BALLOT #26
May 31, 2005
Please read the ballot carefully. We will vote on each section of this Article separately. Where clauses or parts of clauses are shown in blue, you will have a question concerning the inclusion and/or wording. After you have voted on the items shown in blue, you will be asked to either approve the rest of the clauses in their entirety, or to state which clauses you wish to have removed.
Question 1: Approval of opening text.
TEXT:
Article 2: Member Rights and Responsibilities
Some rights and responsibilities are enforceable by procedures and penalties outlined in the Charter; others rest on the determination of all members to observe them. All are essential to our purpose of building a vibrant, diverse, supportive community where both conversation and signature pictures reflect our personalities, our humor, our genuine opinions, our artistic appreciation, our creativity, and above all our mutual friendship.
A = 14: I approve the opening text
B = 1: I do not approve the opening text
PLEASE READ THE TEXT OF ¶1, A. RIGHTS below, and answer the questions that follow.
¶1: Rights and responsibilities enforceable by procedures and penalties outlined in the Charter
A. You have the right:
1. To post under one registered screen name if you are 13 years of age or older.
2. To create and register characters for use in the There and Back Again forum (a role-play forum). They must be recorded in the RP Character Registry. LINK
3. To post in our Thinking of England forum (a forum restricted to those who are 18 years of age or older) once you have met the eligibility requirements
4. To address personal disputes in the Bike Racks forum, and in other forums to post free of disruptions caused by the personal disputes of others.
5. To post in languages other than English in threads, ranks or signature texts.
6. To post without confronting advertising spam, pornographic pictures, sexually explicit conversation outside of the age-restricted forum, and pictures or conversations of an offensively violent or distasteful nature.
7. To a Hearing if you are accused of violating the by-laws; to appeal a Hearing under certain circumstances; to petition for the reversal of a ban under certain circumstances. You must abide by the decisions of our juries and use proper procedure when contesting the decisions of administrators or jurors. Refer to Article 4 of our Charter for a full explanation of your rights under any dispute procedure.
8. To petition the administrators for redress if you believe that your other rights have been violated.
Questions 2: Concerning 4. To address personal disputes in the Bike Racks forum, and in other forums to post free of disruptions caused by the personal disputes of others. This right is also listed in the unenforceable section (#21 below). There is a question of where it should appear, whether in enforceables, in unenforceables or in both sections, because admins have the power to split argumentative threads and send them to the Bike Racks, but we cannot force members to participate in a Bike Racks thread.
A = 12: I want this right to be included here (under enforceable rights).
B = 3: I do not want this right to be included here (under enforceable rights).
Questions 3: Concerning the inclusion of 8. To petition the administrators for redress if you believe that your other rights have been violated.
A = 12: I want this clause to appear in the Charter.
B = 2: This clause is unnecessary and should be removed.
Questions 4: Concerning the other clauses of ¶1, A. Rights
A = 15: I approve of all the remaining clauses
B = 0: I wish to remove clause [#] (list by number all clauses you wish to remove)
PLEASE READ THE TEXT OF ¶1, B. RESPONSIBILITIES below, and answer the question that follow.
B. You have the Responsibility:
9. To provide a valid email address and to state truthfully your age for board access or entry into any forum with age restrictions.
10. To refrain from personal attacks or intentional insults that target another member's nationality, ethnicity, religion, native language, gender, age or sexual orientation, to remove any unintentional insults of this nature upon request, and to refrain from using a foreign language to conceal insults of this nature.
11. To role-play in a way that does not prevent other characters from participating or unnecessarily stifle the creative options of other posters.
12. To post prudently in the Thinking of England forum and not expose yourself to unnecessary harm. That forum should be free of ridicule, provocation, or demeaning posts and you should report violations to the administrators. You must also
refrain from maliciously spreading information posted by others in that forum.
13. To keep your posts free of gratuitous advertising, spam that would annoy any reasonable person, and pictures that would disgust or dismay any reasonable person.
14. To refrain from inflicting damage on the board or the internet access of its members, either deliberately or through negligence, by hacking or introducing viruses.
15. To refrain from using PM capability to harrass other members of the board.
16. To refrain from soliciting or encouraging the participation of members in illegal activities; but this does not impinge on your right to speak freely about the shortcomings, ethical or practical, of any given law.
17. To refrain from threatening real life violence or other criminal acts against other members.
Question 5: Concerning 10. To refrain from personal attacks or intentional insults that target another member's nationality, ethnicity, religion, native language, gender, age or sexual orientation, to remove any unintentional insults of this nature upon request, and to refrain from using a foreign language to conceal insults of this nature.
