Note: This version of the Manifesto has been deprecated!
The current version of the Manifesto may always be found at http://forum.tfes.org/manifesto.In the same way that users of this website are to be accountable for their actions in accordance with the rules, admins and mods should be accountable to the members in accordance with some code of conduct. Historically on the old FES, this "code of conduct" was very loosely defined, often amounting to whatever Daniel had said the last time he visited the website.
On this new FES, we are making an attempt to codify the way forum staff should act towards members. To that end, I have written a manifesto which all newly appointed staff will need to agree to, and which all of our current staff (finalised as of today) have already agreed to. Myself and pizaaplanet are also bound by this document; it is not simply imposed by us upon the moderators, it is something we have all agreed to.
The manifesto is designed to protect the rights of the members who post here; to encourage defined, consistent behaviour in the form of published rules rather than moderator discretion wherever possible; and to facilitate updating the manifesto with new revisions without fear of those newer revisions applying to past events. Currently, new revisions can only be published by mutual agreement between myself and pizaaplanet, but there is a clause which will render this revision null and void 30 days after the formation of a Zetetic Council, to force us to update it at that point.
And so, without further ado, I present The Flat Earth Society Manifesto, version 1:
Flat Earth Society Manifesto
The Flat Earth Society Forums
http://forum.tfes.org/
=============================
Author: xasop <xasop@tfes.org>
Version: 1
Definitions
-----------
1. "Forum" means the Flat Earth Society forums hosted by xasop
at http://forum.tfes.org/.
2. "Member" means any user account on the forum.
3. "You" means any member entrusted with privileges to modify, delete or
otherwise influence any other member's posts or account status on the
forum.
4. "Situation" means any circumstance which is being considered as
justification for exercising your privileges on the forum.
5. "Rule" means any individual directive in a thread on the forum which
has been made sticky and clearly marked as a rules thread.
6. "Offence" means violation of a specific rule. Multiple instances of
violating the same rule are the same offence, but instances of
violating different rules are different offences.
7. "Manifesto" means this or any later version of this document, as
published by xasop on the forum.
8. "Publication", "publish" and "published" refer to the act of posting
a document in any publicly visible place on the forum.
Terms and conditions
--------------------
1. Amendments to the manifesto
Amendments to the manifesto may only be made with the express
authorisation of both "xasop" and "pizaaplanet".
Every new revision must be given a new version number, which
shall be an integer that is numerically greater than every
previously published manifesto version.
This version of the manifesto shall be automatically invalidated 30 days
after the formation of a Zetetic Council recognised by the forum. This is
intended as a mechanism to force either transfer of authority to the
Council, or another decision to be made for producing revisions of the
manifesto.
2. Perpetual agreement to the manifesto
When you agree to abide by the terms of this document, you also agree to
abide by the terms of any future version of the manifesto for as long as
you are in a privileged position on the forum.
At any time, you may revoke your agreement to this or any other version
of the manifesto by resigning your position on the forum.
3. Validity of old revisions of the manifesto
This version of the manifesto shall be null and void in application to
any events which take place after the publication of a newer version.
However, no future version of the manifesto may apply to an event which
took place prior to its publication.
4. Deference to the forum rules
There shall be, no more than 30 days after the publication of this
version of the manifesto, a set of rules posted on the forum. In all
decisions, you shall defer to the rules as written rather than relying on
your personal judgment.
For clarity, this is not to prohibit the invocation of personal judgment
in your interpretation of the rules. However, situations should be
handled according to the written rules first, and according to your
judgment of them second.
5. Equivalence of all members
You shall apply the same rules equivalently to all members on the forum,
without invoking your personal opinion of a member, their posting history
or any factor other than the rules and their behaviour in the situation
at hand.
There is one exception to this, which is that prior warnings for the same
offence may be considered as context in the situation. However, note that
prior offences without warning are not to be considered, and nor are
prior warnings for other offences.
6. Moderator discretion
There will inevitably be situations which the rules have not accounted
for. In such circumstances, you may use your own discretion, but you
should consider that the ultimate objective is to maximise the enjoyment
of the forum for all its members.