board77

The Last Homely Site on the Web

Charter of B77

Locked   Page 1 of 1  [ 15 posts ]
Author Message
Jnyusa
Post subject: Charter of B77
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:34 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
The Charter of Board 77
Last Homely House on the Web


http://uk.geocities.com/b77_ad/CharterIndex.htm" target="_blank

A summary of all Charter Articles can also be found here:
Charter Summary
_________________________________________________________

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

[Ratified June 27, 2005]

Board77 is a democratically governed internet community where members from around the world gather to cultivate friendships and engage in discussion. Our conversations cover any topic of interest to our members, from current events and philosophy to fine arts and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. We aspire to maintain a culture of respect, equality and openness.

OUR KEY PRINCIPLES

[Ratified June 27, 2005]

Free Exchange of Ideas: All forms of self-expression are welcome at board77. In our discussion forums we encourage conversation that is vibrant and thoughtful, sometimes deeply personal, opinionated, or humorous and lighthearted. In our collaborative writing forum we value cooperation and support for one another’s creativity. We encourage the exchange of views on the whole spectrum of subjects that pique our curiosity in our daily lives.

Diversity: We pride ourselves on having an international membership that is diverse in culture, gender, age, and interests. We are tolerant toward other viewpoints and opinions without hesitating to express our own. We show appreciation for the differing skills, language abilities, and life experiences that our members bring to the board. We listen to one another, make good-faith efforts to understand one another, and we treat one another respectfully at all times.

Fellowship: Our interactions on board77 demonstrate that fellowship transcends agreement on specific issues, and actually flourishes because of the different perspectives we bring to a discussion. The founders of the board met through a shared love for the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we remain mindful of the spirit of fellowship exemplified by Tolkien's Middle-earth and the inspiration that world brings to so many who encounter it. We strive to keep this ideal of fellowship alive and available to the community at large with opportunities for old friendships to deepen and for new ones to begin.

Transparency: The atmosphere of fairness required to foster the free exchange of ideas requires that judgment regarding board behavior be the shared responsibility of all members. Administration and enforcement of by-laws is done as fairly and openly as possible. We see value in exercising power and dealing with challenges publicly, rather than behind the scenes, because this safeguards against the undermining of our principles by privately-made decisions. This approach requires courage and trustworthiness from our members, and a willingness to be frank and forthright in our dealings with one another.

Self-Governance: The members of Board77 believe that externally imposed and enforced rules can stifle free expression; our solution is to leave responsibility for governance in the hands of the members. No member of board77 is more important than any other member, and no single member or group of members ever holds absolute power. We are all responsible for participating in board governance and we are all accountable for our own actions.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by LalaithUrwen on Wed 05 Nov , 2008 7:42 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Updated for new board

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:35 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
OWNERSHIP OF BOARD77
[Ratified June 27, 2005]

¶1. It is the intention of board77 to eventually become a member-owned internet community. To that end, member Voronwe_the_Faithful has offered to prepare and file the necessary papers to form a nonprofit corporation, organized under the laws of the State of California, once the following has occurred:
• the Charter has been completely finished and ratified;
• the messageboard has moved to the www.board77.com domain name, which is currently owned by member TheLidlessEyes, who has offered to transfer such ownership to a nonprofit corporation formed for that purpose under terms acceptable to both TheLidlessEyes and the other members.

¶2.When formed, this corporation, subject to applicable laws and feasibility as determined by the members at that time:
• will be named board77, unless that name is taken;
• will be formed as a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation;
• will seek tax-exempt status if feasible;
• will have voting members consisting of all persons who register a primary screen name at board77 and are eligible to vote for the Mayor under the by-laws regarding a binding vote of the membership;
• will have a Board of Directors consisting of a single director who will be the current Mayor, who will be elected by the voting members;
• will have CEO, secretary, and Chief Financial Officer, all of whom will also be the Mayor, who nonetheless will be prohibited from taking any action in any of these roles that is not otherwise specified in the Charter without the authorization of a majority of voting members who vote on any issue;
• will have regular Board/Member meetings at which the Mayor can report to the membership on issues affecting the community, the members can inform the mayor about any issues he or she needs to know about, and the members can communicate directly with each other, with the threads in which these Board/Member meetings occur being archived as the official minutes of the meetings;
• will not collect membership dues but will have a donation fund from which miscellaneous expenses will be paid.

¶3. This is a basic outline that is the result of preliminary research only. Before the corporation is actually formed and ownership transferred to it, a comprehensive plan will be presented to the then current membership, a majority of which must approve it for the plan to then go forward.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:37 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
OUR ADMINISTRATIVE AND GOVERNANCE PROCEDURES

Article 1: Board77 is a member-moderated board.

[ratified May 15, 2005]

[Continue to next post]

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:38 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 2: Member Rights and Responsibilities
[ratified June 20, 2005; amended August 8, 2005; amended October 25, 2005]

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.

¶1: Rights and responsibilities enforceable by procedures and penalties outlined in the Charter

A. You have the right:


To post under one registered screen name if you are 13 years of age or older.

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. RP Character Registry

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 and if you have not been denied access pursuant to Article 6 ¶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.

To post in languages other than English in threads, ranks or signature texts.

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.

To be protected from revelation of personal information about yourself that would compromise your privacy, and to have such information edited from any post at your request;

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 Rangers or Jurors. Refer to Article 5 of our Charter for a full explanation of your rights under any dispute procedure.

To petition the Rangers for redress if you believe that your other rights have been violated.

B. You have the Responsibility:

To provide a valid email address and to state truthfully your age for board access or entry into any forum with age restrictions.

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.

To role-play within the guidelines set by the story originator, and in a way that does not prevent other characters from participating or stifle unnecessarily the creative options of other posters.

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 Rangers. You must also refrain from maliciously spreading information posted by others in that forum.

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.

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.

To refrain from using PM capability to harass other members of the board.

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.

To refrain from threatening real life violence or other criminal acts against other members.

¶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

You have the right:


To be treated with courtesy and respect by all posters regardless of their status, and the responsibility to treat others likewise.

To express your 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.

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.

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.

To serve as a Ranger, 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.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 12:48 am, edited 2 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:39 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 3: Rangers (Administrators)
[ratified May 15, 2005; amended August 8, 2005; amended October 25, 2005]

¶1: Number of Rangers and Terms of Office
We have five to seven administrators, called Rangers, depending on the needs of the board at the time. They serve three-month terms and are selected from among the members who are eligible and have volunteered.

There are also up to two Rangers in training who are practicing on the experimental board and may exercise on the main board the routine powers of a Ranger as defined below. Rangers have the power to edit or delete posts, or ban posters for certain offenses and propose banning for other kinds of offenses defined below. In all other kinds of disputes they will intervene only at the request of members affected by the dispute.

Ranger terms are staggered so that two to four new Rangers take office every 2 months.

Terms of Office run as follows: [Jan•Feb•Mar], [Feb•Mar•Apr], [Apr•May•Jun], [May•Jun•Jul], [Jul•Aug•Spt], [Aug•Spt•Oct], [Oct•Nov•Dec] and [Nov•Dec•Jan]

Finishing the term of office for a Ranger who has resigned will not count as a full term for purposes of determining how many successive terms a member may serve, unless the term they are completing has eight full weeks or longer remaining.

¶2: Eligibility of Members to Serve as Rangers

To serve as a Ranger, a member should be at least eighteen years of age, have been a member for six months while maintaining a continuous, visible, and contributory presence on the board, and have spent enough time on the experimental board to demonstrate an ability to perform the routine functions of a Ranger.

The same person may serve as Ranger more than once, but not in two consecutive terms.

A member may not begin a term of office if they are currently involved in a Hearing.

Registered members as of March 12, 2005 are eligible to serve as Rangers providing they have spent enough time on the experimental board to demonstrate an ability to perform the routine functions of a Ranger, and are not currently involved in any capacity in a Hearing or under a penalty.

¶3: Selection of Rangers

Service as a Ranger is entirely voluntary. A member who has agreed to serve as a Ranger and has entered the pool may withdraw their name at any time.

Eligible members will enter the pool of full Rangers when they feel capable and the full Ranger who has been coaching them agrees that they are capable. They will then serve their term of office in the order in which they entered the pool, unless some reason prevents them from doing this. If the member is unable to serve a term when it is their turn, but knows when they will be able to serve, they may ask to be scheduled for a particular future term. Otherwise they will simply remain ‘next on the list’ until the timing of a term coincides with their ability to serve.

The mayor will be responsible for keeping track of the eligibility of members, the order in which they enter the pool of full Rangers, and the actual scheduling of terms of office.

The Mayor is held accountable for determining what constitutes a ‘continuous, visible, and contributory presence,’ approaching members so qualified to obtain their agreement to serve, and entering the names of those who volunteer into the roster of new entrants and then the training pool. Those rosters will be prominently posted, and volunteers will remain on the roster of new entrants for at least ten days.

