Union Address | Courtesy, Respect & Authority

Dear Members,

The next month or two are going to see some amazing things happening around the AIN. From our amazing line up of cultural, sporting and music events in December to the new website and forums being launched. This just shows how amazing the Alliance truly is in bringing members together of all ages, races, religions and backgrounds from across the globe to make amazing things happen. From our superb CJs which give people across the community masses of inspiration to the great events that we are able to pull off which show the vast array of interests and culture our membership has. Now, as the AIN marches towards year number 4 of it's existence we are beginning preparations to move to an independently hosted website which will bring some great new features and functionality to help us do what we do best, even better. These changes will mean that the union will really need to pull together over the next few months and take on the extra responsibilities that come with this.

However, the past six months have seen a real degrading of the 'comradely' and 'family' atmosphere around the AIN with our rapid growth. Older members are seeing a new layer of younger members coming into the union who are inpatient, inexperienced and perhaps are coming across as more immature as the members they have seen develop over the years. Younger members see the older members as inflexible and unwilling to listen to their ideas which is often viewed as them acting undemocratically. It is my regretful opinion that there has been at least a partial breakdown of the AIN ethos of respect and courtesy for all members as a result. This week a long standing member of the community resigned from both the AIN and his ministerial position, as a result another Associate Member has received a temporary ban until Sunday. I do not believe that full responsibility for this incident lies with either the outgoing Minister for Justice/Constitutional Affairs - Daniel or the disciplined member, Smartbylaw - I believe this is an institutional failure.

We, as members, need to be doing a lot more to respect each other and show courtesy towards each other. All members should keep it in their minds that they might not know the full backgrounds of other members or what is going on with them in RL and should be extremely sensitive of others, this doesn't mean avoiding taboo subjects or stopping all social contact around the AIN - it simply means understanding that other members might not see where you are coming from or might take offence, for which there would have to be quick apologies and not the current status quo where there tends to be a lot of harping on after the incident occurs. Members in a position of power should also remember that they are accountable to the membership and whilst they have extra privileges and responsibilities, they should be treated no differently to other members. When a minister or commissioner or anybody gives up their time to do something for the AIN, it is ok to critique and suggest ideas to them, but when a member clearly states that they are not going to carry out our wishes, the suggestion needs to be dropped.

A full investigation of the incident this week will be carried out by an ad-hoc committee consisting of Forthwall, Max and Myself and a report will be published with further recommendations for improving the culture and ethos within the union.

Thank You,

Neil
Your Friend and Vice-President

I agree. Thank you for putting this forth Neil

Wow, looks like there's so many things that went on that I've missed! Glad to see that AIN is still up and running and towards year number 4! And thanks Neil for making this much needed address. I've missed out on so much, definitely going to spend the next week or so to catch up on AIN

Does this mean your back Peter? We can hope. We all really miss you deeply. I wish you were active. And yes the AIN have changed a great deal and hopefully for the good

Like I said to you on twitter, a lot of changes are happening at the moment. The launch of the new customised website, forums and wiki are still underway so we've sort of got lots of scaffolding and building work around the AIN this Christmas.

@Thomas: TWITTER?