The Tinker Different Board of Directors has provided the following response to the recent posting and subsequent comments by Mr. Fahrenheit:
The founding of Tinker Different was a monumental process. Our many founders, including Mr. Fahrenheit, worked tirelessly to define all aspects of its future. As with the start of any group, we had an enormous amount of work to be done. While we didn’t always agree with each other, we dedicated a lot of time and effort to its creation. We are sincerely thankful for everyone’s hard work to build this truly special community.
When we started to nominate and vote on membership to the board, Mr. Fahrenheit insisted that he would not and could not be a member of the board. Even if nominated, he stated that he would not serve. This was his own decision that was made for his own reasons.
After board elections were complete, Mr. Fahrenheit requested the board create an honorary non-voting seat for him to occupy. This proposed seat was to “provide continued feedback, input, help, and keep the board transparent”.
The board discussed this request over the course of many days. This sparked further questions and grew in scope as these conversations went on:
“What purpose would this position serve?”
“Did this require a formal seat?”
“Would this require additional honorary seats for the other founders who were not elected?”
“What if someone in the future wanted an honorary seat?”
“Would this be a permanent position, if not, when might it end?”
After numerous in-depth discussions the board ultimately decided not to create an honorary board position. We understood that this was not the outcome Mr. Fahrenheit had wanted.
The board believed that sufficient methods were already in place to submit feedback or ask questions, either via the Tinker Different forums, our Discord channel, or direct communication with the board members and founders. These methods were already at Mr. Fahrenheit’s disposal and are available to all members.
Shortly after this decision Mr. Fahrenheit reached out to many board members to sway their decision on this matter. When asked to provide clarification on the details of the honorary position, Mr. Fahrenheit instead withdrew his request. An offer was made for being part of a future Tinker Different advisory board, but Mr. Fahrenheit announced that he did not want to be involved any longer. He decided to walk away from Tinker Different.
While we thank Mr. Fahrenheit for his contributions to the forming of Tinker Different, we are disheartened that the leadership and administration of our site did not match his expectations. Although we do not agree with the picture Mr. Fahrenheit has painted, he is not prohibited from his thoughts or critique of our community.
We are aware that our failure to post minutes of our board meetings is an issue, but one we are addressing. We will soon be adding a secretary position to the board who will be tasked with this responsibility. It is important to remember that all board members have lives outside of the forum and Discord: jobs, families, hobbies of our own. Our failure to communicate as regularly as we would like comes not from secrecy, but simply from a shortage of time in our busy schedules. Our priority has always been the smooth running and maintenance of the forum.
We will continue to build upon this exceptional community and will strive to do better each day. Your membership to Tinker Different is vital, it elevates the community and has created a unique place to share projects and build partnerships. People all over the world find value in what we are doing and we hope to continue to reach new heights as our membership grows.
The first term of the current board is nearly at an end, and we will be making announcements in the coming days regarding the nomination and voting process for the new board members.
If you have questions or concerns about our site, its board, or our policies, we encourage you to provide us with feedback.
Kind regards,
The Tinker Different Board:
Bruce (Branchus)
Steve (Mac84)
Kai
Eric
Christian (fogWraith)
Steve (ScutBoy)
Stephen