While volunteers are listed as new entrants, all members are responsible for reviewing the roster to determine whether they know any good reason why a particular volunteer would not make a good Ranger and should not immediately enter the pool of full Rangers when their training is complete. If no member expresses a concern or objection volunteers will enter the pool of full Rangers without delay. If a member does have a concern or objection to a particular volunteer, these must be sent by email to the Administrator account, where they will also be forwarded to the Mayor so that the Mayor together with current Rangers can review them for merit. A Ranger will send an email acknowledgment to each person who submits an objection to let them know their objection has been received.

If the concern or objection involves a serious violation of by-laws for which a formal action of some kind is required, then the volunteer will not enter the pool of full Rangers until the issue is resolved. The Mayor and current Rangers together will inform the volunteer immediately, attempt to verify the merit of the accusation insofar as possible, and if it has merit they will initiate whatever procedure is called for in the by-laws. If exonerated, the volunteer may enter the pool of full Rangers when training is complete. If restrictions are placed on the volunteer as a result of the procedure, they will not enter the pool of full Rangers until the by-laws allow them to do so.

If the concern or objection involves matters of courtesy, or unfamiliarity with certain forums, or anything else affecting only the comfort level of the members, the Mayor or an appropriate Ranger will explain the problem to the volunteer as tactfully as possible and suggest ways that their posting might become more “visible and contributory” before they enter the pool of full Rangers.

The Mayor will retain record of these concerns and objections and make sure that any full Ranger who is coaching the volunteer knows of them as well. When the volunteer expresses his/her readiness to enter the pool of Rangers, including their correction of any prior deficiency, and the full Ranger who has been coaching them agrees, the Mayor will send an email to any member who has raised a prior objection and ask permission to lift the objection, explaining what has been done to rectify the problem. If the member still objects, they must explain why and the issue will be revisited as before. If no response is received within seven days, the objection will be lifted and the volunteer may enter the pool of full Rangers. The pool of full Rangers will be posted prominently.

Guidelines in the selection of Rangers: Members will generally serve their term of office when it is their turn; but it is also advisable that the group of Rangers serving at any particular time provide coverage for as many time zones as possible and include at least one person whose native language is not English. The Mayor may adjust the scheduling of terms to meet this ideal situation as long as this does not result in members jumping too far forward in the queue or having their term of office postponed more than once when it is their turn and they are available. Members who are entering the pool of Rangers should read and agree to the Code of Conduct for Rangers, Paragraph 6, below.

¶4: Routine powers of Rangers

• Activate memberships;
• Create new forums when a majority of current Rangers agree it is necessary;
• Move the appropriate threads into newly created forums as necessary;
• Create temporary Ranger positions when a majority of current Rangers agree this is necessary, provided that the appointees have served as Rangers in the past and no formal complaint has been issued against them for their actions as a Ranger; a temporary appointment will last for two full weeks and may be renewed one time (four full weeks in total);
• In the Jury Room and the Archive, enable posting rights, delete illegitimate posts from Hearings, and delete threads when they are finished;
• In the Thinking of England Forum, initiate announcement threads and oversee consideration periods in accordance with the instructions in Article 6, ¶4.
• Lock, split, or move threads upon request of members, or when it is necessary to improve the coherence of a forum; the thread originator must be notified beforehand;
• Edit Posts if they affect the display of the page, e.g. stretched pages, after notifying the poster;
• If a poster registers an invalid email address, restrict posting rights to the Bike Racks and send the poster a PM so that a correct address can be provided;
• Download new smilies;
• Delete double posts at the request of the poster.

Rangers are required to:
• Note all Ranger edits in a post, and email the poster advising them of the edit;
• Rangers-in-training may have their administrative powers enabled and exercise routine powers under the supervision of a full Ranger, but administrative powers are disabled when the training session is over.

Rangers may not:
• Delete posts or lock threads without permission of the originator unless the originator has engaged in conduct justifying an immediate ban, or edit posts except in the circumstances specified in paragraph ¶5;

• Delete smilies or change the style of the board without allowing members to express their opinion beforehand in the proper forum;
• Change the permissions of a poster at the poster's request, except for routine changes of permission in the Jury Room, Archives, and Thinking of England Forum; nor can they ban members for any reason other than those listed below.

¶5: Special and Emergency powers of Rangers

• Edit Posts if they contain objectionable content (for example, abuse of another poster, defamatory remarks, pornographic, violent or distasteful content, or advertisement of products), or if they reveal personal information that compromises another poster's privacy or contain any personal information about a minor.

• Enact an Immediate Ban for the following offenses if the poster has registered within the last seven days:
1. Spamming the board with ads;
2. Spamming the board with porn;
3. Hacking the board;
4. Refusing to abide by the Decision of Jury in a Hearing;
5. Threats of real life violence or other criminal acts against members.

In all other cases the poster has the Right to a Hearing, and if the poster registered more than seven days ago they are considered a member of the community and have a right to a hearing for these offenses as well; but their posting rights will be restricted to the Jury Room for the duration of the hearing.

• Temporarily suspend posting rights or restrict access to a forum:
1. In the Jury Room, if poster has interfered with a Hearing on a Ban, board-wide posting rights can be suspended until the Hearing is concluded;
2. In the There and Back Again forum, if more than one complaint has been made against the way an RP identity has been used, posting rights can be suspended until a Hearing can be held regarding the continuation of that identity;
3. In the Thinking of England Forum, if more than one complaint has been made about the way a poster has been posting there, posting rights can be suspended until a Hearing can be held to determine the right of continued access to that forum;
4. If a sig pic is arguably pornographic, violent or distasteful it can be removed; and if the poster persists in reposting it, posting rights outside the Jury Room can be suspended until a Hearing decision is reached.

• Convene a Hearing on a ban whenever a bannable offense is called to their attention.

• Convene a Hearing to reverse a ban if the following three conditions are met:
1. if the duration of the ban was not specified;
2. the banned poster has requested a new Hearing in an email sent from the email address used to register;
3. at least one month has elapsed since the ban went into effect; Rangers can postpone a requested hearing longer but not more than three months.

Procedures for using special and emergency powers
An immediate ban is of unspecified duration. A Hearing must be convened to reverse it.

When posting rights are suspended, a Hearing must be held and the Jury will decide the duration of the suspension.

Extraordinary Powers of Rangers
Recognizing that unforeseen events may occur which require a quick response, Board77 Rangers are expected to use their best judgment in emergencies, and to take whatever action they believe necessary to protect the board. An emergency would be an event which threatened real and immediate harm, but which is not otherwise addressed by this charter. In such an event, the Ranger(s) in question would be expected to explain the circumstances and consult with the board membership as soon as possible. Such measures are temporary by their nature and subject to review by the standing Committee for Charter Amendments.

¶6: Code of Conduct for Rangers

Be the Ranger you want everyone else to be.

Prioritize functioning as a Ranger. You can still post as a normal poster yet your priority should lie in keeping the board running smoothly, attending to requests, helping to work on any pending agendas and generally strive to make Board 77 a better place for all members.

Read the Handbook for Rangers, observe all the by-laws of the board, and enforce them uniformly. If you are unsure of your authority to take a particular action, use your best judgment and confer with another Ranger as soon as it is possible to do so. Act as a model poster in accordance with all the rules laid out for board 77.

Keep the other Rangers updated regularly in a dedicated thread in Forum Management.

If you are going to be absent from the board for more than 72 hours, notify the other Rangers by posting in Forum Management and delegate any pending tasks.

Assign priority to answering business-related PM's and emails. If you cannot handle the request of a member yourself, let them know that you have given it to another Ranger.

Don’t ‘hide’ being online. Having volunteered as a Ranger you have agreed to be available and members need to know which Rangers are online.

When posting references to other threads, insert them as clickable links naming the full thread-title to make the posting experience an easy and pleasurable one for everyone.

If you have to edit someone else’s post, note this in the post with your name and the date.

Help the Rangers-in-training to the best of your abilities.

Treat all posters the same. When editing posts, answering requests, or enforcing by-laws, be courteous and do not try to intimidate posters with your office.

Please don't try to influence the behavior of our posters on other boards, either by discouraging them from posting or encouraging them to post certain things, or by telling them that what they do on other boards will have consequences for them on B77.

If you are going to be absent for two full weeks or more, you must notify the other Rangers in Forum Management and arrange in advance for a temporary Ranger to take your place.

If you find you must be absent for more than four full weeks, we ask you to resign because a temporary Ranger cannot be appointed to replace you. This will not affect your future eligibility, although you will return to the bottom of the roster as if you had served your term.

If you are asked to set up and oversee a Hearing on a Ban, do so promptly.

Try to face criticism from posters calmly and not take it personally.

