Path: eternal-september.org!mx04.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!matrix.darkstorm.co.uk!.POSTED!matrix.darkstorm.co.uk!not-for-mail From: Barry Salter Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.net.news.management Subject: RESULT - UK Usenet Committee Elections 2012 Followup-To: uk.net.news.management Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:32:53 +0000 Organization: just another hole in the fabric of the internet Lines: 628 Sender: Tony Evans as Control Approved: Tony Evans as Control Message-ID: X-Trace: matrix.darkstorm.co.uk ITbkQy/I8r+C5kEKb5MtdcjME2QJINbdkwTOacykyPR8oKL6psoaodsTbWGf2UppkBz1eYQ9KMdqh7hyrI3Ryw== X-Complaints-To: abuse@matrix.darkstorm.co.uk X-User-ID: igrPoFlDDBMFZUIwUOIuKWNfo9KaOCSUrr7CXRnnydk= Cancel-Lock: sha1:klsvzt6U6BccRDGY9dR9H7AT+oI= Xref: mx04.eternal-september.org uk.net.news.announce:327 uk.net.news.config:17046 uk.net.news.management:5796 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Result of Call for Votes UK Usenet Committee Elections 2012 Due to the continued prevalence of viruses and worms the harvest Usenet posts for e-mail addresses, all e-mail addresses in these results are modified to prevent this. Summary: The following people are elected to serve as Open Members of the UK Usenet Committee until December 2015: Clive D. W. Feather Matthew Vernon Ian Clifton ======================================================================== Voting closed at 23:59:59 BST, 25th October 2012. Votetakers for the 2012 UK Usenet Committee Elections: Primary: Barry Salter Secondary: Pedt Scragg ======================================================================== Distribution: These results have been posted to the following newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce uk.net.news.config uk.net.news.management ======================================================================== The full results follow below in the following order: 1) Information on the Ballot 2) Summary of Mail Received During the Voting Period 3) Results in Detail 4) Voter List 5) Counted Vote List 6) Votetaker's Comments 7) Voting and Appeal Information 8) Copy of Statements from the CFV ====================================================================== Information on the Ballot Voters were asked to rank the following candidates in order of preference: Ian Clifton Candidate A Paul Cummins Candidate B Clive D. W. Feather Candidate C Alan Lee Candidate D Matthew Vernon Candidate E ====================================================================== Summary of Mail Received During the Voting Period 47 messages were received to the Ballot Request Address, of which: 46 were valid Ballot Requests 1 was a test message sent by the votetaker 42 messages were received to the Voting Address, of which: 40 were valid and counted votes 1 was rejected due to the voter submitting their vote via an anonymous remailer service 1 was a test message sent by the votetaker ====================================================================== Results in Detail The election was conducted using the Single Transferable Vote method of voting, with the count carried out under the Electoral Reform Society's 1997 (3rd Edition) rules. The STV analysis is as follows: UK Usenet Committee Elections 2012 Stage 1 Total Votes Cast: 41 Invalid Votes: 1 Total Valid Vote: 40 Places to be filled +1: 4 So Quota = 40 / 4 Quota = 10.00 First Preferences: Ian Clifton : 2 Paul Cummins : 3 Clive D. W. Feather : 25 Alan Lee : 0 Matthew Vernon : 10 Clive D. W. Feather ELECTED with 25.00 over quota 10.00 Matthew Vernon ELECTED with 10.00 over quota 10.00 Active Vote: 22.00 Places left +1: 2 Vote required for election now: 10.00 Stage 2 No candidates can be excluded, so we transfer the largest surplus Surplus of Clive D. W. Feather Ian Clifton gets 10 papers Paul Cummins gets 4 papers. Alan Lee gets 10 papers. 24 papers transferred. Total Present Value: 24.00 1 paper non-transferable. Calculating transfer value: 15.00/24 Papers transferred at 0.62 Ian Clifton now has 8.20 votes. Paul Cummins now has 5.48 votes. Alan Lee now has 6.20 votes. 