NOTE: Recent announcement by Steve Clift ----------------------------------------
E-Democracy.Org has not updated our forum rules in a number of years. Together, our revisions will help us deepen our second decade of e-democracy activity in your community and in more places around the world.
While our rules and forum facilitation are central to our model for citizen-to-citizen online civic discussion, you the participant - posters and readers alike - create the real value. With out your diverse participation and viewpoints, this forum would have no power.
Our rules are intended to keep our forums in the center of real community life. What do you think of our rules? Are the proposed changes in tune with what you think works? Have we gone too far or not far enough?
We want your positive and negative comments on our updated rules draft by July 1, 2004 please. With your input, the Board should be in a position to take final action in August.
For contextual links (to the old rules, etc.) and the full text in HTML, see:
http://www.e-democracy.org/center/draftrules.html
Once you finish or as you read the rules, please comment via the web:
http://e-democracy.org/townhall/viewforum.php?f=8
Or send a private comment to our Board and active volunteers:
http://e-democracy.org/comments.html
Because this only comes around every few years, we've included the full text below with a special bonus link at the bottom for those who like to read the fine print.
Thank you for being a part of E-Democracy.Org.
Steven Clift Board Chair, http://E-Democracy.Org
====================================================
E-Democracy Forum Rules - Draft
====================================================Draft 2.0 for Public Comment - Comments requested by July 1, 2004
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewforum.php?f=8These rules are the basis for all E-Democracy.Org-sponsored citizen-to-citizen discussion forums - including e-mail discussion lists, web forums, and other online events.
The purpose statement in each forum charter defines that forum's scope. A charter may define additional rules and highlight essential rules.
Based on a decade of experience, these rules provide a citizen-based foundation for online civility, a focus on public issues, and effective public agenda-setting. These online public spaces are more about the sharing of ideas and information than being right with one's ideology. Our forums are NOT designed for debating abstract political philosophy, "winning" online arguments, or ridiculing others for their beliefs, backgrounds, or speculated motivations.
You have a right to participate. The following rules of participation define accountability and the limited power of forum managers and E-Democracy.Org. As the legal forum host, E-Democracy.Org seeks to exercise your public trust and responsibly mediate the inherent conflict among members rights and expectations.
Participants are responsible for reading and understanding these rules. If you do not accept these rules or the spirit of a forum's purpose, please do not join or participate.
Comment on this Opening
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=16Rules
1. Sign Posts - All forum posts must be signed at the bottom of every message by the author with at least their real first and last name, and city and/or neighborhood. The use of pseudonyms, anonymous postings or the use/theft of other people's identities when posting is strictly forbidden and has special penalties.
2. Limits on Posting - Depending upon the discussion technology and total message volume concerns, a forum charter may limit the number of posts allowed per person within specific time frames. These limits must be strictly followed. Further, the charter with Chapter and Board approval may specifically list topics not allowed on a particular forum.
3. Stay Within Forum Purpose - Posting to the appropriate forum (including non-E-Democracy.Org options) is essential - local topics on local forums, national topics on national issue forums. Requests by the Forum Manager to bring discussions within the scope of the forum must be followed or warnings may be issued. The forum purpose and scope is a contract under which all forum members joined. A forum must not be used as a convenient way to reach people without explicitly connecting posts to the geographic area or topics related to the scope of the forum.
Comment on Rules 1-3
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=174. Be Civil - No insults, name calling or inflamed speech for the sake of argument. Personal one-on-one arguments, disagreements, and personality conflicts must be taken from the public discussion forum and dealt with in private. Attempts at humor or sarcasm should be labelled ... ;-), :-), etc. The Forum Manager shall provide guidance to infringing participants to further develop a practical sense of what is appropriate and what is not allowed.
5. No Attacks or Threats - Personal attacks or public threats against the safety or security of participants are not allowed. If you feel you have privately received an illegal threat via e-mail, we ask you to contact to appropriate legal authorities. The Forum Manager may only issue warnings or remove participants based on their public posts to a forum legally owned by E-Democracy.Org. If you receive private communication from another participant that causes you serious concern, you may communicate that to the Forum Manager, but no action should be taken by the Forum Manager or E-Democracy.org to intervene in private disputes among individuals.
6. Private Stays Private - Forwarding private messages to the online forum is NOT allowed without the explicit permission of the original author. This includes private replies you may receive based on your public posts to the forum and other private or personal communication including e-mail communication with public officials who may or may not be forum members. Public officials and Forum Managers are considered citizens with equal participation rights and responsibilities in a forum.
