(Moved to vote) Rank to Medal Conversion: Honorary Ranks (comprehensive)

[Mímirswell]

Rank to Medal Conversion Amendment

Proposer: Mimirswell
Supporters:

Rationale:
The purpose of this bill is to make excise those ranks that are solely for honorary purposes and to utilize the medal system to more properly implement their honorary state. This results in a more secure permission system (less ranks to manage that serve no purpose beyond normal access), more consistent use (instead of half honorary ranks and half awards with some overlapping - Senatorii and moderator's mace), and less confusion for new members (is an opifex a moderator?, is a divus?, is a senatorii?).

In addition, this prevents Opifex from automatically becoming Civitates. This does two things: First, members who wish to be Opifex but do not wish to be Civitates can accept the reward. Second, members who should be Opifex but shouldn't be Civitates can receive the award.


The following Article is removed:
Article 2 - Honourary Ranks

The following Sections and Articles are altered:

Article 5 - Former Staff Officers Staff Awards

Upon retirement or resignation from an Officer position, all Moderators are awarded the [honorary rank of Senatorii. All other Council Officers and Staff Officers are awarded the honorary rank of Officer Emeritus. These ranks are awarded automatically if time served as a Senior Moderator equals or exceeds 12 weeks. If the period in office is less than 12 weeks, these ranks can be awarded if The Council unanimously agrees. They are considered the same as honorary ranks awarded under Section 3.

All Moderators, Council Officers and Staff Officers are awarded a medal appropriate to the branch they have served in, in accordance with Section 5 of this document, if time served as an officer equals or exceeds 12 weeks.

The awarding of these ranks and medals is honorary and accords no additional rights or privileges except with regard to Senatorii Moderators Mace as detailed in Section 4. The awarding of these ranks is the gift of the Council to retiring Staff Officers and may not be removed by the Curia.

The awarding of these ranks and awards to Staff Officers who are removed from their position following a vote of No Confidence, or are otherwise fired is at the discretion of the Council provided the 12 week service provision is also met.

Section 3 - Member Ranks and Curia Officers

All member of the Forums can be divided into the following Ranks. Each Rank confers on the holders a specific set of rights and privileges unavailable to other Ranks unless explicitly stated. An individual may hold only one account of the rank Citizen or higher

There are two broad categories of Ranks, Normal Ranks and Honorary Ranks. A member, in addition to his normal Rank, may also hold any number of honorary Ranks, as well as an Officer's position. In this case he may choose which Rank he is displayed under. Regardless of the Rank listed next to his name, he retains all the rights and privileges associated with all his ranks.

Article 1 - Normal Ranks

Peregrinus

The Rank of Peregrinus is conferred automatically with registration to the TWC Forums. It confers posting rights in the General Fora. Any Peregrinus has the right to ask questions and suggest changes in the "Questions and Suggestions" Forum.

Citizens

Contributing members of TWC have the opportunity to become a Citizens of the Forum as per Article 3 below. Once a member becomes a Citizens, they can then choose between 3 different badges. Artifex, designed for those who are modders, Civitates, designed for those who have contributed to the debating side of the Site, whether in TW or CC, and Citizens, for those who associate with both.

To qualify for Citizen, a member must have at least fifty posts, been a registered member for one month, and have no warnings within the last three months.

All Citizens have the rights associated with Peregrinus, but in addition may post within the Curia, subject to the procedures in Section 2; may post with the Symposium and may patronise other members as per Article 3

Patrician

Patricians are those Citizens who have continued to excell in their position within the forum by contributing to a greater extent than their citizenship requires.

A Citizens may be nominated to this rank by another Patrician in accordance with Article 4 below. Patricianship is awarded by the Curia for significant contribution to TWC (Appendix A). None of these contributions provide automatic promotion, but instead allow for nomination. The nominee must also have been a Citizen for at least one month and have no warnings at the time of their election.

A Patrician has all the rights of a Citizen, and in addition eligible to be considered for higher office. Patricians are also required sponsors of Bills.

