From: control@usenet.org.uk Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.net.news.management Subject: NOTICE: Complaints to UK_VOTING Followup-To: poster Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 09:27:47 +0000 Message-ID: Sender: Iain Bowen as Control Approved: Iain Bowen as Control Lines: 124 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have been authorised by UKVoting members to post the following statement on behalf of UKVoting. UKVoting have received complaints from Three individuals regarding a votetaker's (Richard Ashton) conduct during the recent Committee elections. These complaints are summarised thus: (i) That Richard, being the secondary votetaker, made comments in the newsgroup that were "abusive, dismissive and generally obstructive" and that Richard showed "obstreperousness and bias". (ii) That Richard implied that the first complainant (Paul Cummins) had committed or attempted to commit vote-fraud in the posting that mentioned "Dr Charlatan and Mr Votefraud". (iii) Richard gave out information about the progress of the vote. (iv) Richard made comments that would be taken by others to imply that the second complainant (Allen Hughes) had acted improperly w.r.t. the vote. (v) Richard had used privilidged information as a basis for his comments These complaints were received by UKVoting, and the complaints were fully considered by the membership of UKVoting before this statement was prepared. UKVoting's responses to these complaints are as follows: (i) Votetakers are required to be neutral on any vote that they take, and to refrain from taking any vote where they are unable to be neutral. There is no requirement for a votetaker to refrain from any other discussion on Usenet, including discussions in the uk.net.news.* hierarchy. The complainant was not a candidate in the elections, and therefore Richard Aston's opinions of him do not fall within the requirement for neutrality. At no time has any complaint been made against Richard Ashton which challenges his impartiality or technical competence with regard to vote taking. Therefore, the request for disciplinary action against Richard Ashton is rejected as unfounded. (ii) The complainant alleges that Richard Ashton's wording implied an accusation of votefraud against the first complainant, UKVoting notes that: The complainant also published this complaint to uk.net.news.management in Message-ID: <9v8la1$dql08$1@ID-50052.news.dfncis.de>. Several follow-ups were posted to this, all of them disagreeing with the complainant and at least one of which (Message-ID: ) included a detailed rebuttal of the complaint. The complainant appeared to accept the refutation of his complaint in uk.net.news.management, at least to the extent that he did not challenge the refutation publicly. Therefore, this complaint is also rejected as unfounded. (iii) UKVoting notes that votetakers have in the past given progress reports to the UK Usenet community when there have been significant delays in publishing vote results. However there is no formal procedure within UKVoting concerning progress reports. In the light of this complaint, UKVoting members will examine whether or not a formal progress report procedure should be implemented. UKVoting will not take any action against Richard Ashton over this complaint. (iv) After reasoned and considered discussion, UKVoting is completely satisfied that the comments indicated were within the realm of 'personal opinion'. (v) Covered by the rebutal in ii. As a result of the above discussion, UKVoting is considering revising it's internal procedures to include what comments are and are not appropriate for a votetaker when they might be interpreted by any reader as being related to a vote about which the votetaker might have unpublished knowledge. UKVoting would like to thank the UK Usenet community for their patience whilst these complaints were considered. Any allegation of improper behaviour by a votetaker is a serious matter, and these allegations must be considered fully before a response is made. The publication of this statement has also been delayed by some members of UKVoting not being fully avalaible due to personal reasons. Robert Irvine Head Of UKVoting -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 6.5.1i Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBPDgYk2OfGXkh8vHZAQEEPgP/YSYHGCyYo7LZJ5tCByU4LMg0dJs7lLVv xdkfB096psaIjGslfy2QGceiBO69HlVwLa243i4fR0akB+K0SfGGc7u6hPfQJAvF YV+uyZay3WGRBzNczEst2IgC3oyJsFQ2VX2aksCc141aboB15GwUkjWJdhu99Jrf JKi6OShByiA= =idSt -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----