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Offline Tau

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Council Elections
« on: January 18, 2014, 11:18:27 PM »
Thork suggested we move this to a separate thread, and I agree. How should we elect council members? We can't do it the way the first election happened: in a larger forum, it would be unmanageable. And we have to have some way of avoiding a democratic tyranny where the angry noobs, who will probably outnumber regulars eventually, could vote themselves into office.

My suggestion is for the council to choose 'official' members, who would be allowed to vote and run for office. Nobody else seems to like this, because it's elitist and uninclusive, which is valid.

Thork suggested that the forum choose members to run and the council decides which of those members actually get to do so. I'm not sure that solves the problem, though. The only way I can think of for the forum to choose members to put forward would be via primary elections, which would have the exact same problem.

Anyone else have ideas?
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Offline Roundy

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2014, 11:21:13 PM »
This may be a place where it's necessary for us to exert a little muscle.  If the Council has final say on who can and who can't run, I don't see a problem.
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Offline Tau

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2014, 11:23:25 PM »
This may be a place where it's necessary for us to exert a little muscle.  If the Council has final say on who can and who can't run, I don't see a problem.

Doing it on a case by case basis might get a bit exhausting, though, and as I remember in the old forum there was a shitstorm every time something like this was done.

That said, it might be the best option. If we do it that way, would a simple majority be fine?
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Offline Roundy

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2014, 02:51:28 AM »
This may be a place where it's necessary for us to exert a little muscle.  If the Council has final say on who can and who can't run, I don't see a problem.

Doing it on a case by case basis might get a bit exhausting, though, and as I remember in the old forum there was a shitstorm every time something like this was done.

I don't recall having any sort of regular elections on the old site.  Can you elaborate?

Quote
That said, it might be the best option. If we do it that way, would a simple majority be fine?

Given that there are only five of us I think that's unavoidable, unless someone thinks for some reason it should be unanimous.
Dr. Frank is a physicist. He says it's impossible. So it's impossible.
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Offline Tau

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2014, 04:15:15 AM »
This may be a place where it's necessary for us to exert a little muscle.  If the Council has final say on who can and who can't run, I don't see a problem.

Doing it on a case by case basis might get a bit exhausting, though, and as I remember in the old forum there was a shitstorm every time something like this was done.

I don't recall having any sort of regular elections on the old site.  Can you elaborate?

Quote
That said, it might be the best option. If we do it that way, would a simple majority be fine?

Given that there are only five of us I think that's unavoidable, unless someone thinks for some reason it should be unanimous.

Any time the administration has to choose sides, I mean. There's always a lot of resentment from whoever isn't chosen and there's often an S&C thread about it
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Offline Roundy

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2014, 04:22:07 AM »
This may be a place where it's necessary for us to exert a little muscle.  If the Council has final say on who can and who can't run, I don't see a problem.

Doing it on a case by case basis might get a bit exhausting, though, and as I remember in the old forum there was a shitstorm every time something like this was done.

I don't recall having any sort of regular elections on the old site.  Can you elaborate?

Quote
That said, it might be the best option. If we do it that way, would a simple majority be fine?

Given that there are only five of us I think that's unavoidable, unless someone thinks for some reason it should be unanimous.

Any time the administration has to choose sides, I mean. There's always a lot of resentment from whoever isn't chosen and there's often an S&C thread about it

We just need to keep it simple.  We only vote against people being in the Council if most of the people here who legitimately support the Society would agree with it.  Otherwise, who cares?  What difference does it make if TheKnowledge makes a thread in S&C complaining that Sokarul wasn't approved?  We are a representative democracy and the masses will just have to put up with our decisions.
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Offline Tom Bishop

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2014, 07:25:08 AM »
I like Thork's idea of the council picking the people who can run. The rest of the society can feel free to say they want to be considered, and can advocate for themselves, but ultimately the council will decide and the society can vote based on however many options we give.

And yes, simple majority would be efficient, I'd think.

I like this idea as well.

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Offline Tau

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Re: Council Elections
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2014, 05:50:47 PM »
I like Thork's idea of the council picking the people who can run. The rest of the society can feel free to say they want to be considered, and can advocate for themselves, but ultimately the council will decide and the society can vote based on however many options we give.

And yes, simple majority would be efficient, I'd think.

I like this idea as well.

That's a majority, then. So it is and so it shall be.
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