0.12 votes non-transferable. Active Vote: 19.88 Places left+1: 2 Vote required for election now: 9.94 Stage 3 There are no outstanding surpluses, and Paul Cummins, with 5.48 has fewest votes and is therefore excluded. Excluding Paul Cummins Transferring papers worth 1.00 Ian Clifton gets 3 papers. Ian Clifton now has 11.20 votes. Ian Clifton ELECTED with 11.20 over quota 10.00. ***Finished*** In grid format, this is expressed as follows: UK Usenet Committee Elections 2012 Number to be elected: 3 (from 5) Counted votes: 40 Quota for election on first round: 10.00 1st Stage 2 Stage 3 Pref T A T A 2 6.20 8.20 3.00 11.20 Elect Ian Clifton 3 2.48 5.48 - 3.00 2.48 Paul Cummins 25 -15.00 10.00 10.00 Elect Clive D. W. Feather 0 6.20 6.20 6.20 Alan Lee 10 10.00 10.00 Elect Matthew Vernon 0.12 0.12 0.12 Non-transferable 40 40.00 40.00 Totals Key to grid: Stage 2 - Surplus of Clive D. W. Feather Stage 3 - Exclusion of Paul Cummins T = number of votes transferred at this stage A = votes for candidate after transfer ====================================================================== Voter List The following individuals supplied valid votes: Name E-Mail .m nospam#notnominet#name [.n] rainbowmedia#gmail#com {R} {R}#semolina#org Adam Funk a24061a#ducksburg#com Alan LeHun ukvote#lehun#clara#co#uk Alex Potter alex-usenet#ap-consulting#co#uk Andrew Hodgson andrew#hodgsonfamily#org Andy Burns andy#burns#net Anthony R. Gold not-for-mail#ahjg#co#uk Brian Brian#bjforster#force9#co#uk Charles Lindsey chl#clerew#man#ac#uk Clive D.W. Feather clive#davros#org Clive George clive#evil-c#co#uk Colin Rosenstiel usenet#rosenstiel#cix#co#uk crn crn#netunix#com David Damerell damerell#chiark#greenend#org#uk DG dg#dickgaughan#co#uk Graham Drabble usenet05#drabble#me#uk Ian Clifton ian.clifton#chem#ox#ac#uk Ian Jackson ijackson#chiark#greenend#org#uk John Blundell jcb.news#ntlworld#com John Hall john_nospam#jhall#co#uk kat katstuff#the-kat#org Mark Goodge mark#good-stuff#co#uk Matthew Vernon matthew#debian#org Michael Parry mjp#crowsnest#co#uk Mike Causer m.r.causer#googlemail#com Mike Fleming mike#tauzero#co#uk Molly Mockford com2012#mollymockford#me#uk Nick Nick.Spam#yahoo#co#uk Nick Leverton nick#leverton#org Owen Dunn owend#chiark#greenend#org#uk Owen Rees owenrees#fastmail#fm paul {voter}#watman#clara#co#uk Paul Cummins paulcummins#tiscali#co#uk Richard Kettlewell rjk#greenend#org#uk Roger Hayter roger#hayter#org Sara Merriman saramerriman#blueyonder#co#uk Tony tony#darkstorm#co#uk Victor Meldrew vicmeld#gmail#com ====================================================================== Rejected Votes Address Reason madrox017-20100401#yahoo#co#uk Vote submitted via anonymous remailer ====================================================================== Counted Vote List The guidelines for the UK Usenet Committee Elections stipulate that the votes of all voters shall be published in such a way that only the voter can recognise his/her own vote. The following votes were counted, listed in alphanumeric order of the Voter ID: Candidate Ranking Ballot ID A B C D E ================ ============= 0a4f6c0d2b372000 4 3 1 5 2 0b228ca644e9d389 3 5 4 2 1 0ca93580c816c1cd 2 5 1 4 3 15562fc87f5af277 3 5 1 4 2 1d9c35f661dba725 3 - 1 - 2 280b55c8f08a2ac9 3 4 1 5 2 29f312caa2da99d9 4 - 1 3 2 2cc4a87cb4ac398a 5 3 1 4 2 3690c3061771c7ec 3 5 2 4 1 3d63eec191b7cb7f 3 5 1 4 2 4e5088465915f7d3 3 4 1 5 2 5823772949baa79e 4 - 3 2 1 5d609c07e4ff555f 5 3 1 4 2 6273286ea1c37e5b 2 5 1 4 3 6807794a0732d1fc 3 5 2 4 1 6a08dcb69b8db2a2 4 5 1 3 2 6dd17b6fdc52e3db 3 - 1 2 4 885689cc59f7407e 3 1 2 4 5 8e564af9faf990ca 4 5 2 3 1 907827ac40b0a61b 4 2 1 3 5 913c1b82150b1245 2 5 1 3 4 978c59d11e500e54 3 5 2 4 1 9b87804157bd46b7 3 - 1 4 2 9e724d332cf1b676 5 4 1 2 3 a5a8b2fa4d8ded56 3 5 2 4 1 a731a26dcbacdf02 4 5 1 3 2 aa4688ff992f91c7 4 5 1 3 2 aeda279769b7e2d4 1 - 2 3 4 b92e90d6036d0ef4 4 5 1 3 2 c78237586a7d52c1 3 - 1 4 2 cbc2eb23cab13579 2 5 4 3 1 cf91afeda7528596 4 5 2 3 1 d50bd84b0551c414 3 1 2 4 - d6c55edd184edc1c 2 5 3 4 1 e871f668c89a7746 - - 1 - 2 ea9d8daa8d779670 1 5 3 4 2 ee09b2bab8f9d5ec 3 1 2 4 - f37364fa8979f774 4 5 1 3 2 f826f134d138ffcd - 4 1 2 3 fdba647cd67e14b1 4 5 1 3 2 Key: - = No preference expressed for that candidate If you wish to check that your vote has been correctly recorded, your Ballot ID can be found on your ballot paper and your acknowledgement. It should be noted that the Ballot IDs were issued randomly, and the