Comment on Rules 4-6
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=187. Avoid False Rumors, Correct Yourself - All posts should be as accurate as possible and never intentionally false. E-Democracy.Org is not responsible or liable for the content posted to any forum. Rumors heard in the community, even those carried by the media or other web sites, must be within a forum's issue-based scope to be appropriate. In rare cases, such postings will not be considered rule violations if the private conduct of a public official(s) has a direct bearing on public policy. Such topics must be cleared with the Forum Manager before posting publicly to the forum. Further, if you obtain factual corrections to your previous post that was not shared in the discussion, ??? you should/must ??? issue a correction (within the posting limit or via the Forum Manager if urgent).
8. Right to Post or Reply - Only those who are forum members may post directly. The subject of a forum post has a right of public reply once that individual or an individual representing that organization becomes a forum member. Forum Managers may only moderate discussion posts over a standard size/length, posts sent to multiple addresses or forums, posts with attachments, posts from new members to make sure they are not spammers, upon the notification of those being moderated, or a temporary forum moderation period of 24 hours applied equally no more than four times a year. The Forum Manager may moderate, rename, clean headers, and/or ignore non-member messages. Special time-limited online events, chats, and announcement services may be moderated on a prior and post review basis if clearly described in that service's charter.
Comment on Rules 7 and 8
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=199. Items Not Allowed in Forums - No attached files (on e-mail-based forums), commercial product or service advertising, virus warnings, or chain letters. Public event promotions and links to commercial or non-profit online content related to the scope of the forum are appropriate. Participant "signatures" providing links to the work or projects of an individual are acceptable, but the display of specific products for sale is not allowed anywhere. Text placed automatically at the bottom of messages by free e-mail services are exempt. Public discussions of forum management and posting public complaints about potential rule violations are out of scope.
10. Public Content and Use - By sharing an original message, forum members (authors) agree to distribute their intellectual property via the Internet and inclusion of that content a permanent publicly accessible online archive in perpetuity. A discussion forum posting may only be removed from the public archives under a court order or a case-by-case decision a Chapter or Board. With copyrighted material, you may post quotations from articles or web sites with the source URL. While forum posters (original authors) retain their personal copyright, they grant others through E-Democracy.Org the right to quote or forwarded their public forum messages to others as long as the author's name and the forum's name or web address are cited or linked.
Comment on Rules 9 and 10
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=20
Warnings and Suspension from E-Democracy.Org Forums
In our citizen-based forums, participants themselves keep the forums relevant and on track. There is no government, political group, corporation, or single individual controlling our self-governance system.
You may lose your right to participate based on your behavior in a forum. You may also regain your rights.
We know from a decade of experience, that volunteer-based forum facilitation and management is essential. We make difficult decisions and reign in rule violators in order to protect the public mission of our forums and E-Democracy.Org's non-profit obligations. We encourage those with different ideas about how online discussions should be structured and managed to start and announce such forums via our networks.
If at any point you feel these rules as written or generally applied do not serve the stated mission or goals of E-Democracy.Org, you have the right to petition the Board for specific changes.
Warnings and Complaints
1. Manager Warnings - Official warnings are sent to the infringing member when a Forum Manager determines that a rule has been broken. The Forum Manager may at their discretion send informal advisories to encourage rule compliance. They may also at their discretion issue and record official warnings. The Forum Manager is not required to monitor every post.
2. Member Complaints - Forum members may send informal complaints privately to the potentially infringing participant to encourage citizen-to-citizen accountability. Any forum member may also file an official complaint about a specific post directly with the Forum Manager. They may not post their complaint publicly to the forum - this distracts a forum from its purpose. The Forum Manager will respond to complaints in a uniform fashion and maintain records of all official warnings given.
3. Warnings Active - Official warnings last for one year. They must be recorded by the Forum Manager and kept in case of an appeal.
4. Special Moderation - A Forum Manager may moderate the posts of specific members upon notification to that member for up to two months while dealing with rule compliance issues. This may be renewed upon notification.
5. Managers as Citizens - Forum Managers retain the right to participate in the forum under same rules as other participants. They may express their opinions but not allow their political views to influence specific forum management decisions. Complaints about potential rule violations by Forum Managers must be sent directly to the local E-Democracy Chapter or the E-Democracy.Org Board.
Note: If forum management responsibilities are split among a team, a member of that team shall be designated to issue warnings and receive complaints on a regular or clearly identified rotating basis.
Comment on Warnings and Complaints
http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=21
Suspension and Removal
6. Removal Process - The warning process starts with probation and results in removal periods that grow in length based on repeat offenses. Warnings are specific to each forum. Due to variations in forum purposes and management styles, similar conduct may not result in the same sanction.
