[Fsfe-uk] Minutes

[John Seago]

Martin Coxall wrote

> I feel slightly insulted that you consider it a post I would be willing
> to accept. Ho hum.

Then perhaps you should have a little more respect for those who are 
willing, under very difficult circumstances, to take on a job which you 
consider to be beneath you. 

If you wish to question the minutes then it is a matter which you should 
take up with the Secretary, initially directly with the Secretary, after 
which if you are unable to agree the official record, then the matter 
should be raised at the next meeting when the minutes are offered for 
acceptance, even then it is dependent upon a vote, at which point the 
majority decide if the `Minutes' are a true record. (You can of course 
have yourself noted in the minute book as dissenting from the majority 
view).

To refer to the notes taken by someone who volunteered to do so as, "What 
a load of Gazelle Cack", is less than the usual accepted polite 
behavior. 

You should also be aware that there are several varieties of Minutes, 
those used by voluntary bodies usually only record the decisions made.
Verbatim Minutes, (records of every word spoken with indications of who 
said what), usually require the presence of a skilled shorthand taker or 
stenographer,  and are usually, timed at each interjection, (hence the 
term minutes). 

Perhaps you can produce your detailed contemporaneous notes of the 
meeting to support your contention? Bear in mind that this is an 
organisation which seeks to speak with, not to, Government, and such 
intemperate phraseology will not endear you to professional civil 
servants, should you ever get to sit in meeting with them. And before you 
ask, yes I have had many years experience of doing so at national level.

John Seago