Compsoc Minutes (28/04/2006)

Present (exec members listed first)

Name (IRC Alias)

Fred Emmott (Fred)
Andrew Wheat (Candle)
Laurence Hurst (Laurence)
David Byard (db_rat)
Bruce Tinton (Bruce)
David Buckley (Bucko)
Kim Tibbetts-Harlow (Kim)
Sean Connolly (Morlark)

Arun Prasannan (Polar)
Tim Retout (Tim)
Chris West (Faux)
Benjamin Weber (benji)
Jonathan Smith (Lucidion)

Piazza Leaflet

Bucko asked if we could simply duplicate last years leaflet. As a number of the exec were unsure as to the exact contents of last year’s leaflet, Bucko also offered to scan in last years leaflet for their benefit. Kim said he would like to have socials on the leaflet in addition to gaming, academic and LUG items which we think may already be on the leaflet.
While discussing Piazza, we were told that insomnia was currently running an Unreal Tournament server as well as Battlefield2. Tim pointed out that insomnia was also running a postfix server due to its privileged firewall position where it can have open mail ports accessible from off-campus. Cale reported that insomnia had good pings from off-campus, although Battlefield2 randomly disconnects for an unknown reason.
Bucko reminded the exec that, as far as ITS are concerned, insomnia is primarily for on-campus gaming. He also suggested that some suggested times be published for games (e.g. Counterstrike at 6pm every Sunday) in the hope that people would join the appropriate game around that time in order to play with each other. The possibility of running some tournaments on insomnia was also suggested.
Candle volunteered to email ITS to find out when they wanted the leaflet by.

Jobs Email List

Tim informed the exec that a list for forwarding jobs/careers information to already exists, but no one is currently subscribed. Laurence said he would advertise it in the next newsletter. Bucko asked Tim if he could add a tick bot to join to the website.

Money

Fred suggested that when DrWatson(Phil Stoneman) returns Igor we could do with spending some money fixing it. Db_rat also suggested we might need to buy some more game licences, but Bucko said we already have enough. Bucko suggested buying more switches for LANs, but Bruce reminded us we had already budgeted for some.
Tim pointed out that hda in Bong is both quite old and currently failing SMART tests. The meeting decided that allocating money to replace this drive and provide a processor upgrade for Igor would be sensible.

Removal of old accounts

Db_rat informed the meeting that he believes backups must be explicitly mentioned in the TOS in order for the society to be complying with the Data Protection Act with respect to the storage of data. Candle requested that a list of all users on all Compsoc servers be produced.

Hardware Timeline

Candle requested that the items we have agreed to buy be purchased this week. Bruce said he had a meeting on the 2nd May about getting money out of the Union accounts and should be able to order them on the 3rd.

BFL socials

Kim said that he intends to have at least one pub social during the LAN. He suggest that the phantom coach, although a longer walk, serves better food. Candle asked him to check that they are serving food when we would want to go.
Kim informed the meeting that he has booked the BBQ and also booked a site mid-BFL, in case anyone wanted to hold a BBQ then. The fact that Tesco would be open was mentioned, so acquiring food etc. at short notice was not a problem. Kim also suggested that going to see X-MEN 3 would probably be popular at some point during the LAN, although he wasn’t sure where people could eat near the cinema.

BBQ

Kim repeated that he has booked the BBQ. He informed us that we would need to get a fire extinguisher but it can be acquired from Warwick. He also mentioned that we would need a first aid kit. He reminded us that PlanarPlatypus(Peter Ellis) has a large BBQ suitable for our event, but we can source a different one if he is unable to lend us it.
Db_rat recalled that we had budgeted to replace the Compsoc first-aid kit with one which contained in-date products. Bucko requested that this was sorted as soon as possible.
Kim requested that we investigate taking out a restraining order preventing Bucko from removing his shirt.

Other Socials This Term

Kim suggested a bowling social as it would be both popular and easy to organise. Benji asked about paint-balling, and Kim said he would look into it next term.

Last weeks minutes

Last weeks minutes were agreed by those present.

Any Other Business

Fred said that he was concerned by a member who had brought alcohol to the last 2 LANs despite being told not to. The exec agreed that anyone bring alcohol to future LANs will be asked to put it away, and asked to leave if they persist.
Kim said that we should hold a meeting specifically to discuss freshers and what we are planning to offer them next year, at some point later this term.
All exec members present were asked to send their phone numbers to the exec list.
The meeting noted that the forums on draconas.uwcs.co.uk are not an official channel of communication with the exec.
Db_rat said that he had a reply from Steve Mathews and proposed an ‘academic social’ to discuss the topic. A selection of people with the most interesting views, in db_rat’s opinion, would be invited to attend a meeting with Steve.
Kim suggested putting a copy of the piazza leaflet in the Compsoc notice board in the students union.
Tim informed the exec that he had turned on some spam filtering to reduce the amount of spam on Compsoc mailing lists. Kim said that the society must claim the euro jackpot which the exec had received a winning email for. Candle suggested a Compsoc trip to Barbados to spend the money on.

Closed Session

There was a closed session, for current exec members only, at the end of the exec meeting. The current exec were told the new suahu account password. No other discussion took place.