CZ:Management Council Motions Passed

All motions passed in 2010 are in CZ:Management Council Motions Passed/Archive 2010.

Motions passed in the year 2011

2011-001, 4 January 2011:
The MC authorizes technical staff to transition to a 3 server configuration at Steadfast Networks and to work to complete a migration of all CZ applications by 22 January 2011.

2011-002, 18 January 2011:
The MC approved the minutes for October found at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Management_Council/Minutes/October_2010

2011-003, 28 January 2011:
The constables may delete all personal comments that are derogatory to named individuals who are not public figures. Offenders shall be warned. Offenders who exhibit a pattern of personal attacks will be banned. This rule shall apply to all applications at citizendium.org.

2011-004, 2 February 2011:
The contact for image issues shall be replaced in all existing image files, the Template:Image_Details and wherever else needed with the email list cz- image-questions@citizendium.org, and the email list members shall be the members of the Management Council as well as the Chief Constable.

2011-005, 2 February 2011:
The MC directs technical staff to change the logo appearing on the live wiki to one that does not contain the words "beta".

2011-006, 2 February 2011:
Recognizing that one purpose of Citizendium is to establish knowledge through expert guidance, pseudonyms undermine the principle of expertise by the anonymity of authors; however pseudonyms may be granted only on a case-by-case basis by special resolution of the Management Council. Pseudonyms may be granted in cases only when the identity of an author may endanger the life, person [i.e. bodily harm], or property of the author. Pseudonyms will not be granted in cases where the reputation of the author may be damaged by the writings of the author. Authors must be responsible for what they write.

2011-007, 11 February 2011:
Any policy page officially approved by the MC will be protected. Any future edits to the page (excluding spelling and grammar edits) will require a vote from the MC.

2011-008, 11 February 2011:
Citizens who wish to leave Citizendium may email constables@citizendium.org to formally resign from the project. The Constabulary will block that user's account from editing, place a notice at the top of their user page stating "This user has resigned from Citizendium" and protect their user page. From that point the user will no longer be considered a Citizen and therefore no longer be subject to rules applying to Citizens nor have the rights conferred to Citizens.

Any user who has resigned and wishes to rejoin the project may email constables@citizendium.org to formally request reinstatement. This request will be passed to the Management Council who will consider the request. Should the request be granted the user account will be unblocked, the user page unprotected and the user will be once again considered a Citizen.

2011-009, 11 February 2011:
The MC officially approves the user page rules contained in revision http://en.citizendium.org/wiki?title=CZ:User_pages&oldid=100754848.

2011-010, 12 February 2011:
The Tech staff shall be instructed to remove the Image:Beenverifiedlogo.png from the Special:RequestAccount page. The Tech staff shall also be instructed to revise the sentence that now reads This could include a link to your (optional) BeenVerified™ page; credible webpages listing your (free) e-mail address, names of persons that we can look up online to aid in confirming your identity, current members you know, etc. so as to read 'This could include links to credible webpages listing your (free) e-mail address, names of persons that we can look up online to aid in confirming your identity, current members you know, etc.

2011-011, 4 March 2011:
Until resolved, the top-priority issue for the Management Council is finding a long-term funding solution for Citizendium. Activity addressing this issue will take precedence over that addressing any other issue.

2011-012, 6 March 2011:

(1) Create a Wiki page called Management Council Passed Motions which would list, date and number each passed motion as Year - XXX, date and then the motion itself where: the Year is 2010, 2011, etc., the XXX is the number from 000 to 999, the date is the numerical date followed by the spelled out month and followed by the numerical year as per this example:

2011-006, 2 February 2011: Recognizing that one purpose of Citizendium is to establish knowledge through expert guidance, pseudonyms undermine the principle of expertise by the anonymity of authors; however pseudonyms may be granted only on a case-by-case basis by special resolution of the Management Council. Pseudonyms may be granted in cases only when the identity of an author may endanger the life, person [i.e. bodily harm], or property of the author. Pseudonyms will not be granted in cases where the reputation of the author may be damaged by the writings of the author. Authors must be responsible for what they write.

(2) Place a link, in the Management section of the left-hand navigation column of each CZ page, entitled "MC motions passed" which would take readers directly to the Wiki page called Management Council Passed Motions.

2011-013, 10 March 2011:

The Constabulary is the line organization entrusted to enforce Citizendium policy. Its decisions are authoritative and must be followed by all citizens. Failure to do so is an infraction of Citizendium rules of behavior, which may lead to disciplinary action, including banning. If a citizen believes a Constabulary decision violates Citizendium policy, he/she may appeal this decision to the Management Council. The Management Council will then consider the case and render a judgment. This judgment may confirm that the Constabulary decision implements current policy or indicate where it does not and direct the Constabulary to correct the problem. As a subcategory of the first outcome, the Management Council may decide the appeal is frivolous and quickly confirm the Constable decision without further comment.

When the Constabulary declines to take an action requested by a citizen, this decision may be appealed to the Management Council.

