Tag: wsfs meeting

Again, maximum mea culpa, yesterday was a garbage fire, and for more reasons than you might expect.

Liveblog of the preliminary meeting here.

Liveblog of business meeting 1 here.

Summary of the preliminary and meeting 1 here.

Liveblog of business meeting 2 here.

Liveblog of business meeting 3 here.

The agenda is available here.

Business Meeting 2 Summary

• Site selection! Washington, DC will have WorldCon 2021, DisCon III.
• “No Deadline for Nominations Eligibility” is amended to make deadline of January 31, gets a little name change due to there now being a deadline, and is sent on to ConZealand for ratification.
• “Best Game or Interactive Experience” is referred to the Hugo Study Committee with instructions that it should be given to an appointed subcommittee in which the originators of that amendment will be invited to participate.
• “Five and Five,” through cunning action, is amended to become “Five and Six” while still removing the sunset provisions. The new “Five and Six” passes and will be sent on to ConZealand for ratification.
• The earlier motion to suspend five and six for 2020 fails.
• “Clear Up the Definition of Public in the Artist Category Forever” passes and will be sent on to ConZealand for ratification.
• Serpentine count: 0

Business Meeting 3 Summary: 

• On handouts presenting arguments (this year, both were against amendments) being brought to the business meeting, the chair rules that that there is nothing in the rules that disallows this, so it is allowed, and notes that we have the ability as a body to change the rules.
• “Non-transferability of Voting Rights” is referred to committee.
• “Preserving Supporting Membership Sales for Site Selection” passes on, to be considered for ratification at ConZealand.
• Congratulations on Jesi for chairing their first business meeting! Kevin gave them an engraved gavel!
• Serpentine count: 0

Liveblog of the preliminary meeting here.

Liveblog of business meeting 1 here.

Summary of the preliminary and meeting 1 here.

Liveblog of business meeting 2 here.

The agenda is available here.

1003: Due to a lack of coffee service at the Business Meeting, your liveblogger is slightly late from running to the local Centra to get coffee for herself and tea for Alex.

1008: The Chairperson assures us that not having coffee and tea today is a punishment for making us run into Monday. This is fair.

1012: DIscussion about the hanbdouts yesterday as being debate. By bringing debate into the room as a handout, they are cutting into debate time and this is unfair. Requests a ruling on this from the chair. Due to the nature of printed and distributed materials, this point is in order. Nothing in the rules that explicitly disallows handouts of any kind, not any provision about printed materials classified as debate. While they qualify philosophically as debate, procedurally they do not. With the state of our current rules, they are not disallowed. However, this will be addressed next year with the new resolution proposed at the end of yesterday’s meeting.

1018: Motion to appeal the ruling of the chair. Arguments in favor include privileging the opinions of the motion publishers. Ruling is sustained, however it is good to remember the meeting has the ability to change the rules and that if we wish to do so, we have the power.

1029: Item D9, Non-Transferrability of Voting Rights. This would essentially divorce the membership of WSFS from attending the con. There seems to be some confusion about whether this means attendees would be able to attend the Business Meeting, and if transferred supplements need a supporting membership, and if that means voting members would pay more than people who only attend.

1036: Motion to refer to committee with Dave McCarty, Ben Yalow, and Kate Secor (along with anyone else who is interested and willing). Ben agrees to chair the committee.  Vote to refer to committee passes.

1044: On to Item D10, Preserving Supporting Membership Sales for Site Selection. Cliff Dunn in favor as it would clarify existing procedure and prevent some gaming of the system. Kent Bloom against, as it seems very nitpicking, and that it should be up to the con’s administrators to deal with. Todd Dashoff in favor, we have a nitpicking committee, let them have a few more nits if they want. It is a good idea because many new sites are in the running and it makes it clear to them. PRK against, to refer to the same comnmittee as D9 as that would have an effect on D10. Kate Secor against referring as it is a simnple change, and the committee can always add language about this as part of their deliberation. Joshua Kronengold moves to close debate. Motion is not referred to committee.  Underlying motion passes, D10 will be passed on to next year.

1047: The Business Meeting commends the head table for their work this year. A chair falls down, but the Chair assures us they have not fallen down. Kevin Standlee rises for recreational parlimentarianism.

1050: The Chair is presented with an engraved gavel which says “Jesi Lipp, Chair, World Science Fiction Society, 2019, Dublin, Ireland”. The Chair admits they had fun, even though it is sick and twisted to call this fun. Audio and video crew is thanked. Meeting is adjourned sine dea.

