Hex Committee Creation Bill

[Professor420]

Proposer: Professor420
Supporters:
gigagaia
imb39
jp

Hex Committee Creation Bill

At any time, a member of Hex can establish the creation of a Curial Committee to investigate and discuss an issue. These temporary committees are to last one month, and after one month, are subject to ratification and extension by the Curia.

To form a committee, Hex will create the thread in the Curia main asking for applicants. When Hex decides it has enough applicants, it will choose however many it deems fit, and create a subforum in the Curia for the committee. The temporary committee can be dissolved at the discretion of Hex. It can also add and remove members when it sees fit.

After 30 days, Hex can request the Curator create a vote for a one or two month extension, where normal Curial legislation practices apply.

After a decision is made by a temporary committee, it shall be posted in the Prothalamos for three days, prior to implementation. If three or more Patricians state an objection, implementation will be postponed. It will be at the discretion of the Curator, Committee, and presiding Hex member whether to take the proposal back to the committee for revision (the objecting Patricians are therefore expected to take part in the revision discussion), or continue the discussion in the Prothalamos until there are no more than two objections.

Furthermore, the following section of the Syntagma would be removed:

The Councils

Two Councils exist that advise the Staff directly about the Total War Community (Consilium Belli) and the Common Community (Consilium Pacis). They have their own subforums within the Questions & Suggestions forum.

Consilium Belli and Consilium Pacis members cannot belong to both councils at the same time and must resign position in either of councils within a week after appointment to second council or be removed from that position which they have held for the longer period.

* Consilium Belli
Six members in total, drawn from the Civitates, Artifex and Patrician ranks shall be appointed by the Hex Council to discuss and advise on ideas concerning the Total War section of the forums. These members should have a strong background in the Total War modding community and be in good standing.

A public forum will be created in the Questions & Suggestions forum, where all suggestions regarding the Total War section of the Forums will be discussed. The Consilium Belli shall make necessary recommendations to the staff on issues of the TW Sections.

* Appointment to the Consilium Belli:
Each member of the Consilium Belli has a term which lasts for a period of two months from when they are appointed. When a Council member’s term is due to end or a Councillor resigns, the Curator will choose when to open a candidates thread and post an announcement in the Symposium. Applicants must then post their reasons for wishing to participate and relevant qualifications within this qualifications thread, which shall remain open for 72 hours.

After the candidates thread is closed the Hexagon Council will appoint as many new Councillors as are required at that time. Councillors may serve consecutive terms though in the interests of fairness the Triumvirate will attempt to introduce new qualified councillors when possible.

* Consilium Pacis
Four Civitates or Patricians shall be elected by the Curia as per the "Curial Elections" section of the Syntagma to discuss and advise on ideas concerning the Common Community section of the forums. These candidates should have a strong background in the Common Community and be in good standing.

A public forum will be created in the Questions & Suggestions forum, where all suggestions regarding the Common Community section of the forums will be discussed. The Council shall make necessary recomendations to the staff on issues of the Common Community. Each member of the Consilium Pacis has a term which lasts for a period of two months from when they are elected.

I think something like this bill would strongly help the interaction between Hex and the Curia. If Hex is to be leaders, then they need specialized people to lead... they cannot all claim to lead the moderating staff. For example, we have a Tech admin, a Content admin, a TW admin... my feeling is that all of these people would be far more efficient with a group of knowledgeable people to advise them; to create and field suggestions, to discuss them, and hammer them out into actual plans, which would then either be put to vote if they are legislation, or enacted by Hex if not. The use of committees can range from content, to avenues of income, etc.

On the other hand, I don't want to see what should be Curial responsibilities being stripped away from the Curia, which is why I have the bit about ratification.

What this doesn't address if the idea of permanent Curial Committees (such as the CoW, etc.). I felt that we could address those individually. If we want to create a council, then we can make a proposal for it.

Personally I am a great believer in committees, buttressed by my very productive time in the CoW and to some degree the CdeC. They provide a direct, articulate, and qualified area of discussion and an avenue directly to the leader of that aspect of the forum.

Furthermore, I don't think this would undermine the Curia, as it can be argued the CoW and CoP did. Legislation must still be debated on and passed by the Curia; membership is very non-exclusive. And, furthermore, because it is Hex who initiates and "moderates" the discussion, it will likely have a much higher rate of implementation than a council that behaves autonomously and must go to Hex for approval. Ideally the discussion of the issue that would normally occur in Hex would occur, instead, in the council, in public, and with a larger variety of opinions that are more informed about that particular issue than other members of Hex are.

What I don't expect to see is a committee formed for every Hex decision or forum change. This is why I mention permanent committees; we can try them out and see how we like them, and then a citizen can draft some legislation if we want to make them permanent.

History:
v1.0- Initial Proposal
v1.1- Added makayne's suggestion, it is the last paragraph of the bill
v1.2- Removed The Councils section of Syntagma

[gigagaia]

Very good. I support.

[Tom Paine]

I personally don't like this. For one or possibly even two jobs, a committee is entirely neccessary; the CdeC is one such. However for most, I cannot understand why the Curia as a whole, which contains the expertise of the selected, cannot do the job; Committees may not be thought to decrease the Curia's role but by removing the debate from the full Curia, they do exactly that; the only reason it might be useful is if there was a possibility of getting some noncuria members into the committees, because then we get a wider variety of opinions and hear some voices that would otherwise go unheard.

