zombocom wrote:
Face it gents, we're in trouble here.
The netERC as a concept has failed, and effectively no longer exists. Hena and Neal have stepped down, Chroma's long-term absent leaving only Mephiston with Cybershadow's guiding influence.
The goal of the netEA project was to get a website with an armies book on it. This hasn't happened in the 3ish years we've been trying. I don't think it's unfair to say that Mephiston has little interest in the armies book project.
We need to work out right now what we're going to do, or what's left of the project will fall apart. Here's a few questions I think need answering right now.
1) Who has the current most recent version of the armies book?
2) A website was being worked on. Who was working on it, and what is its current state?
3) Are we going to continue with the NetERC system as it was, appointing new members, or are we going to try something different?
4) Are we going to approach Nealhunt to ask if he'll stay on to deal solely with the core EA rules and FAQs?
If we don't do something right now, it's game over folks.
I agree completely with Zombocom's concerns. I would go on to say that if Neal was all that was holding NetEA together then the old system was broken to begin with. I voiced these concerns to the NetERC the better part of four years ago but -at the time- the thought of Chroma, Hena, AND Neal all leaving was a fictitious concept.
E&C, I think we could allow the Army Champions to work alongside of a new Committee, or even be part of it. Set up a quorum where we would not need all Committee members to vote (usually just over half is an acceptable number). But the number of things that they would need to "vote" on would be limited to large changes anyway. Things like major rules changes and Army Champ replacements and disagreements where 2 or more Committee persons ask for a full vote.
One of the major complaints people have had is the illusion of the NetERC being an 'old boys network'. My concern was only that of fatigue. But either way we have a solution which is to expand the NetEA leadership to include more people. Many hands make for light work, right?
The good thing is we already have Army Champs in place, for the most part. Rogue Champs that go crazy and include Eldar tanks in their Space Marine lists (or other more serious offenses) can be overturned by a full Committee vote. A Committee Chair (or Secretary, if you will) can be voted on by the Committee itself, which makes it a more practical vote to conduct. This Secretary would be responsible for delegating out projects. If the Secretary quits or isn't working out or reaches their term limit (say a year) the Committee can make the change.
Normally I would say a large group is going to complicate things, but in this case the Committee members are usually the ones actually doing the work. Rules Committee Members can number anywhere between 1 and 3 in this system. You just need one person who knows the rules very well (with the acknowledgment that nobody is perfect). Any big disagreements could be brought up to a vote, once again. Virtual meetings can be conducted 1/month and votes can be tallied then.
Or we can go back to a small system and roll the dice. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won't.
_________________
author of Syncing Forward and other stories...It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I've got my Milkbone underwear on.