Thank you all for your input! The following players have been appointed to the council:
Bears Armed
Christian Democrats
Glen-Rhodes
Sciongrad
Separatist Peoples
Sierra Lyricalia
WA Players have long expressed a desire for greater involvement in determining the direction of the World Assembly; meanwhile, we have been struggling for some time to deal with the volume of requests for legality rulings. The previous approach of attempting to recruit new Moderators has not worked; the increasing complexity and activity of the GA requires a number of people able to offer experience and long-term activity. While the community has a number of people who would be excellent at handling legality rulings, they do not necessarily meet the other requirements for being a Moderator in sufficient numbers.
To this end, the Moderation team is considering the creation of a special council, which we'll refer to here as "The Secretariat's Council", which will be involved in the legality ruling process. We have some competing views on the potential selection process and make-up of the Council, as well as on its responsibilities, and are looking for feedback on how this can work best for both staff members and players.
Responsibilities
We are looking to move responsibility for the section of the rule-set that could be described as "community standards" to this Council. Those are rules such as Honest Mistake, Branding and Format. The Council would be involved both in determining those standards and enforcing them. Core rules such as enforcing the OSRS on proposals and the Mechanics section would remain with the Moderation team.
There is the potential for future development of the Council, depending on how it functions, to include such roles as mentoring new members or developing the Category system.
Make-up
We envisage the team consisting of roughly 5-8 people, which may include a couple of Moderators. There have been several suggestions for how selection could work, ranging from open elections amongst WA members (albeit with candidates having to fulfill a set of requirements to be eligible), through an initially appointed then self-selecting team, to a wholly mod-appointed and mod-run team not too dissimilar from how the Mentors or Issues Editors started. We are currently leaning towards a team that is mod-appointed at the start.
Ideally we're looking for the team to be made of players with the following qualities:
We're looking for answers to the following questions:
The more detailed your answer, the more useful it is to us. Please don't give us suggestions for potential Council members at present; let's work out the structure of the Council first.
To this end, the Moderation team is considering the creation of a special council, which we'll refer to here as "The Secretariat's Council", which will be involved in the legality ruling process. We have some competing views on the potential selection process and make-up of the Council, as well as on its responsibilities, and are looking for feedback on how this can work best for both staff members and players.
Responsibilities
We are looking to move responsibility for the section of the rule-set that could be described as "community standards" to this Council. Those are rules such as Honest Mistake, Branding and Format. The Council would be involved both in determining those standards and enforcing them. Core rules such as enforcing the OSRS on proposals and the Mechanics section would remain with the Moderation team.
There is the potential for future development of the Council, depending on how it functions, to include such roles as mentoring new members or developing the Category system.
Make-up
We envisage the team consisting of roughly 5-8 people, which may include a couple of Moderators. There have been several suggestions for how selection could work, ranging from open elections amongst WA members (albeit with candidates having to fulfill a set of requirements to be eligible), through an initially appointed then self-selecting team, to a wholly mod-appointed and mod-run team not too dissimilar from how the Mentors or Issues Editors started. We are currently leaning towards a team that is mod-appointed at the start.
Ideally we're looking for the team to be made of players with the following qualities:
- A strong understanding of the proposal rules, including subtle nuances;
- A relatively clean warn history and proven ability to debate civilly and productively;
- A passion to make the World Assembly better for newcomers and veterans;
- Regular participation in the World Assembly forum;
- An understanding of where you came from thus understanding the newcomer;
- A willingness to work on a team with other players and mods to resolve legality challenges through seeking consensus decisions.
We're looking for answers to the following questions:
- Do you support the idea of a Secretariat's Council? If not, what alternative suggestion do you have, bearing in mind that "appoint more Moderators" is not an option on the table?
- How should members of the Council be selected in the long-run?
- What, if any, checks should exist against the Council's behaviour? Consider the potential for corruption, cronyism, laziness, and mission creep.
- Which of the current rules should the Council have responsibility for enforcing?
- Should Council members act as "Mentors" too?
The more detailed your answer, the more useful it is to us. Please don't give us suggestions for potential Council members at present; let's work out the structure of the Council first.