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Moderation Proposal
Topic Started: Oct 27 2006, 05:51 PM (473 Views)
Joshua
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The Original Founder

Here are forum rules I would like to propose, and I would like to have this be for discussion by everyone and with final approval by the admin team of this forum.

Generally our forum is civil and friendly, but I think it is time we put a system in place for handling forum troublemakers.

Quote:
 
If a member of the forum breaks forum rules, which include Invisionfree ToS and possibly other guidelines as the mods agree on them, they may be given an Official Warning depending on the severity of the breach and the number of times they have broken the rules since their last warning. Official Warnings are administered through the built-in Warning System, which allows moderators to increase warning levels in increments of 20%, and enforce moderation as required.

To ensure fair moderation across the board, these guidelines will be placed in effect for all moderation actions:

20% warning - 5 hour mod preview
40% - 1 day mod preview
60% - 5 hour post suspension, 3 day mod preview
80% - 3 day post suspension, 1 week mod preview
100% - 1 week post suspension, indefinite mod preview

And should, after 100%, the member's posts obviously are not improving, or if they're carrying on through PM's, they get kicked out the door via IP ban.

Definitions:

Mod Preview: A mod must review posts before they are publically viewable
Post Suspension: The member cannot post, but can still use other forum services and read topics.
IP Ban: Prevents a single computer or internet connection from accessing the forum. Other ban methods may be used if a single IP proves ineffective.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event of an extremely severe breach, it is possible that a more severe penalty may be enacted for that offence. However, deviations from this procedure will not be enacted without a general consent of all moderators.
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Dr Strange Love
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"Rabble Rouser"

Well if we are going implement an official warning system than just how are we going to decide who gets to play mod? Will they be elected by the Assembly? Appointed by the founder? Will they serve out specific terms? Also the rules they enforce should not be made by them but be either derived from the invision free terms of service or the laws passed by the Assembly.
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

Joshua
Oct 27 2006, 04:51 PM
Here are forum rules I would like to propose, and I would like to have this be for discussion by everyone and with final approval by the admin team of this forum.

Generally our forum is civil and friendly, but I think it is time we put a system in place for handling forum troublemakers.

Good addition to the forum Josh.

And as to who would be an admin.. does this not come under the umbrella of being up to the Founder as the head of the region, rather than the RA? And also correct me if I am wrong here but aren't admins appointed to different sections of the forum for which they are responsible for .. Like Tact for the RA and Switz for the UN? I see no reason to change this.
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Joshua
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The Original Founder

Dr Strange Love
Oct 27 2006, 10:58 PM
Well if we are going implement an official warning system than just how are we going to decide who gets to play mod? Will they be elected by the Assembly? Appointed by the founder? Will they serve out specific terms? Also the rules they enforce should not be made by them but be either derived from the invision free terms of service or the laws passed by the Assembly.


There are admins already selected for the forum. I believe they are:

Joshua
Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Avolon
BearEmpire

And I would agree since the founder per our current constitution is head of the forum he select the admins and therefore I still agree this should not be under the perview of the RA unless there is a change to our regional constitutuion.

I am not saying we change who is admin for what, but I think it is time we enable to formal system of rules to deal with any folks who are breaking the rules of the forum.
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Dr Strange Love
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"Rabble Rouser"

Quote:
 
I am not saying we change who is admin for what, but I think it is time we enable to formal system of rules to deal with any folks who are breaking the rules of the forum.


Well perhaps we should rotate through people in terms of who has mod powers at least in terms of rule enforcement? Make things a little more fair.
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

Dr Strange Love
Oct 28 2006, 01:38 AM
Quote:
 
I am not saying we change who is admin for what, but I think it is time we enable to formal system of rules to deal with any folks who are breaking the rules of the forum.


Well perhaps we should rotate through people in terms of who has mod powers at least in terms of rule enforcement? Make things a little more fair.


FIRST:
The TE Constitution exists to set out the laws of TE, her office holders, arms of Government and role of the founder, all of which directly impact on who moderates and enforces which laws where and when on the forum since this is essentially how and where the regional government is run from.

Therefore with the exception of Joshua's super mod position (which we DO NOT NEED TO DEBATE AGAIN BECAUSE AVOLON HAS RULED ON THIS AS FOUNDER ALREADY) and that of forum designers for Twicross and TBE, who are Founder appointed , office holders of TE of regional government and the Founder (and his appointed forum team) are the established Admins of their sections of the board and come together to form the admin body. The RA is represented by the Speaker..

So unless we are about to throw out the consitution entirely, re-write every government position, unempower each forum section leader to have control over his or her portfolio, go directly against our Founders wishes and start from scratch, I do not see why we need to rotate all admin potitions. This is also highly impractical as it would mean no consistancy and that we loose folks every rotation with the experience neccesary to run the forum and thus this part of the region.

