NationStates Jolt Archive

Let's discuss ideas for proposals for Membership meeting 2!

And chat casually and play word games (not with Word Games, you filthy-minded.....), or course. ;)

How about we finish meeting number 1...

Maybe our next meeting could be purely about spam-lite. We could have a casual arrangement and bat around a few ideas about how to define it.

One idea I had is for the mods to leave borderline spam threads for a page or so, in order to see if they develop into a decent conversation. If not, they get locked.

Maybe our next meeting could be purely about spam-lite. We could have a casual arrangement and bat around a few ideas about how to define it.

One idea I had is for the mods to leave borderline spam threads for a page or so, in order to see if they develop into a decent conversation. If not, they get locked.


Here's a thought. Allow one word game thread at a time, much like the Club thread...

Funny pointless threads don't hurt any one either, as long as its not a flame war it's ok..

Maybe our next meeting could be purely about spam-lite. We could have a casual arrangement and bat around a few ideas about how to define it.

One idea I had is for the mods to leave borderline spam threads for a page or so, in order to see if they develop into a decent conversation. If not, they get locked.


We have a spamlite motion in the discussion stage in the meeting thread.

Lets talk and work on the wording of a motion..

Here's a thought. Allow one word game thread at a time, much like the Club thread...

Funny pointless threads don't hurt any one either, as long as its not a flame war it's ok..

It's an interesting idea, although I can see some difficulties arising from it. There are lots of different types of word games, I can't really see the mods allowing a thread for every one. Also, you can't really have more than one type of word game going on in one "official word game" thread.

It's an interesting idea, although I can see some difficulties arising from it. There are lots of different types of word games, I can't really see the mods allowing a thread for every one. Also, you can't really have more than one type of word game going on in one "official word game" thread.


Ok, you allow one at a time?

NS Local could arrange official Word Games, and any topics which aren't official count as spam-lite? It's a compromise, and it stops word-games from going out of control. Wild idea, but - hey?

ok so what have i missed been working 12 hr shifts, the carpenter's union is feast or famine so i gotta work as many hrs as possiable. that said i'd like to aplogise for not paying attention lately

Bump for discussion of points raised.

Bumpity bump. :rolleyes:

And some more bumps.....

Sounds like someone falling down the stairs.

OK, anyone on at the moment?

guess not..

guess so...

Brother Haken, how are you?

Just keeping "it", brother.
And how is my esteamed ( :confused: ) collegue doing?

I'm seeing some really good discussion going on.

Can I have some examples, pretty please?

You mean in this thread?

Yes in here and at the meeting. We should soon be able to work a definition of spam-lite to vote on.

We just have to go through a seriesof comments, fom an overall descision, and then we can move on.

esteamed ( :confused: ) collegue
I don't see any steamed colleagues...
Possibly some baked ones though.
:D

Is this still open to sign-up?

Is this still open to sign-up?

It's always open to sign up. You just put "member of NS local 8976" in your sig.

Shall we re-open the meeting?

Shall we re-open the meeting?

Sure, if you want. I don't see the need to bother with officially 'opening and closing' the meeting, we might as well make it more informal.

Good point. I just thought it was better than a spammy bump... ;)

Good point. I just thought it was better than a spammy bump... ;)

Good point. I find it's good to post a short summary of the conversation so far, it encourages people to post a reply. Although it is a bit more work than just bumping the thread (and I admit that I can never be bothered to do it myself).

That is also a good way to accomplish the same end. The intent is to see if anyone online wants to continue the thread.

Really, this thread's inactive while we're doing the 1st Membership meeting. After that, this thread will come up discussing dieas and possible agendas for the second, and putting forwards our ideas to mods etc. from the result of the 1st one.

By the way, I did a thread to gauge what people think of the NS social thread idea and I got quite a positive response.

Could you show me the link?

Could you show me the link?

Yes, sorry. The search function wasn't working very well before.

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=395529

I read that thread and found some good responses.

Well, that's definately one for a thought then.

This thread for discussion the other for the meeting

This thread for discussion the other for the meeting

Ah, that's a good idea. So we discuss stuff here, then vote on it in the meeting?

Ah, that's a good idea. So we discuss stuff here, then vote on it in the meeting?


Discussion that's on the agenda can occur at the meeting.

I'll repost the agenda

By the way, I did a thread to gauge what people think of the NS social thread idea and I got quite a positive response.Good Job.

exelentemente.