If you receive a warning because of a violation of the Code of Conduct, please accept it with good grace. You will always be given a chance to explain your side of any issue. Warnings are not made public, and if they do not accumulate into a Formal Complaint, no record is kept of them.

There are certain things which might result in your removal from office, and by agreeing to the Code of Conduct you are agreeing to these terms as well:
• You will not deliberately or maliciously ban posters who are entitled to a hearing or suspend posting rights without due process, except in the course of exercising Extraordinary powers;
• You will not reveal private information to which you have access because of your office, such as profile information that members have made hidden or the contents of secret ballots cast by PM or email;
• You will not give another poster access to the administrator panel;
• You will not boast on the board about criminal activities or encourage other posters to engage in them, such as use of illicit substances, activities forbidden to minors, obtaining bootleg films or CDs or other violations of copyright law.

If you have been accused of any activity that would result in your removal from office, you have a right to a hearing.

¶7: How to Contest the Decision of a Ranger

All Ranger decisions may be contested.

Disputes of a personal nature involving a Ranger can be resolved at the Bike Racks.

If a Ranger has convened a Hearing, then the member will explain their side of the issue at the Hearing.

Ranger decisions made while exercising routine powers (such as edits, moving threads, etc.) may be contested in the following way:
• The member affected by the action contacts the Ranger by PM or email and requests that the action be reviewed
• If the poster and the Ranger can reach an agreement between them, nothing else need be done. If the poster and the Ranger cannot agree, the poster can ask for an independent review.
• The independent review will be conducted by two other Rangers and one Jury member, and they will decide to overturn or uphold the original decision.

¶8: When is a Ranger Removed from Office

A Ranger cannot be removed from office without due process.

Except for those special cases listed, no single violation or act of negligence will be sufficient to remove a Ranger from office. If a Hearing is convened, a pattern of repeated violations or negligence damaging to the board must be shown, and a Ranger must have received Warnings and Formal Complaints.

When a Ranger resigns or is removed from office, a new Ranger is selected to complete the term of office.

Grounds for Warnings to a Ranger
• Being absent from the board for more than 72 hours without notifying the other Rangers, except in personal emergency or computer failure.
• Failing to respond in timely fashion to business-related emails and PM's from members and other Rangers.
• Posting hidden at times when the Ranger is needed to be visible.
• Special treatment of posters or arbitrary enforcement of the by-laws.
• Conduct Unbecoming a Ranger, such as discourtesy or intimidation, or attempting to influence poster behavior on other messageboards.

Procedures for Warnings to a Ranger
• The action or omission must be brought to the attention of the current
Rangers.
• Two Rangers must agree that a warning is justified.
• These two Rangers will notify the Ranger under complaint and give that person a chance to explain themselves. If the explanation is satisfactory, nothing more need be done.
• If two current Rangers still believe a warning is justified, they will write briefly the reason and forward this to the Mayor by email.
• If the current Rangers are in disagreement as to whether action is required, no warning will be filed.
• The record of warnings is maintained by the Mayor and does not become public unless it aggregates to a Formal Complaint.
• Warnings are purged after the Ranger leaves office.

Grounds for Formal Complaints Against a Ranger
• Three warnings for the same action or omission.
• Being absent from the board for more than two weeks and failing to notify the other Rangers in advance to arrange for a temporary Ranger.
• Deliberate unilateral actions for which the by-laws require a majority of Rangers to agree, or any other deliberate and direct violation of the by laws.
• Failing to convene and oversee a Hearing when required.

Procedure for Formal Complaints Against a Ranger
• The action or omission that is the basis of the Formal Complaint must be brought to the attention of the current Rangers.
• Two Rangers must agree that a Formal Complaint is justified.
• These two will notify the Ranger under complaint and give that person a chance to explain themselves. If the explanation is satisfactory, nothing more need be done.
• If the two current Rangers still believe a Formal Complaint is justified, they will write briefly the reason and forward this to the Mayor by email.
• If the current Rangers are in disagreement as to whether action is required, the Formal Complaint will be filed but it will be marked “Disputed.” Disputed complaints are purged when the Ranger’s term of office ends and will not bar them from serving as a temporary Ranger.

Time Limit and Penalty for Formal Complaints Against a Ranger
Formal complaints are kept on record for nine months following the end of a term of office. During that time, the member may not serve as a temporary Ranger or begin a new term of office as a full Ranger.

Grounds for Removal of a Ranger
• Desertion: A Ranger who deserts the board and cannot be contacted for a period of 30 days should be removed from office.
• Incoming Rangers must agree to resign if they will be away from the board for a period longer than than four full weeks, because it is not possible to replace them with a temporary Ranger. Such a resignation will not affect their eligibility to serve as a full Ranger in the future or as a temporary Ranger at any time, but their name will return to the bottom of the roster of full Rangers as if they had served their term. If a Ranger faces this circumstance and does not resign, then this is considered Grounds for Removal.
• Pattern of Absences, Failure to Respond and Other Warnings: If a series of warnings or violations results in three Formal Complaints, the other Rangers may consider whether to convene a hearing to remove that Ranger. If five Formal Complaints have been filed, a hearing is required.
• Extreme Abuse of Power: a hearing may be convened if a Ranger deliberately and maliciously bans a member who is entitled to a hearing or suspends posting rights without due process, except in the course of exercising extraordinary powers.
• An Immediate Hearing is required if a Ranger:
1. reveals private information obtained as a result of their office, such as profile information that members have made hidden or the contents of secret ballots cast by PM or email;
2. gives another poster access to the administrator panel;
3. uses the board to boast about criminal behaviors and/or encourage other posters to engage in them.

Procedure for Removal of a Ranger
• Two Rangers must agree that the charges against a Ranger are sufficiently serious and not manufactured, and that a hearing is justified. The Ranger who is considered for removal will be notified by PM and by email, and the call for a hearing will be posted in the Jury Room.
• The posting rights of the Ranger in question will be restricted to the Jury Room and administrative powers will be revoked for the duration of the hearing.

Penalties Associated with Removal of a Ranger
A Ranger can be removed from office and barred from holding office in the future for a length of time commensurate with the offense.
• Pattern of Absences, Failure to Respond and Other Warnings: One year
• Desertion: One year
• Breach of Privacy: One year
• Giving another person access to the administrator panel: One year
• Encouraging criminal behavior: One year


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 12:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:41 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 4: Office of the Mayor
Ratified June 27, 2005; amended August 8, 2005

¶1: Term of Office, Eligibility, and Selection
A Mayor for the board will be chosen once a year in a membership-wide election between candidates who meet the eligibility requirements and choose to run. To be eligible, a candidate must be 18 years of age or older, a registered member for six months, and be nominated and seconded by two other members. No member may serve two consecutive terms as Mayor.

No provision is made for selecting an Assistant to the Mayor, however if a current Mayor decides that an Assistant Mayor is needed to fulfill the duties of this office, he/she may propose that the Charter be amended to provide for a selection process and the standing Committee for Charter Amendments will convene according to Article 7.

The Mayor may not serve as a Ranger, Juror, Loremaster, or Mediator during his/her term of office.

¶2: Duties and Powers of the Mayor
The duties of the Mayor include Record Keeping, Verification and Notification regarding various eligibilities, scheduling Ranger terms of office, designating spokespersons, greeting new members, and presiding at boardwide functions.

Record Keeping
Eligibility and Service Records:
• Join dates, so that eligibility for the Jury and the Ranger Pool is not delayed;
• Date of entry into the Ranger Pool;
• Date of entry into the Jury Pool;
• Start and end dates of Ranger terms of office;
• Date of last service as a Mediator;
• Date of last service as a Juror;
• Designation and date of last service as a Loremaster.

Objections, Complaints and Penalties:
• Member objections to another member’s entry into Ranger Pool, until the objection is lifted;
• Warnings given to Rangers, until three warnings result in a formal complaint or until the term of office expires;
• Disputed Formal complaints against a Ranger, until the term of office expires or until five complaints result in a hearing;
• Formal complaints against a Ranger, for one year after the term of office has expired, or until five complaints result in a hearing;
• Outstanding penalties imposed by a Jury and their expiration dates;
• Immediate bans, and the date when they become eligible for a petition to reverse.

Verifications
Verification that a member has displayed a ‘continuous, visible, and contributory presence’ as the requirement for entry into the Ranger Pool.

Notifications
• Notification to individual members when they become eligible for the Jury Pool and the Ranger Pool;
• Notification to the board by means of a posted roster that members are newly entering the Ranger Pool;
• Notification to current Rangers and to the individual member when there has been an objection to their entry into the Ranger Pool;
• Notification to objecting members when a potential Ranger has repaired any deficiencies and will enter the pool;
• Notification to members in the Ranger Pool when it is their turn to serve a term of office, at least one month prior to the beginning of the term;
• Notification to the board by means of a posted roster which members are available to serve as Jurors and Mediators;
• Notification to current Rangers when an outstanding penalty has expired.

