Preface
Presently we live in an assumed democracy. The democratic system is in place, however it is ambiguous and not defined. This bill will serve as a constitution of sorts that will outline the procedures for direct democracy to occur.
Voting
We are a small town. We do not have a large enough population to require representatives.
Hence, this document proposes that when there is conflict in the town’s decision making process, there shall be a vote to decide how we proceed. This vote shall be proposed by any town individual, and another must second it in order to initiate a vote. Ample voting time (1-2 days) must be given, and a vote only starts when it is announced. In that announcement the correct period of which the vote is held must be detailed.
Town members must be duly informed that a vote is occuring, either through multiple pings in Discord or through dms. If any town member is unable to vote, then their vote is assumed to be a vote against.
A simple majority of greater than 50% of town members is required (absences are considered votes against). Once that majority is secured, the stipulations of the vote immediately become a rule/law and will be placed below this document. As soon as >50% of town members vote no, the vote fails and cannot be raised again for 3 more days.
The mayor
The mayor1 of the town is given ownership of the discord group, and has the responsibilities of being the town’s “spokesperson”, i.e. they will represent the town when speaking to foreign entities (i.e. student council, to be more specific yapes notes sponsored by the student council, gotta get that sponsorship so i can sell my website and make money). The mayor has no other powers, and does not have the right to remove members of the town.
Election
A snap election may be initiated at any time, but after a snap election fails the mayor gains a 5 day immunity. 3 successive failed snap election results in a 1 month immunity. This requires 1 person to challenge the mayor, with the support of at least 4 other people. Following this, the members of the town will participate in a vote between the challenger and the mayor. The challenger must get a strict majority (> 50%, absentees are considered votes for the current mayor). If this is attained, the mayor must hand over ownership to the challenger. However, as the former mayor, they enjoy certain privileges until the next mayor after is elected, namely:
- Immunity from being kicked
- Immunity from being muted/server channel restriction (excluding cases in which they breach code of conduct e.g. spamming nsfw images)2
- The privileges given to a standard member of the town Note that attempting to circumvent this immunity is outlawed and immediately returns ownership to the previous owner (for example, by immediately transferring ownership, kicking them, and then regaining it), or by a collective consideration of the previous discord server being illegitimate.
Anti-bickering
In order to prevent deadlock due to splintered factionalism in the town, and to make sure a firm ruling on what makes rules “equal” or “similar” to each other, a town speaker3 will be elected, once again by a 50% majority in a vote. This will be decided like the french election a multi-stage electoral process, where candidates may initially run for speaker, and where consecutive rounds will occur where the candidate that receives the lowest amount of votes is removed from the election (This is essentially the process for the Tory leadership elections, cause why not its funny).
The roles of the speaker will be mostly ceremonial, with the exception that they have the final say on whether a proposed vote is too similar to any prior votes in the above mentioned time-frame that would prevent such a proposal from being voted on.
Any votes related to the speaker, i.e. votes of no confidence, cannot be rejected by the speaker. However after two successive failed votes against the speaker, the speaker gains a 1 week immunity. In that 1 week period no votes related to the speaker may be proposed.
An important note
Before we go into the declaration of intent, I want to clarify how changes can be made. In a legal (if you consider there to even be laws) sense, anything related to the democratic function (the previous headings, i.e. from voting to anti-bickering inclusive) cannot be changed via vote, unless a 80% majority agrees to a proposed change. For anything else, i.e. adding things below that are unrelated to the democracy of the town, the above rules apply.
Declaration of intent
There was an intention in making the town, and while I wasn’t exactly the founder of the static site group, per se, I will acknowledge Christian as the original founder, I do believe (fact check me if I’m wrong) that I did come up with the original idea for the “town”, i.e. a collection of individuals who all have static sites, with the goal of collaboration and surviving “the desert” in mind.
However, due to the current situation, I feel it is the right time to make some clarifications about the actual goals of the town, its fundamental tenets, and its requirements for membership.
Purpose
To foster a community of individuals who individually own a online medium for the distribution of notes. The goal is to exist independently from external entities and help each other cultivate their own notes.
Tenets
- Town members co-exist as equals: as soon as someone becomes a town member, they have equal rights and say in the town.
- While mild slander is acceptable, defamatory comments are frowned upon, and votes may be held to reprimand people who excessively use libel/slander through their notes medium.
- NSFW content, as well as content that unduly harasses people or makes them uncomfortable, is banned. This includes any sexually explicit, violent, graphic, or offensive content (and especially inappropriate images fromÂ
redacted).
Requirements for membership
Individuals who individually own a online medium for the distribution of notes are applicable to be members.
This is including, and not limited to:
- Jekyll websites
- Quartz (Jekyll with modifications) websites
- Zola (also Jekyll with modification) websites
- Wix websites
- Notion users
These notes need to be relatively accessible. I.e. if it is physically and theoretically possible to access them, then they meet the requirement. Town members can take down their websites temporarily (up to 5 days). In order to join the town, members must submit an application (doesn’t need to be too complicated), and members must vote on it. A simple majority will suffice, as long as most people vote and more people are in favour than against. If there are 3 or more people against allowing a person to join, the town will engage in a discussion in order to make the vote as unanimous as possible.
Removing members and reprimanding
To forcefully remove a member, a vote must be held that reaches a supportive majority of 70%, and a proper reason must be given (e.g. violation of the rules). If this is for joke purposes, the member must be timed-out and/or restricted to a few channels via a removable role. Members can leave at any time, but those who do are not necessarily immediately reinstated if they change their mind.
To mute or temporarily suspend the membership of an individual, a vote must garner a 60% majority. This kind of “censor” vote cannot be held against either the mayor or the speaker.