English Coaches ... Team England Committee Election 2018

[Wulfyn]

Is sending a PM via tff the only way to vote? That seems very restrictive if it is the case as many English tournament goers are not registered here. Whilst there may be an argument to say if you cannot be bothered to sign up here then you don't care enough for your vote to count, by restricting the platforms we operate on we are being the opposite of inclusive - the very remit that started this whole process. If we don't uphold those ideals and values at every stage of this process then what legitimacy does any of this have?

Also is there a PM restriction here where new sign ups have to do something like post 10 times before they can PM?

We should be advertising how to vote over facebook, reddit, etc. to ensure maximum engagement. Otherwise it's just the same old faces running the show for the in group. Sann/Hawca, as returning officers do you feel it is your job to advertise wider or is that beyond the remit of what you were requested to help with?

[Jip]

...there may be an argument to say if you cannot be bothered to sign up here then you don't care enough for your vote to count...

Yeah, that'd be my take on it. You're inevitably going to find some tinfoil hat guys who aren't on any forum because the man is going through their bins, but it's not a massive ask to sign-up if it's something people have an interest in.

Also is there a PM restriction here where new sign ups have to do something like post 10 times before they can PM?

It feels like, by this point, every person on TFF has contributed at least ten posts to the Team England Committee discussion!

We should be advertising how to vote over facebook, reddit, etc. to ensure maximum engagement. Otherwise it's just the same old faces running the show for the in group.

I've seen it mentioned on Facebook in several Blood Bowl groups and on a few twitter accounts (including @SAWBBL, quick plug!) so, although it all links back to here, it's definitely out there.

[Pipey]

Voting on TFF, as advertised, seems fine to me.

Agree it'd be good to know the election is being advertised through every available channel. Sann are you able to help here?

[Leipziger]

As Jip said, it’s been on Facebook & Twitter.
It’s been posted on at least:
Blood Bowl Community group page (fb) - this group has 16.7k members
Waterbowl group page (fb)
West Yorkshire B.B. page (fb)
TYBBL (fb)

and tweeted/retweeted by:
TeamEnglandBB
NAF
SAWBBL
and a few other individual accounts.

Not sure re: Reddit

I’m not sure it’s the job of the returning officers to do the advertising for us (although any help is very welcome ofc). There’s more than enough of us to get word out and prompt people if they’re interested.

Re: voting via TFF, I’d agree with Jip & Pip(ey) that it seems ok to me.

[Joemanji]

I've already been plugging it on Twitter, now added something on TE's Facebook.

[Pipey]

Marvellous effort thanks guys.

Might even be worth editing the title of this thread to say VOTING NOW: ENDS *DATE*

Too much?

[Purplegoo]

Is there a restriction locking use of PMs behind a number of posts? If so we should work that out, as posting on TFF shouldn't be a requirement of having a say in TE affairs. I don't believe this is a thing, mind..?

That apart, I think TE has been really very good these past few years re: advertising votes and that sort of thing, including this one. If you have an interest in TE, or even if you don't and you're just an English coach surfing around looking at the BB internet on your lunch break, you'd have to work hard not to spot some advertising on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, the TE forum or TFF (and elsewhere, no doubt). We're really very good at beating ourselves up over engagement, but it isn't as if we aren't continually trying. I get Dan's point - but at the same time, it's not a high hurdle to get over, coming to TFF to vote. Especially since all of the proceeding information you would hope voters are vaguely across lives here. You can only do so much; I don't expect our returning officers (even if we have two for a reason I'm not 100 % across) to be checking for votes across 7 or more websites, it's not unreasonable to limit their workload to one inbox.

It'll be most interesting to see how many vote. Moving to TFF was positive (imo), but objectively it doesn't seem to have drummed up a higher number of people keen on making their democratic voice heard. That's absolutely fine, I just hope we remember that the next time we're flogging ourselves to death over it. I can see why we didn't continue the chat around this topic, but I struggled to order my eight beyond who I knew and how involved they've been in TE to date. It's a shame there was no time to discuss what people thought about the oft-debated topics, since they're apparently now going to have carte blanche to do as they please with them.

Anyway. /words.

[sann0638]

I'm just counting

[Pipey]

Appreciate it Mike

[lunchmoney]

Users in the "Newly registered users" group cannot PM.
This group is going nowhere as it catches all the spam bots, however if you know someone who has signed up and is still showing in the Newly registered users group let the mod team know and we can move to the Registered users group and they will get PM access.

[sann0638]

Decent number of votes received already, keep 'em coming! Can I ask a favour - if you are not known to me personally, can you put some sort of identifier on there (e.g. NAF name) that identifies you as an "English coach". Suggestions welcome for how to avoid random people voting!

[Purplegoo]

Considering the criteria for having a vote (Eligibility: The usual eligibility requirements for participation in Team England matters apply i.e. you must be English and have played at least one NAF sanctioned tourney in the previous 12 months.), I guess NAF name is the only way. How else can you check they've played in the last year?

[sann0638]

Excellent point. Always read the Ts and Cs. Will check NAF names.

[Wulfyn]

My point wasn't that we should be advertising via fb / reddit, but that we should be advertising to vote through those channels as well.

Every candidate and person here said they wanted to be more open and welcoming for others to be involved. Now you are saying that this is true just as long as they register on an old forum that only a minority of english blood bowlers use.

Which is it guys? Are you going to reach out to the wider community or restrict it to the tff club?

[Pipey]

I'd say that's something for future consideration, not to be implemented mid election.