Liveblog of the preliminary meeting here.

Liveblog of business meeting 1 here.

Summary of the meetings so far here.

The agenda is available here.

(Corina is still liveblogging!)

1011: Good morning all!  The Site Selection results are in, and our 2021 Worldcon will be DisCon III in Washington, DC. Please see DisCon3.org for more details. As usual, Minneapolis in ’73 got a few votes – I for one am looking forward to it.

1018: Standing ovation for DisCon III Fan Guest of Honor Ben Yalow. Congrats Ben!

1025: Reminder that the 2020 NASFiC was awarded to Columbus – Columbus2020NASFiC.org is the website.

1028: Quick presentation by CoNZealand. Housing opens in early December, next price rise is Oct 1. Program signups are available now. CoNZealand.nz is the website.

1030: Kevin Roche passes along some funds from Worldcon 76 to Dublin 2019, CoNZealand, and DisCon III.

Half hour recess for the Worldcon Chair photo, until 1100.

1100: Meeting called to order.

1114: Resumed with D8, No Deadline for Nominations Eligibility. There is an amendment to add a 2024 sunset clause by Martin Pyne, who argues for it as a case against self-promotion. Nicholas Whyte opposes it because either it is a good idea or it is not, and a sunset clause would be counterproductive. Elspeth Kovar speaks in favor because it is easier to not vote for something than to vote it down – we do not have to wait until the end of the time period to vote it down if we don’t want. Will give us a chance to test it. Joshua Kronengold calls the question on the amendment. Amendment fails. D8 proceeds unamended. Speech in favor – we should not be ruled by fear. As long as we have EPH and other measures to prevent slating, we should not hamper the ability of people to vote. Perrianne Lurie against as people will game the system. Terry Ash, speech in favor, we should not try to define “unworthy” and putting a deadline on membership does not magically make a work better. Kevin Standlee against, original reason for a deadline had no relationship to 2015 and there was an “entryism” problem which is why we had a Jan deadline. Moves to amend to reinstate Jan 31 as the deadline.

1120: Entryism is always a problem, and keeping members of the previous Worldcon helps to balance this. Jan 31 is a decent compromise and it will return us to where we were. Todd Dashoff against, doesn’t see the point of ping-pong between January and December. RIck Kovalchik, against, technology is not perfect so it is good to have time between buying a membership and nominating a work. Amendment passes. PRK moves to extend debate time by 4 minutes but it is not seconded. Or is it? A second is heard. However it is not extended. D8 passes.

1122: D13 is up next, Best Game or Interactive Experience. The maker of the movement will not be here tomorrow so we will take it up now.

1132: Ira Alexandre speaks in favor of a Hugo Award for games as it is viable, includes low-cost and free elements, and because it is a unique storytelling experience particularly related to speculative fiction. This would be the first media-inclusive award for games. GamesHugo.com for the full report. Perrianne Lurie motions to refer to committee to report back next year. Lisa Padol against the motion to refer, first because the committee has a lot of work and we don’t need to add to it. Second, there is a 60-page report with significant research. We could not do more. Rafe Richards for the referral to committee because he would like to reword or rework the proposal in committee. Alex Acks speech against (they will time themselves), echoes Perrianne’s sentiment and would say if there is a committee it should be its own specific one rather than the general committee. Kate Secor in favor bvecause the Hugo Study Committee is moving to a more direct forum for discussion and will make subcommittees so it would be OK to have it as part of the main committee. Also, there is so much discussion to be had that it should be in a format other than the Business Meeting.

1142: Martin Pyne motions to amend the motion to refer by having a dedicated subcommittee in the Hugo Awards Study Committee.  Perrianne Lurie against this amendment because having the same 9 people discussing the same thing will not be productive. Terry Neill in favor because the Hugo Study Committee can appoint others than just the same 9 people as well. Lisa Padol moves to call the question on the amendment. Passes. Back to the motion to refer to committee. Ben Yalow in favor of referring, because of technical issues with the wording of the motion due to category overlap, etc. and that a committee is better suited to cleaning these up. (Ira mentions these are explicitly addressed in the supplementary materials.) Question called on the motion to refer. Passes.  D13 is referred to committee/subcommittee to report back next year.

1147: Moving on to D7, Five and Five. Karl-Johan Noren in favor, wants to keep the reading burden on voters low and reduce strain on Hugo Ceremony, Reception Committee, Loser’s Party, and admins. We should trust in EPH as it is a better system. Rafe Richards moves to amend the motion so it does not subtract six or add five to 3.8.1. Head table consults as to what this would actually mean.

