I agree with the sentiment Luca is expressing here: OWL right now is fundamentally broken. It does not need to be tweaked, it needs to be fundamentally reworked because it does not advance any of our interests. It does not help us build influence, soft power, or clout within the WA. It does not help us generate propaganda for important WA votes. It is largely an administrative bureaucracy that has trouble integrating new staff or promoting new talent. While I support the fact we're using on-site democratic input to determine our votes:
(1) I think we should change the format of the Recommendation Dispatches to give a clear and well articulated recommendation statement instead of random quotes,
(2) I think we should empower staff to actually talk about proposals and shape internal voting on OWL through debate and discussion--whether such discussion occurs via Discord, forum, or OWL RMB, and
(3) OWL needs to start fulfilling the part of its mission related to advocacy and author mentorship.

(07-09-2021, 05:03 PM)Witchcraft and Sorcery Wrote: 1) why do we care so much about the opinions of foreigners

We shouldn't. Foreigners can have good ideas and participate in our discussions, but I don't think we should be reproducing their opinions.
 

(07-09-2021, 05:03 PM)Witchcraft and Sorcery Wrote: 2) why do we have foreigners as senior staff instead of our own

I do not know, but Honeydew and Cretox should both be removed from Senior Staff. Perhaps the category "Senior Staff" should be eliminated entirely as it seems to simply mean "people who access the OWL account" and, with the new MoE Dispatch tool, I think we could attempt to modify the system to mean fewer people have to access the account in the first place, even if we don't rework the system in any fundamental way.

[rest of response redacted]
 

(07-09-2021, 05:03 PM)Witchcraft and Sorcery Wrote: 3) stuff needs to be done in a timely fashion and CONSISTENTLY.

Yes. Clearly there is a significant issue with motivation to do things and with no interest from OWL leadership in bringing on new Senior Staff or changing the system so vote or recommendation posting is done more consistently. Right now, we have not posted a vote on the current GA vote, current SC vote, the GA vote currently at quorum but not on the floor, or any of the 2 in quorum SC proposals. There has also been no internal staff discussion in any sense about the fact there's going to be a new WA game feature for the first time in 11 years. All of which goes to demonstrate the extreme dysfunction in this department.

OWL needs new management or a new system, because the status quo is not working.