Introduction
As many of you already know, I followed this year’s PASS Election cycle fairly closely. I interviewed all the PASS Board of Directors applicants so that you, my loyal readers (both of you!) could get to know these people interested in leading part of our community.
You can read those interviews here:
- Allen Kinsel
- Andy Warren
- Denny Cherry
- Douglas McDowell
- Geoff Hiten
- Jack Corbett
- Mark Ginnebaugh
- Markus Sprenger
- Steve Jones
Why?
The PASS organization provides some benefit to the larger SQL Server community. The Summit is awesome! And they’re starting to branch out now with SQL Saturday and SQL Rally. All good things.
My First Thought
After last year’s PASS Board election I asked myself (and almost blogged): “Self, why doesn’t PASS allow write-ins in the voting process?” Obviously, I’ve decided to pose this thought to you (both of you!) and would like your thoughts.
Andy
Several people have posed this question. I’m not sure that write-ins are the way to go. I understand the desire to be able to choose "your" candidate, but I also think that having a process that ensures some level of qualification is needed.
Also what happens if the person being written in doesn’t desire the position>
I think we are reaching a point (if we are not there already) where it is clear to all that PASS is not and does not wish to be a legitimate community run entity.
That is not to say they do not serve the community and it is not to say that PASS is not an outstanding resource. The PASS conference is second to none and the Board that runs PASS is top notch.
But as Stu Ainsworth rightly points out on his CodeGumbo blog, PASS is a business.
Would any of us have any expectation of deciding as to how DevConnections, SSWUG, SQLBlog, SQLServerCentral, SQLServerPedia, or SQLCruise should serve the community? No. Because we know that while they server the community, they are not community run.
I think the frustration is that PASS seems to want it both ways. PASS wants to be a business like the other SQL community resources in our space, but they also want the perception that they are community run.