1159: Chairperson clarifies what this amendment would do – it would keep 6 but still get rid of the sunset clause. (Reversing the intent of the original motion.) The 5 and 6 was established as a motion against bad actors, and we should not dismantle these. The Worldcons can bear the financial burden, and if we are going to spend money on things, the Hugo Awards a re a good thing to spend it on. Mostly, this gives us more amazing works recognized that we can be exposed to. This is a great thing! Let’s keep it. Kathryn Duval against the amendment because it reverses the intent of the original motion, and for many of the same reasons stated earlier, because it does not respect the original intent of those who sponsored it. Lisa Hayes in favor because the bad actors are not gone. People can still submit fewer if they do not read all the things. In favor of increasing administrator pay if necessary. Chris Duval against because the amendment is unjust (going against the spirit of the original).

1202: Vote on the amendment (to keep 6, and to get rid of the sunset clause) passes. Back to D7, moved to call the question. Motion passes, keeping 6 and removing the sunset clause.

1207: B4, Suspend 5 and 6 for 2020, is up. Lisa Padol, it would be good information to test this out for data purposes since we are now considering keeping 6 permanently. Rafe Richards, let’s keep 6 for the exact same reasons as stated earlier. Moved to call the question. Motion fails, keeping 5 and 6 for 2020.

Ten minute recess to resume at 1217.

1232: Request to take up D11 now due to access needs. No objection. D11 is Clear Up the Definition of Public in the Artist Category Forever. Terry Ash in favor because too much is left up to the administrators as the only explicit definition is “convention art shows”. This means the Internet can be excluded. This would define “public” with more examples and give an expansive and inclusive definition in the constitution. Martin Pyne against, moves to refer to committee to discuss both this and the fan artist category. Reasoning is that the discussion should be holistic, and making piecemeal changes is not an answer. Cath De McMahaffee against moving it to committee as we are so currently dealing with it actively we should be moving more quickly than the committee, which did not even meet on this question last year. Ben Yalow in favor of moving to committee, as while the art committee failed to meet, the Hugo Study Committee did meet many times, so they can be trusted to discuss this and report back. Christopher Braithwaite against moving to committee, sees no reason not to do this as the study committee can still make changes in the future, this does not prevent them from doing so. Cliff Dunn, we should change both Fan and Pro Artist as part of the same motion rather than as two over separate years, so in favor of committee. Terry Ash, categories are borked however no reason not to fix for next year something that can be fixed now. Terry Neill, we have wasted a year, it was a grave injustice to disqualify a work because it was only displayed on the Internet, this is a message that the will of the body is to recognize the Internet as a viable medium for displaying art. Not moved to committee.

1133: Joshua Kronengold moves to call the question. Vote on D11 passes.

1136: We are going to reorder the agenda to take up B.5, Credit to Translators of Written Fiction, and an additional standing rule change, as they will take less time.

1243: B5 would award a Hugo to the credited translator of a novel, novella, novelette, and short story, when the original text is not in English. A translator’s contribution can make a great difference in preserving the quality of the original work, and this should be recognized. Kent Bloom against, confused about what this is trying to do – it is within the authority of the administering Worldcon or dealt with as a constitutional amendment depending on what they are trying to do, so is not appropriate as a resolution. Ben Yalow against, couple of technical issues – we award the Hugo to the work not the author, so we should not award it to the translator. Also, we do not award the editor, cover artist, etc. of a particular winning work as would be equivalent. Joshua Kronengold wishes to extend debate, but it fails. Resolution fails.

1257: B.6 Standing Rule Change, if you are making a written response to new business you must submit it 14 days before the business meeting so the origininators of the new business can have a chance to repsond in the same (written) fashion. Kate Secor appreciates the thought behind such written responses, but agrees with Nicholas Whyte that it is unfair that the originators are unable to respond in a similar fashion. This would give us a procedure to fall back on. Don Eastlake against, moves to refer to Nitpicking and Flyspecking for next year. Rick Falcheck against as hearing some more opinions would be great, however we have no time remaining for this.  Linda Deneroff against as secretary because it would negate the 30 day submission time that came in handy this year. Referred to committee.

12589: D9 and D10 to be considered tomorrow. Meeting adjourned for today.

Liveblog of the preliminary meeting here.

Liveblog of business meeting 1 here.

