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The most important of your job as a member of TW Council is to know what's going on in the zone, and in Council.
Please make sure you:
You do this so that you can represent those who don't have a vote. TW Council is not a democracy, but rather, a standard Republic model, where you represent your constituents (those who elected you). For it to work, you have to try to accurately represent what the people want to see happen in the zone. Sometimes this can mean compromising your own opinions and ideas for the greater good. This is a "true" representative.
For staff members, you are representing: your department, staff as a whole, and players.
For player members, you are representing: the entire body of players, but especially those who play similar parts of the zone as you do.
It is your duty to communicate with players and staff whom you represent, get an accurate idea of their opinions, and vote in a way that you feel best represents their interests. To the best of your ability, a good Council member will explore the zone as a whole (not simply the areas you normally stick to), talk with players, read forum posts, etc.
Council conventions
You'll need to know how Robert's Rules work. The biggest is: Don't talk out of turn.
For TW Council, some conventions we've adopted to help move meetings along:
Other important things specific to TW Council:
Robert's Rules
Save these documents, or a link to them. All Council members will need to have read the short guide all the way through, at the very least.
Short 2-page guide: http://www.abateofaz.org/pics/Simpli...lesofOrder.pdf
Long guide, but still simplified: http://corp.sbay.org/board/rules-of-order/ubc-sroo.pdf
Full text: http://www.robertsrules.org/rror--00.htm
Glossary/Cheat Sheet
motion - A proposed change.
chair - Meeting facilitator/helper; short for chairman. The chair is expected to understand Robert's Rules and to answer any questions about them for other members. The chair also opens and closes the meetings, and performs other elements of procedure. One of the chair's most important duties is assigning a specific committee to investigate a motion.
has the floor - is the current speaker, and may only be interrupted under one of many special circumstances.
recognizes - The chair (or a bot used by the chair) will state that they "recognize" a Council member when it's their turn to speak, indicating that they "have the floor" and that no-one else should speak.
point of information - A motion that can interrupt motions, and allows the person to request additional information about the motion. They may not "make a point" or provide information.
point of procedure - A motion made when something is unclear about how the meeting should operate.
table a motion - By voting to put a motion on the table, Council agrees that it will be discussed later, either later in the meeting or at the next meeting. A motion left on the table from the start to the end of any meeting dies (meaning if you table a motion in meeting 3, and do not take it off the table at any time in meeting 4, it is dead).
Adding a motion to the agenda
If you've gathered enough information to feel like you can represent the population well enough, and have determined a need for change in the zone, it's recommended that you try to add a motion to the next meeting's agenda.
Having a motion on the agenda means:
You can also make a new motion during the meeting. However, if you wait until the "New Business" section of the meeting to propose it, you'll find that people may not be ready to vote on it, as they've only been able to think about it for a few minutes. Give people plenty of time to deliberate and they're much more likely to support you when the time comes. They'll also be more likely to vote for the motion because you've given them the kindness of not dragging down the meeting with very basic discussion -- for example, figuring out what exactly the motion is about! These pitfalls can be avoided by adding motions to the agenda.
To add a motion to the agenda:
Please don't hesitate to ask your chairman, or other Council members, if you're unclear on anything!
Please make sure you:
- Join the TWCouncil chat, if you have room for another chat (?chat=twc601238). Don't give this chat out. It's secret, local (TW-only), and therefore also moderated.
- Check MessageBot messages; you are joined to the TWCouncil channel (type :messagebot:!read)
- Check in-game ?messages
- Check this forum (hidden from non-Council members)
- Check the main Council forum
- Check your forum PMs
You do this so that you can represent those who don't have a vote. TW Council is not a democracy, but rather, a standard Republic model, where you represent your constituents (those who elected you). For it to work, you have to try to accurately represent what the people want to see happen in the zone. Sometimes this can mean compromising your own opinions and ideas for the greater good. This is a "true" representative.
For staff members, you are representing: your department, staff as a whole, and players.
For player members, you are representing: the entire body of players, but especially those who play similar parts of the zone as you do.
It is your duty to communicate with players and staff whom you represent, get an accurate idea of their opinions, and vote in a way that you feel best represents their interests. To the best of your ability, a good Council member will explore the zone as a whole (not simply the areas you normally stick to), talk with players, read forum posts, etc.