:
Originally Posted by Chicken pi
By the way, I did a thread to gauge what people think of the NS social thread idea and I got quite a positive response


Good Job.

exelentemente.


Actually the results of that poll might get the mOds thinking.

What was the result of the poll?

Finally, we have an off-topic convo here which we can have seperate to the meeting -

after that, we'll have to advertise and grabs everyone's attention in some way.

Consumer Marketing!

We could ask people what they might like introduced, poll on aspects to see what people think, and on each one say in nice big letters that it's part of NSRA 'consumer marketing'!

"We poll, we push!" ? ;)

Bring on the slogans! :p

Posters!

*goes to search for posters*

EDIT
http://img219.exs.cx/img219/4820/union017ny.jpg

.....NO. :p

pitty...

The poll was quite high in favour of the thread.

Slogans?

Local 8976 working for your rights.

Local 8976 for a voice.

Local 8976 democracy in action.

Your union, your way.

Fighting for Forum Freedom-Your Union, Your Way.
Join NS Local 8976, part of the NationStates Reform Alliance

how does that look?

Gud, gud!

Although the "Freedom Fighters" look is going to ridicule us.

WG's are good too. :)

Fighting for Forum Freedom-Your Union, Your Way.
Join NS Local 8976, part of the NationStates Reform Alliance

how does that look?

I like it!! :)

A bit of over the top rhetoric is always in good taste chinkopedia!!! If this isn't fun, then there's no point. Freedom Fighters we are! ;)

so how is this negotiating team nomination going down? can we just post nominations on that thread?

Ja, we'll discuss who will put ideas forwards to the mods etc.

[OFF-DISCUSSION]Look! THIS is what the union is supposed to do! Look at this post on the "Possible NS Social Thread?" topic! :p

I'll think this idea over and discuss it with the other Mods. Note that I can't make any promises, though.

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation
NationStates Game Moderator

We're starting to be noticed! Ah cn' feeel it in mah bohnes![/OFF-DISCUSSION]

[OFF-DISCUSSION]Look! THIS is what the union is supposed to do! Look at this post on the "Possible NS Social Thread?" topic! :p



We're starting to be noticed! Ah cn' feeel it in mah bohnes![/OFF-DISCUSSION]

I always knew this union would take off.. :)

"Lift-off in T minus 15 seconds and counting, this is is ground control, you are ready for take-off in 10, 9, 8.... :p

Ready! :)

Fighting for Forum Freedom-Your Union, Your Way.
Join NS Local 8976, part of the NationStates Reform Alliance

how does that look?
nice.

Bump!

What do you folks think about a rally?

What do you folks think about a rally?

It depends on what the rally would involve.

How do we do a rally on the forum?

It depends on what the rally would involve.

music, speakers, cheering,

music, speakers, cheering,

And this is all going to be on the forum...I'm not saying that it's necessarily a bad idea, but I don't think it's going to do wonders for our reputation.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.

Yeah, I guess that's true. Does it have to be a rally, though? It could be a union office party or something.

O.K. everyone write a short, eloquent speech, which we will take turns posting on teh rally thread. We can choose a theme song and post a link (don't expect me to do anything so technologically advanced) and whn the thread lags, it can be bumped by long WOOOOOOHOOOOOOs!!!!
should be fun!

Yeah, I guess that's true. Does it have to be a rally, though? It could be a union office party or something.

Oh, that would be fun too! I was thinking that a rally might attract some new members.

Whooot 8976 Rally!

Oh, that would be fun too! I was thinking that a rally might attract some new members.

Whooot 8976 Rally!

But what if we promise people that there will be punch and pie at the union office party?

But what if we promise people that there will be punch and pie at the union office party?

How many people can you fit in an office? The rally could be arena sized!

As long as the punch is spiked the peeps will come.

I make an awesome rum punch

How many people can you fit in an office? The rally could be arena sized!

As long as the punch is spiked the peeps will come.

The union office party would, of course, be held in the Great Hall of the union castle headquarters.


Anyway, I've gotta log off now. It's the early hours of the morning and I'm meant to have an essay done for tomorrow.

OK. should I post a motion on the membership meeting thread for an union office party? I suppose this is something that should be voted on

OK. should I post a motion on the membership meeting thread for an union office party? I suppose this is something that should be voted on

Two votes might be better - one to decide on whether to go ahead with it, then another vote to decide whether it should be an office party or a rally.

Brother Chinkopedia wants to end the meeting, so you better hurry.

