Worst System (Except for All the Others)

[kevin_standlee]

The WSFS Business Meeting is taking a fair amount of abuse for using a parliamentary rules manual (Robert's Rules of Order, the most common, but not the only such manual) for its formal decision-making process.

WSFS actually manages only two things of significant importance: The Hugo Awards rules and the rules for selecting future Worldcon sites. (There are other things, which I can detail upon request.) Everything else about how Worldcons are run is done by the individual Worldcon committees.

So, before I hit the road for El Paso, I leave this question before you all: Direct Democracy as WSFS practices it is extremely messy. If you were allowed to change things to suit yourself (other than simply saying, "I'm King and You'll All Required to do what I say when I say it"), how would you change the governance process for the Hugo Awards and Site Selection rules?

Come up with a better system that doesn't have the flaws you perceive are present in the current system. Please.

Comments

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I call this "Popular Ratification," and I want it to happen. But it is a hugely difficult sell, and would require a bunch of people with respect from the Business Meeting regulars to turn up to get it through. To be fair, I would then require the proposal to survive a third year, going through its own process and being submitted to the members of the third year Worldcon and only taking effect in the fourth year if a majority of those voting voted for it.

[totient]

To be fair, I would then require the proposal to survive a third year, going through its own process and being submitted to the members of the third year Worldcon

This sounds fair, in that popular ratification imposes a publication and mail handling burden on each Worldcon, when it might be that only regular BM attendees would take part. The resulting expense would be wasted if its only purpose was to make it so that people who did not ordinarily attend the BM could participate. But the other purpose is to free up time at BMs, and it looks from here like many of the problems people have making themselves heard at BMs stem from optimizations the BM has made to save on time.