Do we have an election date yet for the SGB?

[mitzimorris]

@anon75146577

So it’s definitely time for elections? Right? And the SGB can no longer make decisions? Right?

time for elections - yes!

regarding the SGB’s inability to make decisions - here’s what’s been said so far:

the post regarding the extension granted in august laid out a timetable - https://discourse.mc-stan.org/t/vote-two-2-month-extension-of-provisional-sgb-authority-to-oct-23-2019

@breckbaldwin

1. The big reason is that we want to expand the electorate beyond what it is now. That will take some time, 2 months seems appropriate since we have to develop the idea further (by August 15), have a vote by ‘Stan Development Team Only’ expanding the electorate (Sept 1), and then get the new people into the electorate by the time of the SGB elections (October 23).

this has not happened. there was some discussion on discourse - Stan Electorate for Referendums and Elections
which started with a misstatement:

@breckbaldwin

The SGB has been doing some good work with a around a $150k year budget, setting up the Technical Working Group (TWG) and there is more to come

which was later corrected TWG Definition/Roles. Call for feedback/ideas/refinement

@breckbaldwin

A big bit of unfinished SGB (Stan Governing Body) business is the definition and creation of the Technical Working Group (TWG).

the discussions on discourse around the roadmap have been unproductive and the last few posts regarding a change to the sampler’s adaptation Request for Volunteers to Test Adaptation Tweak are alarming.

so yeah, I agree with Dan - maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.

the current electorate will need to sort out what to do next - perhaps we want to hash things out on Discourse, or else designate an interim committee to come up with a proposal that can be voted on - (maybe even amended!)

regarding “current electorate” - it was defined summer of 2018 as members of the Discourse group “Stan Development Team” Stan development team - The Stan Forums. there are 39 members, 3 of whom - Rayleigh, JiQaing (original version of RStan!), and Marco Inacio haven’t logged in since 2018. this group includes 5 members of the current SGB - Andrew Gelman, Daniel Lee, Jonah Gabry, Michael Betancourt, and Sean Talts. I respectfully request that they step aside and let the rest of the electorate sort things out. they have all made their points at great length already and it is well-recorded in Discourse (or was - the roadmap discussions have been unlinked). as Tom Lehrer once said (“New Math”) - “I know my commenters, so please - let’s not see the same hands …”