Guest Editorial

The Case for Open Elections

Douglas Myers, 1:270/720, doug@mdtnbbs.com

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid an open, sysop-level election for the soon to be vacated post of Zone 1 Coordinator. Selection of a Z1C by a limited number of Regional Coordinators choosing from among their number is certainly a more well ordered process than open elections have proven to be. In the past, open elections have been noisy processes, time consuming, and turn out has been disappointing. Nor has the process guaranteed an adequate office holder.

Most damning of all is that Fidonet Policy, while not actually prohibiting an open election, does clearly leave selection of a Zone Coordinator in the hands of the Regional Coordinators in the Zone.

Despite the strikes against the concept, this should be the year that Regional Coordinators declare an open, sysop-level election for the office of Z1C, and ratify the results of that election. Many factors indicate that this should be the year that we put aside strict observance of policy and go to the trouble of conducting open elections.

This is not the same Fidonet which existed when Policy was written. The Fidonet of that time was in a period of explosive growth. The daily influx of new, inexperienced sysops commanded a need for experienced leaders to keep the network stable. Today's Fidonet is shrinking, victim of the general decline of BBSing as new computer users flock to the Internet. The people in Fido today are the survivors of the hobby, the one's who stuck it out. They're lean and experienced and unlikely to accept authority which they didn't choose themselves.

Witness the changed perception of the Regional Coordinators over the years. At one time, they were sufficiently respected that they were able to wrest control of Fidonet despite the objections of it's very popular founder. In today's Fidonet, however, they are referred to as "Elflords" overseeing their kingdoms... not exactly a respectful analogy.

Is this lack of confidence earned? Probably not - many coordinators seem to do an outstanding job. However, they are part of an increasingly unpopular structure - appointed, often without input from their constituents... and perceived to have no responsibility to this constituency of increasingly experienced sysops.

A Zone Coordinator chosen from among their ranks with no input from sysops will simply have no mandate and suffer the same loss of confidence which afflicts the coordinator structure.

It's a new year for Fidonet. Can the Coordinator structure shed the ElfLord image? Will it finally be the Year of the Elves?