Failing Officer Vote.... now what?

[+The Blue Quasar]

For a category that a few people have been helping me create, it was finally ready to go for an "Officer Vote on Category", which is step 3 of the process and falls right before "Peer Review"

 

Now I don't mind if the category fails because of an issue in the description. That just means it needs to be revised. But honestly, I don't know the reason because after it goes to vote nothing happens.

 

I wait and wait... then finally go look at the Past Votes only to learn that it failed. No explanation or comments.

 

For a Category to pass the Officer Vote it must get 100%. But I don't know if all of the Officers voted, or if one or more voted "Nay". Shouldn't it be just like "Peer Review" and the Leader gets to see anonymous feedback?

 

The Category cannot be fixed if I don't know what's wrong. It might even be just one Officer didn't vote... but there is no way to tell.

 

Any input gang? What can I do to find out where the problem is apart from trying to get an Officer to tell me that they voted NAY? That isn't how it should be. No one should have to come forward when there is already the functions of Peer Review working properly. It should be the same for Officer Vote.

 

The Blue Quasar

[+Jake39]

Did you at the time of your submission check if all your officers had signed in lately?

I found some of the "Category Owners' where I am an Officer" , hadn't signed in for days as they hadn't approved any of the Waymarks. If this was the case they might not have seen your call for "Officer" vote.

Nobody checks the box as "Absent" for some reason, even when away for a week.

[+ChapterhouseInc]

there needs to be some sort of further notifications about pending votes.....

 

similar to the 'there are new categories for peer review' link.

 

and then maybe another email the day before the vote ends, stating you havent voted and need to....

 

as for being 'away', that is too cumbersome of a process, and not all may realize this function....and thenremember to check it....

[+The Blue Quasar]

I have sent the proposed category description to Officer Vote again, and asked the Officers to let me know WHEN they have voted.

 

I do NOT want to know what their vote was, just that they HAVE voted.

 

We'll see what happens.

 

So far, I have received direct feedback about my first question from several of the officers, but not all.

 

Does "ABSTAIN" count towards the 100%? Or do ALL the Officer have to vote YEA? What if someone doesn't vote?

 

If the case is that EVERY Officer must vote YEA to pass the review, then having more than 3 Officers before the Category is finalized is more likely to cause problems (due to email problems, or vacations etc)

 

The Blue Quasar

[+chstress53]

What I have found is that all officers voting must know exactly when you are calling the vote, before you actually calll for a vote, for some reason as Jake39 said some officers are not online when you call for a vote. ANd few people are using the active/inactive button. I will never again have a Category that I lead have more than 3 officers before calling for the officer review ( As everyone must vote yea or it automatically fails. ) All of my failed Categories that had over 3 officers failed because getting more than 3 online over 3 days is impractical. I email both officers and until I here back from each personally it does not go to officer vote PERIOD. Then after the three of us vote yea, I as well as other officers promote other members up ( BUT NOT UNTIL AFTER PEER REVIEW) You risk too much for all that work when you have more than 3 officers to do this initial vote. When I had Categories fail the officer review, I called for votes to dismiss anyone who did not respond to my emails, then they were sucessfully demoted. In a nut shell the officer lists went from around 12 officers to 3 officers and without changes they all then passed officer review, and peer review and are now succesful categories with both waymarks and visits. Then all those demoted were brought back to officer status as all votes from now on only need 66% to pass and this seems to work with several officers onboard, some are online others not, and voting usually happens faster this way.

[+Ambrosia]

Whew, and people are gonna start getting the idea that Ambrosia's not a good person to ask to be an officer.

[+8Nuts MotherGoose]

Did you at the time of your submission check if all your officers had signed in lately?

I found some of the "Category Owners' where I am an Officer" , hadn't signed in for days as they hadn't approved any of the Waymarks. If this was the case they might not have seen your call for "Officer" vote.

Nobody checks the box as "Absent" for some reason, even when away for a week.

 

I have searched and searched....

Where is that box to check as "absent"? Could someone please creat a waymark for it? I really can't find it. Thanks.

[+chstress53]

It is here

 

chstress53 - Officer 2

[view profile]

 

status: active

call number: 3

last login: 9/17/2006

 

no message

 

See the word status, you can change it too inactive

 

These profiles are in each of the groups you belong too.

[+The Blue Quasar]

Well, it failed again.

 

I got a reply from every Officer except one, and now I am going through the process of demoting that one and asking if any others would rather resign (if they are unable to commit to the process).

 

For those interested, I did not ask how people voted, just if they did. Some people told me that they voted in favour and others said they voted. I did not receive any indication of a negative vote or request for description change.

 

I'll keep you posted as this develops, so we can learn together.

 

The Blue Quasar

[+Ambrosia]

Ok, this is one of the things that is a problem for me. I belong to so many groups, and I get the submissions for each and every one of them, even though I only actively take care of a few.

