An EoFF Constitution

[crono_logical]

At least you're still KB

[Kirobaito]

I suppose.

[Del Murder]

That's what you get for picking a stupid name.

[RSL]

He didn't pick it

[Del Murder]

That just makes it worse.

[The Captain]

While I was at work, I did a lot of thinking and came to the conclusion that having a Constitution, or at least, an actual set of rules would be beneficial to all here, even the Staff.

For the non-staff, it would allow us to know exactly where we stand and not be in the dark on decisions. If something comes up, we can understand the rule in place, understand why the rule was made, how the rule was made and accept the rule.

For Staff, it gives you added power in that you can carry out the rules and not have to be questioned about carrying them out since they will be agreed upon. You won't have to go through a different system of decision for each case, but can use one single method to come to your decisions and carry on about your business.

Take care all.

[theundeadhero]

Could someone PM me with what Kishi was actually banned for in the first place? I would like to get a clear idea of whats going on.

As far as CK, I gave up hope long ago of ever being one, that way I'm not so let down when I never become one.

EDIT: No more PM's neccesary.

[nik0tine]

Ha. It's sad. The only admin I trust is cl_out. WTF?

I for one, most certainly DO NOT trust cl_out. . It should be obvious as to why.

[Loony BoB]

For Staff, it gives you added power in that you can carry out the rules and not have to be questioned about carrying them out since they will be agreed upon. You won't have to go through a different system of decision for each case, but can use one single method to come to your decisions and carry on about your business.

Ha!

It'll never happen, sorry Cap'n. *rhyme* Believe it or not, as I said in an earlier post, the more rules you make the more likely people are to break them. Also, you can never create a set of rules that covers every scenario and you do have to treat scenarios differently than you usually do on many an occasion. No offence to you whatsoever, but you're definitely showing your inexperience with board-running. It's not about being robotic and going by a strict set of rules. It's about using your judgement and making rules that often don't even get told to the public. "Crack down on spam for now" "Encourage spam now" etc... we need to constantly change in order to adjust to how the nature of the boards. A set of rules would never work and it would never be used for every case. If we had to follow a set group of rules or something, I may consider stepping down myself as I am staff 95% for the discussions that take place in there and 5% for actual action-taking. I fully encourage less rules, not more.

[The Captain]

"It'll never happen, sorry Cap'n. *rhyme* Believe it or not, as I said in an earlier post, the more rules you make the more likely people are to break them. Also, you can never create a set of rules that covers every scenario and you do have to treat scenarios differently than you usually do on many an occasion. No offence to you whatsoever, but you're definitely showing your inexperience with board-running. It's not about being robotic and going by a strict set of rules. It's about using your judgement and making rules that often don't even get told to the public. "Crack down on spam for now" "Encourage spam now" etc... we need to constantly change in order to adjust to how the nature of the boards. A set of rules would never work and it would never be used for every case. If we had to follow a set group of rules or something, I may consider stepping down myself as I am staff 95% for the discussions that take place in there and 5% for actual action-taking. I fully encourage less rules, not more."

Perhaps you're right. I have no experience with board running, running other things but NEVER anything with a computer, though in my life I've found that having a firm foundation of rules does help when dealing with people because it allows them to see right off the bat what they can and cannot do.

Maybe you misunderstood me, or maybe I mistyped somewhere but I meant to say that I think a system should be used to determine things because it would get rid of the bickering. Just simply saying you did something because you can and because you have the power, while true, causes a great deal of ill will which isn't good for anyone. If a system is already in place on how these decisions get made, perhaps it needs to be explained so that this confusion can be put to rest for a while.

I have always believed on telling the public everything because it's just how I am. I believe that if everything is out in the open, the right decision gets made, regardless. Perhaps it's easier in reality than on the internet.

Take care all.

[Loony BoB]

I have always believed on telling the public everything because it's just how I am. I believe that if everything is out in the open, the right decision gets made, regardless. Perhaps it's easier in reality than on the internet.

If you guys knew everything that went on in the staff forum, you'd see a lot of crap that the forums are better off not knowing about. The thing that started all of this is yet another example of that crap, but if you never knew about it, nobody outside staff would have been upset over it. It's known that staffers are more likely to grow to be grumpy than normal members, that's because they see what goes on behind the scenes. It's not all bad, don't get me wrong, but the fact that you guys can all be having fun while we're hiding some extremely intense and possibly heated debate in staff means that we're doing a good job, because if we let this kind of stuff slip on a regular basis then everyone at EoFF would end up feeling crap.