I think a union is a very good idea, rallys, not really, if we elect a delegate, then get enough members, the mods will listen, if the forum they are managing says one thing, but they say another, we can get things changed. Also, if they only lock threads, we can copy nad past them back in to existance. Of couse once a dlelgate is elected, he will have to make sub offices, like complaints of vaious kinds, requests to reopen threads etc. Right now, we need to recriut, and get our own region, I am willing to creat that region, and allie it to the region I control. we need to recruit.

oohh, will do.

I think a union is a very good idea, rallys, not really, if we elect a delegate, then get enough members, the mods will listen, if the forum they are managing says one thing, but they say another, we can get things changed. Also, if they only lock threads, we can copy nad past them back in to existance. Of couse once a dlelgate is elected, he will have to make sub offices, like complaints of vaious kinds, requests to reopen threads etc. Right now, we need to recriut, and get our own region, I am willing to creat that region, and allie it to the region I control. we need to recruit.

Ok brother, post it and we shall come. We must recruit. I've been saying this all along.

It looks liket the membership meeting was adjourned while I was away. Perhaps we could simply come to a concencuss on this issue here, since aiting for the next meeting might take a while. I think the idea of an Office Party is appealing...its a polite, yet fun environment, whith ample opportunity for drinking, mingling, ddisscusion, music...and of course, recruitment.

Oh, one last thing. We really need to draw up some kind of statement, to make our goals clear, as well as some of the methods with which we plan to reach these goals.

The meeting went through tactics kinda fast..

The meeting went through tactics kinda fast..

Well, we've got some time to think of ideas and draw up a mission statement before the next meeting. That one was getting a bit long in the tooth anyways. I think I'll give the statement a shot tommorow maybe, after my physics exam is over. Maybe we can start the rally/office party thread then too.

Alright.

Mission: To rid the forums of mOd oppression. Hehehe :)

Mission: Spamming up the forums with word games one post at a time. :)

Oh, one last thing. We really need to draw up some kind of statement, to make our goals clear, as well as some of the methods with which we plan to reach these goals.

Perhaps an adaption of the current motto - rather than

Fighting for forum freedom - your Union, your way.
Join NS Local, blah blah blah

we should change it to

Making your voice heard - your Union, your way.
blah blah blah

That sums up most of our aims in one, I suppose.

These two threads confuse me. Can't we just stick to one?

Perhaps an adaption of the current motto - rather than

Fighting for forum freedom - your Union, your way.
Join NS Local, blah blah blah

we should change it to

Making your voice heard - your Union, your way.
blah blah blah

That sums up most of our aims in one, I suppose.

Yeah, I like that. Maybe we could let members pick their own slogans? Then our sigs will be more varied and interesting, plus we won't have any problems with people who dislike the official slogan.

That's a good idea. I'm going to change my sig to that, anyway. :)

These two threads confuse me. Can't we just stick to one?

This one's for discussion. The other one's an organised meeting in which we hold votes on things, and it has an agenda.

So on this one, we can chat about NS Local indefinately, on theother one, at some point we will have to move off Other Business and onto the summary, descision on when the next meeting is, and then the motion to adjourn the meeting.

That's a good idea. I'm going to change my sig to that, anyway. :)

Yeah, I think I will too. I toyed with "supporting the oppressed forum proletariat - your union, your way", but it was a little bit too obtrusive.

Here's a rough draft of a Union mission statement. lets tear it up and come up with something better, UN proposal-style. I like "Making Your Voices Heard" too, though it lacks the alliterative apeal and toungue in cheek of "Fighting For Forum Freedom". Anyhow, its going into my sig.


The Mission Statute of NS Local 8976

We, the as members of the general forum, have come together as a union to form the democratic collective of NS Local 8976. The Union shall reflect the wishes of its membership through a democratic process, thereby maintaining the true principles of modship, addressing issues of proletarian concern, and exerting the strength of the collective for the furtherment of the rights and innovations of its membership, and those of General’s posters at large. The Union shall welcome new brothers and sisters to its ranks with open arms; howsoever loyal members gather in unity, NS local 8976 shall carry forth its mission. Members will signal their commitment to the Union by stating its name in their signatures, and actively participating in the forging, strengthening, and shaping of the Union: discussion of issues and ideas; participation in membership meetings and events; and a commitment to the mission statement. Local 8976 is committed to organizing with fellow posters, improving quality of forum-life, and offering creative and thoughtful ideas to our peers, and respected m0ds, in a manner respectful of all brothers and sisters, and in an environment conductive to debate and challenge from all quarters.