Preliminary Business Meeting Summary

• Standing Committess gave their reports and were re-appointed for the following year. If you’re curious about the reports, find them here.
• Special committees also gave their reports.
  • The subcommittee that was supposed to address fan artist/professional artists did not turn in a report and was dissolved, to be folded back into the Hugo study committee, at request of the chair.
  • No report from the remote participation committee, with a promise that shit will be gotten together in the coming year, as shit was most definitely not together this past year. On that understanding, committee was re-appointed for another year.
• San Jose WorldCon gave a brief report and brought pass-along funds to be distributed. They will be holding more funds in reserve pending the resolution of the lawsuit. Current status of that is four of the five claims have been dismissed with prejudice (leaving only the defamation claim), and all those named in the complaints except the WorldCon itself have been freed from this mess as well.
  • My opinion, which does not in any way reflect what was said by the WorldCon chair, who was very circumspect and remarkably restrained: JDA remains, miles ahead of the depressingly robust competition, science fiction’s most pathetic piece of shit, and I hope he ends up having to pay every penny of legal fees for this frivolous nonsense.
• A standing rules change is made to allow the Committee of the Whole to extend its discussion/debate time without having to ask the meeting for permission, to save us from the absolute mess we had last year.
• Eligibility of the films Prospect and Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin were extended via resolution.
• Resolution to suspend 5 and 6 for 2020 was definitely postponed until after we deal with the proposed amendment (“Five and Five”) that would render it moot.
• Debate time is set for all of the many new constitutional amendments. Mostly.
  • “Best Translated Novel” is postponed indefinitely.
  • An attempt is made to postpone “Five and Five” indefinitely, which fails.
  • An attempt is made to postpone “Best Game or Interactive Experience”  indefinitely also fails, possibly due to the argument that even if the amendment might fail, it deserves the courtesy of debate.
• Serpentine Count: 1

Business Meeting 1 Summary

• Two amendments passed on from last year are ratified: “Adding Series to the Series” and “Comic Books and Graphic Stories”
• The third amendment passed on from last year, “Notability Still Matters,” fails to be ratified on a Serpentine, 41 for to 44 against. There is also an explosion of parliamentary wrangling and total confusion.
• The broadside of Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee amendments proceeds:
  • “Clarification of WorldCon Powers,” “A Problem of Numbers,” and “The Needs of the One” are unanimously passed on to the next business meeting for ratification.
  • “Disposition of NASFiC ballot” and “That Ticket Has Been Punched” are passed on to the next business meeting after some wrangling about wording and meaning.
  • “The Forward Pass” is referred back to the Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee after a series of amendments ate all of the debate time. (Leaving me clutching my stopwatches and unable to scream, “You have now made this completely noncompliant with GDPR!”)
    • Cue more parlimentary confusion during this item, though not nearly as severe as what we had during “Notability Still Matters.”
• After the absolute mess that was “The Forward Pass,” the business meeting wisely conceded that maybe “Five and Five” was going to be a little too rough to try to get through in one day… so after failing to adjourn, we decided to take up “No Deadline for Nominations Eligibility” instead, because that was definitely going to be a cause for much less emotional debate*. Debate was started, and then the meeting was adjourned after a motion to amend the amendment with a sunset clause was offered, because the wordsmithing needed to be done. Debate will resume with its time refreshed tomorrow.
  • * yes, sarcasm.
• As a note, the “Best Game or Interactive Experience” amendment will be taken up as the Business Meeting 2 immediately after Site Selection is finished and we clean up the mess we started and didn’t finish on “No Deadline for Nominations Eligibility,” as the creator of that amendment will not be able to attend on Monday.
• Serpentine Count: 2

The agenda is available here.

Alex: Sorry that I didn’t get a summary of the preliminary done for y’all yesterday. My schedule was kind of a garbage fire–thankfully today is a bit calmer. I’m hoping to catch up on things this evening and get you TWO whole summaries. Also, I appreciate your patience on spelling corrections, etc. Liveblog will commence shortly under normal rules, courtesy of my super awesome housemate Corina, long may she reign.

0959: GOOD MORNING BUSINESS MEETING FANS! I have been told I should direct you all to my Twitter, which is @Zeteram. Mostly I post pictures of my cats.

1007: Business meeting commences a little late as the head table was having a discussion about something. A new Resolution is added to the meeting called B4: Credit to Translators of Written Fiction, to say that when a work in translation for Novel/Novella/Novelette, and Short Story wins a Hugo, that a Hugo is also awarded to the credited translator.

1009: Kent Bloom has a response from Helsinki regarding surplus funds.  There are funds, and they will consider the applications but have not currently made any grants.  He cannot find anyone representing MidAmericon II for the same question.

