Caught in Political Limbo: TSP’s Forum Troubles
COMMENTARY | TRR NEWS
"The website has been temporarily disabled due to excessive resource usage."
The South Pacific's Assembly has voted down, not one, but two constitutional amendments to alter the region’s official url address to facilitate a change to a new forum host. The current forum host, 10Hosting (x10) has regularly blocked access to the forum throughout today because of 'excessive resource usage' – an hourly cap on forum activity; for the past month, the forum’s Admin CP and the forum in general has become increasingly less accessible due to the host’s overzealous anti-spam detection system.
Representing the worst of southern politics, The South Pacific’s forum has been caught in ‘political limbo’ between its firebrands and standpatters; one side wishing to move the forum to a new, privately owned host and another minority, opposing the move to a private host (and others bizarrely arguing a change is not necessarily, despite the constant forum downtimes). A constitutional amendment requires the Assembly to approve the decision with 75% support in favour – an onerous task which has proved unattainable. With few options available and the status quo becoming increasingly unbearable, The South Pacific’s forum has been ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’.
When he spoke with The Rejected Times earlier tonight, Glen-Rhodes, co-root admin of the forum, sounded optimistic that a compromise would be reached soon.
"The plan the Admin Team presented to the Assembly garnered support from more than 60% of voters," says Glen-Rhodes. "There's a clear majority in favor of the plan. It's simply a matter of clearing up misunderstandings, convincing a few voters why it's the best option, and for some getting beyond petty politics."
The Charter of The South Pacific may offer some relief from The South Pacific’s problem, however, with one clause noting ‘Should the Regional Forum cease to exist or otherwise become permanently unavailable then the Cabinet is authorized to establish a replacement Regional Forum.’ The problem here is determining what constitutes ‘permanently unavailable’ – the onerous hourly caps on The South Pacific’s forum activity has allowed for brief periods of access for users and otherwise, the functionality of the forum has been, while troublesome, not ‘completely’ unavailable. A legal question to resolve these issues had been forwarded to the High Court but the server’s current downtime may prevent justices from responding to the open legal question.
Kringalia urged assembly-goers to reconsider the status quo and The South Pacific's hosting situation.
"I hope the Assembly takes note of the increasing instability of our host as a signal that we cannot wait anymore," says Kringalia. "The forum administration has proposed a plan for a seamless transition to a new service, and we should work together to make it a reality."
While some curse the unreasonableness of the body politic in The South Pacific, others curse the move from Zetaboards altogether; these troubles and more, not only reflect The South Pacific’s divided, uncompromising politics, but also adds to the ongoing, rabble-roused local drama.
