Post
by TBert » Sun Jul 08, 2007 3:49 pm
Here are the major strong points in this proposal.
Everyone can participate. Nobody feels left out, nobody's threatening to leave WOK, and everybody can educate themselves during the discussions. True democracy.
The discussion's length and focus will be regulated. This is absolutely vital, especially in a true democracy, to actually get things done. This part is open for ideas, there are a few things we could do. We could set up a default discussion length, and extend it if the discussion is still going strong. We could have the discussion thread ended 3 days after the last post. We could lock the discussion thread while voting is being made, to avoid people changing their votes. The forum moderators will be acting as a 'chairman' of sorts, but their power only extends to regulating the length of the actual discussion, regulating the length of the voting, and making sure the thread stays on topic. If discussion gets too long, the first discussion thread could be archived and a second begun, especially if discussion continues after a clear proposal is made and voted on.
Voting will be clear. I applaud Saladin for getting things moving, but votes should as often as possible be a simple yes or no question. I think the person who originally came up with the proposal should be the one to read all the discussion and edit their proposal as they see fit for voting, or they could cede that right to someone else, or one of the forum moderators could do it if the original proponent is missing. We should encourage people to simply edit their posts in the voting thread instead of adding another, to keep things simple. Voting should end after a week or two weeks, depending on if we want some of the casual old-timers to show up and vote. After voting is complete, whatever the outcome, discussion can continue, but the proposal cannot be revised and/or voted for again for 3 months. If discussion gets too long, the first discussion thread could be archived and a second begun.
There's veto power for protection from the large group of hostile newbs. By a near-unanimous vote of devs and vets, say 90%, any proposal can be closed. Devs are easy to spot, but vets should have been playing for at least a year, or played in 5 games, or some kind of criteria like that.
Last, but not least... it's easy. We'll be doing all the same things we've already been doing, but there will be rules in place to make sure a concise proposal is written up from our discussion, and that it will be discussed and voted on in a timely manner. The timely manner is important because, as Calidus said, people don't want to re-read a months-long thread just to figure out how to vote, and after a while everyone but a few die-hards lose interest in discussion threads.
pro libertate eos occubuisse - "they died for liberty"
Clan Head - Valn Ohtar
SGT - US Army
23-year-old father of 3 - really needs a beer