MISSION STATEMENT: To improve the quality of the NS General Forum through collective action, innovation, and open, democratic means.

Bumbity bump

I like! :)

Yeah.

We also need to have something to attract the people who allmost never post more than more sentences.

More than more sentences? ;)

I see what you mean though. Any ideas, anyone?

Yeah.

We also need to have something to attract the people who allmost never post more than more sentences.

uhh, I don't get it. Atract people that do what now?

Why has everyone's sig been shrunk except for mine? this makes little or no sense.

I don't think Chicken Pi's has.

My sig was shrunk, but loads of sigs I've seen have been bigger. Like Chicken Pi's and Keruvalia, both of which post more often than I do and have had their sigs up for longer than I have.....How strange. Mods? And on top of that, reducing everything to size 0 is a bit excessive.

uhh, I don't get it. Atract people that do what now?

He's trying to say we need to attract the new people, I think. So, any ideas?

uhh, I don't get it. Atract people that do what now?
We also need to have something to attract the people who allmost never post more than two sentences.

But if they don't post more than two sentences,what's the point in attracting them?

But if they don't post more than two sentences,what's the point in attracting them?
I tought you understood me?

I think we need to attract more active members.

I tought you understood me?

I do. (or at least, I think that I do) You want to attract the new members - being "the ones who never post more than two sentences". But surely there's a difference? All of the latter category are new people, but there is little point in attracting them if they'll only post a few sentences, if not to make it look like we've got lots of members. New members who will be active I ca understand.

Unless.....you want the OPINIONS of these people?

@Chicken Pi - (and sort of @Haken) Yes, we need more active members than new members who post little - we will be more credible and have more ideas under our belts.

What I mean is that I think we are too elite. Most people don't care what we do. We need the support of the NS people if we really want to make their voice hard. The people who need this union the most, are the people who tend to look at the forum more lightly and we can't attract them by being serious. We need alternatives for them.
Catch my drift?

Yeah - however, the 'Office Party' is, I think, meant to be an activation of that idea, and we will hol it after the meeting closes - as a result, we can give a brief explanation of what we're currently pressing for, and also have a social thread, all people welcome, which won't be that serious (not as outrageous as a big rally, but not as serious as a conference or suchlike) and will help to grab the attention of, as well as the higher-ranking forum members, the new members who aren't that serious and just want a bit of fun.

What I mean is that I think we are too elite. Most people don't care what we do. We need the support of the NS people if we really want to make their voice hard. The people who need this union the most, are the people who tend to look at the forum more lightly and we can't attract them by being serious. We need alternatives for them.
Catch my drift?

I agree that we're too elite. We don't condone non-members posting in our meeting (which I think should be encouraged, if they've got a good idea or if they have some information which we should know). Most people don't keep up with our threads, as they are pretty long winded. I think we need to have some form of meeting summary thread for the benefit of non-members.

And Chicken Pi's currently making a summary of what we're pressing for. :) Yaay! :p

You see, the only reason people can't keep track of us is because we haven't fully sorted out what we even want yet - in the current meeting we've really gathered our final agreements on how we should define certain things ad what we should press for. Once we've done this, we can compact it all int a nutshell and present it in or during threads like the 'Office Party' and negotiations with the mods.

So, what's with WG beeing deleted and banned? I think this may be a time to flex some union muscle. Can we get some answers here mods? As far as I know, WG has been pretty mellow lately.

He has been? I'll look through moderation and ask.

So, what's with WG beeing deleted and banned? I think this may be a time to flex some union muscle. Can we get some answers here mods? As far as I know, WG has been pretty mellow lately.

There's a thread on it in moderation. Apparently a mod reduced the font size of his sig and placed a warning there to stop him from increasing it again. WG increased the size of the warning, which the mod took to be an attempt to annoy him. That's why WG was deleted, although the fact that he's been deleted before for rule breaking also played a factor.

Yeah. Although I have to say, and I may be wrong, that as it was only NS Local members that had their sigs lowered to 0 in that particular instance, even though many people who post more and have larger sigs were and still are kept as they were, there's a possibility of prejudice on the mod in ?'s behalf. Although I may be wrong.

Mmm, it's time for... the 8976 team!

Hey folks.

Hey WG

Hi, hard luck on getting deleted.

Hey folks.

So, are you planning to stick with that name?

Yes, I wouldn't....

The membership meeting is finished, so let's starty having some dicussion on the Office Party! Shall we have it within the next few days, or wait a bit?

Now, I need a nice swig of vodka. :)

I think the next few days would be fine. How are we going to kick it off? I was thinking of something along the lines of "Welcome to the union office party, we've got a beer keg...."

I've run out of inspiration...

Good point....we don't want to make it look too serious, but we do want to convey its meaning.

So....

"Welcome to the Union 'Office Party', we've got a beer keg and numerous unwanted information pamphlets!"

? Perhaps not..... :p

cookies...

"Welcome to the Union 'Office Party', we've got a beer keg and numerous unwanted information pamphlets!"


"...and a very earnest barman, who will extoll the virtues of forum democracy while serving you!"

"....and cookies for mods!"

"....and cookies for mods!"
where'd that cyanide go...
What? Nope, I said nothing about cyanide. There is no cyanide in these cookies!

:D

where'd that cyanide go...
What? Nope, I said nothing about cyanide. There is no cyanide in these cookies!

:D


*whistles innocently*

http://img89.exs.cx/img89/8704/catfud8nk.jpg

Excellent.......

:p





ph34r our cy4n1d3 c00k13z, m0dz0rz!

Excellent.......

:p


I think I'll put it in my sig. Artwork of such a high calibre should be appreciated by all. :)

Guys, please give me a sumary of all the ideas that were discussed so that I can put it into the platform.

Summary of Meeting: (from Chicken Pi)

Summary of agenda

1: Nominations for Chair (Chair will rotate as required)
Originally I was nominated for chair, although I quickly passed the position on to WG, as I was about to go to bed. Later in the meeting we decided not to have a formal chair, and to simply have a member take up the responsibility if there is nobody online currently acting as chair.

2: Chairs comments

My comments are as follows.

We have agreed that the chair will rotate as members sign off so the meeting may move along. The only two stipulstions are that the chair select a willing member to take over if they wish to sign off and that several other members be present for voting.

Lets have a good meeting.

3: Approval of agenda: (chance to place items on agenda)
The agenda was approved. During the course of this motion, it was suggested that the meeting be moved to an IRC channel, #NS_local_8976. Although the vote was passed, too few members logged on to the IRC channel to make it a practical method of discussing motions.

4: Motion on spam lite: Discussion..word the motion..vote on it..
This was a long discussion. During this, it was decided that word games would be discussed in a separate motion and several definitions of spam-lite were put forward.
-The Slaglands suggested that it be defined as "decent, but not as good as regular Spam, even though it all fries up the same."
- I suggested that spammy threads could be limited by making people go to the union for permission to start one. Realising the impracticality of this in regards to spam threads, I suggested that this would be a better method to use with word game threads, to be discussed in motion 9(b).
-The discussion about spam also brought up the issue of social threads. The idea of having a single general social thread was brought up, and a separate thread was started to gauge people’s reaction to the idea. According to Cogitation, this proposal is being discussed amongst the mods.

We agreed upon Word Games’ of spam-lite: “So spam lite is any thread, or post within a thread that does not offend and has a conceivable point. A conceivable point includes a funny comment, not a flame. Word games, although they come up later in the agenda have a conceivable point, in that they provide recreation and some thought to stay within the rules of the game.”

5: Motion on mOds selection:
-It was agreed that democratic mod elections would be impractical, for various reasons.
-A People’s Choice Mod Awards thread was suggested.
-As an alternative to direct elections, it was suggested that the union could put together a list of suitable candidates to be mods, which the mods could decide upon.
- Somebody suggested having a union representative on the mod team, perhaps with some form of limited access in order to protect OPSEC. Word Games and Haken Rider were nominated as potential candidates, but in the end we decided that we should finish the meeting and implement a couple of our other ideas first.
-During the course of this, a vote of “no confidence” in Word Games was held. This was passed with four “ayes”.
-As a result of the vote of “no confidence”, Sandpit suggested that we completely scrap the name “NS local 8976” and merge with the NSRP under the name “Nationstates Reform Alliance”. This was rejected, however.

6: Motion on the NS Board Oath

The NS Local 8976, considering that it has been summoned to establish the constitution of the forum, to effect the regeneration of the public order, and to maintain the true principles of modship; that nothing can prevent it from continuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to establish itself; and, finally, that wheresoever its members are assembled, there is the NS Local 8976;

Decrees that all members of the NS Local 8976 shall immediately take a solemn oath not to stop posting, and to start new topics wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the forum is established and consolidated upon firm foundations; and that, the said oath taken, all members and each one of them individually shall ratify this steadfast resolution by a message in their signature.



-This motion was not passed. Although there were more ayes than nays, it did not reach the required number of 7 ayes. Also, several members protested, saying that they would quit if they had to take any oaths.


7: Motion on more poll options:
- After a short discussion, we decided to skip motions 7 and 8 until such time as we are better informed about why we only have 10 poll options and whether it would be feasible to have this changed.

8: Motion on search times:
- This motion was skipped along with motion 7, as we would need to talk to somebody at Jolt to be reliably informed about this.

9: Other Motions?
a) Word games
-The general consensus was that unlimited word games should not be allowed, as the forum would be flooded with them. A few of the suggestions were: 1) Having a single thread for all word games. Any word games outside of this thread would be deleted. 2) making people get union approval for word game threads. 3) Only allowing one word game at a time, which would have to be a game with a reasonable degree of complexity. 4) Just not allowing word games at all.
-Although the exact method in which word games would be implemented was not decided upon, allowing one word game at a time seemed to be the most popular method.

b) NSRP

[QUOTE=Word Games] b) Motion
That NS Local 8976 and the NationStates Reform Party (NSRP) be allied as seperate entities. However a member of one will be automatically a member of another, and all members will add "Member, NationStates Reform Alliance" to their sig.



-Firstly, I feel that it is important to note the purpose of the NSRP. According to Sandpit, “The intent of the NSRP is that it is a lobbying group. It is a "draft committee" to create a well-written and polite email to Max, outlining all the changes that members of the NSRP want and petitioning him for change”
-This vote was passed unanimously. All members are encouraged to become members of the NSRA forum (http://s6.invisionfree.com/PCRA_Central/index.php?showforum=25) , if they haven’t already.


c)

That this new entity move it's headquarters to PCRA Central (where the MDSC is). This is so that we would have a dedicated place to meet, and a place which is out of the jurisdiction of NS moderators.



- It was decided that there should be a compromise on this one. Accepting this proposal would have meant that NS local 8976 would effectively cease to operate in the Nationstates forums, while declining it would have meant that we would not have a separate forum to use, should we so wish. Most members voted for a compromise, so we will make use of both forums.

10: Motion on tactics:
Chinkopodia summarised this effectively


-first tactic snipped-
2nd tactic: Putting forwards ideas to the Mods explaining pros, taking public polls over it, presenting all of the evidence for it, and seeing what they think.

Pros: Viewing in a better light, a possibility the mods will actually read it.
Cons: The mods won't necessarily agree with our ideas, but then they never will regardless, unless we hold Myrth hostage, which is never a good idea.
Effectiveness: Probably the best we can have.

Third Tactic: Use the PCRA under the NSRA to dicuss stuff.

Pros: It will allow us to discuss things in secrecy and without mod intervention, thus stopping any meetings etc. being sidetracked.
Cons: It doesn't spread AS MANY of our ideas to the normal NSers in the 'production stage'. (AS MANY being because we're still using here due to the last vote's results)
Effectiveness: Very Good, and regardless, how many NSers are reading this at the moment? 0.


It was generally agreed that both tactics have their good and bad points, so we need not limit ourselves to a single method of bringing about change.

11: Motion on negotiating team: (Suggest we have a meeting just for these nominations)
A separate thread was made for this. Chinkopodia, myself and Oceandrive were nominated for the negotiating team.
As to our method of negotiation, Chinkopodia suggested that we “would we make a topic in Moderation or something after each meeting explaining what we want and so putting forwards suggestions to the mods, then discussing with them on the topic the issues, or some other way?”

12: Other Business:
- It was suggested that we come up with a union slogan. Some of the ideas put forward were:
Fighting for forum freedom – your union, your way
Making your voice heard – your union, your way

- Avatars were also brought up in this section. We decided that these would be discussed in more detail in another meeting.

- Some kind of union rally/social thread was suggested. The original proposal was to have a rally, but we decided that a union office party would be better.


Okay, I guess this fits in the category of "other business", although it was written after that section of the meeting was wrapped up. Here is the NS local 8976 Mission Statute, written by Kreitzmoorland:


The Mission Statute of NS Local 8976

We, the as members of the general forum, have come together as a union to form the democratic collective of NS Local 8976. The Union shall reflect the wishes of its membership through a democratic process, thereby maintaining the true principles of modship, addressing issues of proletarian concern, and exerting the strength of the collective for the furtherment of the rights and innovations of its membership, and those of General’s posters at large. The Union shall welcome new brothers and sisters to its ranks with open arms; howsoever loyal members gather in unity, NS local 8976 shall carry forth its mission. Members will signal their commitment to the Union by stating its name in their signatures, and actively participating in the forging, strengthening, and shaping of the Union: discussion of issues and ideas; participation in membership meetings and events; and a commitment to the mission statement. Local 8976 is committed to organizing with fellow posters, improving quality of forum-life, and offering creative and thoughtful ideas to our peers, and respected m0ds, in a manner respectful of all brothers and sisters, and in an environment conductive to debate and challenge from all quarters.

MISSION STATEMENT: To improve the quality of the NS General Forum through collective action, innovation, and open, democratic means.



13: Next meeting:
This is in progress. These are the basic points so far:
- We should hold meetings on a regular basis. Once a month would be good, although it may be a good idea to have a break between meetings, probably the same length as an average meeting (about 27 days?)
- If there are important issues which need to be decided upon, it would be a good idea to hold emergency meetings.
- Chinkopodia suggested that we discuss various motions for the next meeting in PCRA Central.

14: Motion to close meeting:
The motion to close the meeting was passed unanimously with 4 ayes.




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That good enough?

So, any more changes to this.....

"Welcome to the Union 'Office Party', we've got a beer keg and numerous unwanted information pamphlets!
"...and a very earnest barman, who will extoll the virtues of forum democracy while serving you!
"...and cookies for mods! Absolutely cyanide free, we swear! No, really!"

We also need to think about when we should present our ideas to the mods....

'El Bumpo'.

*walks in*

"Well hey, I contributed almost nothing to the meetings, but I SMELL CYAN- erm, food. Screw it, gimme a Sam Adams."

I made some major additions to the NSRP platform. All the sub-categories are in place and reorganized into individual posts.

That looks great Sandpit! Way to go!
NOW< how about that office party? what goin' on? memebers! come back to the thread!

Hell, maybe I should just start the new thread now......but nobody is here. this is so sad. no punch, no bar, no cookies. sad.

How about we do it on Sunday morning GMT?

Great platform, but as always, there must be critiscisms, so....

Imagine a NS where moderators are friendly and courteous to players.
Where moderators truly care about what players think.
Where moderators treat every player with compassion and tolerance.

Well, some actually are and do....we might suffer complaint for that.

First Step: More Moderators

We have seen requests for more moderators denied, even there was a general consensus that there was a need for more moderators. We also believe that more moderators will reduce moderator stress, leading to more user-friendly moderators. Therefore, we propose a set ratio to guarantee the minimum number of moderators:

- 16 moderators (the current number, not including [violet] and Salusa) for the first 100 000 active nations on NationStates
- 1 moderator for every 5 000 nations thereafter (at the time of writing, there are 7939 players for each moderator)

Under this system, there would be 5 additional moderators as of now (February 22, 2005), for a total of 21, not including [violet] and Salusa.

- we also propose one additional "tech admin", lower in rank than Salusa but with similar abilties. This will increase the willingness of NS admin to implement miscellaneous improvements and the speed at which they are implemented

Good ideas, but we (NS Local) haven't really discussed the above ideas in much detail, so we aren't that sure on our positions on the points raised above.

Greater Consistency In Moderation

We propose:

- the creation of a "NS Legal Library", a read-only archive of standard policies and procedures ("The NS Criminal Code"), plus notable moderator decisions ("precident-setting cases") . This will increase awareness of NS policies and procedures by the average NS user, which, in our opinion, will reduce "unintentional rulebreaking". In addition, it will put increased pressure on moderators to make decisions according to precident, which fits in the spirit of consistancy.

Yep, that's great! :)

Truly User-Friendly Moderation

To us, this means two things:

- friendly and courteous moderators
- greater player influence in moderator decisions

Therefore, we propose:

- the creation of an official "People's Choice" Moderator award

- that one moderator be semi-elected by players. This means that moderators will, with input from players, create a list of suitable candidates. Players will then select one moderator from this list.

- the creation of two directly elected "player representatives", who task is to participate in moderator reviews held at the modcenter. These representatives will not have moderation abilities and will not have access to OPSEC. We believe that these representatives will increase honesty and transparency in the moderation process.

To the very first point (- friendly and courteous moderators), many mods ARE courteous and friendly. The third proposition is a good idea but I don't know if anything will be done about it.

Compassionate and Tolerant Moderation

We propose a new warning/deletion procedure:

Light Offenses:

Punishment to be determined by moderators according to precident.

Moderate Offenses:

First Offense - Warning
Second Offense - Warning
Third Offense - 48 hour forumban
Forth Offense - Warning
Fifth Offense - 96 hour forumban
Sixth Offense - Deletion

Serious Offenses:

First Warning
Second Warning
Deletion

The definition of light, moderate, and serious offenses will be decided by moderators according to precident, with input from users.

Good idea, although this we haven't touched upon yet.

Fair and Sensible Moderation

We propose:

- allowing links to non-offensive material on sites that also host offensive material (e.g eBaums World), provided that a warning stating this fact is included in the link.

- reversing the total ban on word games. Instead, an "Official Word Games Thread" will be created and stickied. This will be the only word games thread allowed on the NS forums.

Good, although for the second proposition, there were three other ideas, so we should probably propose all four of these ideas for the mods to review.


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One thing - I don't think it really a good idea to portray 'the mods' as unfair, not sensible, not compassionate, not tolerant, not user-friendly, not consistant, not friendly, not corteous and uncaring. Yes, in some cases these do apply, but not all. Sometimes the way the platform reads seems to convey this. We don't want to look as if we hate them, we want to look as if we're being friendly and acting as a voice.

Just my opinions so far. But mainly, it's great! There are some pretty good ideas in there. :)

ATTENTION:

Seeing the mods are pretty easy-going and do their best lately, I think we should end the union when we're still ahead and declear victory.
The Union isn't gettting any popular, on the contrary.
So let's stop gracely.

What do you say, brothers? Do I have your ayes?

Stop the Union, don't stop the Party.
The player strike was never a good idea anyway, and after reading the earlier "polls" last night...

As for the party:

- promote the party as a think-tank and lobbying group.
- promote the goal of moving beyond moderation (details coming up in the platform)
- clear misconceptions about our opinion of mods
- increase community outreach: do the office party, start a "moderator appreciation" campaign (but do not clog up the moderation forum)

Just to remind everyone: because of the NSRA, all members of the Union are also members of the Party.

ATTENTION:

Seeing the mods are pretty easy-going and do their best lately, I think we should end the union when we're still ahead and declear victory.
The Union isn't gettting any popular, on the contrary.
So let's stop gracely.

What do you say, brothers? Do I have your ayes?

Most probably, but I'll have to see what everyone else thinks.

Sandpit is right. Stop the Union, don't stop the party.

NS Local is viewed as an anti-mod zealot campaign group. We can still use NSRP as the 'voice' with which we propose ideas, and talk about it at the Office Party. That way, NS Local may be gone, but the original ideas still remain.

I'll have to see "moving beyond moderation" before I can believe it, if it's what I think it is....

Can we still have the office party though? :)

Bump?

Well, the Office Party is up. :)

Made significant changes to the platform.

Please provide suggestions, especially about what rule(s) you would like to see changed and how. That part of the platform ("Fair and Sensible Moderation") needs a little work.

The platform should be ready for discussion and ratification soon.

Many of the ideas are very good, but I think the heading and some of the text could be more tactful. We don't want to sound like annoying whiners campaighning for stuff that will never happen. I don't have time right now, (damn biology lab) but a blow-by-blow analysis will follow eventually.
Good Work!
and come to the office party! Where is everyone?

Yes, I agree.....the wording should be changed, and we should be less radical. Being radical, contrary to WG's belief, gets you nowhere. In Parliament, being radical (like saying....the monarchy's a waste, make the UK a republic!) gets you nowhere. It's a flamboyant way to lose the elections though.

I especially believe we should dumb down the whole "mods aren't tolerant/compassionate/caring" thing, because it makes us look as if we are avowdly (sp?) anti-mod and in many cases isn't at all true. Also, if the mods are to review this platform, if the first thing they read is

Imagine a NS where moderators are friendly and courteous to players.
Where moderators truly care about what players think.
Where moderators treat every player with compassion and tolerance.

they'll be in a negative mood about accepting anything - as anyone would be if they've indirectly been called unfriendly, uncourteous, uncaring, not compassionate and intolerant.