SECOND:
To to address DSL's concerns about fairness
I would also welcome more input in administrating the board from those who use it, so in light of DSL's suggestion (with Founder permission) I propose that as well as the present Admin Staff, we create a new rotating admin position of TE Nation Representative. This admin could be rotated every few months and appointed directly from the RA. It would also give the other admins insight into the needs and concerns of the people that they provide the board for.

AND TO FURTHER GUARENTEE THAT EVERY MEMBER OF THE FORUM IS TREATED FAIRLY:
I think any admin rule enforcement in terms of the proposed warning system must have a system of checks and balances.

Given that Avolon is Founder (and co-Super Moderator), it makes perfect sense to me that at such time ANY warning is given that the Admin giving it MUST send a report via IM of the incident to the Founder, including the official notification of the warning to the nation in question. This would detail what led to the warning and the action taken by the Admin.

The nation involved would then have the right to appeal the decision of the Administrator directly to the founder, with both the Administrator and the nation understanding that the Founder has the final say on the matter. This would mean that no admin could abuse his or her position, that nations always had the right of appeal and that as always the Founder would have the last word as head of the region, thus avoiding any gray areas or issues of bias.

This would all need to be spelt out clearly in a read before you post thread in the mod section along with the proposed warning rules etc so that everybody can access them easily and avoid petty disputes because nobody knew. I also propose listing the names of all admins and the areas of the forum they are responsible for in the mod section.
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Dr Strange Love
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"Rabble Rouser"

Proposal: The Exodus Forum Moderator Act

A. It will be the duty of the founder to appoint moderators for forums.

B. A single moderator will have the legal and corporeal power to moderate all the forums under a specific category designated by the founder.

C. Forum Admins and Moderators are different. Admins have the power to modify the forum within the limits prescribed by the laws of The Exodus but while they may have the corporeal power to act as forum moderators, they may not exercise this power unless they have been legally designated as a forum moderator by the Founder.

D. Any member of The Exodus who is not currently serving as Secretary of State, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs or Speaker of Nations (with the exception of the RA forums which are not covered by this proposal) is eligible to be selected by the Founder to serve as a forum moderator.

E. Forum moderators will be rotated every two months. A player may serve as forum moderator for consecutive terms though he or she cannot moderate the same category for consecutive terms.

F. The Founder is the final authority concerning moderation. He may dispense moderation desisons himself and overule those of forum moderators. The founder has the right to remove moderators who have proven to be unsatisfactory. Moderators may also be removed by a majority vote of the RA. If a moderator is removed by the RA than that person cannot serve as a moderator ever again unless the RA reverses its decision.

G. Moderators will have the power to delete or edit post that violate the Invisionfree terms of service and therefore jeopardize the very existence of the forum itself.

H. Moderators may issue unofficial verbal warnings in cases of violations of any code of conduct prescribed by Exodus law. These warnings should be made in public within the thread where the violation occurred.

I. Moderators may move topics to other forums if their content does not conform to the purpose of the forum for which they are moderating. Moderators may also close a topic if multiple violations of either Invisionfree terms of service or Exodus law have occurred and it is reasonable to infer that more infractions are likely to occur in that specific thread. Moderators may also move topics to the archives if there have been no new post in that specific topic for over 30 days.

J. Official warnings may only be issued by moderators with the specific written permission of the Founder. This permission should be posted in moderation for all to see.

K. In severe emergencies where the founder is not available; admins other than the founder may issue a ban on a member of the forum, though this will be reviewed by the founder. An forum emergency will be defined as either: the repeated postings by a member that violate the invisionfree terms of service (such as pornographic spam), or an attack on the forum conducted by a rogue admin.
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Joshua
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The Original Founder

I agree with everything, but section E.

Also in regards to warnings it needs elaboration:

To ensure fair moderation across the board, these guidelines will be placed in effect for all moderation actions:

20% warning - 5 hour mod preview
40% - 1 day mod preview
60% - 5 hour post suspension, 3 day mod preview
80% - 3 day post suspension, 1 week mod preview
100% - 1 week post suspension, indefinite mod preview
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Dr Strange Love
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"Rabble Rouser"

Quote:
 
Also in regards to warnings it needs elaboration:

To ensure fair moderation across the board, these guidelines will be placed in effect for all moderation actions:

20% warning - 5 hour mod preview
40% - 1 day mod preview
60% - 5 hour post suspension, 3 day mod preview
80% - 3 day post suspension, 1 week mod preview
100% - 1 week post suspension, indefinite mod preview


Sounds fine to me.
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

I have merged the two topics on the same subject into this one so we are not discussing this in two separate places.
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St Jello Biafra
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After what length of time will the warnings expire, if ever?
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oodges
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annoyance united

bluddy good question. i think 20% should be taken off the sentence every 4 months
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

I like Joshua have issues with E simply because the sad fact of the matter is while there are over 100 nations in TE, that number drops into low double if not at times single digits when counting the active ones who are involved and actively using the forum, so if we severely limit terms for moderators, then in a few months nobody who is active and willing to do the job will be eligible any more because they would have done it already.

