Group: Ipernity General Assembly (IGA)

The meeting starts in 15 minutes.

Please comment only when asked. If you follow the chat of the meeting organisers on Discord, then please report any technical problems on the IGA 2024 public channel there.

▶ Please write a comment such as 'present' or ‘here’ in the 'Sign the register' discussion as you arrive.
⇨ Click here to open to this register

▶ After you have posted, use the link in the left hand panel to return to this discussion.
**2024 IGA** Welcome! / Bienvenue ! / Willkommen!.

If you have not already done so, please read the guide on:
⇨ How to vote / Comment voter / Wie man abstimmt

The meeting starts in 5 minutes.

Agenda item 1: Opening

Dear Club members of ipernity!

We welcome you and hereby open the Ipernity General Assembly 2024.

Our communication with each other will mainly take place here, in this discussion. To translate these posts into your native language, please use ipernity's internal translation function. To do this, click on the Translate link directly below each post.

Because the ipernity group uses static web pages, you should reload or refresh the web page at regular intervals (every 1 to 2 minutes), to make visible the updates. Depending on your device and browser, this may be with the F5 function key on your keyboard, or by clicking an icon in the toolbar. We will not rush ahead.

Also take into account that locally, due to high Internet traffic, short waiting times may occur. Let's just be grateful that we have this opportunity here to communicate with each other.

Agenda item 2: Appointment of the minute taker

All posts here will serve as minutes and proof of the lawful conduct of the meeting.
Pages will be saved as PDF files. They will subsequently be available to all members of the community at any time.

Rob Stamp, (Rob Stamp) will perform this duty.

Agenda item 3: Determination of the quorum

The following information was published as indicated:
a. Invitation to this online meeting
b. The agenda of this meeting
c. The proposed candidates for the election of the Vice President and the Treasurer

a) “IGA (ipernity general assembly) 2024” on 24 March 2024,
b) “2024 IGA - Agenda” on 30 March 2024,
c) “2024 Candidatures for the Board” on 30 March 2024.

The opportunity for public discussion was given.
This meeting was thus correctly prepared in accordance with the Statutes.

By the closing date on 3 April 2024, 25 members had registered to attend.

These members were duly informed about the technical procedure. Furthermore, they were given the opportunity to view the following documents at least 24 hours in advance:

● Report of the President on 2023
● Report of the Treasurer on 2023
● ima Financial Report on 2023

This IGA 2024 group has restricted visibility. Only registered club members with voting rights have access. Separate PollUnits will be used for the prescribed votes.

From the ima team the following are logged in now:

William Sutherland
Corinne Pommerell
Rob Stamp
Laura Fletcher

As advisors, assistants or auditors the following are logged in at this moment:

Eric Desjours
Stefan Roßkopf
Ralph Weichert
Bernhard Westrup
Pam Johnson
Markus Fritsch
Guido Werner
Helena-Paule Fitoussi
Isabel Queiroz Marcellot

Thomas Reck

Stefan Beck and Don Sutherland offer their apologies for not being able to attend.

The total number of attendees at the start of this meeting is 19.
This may still change prior to the start of voting.

We hereby declare that the meeting will take place in accordance with the Statutes of Association and will be legally binding and quorate.

Agenda item 4: Report of the President on the past business year (2023)

We will publish this report in English here. Translations in French and German are also available and can be consulted via the following links:

● English: Report of the President on 2023
● Français: Rapport du Président sur l'année 2023
● Deutsch: Bericht des Präsidenten über das Jahr 2023

If any of these languages is not your native language, you can have the report translated into your language using ipernity's internal translation function and read it in this way.

As all attendees have had the opportunity to read this report in advance, we are now publishing it here rather quickly.

Dear members and friends of ipernity,

As has been the case when I wrote my last report, the world is no closer to peace. In fact since then more conflicts have broken out. At the same time, inflation remains persistent. On a bright spot though, a day after our 2024 IGA some here in North America will be treated to a solar eclipse, an event that will bring people together in much needed unity and for the right reasons – peaceful discourse and camaraderie, key attributes of our community. Consequently, as 2023 was a successful year for Ipernity, I expect nothing less for 2024.

Over the past year, our website continued to run trouble free for the most part as our IT team continued to work diligently to ensure consistent and reliable service. Furthermore, improvements have also been made to our format while a workable solution was implemented to address the photo replacement option. In addition, thanks to Ralph (RCW) and Rob Stamp, we are finally making progress towards upgrading the entire website to secure protocol (https) to match the SSL we presently have on every confidential page consisting of login, account, and personal information. If they succeed, our website will be visible on every major search engine so more people can discover us.