sequence here does not match either the order in which ballot papers were requested or the alphabetical sequence of voter names or email addresses. ======================================================================== Votetaker's Comments Barry:- Whilst it has been three years since the Committee Elections proceeded to a vote, the comment that one voter included on their ballot paper suggests they forgot that if you don't express a preference for a given candidate, that candidate cannot receive any benefit from your vote. As noted above, one would be voter submitted their vote (and their ballot request for that matter) via an anonymous remailer, in clear breach of the voting instructions. As is the custom in such cases, their vote was accordingly rejected. Having been a member of UKVoting for some time now, validation of most voters was relatively easy, and most of those I didn't immediately recognise were easily validated as well. Finally, I'd just like to congratulate Clive, Matthew and Ian on their election, and offer my commiserations to Paul and Alan. Pedt:- Barry conducted a model vote and I agree with everything written above. ====================================================================== Voting and Appeal Information This vote was 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: The UKVoting web pages can be found at There is a five day discussion period after these results are posted to uk.net.news.announce. Allegations of irregularity should be sent to the committee via email to: control (at) usenet (dot) org (dot) uk. ====================================================================== (The information in this and the following section is a copy of that provided in the CFV) 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 three candidates. ======================================================================== Persons retiring from the Committee In accordance with the Committee Document, the following Open Class Members have served a full three year term and are deemed to be retiring from the Committee. They are eligible for re-election. Graham Drabble Clive D. W. Feather Matthew Vernon ======================================================================== Candidates: Five nominations have been received. The Committee has three vacancies and therefore an election will be held to fill the three vacancies. A list of the candidates is below: Ian Clifton Candidate A Paul Cummins Candidate B Clive D. W. Feather Candidate C Alan Lee Candidate D Matthew Vernon Candidate E 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: Ian Clifton E-Mail: ian (dot) clifton (at) chem (dot) ox (dot) ac (dot) uk Nominators: Name: Paul Cummins E-Mail: paulcummins (at) tiscali (dot) co (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 Name: Matthew Vernon E-Mail: matthew (at) debian (dot) org Personal Statement: Few can deny [1] that Usenet is under intense pressure from other media at this time in its long history. But I believe it’s a mistake to think that decline is permanent or demise inevitable. As in many other aspects of current life, loss of confidence is itself a driver of shrinking fortune; perhaps we should say, with FDR, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". What’s to be done? I can offer no quick fix, I think we should just carry on running UK Usenet in a constructive way, with as optimistic an outlook as we can manage, short of imbecility. Why me? I have an equable and tolerant nature, well able to deal with the colourful and highly-strung characters to be found in UK Usenet. (I wonder, if I win, how soon I’m going to regret those words.) [1] I was going to put "no one", but thought better of it - this is Usenet, after all. ======================================================================== Candidate B Name: Paul Cummins E-Mail: committee (at) gstgroup (dot) co (dot) uk Nominators: Name: Alan Lee E-Mail: alan (at) darkroom (dot) plus (dot) com Name: John Hall E-Mail: john (at) jhall (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Ian Clifton E-Mail: ian (dot) clifton (at) chem (dot) ox (dot) ac (dot) uk Name: Selena Jones E-Mail: selena (dot) n (dot) jones (at) gmail (dot) com Personal Statement: I have worked in ICT support since 1998, including with such