[VOTE] Streamlining the voting process

[CmdrWilkens]

As discussed in the Isana Kadeb thread polls in the senate, and ban polls in paticular, are becoming a bit akward in thatparticipation is failing to match truly adequate levels. To that end I think there are several ideas worth discussing and I've put them below. Points 1 and 2 are something Spyder proposed and point 3 is something Red and I are both in favor of.

#1: Collect Email addresses of all senators and put out a mailing list for when important senate business comes up.

#2: Limit poll time to 7 days, starting after notifications have gone out.

#3 Initiate the post of Senate Whip. This post would serve to remind Senators and Governors of votes and other buisness (as in #1). This post could also serve as a second to the Chancellor for administrative purposes.


What I would like to do is talk about which of these three we should implement (hell it may be all of them) and then at week's end open a vote for all three individually.

*Edit* Vote has now been opened. I've placed a 14 day time limit on the vote so if we don't have a quorum by that time then all the measures will die. If the measures are approved we can bandy about the exact wording and then have it added.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I like the idea of a senate whip....

and I won't make any bad puns this time.

ybear@inreach.com

or

cdhb34r0267@sbcglobal.net

[Coyote]

All three are really good ideas, IMO, but the Senate Whip will also end up as de facto Senate Secretary, mailing out all those emails whenever something comes up. Of course, it will be simple to set up a couple different types of form letters and put all the emails on a Mass Mail List... provided we all check our spam filters and enable the Whip's mails to come through.

In other words, it'll be a minor pain in the butt to set up, but once set up should go well. Something needs to be done to keep polls & such from being in 'hang fire' mode for weeks on end.

I for one think Edi would make an excellent Whip. If it comes to nominations, consider that mine. And my email is coyote762@hotmail.com
Please, no Nigerian royalty, thankewverymuch.

[RedImperator]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think what we need is a position called the Deputy Chancellor. The DC would combine the functions of the Whip and the Secretary when the Chancellor is here, and fill in as the Chancellor when he's not.

This would be an elected position, for a six month term. It would come with mod powers in the Senate forum (meaning Mike would have to sign off on this). The DC, in the Chancellor's extended absence, would have all the powers and responsibilities of the Chancellor as outlined in the Senate rules (which reminds me, sooner or later we ought to sit down and write a proper charter to put all the rules and bylaws of the Senate in one document).

If the DC is too ambitious or people think this is something that ought to be handled separately, I'm in favor of the creation of the office of the Senate Whip.

In case anyone was wondering, I am not the slightest bit interested in becoming the Deputy Chancellor. I shall not seek, and will not accept, nomination of this Senate to be your Deputy Chancellor, as it were.

[CmdrWilkens]

I don't think we'd need to name the post DC but since the Senate Whip would serve as a de facto deputy I do believe we should made it a mod position within the senate though I think a longer term limit is worthwhile.

As a side not I think we should all hold off on the posting of e-mail addresses not the least because a) The forum is still visible to everyone and b) we can send everything to a Whip if we chose to have one.

[Spyder]

I'm in favor of all these ideas (as mentioned in the OP). I was also about to suggest that we PM addresses to someone rather then post them.

[The Yosemite Bear]

true I forgot that this is publically viewable.

however one of those two addys is availale if someone were to look at my profile at SDN.

[Coyote]

Same here, that's my public face email account. If anyone out there really truly thinks they need to take the time to send me spam, it'll just get shunted aside with all the other garbage-in and deleted.

[Frank Hipper]

I strongly disagree with burdening a fellow member with the responsibility of notifying the entire Senate that they need to vote; part of being a senator should include having a sense of responsibility to the degree that you can do your job without special notices going out reminding you that you have a job to do.

In other words, I support Measure #2, but have serious reservations about the enthusiasm of this group due to a percieved need for reminding members they should pay attention to the group's activites.

