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Term of Office & Admin Eligibility

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Jnyusa
Post subject: Term of Office & Admin Eligibility
Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 6:50 pm
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In the modding decision thread the discussion seemed to reach consensus on some items, and was stalled on others. One of my posts in that thread shows in blue what we seemed able to agree upon. I want to break the unresolved issues out into new threads so that we can discuss them and eventually vote on them.The purpose of this thread is to discuss the term of office for administrators.

There seems to be agreement that a six-month term is too long from the administrator’s point of view. The other options proposed are three-month and four-month terms, and there is agreement that the terms should be staggered so that new admins have experienced admins to work with.

There is also a question of how many times a year we should vote. If terms are staggered, we may vote on two terms at a time.

Selecting the term of office and voting periods has no bearing on the number of administrators we wish to have.

My personal preference is for the four-month term, and voting for two terms at a time because I believe it will be easier to execute. But I will lay out all the options for you to consider.

*****************
Three-month staggered terms:

Jan-Feb-Mar ......... Feb-Mar-Apr ..... Mar-Apr-Jun
Apr-May-Jun ....... May-Jun-Jul ...... Jul-Aug-Sept
Jul-Aug-Sep .......... Aug-Sep-Oct ..... Oct-Nov-Dec
Oct-Nov-Dec ....... Nov-Dec-Jan ..... Jan-Feb-Mar

Choice #1: Which two sets of terms to choose: If we decide upon three-month terms I will recommend the second and third set, because a term that begins in January will require us to vote in December when people are less active.

Choise #2: How often to vote: If we vote for each term a month before it begins, we will vote eight times a year. If we vote, for example, in January for terms beginning in February and March, we will vote four times a year. Two threads would go up at voting time, one for each term.

Four-month staggered terms: In this case there is only one set of terms that avoids a December vote.

Feb-Mar-Apr-May ..... Apr-May-Jun-Jul
Jun-Jul-Aug-Sep ......... Aug-Sep-Oct-Nov
Oct-Nov-Dec-Jan ....... Dec-Jan-Feb-Mar

Choice#1: How often to vote: If we vote for each term separately we will vote six times a year. If we vote for two terms at once, we will vote three times a year and two threads would go up at voting time, one for each term.

*****

Discuss: :) If don’t reach a consensus, we can put it to a vote.

Jn

Last edited by Jnyusa on Fri 25 Feb , 2005 1:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Rodia
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Posted: Mon 14 Feb , 2005 6:55 pm
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Even though voting eight times a year seems like a lot, I'd rather go with that system. It's hard to look too far forward in time, both for the voters and for the volunteers. A lot can change during one term...

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Primula_Baggins
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 2:05 am
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I'm inclined to favor a system that reduces the number of scheduled voting periods. Other matters will come up that will require votes as well.

I'm honestly afraid that if there are too many votes, people will burn out on voting and discussion, and that participation will largely be limited to people who have a taste for it.


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Rodia
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 2:18 am
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True, but I can't see myself voting for an admin months ahead! So far I trust everyone here to be capable, fair, and non-abusive, and I wouldn't have a problem with any of us being admin. But as we grow, I'll lose that certainty.

Damnation, this is complicated. :rage:

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Impenitent
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 2:34 am
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My preference is for 4-month terms - allows a person to become effective before commencing wind down. Three months - in my completely ignorant opinion (having never done it) would probably not be enough.

My preference is for staggered terms - not only so the newest recruit has someone to answer questions but also because as the older admin starts the burn-out phase there's an eager new puppy with the stamina to take over earlier.

My preference is for 3 decisions a year - although I do have reservations because I think MB life operates at 5-6 time the speed of RL (it seems to me) to make decisions 3-4 months in advance.

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Ethel
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 2:51 am
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I prefer 4 month terms to 3. The whole first, and probably much of the 2nd, month is going to be a learning curve.

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TIGG
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 7:27 am
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Ethel, I agree, there is alot of learning in modding, admin must take even longer, besides if they are voted in then they are there because they are trusted. so 4 monthly in my VERY humble opinion is fine.

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Leoba
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 8:34 am
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I prefer the fouth month option, with staggered terms, voting for two people at a time (presuming we're working on a 4 admin basis?).

That gives time to get up to speed, but not so long that complete burn out should happen. And it reduces the bureaucracy.

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Dindraug
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 8:35 am
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I vote three months, mainly from the perspective of having done the role.

There is a lot to learn, a hell of a lot, but much of it is quite basic and there are notes in the Admin forum for a lot, and people round to help. It is quite a shor time before folks become effective.