Scheduling
The Mayor will schedule Administrative terms of office, ensuring insofar as possible adequate time zone coverage, the presence of one Ranger whose native language is not English, and the availability of members to serve when it is their turn.

Designating Spokesperson(s)
The Mayor will be aware of transactions between board77 and the public, and may authorize members to speak or act on behalf of the board whenever such a function is needed.

Greeting new members
The Mayor will send out an email greeting to new members in which their eligibilities are explained.

The Mayor will preside over any board-wide festivities and present honorees.

¶3: Screen name, Forums, and Permissions used by the Mayor
A screen name, “Mayor,” is created for use by the person holding this office when making posts of an official nature. The password will change with the officeholder.

A new subforum is created and entitled “Michel Delving” in which the Mayor will maintain those records that the Charter designates as public. The subforum will be a read and write forum so that members are able to discuss with the Mayor as needed and make the Mayor aware of developments that affect the Board.

A second subforum which is not readable by the members is created and entitled "Sensitive Information - Mayor" in order to maintain those records that the Charter designates as private. The Mayor will not have any Administrative powers other than permission to read and write in the Outside Forum so that Jury Pool and Mediator records can be maintained, and access to the hidden subforum entitled "Sensitive Information - Mayor" during his/her term of office.

¶4: Elections

Elections will be held once a year according to the following schedule:

• On July 20, the current Mayor will post an announcement that the nomination period will begin in 30 days.
• On August 19, a 10 day nomination period will begin, extending through August 28.
• When the nomination period concludes, an election committee will be convened and a ten day voting period will begin on September 3.
• The voting will conclude on September 12.
• The new Mayor will be inaugurated on September 22.

During the nomination period, an individual member may nominate or second one candidate only.

The Election committee will be a three-person committee headed by the current Mayor. The current Mayor will select two individuals that she or he believes to be reliable, and together they will oversee the voting process, including counting the votes and announcing the results. No one who is a candidate for Mayor may be a member of the committee. One Ranger will be assigned to the committee to facilitate processes requiring access to the administrative panel, however the Ranger will not participate in committee proceedings.

The vote will be conducted by secret ballot submitted by PM or email, using instant runoff format if there are more than two candidates and with each voter listing their top three choices in order of preference. The current Mayor will vote first and convey his/her vote by PM to any Ranger who is not him/herself a candidate, so that in the event of a tie the vote already cast by the Mayor will count a second time as the deciding vote.

Members serving as Rangers at the time of the election may run for Mayor, but must resign as Rangers if they are elected.

¶5 Grounds and Procedure for removing an Elected Official from office

The Mayor may have time periods when he/she cannot be on the board regularly, and may seek assistance from the Rangers by giving them advanced notice of the tasks that must be performed during that time period.

However, if the Rangers must use their administrative powers to enter the threads of Michel Delving or the Outside Forum on five separate occasions on an emergency basis because the Mayor, through negligence and without giving advance warning of his/her absence, has failed to do any of the following in timely fashion:
• schedule Ranger terms of office;
• advise Rangers of an expiring penalty in advance of its expiration;
• update the Jury Pool;
• resolve member objections so that a volunteer can enter the Ranger pool;
• send out eligibility notifications within two weeks of eligibility or member greetings within two weeks of activation;
• provide authorization for a member to represent the board in dealings with the public;
• convene any committee for which the Mayor is responsible;
• make the necessary announcements for elections;
the Rangers may convene a Hearing to remove the Mayor from office. A majority of current Rangers must agree that this is necessary.

The Rangers must convene a Hearing to remove the Mayor or any other elected official under the following circumstances:
• the elected official deserts the board and cannot be contacted for a period of 30 days;
• the elected official reveals private information obtained from members as a result of their office;
• the elected uses the board to boast about criminal behaviors and/or encourage other posters to engage in them.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:42 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 5: Dispute Resolution in the Outside Forum
Ratified June 20, 2005; amended August 8, 2005; amended October 25, 2005

¶1: The Bike Racks Forum
The Bike Racks Forum is a read and write forum available to all members. It is used for:
• resolving disputes between individual members when these disputes do not involve a violation of board rules;
• off-topic discussions that are derailing a thread but do not warrant a thread of their own;
• restricting posters who have provided invalid email addresses.

Members may start a thread in that forum to resolve a personal dispute.

Rangers at their discretion may split quarrelsome or disruptive posts and move them to the Bike Racks if they threaten to impinge on member rights.

Bike Rack threads should be titled with the name of the expected participants so that the title is neutral and easy for participants to find.

A thread in the Bike Racks forum is intended for those members directly involved in the interaction, plus whomever else they designate as participants. Those who have initiated the thread may request that Rangers delete the posts of non-designated members who enter the thread.

When members involved in the dispute feel it is resolved, they may notify a Ranger to lock the thread. Rangers should confirm with all parties that the discussion is concluded before locking the thread.

If members are having difficulty resolving their dispute they may ask for a Mediator. There should be no more than one Mediator, agreed upon by the discussants, and chosen from among those Jury Pool members who have indicated their willingness to serve in this capacity. Service as a Mediator in a particular dispute is voluntary.

The role of the Mediator is to offer an objective view of the dispute and help the parties come to an agreement. The mediation may take place in private, by PM or email, if the parties so desire. When the dispute is concluded, the Mediator should make sure that all parties are aware that the discussion is concluding, and then notify a Ranger to lock the thread.

Locked threads in the Bike Racks are deleted only if the posters request it to preserve their privacy.

Bike Rack threads may be summarized and placed in the Archives with the members' names removed if a Mediator or Ranger feels that aspects of the discussion might help future members learn the culture of the board. This may be done even if the locked thread remains on the board and does not require the permission of the discussants.

¶2: Eligibility of Members to Serve as Jurors

Members become eligible to enter the Jury Pool when they have been registered members for three months and have a post count of 100 posts.

It is the responsibility of the Mayor to keep record of join dates and notify members when they become eligible. Eligible members will also be asked if they have an interest in serving as Mediators for the Bike Racks. Entry into the Jury Pool for service as a Juror or Mediator is voluntary.

No Juror may be a current Ranger.

The list of members who are in the Jury Pool will be posted prominently in the Jury Room in the order in which they entered the pool. When a member has served on a particular Jury, the date that the Hearing ended will be posted beside their name, with Served xx/xx/xx replacing their date of entry into the pool, and their name will be moved to the bottom of the list. The Mayor is responsible for maintaining these records and ensuring that the Rangers update the list of eligible Jury members accurately.

The list of those members who have also agreed to serve as Mediators will be posted prominently in the Bike Racks. Full names will be used so that PMs can be sent with ease. Dates of entry do not have to be posted but the date a member last served as Mediator will be shown.

A member of the Jury Pool may not be selected as a potential Juror for a particular case if:
• they are currently involved in another hearing in any capacity;
• if they have been inactive on the board for a period of three months or more;
• if they are currently under a ban, under probation for a ban, or if their posting rights have been temporarily suspended in any forum;
• if they are under the age of 18 and the hearing concerns the age-restricted forum;
It is the responsibility of the Mayor to maintain a record of outstanding penalties, and the responsibility of the Ranger(s) convening a hearing to confirm the specific eligibility of the potential Jurors they draw from the pool.

Penalties that have expired do not affect a member's eligibility to be selected as Juror for a particular case.

There are no restrictions on a member's service as Mediator beyond the requirement that parties to a dispute must agree on the Mediator; and there are no restrictions on the number of times a member may serve as a Mediator.

¶3: Hearings and Selection of a Jury for Hearings

Hearings are held for violations of the by-laws.

Board77 recognizes three kinds of Hearings: Hearings, Hearings on a Ban, and Hearings to Remove a Ranger or Mayor from Office.

Hearings are convened by a Ranger, conducted in a thread in the Jury Room, and decided by a Jury of six members.

Jurors are selected in the following manner:
• Jurors will be selected from the pool in the order in which they entered.

•A sufficient number will be selected at the beginning to allow each affected member to contest two Jurors and still have seven Jurors remaining. For cases involving a single individual, this would be nine potential Jurors.

• The Ranger(s) convening the hearing will confirm with these potential Jurors that they are willing and eligible to serve on this case before submitting their names to the involved member(s). Jury duty is voluntary.

• Each member involved will then have the right to contest two of the proposed Jurors. They are not required to contest any but they have the right to do so.

• Of the Jurors that remain after the selection process, the first six (in order of entry) will hear the case, and one alternate will attend in the event that a regular Juror must leave or be removed. No more than six Jurors will make the final decision.

¶4: Procedure for Hearings

The violation of by-laws is called to the attention of the Rangers, either because they observe it themselves or because a member reports it.