Section 4 - The Judiciary

Referral for Staff Warning

If any Citizens receives a staff warning from an Officer of the Moderation Branch their case will be referred to the Consilium de Civitates by the Chief of Branch or the Speaker of the House, who will open a vote and post all relevant user notes of the accused. The accused is allowed no defence. The vote concludes within four days. The options are

• Dismiss the Case
• Take Further Action
• Abstain

If the CdeC vote is to take further action, a second poll is opened for four days. The options are:

• Censure
• Suspension of rank for 1 week
• Suspension of rank for 1 month
• Suspension of rank for 2 months
• Permanent Removal of Rank
• Abstain

A simple majority of non abstaining members is required for the vote to pass.
If the warning that formed the basis of this referral is subsequently overturned by the Tribunal, the Citizen’s Rank is restored

Normal Rank may not be removed except by the procedure outlined in this Article. Honorary rank may not be removed by this procedure. Senatorii may only be removed by the Council at their discretion. Divus and Opifex may only be removed by a Decision of the Curia.

Article 2 - Tribunal

Article 3 - Judges

To serve on the Tribunal, a panel of three Judges is elected by the Curia, using the procedure outlined in Section 2 Article 2, from among the Senatorii or Patricians with at least one being a Senatoriibearing the Moderator's mace. In addition to having the rank of Senatorii or Patrician, a Judge must also have no staff warnings and cannot hold the position of Staff Moderator. Each Judge serves a three month term. The Judges are granted local moderator privileges in the Tribunal. A Judge may resign his post, and will be removed summarily under any one of the following conditions:

* Becoming a member of the Moderating Staff as per Section 1 Article 3;
* Incurring a warning level of 1
* Incurring 2 cautions in the space of 3 months
* or being subject to proceedings laid out in Section 4 Article 1

The following section is appended:

Article 2 - Community Medals

Opifex

To qualify as an Opifex, the nominee must have served the Total War Center or Total War Community with exceptional input to any of the boards or mods in any capacity other than that of a Staff Officer. A member of any Rank is eligible to receive an Opifex award but must also meet the criteria to become a Citizen. His nomination must also be seconded by an elected member of the Consilium de Civitates.

Qualifying nominees shall have their nomination posted in the Prothalamos and will be moved to vote as per the procedure in Section 2 Article 3. Once moved to they shall be voted upon for a period of one week and require a two-third majority of non-abstaining votes to achieve the award. If the nominee was not already a Citizens, this Rank shall also be conferred upon them if they pass. A nominee who fails to pass his vote is not eligible to re-nominated until three months have passed.

Divus

To achieve apotheosis and Curia vote, the nominee must be supported by three fourths of non abstaining elected members of the Consilium de Civitates. The nominee must have served as a Council Officer (or previous equivalents), made a clear and distinquished contribution to the community and provided exceptional service to TWC in their capacity as an administrator. They cannot be nominated within three months of resigning their Officer Position.

Any Citizens can nominate a former Council Officer and does so by PMing a Consilium de Civitates member. The Consilium de Civitates will contact the nominee and ask if he or she will accept the nomination. If the nominee should decline, or fails to respond within one month, no further action need be taken and the nomination declared null and void.

If the nominee should accept, the Consilium de Civitates will create a thread within the Consilium de Civitates Forum to investigate the legitimacy of the nominee’s accolades. The Consilium de Civitates has the right to request any and all relevant material from the Staff Officers to ascertain this, with the approval of the Council. The Consilium de Civitates will discuss the nominee and his qualifications for at least a week before the vote is held.

Should the nominee receive the support of three fourths of non abstaining Consilium de Civitates members, the Curator shall create a discussion in the Prothalamos lasting at least three days and then move the nomination to vote as per the procedure in Section 2 Article 3. The vote shall last one week and the nominee shall require a two-third majority of non-abstaining votes to become Divus. A nominee who fails the vote is not eligible to be nominated again for a six month period.

In addition:
All members currently holding the rank of Senatorii, Divus, Opifex, and Council Officer Emeritus shall be granted their complemented medals. Should the medals not yet be made at the time of this bills passing, the change from rank to medal will not occur until they are.

Legend:
Deleted pending passage of the Tribunal Reform amendment
Inserted
Deleted

[Tom Paine]

I think should probably be delayed pending the passage of that, because if it passes then the whole Tribunal section changes dramatically; I support though, overall.

[Mímirswell]

I am fine with delaying.