2011-014, 15 March 2011:

The MC shall instruct the Chief Constable to unblock David Finn on a probationary basis until the MC has established an appeals process and is ready to consider his appeal. By probationary, it is meant that the Chief Constable may re-activate the block if David Finn's subsequent behavior makes that necessary again.

The MC shall inform the Chief Constable that the reasons for the probationary unblocking of David Finn are: (a) the MC has been remiss in not yet having considered David Finn's appeal against having been blocked, (b) the MC has not yet established an appeals process and (c) that it may yet be another month or more before the MC has an established appeals process.

The MC shall also instruct the Chief Constable to inform David Finn of the above reasons for removing his block on a probationary basis.

2011-015, 22 March 2011:

The following guidelines control appeals made to the MC in regards to constable decisions:

An appellant must have standing in the dispute. Standing means the decision under appeal directly involves him or her. An appeal by someone without standing will be dismissed.

Both the involved constable(s) and the appellant must provide their analysis why the decision under dispute either satisfies or contravenes CZ policy, the latter to include a constable decision based on non-existent policy. The Ombudsman will collect the relevant information for the appeal and present it on either the MC private communications board (for appeals the appellant or involved constables request remain private) or on a public board that only the MC and Ombudsman may modify.

The MC may request the Ombudsman to collect further information from the disputants and present it as part of the appeal process. The presentation of appeal evidence is a matter for the Ombudsman and not for the disputants. The Ombudsman is required to present all evidence provided to him by the disputants, but disputants are not parties to the discussions of this evidence by the Management Council. The Ombudsman may provide his views on the merits of the case, but does not have a vote on the disposition of the appeal.

Appeals will be based on the policy that existed at the time of the appealed decision. Appeal judgments by the Management Council will not include the provision of new policy. If an appeal identifies conditions requiring new policy, the Management Council will establish this policy in a separate administrative action.

The Management Council has complete flexibility in the judgments rendered for a particular appeal case. However, some common outcomes are: 1) denying the appeal without comment (for appeals the MC judges to be frivolous), 2) denying the appeal with comment, 3) confirming the appeal, and 4) acknowledging part of the appeal as meritorious. In the first two cases, the constable decision stands. In case 3 the decision is reversed. In case 4, the Management Council will specify how the decision should be modified to conform to CZ policy.

2011-016, 06 April 2011:

After deliberation, the Management Council has decided to set David Finn's probationary period to one month. That means, assuming he does not violate Citizendium professionalism provisions during the intervening period, the probationary status of his reinstatement will end on April 15, 2011. At that point in time his appeal will be moot and therefore its final disposition will be: dismissed without prejudice. Once again, the Managment Council apologizes to David for not acting on his appeal more expeditiously.

2011-017, 09 April 2011:

The following are established as infractions of Citizendium rules of professional discourse with the specified penalties. "Disturbing the Peace" occurs when two or more correspondents in any discussion venue of Citizendium engage in personal attacks on each other. "Taunting" occurs when one correspondent in any discussion venue of Citizendium engages in personal attacks on any other correspondent without retaliation by those attacked. A personal attack is any derogatory reference to another correspondent. Spirited discourse that attacks arguments or positions without reference to their author or supporter is not a personal attack.

Disturbing the Peace and Taunting carry the same disciplinary penalties. The first offense will generate a warning by the Constabulary. The second offense carries a penalty of 3 months ban from all Citizendium wikis and fora. The third offense carries a penalty of 6 months ban from all Citizendium wikis and fora. The fourth offense carries a penalty of a permanent ban from all Citizendium wikis and fora.

2011-018, 23 April 2011:

The seats of Chris Key, Joe Quick and Russell Jones are designated as those having a 1-year term.

2011-019, 26 April 2011:

The MC appoints Hayford Peirce (chair), Bruce Tindall and Anton Sweeney as the election committee for the June 2011 election.

2011-020, 27 April 2011:

Elections for Citizendium officials must satisfy the following:

1. Nominations shall be collected and collated by the election committee.
2. A candidate must be nominated by at least one citizen other than the candidate himself.
3. Only those nominees who accept their nomination shall be candidates eligible to appear on the ballot. Accepting a nomination serves as a declaration of commitment, in the case of being elected, to fulfill this function until the limit of the term.
4. When multiple vacancies exist for an office (e.g., Council seats), the ballot shall give citizens the opportunity to vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies. The ballot shall clearly indicate how many vacancies are eligible for votes.
5. Ballots indicating votes for more candidates than vacancies for any particular office, or ballots voting both for and against resolutions shall be declared invalid. The whole ballot shall not be counted.
6. The right to vote shall not be denied to any unblocked Citizen whose accounts were created at least 30 days prior to the election
7. No citizen may vote more than once in any election. The first ballot received by the election committee shall be the ballot counted. No citizen may cast more than one vote for any single candidate. Ballots violating this rule shall be declared invalid and not counted.
8. Candidates receiving the most votes shall be elected.
9. In the case of a tie, an immediate run-off election shall be held by the elections committee. A run-off election shall be completed within ten days.
10. The election committee shall count the ballots not more than two days after the completion of any election. Upon completion of an election and the counting of the ballots, the election committee shall announce the results listing each of the candidates and the number of votes they received and indicating who was elected.
11. All ballots shall be destroyed immediately after the completion of the election, the announcement of the results, and run-off elections if any.

