From what I've seen you 3 did a WONDERFUL job!!!

Couldn't agree more about political!! Well this re-vote struck home in 2 ways....My daughter voted and has less than 10 posts and planned on attending the meet up if its on the east coast she is a real voter and very much a part of Yt even tho her post count doesnt reflect that. I cannot afford 2 plane tickets to the west coast at this moment but the gas would be less that 100 for the both of us if on the east coast big difference. I will not pay to vote. Yes the money goes to a rescue, but many rescue are scams funding puppy mills. Most on here know me pretty well to know I give WAY above a beyond what the average person gives to rescues and I want to pick and choose where my money goes. For me and Avery to vote its 40 dollars. Thats probably what it would cost me to drive to VA from here. Im over this whole thing. Its turn into a fight and a whole lot of questioning. I guess you step back and trust the committee to make the right choice and whatever it is, it is. Being it's turned to votes and revotes and pay to vote....Either way I am stepping back and out of this. I wont attend either way anymore It just doesnt have that fun meet up feel. Maybe as time passes it will but for right now Im over it. Im not angry with anyone and I hear what everyone is saying and there is no way to make everyone happy. This isnt worth fighting over or losing friendships. I care about too many involved to be a part of that! Good luck with whatever decision is made.

I agree. the pics looked great!

I didn't vote when the poll was FREE simply because I am unable to commit a year away and quite honestly location would be a determining factor.

I can think of several issues with charging 20 bucks. Whose account is holding these funds...not to mention access? No offense or implication to whomever that may be...but if it's someone else's money...they are entitled to know this. Another point...just how are you going to keep non payers from voting? Keep a running tally...then realize you need to X out this person's vote or that person's vote due to lack of payment? Further...if someone chose to mail payment...when are they allowed to vote? When the funds are received and cashed? How would you stop them from voting prior? What happens if you never receive their payment?

i dont see a NEW POLL...so am i understanding that if you dont pay to vote you cant even see the poll or am i missing it...i cant find anything and it has been 9 hours now since people could start ""voting"" again....even if i dont get to vote...i still would like to be able to follow it...if the whole Yt family cant see the poll it should be done...that is crappy and sounds a little fishy to me.....sorry but im ery of hidden things in today's world......I guess maybe we should have 2 different Meets...cause hidden polls are def. not the answer

Unless I'm reading it wrong, we won't see a poll. You vote when you make your payment and they will keep a running total and the results will be posted when it's over.

I cast my vote...because, in principal, I intend to go. I paid my twenty.

I'm concerned, however, that at this point, a pay to vote poll may give us a different kind of a "skewed" result. Those who are willing to risk throwing $20 away (I really can't but am hoping I get to apply it towards the registration) against those who aren't.

I have one question, :rolleyes: if the meetup gets cancelled because of all this bickering, will we get our money back?

All things being FAIR...if there is gonna be a Poll there should be a Poll thread that shows the tally of votes as they happen.....if not then at the very least there needs to be a thread that updates a tally of votes every hour at the very least.....not just at the end....JMO

if there is no meetup i think they may give the money to rescue but im not sure

Are you kidding me......? :eek:
If this is true then it is becoming quite obvious to me that my vote will not count one way, or the other.
Why even bother.....?

I also agree that this is becoming very heated and unfriendly.
I am not willing to lose my friendships over this and I will bow out completely of the voting aspect, as it is becoming quite obvious that some of our votes are inconsequential , as reflected in the initial vote.

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I agree. Is this poll public??? will ALL of us be able to see how it is going? You are going to lose MANY votes because of the cost. And you are putting way too much importance on people who were "Committed" enough last year.. many of us were comiitted to go and life got in the way. you seem to be putting these people in a very high catagory above the rest of us.

bravo....very well said....and no from our understanding this poll is not public....doesnt sound FAIR if you ask me JMO...

Morning Jenn! If you re-read my original post, it clearly states "The $20 will go toward your registration fee when you register, and for those who ultimately choose not to register, your $20 will go to a Yorkie rescue." I think this clearly states that your fee WILL go toward your registration fee (which we're considering a downpayment/layaway toward your registration fees, which will actually help spread the costs out for everyone, which should mean LESS of a burden on them later).

How we determined which rescue to donate the "profits" to this year was to ask that question on the evaluation forms we passed out at the 2008 meet-up. Since it was those people's money (from raffle ticket sales mostly) that made the donation possible, we asked THEM where they wanted THEIR money to go. Myself or the committee would never presume to make that decision for them, as we know money is very hard to come by, and for those so generous as to participate in the raffle and meet-up, we wanted each of them to have a say. The overwhelming majority suggested the proceeds go to the OK Yorkie Rescue - the new rescue some of our very own YTers have begun. We are able to make a $500 donation from the 2008 meet-up, and I think that's wonderful! Luckily the hotel didn't hold us to our minimum food and beverage charges that were originally in our contract, or it would have been a very different story though. That's why we're so concerned with making sure we have an idea of who's serious about attending - because we need to know that before we begin approaching hotels to negotiate rates and details.

For anyone who pays to vote and doesn't ultimately register, their money will be set aside, and that will be added to the donation we make to the Yorkie rescue using the 2009 meet-up "profits" (again, mostly from raffle ticket sales since the registration fee we have to charge is simply to cover hotel fees). I presume we would again ask people at the 2009 meet-up which rescue they want the money to go to.

Oh...well that answers some of my questions.

I don't think the secret aspect will go over too well...

I personally think this is ridiculas. I HONESTLY believe this wouldn't be happening if CA won in the poll. :( To many people were already set on CA and now things are not going as they wanted them to, so we have to repoll :(
Alexandria won fair and square. AND not to mention what Cindy tallied up that East coast won with OVERALL votes over West coast.
I don\'t have a problem with paying $20 to vote, BUT this should have been done to begin with. Why the heck did we even have the first week long poll anyways? To just get people riled up? I\'m not seeing any other reason?????.......
This is just turning into a big disaster and losing the fun due to inconsistantcy on decisions. :(