Dear Members,

I was honoured to have been nominated as a candidate for the recent AEC elections, I was pleased to have been successful and blown away that I also got the chair.

I have been chair for a few days now and haven’t yet been able to sit in it. The recently elected AEC has had to hit the ground running, with no time to ease into the role gently. My team have 3 months to deliver a successful term and help Neopoet move forward and evolve for the benefit of its members.

The responsibility is huge but a real exciting challenge for each one of us.

In order to make a noticeable difference, important decisions need to be made and some risks need to be taken.

My first thought, when being handed the chair, was “what do the members want?” Well, one word jumped out at me… Transparency.

I have spoken with the AEC and discussed the need for transparency and bridging the gap between members and the AEC. No more them and us, we are all one family of poets.

We have decided to publish the rules and guidelines that the AEC adhere to. They are known to the AEC as the AEC Members Action Manual (http://new.neopoet.com/aec-actions-manual). I have asked Andrew to publish these alongside the existing Community Guidelines. It is important to us that these rules and guidelines are made public, so that you the members of Neopoet can see and understand what actions we can take and why certain decisions are made. I will be working closely with the AEC to review these rules and guidelines and see if they can be updated or improved upon.

We are also keen to make the AEC more accessible to you. We intend to create sessions throughout the three month term in Chat where members of the AEC will be available to discuss with you issues, ideas, suggestions and comments about Neopoet. I will publish these sessions in a separate announcement once I have booked the times and dates.

In keeping with the subject of transparency, I have a serious announcement to make.

Today kaligantros (Theo) has been banned from Neopoet. This is not a suspension for a period of time, but a permanent ban. The decision was not made lightly, but previous suspensions for previous complaints have not prevented further disregard of the community guidelines. Habitual breaking of rules, personal attacks and refusal to remove abusive comments, have been taken into account in making our decision.

We do not intend to make public every action the AEC makes, but this particular complaint is serious and shows that the AEC will not tolerate continuous contravention of Neopoet guidelines.

Regards

Dan (Hooded Stranger) (Chair)
Stan (scribbler)
Chrys (China Blue)
Gee (Geezer)
Eddie (Eduardo Cruz)