{ABANDONED}Amendment - Section I - Article II Modifications

[Gaius Baltar]

Author: Nicholas Rush
Support:

After reading some of Simetrical's comments in the "Removal of the Strategos Rank" Amendment, I decided to go ahead and propose the removal of Section I - Article II from the Constitution. Quite clearly it has been obsolete and unused for many years, and according to one relevant expert "....has been ignored" , and "....is inaccurate". In addition, it contains no relevant procedure or statement that is within the CVRIAL remit, in fact, it is simply an explanation of moderator processes by HEX and staff. Such material is not needed and is, in fact, not used anyway by the current administration anyway.

I suggest we keep the title paragraph, and dispose of the explanations that we have now for Strategos (senior) and Tribounos (junior) staff. If in fact moderation powers and status once again come under CVRIAL oversight, material can be re-added to this section.


Article II. The Moderation Branch
The Moderation Branch is responsible for maintaining order within the Site Forum and enforcement of the Terms of Service. Moderators are the only members of Staff invested with general moderating powers.

The following passages will be removed.

Senior Staff - Strategos

The Strategos are Senior Moderators, led by the Chief of Branch, in charge of moderation within the Forum. They will all have Global Moderation powers, and some may have additional administrative powers depending upon their duties.

Senior Moderators are appointed by existing Senior Moderators from among the moderators.





Junior Staff - TribounosThe Staff Moderators form the front line moderation force on the Forum. They are drawn from the Citizens and appointed and fired by the Senior Moderators.

The total number of Staff Moderators, along with individual assignments and powers are set by the Senior Moderators.

[Augustus Lucifer]

It could simply be reduced to something like: "The moderation staff are staff who moderate."

[Gaius Baltar]

It could simply be reduced to something like: "The moderation staff are staff who moderate."

You jest but I think you have captured the entire point of the Amendment.

When elections/ratifications were dropped we kept the framework of the section, which dealt solely with titles...and nothing that the CVRIA had any say over. The rest is really redundant to the title paragraph. (i.e. moderators appoint moderators, etc.) Changing titles or descriptions now doesn't really change anything, because there is no CVRIAL process involved.

[Augustus Lucifer]

Well if we remove it then it needs to be a part of a wider removal of all non-curial entities from the Constitution. So pretty much all of Section I and parts of Section V. I suppose that's one possible solution to matters skipping the Constitution is to simply not have it mention things that are often skipped.

Another possibility is to modify what the Constitution, well, constitutes. Accurate or not it defines the bodies of the site, and all aspects are basically derived from some power laid out therein, even if it happens to be the power to do anything ala Hex. Split up the Constitution into sections dealing primarily with staff and sections dealing primarily with the Curia, and some dealing with both(ie. awards). Then just create a valid process for staff to vote on changes to the sections concerning themselves, and the Curia to vote on changes concerning itself(and decisions which affect the site as a whole). Make it so that staff can properly reflect their current mode of operation without having to go through the Curia, since Hex will simply override such a middle step anyways.

That sort of goes along with the trend towards opening up decision making. Hex already asks moderators for their opinions via poll, Jim does the same informally with Content, on Tech we kind of just come to consensus since there's so few of us(though we did have one poll here). Keeping in mind such votes would be on policy and overarching matters, not day to day workings, since not having to vote on day to day workings is the reason why staff is a more efficient entity than the Curia. Each branch would also need to be separate in matters that concern them. This might also present the possibility of something like a 'two-house' vote on things like ToS changes, which is already kind of the case informally as any Curial vote on a ToS Change is generally brought up in the Den.

This is keeping in mind that Hex would still be able to do whatever they please, but considering the moves that resulted in the removal of Strategoi, I'm guessing they'd be keen on consulting a relevant staff branch before doing most things, excepting matters such as finance and CA relations.

[Simetrical]

I suggest instead that we replace all of Section I with something like this:

Section I - The Executive

The Executive consists of site staff members. These include the Hexagon Council, together with other staff that they delegate to. Staff has its own procedures independent of the Curia, which are documented on a wiki page.

Article I. The Hexagon Council

The Hexagon Council is a self-appointed body of administrators with final control over all aspects of the site. In particular, the Hexagon Council may veto any bill passed by the Curia, and is in charge of all other staff. It is the only part of staff responsible for dealing with the Curia, although other staff members may contribute as regular Citizens (if applicable).

Article II. Other Staff

Staff members outside the Hexagon Council are given certain rights and duties on TWC beyond normal members. They currently fall into three categories: moderation, content, and technical. Only Citizens may become moderators. Staff members other than the Hexagon Council have no rights in the Curia beyond other members of the site.

I'd like to have a better name than "Other staff" for "staff other than Hex", though. Any ideas?

[Harry Lime]

Underlings...or Morlocks. Either is fine by me.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Why other staff? Just call them staff.

[Simetrical]

Because then Hex is considered not part of staff, which is weird.

[Augustus Lucifer]

Branch Staff
General Staff
Operational Staff

[Harry Lime]

Because then Hex is considered not part of staff, which is weird.

No it's not.

It'll be just like any place of work. Where the management (or in this case Hex) are called management and the rest of the workers are called staff. Everyone knows that they are all working for the same company.

[Gaius Baltar]

Im going to abandon this proposal for now and support Garbs version.

[Gaius Baltar]

Okay, I think I need two more supporters for my latest version?

The reason I abandoned is because the material would conflict with the Strategos amendment, only one can go to vote and I think this needs more work anyway.

[Gaius Baltar]

Well no matter what I do it'll still be wrong so I'll put your bill up shortly Sim since your argument is rational.

Devoirs The Empress

This thread should be closed. Sim would need to open his own thread, present his proposal and garner supporters.