1012: Commentary on item C3 (A Response to the Proposal to Eliminate the Membership Deadline for Hugo Award Nominating Rights) is distributed. Ballots for MPC membership voting are distributed.

1017: Voting for MPC completes. Tellers will count the ballots.

1020: The meeting moves to Business Passed On. Debate for item C1, Adding Series to the Series, commences. Jo Van Eckeren states it is a tidying-up measure. No speeches against. Motion passes unanimously.

1026: Item C2: Comic Books and Graphic Stories. Kate Secor explains that the Graphic Story category should include “or Comic” as a clarification for comics fans. Rene Walling crunched the numbers and explains that 54% of the winners and 63% of the finalists have been comics.  Also, manga fans may feel excluded as may other fans of similar media. It should not be our responsibility to list everything. Joshua Kronengold speech for, explaining that “Graphic Novel” has been used by people who dislike comics and it is a sign that we don’t dislike comics if we use the term “comics”. Perianne Lurie for, the title makes no difference compared to the substance so if the title is offensive we should fix that. Chris Barkley for, explains there was initally a debate to add Comics in the first place and that it was always his intent to do so eventually. Motion passes.

1035: Item C3, Notability Still Matters. Dave McCarty speech for, explains it would lower the burden on administrative staff as many administrators publish a long “long list” anyway. B y getting rid of the “must”, it leaves this open. Cliff Dunn moves to amend the motion by adding “Notwithstanding the 4% rule, any round that affects the elimination of a candidate that either appears on or changes the final ballot shall be included in the results”.  Chairperson refers the question of whether this is a lesser change or greater change to the body of the meeting. Motion to refer the amendment (and thereby the entire motion) to committee to report back tomorrow. There is some confusion as to whether this is permissible and whether it is a lesser or greater change.  Chairperson declares a pause to consult with the head table.

1043: Confusion about parlimentary procedure abounds.

1047: Motion is referred to committee after reading aloud from Robert’s Rules of Order. Cliff Dunn and Dave McCarty will be on the committee along with anyone else they choose.

1048: MPC election results reported. Kevin Standlee, Ben Yalow, and Jo Van Eckeren are elected to the MPC for the current year. Recess to reconvene at 1100.

1100: Meeting reconvenes. Now with more coffee! Or tea, as the case may be.

1108: The committee that was told to report back tomorrow is now finished and reports back. Dave Wallace points out if the committee reports back tomorrow we will reset the time limits, but if they report today we have no time left. Chair says we can extend the time today if necessary. Vote to allow the committee to report today (passed). Cliff Dunn reports. The intent was to avoid a situation where something had not made 4% but had made the final ballot, but due to the way EPH works this would have effectively done nothing. Amendment withdrawn.

1112: Debate time on C3 reset to six minutes. Speech against, Dave Wallace. Summarizes the handout as he was a co-author, largely that the Short Story category is disproportionally affected and that it would have left off many excellent stories by well-known names in the field. As this helps Hugo voters to discover new works, the harm of leaving this information off outweighs the benefits of the proposed amendment.

1118: Ben Yalow in favor, less than 4% nominations are noise not signal. Kate Secor against, statistically they may not be significant but emotionally they are.  The field is full of great material and any attention paid to outstanding works is helping promote them, and this is a good thing. Rene Walling in favor, “may” be withheld is not binding and he trusts the Hugo administrators on this. Dave McCarty in favor, as an administrator it is unlikely this would ever be used on a “live” Hugo and would benefit administering single-digit nominations, mostly for Retros, because we use the same rules for both. Leave the judgment to the administrators, who care deeply abvout the awards. Lisa Padel speech for, recognize that administrators are human and this places a tremendous burden on them. Vote to adopt C3. CLOSE CALL…HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!

1121: Serpentine results show 41 for, 44 against. C3 fails.

1124: Moving on to new constitutional amendments. If these pass, they will be passed on to next year’s Business Meeting to be ratified. Item D1, Clarification of Worldcon Powers. Kevin Standlee explains the reasoning for the amendment – the Worldcon for each year has the authority over Hugos for that year, and a future Worldcon cannot affect the Hugos for any other year, to make it mechanically impossible for a future Worldcon to “take away” Hugos from a previous year. Motion passes unanimously.

1130: D2, Disposition of the NASFiC Ballot. Would resolve Site Selection if it crashes at a NASFiC, which has never happened, but this would allow for a safety net and call a Business Meeting at a NASFiC solely to deal with site selection. Couple questions clarifying this take up the time allotted for debate in favor. Kent Bloom speech against as he believes it is unnecessary as the NASFiC rules currently stand, and that it would only encourage recreational parlimentarianism. Motion passes.