But you do burn out really quickly, much more so than with Modding. The problem is that you are doing all the stuff in the background, its dull and repetaive, but bvery important. I have seen what happened to me, and wtched others go throughthe same. The constant niggle, the continious work etc, it is very draining. It is that feeling when you look into your inbox and see three or four new id's, and know that they have to be accepted, o investigated to see if they are real, or RP only or.....

Well, you get the picture.

This is why I would vote for three months, and staggered so that we don't have 'new teams' who don't know the ropes.

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Holbytla
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 10:53 am
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Every admin I have heard discuss the length of term has indicated 3 months is better than 4. While there is much to learn, people can start learning in the experiment board. I am going with 3 months, because though it may ssem short, if it is tedious, even 3 months is a long time.

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Nin
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Posted: Tue 15 Feb , 2005 10:57 am
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I would have said four months, but being Swiss and used to regular voting, I won't mind three either, and I think the general number of votations will go down once things are settled and more people have been invited.

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*Alandriel*
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb , 2005 1:28 pm
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3 months, staggered

Din and I have been there (and I 'chickened' out even earlier :oops: ;) ) I realize that this will make up for more 'work' in the end, but trust me when I say 3 months is plenty.

With a bit of 'foresight' (which is not really *that* hard ;) ) I think it should be possible to vote only 4 times a year

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Jnyusa
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb , 2005 4:10 pm
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I was going to put up a poll for this, but I notice something about the straw poll in the thread, which is that everyone who has done the job already wants the shorter time period, and the rest want fewer votes per year.

Since those who have already done the admin job are outnumbered by those who have not, I think a vote would give us four-month terms which all of us might end up regretting when we actually had to do it!!

I think the job will get easier over time, so let me make a suggestion: that we start out following the advice of those who have experience, and then reconsider the question at a later date, like after we've moved, and the powers of the admin are more concretely defined, and more people are available for the job and so on.

Would people be accepting of the three-month term, voting for two terms at once -- that is, for example, in April we would vote for the terms beginning in May and June -- and then review this issue again in November perhaps?

Jn

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*Alandriel*
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Posted: Wed 23 Feb , 2005 7:43 pm
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Good for me :D

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Eruname
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Posted: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 5:22 am
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I think that will work fine.

I know people are worried about the time it takes to learn the admin job, but they really shouldn't. Ber's only been an admin for less than a month and she totally has the job down. She learned it very quickly and Estel has as well. It's not as intimidating as people think.

Also, three months does feel like a long time! I think most people will be glad to be rid of the position after that amount of time.

Maybe the job will get easier, but it's that sense of responsibility that changes everything. I don't know about the other admins, but I always felt like I needed to check up on the entire board and make sure everything was going okay...just to make sure I was able to help out if I could. Also, there's an obligation to be around. So all this does change the experience of the message board even though you're not working on admin stuff around the clock.

We may have to vote more frequently, but that's the price you pay for democracy right?

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Leoba
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Posted: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 8:17 am
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No objections from me. I'm sure we can cope with more regular votes if we need to.

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truehobbit
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Posted: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 6:18 pm
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I couldn't make up my mind between three and four months, but tended towards three anyway, and with what the people with experience say, I agree three months is better.

I guess the more frequent voting will be good training for our democratic conscience - if the Swiss can do it, we can do it, too! ;) :D

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*Alandriel*
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Posted: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 6:22 pm
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oh... lol.. but don't you know that the Swiss always vote NO! On just about anything??

:LMAO:

yeah - they probably should take the passport away from me

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Jnyusa
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Posted: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 7:48 pm
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OK! Thank you, peeps!

I'm going to edit this into the "paragraph of consensus" which appears on the second-to-last page of the Modding: Decision Thread in this forum. (scroll down the page to my post where parts are in color)

consensus paragraph

Edit: (scratch the reference to locking the thread if anyone read it before I edited it out.)

How about we use this thread to answer the next question: How long should people be members before they become eligible for admin?

Suggestions have been made that this be specified in terms of both join date and post count. For example, you don't want someone joining, posting once in six months and then running for admin; nor do you want someone posting 500 one-liners in one month and then running for admin. So ... some frame of reference that will ensure a minimum amount of acculturation ... like, three months or 100 posts, whichever comes later.

Thoughts about an appropriate frame?
Jn

Last edited by Jnyusa on Thu 24 Feb , 2005 8:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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*Alandriel*
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Posted: Thu 24 Feb , 2005 7:56 pm
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well .... I said it before in the other thread. But let's just make it short and sweet this time [ img ]

I think minimum 6 month membership (that includes time served here :mrgreen: )
and minimum 500 posts (and if they're all one-liners then sorry that won't count
- reasonable, you know the deal)
:D

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