If the Rangers intend to convene a Hearing, they must do so within ten days of the time that the violation of by-laws comes to their attention. If a thread has been edited or deleted, the date signature of the Ranger will be taken as the date when the violation came to their attention and they will have until midnight GMT ten days later to convene a Hearing if they intend to do so. After that, the member may not be called to a Hearing and no penalty may be imposed.

If action has already been taken by a Ranger, such as restriction of posting rights, the Ranger notifies the member at that time that a hearing will be held, and the hearing should be convened within three days.

If the problem is brought to the attention of the Rangers by another member, two Rangers must agree that a hearing is required and the member in question must be notified by email no less than twenty-four hours before the hearing is opened.

The posting rights of the member in question will not be restricted over the course of the hearing on the strength of another member’s report. Only a Ranger observing a violation of by-laws directly, or a Jury after hearing a case, may impose a penalty on a poster.

When the twenty-four hour notification period has passed, a thread is started in the Jury Room, titled with the nature of the hearing, for example, “Hearing on Disruption of the RP Forum.”

The first post of that thread will state the reason for the hearing. If two Rangers convened the hearing, either one may start the thread but both names should appear at the end of the first post. Full names should be given so that PMs can be sent with ease.

The names of the Jurors will be edited in to the first post of the thread and their posting rights will be enabled. The full name should be used so that PMs can be sent with ease.

Ideally, no more than three days should be spent selecting the Jury, so that from the first action taken (suspension of rights or appeal from a member) to the opening of the hearing, no more than seven full days should pass in which the posting rights of a member are curtailed without recourse. Rangers and Jurors should strive to act promptly and avoid delays.

Once the Jury is selected and their names posted in the thread, the Ranger(s) may remove themselves from the case and allow the Jurors to take over. Rangers should remain alert to the need for changes of permission and deletion of posts that do not belong.

The member for whom the hearing is held may state their side of the case and the Jurors may ask questions.

Either posters or Jurors may request that witnesses be allowed to post in the thread.

Members who are called as witnesses participate voluntarily but should respond promptly to the request.

When the Jury has sufficient information to decide the case, they may call an end to the hearing. They will post in the thread that the hearing is coming to an end twenty-four hours before actually beginning their deliberation so that the member has time to agree or present any additional information.

The purpose of the Jury deliberation is to decide whether the member has in fact violated the by-laws or committed a bannable offense beyond any reasonable doubt, and if so, to impose a penalty not to exceed the penalty provided in the by-laws. If no maximum penalty is specified in the by-laws the Jurors may use discretion based on the range of penalties contained in the by-laws for similar offenses.

Jury deliberations may be held in private, by PM or email. Jurors should strive to reach a decision within ten days. Agreement by four of the six Jurors that a by-law has been violated is required for imposition of a penalty. Four of the six Jurors must agree on the duration of the penalty, otherwise the lesser of all penalties considered by them will be imposed.

When the Jurors have reached a decision, they will email their decision to the member and then post their decision in the thread twenty-four hours later. Anything they have taken into consideration should be presented honestly when they state their decision.

Any Juror holding a minority position may express it in their post.

If the Jury has decided that the offense was not committed or that no additional penalties should be imposed, any suspended posting rights will be restored to the member within twenty-four hours.

If a penalty is imposed, a Ranger will change the necessary permissions within twenty-four hours. Time limits on penalties will be maintained by the Mayor and it is the responsibility of the Mayor to notify Rangers when the time limit on a penalty has expired.

If the decision of the Jury is to require something of the member, such as removal of a signature picture, the member will comply within twenty-four hours. Members who refuse to abide by a Jury decision may be considered for banning.

As soon as the Jury has posted their decision and that decision has been implemented, the thread will be locked. At the request of the member, it may be deleted.

Elements of the case may be summarized and preserved in the Archive with the name(s) of the involved member(s) and witnesses deleted.

A Jury may request that an independent member provide procedural oversight of their hearing to ensure that proper procedure is followed and to act as a resource for hearing participants, allowing the participants to concentrate on substantive issues. Members of the Jury Pool who have volunteered to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the Charter and to act in this oversight capacity are designated as Loremasters in the Jury Pool list. Service as a Loremaster in a particular hearing is voluntary.

A member may not serve as Loremaster to a Hearing if they are involved in the Hearing in any other capacity; and if a Hearing that employed a Loremaster is appealed, the Loremaster must be prepared to explain to the Appeals panel the rationale behind procedures that are in question.

If the Jury makes use of a Loremaster, the Loremaster's name and function will be listed in the first post of the thread along with the Jurors and the Ranger(s) who convened the Hearing.

¶5: Procedure for Hearings on a Ban

Hearings on a Ban are convened and conducted in the same manner as described in ¶4, except that a recommendation by a Jury to ban a member for indefinite duration is not final.

If the recommendation of the Jury is to impose an Immediate Ban on the member, the members at large will then vote on whether or not to accept this recommendation. The vote will be held in the Business Forum for ten days.

If the vote of the membership is tied, the recommendation of the Jury will hold.

If the recommendation to ban is overturned by a vote of the membership, the poster will be on three-month probation. If new bannable offenses are committed during that period, a new Jury will be convened according to the same terms as above, but this time the decision of the Jury will be final.

The Hearing thread will be locked as soon as: (a) the poster has not been banned by the Jury, or (b) the vote of the membership has concluded, or (c) a probation period has expired, whichever of these comes last.

The locked thread may be deleted at the request of the member.

Temporary bans and Hearings to reverse an Immediate ban do not require a vote of the membership. Conditions under which these latter hearings may take place are given in Article 3, ¶5.

If an Immediate Ban is placed on a member, the member has three months in which to request in writing that the ban be reversed in order for a Hearing on the evidence to be held. After that the deleted thread(s) need not be held in storage, and if a Hearing to reverse the ban is requested at a later date, the jury may use whatever criteria it finds appropriate for deciding the duration of the ban.

Elements of these cases may be summarized and preserved in the Archive with the member’s name deleted.

¶6: Procedure for Hearings to Remove a Ranger

A Ranger cannot be removed from office for any offense not specified in Article 3 of the by-laws.

Hearings to remove a Ranger are convened and conducted in the same manner as Hearings on a Community Disruption except that Administrative powers are revoked and the member is restricted to the Jury Room for the duration of the hearing.

The deliberation of the Jury is to determine whether or not the offense in question has been committed, and to remove the Ranger if they decide that it has. The Jury may not issue warnings or impose partial penalties or place any other restrictions on the action of the Ranger as an alternative to removing them from office. The Ranger either stays in office with full powers or is removed with those penalties specified in Article 3 of the by-laws.

Any Hearing to remove a Ranger will have a Loremaster in attendance.

¶7: Hearings to Remove an Elected Official

A Mayor or other elected official cannot be removed from office for any offense not specified in Article 4, ¶5 of the by-laws.

Hearings to remove an elected official are convened by the agreement of a majority of current Rangers and conducted as described in ¶4, above. The duties and powers of the official are suspended and the official is restricted to the Jury Room for the duration of the hearing.

The deliberation of the Jury is to determine whether or not the official has violated the by-laws in a manner requiring their removal according to Article 4, ¶5, or displayed negligence (as described in that paragraph) of sufficient severity to justify removal, and to remove the elected official if such condition exists. The Jury may not issue warnings or impose partial penalties or place any other restrictions on the action of an elected official as an alternative to removing them from office.

Any Hearing to Remove an Elected Official will have a Loremaster in attendance.

¶8: Appealing the Decision of a Jury

Only decisions that result in a penalty being placed upon a member can be appealed, and only by that member.

If a decision or a penalty is to be appealed, the member must appeal within three months of the date the Hearing was closed, or before the penalty has expired, whichever comes first. After that time, an appeal will not be allowed.

All timely requests for an appeal must be heard, and decisions made by an Appeals panel are final.

The Appeals panel will consist of four former Rangers. Starting with the Ranger whose term ended most recently, and moving in reverse order through terms served, former Rangers will express their availability and willingness to serve until four of them are assembled.

A member will present their Appeal in writing to a current Ranger, who will convene the panel of former Rangers. Each member of the panel will review the original Hearing Thread to evaluate the merit of the Appeal. They may confer among themselves in private by PM or email. Agreement by three of the four members of the panel will constitute a decision. Their decision must state whether to uphold or overturn the decision of the Jury, and whether to void, reduce or uphold the penalty imposed by the Jury. Any factors which they took into consideration should be stated honestly in their decision.

The decision will be sent to the member by email, and posted in the original Hearing Thread twenty-four hours later. The names of the Appeal panel are posted with their decision.

Ideally, an Appeals process should not take longer than seven full days.