Council conventions
You'll need to know how Robert's Rules work. The biggest is: Don't talk out of turn.
For TW Council, some conventions we've adopted to help move meetings along:
- Type o/ to raise your hand. Note that there is no "line" -- the first to raise their hand gets to speak, and everyone who raised their hand after them will still need to be the first to raise their hand after the current speaker gives up the floor.
- Type . on a line by itself (a period) to show you've finished speaking
- We will use doodle.com (or other scheduler) to determine when the next meeting should take place.
Other important things specific to TW Council:
- Quorum (minimum number needed to run a meeting) is 10 out of 18. 4 of these 10 must be staff and 4 must be players, or else no meeting can take place.
- Majority is defined as 55%. With a full Council, this is 10 out of 18.
- Terms are for 6 months. The current term began April 1, 2014, and will end September 30, 2014. Anyone who fills a vacated position will complete the term, and will then have the option to be re-elected at the start of the next term. There are no limits to how many times a person may run for re-election.
- In the case of a drastic/poorly-conceived motion, two zone sysops may opt veto a motion. These sysops do not need to be on Council. In this case, the motion is tabled indefinitely -- "killed."
Robert's Rules
Save these documents, or a link to them. All Council members will need to have read the short guide all the way through, at the very least.
Short 2-page guide: http://www.abateofaz.org/pics/Simpli...lesofOrder.pdf
Long guide, but still simplified: http://corp.sbay.org/board/rules-of-order/ubc-sroo.pdf
Full text: http://www.robertsrules.org/rror--00.htm
Glossary/Cheat Sheet
motion - A proposed change.
chair - Meeting facilitator/helper; short for chairman. The chair is expected to understand Robert's Rules and to answer any questions about them for other members. The chair also opens and closes the meetings, and performs other elements of procedure. One of the chair's most important duties is assigning a specific committee to investigate a motion.
has the floor - is the current speaker, and may only be interrupted under one of many special circumstances.
recognizes - The chair (or a bot used by the chair) will state that they "recognize" a Council member when it's their turn to speak, indicating that they "have the floor" and that no-one else should speak.
point of information - A motion that can interrupt motions, and allows the person to request additional information about the motion. They may not "make a point" or provide information.
point of procedure - A motion made when something is unclear about how the meeting should operate.
table a motion - By voting to put a motion on the table, Council agrees that it will be discussed later, either later in the meeting or at the next meeting. A motion left on the table from the start to the end of any meeting dies (meaning if you table a motion in meeting 3, and do not take it off the table at any time in meeting 4, it is dead).
Adding a motion to the agenda
If you've gathered enough information to feel like you can represent the population well enough, and have determined a need for change in the zone, it's recommended that you try to add a motion to the next meeting's agenda.
Having a motion on the agenda means:
- Other Council members have a chance to read it, consider it, and discuss it outside of the meeting (in these forums or in the main forum), making them more willing to vote on it when it comes up;
- It will be discussed before any new motions;
- It's guaranteed to be discussed next meeting, as long as you show up;
- It saves time during the meeting, because it won't need to be discussed as much.
You can also make a new motion during the meeting. However, if you wait until the "New Business" section of the meeting to propose it, you'll find that people may not be ready to vote on it, as they've only been able to think about it for a few minutes. Give people plenty of time to deliberate and they're much more likely to support you when the time comes. They'll also be more likely to vote for the motion because you've given them the kindness of not dragging down the meeting with very basic discussion -- for example, figuring out what exactly the motion is about! These pitfalls can be avoided by adding motions to the agenda.
To add a motion to the agenda:
- ?message, PM, or forum-PM the exact wording of the motion to the chairman -- at the time of the writing of this document, qan -- OR
- You may send such a message but instead link a forum post, for example, here or in the public Council forum -- but in the post you'll need to use exact wording somewhere, and be as precise as possible. A good example of this: you post a general idea in a forum thread, ask for input, and after some discussion, eventually decide on the exact wording of a motion that you want to propose. You post this motion in a new post and link the thread in a ?msg or PM.
Please don't hesitate to ask your chairman, or other Council members, if you're unclear on anything!