The following covers a motion that came forward at the Mid-Winter IBT Meeting, but was ultimately referred back to committee.  Tom Collier, International 1st VP, was not the author of the motion, but adopted it as his own so that he could present it.

Tom Collier, I1VP: I move the board approve the following changes to the WBCCI.org/forum. Provide a Term of Service (TOS) statement to explain what is, and what is not appropriate to post. Make those registering aware that the forum will be moderated. Require a re-registration of all forum members. At this point they would have to provide their WBCCI club number, a valid email address, and review/agree to the new terms of service (TOS). Activate the moderator function of the forum. This will allow a designated individual, or individuals, to edit or remove selected posts or members who violate the TOS. Provide a thread for International Officers, for members to interact directly with them. This would be monitored by executive committee members on a schedule established by the International President. Provide threads for each region to post their monthly inputs to the Blue Beret, and any other information a region officer feels is relevant to their members. Publish an article in the Blue Beret, explaining the changes in the forum, and inviting members to make recommendations of ways to make the forum more useful to them. Create a continuing article in the Blue Beret of abstracts from the forum. Implement these changes (audio cut-out) to their publication in the Blue Beret.

Rationale: These changes are needed to improve the operation of the wbcci.org/forum by providing new services and clarifying rules of usage.

Let’s break this down, shall we?

Provide a Term of Service (TOS) statement to explain what is, and what is not appropriate to post.
Are there currently posts that contain inappropriate materials? What are they, and why do they not belong? What current forums issues specifically require a TOS to be implemented? Examples please.

Require a re-registration of all forum members. At this point they would have to provide their WBCCI club number, a valid email address, and review/agree to the new terms of service (TOS).
Why this drastic measure? Will members re-registering lose their current identities and traces to all of their previous work (posts)?

Activate the moderator function of the forum. This will allow a designated individual, or individuals, to edit or remove selected posts or members who violate the TOS.
Again, why all this need for control, now subjective control. A post or individual should be removed according to whom? What are the current examples that show these actions and new enforcements are necessary?

Provide a thread for International Officers, for members to interact directly with them. This would be monitored by executive committee members on a schedule established by the International President.
What the hell is this? We’re going to legislate the implementation of a schedule for executive members to monitor the forums? We know the majority of our international leaders don’t post. Could it even be possible that our international leaders don’t even monitor the official club forums? Googly-Goo!

There’s an ages old phrase — don’t fix what ain’t broken. If it’s broken prove it to the membership by example, don’t be legislating to protect a group that won’t even engage!

You can follow what others have to say about this topic here: WBCCI Forum Improvements