What you don't know can't hurt you.

[Jojee]

RSL for admin(istrator) [img]http://home.eyesonff.com/images/smilies/heart.gif[/img]

Ignorance is bliss; knowledge is power

[FightClubFan#47]

Actually, Daryl is the only Admin I trust.

I can not get over how much of a Communist Bob sounds, telling us what we would and wouldn't like to know. Crazy,

I'm gla this Kishi thing happened. Brought a light to a lot of things.

[Del Snizz]

A staff title is nothing but an instrument. It allows one to easily do things that would be difficult or impossible without its aid, but it does not in any way change the individual who holds it; it remains external to and wholly dependent upon this person, and it can be used for good or ill. A staff title does not ennoble those who possess it; it does not purge their blood of base passions and create a new order superior by nature; it does not render their judgment infallible and their will supremely virtuous. For these reasons, the members constituting the staff should not be allowed to become a detached ruling class with the absolute power to do as they wish, as this will surely lead to the dissolution of the community.

What, then, is the proper role of the staff? It can be nothing else than to serve the community by maintaining the basic conditions necessary for the achievement of its ends, those being the general enjoyment of the free exchange of ideas and of mutual friendship. When any member uses the instrument of staff power deliberately against the will of the community or with reckless disregard for it, he or she betrays the community’s trust and harms its cohesion.

To avoid such pains, those members charged with the duties of the staff should not be deaf to counsel, no matter the source, and should never allow themselves to be so arrogant as to believe that they understand the will of the community better than its other members. Their uses of staff powers should not be shrouded in secrecy. Forum moderators and administrators are not priests or oracles: an air of mystery does not lend their decisions any sense of divine wisdom or supernatural authority, but can only result in failures of communication and even feelings of distrust. These feelings are not unjustified: members who insist upon concealing their uses of power are only more likely to succumb to the temptation to abuse them. More importantly, these members allow their titles to isolate them from the rest of the community, damaging the principle of friendship that is at the heart of the community’s being. Even if they do nothing to engender hatred or any other sentiment contrary to the spirit of friendship among the other members, they still risk distancing themselves and ceasing to truly be a part of the community.

Some current members of the staff have suggested that our recent troubles would not have happened or would at least have been milder if they could have kept a tighter lid on their actions. To this I reply that many such problems have arisen precisely as a result of the veil of secrecy and the isolation of the staff. The small size and lack of good ventilation in the staff forum only ensure that the place heats up very quickly. The self-imposed segregation of these members gives them a misdirected sense of duty, more paternalistic than friendly, especially when they fall into that remarkable tendency of considering themselves as staffers before (or even rather than) members of the community.

Returning to the general principles behind the proper use of staff powers, it is foolish and dangerous to exercise power capriciously, but obstinacy in adhering to rules and traditions regardless of present circumstances is no less an abuse. Those members given the responsibility of a staff position should never forget that people will always respect the power of the title, but their respect for the actual individuals who hold that title depends a great deal on how they use it, on whether they fulfill their obligation to serve the will of the community. A fine way to encourage a general sense of admiration is to use power only when it is necessary and to always be certain to use the right kind: there is much room for finesse in exercising one’s power, but too many times have staff members drawn a sword where a scalpel would be more fitting.

You should also have a sense of humor, or you won’t understand anything I’ve said.

[theundeadhero]

It's current set-up has worked well for the past 5 years. You shouldn't let one event tear your world (online) apart. You might not like the outcome of the event but the outcome wasn't yours to decide so you can either get over it or go away, like in any real world situation. Some of your arguments might be "that's what we're trying to change", talking of the not being in the decision making process of events, but the fact remains that when everyone has a say nothing gets done. Leave the power in the few select people and it becomes functional. As for who gets to be the select few, some argue that it should be a vote made by the general public (the way America really works), which leads to the only real concern I see. How do we choose who gets to be an Admin? Is it better to let just any ol person to say, I want you *points*, or is it better to let the people who know what being an Admin is like, to choose who can handle the job.

The second concern is a set standard to follow in any given situation. I'm very well sure you can all think of a situation where the set standard didn't fully cover the situation. No set standard will ever be adeqaute for the situation because they are black and white and NO situation is exactly black or white. Every action has different circumstances. Different motivation, different intent, different way of doing the same action. It's impossible to set standards when life is a flexible thing. You need a flexible control system to handle life's flexible style.