1133: D3, A Problem of Numbers. Technicalities to clarify that you can vote in the Final Hugo Awards and the Site Selection even if you do not know your membership number or it has not yet been assigned, as the staff may supply it for you. Joni Daschoff relates a personal experience when it was difficult to find that number, so she supports the amendment. Motion passes unanimously.

1135: Item D4, The Needs of the One. Clarifies that an item can be moved around on an individual ballot, while the other clauses in the line item applies to categories as a whole. Motion passes unanimously.

1142: Item D5, The Forward Pass. Clarifies that the pass-along of member information to future Worldcons must be done in compliance with all appropriate laws such as GDPR. Perianne Lurie believes it is unnecessary because site selection is purchasing a membership, and if you did not want this information transferred you do not want your membership and should not vote in site selection. Kate Secor argues it is not our job to keep people from being stupid, and as we are written we are not in compliance with the law, so it is important to explicitly state this. Move to divide the question – it should be part of the ballot process, so 2.7 amendment and 4.1.3 amendment should be voted on separately. Are we really going to call a division on dividing the question.  Are we really.

1144: A division on dividing the question is not called. The question is not divided. The Chair cracks down on people rising for non-privileged questions.

1155: Rene Walling moves to change the wording of “addresses” to “contact information” as we live in a rapidly-changing informational technology society. New wording approved. Dave Wallace would like to further amend 4.1.3 to give permission to reject payment of those who do not choose to pass along their information. Several people rise to speak against this amendment – we should allow people to give a donation to the winning Worldcon, as it were. This amendment fails. Kate Secor wishes to amend the 4.1.3 to say “to those who have not opted out” rather than “to those who have given permission for”. (As the liveblogger understands it, that would violate GDPR, but the liveblogger is by no means an expert in privacy laws.)

1200: Todd Daschoff notes that 4.1.3 does not have the language about local law so we may be requiring something illegal and should not do this. Donald Eastlake says we should put in “as the agent of the winning committee” and suggests moving the pending amendment and motion to a committee to report next year. Item is referred to the Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee. Ten minute break.

1212: Meeting called back to order with item D6, That Ticket Has Been Punched.

1222: Jo Van for, explains the intent of the motion. Kate Secor against as it introduces an inconsistency, as the same rules do not apply to Novel.  Understands the intent, but the result is troubling. Terry Neill speech for, it is not inconsistent with Novel as if a novel was a finalist when originally published it is not eligible again with a second international publication. Movement to add the words “in English” (did not catch name of mover) to the amendment. Jo Van against amendment as it is not fair to recognize a series twice on the merits of a single work even if the work is not in English. PRK for amendment as a single work in translation can substantially change the series (although methinks this is missing the point of the original motion). Dave Wallace thinks amendment is unnecessary. Joshua Kronengold likes intent of amendment but dislikes the effects. Ben Yalow points out we have a lot of inconsistencies and special cases, no reason to argue against this just for that reason. Vote on the “in English” amendment. Results unclear, so. SERPENTINE!

1226: Movement to add “in English” to the amendment has 39 for, 29 against. Vote on the amended motion passes.

1229: D7, Five and Five will take significant time to discuss and debate, so there is a motion to adjourn for the day. Motion fails. Todd Daschoff suggests we take up D8 instead, which passes.

1240: Nicholas Whyte speaks to D8, No Deadline for Nomainations Eligibility. It was originally proposed to facilitate three-stage voting, which did not pass at that time.  Being as this was unnnecessary, as a two-time Hugo administrator he now understands Dec 31 is a bad deadline as it is holiday, etc. It is easier to allow any members to nominate until nominations close. He understands there are problems with this, but we shouldn’t be scared of the bad guys and should try to run the best awards we can. Terry Neill is against as she has been the Hugo Helpdesk person for several Worldcons. We are still facing slating. Ira Alexandra is for the amendment as there are economic reasons people may hold off on buying memberships until after January 1. Jo Van against as it helps keep entryism down; the Christmas issue is a non-issue if they vote in site selection. Cathy McMahaffee speech for as she buys membership in Jan as she has no money in the summer, and does not participate in site selection. It is the will of the community, so we should encourage people to nominate rather than discourage them. Martin Pyne moves to add a sunset clause for 2024. We will adjourn for today and take this up tomorrow with proper wording of the sunset clause.

1242: Meeting adjourned. Important note: we will be moving to address D13, the video game amendment, immediately after Site Selection and D8 tomorrow, as the maker of D13 cannot be here on Monday.

