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Offline Hoppy

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #60 on: January 21, 2014, 02:53:54 AM »
Maybe that ZC could bless official FE believers. Someone who has demonstrated a true belief in, and defended FE postitions. A badge of honor for around here.
God is real.

Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #61 on: January 21, 2014, 03:16:15 AM »
Haha the FAQ and the wiki eh? Then what was the council even for? Any muppet can do that.
Well, what did you expect? It has been clear since the beginning of the idea of the Council that forum staff would be in charge of the technical stuff. You seem extremely bitter about very simple facts, and yet you offer no alternative, or anything of use, really.

You got me wrong. They should be doing things outside the forum. I wouldnt expect them to do any technical stuff or moderate the forum at all as their role shouldnt have anything to do with the forum directly.
Im not on the council so why should I tell them what their role should be?

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Online Lord Dave

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #62 on: January 21, 2014, 03:17:21 AM »
Its your job to make sure the mods are doing their jobs.
No, it's ours.

Really?
The police is separate from the government here?  Huh...


Ok then. 
If you are going to DebOOonK an expert then you have to at least provide a source with credentials of equal or greater relevance. Even then, it merely shows that some experts disagree with each other.

Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #63 on: January 21, 2014, 03:20:02 AM »
Hmm read the rest after posting. My vision was clearly different from the rest of some of you. I thought it would be for use outside the forum and to attract more people via other networks.
The last few comments outline the need to know what the council is even for.

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #64 on: January 21, 2014, 03:22:13 AM »
The police is separate from the government here?  Huh...
At least that's the intention, although I wouldn't necessarily make it a distinction between the police and government.

The Council and forum staff are meant to be entirely separate, and there should ideally be no overlap in our remits, as to avoid conflict. Ultimately, the responsibility of both the Council and forum staff should be to the society/forum members.
Read the FAQ before asking your question - chances are we already addressed it.
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If we are not speculating then we must assume

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Offline markjo

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #65 on: January 21, 2014, 05:44:06 AM »
What, exactly, do you expect us to do with the forum?
Use it as a medium to further research FET, perhaps?

That wouldn't be controlling the forum in any way, shape, or form. Thank you for your input.
Perhaps it would be better for the council to guide the forum rather than control it.
Abandon hope all ye who press enter here.

Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -- Charles Darwin

If you can't demonstrate it, then you shouldn't believe it.

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Offline Tau

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #66 on: January 21, 2014, 05:52:45 PM »
What, exactly, do you expect us to do with the forum?
Use it as a medium to further research FET, perhaps?

That wouldn't be controlling the forum in any way, shape, or form. Thank you for your input.
Perhaps it would be better for the council to guide the forum rather than control it.

We're kind of doing that. We're talking about making a collection of FET theories, for example. We've already learned that with so many conflicting ideas a unified theory is impossible, but we can have an official collection.
That's how far the horizon is, not how far you can see.

Read the FAQ: http://wiki.tfes.org/index.php?title=FAQ

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Offline Tintagel

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #67 on: January 23, 2014, 02:13:32 PM »
Since there's a question of organization, it's maybe useful that I've served on non-profit boards for many years so I have some insight as to organization that may be useful.   (And speaking of non-profits, the FES isn't registered as a non-profit in the US as far as I can tell [no idea about other countries], perhaps we should be.)

I put together this list as a starting point for discussion.  It's admittedly vague in spots and I'm sure I've left some things out, but it's a start anyway.  Feel free to copy/edit/rewrite/mangle.

Zetetic Council
  • 5 members, elected by membership once per year.
  • The council chooses a president from its members by simple majority.
  • The president appoints a VP, Secretary, and Treasurer.  (from the council, or from the membership?)
  • The president may also appoint other committees or representatives to chair various projects, as needed.
  • Responsible for the ongoing development, cataloging, maintenance, and promotion of Flat Earth Theory on the website, wiki, and in other public facing materials such as newsletters and pr events.
  • Has veto power over website administration by way of majority vote?
  • Has the ability to either make decisions for the FES as a whole, or the ability to bring matters to the membership for a vote.
  • Typically, the board of directors (which is really what the ZC is) holds regular meetings to keep things moving.  The forum can likely facilitate, but meetings with minutes (recorded by secretary) will probably move things along a little more efficiently.  Are these meetings public?  Do members get a vote?  Does administration?  Not sure here, but it's a place to start.
  • The ZC also writes and maintains the organizational by-laws (this would probably be one of the projects done by a chair or committee appointed by the president), which enumerates all these things in greater detail, and other ideas not covered here

Website Administration
  • Self-contained body of website and forum administrators responsible for keeping the fora civil, and discussion productive.
  • Has the ability to warn and ban users who do not follow the rules.
  • Ultimately the body that creates and enforces all forum (and wiki editing?) rules (with the caveat that the ZC has veto power?)
  • Responsible for choosing its own staff (with the caveat that the ZC has veto power?)

