[Baypiggies] Voting for a new name

[Marilyn Davis]

Deirdre said:

> If you're worried about membership in a professional organization,  
> let me be the first to say that BayPIGgies was never intended as a  
> professional organization: there weren't dues, there weren't $1000+  
> conferences, there were just people who happened to be interested in  
> Python. It was not organized as a group of people interested in a  
> name change for a group about Python.

Thank you Deirdre.  That clears up everything for me!  I wish you
would have said that in the beginning when Wes asked for people to
step forward to be leaders and so I said:

> I would like to be active in a professional group that is centered
> around Python.  But I am reticent to step forward here for two
> reasons.  One is the name.  'Baypiggies' is cute but it doesn't say
> what we are or suggest professionalism.  The other obstacle to my
> whole-hearted participation is the expectation that private email
> messages carry an obligation of secrecy for the recipient.  I wonder
> if there is a mechanism for changing these things?

It's true that my department director cringed and became dismissive of
me after I told him I was giving a talk at baypiggies, even after I
said what it was, but that's not my big issue.  I can certainly
remember to say the whole name next time.

After much thought, I realize that the deeper problem I have with the
name is that it is degrading, self-defeating, and impolite.  I think I
concentrated on 'silly' and 'unprofessional' in the beginning to be
kind, so I wouldn't have to say words like those.  There is no other
group name I have ever heard of, or read about in this conversation,
that fits adjectives like those.

On Wed, 12 Apr 2006, Rich Morin wrote:

> I felt a bit funny voting for a new name, as I'm not a
> big user of Python and have never attended a meeting.
> 
> However, having been involved in the leadership of a
> number of organizations, I recognize the significance
> of names, etc.  If the group is going to become a
> professional organization (still an open question!),

You see, I had no idea that this was an open question or the poll
would have been about this.

If anyone else wants to set up a poll about this question, or any
question, you can do so, without my help or anyone's permission, via
an email command.

To learn how:

1.  Send a message to:

    python at deliberate.com

2.  The subject doesn't matter.

3.  The message should say:

    eVote help poll
    end

BTW, the instructions talk about the 'list'.  This is because usually
eVote is integrated with an email list so that discussion and voting
can share the same address, subject line, and list of email addresses.

In our case, messages that don't start with the word 'eVote' will be
eaten instead of sent to everyone.

Gawd, I love this old software.

Thanks for the excuse to display it.

Marilyn


p.s.  John Jacq tells me that the web site's server is up again:

http://jacq.istos.com.au/python

Or, if you like sticking to email:

1.  Send a message to:

    python at deliberate.com

2.  The subject must be:

    Change name?

3.  Your message must be:

    eVote n  <-  where n is 1, 0, or -1
    end