an email to the Ballot
Request Address, which is xcom2k9b@request.ukvoting.org.uk
<mailto:xcom2k9b@request.ukvoting.org.uk>.

For most news-reading software, just replying by email to this post
will address your email correctly, but *please check* that the
address above is actually in the To field before you send the mail.
 
We recognise that sometimes people submit their votes from
different addresses for varying reasons, especially when more than
one email address is available to a voter. If you want the results
to record your vote as coming from a different address to that
from which you post your request, you can do this by putting the
address you want recorded in the Reply-To field in your ballot
request. If you do not know how to do this, or if you are unable
for whatever reason, then put the address you want recorded in the
Subject line of your ballot request instead.

Note: Please remember that you must be able to read email sent to
the address you choose to use as your voting address, otherwise you
will be unable to retrieve your ballot paper and you will be unable
to vote.

If you change the Subject field in your email to contain the
address you want to use, it doesn't matter whether you also include
your name or not, and it doesn't matter whether you enclose your
voting address in <angle brackets> or not.

It also doesn't matter whether you quote this entire post or
delete everything when making your ballot request.
 
THE REPLY TO YOUR REQUEST
 
If the autoresponder understands your voting address in the Subject
or other fields, it will send a ballot paper immediately to that
address. This ballot paper will be personalised and unique to the
voting address used.

========================================================================

CASTING YOUR VOTE

Your personalised ballot paper will contain a ballot ID and will
have your voting address prefilled for your convenience.

Do not change either of these or your vote will not be valid. If
you want to use a different voting address you must request
another ballot paper for the new address.

1) Enter the name under which you want your vote recorded in the  
   results. This must be either your real name or the pseudonym 
   ("handle") which you normally use to post to usenet.

2) Enter the email address which you normally use to post to
   Usenet, including the spamblock if applicable. If you use a
   number of different email addresses, please give the most
   recent, a typical or the most commonly used address. If, and
   only if, you do not post to Usenet, enter the word "none".

   Please do not enter any text in this field other than your
   posting address or the word "none". If you have any doubt as
   to how to complete this section, please contact the votetaker.

   This section is recommended but optional and is to help the
   votetaker verify your vote. If you do not answer this question,
   and the votetaker cannot verify your identity from the other
   information on the ballot, then the votetaker will need to
   carry out further investigations which may include contacting
   you for additional information. If you are unable or unwilling
   to provide such information if requested, your vote might not
   be counted.

3) Mark your voting preferences, as indicated on the ballot
   according to the instructions below.

4) Send your vote.

This vote is being conducted under the STV procedure.

Single Transferable Vote (STV)

To vote, enter '1' against your favourite candidate, '2'
against your second favourite candidate, and so on. 
You may place preferences by as many or as few options as you 
wish.  Options MUST NOT be ranked equally.]

You may abstain, and have your abstention recorded in the results,
by filling in one or more of the voting boxes [ ] with A or
ABSTAIN. Similarly if you wish to Cancel a vote and have no record
in the results, use C or CANCEL on your ballot paper, and resubmit
it.

You may resubmit your ballot, with different choices, at any time
up to the close of the vote. Your identification details on the 
resubmitted ballot paper must be the same as earlier ones.
Repeat votes will be resolved in favour of the last valid ballot
paper.

The purpose of this vote is to determine the genuine interest of persons
who have an interest in the people who represent them on the Committee.

Soliciting votes from disinterested parties defeats this purpose. 
Under no circumstances should you post your completed ballot paper
to any Usenet/Net News newsgroup or other forum.

If you ignore any of these instructions, your vote may be rejected
as invalid. This includes, but is not limited to, any false answers
given on the ballot paper or any attempt to circumvent the "one
person, one vote" rule or to conceal your identity.

========================================================================

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT OF YOUR BALLOT PAPER

The votetaker will send you an acknowledgement so that you know
that your ballot paper has been received. This may take up to five
days.

If you have not received such an acknowledgement after five days,
then contact the votetaker directly at the Votetaker's Address: 
com2k09-queries (at) ukvotes (dot) southie (dot) me (dot) uk
<mailto:com2k09-queries@ukvotes.southie.me.uk>

An acknowledgement does not necessarily mean that your vote will be
counted.

========================================================================

VOTE VALIDATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY

The acknowledgement which you receive (see above) will contain
details of how you voted. Check this acknowledgement carefully. If
there are any problems, or you did not vote then contact the
votetaker straight away.

During or at the end of the vote, the votetaker will validate every
vote submitted, and the votetaker may need to contact you
concerning any problem or query. You must assist the votetaker's
reasonable efforts to clarify any problem or query with regard to
your vote otherwise your vote may not be counted. Any communication
between the votetaker and yourself must not be considered to be
confidential and the votetaker reserves the right to publish any
information that the votetaker deems relevant to the vote
within the results post.

========================================================================

RESULTS

The names, addresses and vote preferences of all valid and invalid
votes will be published in the results, which are posted to 
uk.net.news.announce.

All published email addresses will be scrambled to prevent them
being harvested by spammers.

For Committee Elections, the results will be published in such a manner
that only you, the voter, will be able to see what your preferences
were.

========================================================================

The ballot paper will contain the following question(s).

The question(s) are shown below so that you know what you will
be asked on the ballot paper. You cannot use this to vote,
you must request a ballot paper.

Candidate A - Jonathan Amery
Candidate B - David Damerell
Candidate C - Graham Drabble
Candidate D - Clive D. W. Feather
Candidate E - Fiona Gostling (aka 'kat')
Candidate F - Ian Jackson
Candidate G - Matthew Vernon

========================================================================

TROUBLESHOOTING

If you have any problems whatsoever with this process, contact the
votetaker directly at the Votetaker's Address:
com2k09-queries (at) ukvotes (dot) southie (dot) me (dot) uk
<mailto:com2k09-queries@ukvotes.southie.me.uk>

========================================================================

VOTING AND APPEAL GUIDELINES

This vote is being conducted by neutral third party members of UKVoting.
UKVoting is a group of independent votetakers who count votes on
behalf of the uk.* hierarchy and other 3rd parties.
  
The rules under which votes for the uk.* hierarchy are taken are posted
regularly to uk.net.news.announce or can be found at the following URL:
  
  <http://www.usenet.org.uk/voting.html>
  
The UKVoting web pages can be found at <http://www.ukvoting.org.uk/>

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