- Internal Phase (Private to avoid public member embarrassment - an excessive sanction.)
A. First Warning - Each warning expires after one full year.
B. Second Warning - The second official warning results in immediate suspension from the specific forum for two weeks. While under suspension a member may not post nor ask others to forward their comments to the forum. They may not receive forum posts via e-mail. Another two week suspension may be granted should the initial first warning expire before their third rule violation.
- Public Phase
D. Third Warning - A third warning within a year of the first warning results in immediate suspension for six months from the specific forum. Upon returning, the member remains on probation for two months. Notification of the suspension of this member must be sent to the local E-Democracy Chapter, the E-Democracy.Org Board, and after any appeals at that person's request posted in a factual manner to the forum itself without comment as to the cause. The Forum Manager shall remind forum participants that public discussion of suspensions violates the rule and shall offer links to appropriate places for discussion of E-Democracy rules and administration.
[E-Democracy will create a web forum for ongoing and open rules discussions among participants.]
E. Fourth Warning - A fourth official warning within one year of the three other warnings results in full removal from all E-Democracy.Org forums for five years. After any appeals are processed, an announcement about the removal of this member will be publicly posted to the forums of which that member belongs and sent to the E-Democracy Chapter and Board. The removed member has the option to provide an up to 500 word public statement. This will be attached to an optional 500 word statement from the Forum Manager about the causes for removal. This will be sent to the forum in which the warnings were generated.
7. Web Access Allowed - While those suspended from forums may read the postings from the web (not via e-mail), they may not forward those posts to other E-Democracy.Org forums on which they maintain full posting rights.
8. False Identity Process and Removal - If it is determined with careful consideration by the Forum Manager/E-Democracy.Org that a participant's actual identity is in question, E-Democracy.Org will immediately suspend posting for that person on all forums until such time that a one page letter including a photocopy of a government issued ID with the full address and notarized signature (on the same page) is delivered to E-Democracy.Org. If no proof of identity is provided within two weeks, the e-mail address(es)/members accounts shall be deleted and banned from all E-Democracy.Org forums.
Any identified individual found to have violated this rule will be suspended from all participation in E-Democracy.Org forum's and activities for five years. This includes any and all e-mail accounts associated with that person whether real or falsified. If it appears that fraud, forgery, identity theft, or computer crime laws have been violated, E-Democracy will notify the appropriate legal authorities in the political jurisdiction most closely associated with the forum.
The only exception to this rule/penalty is the case-by-case prior approval by the Forum Manager, E-Democracy Chapter or E-Democracy Board for the use of aliases by those under official court protection or participation by individuals in countries where political expression is illegal and the serious threat of oppression exists. Further, the charters for special time-limited web-based online events on sensitive topics may be designed to allow anonymous participation with Board approval only.
9. Appeals and Due Process - Any third or fourth warning may be appealed under our due process procedure to the local E-Democracy Chapter or the E-Democracy.Org Board should a local forum management oversight committee not exist. At that time, the validity of the first or second warning may also be reviewed and the total number of warnings reduced if a Forum Manager's warning is overturned. A forum member's suspension shall remain in effect during the review process.
The review process may last no more than three weeks from confirmation that the appeal was received.
10. Technical Removal - Technical maintenance, full e-mail inboxes, or excessive bounced messages may cause a member to be temporarily or technically removed from the forum or result in a delayed distribution of their posts. In these cases, the member may rejoin the forum at any time.
11. Mission Responsibilities - It is the responsibility of the E-Democracy Board to develop and protect each forum as an organizational initiative within the non-profit mission of E-Democracy.Org. The E-Democracy Board reserves the right to remove any participant upon careful consideration and stipulate the terms and duration of that removal. Notices on such removals will be posted on the E-Democracy.Org website.
Comment on Suspension, Removal and Due Process http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=22
BONUS POLL - Answer our short poll and/or comment in general: http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewtopic.php?t=15 Or comment/share information on related topics. http://www.e-democracy.org/townhall/viewforum.php?f=8
Adopted 12 FEB 1996, Revised 1 APR 1997, Major Revision 28 JUL 1999 False identity process clarified, penalty added 30 AUG 2003
DRAFT Rules streamlined, guidance moved to another document, removal process updated 14 APR 2004, Not yet adopted - Interim for the Chicago Issues Forum
Released for public comment, June 16 - July 1, 2004. Board action expected in August.
^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
Join my Democracies Online Newswire: http://dowire.org EDem's Election 2004 Links: http://e-democracy.org/us
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