Hello All,
This will be a real brief guide regarding how the Government of the forum works, how you can become a Government official, and what you can do to have your voice heard.
Anyone can be a staff member! The system runs as a democratic republic. There is one administrator (me, unless I run this place so badly you guys want me to be removed), and 4 mods (this will likely increase as the size of the forum grows too!).
Since the mods will be making day-to-day decisions on rules, ideas, and generally upholding the rules of the forum, we have quarterly elections!
This means every quarter every single person can apply to be a mod. Once the election run is occurring, the mod candidates are expected to make a thread with their viewpoints, what they will bring to the parliament, what changes they will bring, and how they will make this place better for all of you.
Once the cutoff point is reached for elections, there will be no more applications able to run.
On the day of the election, a poll will open with all candidates’ names on it. The top 4 voted-for members will become the new mods!
Mods must not vote for themselves.
A fair question!
We are a democracy, so if you do not like a mod, then you, the users, should make a petition to vote the mod out of power!
Once we, the active Government, see this petition, we MUST hold a debate regarding the mod’s future in our government. If we decide that it is best to hold a vote of no confidence, all mods will vote anonymously on whether or not we should allow the Demod Poll.
If the majority vote in favour of the Demod Poll, we will issue a poll for you, the electorate, to vote on whether or not to demod said mod.
We must then hold an emergency election before we can resume Parliament (there must always be an odd number of members to prevent polls being a tie).
Since there has been no real campaign for the moderator candidates, we will accept all applicants for 2 hours. After that window, there will be a 24-hour poll for these applicants. The most voted-for wins. If there is a tie of votes, then there will be another vote with just the tied parties.
As soon as the replacement mod is in power, Parliament resumes!
Our Parliament is a simple way for mods to make decisions democratically on the more mundane issues of the day.
For instance, all moderators will bring ideas, suggestions, changes, and rules to the table which will represent the viewpoints of the people who elected them. The other 4 representatives will debate this area, make amendments to any suggestions, before voting on the final form of a draft bill.
Once passed, it becomes law/rule and will come into effect until overruled.
This is why it is important to vote for the mod candidate who has your best interests at heart, because in the day-to-day running of the forum, you are delegating your decision-making to them!
The areas are simple. You, the people, have to vote on the following:
Committees are independent of Parliament and are official government departments whose power has been delegated to do certain tasks on the forum. For example, we have the O5A committee currently; they are tasked with producing a certain number of posts per year on looksmaxxing research. They are self-governed and are rewarded with VIP and any resources needed for doing their job.
Anyone! When the Government decides that there is a need for a committee, the public can form groups of candidate committees. These should be the best fit for the required job, based on the group members’ experience and expertise.
Once groups have been formed, the staff will vote on which group will become the official committee. Once decided, the committee is commissioned under its own constitution (a sub-law of our own .cc constitution, but with full autonomy to make their own rules of government to get the task completed: who leads, what the rules are within the committee, etc.).
Rest assured, as part of each committee’s constitution, we have included the law for when the committee will go into “review.” In this case, the staff will debate and vote on the future path of a committee if they are failing to do the job they are commissioned for. The possible outcomes of review are:
There will be no public vote when a state of review is triggered; it will be down to the current active Government to decide what will come of the group.
If they are completing their jobs, but you still think they should be removed, you should make a petition clearly outlining your points. This will ensure that when the annual review of Government departments is conducted, you will have a large number of people voting for the removal of the committee.
This will be a real brief guide regarding how the Government of the forum works, how you can become a Government official, and what you can do to have your voice heard.
Who can be a Staff member?
Anyone can be a staff member! The system runs as a democratic republic. There is one administrator (me, unless I run this place so badly you guys want me to be removed), and 4 mods (this will likely increase as the size of the forum grows too!).
Since the mods will be making day-to-day decisions on rules, ideas, and generally upholding the rules of the forum, we have quarterly elections!
This means every quarter every single person can apply to be a mod. Once the election run is occurring, the mod candidates are expected to make a thread with their viewpoints, what they will bring to the parliament, what changes they will bring, and how they will make this place better for all of you.
Once the cutoff point is reached for elections, there will be no more applications able to run.
On the day of the election, a poll will open with all candidates’ names on it. The top 4 voted-for members will become the new mods!
Mods must not vote for themselves.
What if during the course of their duty, I wish to remove a mod?
A fair question!
We are a democracy, so if you do not like a mod, then you, the users, should make a petition to vote the mod out of power!
Once we, the active Government, see this petition, we MUST hold a debate regarding the mod’s future in our government. If we decide that it is best to hold a vote of no confidence, all mods will vote anonymously on whether or not we should allow the Demod Poll.
If the majority vote in favour of the Demod Poll, we will issue a poll for you, the electorate, to vote on whether or not to demod said mod.
What happens if a mod is removed mid-term?
We must then hold an emergency election before we can resume Parliament (there must always be an odd number of members to prevent polls being a tie).
Since there has been no real campaign for the moderator candidates, we will accept all applicants for 2 hours. After that window, there will be a 24-hour poll for these applicants. The most voted-for wins. If there is a tie of votes, then there will be another vote with just the tied parties.
As soon as the replacement mod is in power, Parliament resumes!
What is Parliament?
Our Parliament is a simple way for mods to make decisions democratically on the more mundane issues of the day.
For instance, all moderators will bring ideas, suggestions, changes, and rules to the table which will represent the viewpoints of the people who elected them. The other 4 representatives will debate this area, make amendments to any suggestions, before voting on the final form of a draft bill.
Once passed, it becomes law/rule and will come into effect until overruled.
This is why it is important to vote for the mod candidate who has your best interests at heart, because in the day-to-day running of the forum, you are delegating your decision-making to them!
When does the general community get to vote?
The areas are simple. You, the people, have to vote on the following:
- Who you want in charge
- Any rule change proposals
- Public suggestions (you do this by voicing your opinions in the suggestions subforum, and the staff team votes on whether or not they want it)
- Annual Government Reviews (there are committees the staff delegate tasks to; your job is to make sure you think the department does their job, and whether you think it should stay or be removed)
What are committees?
Committees are independent of Parliament and are official government departments whose power has been delegated to do certain tasks on the forum. For example, we have the O5A committee currently; they are tasked with producing a certain number of posts per year on looksmaxxing research. They are self-governed and are rewarded with VIP and any resources needed for doing their job.
Who can become a committee?
Anyone! When the Government decides that there is a need for a committee, the public can form groups of candidate committees. These should be the best fit for the required job, based on the group members’ experience and expertise.
Once groups have been formed, the staff will vote on which group will become the official committee. Once decided, the committee is commissioned under its own constitution (a sub-law of our own .cc constitution, but with full autonomy to make their own rules of government to get the task completed: who leads, what the rules are within the committee, etc.).
I don’t believe a committee is worthwhile. How can I vote against it?
Rest assured, as part of each committee’s constitution, we have included the law for when the committee will go into “review.” In this case, the staff will debate and vote on the future path of a committee if they are failing to do the job they are commissioned for. The possible outcomes of review are:
- Changing the mission of the group
- Supporting the group to meet their mission
- Disbandment
There will be no public vote when a state of review is triggered; it will be down to the current active Government to decide what will come of the group.
If they are completing their jobs, but you still think they should be removed, you should make a petition clearly outlining your points. This will ensure that when the annual review of Government departments is conducted, you will have a large number of people voting for the removal of the committee.