[Lusted]

I'd suggest the following changes to the Tribunal part.

Article 2 - Tribunal

Article 3 - Judges

To serve on the Tribunal, a panel of three Judges is elected by the Curia, using the procedure outlined in Section 2 Article 2, from among the Senatorii or Patricians with at least one being a Senatoriibearing the Moderator's mace. In addition to having the rank of Senatorii or Patrician, a Judge must also have no staff warnings and cannot hold the position of Staff Moderator. Each Judge serves a three month term. The Judges are granted local moderator privileges in the Tribunal. A Judge may resign his post, and will be removed summarily under any one of the following conditions:

* Becoming a member of the Moderating Staff as per Section 1 Article 3;
* Incurring a warning level of 1
* Incurring 2 cautions in the space of 3 months
* or being subject to proceedings laid out in Section 4 Article 1

[Tom Paine]

That's what Mim's version of it is already, Lusted...

[Lusted]

But the green bits crossed out.

[Tom Paine]

"Deleted pending passage of the Tribunal Reform amendment" - The key at the base of his post is, well, useful.

[Lusted]

"Deleted pending passage of the Tribunal Reform amendment" - The key at the base of his post is, well, useful.

Erm......ooops?

[Simetrical]

You missed at least one mention of honorary ranks. Also, you should remove mention of normal ranks, since it no longer makes any sense to call them "normal" (they're just ranks). And I'd avoid adding the more substantive change of not giving Opifices Citizenship here . . . not really the point of the bill. Make it so that someone given the Opifex medal gains Citizenship if they want it, as now, and propose a separate bill to change that part if you want to.

[the Black Prince]

sim makes good point there. by removing all honorary ranks, there's no normal rank, just "rank". You also, as he mentions, missed one instance of honorary ranks.

its good to see senatorii is also being dropped, though not good to see the removal of these ranks overall...


i will support this on the basis of the rank to medal conversion vote passing.
obviously, if that vote fails, this will need to be seriously reconsidered. i currently have that vote at 61%....

[Mímirswell]

Rank to Medal Conversion Amendment

Proposer: Mimirswell
Supporters:

Rationale:
The purpose of this bill is to make excise those ranks that are solely for honorary purposes and to utilize the medal system to more properly implement their honorary state. This results in a more secure permission system (less ranks to manage that serve no purpose beyond normal access), more consistent use (instead of half honorary ranks and half awards with some overlapping - Senatorii and moderator's mace), and less confusion for new members (is an opifex a moderator?, is a divus?, is a senatorii?).

In addition to this, the rank system prevents the display of more than one title. I will use the case of Lusted in this situation. Currently he is both a Divus and Opifex yet he can only display one at a time so regardless of his choice, he is devaluing the other reward. Further, when he was a moderator, he had to devalue all such ranks to ensure that it was clear he was a moderator.

The following Article is removed:
Article 2 - Honourary Ranks

The following Sections and Articles are altered:

Article 5 - Former Staff Officers Staff Awards

Upon retirement or resignation from an Officer position, all Moderators are awarded the honorary rank of Senatorii. All other Council Officers and Staff Officers are awarded the honorary rank of Officer Emeritus. These ranks are awarded automatically if time served as a Senior Moderator equals or exceeds 12 weeks. If the period in office is less than 12 weeks, these ranks can be awarded if The Council unanimously agrees. They are considered the same as honorary ranks awarded under Section 3.

All Moderators, Council Officers and Staff Officers are awarded a medal appropriate to the branch they have served in, in accordance with Section 5 of this document, if time served as an officer equals or exceeds 12 weeks.

The awarding of these ranks and medals is honorary and accords no additional rights or privileges except with regard to Senatorii as detailed in Section 4. These ranks are earned by retiring Staff Officers for their service and may not be removed by the Curia.

The awarding of these ranks and awards to Staff Officers who are removed from their position following a vote of No Confidence, or are otherwise fired is at the discretion of the Council provided the 12 week service provision is also met.