Jury decisions and penalties can be appealed under the following circumstances:
• A decision can be appealed if the Hearing procedure specified in the by-laws was not followed. If the Appeals panel decides that the member was disadvantaged in any way by a breach of procedure, such as failure of notification, failure to announce the close of the hearing, failure to pursue witnesses, etc., they may overturn the Jury decision and void all penalties. The hearing must then be held again for that offense. The posting rights of the member cannot be restricted over the course of the second hearing until a proper Jury decision has been reached.

• A decision can be appealed if the statement which opens the Hearing Thread, or the statement of the Jury’s decision exhibits any bias based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, native language, gender, age or collateral relationships that Rangers or Jury members might have with the member in question either in person or on other websites. A Jury decision can be overturned and all penalties voided in this case. If demonstrable bias exists, no second hearing will be held for the same offense.

• A decision can be appealed if new evidence comes to light before a penalty has expired.

• A decision can be appealed if there was insufficient evidence to support the finding that a violation occurred. The appeals panel can not overturn evidence. However, they can decide that the facts of the case do not justify a decision that the violation occurred.

• A penalty can be appealed if there were delays in executing the hearing, or if Jury deliberations took longer than seems reasonable for the type of offense in question. This might happen if the responsible Ranger was off-line at a critical time, or if witnesses did not appear promptly, or if Jurors did not deliberate promptly. If the member upon whom the penalty was imposed was restricted to the Jury Room for the duration of the hearing, they may appeal for “time served” to be deducted from the penalty.

• A penalty can be appealed if the Jury had discretion in determining the penalty, and the penalty they imposed is excessive by comparison with other penalties specified in the by-laws for similar offenses.

¶9: Offenses That Merit a Penalty

The following penalties are available to Juries:
• Disabling PM privileges;
• Temporary Suspension of posting rights in a specific forum;
• Permanent Suspension of posting rights in a specific forum;
• Temporary Confinement to the Bike Racks (a suspension of board-wide posting rights);
• Temporary Ban;
• Immediate or Indefinite Ban (per Article 3, poster must appeal for reversal no sooner than one month after the ban is executed, and Rangers may wait an additional two months before convening a hearing).

There are no permanent, irreversible bans on Board77. But when a hearing is held to petition the reversal of a ban, the Jury is permitted to uphold the ban and specify a duration.

General Guidelines for imposing penalties
The Jury generally has discretion to impose the penalty it considers appropriate as long as the maximum penalties specified below are not exceeded.

If this is a first offense and the Jury feels that the time already restricted to the Bike Racks or the Jury Room is sufficient, or if they feel confident that because of the circumstances in which the error took place it is very unlikely to be repeated, they are not obligated to impose a penalty.

If the offense is restricted to a single forum (e.g. There and Back Again or Thinking of England) the penalty may also be restricted to that forum (e.g. temporary or permanent suspension of posting rights).

The penalty ought to relate as closely as possible to the offense; for example, if abusive use of PM’s is the offense, then PM privileges may be disabled.

Penalties may be greater for second, third or multiple offenses than they are for first offenses.

If Juries are in doubt as to an appropriate penalty, they should review penalties imposed for similar problems in the past and try to be consistent.

Offenses for which the maximum penalty for a first offense is an immediate ban

• Spamming the board with ads;
• Spamming the board with pornography;
• Hacking the board;
• Refusing to abide by the Decision of the Jury in a Hearing [maximum penalty is mandated by Article 3];
• Threats of real life violence or other criminal acts against members
[maximum penalty is mandated by Article 3];
• Deliberately introducing a virus to members of the board.
• Falsely accusing a member of harmful RL actions in order to deny them access to the Thinking of England forum.

Offenses for which the maximum penalty for a first offense is temporary restriction to the Bike Racks

In the Jury Room, any interference with a Hearing. [At the termination of the Hearing in which the poster interfered, a Hearing for that poster is held to determine any penalty.]

Offenses for which the maximum penalty is a temporary ban if this is not the first offense and the problem appears to be persistent

• Persistent posting of objectionable content:
1. abusive language toward another poster;
2. attacks of a personal nature;
3. defamatory remarks targeting nationality, ethnicity, native language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or age;
4. advertisement of products for personal gain.

• Persistent posting of offensive pictures:
1. pictures a reasonable person would find pornographic;
2. pictures a reasonable person would find gratuitously violent or distasteful, that is, designed to shock and/or dismay other posters.

• Deliberately posting personal, real life information about another member such that their privacy is compromised, or posting any personal information about a minor.

• Using the board to solicit the participation of members in illegal activities.

• Repeatedly exposing the members to viruses through negligence.

• In the Bike Racks, repeated interference with other members’ thread.

• Use of PM or Email to:
1. harass another member;
2. make defamatory remarks targeting nationality, ethnicity, native; language, religion, gender, sexual orientation or age.

Offenses for which the maximum penalty is permanent suspension of access to a particular forum

• In the There and Back Again forum, repeatedly posting in a manner that prevents another character(s) from participating or greatly circumscribes their activity

• In the Thinking of England Forum, posting in a manner that ridicules, demeans or threatens other posters

¶10 The Archive Forum
The Archive is a Read Only Forum for all members.

The threads in this forum contain parts of discussions or decisions that Jurors from previous Hearings thought might be useful to Jurors in future Hearings. Bike Racks threads may also be summarized and placed in the Archives if a Mediator or Administrator feels that aspects of the discussion might help future members learn the culture of the board.

Names of all participants are deleted. Summaries may be posted without the permission of participants.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 12:54 am, edited 4 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:44 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 6: Age Restricted Forum
Ratified May 30, 2005; June 6, 2005; amended October 25, 2005

¶1: Front Page disclaimer statement

A statement on the front page of the Message Board and on the registration form will state:

“Notice: Adult language is allowed on B77, but generally occurs no more frequently than in real life. We do require that members be at least thirteen years of age before joining. This board also contains an age restricted forum for discussion of topics inappropriate for children. The contents of this forum are not accessible to members who are under the age of eighteen, nor are they immediately accessible to the newest registrants.

All new Board registrations must provide their date of birth and a confirmation email from the member’s registration email address before membership is activated.”

¶2: Forum header description and visibility
The “Thinking of England” forum header will be visible in the index but access is restricted to those who have specific permission to do so. The forum description will state: "Discussion of topics inappropriate for children; not accessible to those under the age of eighteen."

¶3: Eligibility to Access the Age Restricted Forum
A member becomes eligible to access the "Thinking of England" forum after three months and 100 posts. After this time, a member can request access to the forum from a Ranger. Access is routinely granted unless the required number of ToE members voice their opposition to the petitioning member gaining access to the forum pursuant to the process outlined in ¶4.

¶4: Amendment Procedure for Denial of Access
In recognition of the special level of trust, sensitivity and comfort required in the Thinking Of England forum as already witnessed by the 3 month / 100 posts rule for eligibility, we propose the following amendment:

When a member requests access to the forum, a Ranger will title an announcement thread in the ToE forum with the petitioning member’s name and will post in it the following three paragraphs of text:

"(Member name) has requested access to this forum. Members have until (10 days from day of announcement) to consider whether they have a reasonable belief that the rules pertaining to posting on the ToE forum are likely to be broken by the petitioner based on past experience either here or elsewhere. Those rules include posting in a manner that ridicules, demeans or threatens other posters, or engaging in provocation or the spreading of sensitive information.

"ToE members who object to the petitioner gaining access should submit a brief explanation by PM to a Ranger or by email to the Administrator account. List of Rangers and Admin. acct. email address A Ranger will send an email acknowledgment to each person who submits an objection to let them know their objection has been received, and will forward a copy of this acknowledgment to a designated ToE member. Once two objections are submitted, a summary of those objections will be posted in this thread and the thread will continue to be updated in this way as more objections are received. Please do not post in this thread; it is intended for official updates only. Members are asked to refrain from publicly discussing the petitioner during the consideration period, as the petitioner is not in a position to respond.

"If at least two objections to the petitioner gaining access are submitted, a poll will be added to the thread approximately halfway (five days) into the objection period; ToE members who believe the petitioner should be denied access based on the objections listed should indicate this by voting in the poll. If 12 members vote to deny access, the petitioner is denied access to the forum for a six-month period, after which time they may reapply. Forum members are trusted to refrain from trying to deny the petitioner access without good reason."

The poll will offer the following options:
- I think the petitioner should be denied access to ToE based on the objections stated in the thread
- This option is only here because a poll requires at least two options

When the 10-day period is over a Ranger will announce in the ToE thread whether the petitioner is granted or denied access and will supply the petitioner with a summary of the objections lodged against them, making every effort to avoid revealing the identity of those objecting. The petitioner's thread will be left up for an additional three days, after which time a Ranger will delete it.

If the number of votes is less than that required to deny access, the petitioner will be granted access to the forum and should announce their arrival in the Welcome thread in the forum, which will be created for this purpose.

