Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers (OSFW) Bylaws
1. Membership dues are to be paid by all members in January of each calendar year in the amount of $6.00 per calendar year. There are no special circumstances in which prorated or family rates will apply, with the exception of new members who join later in the year, who may have their dues prorated one time. The online address of each current Treasurer will be provided to all members who either cannot attend the January meeting, or who live out of town (greater Tulsa area) or out of state, and there may be a PayPal or other account for online payments available in the future. Anyone who pays the yearly dues is an OSFW member in good standing for one calendar year. It is the responsibility of the elected Treasurer to oversee the dues paid to OSFW, and at the request of the current President, the Treasurer will make verbal reports at any monthly meeting, which may be followed by written reports online.
2. Voting rights on any and all issues during each calendar year will only be granted to members who have paid their yearly dues. Some method of online voting will be available to members who have paid their dues if they cannot attend meetings or live out of town or out of state, including notifying one of the current officers of their voting wishes on any and all issues that call for a vote of the membership. The online addresses of each year’s officers will be available on the OSFW Facebook page, or on any future OSFW-based website.
3. At OSFW meetings, adult themes are sometimes read and discussed, and no censorship of materials or discussions can be permitted. Members wanting to host meetings, or members who want to include underage children are expected to keep this in mind, but the current officers are not obligated to provide an atmosphere that stifles creativity or any of a variety of themes in discussions, or in the materials read. Hosting a meeting does not supersede the officers’ authority, or the long tradition in OSFW of no censorship.
4. Officers are the elected leaders of OSFW for one calendar year, and no officer is paid. Elections for new officers take place at the January meeting, but new officers do not take their positions until February of that calendar year. Only members who have been attending, paid-up participants in OSFW for at least one calendar year are eligible to be elected as officers. Final decisions on any subject are within the officers’ authority. In the absence of the President from any particular meeting, the Vice President runs the meeting. If both are absent, the Treasurer runs the meeting. If all three are absent, the host runs the meeting. Elected officers are expected to make special efforts in attending and hosting meetings.
5. To avoid friction within OSFW, members who are not officers do not have any rights or responsibilities in running meetings unless all officers are absent and they are hosting a given meeting. If members who are not officers wish to run a meeting or lead a discussion, for example, for whatever reason, they need the permission of at least one officer prior to that meeting. Any and all actions, online or real world, by members who are not current officers _pertaining to OSFW business_ are subject to the consent of at least one of the current officers. Members should expect reasonable permission to be granted to them under most, but not all, circumstances.
6. There will be only real world officers. Members who perform online work for OSFW, unless they are current officers, do not have the responsibilities or the authority of current elected officers. It is the responsibility of the current Vice-President to provide online meeting reports of real world monthly meetings. In the absence of the Vice-President, the Treasurer will provide monthly meeting reports, and the President will do so in the absence of both other officers. Volunteers or appointed persons for online work are not paid.
7. Future OSFW Facebook (or other) file-sharing program(s) will have reasonable security with access restricted to only paid members of OSFW. New members should ask to be “friended” on Facebook by the Facebook Wizard(s), providing a buffer between the current officers and other interested parties wishing to become OSFW members. Any questions of general or individual membership can be referred to current officers by the Facebook Wizard(s). Members who are not current officers cannot randomly “friend” anyone for the purpose of using the private Facebook page(s), providing additional security to whatever works or partial works that are in any future file-sharing program. Facebook, web page or other online administrators, either voluntary or appointed by the current President, are required to consult with at least one of the current officers if they wish to make, or feel changes to OSFW online venues are necessary.
8. Monthly meetings, generally held at various members’ homes, are to be generally held on the second Friday of every month, and beginning no later than 7:30 pm. The annual Christmas party is generally held on the second Saturday of December of each calendar year, and the host of the Christmas Party provides the prize for the winner of the Story Fragment Contest. Public venues such as libraries may be used by OSFW for some meetings, but OSFW meetings will not take place in restaurants, or in any other noisy environment which detracts from the quality of the meetings, including such environments that require additional monies or expenses from individual OSFW members. No money from OSFW accounts is to be spent on any given meeting, and no extra money will be asked of members for or at meetings beyond their yearly dues, although members may voluntarily contribute food and drink for any given meeting, especially if they are hosting a meeting either at their home or at a more public venue. Meetings outside of the Tulsa area may take place at the discretion of the current officers.
9. All publicity for OSFW is the responsibility of the current elected officers, and some expenses for this purpose may be taken from OSFW accounts. The Treasurer is accountable to the membership and will report these expenditures to OSFW.
10. In order to make a reasonable attempt to enable as many members or visitors to present their works at each monthly meeting, readings should be restricted to 30 minutes, if possible. The person or member present who has not read any or part of a written work recently will be the first to read at any given meeting.
11. Persons interested in joining OSFW’s Facebook page are required to read and understand the bylaws, and acknowledge the bylaws by the indicated steps on the private group page. Permission to join the Facebook private group is granted only through the OSFW Facebook Wizard(s), and any such permission may be conditional on the final approval of at least one currently-serving OSFW officer. Persons who join the Facebook private group are forbidden to solicit money from the membership for any reason, and any postings or subsequent threads that do so will be deleted. Links to legitimate paying markets for the membership are acceptable, as OSFW encourages the careers of genre fiction writers.
Mission Statement: Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers is a non-profit. The purpose of Oklahoma Science Fiction Writers is to encourage the writing and publishing of genre fiction with a focus on original science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror, in both long and short form. This is not an organization for fan fiction. At monthly meetings, critiques of members’ work, read aloud, are given to both the works of members, or guests who are considering joining OSFW. Online, members may only submit their work for review in lieu of attending meetings if they wish to use any of OSFW’s future Facebook, or web-based file-sharing programs. Critiques by OSFW members are free of charge.
(01/18/16) (updated 04/28/16) (updated 03/24/17