Section 3 - Member Ranks and Curia Officers

All member of the Forums can be divided into the following Ranks. Each Rank confers on the holders a specific set of rights and privileges unavailable to other Ranks unless explicitly stated. An individual may hold only one account of the rank Citizen or higher

There are two broad categories of Ranks, Normal Ranks and Honorary Ranks. A member, in addition to his normal Rank, may also hold any number of honorary Ranks, as well as an Officer's position. In this case he may choose which Rank he is displayed under. Regardless of the Rank listed next to his name, he retains all the rights and privileges associated with all his ranks.

Article 1 - Normal Ranks

Peregrinus

The Rank of Peregrinus is conferred automatically with registration to the TWC Forums. It confers posting rights in the General Fora. Any Peregrinus has the right to ask questions and suggest changes in the "Questions and Suggestions" Forum.

Citizens

Contributing members of TWC have the opportunity to become a Citizens of the Forum as per Article 3 below. Once a member becomes a Citizens, they can then choose between 3 different badges. Artifex, designed for those who are modders, Civitates, designed for those who have contributed to the debating side of the Site, whether in TW or CC, and Citizens, for those who associate with both.

To qualify for Citizen, a member must have at least fifty posts, been a registered member for one month, and have no warnings within the last three months.

All Citizens have the rights associated with Peregrinus, but in addition may post within the Curia, subject to the procedures in Section 2; may post with the Symposium and may patronise other members as per Article 3

Patrician

Patricians are those Citizens who have continued to excell in their position within the forum by contributing to a greater extent than their citizenship requires.

A Citizens may be nominated to this rank by another Patrician in accordance with Article 4 below. Patricianship is awarded by the Curia for significant contribution to TWC (Appendix A). None of these contributions provide automatic promotion, but instead allow for nomination. The nominee must also have been a Citizen for at least one month and have no warnings at the time of their election.

A Patrician has all the rights of a Citizen, and in addition eligible to be considered for higher office. Patricians are also required sponsors of Bills.

Section 4 - The Judiciary

Referral for Staff Warning

If any Citizens receives a staff warning from an Officer of the Moderation Branch their case will be referred to the Consilium de Civitates by the Chief of Branch or the Speaker of the House, who will open a vote and post all relevant user notes of the accused. The accused is allowed no defense. The vote concludes within four days. The options are

• Dismiss the Case
• Take Further Action
• Abstain

If the CdeC vote is to take further action, a second poll is opened for four days. The options are:

• Censure
• Suspension of rank for 1 week
• Suspension of rank for 1 month
• Suspension of rank for 2 months
• Permanent Removal of Rank
• Abstain

A simple majority of non abstaining members is required for the vote to pass.
If the warning that formed the basis of this referral is subsequently overturned by the Tribunal, the Citizen’s Rank is restored

Normal Rank may not be removed except by the procedure outlined in this Article. Honorary rank may not be removed by this procedure. Senatorii may only be removed by the Council at their discretion. Divus and Opifex may only be removed by a Decision of the Curia.

Article 2 - Tribunal

Article 3 - Judges

To serve on the Tribunal, a panel of three Judges is chosen by Hex. The judges can include any member from Hex, save the CoM, as he is is part of the appeals process. The candidates are not limited to Hex members. and can include Senatorii

The following section is appended:

Article 2 - Community Medals

Opifex

To qualify as an Opifex, the nominee must have served the Total War Center or Total War Community with exceptional input to any of the boards or mods in any capacity other than that of a Staff Officer. A member of any Rank is eligible to receive an Opifex award but must also meet the criteria to become a Citizen. His nomination must also be seconded by an elected member of the Consilium de Civitates.

Qualifying nominees shall have their nomination posted in the Prothalamos and will be moved to vote as per the procedure in Section 2 Article 3. Once moved to they shall be voted upon for a period of one week and require a two-third majority of non-abstaining votes to achieve the award. If the nominee was not already a Citizen, this Rank shall also be conferred upon them if they pass. A nominee who fails to pass his vote is not eligible to re-nominated until three months have passed.

Divus

To achieve apotheosis and Curia vote, the nominee must be supported by three fourths of non abstaining elected members of the Consilium de Civitates. The nominee must have served as a Council Officer (or previous equivalents), made a clear and distinguished contribution to the community and provided exceptional service to TWC in their capacity as an administrator. They cannot be nominated within three months of resigning their Officer Position.