 

I pretty much ignore all of them, and just check my categories every once in a while to see which ones I need to approve waymarks in.

 

So I guess it's easy to miss group votes and stuff. Having two emails in a row has helped, with the automatic email and a personal email. This makes it stand out more to me.

 

What I really wish is that I could be an officer in these categories but have the option to turn of email notification of waymark submissions. That would cut down on my inbox so much, and help me to see essential emails.

[+robert]

What I really wish is that I could be an officer in these categories but have the option to turn of email notification of waymark submissions. That would cut down on my inbox so much, and help me to see essential emails.

Why not just switch to a member and let someone else be an officer to approve new submissions? Pick a few that you're really interested in and remain an officer in those.

 

[+Ambrosia]

What I really wish is that I could be an officer in these categories but have the option to turn of email notification of waymark submissions. That would cut down on my inbox so much, and help me to see essential emails.

Why not just switch to a member and let someone else be an officer to approve new submissions? Pick a few that you're really interested in and remain an officer in those.

 

Well, I dunno. They are categories where I can be officers and not have to approve.....and I really like the categories...

[+chstress53]

I agree with Robert; If you are not active as an officer in the Category then you should become just a member within that group.

But In my humble opinion if an officer is not actively taking part in Categories then they need to step down and let someone else or face demotion.

[+Ambrosia]

I agree with Robert; If you are not active as an officer in the Category then you should become just a member within that group.

But In my humble opinion if an officer is not actively taking part in Categories then they need to step down and let someone else or face demotion.

Each group that I am an officer in, I was invited to be an officer in. I'm pretty sure that in each case I said that I was involved with a lot of groups, and they assured me that I would not have to do extra work if I didn't want to and that they still wanted me as an officer.

 

If things ever change for them, I know that they will discuss that with me. So I'm thinking that the demotion comment in my case is really not appropriate.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Ambrosia

[+The Blue Quasar]

I asked Ambrosia to join my categories as an Officer because she is one of the more prolific Waymark participants (in my opinion).

 

Anyone that wants to be an Officer in a Group I start must be willing to reply to my emails. That's about it. The purpose of having multiple Officers is to share the duties, provide input for improvements, and help ensure proper operation of the Category.

 

Ambrosia, while not the most active Officer, has not done anything to make me feel that she is not capable of remaining an Officer in any of the Groups I've started. She responds to every email I send to her.

 

She is raising a valid point about the emails, which is not the most ideal solution (again, in my opinion). The better way (there's that opinion again) is that a daily email be sent out that informs an Officer that there are new Waymarks in for reveiw.

 

Often by the time I read the emails, another Officer has already acted. I pretty much ignore the emails, just go straight to MY CATEGOIES page on Waymarking and review what's left. I then look at my Categories to see if any were approved that shouldn't be and using the email, I over-ride the decision (until proper tools are provided)

 

The Blue Quasar

[+chstress53]

Ambrosia ,Sorrry I was not clear enough The demotion comment was not meant for you !!

 

This sentence was the only one that I meant for you

"I agree with Robert; If you are not active as an officer in the Category then you should become just a member within that group"

 

This sentence was generic if people are not active as offcers (and the leader defines what is active for them.)

"But In my humble opinion if an officer is not actively taking part in Categories then they need to step down and let someone else or face demotion."

 

I said this because Categories are failing because of lack of involvment of officers and they need to be demoted so the Category has a chance.

 

Even the Blue Quasar says

" got a reply from every Officer except one, and now I am going through the process of demoting that one and asking if any others would rather resign (if they are unable to commit to the process"

 

Evidently this does not apply to you as in another post the Blue Quasar says

"She responds to every email I send to her."

[+Ambrosia]

I agree with everything both of you said!

 

Thanks, guys. I understand all the issues here. I suddenly wanted to clarify my role as a Waymarking officer. I realized that perhaps I could be looked at wrong in what I do. It made me look through all the categories I am involved in to see where I am at, and that is always a good thing to do!

 

So I thank you for the self check, and the opportunity to discuss how I approach officership (is that a word?). I'm working with an owner right now in a new group, cleaning up the category description, and that reminded me that there is more to being an officer than approving new waymarks.

 

Ugh, I really want to get back more into Waymarking. I have a whole bunch that I have waymarked and visited but just have not submitted. I'll try and get on that.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Ambrosia

[+chstress53]

One way that I think some of this could be fixed is that TPTB could make "Can Review Waymarks" editable for the leader of the Categroy. That would stop all the extra submission emails. If an officer wants to only edit the Category for example; but have no other input then this should be allowable to the leader of the group to assign all Group ranks. Currently Leaders have no access to "Can Review Waymarks" You might have an expert in that Category and he would like his input to be in content only then this should be allowed,

[+Ambrosia]

Sounds like a good idea, I may have to start a thread about that tomorrow so that an important person can see it.