The agenda is available here.

0923: Welcome to the liveblog for the WSFS business meeting! Actual updates will come about ever 5-10 minutes starting around 10-ish local time ; we’ll see when the meeting gets called into order. Things will be a little different this year, because I’m actually sitting at the head table as the timekeeper (oh god) so we will have a guest liveblogger. My housemate Corina deserves many thanks, for not only continuing to attend the dog and pony show that is the WSFS business meeting, but being willing to liveblog in my place.

1005: Good morning, all. Start of business meeting slightly delayed to give time for members to find the location of the meeting, as it is not in the main convention center area but in a hotel adjacent to the secondary convention space.

1018: Meeting called to order by Mx. Jesi Lipp, Chair.

1021: Don Eastlake, parliamentarian. Absent is Jared Dashoff, Business Liaison. Deputee presiding officer, Kevin Standlee. Alex Acks (hi!), timekeeper. Lisa Hayes, videographer.  Sergants-at-Arms: Terry Neill, Jo Van Ekeren, Anne Davenport. All introduced with preferred pronouns. No captioning service available this year.

1023: Terry explains how to get to the mic or have the mic come to you. Don goes over parliamentary information.

1025: WorldconEvents youtube channel will have video recording as soon as it can be uploaded. Meeting will not be livestreamed.

1028: Schedule for the Preliminary Business Meeting is presented, as well as for the rest of the meetings. Bulk of amendments will be Saturday as well as MPC elections. Sunday is SIte Selection Meeting, presentations for 2022 as well as announcement and presentation for 2021. If necessary, meeting on Monday.

1029: First-time business meeting attendees recognized, as well as 10+ time-attendees.

1032: Any objections to reports? Terry questions Worldcon 76 about financial information due to the lawsuit. Kevin Roche reports they are still in litigation which reduces the pass-along funds, but he has brought three checks for Dublin, CoNZealand, and the 79th Worldcon. First four complaints dismissed with prejudice, defamation claim still pending.

1035: Kent Bloom questions Roach about surplus to give a donation for preserving the Worldcon memorabilia. Roche will check his budget, but they anticipate prevailing in the lawsuit however it is a hope not a guarantee. Same question for MidAmeriCon II and Worldcon 75. No representative available for either, but this will be addressed.

1040: Committee reports. Kevin Standlee reporting for MPC. Report in packet. Highlights: a few challenges including a misuse of the Hugo Award logo. All dealt with, wishes to thank Etsy for being so responsive. Alexis Layton question about a budget report. Standlee states average expenditures about $1700-2000. Financial report included in the packet. They may ask for money if a large suit comes up, but this is uncommon.

1043: Nominations for MPC members. Tim Illingworth, Ben Yalow, Kevin Standlee are current members. Ask for unanimous consent for those three to be nominated again (given). Ask for nominations. Jo Van Ekeren interested in participating. (Second not needed, but appreciated.)

1046: Nitpicking and Flyspecking Committee report by Don Eastlake. A few amendments proposed, detailed in the Agenda. Unanimous consent to reappoint committee to serve another year.

1050: Worldcon Runner’s Guide Editorial Committee report. Mike Wilmoth reports. Incremental progress is being made. They will continue to work on it until Hell freezes over. Current committee approved to serve another year.

1054: Formalization of Long List Entries (FOLLE) committee. Kent Bloom reports. Research continues. Some changes were made, but he doesn’t think they did anything major. Would like to be endorsed for another year.  No objections. Cliff Dunn reports for Hugo Awards Study Committee. Would like to continue for another year with the ability to add/remove members. Proposes move to a wikia instead of email. Jo Van asks about art committee to be recombined with main committee as it did not meet nor produce a report.  Seconded. Ben Yalow raises a concern that the other committee is not on the floor and therefore cannot object to this and should not be discharged although we can still expand the main committee. Standlee says yes we can because they all report to us! Vote on expanding now, will discharge when it is on the floor. The committee chair is in the room and says this is an excellent idea as long as Cliff doesn’t kill it. Cliff (reluctantly) agrees.

1058: Seeing no objection, it is done. Lisa Padol thanks Cliff for herding the cats. Perianne Lurie asks about continuing the committee again for another year. Approved.

1102: The Remote But Real committee reports. Kate Secor apologizes that there was no report/committee meeting.  Requests continuing for another year, willing to turn over chairship to someone else. Committee continued (no one else volunteers to be another chair). Alan Tipper asks about joining the committee. Secor accepts email addresses.

