I have refrained to post in this thread (probably the most important discussion in Neualtenburg) mostly due to my RL work which has grown exponentially
But I also have not a clear opinion on it yet. Some of you may have noticed that I'm what I call a "partially stubborn" person. I stubbornly defend one point of view until someone points out the flaw in my argumentation - then I'll gladly embrace the other view, and stubbornly defend it as strongly as my original view
This is a case where I don't feel by stubbornness helping me at all. We have two conflicting systems for running Neualtenburg, and I still am unable to choose between either of them!
On one hand, the current model has been based upon contributions (tier, time, some money) from individuals for the advantage of all, and has a "centralized" approach - one web site with finantial data, one "virtual treasury" to hold the money (Uma Bauhaus), but the ability to participate at almost all levels by everybody - meaning, we are able to discuss if this system is the "best" for Neualtenburg, without resorting to "open warfare" in the forums or in-world. So far, this has proved to be a good method, even if not perfect (but are there perfect methods?).
On the other hand, Sudane also pointed out that a system that grows out from "contributions from a few" and "control by a few" tends, in the long term, to create discontent and tension. People voluntarily contributing tier and money will expect a return, or at least some "favours" - it's in our own nature. Seniority in Neualtenburg will be an advantage, or, at least, an argument for deciding things in certain ways that would benefit a smaller group (the seniors). On the other hand, there is a certain amount of unfairness if just one single person has to bear the whole burden of the (RL) finantial responsability - in this case, if Uma Bauhaus is to be the "owner" of the new sim, this also means that the Lindens will hold Ulrika responsible for basically everything that goes on in Neualtenburg - ie. paying the rents and respecting the guidelines for owning the private island. This is an unfair burden to carry (and yes, Ulrika, I know you'll do it gladly - that's not the point!).
The "rotating avatar system" was proposed, I think, to reduce this "burden". Instead of having one single person dealing with the whole responsability, there would be a small (elected/nominated) group sharing it. In that way, responsability would be spread between several individuals. It would be "fairer", both to Ulrika and to the rest of the citizens.
However, due to the way SL works, and LL's policies, this system is unfortunately way too difficult to implement. We have
seriously discussed incorporation - just to circumvent LL's limitations. Personally, while I would certainly support such a decision, I also think that the troubles/costs are way too much for achieving just a tiny thing: sharing responsability.
After reading this thread, I think that Sudane's proposal certainly spreads responsability (in terms of RL) among a larger group of citizens, but it fails at one point: it doesn't spread it among
all of them. By the end of the day, everybody joining the Neualtenburg group would have to be a partner/shareholder of Neualtenburg Inc. (or GmBH!). That would be the only way - in RL terms - to make the issue truly "fair". Again, I think that this is slightly impractical, but I also have admitted that my knowledge of international corporations is nil - I'm just familiar with Portuguese law, and as I often repeated, this country of mine is the best example in the western world on how NOT to do these things (way too bureaucracy, way too expensive, way too slow). Thus, I'm biased, having bad experiences with all the four RL entities of which I'm currently a partner/shareholder. It's a living nightmare
That is also a reason why I tried to abstain to comment on that point. I think that all my feelings would be strongly negative against it, just because I'm biased from RL experiences which have gone terribly bad. Of course, I'm fully aware that literally hundreds of millions of entities (companies or organisations) work wonderfully every day, so I can't dismiss that. I'll simply refuse to talk about it much
So, while I think that we should have a way to "share responsabilities", and if the only way to do that is to create a company/organisation to run it, where all citizens are members, my current feelings are too negative for me to give an unbiased opinion. I would prefer a "single avatar running the treasury" system. But I'm also aware that if people asked me 5 or 6 years ago what my opinion was, I'd probably enthusiastically support creating our own legal entity.
I'll let you discuss this and do a bill proposal to the RA, if you wish, but I must say that, unless there are good arguments that will move me against my personal, biased feelings, my vote will highly likely be to abstain...
Sorry. This doesn't help us much. And, as my alt dutifully reported, there isn't much hope that the Lindens will help us out much with this issue, at least not until May, 22nd (ie. creating a system where a group-owned private island has costs distributed among all its members).