Any Citizens can nominate a former Council Officer and does so by PMing a Consilium de Civitates member. The Consilium de Civitates will contact the nominee and ask if he or she will accept the nomination. If the nominee should decline, or fails to respond within one month, no further action need be taken and the nomination declared null and void.

If the nominee should accept, the Consilium de Civitates will create a thread within the Consilium de Civitates Forum to investigate the legitimacy of the nominee’s accolades. The Consilium de Civitates has the right to request any and all relevant material from the Staff Officers to ascertain this, with the approval of the Council. The Consilium de Civitates will discuss the nominee and his qualifications for at least a week before the vote is held.

Should the nominee receive the support of three fourths of non abstaining Consilium de Civitates members, the Curator shall create a discussion in the Prothalamos lasting at least three days and then move the nomination to vote as per the procedure in Section 2 Article 3. The vote shall last one week and the nominee shall require a two-third majority of non-abstaining votes to become Divus. A nominee who fails the vote is not eligible to be nominated again for a six month period.

In addition:
All members currently holding the rank of Senatorii, Divus, Opifex, and Council Officer Emeritus shall be granted their complemented medals. Should the medals not yet be made at the time of this bills passing, the change from rank to medal will not occur until they are.

Legend:
Inserted
Deleted

Adopted the changes of Simetrical and updated for the Tribunal Reform bill.

[deRougemont]

Support.

Suggestion: That the wording in article 5, "The awarding of these ranks is the gift of the Council to retiring Staff Officers and may not be removed by the Curia."

...be changed to: "These ranks are earned by retiring Staff Officers for their service and may not be removed by the Curia."

[Mímirswell]

Updated.

[Muizer]

I don't support this. I don't think Opifex and Divus should be lowered in status and that's what this bill does. I mean, those ranks are really something, whereas most medals are just trinkets for the staff and Curia to play with.

[Mímirswell]

I don't support this. I don't think Opifex and Divus should be lowered in status and that's what this bill does. I mean, those ranks are really something, whereas most medals are just trinkets for the staff and Curia to play with.

I disagree. First, Lusted is an Opifex and a Divus yet he can only display one badge at a time which unlike this system completely nullifies a portion of what he has done for the site at any given time (or entirely when he was a moderator). Second, the status accorded to any medal/rank is not that it's a rank or a medal, it's the difficulty in attaining one, the rarity of the reward, and how good it looks. Third, if you believe that "medals are just trinkets for the staff and Curia" then propose an amendment to change that, I daresay you will find more than a few supporters.

[Muizer]

I disagree. First, Lusted is an Opifex and a Divus yet he can only display one badge at a time which unlike this system completely nullifies a portion of what he has done for the site at any given time (or entirely when he was a moderator). Second, the status accorded to any medal/rank is not that it's a rank or a medal, it's the difficulty in attaining one, the rarity of the reward, and how good it looks. Third, if you believe that "medals are just trinkets for the staff and Curia" then propose an amendment to change that, I daresay you will find more than a few supporters.

I don't disagree that in theory medals are more suited than ranks for Divus, Opifex and Senatorii, but I don't think it can be denied that in practice the current proliferation of medals means devaluation. Or perhaps I should say they were created to be handed out liberally and be of minor importance as a consequence. Anyway, that's what they are now, and until that changes I don't like the idea of putting Opifex and Divus amongst them.

[Mímirswell]

I don't disagree that in theory medals are more suited than ranks for Divus, Opifex and Senatorii, but I don't think it can be denied that in practice the current proliferation of medals means devaluation.

Only for those medals which are handed out liberally. It's true that those without any idea of what a Divus and Opifex are might well assume that they are meaningless awards on the basis that most of the other awards they see are useless but for the individuals that are aware of what the awards represent, they wouldn't be devalued in the least. At least with the award system, it's far more likely the average member will click the award and learn why it was given than read the constitution and learn what Divus and Opifex represent. By this standard, it may very well increase recognition of Opifex and Divus.

[Belisarius]

Mim, Divus has been changed? I cant see it in the proposal,,

[Mímirswell]

The only change is it would be a medal instead of a rank (incidentally, it needs to be one awesome medal but I think LR or Manji is up to the challenge).

[Lusted]

Support, for obvious reasons.