1103: Professional Artist and Fan Artist Study Committee disbanded with no report. Cliff Dunn gives sign up sheet to join Hugo Study Committee. Ten minute recess to convene at 1113.

1115: Meeting reconvened. One standing rule change to vote on: item B3. Debate time 4 mins.

1123: B3 reclassified as A1. Kate Secor summarizes the issue (giving Committee of the Whole the ability to extend itself rather than the labyrinthine maneuver from last year). Kent Bloom objects that this is not he right way to do it, because now we know the right method to do it because the rules for the Business Meeting and Committee of the Whole are different and this would make it too easy for the Committee of the Whole to extend itself. Martin Pyne, Parliamentary Inquiry about debate time, Chairperson clarifies.

1133: Terry Neill speech in favor because the Committee of the Whole is exactly the same people as the Business Meeting so it is ok to extend their own time. Don Eastlake amendment to clarify a 2/3 vote is needed to extend time. Seconded. Joshua Kronengold asks if 2/3 is what the Business Meeting requires (yes, so it is the same). Martin Pyne inquiry as to whether the Committee could limit its debate time, but there is an existing standing rule to clarify that already. Jo Van inquiry to clarify the original motion.  PRK inquiry to ask if 2/3 majority should be referred to the constitution, but as this appears in Robert’s Rules of Order this is rejected.  Motion to extend debate by 2 mins, seconded. Vote fails. Someone appeals ruling of the chair since there has been no opposing speech, but there has so it is withdrawn. Vote on amendment passes. Vote on standing rule change adopted. Cliff Dunn motions to give it immediate effect, which is seconded. 2/3 majority needed, passes.

1136: Item B1: Hugo Eligibility extention for Prospect. Olav Rokne speaks in favor due to limited distribution during the eligibility period. Vote in favor passes.

1137: Item B2: Hugo Eligibility for Worlds of Ursula K LeGuin. Jo Van speaks in favor due to limited release during eligibility period but wider distribution since. Vote in favor passes.

1140: Item B4: Suspend “5 and 6” for 2020. Cliff Dunn moves to postpone definitely until after item D7, seconded. Vote passes.

1143: Moving on to business passed on from last year. Debate times set. Come back tomorrow for the fun stuff.

1155: New Constitutional Amendments. Debate times are set for D1-D6. D7 moved to postpone indefinitely. It is too early to dismantle the bulwark. Kent Bloom says we have no evidence this has deterred anything. Jo Van in favor, ensures that an extra non slate finalist gets in. This was done in 89 as well, while it has increased the workload on the administrators, does ensure that the people who should be on the balance get to be on the ballot. Ben Yalow against, because the threat decided to go away. Protections there serve no useful purpose and make the process less transparent and fair. Kathleen Mahaffy – they have not gone away, we still see evidence of slates. Needs to be protected. Elspeth Kovar inquiry as to what we’re debating. Moved to vote. SERPENTINE CALLED!

1158: 46 in favor, 30 against. Motion to postpone indefinitely fails.

1204: D8-D10 debate times set. Motion to refer to committee for D11 made and then withdrawn. Joshua Kronengold wants to take out the word “forever”, but it is not substantive and is dismissed. Debate time set for D11.

1210: D12 motion to postpone indefinitely (this is Best Translated Novel). Cliff Dunn speaks in favor of postponing indefinitely. Chris Barkley speaks against, as the amendment seems like the road we will eventually end up on so we should discuss it now.  It is a matter of diversity to support it. (Still) Ben Yalow speaks in favor as we do not have the authority to pass it now, suggests a committee report. Jo Van in favor as it needs more work. Mark Richards against, as it has a sunset clause so we can use it as a trial of viability. Movement postponed indefinitely.

1218: D13 (Best Game or Interactive Experience) moved to postpone indefinitely. Kate Secor in favor because the Hugo nominating base is not ready for the cost of entry. Lisa Padel against having seen the reports, enough research has been done that it deserves a debate, even if we decide against it. Periann Lurie agnostic on the topic but believes the proposal is flawed and needs revision before we consider it as things like Bandersnatch and choose your own adventure books are unclear. Ira Alexandre proposal maker against, because the issue is worth talking about whether you are for or against, wants to hear what people think so we should debate it. Martin Pyne would like to see it trialed as a category before the business meeting considers it.  Jo Van against because Ira has done a lot of work so it deserves debate time. Corina (me!) speaks against.  Vote is not a 2/3 majority so the item is not postponed indefinitely. Time set at 12 minues.

1218: Meeting adjourned.