Also I would like to suggest having 2 Moderators instead of one because otherwise if the sole moderator is not able to be on-line due to real life commitments we risk not having anyone to moderate for long lengths of time.. or maybe a deputy Mod is appointed at same time as soul Mod with the understanding that they only carry out these duties if the main mod is not available..
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oodges
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annoyance united

and SJB's question Ds?
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

Forum Moderator or not, the MoIA has a constitutionally approved role in Forum Moderation too and I am done hiding or worrying about being called names because this is not about me but about the role of MoIA..

so according to the TE consitution which reads:
"3. The Minister of Internal Affairs
a. Is responsible for the internal security and domestic tranquility of the Exodus.
b. Is responsible for counter-espionage activity within the Exodus and forums.
c. Is responsible for the oversight and running of the Court of the Exodus. In this capacity, he or she shall be known as the Chief Justice of the Court"

This means that what ever moderator is appointed (a move which I support), the MoIA still is as a major part of their duties, responsible for internal security and tranquility and this includes the forums. Therefore any moderator would also need to be in consultation with the MoIA as well as Founder and under the consitution, the MoIA IS responsible for forum moderation and I intend to keep doing my job.

I am not hiding, I am not worrying about one person with a vendetta and I am not resigning. If anyone has any issues with this please contact me or Avolon and also please know that as always I have and will carry out my duties as MoIA in a fair and respectful manner and always be responsible directly to the founder.

I know this post will seem out of the blue to some, but I have been given this and the position of MoIA a great deal of thought, and as with any other TE Government position or institution, the role of MoIA is important to and an important part of TE and I or any other nation holding the postion in the future cannot do an effective job if they do not have the authority to do so because their hands become tied by a new position or because I am worried about upsetting someone. This does not lead to effective government and I cannot and will not let this happen any longer.

The position of MoIA has changed a lot since the original constitution, as have many others like regional speaker, which is why it is obvious to everybody that the constitution needs updating. Josh is currently working on that and as part of that, I am currently working with Avolon and others to update the role of MoIA.

This will be of course available for discussion and approval with the rest of the ammended constitution before it is implemented and at all times I would like EVERYBODY to know that this is not some grab for power on my behalf, but rather the revision of a government role to reflect it's true duties as they have evolved and occur in the region today.

In the mean time, I am more than happy to continue this important discussion regarding a mod proposal, I am just not going to sit around and let the role of MoIA be missunderstood or worse still done away with or made redundant. I think we can have an effective Forum Mod and still allow the MoIA to be effective.
Making one super non government member mod totally renders the MoIA powerless and unable to do their job and is unworkable and unrealistic, unless this is the underlying motive behind this part of the Mod proposal, in which case it's very brilliantly disguised.. but still something that I will not shy away from discussing.
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

oodges
Nov 1 2006, 03:25 AM
and SJB's question Ds?

It's an excellent question as to how long the warning would remain and something we need to discuss. I am in favor of warnings lasting a month.
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St Jello Biafra
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Going down by 20% a month sounds good to me.
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Philosophe Move
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Agitated Forum Member

I notice we have 10 admins and 13 moderators. I beleive we need a discussion on the excess of authority here. Do we really need 23 people to deal with 250 people, the majority of which are never on?

And on what basis were people promoted? Were moderators strict adherents to the rules of the forums, and chosen for their commitment to keeping order? Were admins chosen for their ability to use the Admin CP and technical expertise?

Or were they chosen for being longstanding members of the community?

I think it would be beneficial to bring some respect back to the idea of being an admin, and only those who show they have the abilities become admins or moderators. Remember, these two positions are only here to make the forum easier to use - they should not represent anything else.
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

I just merged this topic with PM's new one on Admins because they are one and the same. This way we can all have one discussion that everyone can be part of.

And PM, I am no expert as to who is an Admin and why except that I do know that Ministers are given admin resposibility for their section of the forum and in line with their responsibilities in TE. I do not know who the 10 admins and 13 mods are tho.. maybe the ghosts of nations and ministers past?
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Ds Rainbow Phoenix
Unregistered

Philosophe Move
Nov 2 2006, 10:07 PM
I notice we have 10 admins and 13 moderators. I beleive we need a discussion on the excess of authority here. Do we really need 23 people to deal with 250 people, the majority of which are never on?

And on what basis were people promoted? Were moderators strict adherents to the rules of the forums, and chosen for their commitment to keeping order? Were admins chosen for their ability to use the Admin CP and technical expertise?

Or were they chosen for being longstanding members of the community?

I think it would be beneficial to bring some respect back to the idea of being an admin, and only those who show they have the abilities become admins or moderators. Remember, these two positions are only here to make the forum easier to use - they should not represent anything else.

I call upon Avolon as founder of the region to outline the basis of the appointments of Admins and Moderators for clarity and also for himself to instruct Joshua to investigate the mods and admins listed on the forum and prune this official list of anyone who no longer holds that office.

PM brings up a very valid question and has drawn our attention to something we had missed until now and that needs addressed.

Thanks PM & Avs! :D
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