Discretionary Exception for Extraordinary Circumstance
If a Ranger receives a communication that a ToE member has had a RL experience of a seriously harmful nature with the petitioner, the veracity of which is supported by at least one other b77 member, the Ranger at their discretion may announce in the petitioner's thread in ToE that such a complaint has been brought and the petitioner has summarily been denied access. The petitioner will be informed that a serious complaint has been lodged and their access denied for the usual 6-month period, and will be advised that subsequent requests for access are likely to meet with the same result. The thread will then be locked and deleted. If it is subsequently determined in a hearing that the accusation was false, the accusing member will be subject to penalties up to and including an immediate ban and always including a minimum two-year ban from the Thinking of England forum.

A committee composed of volunteer ToE posters and Rangers will annually review these procedures to assess their effectiveness and determine if changes need to be made. If changes are required, they will make this known to the board at large and the usual procedure for amending the Charter will be followed.

¶5: Terms of participation in Age Restricted Forum
Before permission is activated, an email with the “Thinking of England” forum sticky note information will be forwarded to the new member, who will be required to agree to the terms of participation in that forum as outlined in that sticky by return email.

Posters, when in the “Thinking of England” forum, must be even more alert to abusive or exploitive behavior (especially taking advantage of another’s emotional vulnerability, youth, or inexperience in adult environments) than in other forums. Posters are encouraged to act on conscience when they witness such behavior and to report any violation of the by-laws to the Rangers.

As a courtesy, new posters to the 'Thinking of England' forum are encouraged to make their arrival known to existing posters in a Courtesy Introduction thread created for this purpose in that forum.

¶6: Legal Compliance
It is the intention of the membership to stay abreast of any changes in the law that would affect their responsibilities toward the public where this forum is concerned.

[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Wed 13 Jul , 2005 5:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:45 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 7: Binding Votes and Initiatives of the Membership
Ratified August 8, 2005

Binding votes of the membership are held when an issue must be decided which affects the whole board and is neither covered by existing Articles of the Charter nor requires an amendment to the Charter. Voting is conducted by the standing Committee for Binding Votes.

A request from the Mayor, or from two current Rangers, or from five registered members regardless of status will be sufficient to convene the Committee on Binding Votes.

¶1: Composition of the Committee

If the committee is convened by the Mayor or by two current Rangers, the committee will be composed of:
• one Loremaster to ensure that the vote is consistent with the Charter;
• the Mayor or the two Rangers who requested the vote;
• volunteers sufficient to bring the size of the committee to five members.

If five members requested the vote, the committee will be composed of:
• one Loremaster to ensure that the vote is consistent with the Charter;
• the five members who requested the vote;
• five volunteers, one of whom must be a current Ranger.

The Committee will be convened by posting a sticky thread in the Business Forum announcing that a vote has been requested and accepting volunteers in order until the committee is filled and composed as required. Any registered member may serve on the committee, unless the vote concerns the age-restricted forum, in which case committee members must be 18 years of age or older.

Announcement of the vote, acceptance of volunteers, discussion of the ballot, voting, and announcement of voting results will all take place in the same thread.

¶2: Routine voting cycle, emergency votes, and allowable propositions

Binding votes on non-emergency issues are held during the first week of the month. The Mayor can declare an emergency vote at any time if an issue requires immediate attention.

A binding vote cannot be held for a proposition that has been defeated by an earlier vote during the past six months unless a genuine change of circumstances justifies holding an additional vote. It is the responsibility of the Committee to determine whether the proposed vote is allowable. If the committee is divided, a straw poll will be taken and a simple majority of the committee members will decide whether the vote is allowable.

The Committee will create the text of the ballot, edit the ballot into the first post of the Business Forum sticky thread created for the vote, and allow ten days of discussion among the membership. Ideally, the ballot will be posted during the third week of the month, between the 20th and 27th day, so that voting can begin during the first week of the following month, unless the issue is declared an emergency by the Mayor.

The ballot may be modified in response to member comments, and the request for a vote may also be withdrawn during this period.

Following the discussion period, the membership will vote for ten days, and the result of the vote will be binding.

¶3: Form of the vote and quorum and majority requirements

Form of the vote and majority requirements
The committee is responsible for deciding what form the vote will take, and this must be clearly indicated on the ballot.

The board recognizes three legitimate voting forms:
1. A simple poll for which the board software tallies the vote and a specified percentage wins;
2. A poll in which the board software tallies the vote and the percentages associated with successive responses which increase or decrease in stringency are aggregated until a specified percentage is reached and the response associated with that aggregated percentage wins;
3. A secret ballot submitted by PM or email, using either a two-choice format, or an instant runoff format when the vote entails more than one question or there are more than two mutually exclusive options.

If a simple poll or two-choice secret ballot is used, the proposition(s) will be accepted if 67% of the voting members accept it.

If aggregated percentages are used, the winning option will be determined as that response associated with an aggregated 67% of the vote.

If an instant runoff ballot is used, the winning option will be that which aggregates to 51% of the vote.

The committee will be responsible for counting the vote and announcing the results for each question on the ballot in the same thread in which the vote took place.

Quorum requirements
In order for a Binding Vote to be valid, sufficient votes must be cast to reach a quorum, defined as follows:
• Records will be maintained for the proportion of members who voted in the last seven elections that required a quorum.
• ‘Proportion of members who voted’ will be calculated as the number of votes cast divided by the number of members active over the sixty days prior to the vote.
• A moving average of those last seven proportions will be calculated, converted to a percentage, and 5% will be deducted to account for variation.
• The resulting percent will be multiplied by the number of members active during the sixty days prior to the posting of the ratification thread, and that will be the number of votes required for a quorum.

Records necessary for calculating a quorum will be maintained by the Mayor and posted in Michel Delving where the members can see them.

The number of votes that must be cast to reach a quorum will be posted in the ratification thread.

If the quorum as calculated from a moving average falls below 20%, the Committee for Amendments to the Charter will convene to reconsider our participation requirements.

¶4: Executing and Archiving the voting results
A thread will be created in the History Forum entitled, “Binding Vote Ballot Archive,” and all ballots, together with voting results, will be placed in a post in that thread. The voting thread will be moved to the History Forum when the vote is concluded.

If the result of the vote takes the form of a Resolution of the Membership, the resolution will be recorded with the by-laws. If the result of the vote requires action by the Rangers, the Mayor, or the members, this action will be executed within ten days of the close of the vote.

The committee may dissolve when the results of the vote have been executed, the ballot has been placed in the archival thread, and the thread has been moved to the History forum.

¶5: Actions which cannot be undertaken without a Binding Vote of the Membership
• Moving to a new server
• Altering the terms of ownership for the board
• Elimination of a Forum and/or restructuring of the forums which would entail mass renaming and/or moving of subfora and threads.

A binding vote is not required if the action is being ratified by the membership as part of an Amendment to the Charter.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 29 Nov , 2005 10:03 pm, edited 7 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:45 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 8: Policy on Thread Deletions
Ratified August 8, 2005; Amended November 20, 2005

Our policy is to not delete threads for any reason except those stated in this Article.

¶1: Routine Exceptions

Obsolete Announcements, obsolete FAQ threads, and Jury Room threads used by the various committees in their work may be moved to the forum entitled Threads of Historical Interest.

Hearing threads that an involved member has asked to be deleted will be moved to Deleted Thread Storage for one month beyond the expiration of the member's right to appeal under Article 5, ¶8. Then the thread will be deleted permanently. (These threads are not moved or deleted except by member request.)

Threads moved to Deleted Thread Storage by a Ranger because of their objectionable content will be held for one month beyond the period in which a Hearing may be convened under Article 5, ¶4. If a Hearing is convened, the threads will be held throughout the Hearing and one month beyond the expiration of the member's right to appeal under Article 5, ¶8. (These threads can be deleted without member permission because they contain objectionable content and can no longer be used as evidence.)

Threads moved to Deleted Thread Storage because they resulted in an Immediate Ban imposed on the member will be held for one month beyond the expiration of the member's right to request a reversal of the ban with evidentiary arguments under Article 5, ¶5.

Petitioner announcement threads in the Thinking of England forum are deleted permanently three days after their expiry, in accordance with Article 6 ¶4.

Bike Racks threads may be deleted at the request of the posters. They will remain in Deleted thread storage for 10 days plus one month from the date of the last post and then be deleted permanently.

The expiry date of a thread will be noted in the thread when it is moved into Deleted Thread Storage.

¶2: Other Exceptions
If it seems necessary to delete a thread in order to preserve the peace, security or continuance of the board, a Binding Vote of the membership must be held to do this.

Last edited by Jnyusa on Sat 19 Nov , 2005 12:49 am, edited 3 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:46 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 9: Policy on Forum Readability
Ratified August 8, 2005

It is the policy of board77 that new forums will be created as read-and-write forums for all registered members, and will be read-only to the public, unless otherwise designated by a Binding Vote of the Membership conducted according to Article 7.