I mght add that the rationale of knowledgeable people really doesn't apply due to the meritocratic nature of the Curia.

[Perikles]

I like this idea, as Prof says it coudl greatly help with Hex/Curia interations and releations. The 30 day limit is an excellent idea as it stops the committee stagnating. I fully support this.

[Halie Satanus]

I can see this being a very useful system where the Curia can be to cumbersome a committee can get things done far quicker with less fuss. I support fully.

[Tom Paine]

But that's just taking the power from the hands of the curia, rendering it irrelevant even more severely than the CoP and CoW ever did, because they had specific areas of interest, whereas this we will have committees for everything!

[Perikles]

But that's just taking the power from the hands of the curia, rendering it irrelevant even more severely than the CoP and CoW ever did, because they had specific areas of interest, whereas this we will have committees for everything!

They can be abolished by the Curia whenever they want, I think...

Also, I doubt any committee will last longer than a month, it just isn't needed most of the time.

[Tom Paine]

The temporary committee can be dissolved at the discretion of Hex.

These temporary committees are to last one month, and after one month, are subject to ratification and extension by the Curia.

Nope, they are dissolveable by Hex, or at monthly intervals by the Curia. Monthly intervals, note. And look how long the CoW and CoP lasted; they were doing things almost all the time, until they died.

[Perikles]

Monthly intervals is sufficient in my opinion.

[Tom Paine]

Really? So we have a CoW dealing with all TW side stuff for a month, removing all that from Curial hands for 30 days at a time, and that's okay? This just undoes all the good that we have achieved and stops the Curia taking further responsibilities, as we'll just farm everything out to pointless committees!

[Halie Satanus]

I think the idea is to form them when needed rather than for every little thing ie; the site awards, and i don't think forming a committee will be done haphazardly, can't Hex be trusted to know when a small dedicated group would sort something with less fuss than leaving it to the Curia?. i would have thought so. This kind of thing already happens, this just makes them official.

[Tom Paine]

Does it happen? Where? I haven't seen it, to be honest.
And while Hex can be trusted, I don't see what it adds to silence people; that is, we have a Curia of experts, and to draw from that to a smaller panel of experts risks problems of cutting off some of the best ideas.

[Halie Satanus]

You've never had a request from a Hex member to do something??, Well i have and I'm sure others have as well. That's how the Cow started for one.

'Curia of experts' hmm to many chiefs! at times, Site awards, hows that coming??.

[imb39]

The creation of small committees to solve individual issues is good thing. They should present option(s) to the Curia to ratify/choose.

[Tom Paine]

But it loses all input from members of the Curia beyond five (if I remember the limit correctly); 5 members cuts a lot of potential expertise and experience from the group, far too much IMO.

[imb39]

perhaps, but if the curia don't like the options it is rejected. A balanced needs to be maintained and 5 is a useful number. Also I envision it dealing with specific issues. I see nothing different between this and Royal Commissions.

[Perikles]

They should present option(s) to the Curia to ratify/choose.

If this or the Curial Officer Bill passes then we could need a bill such as this one for them to be able tow work effectivly within the curia, as the Curia should not be left out of big decisions just because a committee has been formed to deal with an issue.

Hmmmmm thats a good idea.

The Polling the Curia Bill

Version Info

Version 1.0: Initial draft

Proposer: Perikles
Supporters:

Polling the Curia

At any time the Curator, a Curial Officer or Committee, with the permission of the Curator, can start a poll in the Curia Votes subforum. This poll can be used to ratify a decision or allow the Curia to choose the options it prefers in the development of TWC. The poll should last 7 days.

I'm not sure on the wording but I hope you can see the general outline of what I mean.

[imb39]

I'd only allow the curator, or his delegated representative, to post a poll. I'd also append it to Prof's rather than create a separate Bill type thingie. Yes, I am being highly technical.

Also, there should be a period of discussion about the options outlined. It should be the responsibility of the Committee to provide a rationale for each option too.

[Perikles]

I'd only allow the curator, or his delegated representative, to post a poll. I'd also append it to Prof's rather than create a separate Bill type thingie. Yes, I am being highly technical.

Also, there should be a period of discussion about the options outlined. It should be the responsibility of the Committee to provide a rationale for each option too.

That's why I left it in this thread, however sometimes people object to 'bundling bills'. I'll keep it as a sperate enitity in this thread until further discussion has taken place, although I would like to see it as part of this bill.

The Polling the Curia Bill

Version Info

Version 1.1: Added imb's ideas

Version 1.0: Initial draft

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Polling the Curia

At any time the Curator, a Curial Officer or Committee, with the permission of the Curator, can start a poll in the Curia Votes subforum. This poll can be used to ratify a decision or allow the Curia to choose the options it prefers in the development of TWC. The poll should last 7 days.

Polling the Curia v1.1

At any time the Curator can create a poll in the Curia votes subforum, after discussion with a Curial officer or Committee. This poll can be used to ratify a decision or allow the Curia to choose the options it prefers in the development of TWC and should be accompanied by the rationale of the idea and a thread to discuss the options in the Curia 3 days before the poll is opened. The poll should last 7 days.

[Tom Paine]

I disagree with polling being the method of decision on any conclusions, definitely. The Curia as a whole must be allowed to have discussion and come to a conclusion on whatever conclusion the committee arrives at, really. Polling is not enough.