In addition, to enhance our exposure, Ipernity is now located on Google® Maps thanks to the efforts of our first president, Eric Desjours. With this information, one can see the location of our official address in France and read up on descriptions and reviews.

Since the transfer of the site from Ipernity S.A. to IMA on 1 September 2017 more than 3 million photos have been added to our platform. On average, this is more than 1500 uploads per day! It is heartening to see in spite of the challenges that affect this site and like-or-similar kind photo-sharing and social media sites, we remain an active and vibrant community. It is equally heartening to know that we have perhaps the greatest choice of options to maximize creative expression – photo-, video- and audio-sharing, blog capabilities that allow one to write articles and poetry while sharing images. It is also heartening to know that we are one of few sites that gives members the opportunity to share their works with enhanced exposure through a Gallery (Explore), an Ambassador Group, and our Home Page.

World Photography Day (19 August 2023) proved again to be a success as members from more than a dozen countries celebrated the gift of photography contributing images from all walks of life and geographic regions. Participation also increased by 40% from a year earlier.

In addition, with creativity being one of the most important attributes of our community, the exciting new technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has given members and friends alike more options with which to unleash their talents. Accordingly, as all kinds of creative expression is welcome in our community that was formed on the most part by photographers, it is important this new technology is embraced with the same inclusivity as other forms such as photos, videos, music, essays, poems, illustrations, scanned paintings and drawings, and podcasts.

At the same time, we are greatly privileged to be able to talk with people from around the world. With this in mind and the fact we are a global community with a diversity of languages and cultures, we are encouraging the transformation of groups into multi-lingual entities to improve searchability and the interactive experience. A special thanks goes to every admin who is participating in this initiative.

As we reflect on the recent past and look forward to challenges and hopes for 2024, I would ask that all of us take a moment to remember our newly departed members over the past year - Andy Rodker, Bob Taylor, Chimèle, Eve Chartier, Jenny McIntyre, Jonathan Cohen, neira-Dan, and tommes (Thomas Kauroff). Condolences and comments can be made on their in memoria pages.

Consistent with past years, with stable membership and a reliable revenue stream to meet our operating costs, I am pleased to announce there will be no dues increase. This is all made possible because of our loyal members and their generosity that has seen many keep our site and their fellow members in mind when making charitable donations and to all who selflessly give of their time to manage and operate this site. Without this voluntary commitment, our site would not be the successful, non-commercial, ad-free model that it is.

Challenges, though remain. If we are to remain a relevant, active and sustainable community, it is important we continue to attract new members. Acceptance of new and evolving technology, shared responsibility in publicizing our site, timely club renewals as well as group consolidations when necessary, are all some of the ways to accomplish this as we attempt to provide the best possible conditions. Nevertheless, I anticipate 2024 will be another successful year for Ipernity, look forward to viewing and sharing works that keep us a cohesive and vibrant community and wish everyone the best for health, prosperity and happiness and may the world find the will and courage to move toward greater peace.

05 April 2024
William Sutherland
President

Since we assume that you have read the report in its entirety before the meeting, we continue directly with,

Agenda item 5: Report of the Treasurer on the past fiscal year (2023)

The corresponding ima Financial Report of the association were examined by the cash auditor and found to be correct:

ima Financial Report 2023 - EN

These financial statements are also available in audited French and German translations.

Downloadable pdf files are available here:
Accounts - ima Financial report on 2023

We will publish the report of the Treasurer in English here. Translations in French and German are also available and can be consulted via the following links:

● English: Treasurer's report on 2023
● Français: Rapport du trésorier sur l'année 2023
● Deutsch: Bericht des Schatzmeisters über das Jahr 2023

If any of these languages is not your native language, you can have the report translated into your language using ipernity's internal translation function and read it in this way.

As all attendees have had the opportunity to read this report in advance, we are now publishing it here rather quickly.

Dear members and friends of ipernity!

Our club's income in 2023, at EUR 34,551, was fairly stable and even slightly higher than the previous year's level (EUR 33,500). However, this was still below the expected income of EUR 36,000.

The number of club members with outstanding multi-year prepayments fell to 69 members at the end of the year, and members whose multi-year payment had expired resumed making regular annual or half-yearly payments. In total, the number of paying members of the club fell to 834 at the end of the year (compared with 850 the previous year).

Donations of EUR 42.10 were down again on the previous year (EUR 115).