Changing the permissions of an existing forum also requires a Binding Vote.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 1:00 am, edited 2 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:47 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 10: Goals
Ratified June 27, 2005

The Board will develop goals once a year and post them where all members can read them.

[Continue to next post]

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:48 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 11: Standing Committees and Ad hoc Committees
Ratified August 8, 2005

Board77 recognizes standing committees which can be convened at any time without a vote of the membership according to the terms described here.

¶1: Committee for Amendments to the Charter
The purpose of this committee is to compose amendments to the Charter, to assure consistency between amendments and the existing Charter, and to conduct the ratification of amendments in accordance with Article 12, ¶2.

The committee will convene under three circumstances:
• A Ranger has exercised Extraordinary powers requiring review in accordance with Article 3, ¶5. The committee will decide whether the circumstance is anticipated to occur again with sufficient frequency to justify an Amendment to the Charter;
• An Initiative to amend the Charter is brought by the Mayor, or by two current Rangers, or by five members regardless of their status;
• The quorum as calculated from a moving average falls below 20% and the board must reconsider participation requirements for Binding Votes and ratification of Charter Amendments.

The ratification procedure and the archiving of committee threads, ratification thread, and committee ballots with voting results must be completed in accordance with Article 12, ¶2.

¶2: Committee for Binding Votes and Initiatives of the Membership
The purpose of this committee is to decide whether a Binding Vote of the Membership should and can be held, in accordance with Article 7, and to conduct any subsequent voting process.

The provisions for convening this committee and the procedures they must follow are stated in full in Article 7. The committee may convene in the Jury Room for discussion, and the final ballot will be presented to the Membership in the Business Forum thread created for that purpose.

¶3: Election Committee
The purpose of this committee is to convene and conduct the elections for the Mayor in accordance with Article 4, ¶4.

The committee may convene a thread in the Jury Room to coordinate the counting of the vote, but everything related to announcements, nominations, voting, and reporting of results to the members must take place in the Business Forum thread created for that purpose.

¶4: Committee for Technical Support
The purpose of this committee is to communicate with our web host when necessary and to advise the membership on any technical questions relating to software and hardware capability. Members of the committee should have expertise in internet capability.

This committee should have no more than three members and may be convened by a Ranger or by the administrator of record (as designated to our web host) any time a question of a technical nature arises which cannot be readily answered by the membership.

The committee may convene in the Jury Room if necessary, but should maintain a thread in the Business Forum for communication with the membership.

¶5: Committee for Business Matters
The purpose of this committee is to conduct the business interface with our web host, make final or interim selection of a host, ensure that backups are done on a timely basis, and delegate responsibility for aspects of moving the board from one host to another.

This committee will be convened upon ratification and will remain in existence as long as changing web hosts is a matter before the membership. The committee may dissolve itself when the move is complete, but may be reconvened at the request of any member if questions arise regarding the business aspects of our internet service. If members of the committee must be replaced, the administrator of record (as designated to our web host) may solicit volunteers by opening a thread in the Business Forum.

The committee may have seven or nine members. One current or former Ranger and the administrator of record (as designated to our web host) will be voting members of this committee.

The committee may convene in the Jury Room if necessary, but should maintain a thread in the Business Forum for communication with the membership.

¶6: Ad hoc Committees
All other committees are ad hoc committees, to be convened when a majority of current Rangers agree that a decision can be made by committee rather than by member vote and the decision does not fall within the purview of any standing committee. The size of an ad hoc committee can be decided by the Rangers, and any registered member may serve on such a committee. The Committee will be convened by posting a sticky thread in the Business Forum and accepting volunteers in order until the committee is filled.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 1:04 am, edited 4 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:49 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
Article 12: Ratification and Amendments
The committee for the creation of our Charter was convened on Friday, March 11, 2005 and the Charter was adopted by the membership and can be amended according to the following procedure.

¶1. Ratification of the Charter

Approved by Committee March 17, 2005

The membership will be given ten days to discuss those parts of the Charter presented by the originating committee. During that period, anything deemed controversial will be removed and tabled for later consideration. Following the discussion a yes/no vote will be held for ten days, two weekends inclusive. In order for this vote to be valid, 30% of the registered members as of March 12, 2005 must vote, that is, thirty-nine (39) out of one hundred and twenty-seven (127) registered members. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of the voting members must approve the Charter for it to be adopted.

¶2: Amendments to the Charter

Ratified by the membership August 8, 2005

A committee to Amend the Charter can be convened under three circumstances:
• A Ranger has exercised Extraordinary powers requiring review in accordance with Article 3, ¶5. The committee will decide whether the circumstance is anticipated to occur again with sufficient frequency to justify an Amendment to the Charter;
• An Initiative to amend the Charter is brought by the Mayor, or by two current Rangers, or by five members regardless of their status;
• The quorum as calculated from a moving average falls below 20% and the board must reconsider participation requirements for Binding Votes and ratification of Charter Amendments.

Composition of the Committee
The committee will have an odd number of members, no fewer than seven, no more than thirteen. The Mayor and one Loremaster will be voting members of this committee. The composition of the rest of the committee will be as follows:

If the committee was convened after the exercise of Extraordinary powers by a Ranger, it will also include:
• the current Ranger who was involved in the incident and one other current Ranger;
• one former Ranger;
• a minimum of two volunteers from among the rest of the membership.

If the committee was convened by an initiative of the Mayor or two current Rangers, it will also include:
• the two current Rangers who brought the initiative;
• one former Ranger;
• a minimum of two volunteers from among the rest of the membership.

If the committee was convened by an initiative of the members, it will also include:
• one current Ranger;
• one former Ranger;
• a minimum of three volunteers from among the membership, one of whom will be a member who brought the initiative;
• and if five or more volunteers are accepted from among the membership, two of them will be members who brought the initiative.

The Committee will be convened by posting a sticky thread in the Business Forum and accepting volunteers in order until the committee is filled and composed as required. Any registered member may serve on the committee.

Committee Procedure
The committee will convene in the Jury Room for deciding whether the Charter should be amended and for drafting the amendment. The committee itself will vote on elements of the amendment before presenting a final form to the membership for ratification.

The membership will be given ten full days to discuss the amendment. During that period, anything deemed controversial may be removed and tabled for later consideration, or the amendment may be withdrawn. Following the discussion a yes/no poll will be posted in the thread and members will vote for ten full days, whether or not to ratify the amendment.

A Global email will be sent to all registered member at the start of the discussion and at the start of the vote.

Quorum and Majority Requirements
In order for a ratification vote to be valid, sufficient votes must be cast to reach a quorum, defined as follows:
• Records will be maintained for the proportion of members who voted in the last seven elections that required a quorum.
• ‘Proportion of members who voted’ will be calculated as the number of votes cast divided by the number of members active over the sixty days prior to the vote.
• A moving average of those last seven proportions will be calculated, converted to a percentage, and 5% will be deducted to account for variation.
• The resulting percent will be multiplied by the number of members active during the sixty days prior to the posting of the ratification thread, and that will be the number of votes required for a quorum.

Records necessary for calculating a quorum will be maintained by the Mayor and posted in Michel Delving where the members can see them.

The number of votes that must be cast to reach a quorum will be posted in the ratification thread.

If the vote has not attained a quorum at the end of the voting period, voting may be extended for an additional seven days. If, at the end of the extension period, a quorum has still not been obtained the proposition will be considered defeated.

In order for an Amendment to be ratified, 67% of those voting must approve. This provision will be posted in the ratification thread.

If the quorum as calculated from a moving average falls below 20%, the Committee for Amendments to the Charter will convene to reconsider our participation requirements.

Archiving the Voting Results
When voting has concluded (or the amendment has been withdrawn), the threads used by the committee in the Jury Room and the ratification thread in the Business Room will be archived in the forum entitled “Threads of Historical Interest”. A Directory thread will be created and links to all individual threads related to Charter Amendments will be posted there, preferably in chronological order, so that it will be easy for members to find and review them.


[Continue to next post]

Last edited by Jnyusa on Tue 09 Aug , 2005 1:06 am, edited 6 times in total.

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Jnyusa
Post subject:
Posted: Sun 10 Jul , 2005 5:49 am
One of the Bronte Sisters
User avatar
Offline
 
Posts: 5107
Joined: Tue 04 Jan , 2005 8:54 am
Location: In Situ
 
RESOLUTIONS OF THE MEMBERSHIP

It is resolved that our Goals for 2005 are:
1. To open the board to the public
2. To decide whether to move to our own site
3. If we move, to resolve the related ownership issues by the end of the calendar year.
[June 27, 2005]

_________________

"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."
Epigraph on the tombstone of W.C. Fields.


Top
Profile
Display: Sort by: Direction:
Locked   Page 1 of 1  [ 15 posts ]
Return to “Threads of Historical Interest”
Jump to: