Guest G***f****** Report post Posted January 17, 2011 The idea of a Town Council seemed like a great one when I first read about it here. http://www.cerb.ca/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35893 The idea of letting the community nominate it's own watchdogs and free up Mods time sounded like a no brainer... what became of it? The area just closed and became more of an announcement zone instead. Did I miss a thread somewhere with the nominations, voting and results? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miss Scarlett 25073 Report post Posted January 17, 2011 The idea of a Town Council seemed like a great one when I first read about it here. http://www.cerb.ca/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35893 The idea of letting the community nominate it's own watchdogs and free up Mods time sounded like a no brainer... what became of it? The area just closed and became more of an announcement zone instead. Did I miss a thread somewhere with the nominations, voting and results? Read this carefully! The COUNCIL will be a panel of VOLUNTEER members (Possibly Voted in by all of you - the first panel may however we chosen by me and we can grow it over time to elected members after we work out the bugs - I am however still looking for Volunteers) "the first panel may however be chosen by me" "This area is now closed to public posts. Decisions made by council regarding policies, rules, direction, etc... will be posted in this area by the moderator or site administrators. " Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted January 17, 2011 The Elite and SP ONLY members voted on how the first council would run. The first council was hand picked by me (out of a list of volunteers) with 7 ladies and 7 men from the site. The council started earlier this month and the FORUM (Public one you all see) is where discussions and votes are posted that are to be made public. Bans/suspensions are posting in a area where Elite and SP ONLY members can view the results. General members are not able to view ALL results and not ALL bans/Suspensions. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest G***f****** Report post Posted January 17, 2011 Read this carefully! The COUNCIL will be a panel of VOLUNTEER members (Possibly Voted in by all of you - the first panel may however we chosen by me and we can grow it over time to elected members after we work out the bugs - I am however still looking for Volunteers) "the first panel may however be chosen by me" "This area is now closed to public posts. Decisions made by council regarding policies, rules, direction, etc... will be posted in this area by the moderator or site administrators. " Thanks, I did read it. It said may, possibly and trial, after that, there was no mention of what the final plan was, who was on the council, or how to get in touch with them. While it says Public Area in the forum title, the forum itself appears to be locked, otherwise I would have started this thread there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted January 18, 2011 the main discussion was in the elite and sponly area but we did announce it in public too you must have missed that thread. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest G***f****** Report post Posted January 18, 2011 the main discussion was in the elite and sponly area but we did announce it in public too you must have missed that thread. I must have. I tried doing a search on "Town Council", and even just "Council", but cannot find the thread you refer to, does someone have a link? Maybe the thread should be moved up to the Town Council area itself, seems like it would belong there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest W***ledi*Time Report post Posted January 18, 2011 gobo, I tried to find the answer to your question in a public thread, and I didn't find it either. The best I could find was the same as cherrykiss found. My impression is that the announcement to the general membership was just one of those things that somehow manage to fall through the cracks from time to time. (Of course, as always, I stand to be corrected - if a more enterprising researcher can find the elusive announcement.) Thanks for asking this timely question! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emma Alexandra 123368 Report post Posted January 18, 2011 gobo, I tried to find the answer to your question in a public thread, and I didn't find it either. The best I could find was the same as cherrykiss found. My impression is that the announcement to the general membership was just one of those things that somehow manage to fall through the cracks from time to time. (Of course, as always, I stand to be corrected - if a more enterprising researcher can find the elusive announcement.) Thanks for asking this timely question! It must have fallen through the crackas as i haven't seen it either..oh well i guess i should pay better attention..lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Miss Scarlett 25073 Report post Posted January 18, 2011 I assumed when I did not see anything, other then the new council area being closed as stated that mod had chosen the first council. I also assume if you need something brought to council, that you have to PM mod, cause a lot of issues are not council related. If I am incorrect mod feel free to correct me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted January 18, 2011 I thought I announced it publicly. That was my intention. I think I did in the public council area but I may have removed it when we started the council as I was changing permissions on all the forums and moving threads around to better organize the public and private counsel area's and the public announcement area. So everyone knows... I have posted this here. http://www.cerb.ca/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35893 I am short on time so I pasted all the info in and it's messy but I think it's all available in that post now (Everything the public should know) - let me know if I missed anything. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest W***ledi*Time Report post Posted January 18, 2011 ... http://www.cerb.ca/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=35893 ... let me know if I missed anything. Thanks Mod! One thing I notice is that your updated post still says: This area is for the public to address the council, make suggestions, file complaints and give feedback. However, only the mods have authorization to post in that area, the public does not. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest G***f****** Report post Posted January 18, 2011 Thanks Mod! However, only the mods have authorization to post in that area, the public does not. And if the council is to be the voice of the user community, then we need a forum to bring up board related issues. For instance, I personally think the idea of the council voting on OFFENSES, is a great idea, but not on the PUNISHMENTS, as is stated in your message. Rules and Penalties should be codified and consistent, otherwise the Town Council could be seen as Star Chamber, especially with membership being anonymous. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted January 18, 2011 One thing I notice is that your updated post still says Thanks WIT. It will be that way in time, I just want the little bugs to be worked out before we introduce that element into the mix. So I removed this to avoid confusion and we can address this in the future and open a section for just making suggestions and feedback to the council. And if the council is to be the voice of the user community, then we need a forum to bring up board related issues. Mentioned above... it will happen in time - just not ready yet as this was only started this month. We need to work out the bugs before we can move forward. For instance, I personally think the idea of the council voting on OFFENSES, is a great idea, but not on the PUNISHMENTS, as is stated in your message. Rules and Penalties should be codified and consistent, otherwise the Town Council could be seen as Star Chamber, especially with membership being anonymous. The MAIN reason for the council is to choose disciplinary actions on 50+ post count members (Peers) - this is a more FAIR way to do this. When I am forced to make these choices myself people call me a dictator and question my actions. This is the perfect solution as council can ask questions and dig for answers before voting. Would you rather have ONE person do this or a panel of 14 members (half ladies and have gentlemen) do this? This site is Anonymous (That is how these sites work) everyone hides behind a false name / alias. Maybe in the future these alias's of the council members will be more transparent but for now they do not wish to be. None of you know my real identity and yet I am the one who for all these years made all these hard choices. So now instead of ONE person none of you know... you have FIFTEEN (14 council + myself) Basically we had these conversations already with the ELITE and SP ONLY members (The people who have contributed the most to the site at this time) and these members helped by voting how this first council would be formed and operated. In time this can change and with over 120 posts you (Gobofraggle) are well on your way to being part of the elite members group. Keep posting, follow the rules and in no time you will be promoted to elite status and be privy to the area's that are currently locked out. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest W***ledi*Time Report post Posted January 18, 2011 Thanks to Mod for his patience and explanations as to where Council stands at present, and as to what it may evolve into in the future. And thanks to gobo for asking the questions. As a result, I am sure most members have a much better understanding today of the current state of the Council idea, than they did yesterday. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevecurious 42059 Report post Posted January 18, 2011 Thanks to Mod for his patience and explanations as to where Council stands at present, and as to what it may evolve into in the future. And thanks to gobo for asking the questions. As a result, I am sure most members have a much better understanding today of the current state of the Council idea, than they did yesterday. W.I.T. I can not give you rep. points at this time but you still deserve to be applauded for the wise and even handed remarks! Well said as usual! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest G***f****** Report post Posted January 19, 2011 Thanks WIT. It will be that way in time, I just want the little bugs to be worked out before we introduce that element into the mix. So I removed this to avoid confusion and we can address this in the future and open a section for just making suggestions and feedback to the council. Mentioned above... it will happen in time - just not ready yet as this was only started this month. We need to work out the bugs before we can move forward. Thank you for the response Mod, and I look forward to the forum opening up. Would you rather have ONE person do this or a panel of 14 members (half ladies and have gentlemen) do this? No, not at all, I thought the idea of creating a Council was brilliant, and with the growth the site is seeing, will be absolutely essential to keeping the place harmonious and operating smoothly. This site is Anonymous (That is how these sites work) everyone hides behind a false name / alias. Maybe in the future these alias's of the council members will be more transparent but for now they do not wish to be. None of you know my real identity and yet I am the one who for all these years made all these hard choices. So now instead of ONE person none of you know... you have FIFTEEN (14 council + myself) Basically we had these conversations already with the ELITE and SP ONLY members (The people who have contributed the most to the site at this time) and these members helped by voting how this first council would be formed and operated. In time this can change and with over 120 posts you (Gobofraggle) are well on your way to being part of the elite members group. Keep posting, follow the rules and in no time you will be promoted to elite status and be privy to the area's that are currently locked out. I won't comment on the rest of it here, I'll wait until the public forum opens up as I think that would be a better venue, but I see a lot of room for discussion in that last part. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mod 135640 Report post Posted January 19, 2011 I agree, I am sure many of our members will have lots of good (and bad) ideas and suggestions. Problem with doing that now is it could end up causing more kaos and confusion... we need to take baby steps here or it could all blow up in our face. We have already lost one council member (Nothing related to council - she just left the business abruptly) so I do need to replace one of the ladies on the council and we have already had a few "bumps" we have had to deal with and overcome so once we iron them all out I am sure we would all welcome some input. Lots of people over the years have sent me PMs with suggestions, idea's ... and lots of people who want to tell me what I am doing wrong and how I should be running the site - Obviously like anyone I hate most of those people as they are usually unrealistic and whinny! ... but I have had great suggestions and comments. In fact many of the features that are unique to cerb are because of suggestions from all our members! I don't want to overload our new council members with too much at once! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