[Spyder]

If we liken this group to an actual senate an import thing to consider is that actual senators don't wander along to a senate hearing each day on the off chance that someone has something that they wish to discuss.

They have regular meetings to attend where senators will have preprepared business that they know will be discussed.

Now I agree, it would be ideal if all senators would stop by regularly to check for updates but the simple fact of that matter is that this isn't happening. Now, this is a problem that needs correcting.

Lets look at alternatives on how we can combat this problem:

#1: Continue harping on in ban poll threads.
Half the senators probably aren't going to see them anyway.

#2: Cull the senate and find more people with more enthusiasm.
An interesting idea, the problem of course is that you have no guarantee that you aren't going to have the same problem with other people in here, infact it's actually highly likely that you'll encounter similar or worse problems considering that the existing senators were nominated based on maturity and debating skills.

#3: Have someone spam the senators every now and then about senate affairs. This is something that could be implimented quite easilly, using a mailing list that can be kept quite happily in a text file. The burden is quite literally "copy" "paste" "send."

[Chris OFarrell]

Absolutely all 3.

[Edi]

It shouldn't be too hard for Senators to check whether or not the new posts since last visit icon in front of the Senate forum in the main index is indicating new posts and then take a moment to read them (assuming they don't have RL time constraints at the time), so in that sense I don't think anything SHOULD be necessary.

For me, much like the mod forum, if the index indicates new posts, I check them right away. It is somewhat disappointing that this does not seem to be a universal trend.

Whether others see the proposed measures as necessary, let them decide. I'll abstain.

Edi

[Spyder]

I was just talking to Rob, apparently there's a usergroup mail function that would make the process even simpler.

[Coyote]

Should there be a "sunset" on Senatorial duty, if certain conditions are not met? If, say, six months has come & gone and a given Senator has not participated in a single vote (without good reason, for example, hospitalization, deployed overseas, etc) then they should be resigned in absentia?

[Surlethe]

Should there be a "sunset" on Senatorial duty, if certain conditions are not met? If, say, six months has come & gone and a given Senator has not participated in a single vote (without good reason, for example, hospitalization, deployed overseas, etc) then they should be resigned in absentia?

Given that polls are anonymous, how are we to determine that a given Senator hasn't voted? That is, after all, the only major duty Senators have: vote in ban polls, vote in new Senator polls, vote in policy polls.

[Coyote]

Given that polls are anonymous, how are we to determine that a given Senator hasn't voted?

Generally, when someone votes, they tend to make a brief comment. This could become mandatory-- even if all they do is just write "voted" and nothing else. It would not make sense for a cheater to go through the trouble to log in & write a comment if they don't also vote.

If someone is too lazy to log in once in six months to vote & write a single word, then Raus with them.

[CmdrWilkens]

I think the resignation bit is perhaps too extreme but that's mostly because I rather hope and suspect that the provisions above should grant us the ability to effectively get votes taken care of and processed much better. As an aside to Edi yes we should expect Senators to do just that but clearly based on the length of time it is taking for us to achieve Quorum it isn't happening. We can either complain about things not getting done or we can take steps to ensure they do and these three items are, I think, the best route we have.

That said I forgot to include the abstain option. Not sure if anyone can add it in but if it can be done it should be.

[Surlethe]

Generally, when someone votes, they tend to make a brief comment. This could become mandatory-- even if all they do is just write "voted" and nothing else. It would not make sense for a cheater to go through the trouble to log in & write a comment if they don't also vote.

Interestingly, Haruko has pointed out that "... there is a MOD that will allow the administration to see who voted, and for what option (provided the votes weren't made before the MOD was added). It's called "Admin Voting", and it's available here: [inlined]." I move that we double his stale biscuit ration for the week for his contribution.

Oh, and voted.

[Publius]

Voted.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Voted.

[Stuart Mackey]

Voted.

[Knife]

I have done my duty.

[Lagmonster]

Done and done.

[Kuja]

Voted.

[Mad]

+1

I mean, voted.