2011-021, 28 April 2011:

The Management Council creates (as per Article 35 of the Charter) the position of Treasurer, whose responsibilities are to manage the financial details of Citizendium. These include, but are not limited to: 1) collecting donation and other revenue; 2) banking these funds in an appropriate account; 3) paying bills, such as hosting costs; and 4) running campaigns, such as donation drives, that result in additional revenue; 5) present monthly public financial statements to the Management Council; and 6) any other tasks as assigned by the Management Council. The Management Council may appoint any citizen to this position and may also remove the current holder of the position.

2011-022, 28 April 2011:

The MC appoints Milton Beychok as CZ Treasurer.

2011-023, 29 April 2011:

The following referendum will occur at the next election:

Modify the charter so sections three and four of Article 25 reads as follows:

Section Three: Elections
1. The candidates collecting the most votes shall be elected.
2. A Council member who becomes inactive or unavailable for a period of 90 days or more shall be replaced by election. A Council member who resigns shall be replaced by election.
3. A vacant council member seat shall be filled by election within 90 days of the vacancy. If a normal election does not fall within this period, the Management Council shall call a special election.
4. A special election is organized exactly as a regularly scheduled election, except the number of positions to be filled equals the number of Council vacancies.

Section Four: Council Size
1. Either Council may propose a change of its size by an even number of members; this proposal shall be subject to a referendum held together with the next election. If passed, the new seats shall be filled by special election.
2. A Council member may request a temporary leave of absence. Such leaves shall not exceed 120 days in a year. The temporary vacancy shall be filled with a citizen in good standing chosen by the Council. The term of this appointment shall equal the term of the temporary leave.
3. If, through resignations or simultaneous expiration of 90 day inactivity, Management Council membership falls below a quorum, seats on the Management Council shall be filled on a temporary basis by the following elected officials in the following order: Ombudsman, Managing Editor, then Members of Editorial Council in an order determined by the Editorial Council. The Management Council so constituted with temporary members shall be devoted to the task of establishing an elections committee for the purpose of holding an election.
4. If, through resignations or simultaneous expiration of 90 day inactivity, Editorial Council membership falls below a quorum, or upon the resignation of the Ombudsman or Managing Editor, the Management Council shall appoint an elections committee, giving it the task of filling empty seats via an election.

2011-024, 29 April 2011:

The following referendum will occur at the next election:

Modify Article 39 to read:

1. The role of the Ombudsman is a) to offer guidance on existing policy and its interpretation to help resolve disputes b) to advise the Councils and c) settle disputes, including imposing interim solutions pending relevant policy decisions. Throughout, the Ombudsman's guidance is expected to be in accord with the established principles and policies of Citizendium, and particularly with the Charter. The Ombudsman is available to mediate any dispute.

2. The Ombudsman mediates a dispute when requested by all involved parties or when requested by the Chief Constable. Agreements worked out through mediation shall be binding but may be appealed.

2011-025, 29 April 2011:

The following referendum will occur at the next election:

Modify the charter to replace the text indicated:

Article 29, Paragraph 2, shall be replaced with "No Citizen may serve in two elected offices at the same time, except that a Citizen may sit on an appeals board while holding another office."

Article 30, introductory clause shall be replaced with "Elections and referenda shall be organized by the Management Council and carried out by the Election Committee, with the following conditions:"

Article 34, new paragraph shall be added: "11. The number of Management Council members who are also members of a particular team managed by the Council may not equal or exceed a quorum. For example, the number of Management Council members who are Constables may not equal or exceed a quorum. The number of Management Council members who are Technical Staff members may not equal or exceed a quorum."

Article 38, new paragraph shall be added:

5. Any Constable serving on the Management Council is not eligible to vote on an appeal of a Constable action. If the number of Council members is reduced below a quorum by this restriction, then the Council shall appoint a citizen in good standing, whose only duty is to hear the appeal and vote on it."

2011-026, 08 May 2011:

The election committee is instructed to include the following referendum in the upcoming June 2011 election:

Add to Article 29:

3. Any member of the Management Council or Editorial Council may resign at any time for any reason. The resignation may be made publicly or privately to the Councils. The resignation becomes effective the moment that the Chair of the Management Council or the Secretary of the Editorial Council accepts the resignation and announces the acceptance of the resignation in the official Council Forums. The moment that a resignation is formalized in that manner, that office is thereby vacant and must be filled according to the Charter.

2011-027, O8 May 2011:

At the Spring elections for seats open on the Management Council, the elections committee shall:

Begin accepting nominations and referenda on May 13, 2011;
Stop accepting nominations and referenda at the end of June 3, 2011;
Have the ballot prepared by June 10, 2011;
Begin accepting ballots from eligible voters on June 10, 2011;
Stop accepting ballots at the end of June 17, 2011;

2011-028, 08 May 2011:

When using the simple majority voting method for council elections, the number of votes on a ballot may be less than or equal to the number of open seats.