Our costs amount to EUR 35,313 in 2023, which represents a slight increase on the previous year (EUR 33,924). In particular, costs for Amazon web services have increased by EUR 3,742 (a total of EUR 29,686 in 2023 compared with EUR 25,944 in 2022). One reason for this increase is that we have moved from a model with prepaid resources, with amortisation costs, to a model without prepaid resources. If we take into account these depreciation costs incurred in 2022, i.e. EUR 4,621, we see that our total costs related to Amazon web services are slightly down. This trend is due in particular to the implementation of Amazon's recommendations for savings plans over one or three years, without prepaid resources.

A credit of 19.11 GBP (= approximately 21.50 EUR), which cannot currently be allocated, still exists on our Paypal account. The amount appears in the reports, but it is not possible to access the conversion into EUR or the transfer to the association's bank account. Paypal has been unable to provide an explanation or resolve the problem.

We ended the year with a negative result of EUR 763, and reserves at the end of the year stood at EUR 24,826 (compared with EUR 25,589 in 2022).

Overall, as in 2022, we can nevertheless report an improvement in our budget situation. Our
obligations in the form of prepaid membership months have fallen to EUR 25,754 (previous year EUR 30,346), to which must be added the obligations arising from the former Covid 19 fund (now the general aid fund), which amount to EUR 1,797. After deducting the reserves, we therefore have only uncovered commitments to our members of EUR 2,725 (previous year EUR 6,574). Our reserves now amount to 90% of our obligations (previous year 79%). In the event of a loss of all income, we could continue to operate our website for almost 10 months (end of previous year: 9 months).

Operating costs for AWS servers are expected to remain fairly stable over 2024, while Google-related costs are expected to increase slightly as a result of a price adjustment from April onwards. Overall, costs should remain at the same level as in 2023, at around EUR 35,000. As there will still be multi-year prepaid subscriptions expiring in 2024, membership income should increase slightly to around EUR 35,000.

In this case, we can expect the break-even point (reserves = debt) to be reached in 2024.

The crucial point for this forecast to come true is the number of paying members, as was the case last year. If we cannot stabilise, or better still increase, the number of our members, the financial situation is likely to deteriorate in subsequent years. It is essential that all of us, as a community, get involved in keeping our site alive and attractive to keep it in good health.

16 March 2024
Corinne Pommerell
Treasurer

Since we assume that you also have read the report in its entirety before the meeting, we continue directly with,

Agenda item 6: Report of the auditors

Ladies and Gentlemen,
respected club members of ipernity,

We have audited the financial statements of the ipernity Members Association for the financial year from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023. Based on the findings of our audit, the financial statements comply in all material respects with the legal requirements and give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Association.

April 2, 2024
Thomas Reck
Rainer Luitjens
Cash Auditors

We continue now with,

Agenda item 7:
Formal approval of the actions of the Executive Board (ima team) in the past.

You can now submit questions by posting comments below.
You can write the question in your mother language.

To avoid duplicate answers, we will answer the questions collectively after some time.

▶ You may begin now, please.

I think the board has acted very wisely and with foresight throughout. I am particularly pleased about the prospect that our website may soon be SSL-encrypted. Any idea when that will be?

The progress on test server is very promising, finding occasional issues that have been solved.

If pressed I would say in a month or two, it is a matter of having the confidence that all issues have been resolved so that it will be a success.

Congratulations +++++++

+1 ***

▶ Are there any more questions?
(We will wait 1 minute.)

We have closed the ‘Sign the register’ making a count of 16 (excluding the 4 ima team members who are not allowed to vote on this).

So let’s come to the vote on the formal approval of the actions of the Executive Board (ima team) in the past.

Refer to your emails and use the PollUnit link for ‘Vote 1 - Ratify board actions 2024’.

Note that the ∑ tally you see in PollUnit is not the number of votes cast, it is an aggregate ‘score’. So that if there are 10 ‘yes’ votes, and 4 ‘no’ votes, then you would see a tally of 6.

ONLY if you have a problem with PollUnit then you can post your vote here, and have it added to the results from PollUnit. You can apply this to the subsequent PollUnits too.

Die Test-Mails von PollUnit hatte ich bekommen, heute aber keine. - Ich möchte daher hier mit ja abstimmen (Entlastung des Vorstandes).

Meines Wissens war nur eine Test-Mail von Poll unit versendet worden, die zu Vote 0. Die E-Mails zu Vote 1 bis Vote 4 waren keine Testmails und müssten schon früher als heute versendet worden sein.

Es gab vor einigen Tagen fünf Mails von Pollunit. Da du von Mails und nicht Mail sprichst - das waren keine Testmails, sondern quasi vier Stimmzettel und ein weiterer Probe-Stimmzettel zum üben.

Korrekt

Ah okay, dann habe ich das falsch verstanden. Das war Vote1? - Geht nicht mehr ...