August names as CIX, Norsk Data and Telewest. I have been a regular and active participant in the UK hierarchy since around 1999. Since returning to usenet in 2009 I have tried (and have not always succeeded) to avoid the errors I made in the past and admit my mistakes, but also robustly challenge actions by Committee Members and UK Voting which do not seem to be in the best interest of the UK hierarchy, whilst supporting their decisions and processes where they ain't broke. People call me a crank - a name I am proud to accept, as it's a simple tool that makes revolutions If you select me as a committee member, I will offer my judgement, my diligence and my experience freely without complaint, and offer the contrary view whenever dissent is beneficial. ======================================================================== Candidate C Name: Clive D. W. Feather E-Mail: clive (at) davros (dot) org Nominators: Name: Tony Evans E-Mail: tony (at) darkstorm (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Colin Rosenstiel E-Mail: rosenstiel (at) cix (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Matthew Vernon E-Mail: matthew (at) debian (dot) org Name: Paul Cummins E-Mail: paulcummins (at) tiscali (dot) co (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 [2]; * a world-weary cynicism; * the ability to recycle previous paragraphs on myself. Your choice. [1] I have represented the UK to ISO. [2] It appears I'm allowed more than one paragraph so long as I stay under 15 lines. ======================================================================== Candidate D Name: Alan Lee E-Mail: alan (at) darkroom (dot) plus (dot) com Nominators: Name: Paul Cummins E-Mail: paul (dot) cummins (at) gstgroup (dot) co (dot) uk Name: John Hall E-Mail: john_nospam (at) jhall (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Clive George E-Mail: clive (at) evil-c (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Ian Clifton E-Mail: ian (dot) clifton (at) chem (dot) ox (dot) ac (dot) uk Personal Statement: I aim to be impartial. It would be nice to have some of the old style 'netiquette' back in Usenet, which, I'm pretty sure, a lot of posters have never known, and unfortunately seems to be rapidly dying off, along with the Users. A number of 'single issue' users have tended to dominate a lot of groups in the last few years, maybe we should have a think about usenet promotion, which, with,eventually, more users, would drown out the shouts from the vocal minority. A culling of unused groups is called for too - far too many dead groups, so a concentration of fewer groups could lead to healthier posting stats for some of the uk.* hierarchies. ======================================================================== Candidate E Name: Matthew Vernon E-Mail: matthew (at) debian (dot) org Nominators: Name: kat E-Mail: katstuff (at) the-kat (dot) org Name: Tony Evans E-Mail: tony (at) darkstorm (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Clive George E-Mail: clive (at) evil-c (dot) co (dot) uk Name: Ian Clifton E-Mail: ian (dot) clifton (at) chem (dot) ox (dot) ac (dot) uk Personal Statement: I'm Matthew Vernon. I've been reading usenet since around 1998; I contribute to several groups within uk.*. My day job's in science, though I co-administer a small usenet server in my spare time, as well as being a Debian developer. I've served one term on the UK Usenet Committee. During that time, I successfully proposed a clarification of the committee guidelines, and have contributed to discussion on the committee list, and in unn*. My policy in unn* has been to add to discussion where I feel I have something constructive to say, and to try and listen to other points of view. I try hard to be civil. If re-elected, I will continue to listen and contribute to debate. I see the committee's role as being to facilitate the management of uk.* by the uk.* community. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 1.4.10 Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBUJG1JmOfGXkh8vHZAQGFjQQAmkUH5Fk1xUOLsz04P2b4j/mBP+h+bNxZ es1BTQ4tBmU0jDsqloiFIOguHxcQaUdS512Q7IewntINGAhoFg8Pb+CzYhnJbcKM OR9xKD388OQ2m2nwZ5HMMr3feu4li5VZ7cN8OIn1yOyRvZTCVxd5KApMvUIjz7KA CaB7LjtGM9E= =qOTW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----