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Minutes of the TLDA Board Meeting
Held via Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
on January 16, 2002 at 23:00 EDT. Board Members Present: Leah Gallegos
Karl Peters
Marc Brittan
John Palmer
Bradley Thornton The Secretary and Chairman of The Board, John Palmer, called the meeting to order and calling the roll. Note that not all members listed above were present at the time that the meeting was called to order but joined later. John Palmer made motions regarding the approval of the minutes of the December 12, 2001 meeting MOTION 1 BY JOHN PALMER That the reading of the minutes of the December 12, 2001 meeting be dispensed with and that
they be approved by the Board. SECONDED BY MARC BRITTAN VOTE: YES: John Palmer, Leah Gallegos, Marc Brittan, Karl Peters, Bradley Thornton
TOTAL: 5 YES. THE MOTION IS AGREED TO The board next heard reports from officers and committees. Bradley Thornton gave a report about the Records Committee: "We had some discussion a while back on the records committee regarding resources being made available to the community and membership. There was pretty much consensus (I shudder to use that word because it doesn't mean anything) on just about everything with a few ideas added in by Leah that were well thought out and served to improve upon the initial suggestions basically, without flooding the channel: - We came up with the notion of several items (resources) that should probably be made available (with links)
- Also discussed not burdening (JP) with any of the augmentation related items of the website which kind of left us wondering where to seek content development assistance from that was a major drawback that we should probably discuss
- Also kicked around the ideas of delegation of TLDA resources to either sub-committees that we could form from volunteer members (probably not many with the time or experience perhaps?) or volunteer sub-contractors. I don't have the resources at this time to dedicate a content developer to the project out here but I may. Yet this isn't something that we should really wait on (the facelift for the website).
- There wasn't too much, if any discussion about weblogs/webboards/etc... like we had in the meeting before last and the one before that - pretty much something like that would really (IMO) only serve as a public benefit for faq's etc.. in PR or to facilitate a public forum - we've already ascertained here for the most part that a message board wouldn't probably serve us any better than regular email lists at this point (for the members, that is)."
The discussion of a bulletin board like the one similar to ICANNWATCH.ORG was discussed. John Palmer made the following comments: "First, the Records committee is supposed to be the keeper of all of the records, such as membership lists, lists of who is in what office, probably the list of nominees and vote counts from all of the past elections, etc. I have all of that now. Most of the stuff is in one MS Access database. I have a few queries and reports that can be of use. If Records wants a copy of that or if they want to take it over, just let me know. I'll volunteer to keep track of it as long as you like.
As for the web site, it needs a better look first. That's something I can work on. Next, we need, sorry to say, to justify the existence of our industry. Too many people are painting us as kooks and "snake oil salesmen". We need a good writing on who we are, what is our industry, and why we aren't bad people. Then some links to articles and resources, like was mentioned above. Then, the message board. I like the ICANNWATCH site. Its a good model Yes, the message board would be great, but lets get the more basic stuff done first. Also, there is no reason why we cant work on this in parallel if more than one person is willing to work on it. We should hurry up and get as much done by the membership meeting (Mar 14) as possible".
The Board also heard from a member, Marc Storck who also thought that the website should be redesigned.
John Palmer made a motion: MOTION 2 BY JOHN PALMER That we post a request for discussion and request for volunteers on the members list requesting assistance in designing the website and finding/providing content. SECONDED BY MARC BRITTAN VOTE: YES: John Palmer, Leah Gallegos, Marc Brittan, Karl Peters, Bradley Thornton
TOTAL: 5 YES. THE MOTION IS AGREED TO Bradley Thornton agreed to post a seed discussion on the Members list to solicit assistance from members. Bradley Thornton gave a report regarding the Ways and Means Committee: Most discussion has been over the phone and centered around fund raising and perhaps asking the ccTLDs for assistance The subject of the bad reaction that the ccTLDs had to our last email invitation was discussed. Most agreed that we should work through personal contacts to slowly introduce ourselves to the ccTLDs. As for publicity, it was suggested that we build a press kit indicating who we are and what we have to offer members as well as the public. John Palmer reiterated his opinion that we have to build some substance first in order to build a press kit. Leah gave a report regarding the Compliance/Taproot committees. There hasn't been much progress, but Sash Cacoroski put together a rough cut of TLDs as a starter. Secretary Palmer reported that the website now resides at TLDA.NET per last month's Board vote, with a redirect page on TLDA.ORG. Other than that, he reiterated his invitation for folks to send him any relevant material for the website. Marc Brittan informed us that, due to a new work assignment, he will have to resign his position as treasurer. We asked him to stay on until we found a replacement. Karl brought up the Georgia incorporation again. Analysis of the Delaware documents indicate that the renewal in DE is due March 7. John Palmer made a motion: MOTION 3 BY JOHN PALMER THAT THE BOARD AUTHORIZED KARL PETERS TO FILE THE ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION IN GEORGIA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BUT NO EARLIER THAN MARCH 8, 2002.
SECONDED BY LEAH GALLEGOS VOTE: YES: Leah Gallegos, Marc Brittan, Karl Peters, John Palmer, Bradley Thornton
TOTAL: 5 YES. THE MOTION IS AGREED TO The next item on the agenda is the annual meeting on St. Simmons Island, GA. Karl had previously indicated that his Foundation would pay for plane tickets for all Board members. We need to have the details in place so that people could make plans by February 15th. Karl agreed to provide details as soon as possible. The next item on the agenda is the search for a President. A President is needed to preside over the annual membership meeting. A suggestion was made for a nominee and Bradley Thornton was to ask this person and report back to the Board within 2 days if the person was interested. As it was getting late, the rest of the agenda items were put on hold for discussion on the list. John Palmer made a motion: MOTION 4 BY JOHN PALMER THAT ITEMS 6.A-D on the agenda (Taproot Publication Criteria, Publicity Push, Upcoming Elections) be discussed on the board list and no action need be taken on them tonight. SECONDED BY LEAH GALLEGOS VOTE: YES: Marc Brittan, Leah Gallegos, John Palmer, Bradley Thornton, Karl Peters
TOTAL: 5 YES. THE MOTION IS AGREED TO. Karl suggested a motion to discuss the upcoming (March) elections at a special board meeting next week, but it was decided to deal with this on the Board and Elections list. There being no further business, Chairman Palmer made the following motion: MOTION 7 BY JOHN PALMER Motion to Adjourn. SECONDED BY LEAH GALLEGOS
VOTE: YES: John Palmer, Leah Gallegos, Bradley Thornton, Karl Peters, Marc Brittan
TOTAL: 5 YES. THE MOTION IS AGREED TO. The meeting was adjourned at 2:24am EDT, January 17, 2002
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Corporate Documents 
