Curia News: Episode I December 14-December 21, 2008
Greetings and welcome to Curia News's first official installment! Our regular weekly installments will include interviews with prominent Curia members and brand new citizens, reports on the Curia's weekly happenings and events, and run-downs of amendments and decisions the Curia has voted on.
The marquee event of the Curia this week is the Consilium de Civitate elections, which are being held for one empty seat and the seats held by [user]B. Ward[/user] and [user]Erich von Manstein[/user]. The applicants are [user]Ludwig Van Beethoven[/user], [user]B. Ward[/user], [user]therussian[/user], [user]Jubal_Barca[/user], and [user]SquidSK[/user]. Fifty-five Citizens have already cast their votes for their new representatives. The votes will close on December 23rd and our new Councillors' terms will be up on March 23rd.
This past week, four proposals were voted on by the Curia. They were:
Fixing Debate Thread Location Amendment: An amendment proposed by [user]SquidSK[/user] to clarify Section II, Article II of the Constitution, putting forward an exact procedure for debate threads for Curial elections such as the CdeC and the Curator. Passed: 32 for, 2 against, 7 abstain.
Hotspur for Curatorial Service Medal: [user]Hotspur[/user] was proposed for the Curatorial Service Medal, which rewards hard work and dedication above and beyond the call of duty in the role of Curator for one or more term. Congratulations to Hotspur, who now has a spiffy new badge to his name, the Curatorial Service Medal's very first recipient. Passed: 39 for, 4 against, 4 abstain.
Creation of Military Forum Decision: Rome kb8 proposed this Decision to create a new forum for TWC for all discussions of the world's modern militaries, as well as military history, to be discussed. Though it won the plurality of votes, it failed to garner a two-thirds majority of non-abstaining votes. Failed: 25 for, 21 against, 3 abstain.
CdeC Archives - Successful Votes Decision: Proposed by [user]Ludwig Van Beethoven[/user], this Decision intended to make all successful votes from the past fall under the CdeC Transparency Act and become visible to all Citizens. While it achieved the plurality of votes, it failed to garner a two-thirds majority of non-abstaining votes. Failed: 22 for, 19 against, 4 abstain.
In the past week, the Curia welcomed two new Citizens into the fold. They are:
[user]Romanos IV[/user], Artifex: Romanos IV is a Librarian and the Scriptorium's Front Page manager, and is the leader of the "Crusader's Challenge" mod for Medieval II: Kingdoms. He is also a member of the mods "The Latinokratia", "Validus Regnum" and "Dominion of the Sword", all for Medieval II. Welcome to the Curia, Romanos!
[user]MarcusAureliusAntoninus[/user], Citizen: Marcus is a two-year veteran of the EB team, working as a PR guy and a promoter for the mod and an EB AAR. EB was a huge mod back when I was new and dinosaurs roamed the Earth and has continued its success, so it's always nice to welcome a member of EB's illustrious team! Welcome to the Curia, Marcus!
For Curia News's very first interview, I caught up with [user]Ludwig Van Beethoven[/user], a brand new Librarian and one of the current candidates for the CdeC elections. I'd like to thank LVB for participating in this first interview and for helping myself and [user]Caradog[/user] bring this idea to fruition. Without any further ado, the interview!
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Interview with Ludwig Van Beethoven
Do you enjoy participation in the Curia?
The Curia could use more activity, but it's still quite fun and interesting to participate in the various discussions and debates, and exercise Citizen voting rights. It has the potential to be extremely important and even more of an asset to the site. I spend much of my time on TWC posting there, though once again, I think activity could be improved.
If there was one thing you could change about the Curia, what would it be?
I would like a Concilium Plebis!!! Nah, just kidding. Seriously now, without getting into detail about specific amendments and minor changes that I would like to be made in the Constitution, I will once again talk about activity. The Curia needs more activity, more energy, more enthusiasm, and most importantly, it needs to gather interest, which is the prime reason of existence of this little editorial.
You are running in the current Consilium de Civitate elections. Why did you choose to run and what will you do if elected?
That seems much like a CdeC Debate thread question. I chose to run (for the 3rd time, after 2 consecutive failures!), as I believe I would be able to judge candidates fairly, while always expressing my opinion in a polite manner, something that appears to be a problem with some of the current CdeC members. If I am elected, I will always research all candidates thoroughly, before making a decision. What I would like most is the CdeC debating more on each candidate, in a polite and constructive manner, and I would like to try encouraging and promoting that.
You recently became a Librarian. What does the Library represent as a part of TWC's community?
The Scriptorium is a huge, quality storage space. Anyone who would like to find all the quality threads, AARs or historical articles can look in there. In the huge amount of threads created in TWC, the librarian's duty is to collect, evaluate, and store the best ones. As my newly worn Scriptorium-promo sig says, good threads are the light in the endless sea of TWC, and we librarians are dedicated in discovering this light, and storing it all together for the world to see.
A hot issue debate right now in the Curia is the idea of repealing the CdeC Transparency Act. As a prospective new member of the CdeC, how do you view Transparency?
I support the idea of Transparency on the CdeC, and recent events have shown that it is perhaps necessary, in order to keep the CdeC at a high standard at all times. Transparency will allow voters to actually evaluate the councillors, instead of voting pretty much randomly. It also makes sure that the councillors behave politely at all times, with the knowledge that their posts will have to hold out to public scrutiny. If a councillor feels he cannot fulfill his role under such circumstances, he should resign.
Thanks Ludwig!
Remember, it's your Curia, your forum, your community!
-Justinian, Curator
Last edited by Justinian; December 21, 2008 at 12:23 PM.
Curia News: Episode I
Nah, just kidding. Seriously now, without getting into detail about specific amendments and minor changes that I would like to be made in the Constitution, I will once again talk about activity. The Curia needs more activity, more energy, more enthusiasm, and most importantly, it needs to gather interest, which is the prime reason of existence of this little editorial.
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