RANK
A = 9: I want the text in blue to appear as it does now.
B = 0: I want the phrase personal attacks to be removed but wish to retain the phrase, to remove any unintentional insults of this nature upon request.
C = 6: I want the phrase , to remove any unintentional insults of this nature upon request, to be removed but wish to retain the phrase personal attacks.
D = 0: I want both phrases in blue removed.
Questions 6: Concerning the other clauses of ¶1, B. Responbilities
A = 15: I approve all of the clauses
B = 0: I wish to remove clause [#] (list by number all clauses you wish to remove)
PLEASE READ THE TEXT OF ¶2 below, and answer the questions that follow.
¶2: Rights and responsibilities that rest on the determination of all members to keep Board77 a pleasant place for all to postbut are not enforceable by procedures and penalties outlined in the Charter
You have the right
18. To be treated with courtesy and respect by all posters regardless of their status and the responsibility to treat others likewise.
19. To express one’s thoughts on any topic, as long as you post with respect, forbearance and consideration for the context, the feelings of others, the value of contrasting viewpoints, and without making personal attacks against other posters.
20. To use adult language that is generally acceptable in written media or adult conversation, along with the responsibility to refrain from unnecessary cursing or obscenities. We encourage everyone to use language that is clear and contributory (not spam or netspeak) without our having to restrict the expressions that are generally found in adult conversation.
21. To post free of disruptions caused by the personal disputes of others; and the right to address a personal dispute with another member in the Bike Racks forum if the other member agrees. You are also entitled to mediation. It is your responsibility to resolve your own personal disputes in a productive fashion, and not to interfere with other members who are doing the same.
22. The right to serve as an administrator, mediator or juror and to run for elected office. It is also your responsibility to participate in the governance of the board whether simply by voting when a quorum is needed, or by serving in some official capacity.
Questions 7: Concerning the the title of this paragraph:¶2: Rights and responsibilities that rest on the determination of all members to keep Board77 a pleasant place for all to postbut are not enforceable by procedures and penalties outlined in the Charter
A = 10: I want the title to include both the text in red and the text in blue.
B = 5: I want the title to include the text in red but not the text in blue.
Questions 8: Concerning 21. The right to post free of disruptions caused by the personal disputes of others; and the right to address a personal dispute with another member in the Bike Racks forum if the other member agrees. You are also entitled to mediation. It is your responsibility to resolve your own personal disputes in a productive fashion, and not to interfere with other members who are doing the same.
RANK
A = 4: I do not want this clause to appear in the Charter in this section.
B = 11: I want the blue text only to appear in this section, without the opening sentence shown in green.
C = 0: I want both the opening text shown in green and the rest of the text shown in blue to appear in this section.
Questions 9: Concerning the other clauses in ¶2:
A = 15: I approve all of the other clauses
B = 0: I wish to remove clause [#] (list by number all clauses you wish to remove)
Question 10: Concerning the structure of ¶2, do you prefer that the unenforceable rights and responsibilities be coupled together in the same paragraph as above, or do you prefer that they be separated into to sections like ¶1, as such:
Quote:
¶2: Rights and responsibilities that rest on the determination of all members to keep Board77 a pleasant place for all to post but are not enforceable by procedures and penalties outlined in the Charter.
A. You have the right:
18. To be treated with courtesy and respect by all posters regardless of their status.
19. To express your thoughts on any topic.
20. To use adult language that is generally acceptable in written media or adult conversation.
21. To post free of disruptions caused by the personal disputes of others; and the right to address a personal dispute with another member in the Bike Racks forum if the other member agrees. You are also entitled to mediation.
22. To serve as an administrator, mediator or juror and to run for elected office.
B. You have the responsibility:
23. To treat all posters with courtesy and respect regardless of their status.
24. To post with respect, forbearance and consideration for the context, the feelings of others, the value of contrasting viewpoints, and without making personal attacks against other posters.
25. To refrain from unnecessary cursing or obscenities. We encourage everyone to use language that is clear and contributory (not spam or netspeak) without our having to restrict the expressions that are generally found in adult conversation.
26. To resolve your own personal disputes in a productive fashion, and not to interfere with other members who are doing the same.
27. To participate in the governance of the board whether simply by voting when a quorum is needed, or by serving in some official capacity.
A = 8: I prefer the first structure with the unenforceable rights and responsibilies combined in the same paragraphs.
B = 7: I prefer the second structure with the unenforceable rights and responsibilies separated into separate sub-sections.
[Note that the results of questions 7, 8 or 9 would be applied to the text regardless of which structure is chosen.]
_________________
"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.
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