Members
  • FES members who demonstrate a belief that the earth is flat, and (or and/or?) who support the FES cause.
  • Membership petitioned with an application to the ZC, which must be read and approved?
  • If accepted, membership dues (amount/year?) are payable to the ZC treasurer who maintains a FES financial account (probably a paypal, or other kind of internet banking thing in the interest of staying global)
  • No-alt policy for Members (to keep elections clean)
  • Members get a distinct forum title, membership card, certificate, and are allowed to vote on matters where the membership gets a voice (such as deciding ZC members, but probably some other things as determined by the ZC)

Guests (I'm sure there is a better word for this)
  • Everyone else on the forum.



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Offline Shane

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #68 on: January 24, 2014, 10:22:22 PM »
No, we don't need elitist clubs or overcomplicated council. Also I'm completely opposed to the council deciding who can vote.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2014, 11:02:23 PM by Sean »
Quote from: Rushy
How do you know you weren't literally given metaphorical wings?

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Offline Tintagel

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #69 on: January 24, 2014, 10:56:22 PM »
No, we don't need elitist clubs or uncomplicated council. Also I'm completely opposed to the council deciding who can vote.

Fair enough, my goal was to start discussion, and now we have.  Would you nix FES society membership entirely, then?

Do some of the council want to weigh in on this?

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Offline Tau

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #70 on: January 25, 2014, 03:29:01 AM »
No, we don't need elitist clubs or overcomplicated council. Also I'm completely opposed to the council deciding who can vote.

Problem: eventually noobs will probably outnumber regulars. At that point they'd be able to vote each other into office through shear force of democracy. We need some type of restrictions.

The council majority voted that we decide who is allowed to run for election in order to prevent this. We'd rather not, but we feel it is necessary.
That's how far the horizon is, not how far you can see.

Read the FAQ: http://wiki.tfes.org/index.php?title=FAQ

Rama Set

Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #71 on: January 25, 2014, 05:17:38 AM »
Perhaps you should create some checks and balances to the system so it does not turn out like modern Russia?

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Offline Roundy

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #72 on: January 25, 2014, 05:33:57 AM »
What if the Administration had the power to veto a turndown by the Council?  And by Administration I mean, top three, not moderators.  People who have a legitimate stake in the quality of the site.

I don't know, I do think this is a dicy situation, but it seems like a necessary evil.  We're not preventing anybody from voting, we're just preventing certain people from running.  We already need a majority from within the Council to forbid someone from running.  I have no problem with Parsifal or pizza or Junker being able to overturn our decisions.  Of course I wouldn't generally expect them to get involved, but if a legitimate claim of poor judgment (or outright foul play) on the matter were to somehow arise, maybe they wouldn't mind giving it their thought.
Dr. Frank is a physicist. He says it's impossible. So it's impossible.
My friends, please remember Tom said this the next time you fall into the trap of engaging him, and thank you. :)

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Offline Lemon

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #73 on: January 25, 2014, 11:24:43 PM »
I don't suppose you guys want to vote for a "Cesspool" where we can dump EJ at some stage, do you?
NOTHING TO SEE HERE. IGNORE RAMA SET.

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Offline Hoppy

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #74 on: January 25, 2014, 11:26:19 PM »
I don't suppose you guys want to vote for a "Cesspool" where we can dump EJ at some stage, do you?
We can put lemon in there to, it's a good idea.
God is real.

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Offline Lemon

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Re: The Zetetic Council
« Reply #75 on: January 25, 2014, 11:47:49 PM »
I don't suppose you guys want to vote for a "Cesspool" where we can dump EJ at some stage, do you?
We can put lemon in there to, it's a good idea.
I, Lime, agree with that suggestion.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE. IGNORE RAMA SET.