Ah okay! Ging doch, jetzt! Also Yes und alles gut! ;-)

vote 1:oui

Vote 1 : oui

I think my vote has gone through. I hope it has.

ETA - No, it looks like my votes will not work via Pollunit. I thought there would be an option to vote as "guest," but now it is not appearing.

You may mark me as a "yes" on all votes, please. I'm sorry, but I have to leave here shortly to attend another remote meeting. Message me with questions if you need to. Thanks.

Apologies ---

I have only just managed to get back on-line

In case my pollunit link fails ...

Vote 1 : yes

vote 2: yes
vote 3: yes
vote 4 : yes
Goodbye.

Thank you for your votes and attending our meeting Herve.

▶ The voting has been closed with the following results:

15 votes in favour
0 votes against
0 abstentions

The actions of the acting Executive Board (ima team) in the past are thus discharged.

So let’s come to Agenda item 8: Motion to amend the Statutes
The board has noticed the requirement to amend the current wording in the statutes relating to appointing the Cash Auditor, and the Data Protection Officer.
The proposed amendments can be viewed here 2024-03-30 Amendments to the Statutes (Proposal)

Please vote your approval of these amendments.

Refer to your emails and use the PollUnit link for ‘Vote 2 - Accept amendments to Statutes 2024’.

My vote 2 link points to the voting of board candidates. Not about voting about statutes.

+1

Same here!

+1

vote 2: oui

Votes 2 + 3 are both described as "Accept board candidates"

I vote yes

Please pause voting while we correct an issue with the PollUnit link.

That must be a preparation error in the choice of words. I voted anyway and repest here: YES.

Yes

re. Vote 2: YES.

Da der Text bei Pollunit falsch ist: Ich stimme der Ergänzung / Änderung der Satzung zu.

Vote #2 Yes

Ich habe auf die Mail 2 mit "Ja" gestimmt.

yes

YES

Vote #2: yes

vote 2 yes

Yes

For a clear vote, please vote here in the meeting thread for the Agenda item 8: Motion to Amend the Statutes.

1+

Yes.

yes

Yes

Item 8

I vote : Yes

I assume the vote is really "support amendment of the statutes". I guess the 9 other members who voted on pollunit did the same. ;-)

Your guess: yes ;-)

Yes

Vote #2 Yes

Vote 2: yes

To clarify, vote 2 yes

Vote 2 Yes

vote2: yes

vote 2: yes

Vote2 yes

Voting is closed.

Motion to amend the Statutes has been unanimously approved.

So let’s come to Agenda item 9: Proposal for the next Executive Board, Cash Auditors and Data Protection Officer

The candidates for the vacant Board mandates were publicly presented to you on 30 March 2024. They are

Corinne Pommerell as Treasurer

(We will proceed to the cash auditors and the data protection officer after the election of the new board members.)

There was sufficient time to review information about the candidates.

▶ Are there any questions about them?
(We will wait 1 minute.)

So let’s come to Agenda item 9.1: Election of the next Executive Board

Refer to your emails and use the PollUnit link for ‘Vote 3 - Accept board candidates 2024’.

Agenda 9.1: I vote in support of all candidates

vote3: oui

This time, Poll Unit works properly.

+1 (for those who received the mail)

▶ The voting has been closed with the following results:

17 votes in favour
0 votes against
1 abstentions

This means that Corinne Pommerell has been elected to the board as treasurer.

Now let’s come to Agenda item 9.2: Election of the Cash Auditor and Data Protection Officer

As Cash Auditors according to Article VIIb of our Statutes and as Data Protection Officer, the following previous mandate holders have declared their willingness to be available for another election period.

Thomas Reck - Cash Auditor

Markus Fritsch (Boarischa Krautmo) - Data Protection Officer

Refer to your emails and use the PollUnit link for ‘Vote 4 - Accept supervisory appointments 2024’.

Item 9.2 -- Yes to Thomas Reck and Markus Fritsch (Boarischa Krautmo)

vote 4: oui

▶ The voting has been closed with the following results:

18 votes in favour
0 votes against
1 abstentions

This means that Thomas Reck has been confirmed as Cash Auditor. Markus Fritsch has been confirmed as Data Protection Officer.

Last but not least we now come to Agenda item 10: Miscellaneous

▶ We received no motions in advance. Are there any now?

(We will wait 1 minute.)

Thank You to all the team from me. Good to read William’s optimistic report.

All I would like to say is "Thank You" to the Ip Board and everyone else that makes Ipernity the place it is.

Thank you Colin and everyone who attended! :)