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These are the Interim Rules for the new UK Pilot Forums and the Chicago Issues Forum. These rules were open for public comment. Once adopted in final form by the E-Democracy Board, these will become the rules for all E-Democracy.Org forums. If requested, the Board may opt a longer transition period for specific forums. Rules are reviewed every other year, although small amendments are always possible. All new E-Demoracy.Org forums will be created with these uniform rules which allow forum charter flexibility. Where did these rules come from? These rules are based on a decade of direct experience with volunteer-based facilitation of citizen-to-citizen online political discussion. Imagine designing the rules of debate in the first parliament. Once final these will be the basic rules for the online citizen assembly of the 21st Century. Specific sources: Minnesota Politics Discuss Rules (primary source evolving since 1994) Minneapolis Issues Forum Rules E-Democracy Rules Task Force Discussion from 2003 E-Democracy's updated Draft Mission and Core Beliefs Further research is available on our forum experiences. In general, our rules are designed to strike the balance between freedom and responsibility. With facilitation and limitations on management power, we have developed an effective and sustainable, low-cost volunteer-driven model for citizen-based civic discussion online. Try these rules in your community
by starting an Issues
Forum and local E-Democracy Chapter.
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Version 2.0 is available. These rules are the basis for all E-Democracy.Org-sponsored citizen-to-citizen discussion forums - including e-mail discussion lists, web forums, and other online events. You have a right to participate. The following rules of participation define accountability and the limited powers of volunteer forum managers and E-Democracy.Org. Based on a decade of experience, these rules provide a citizen-based foundation for online civility by focusing on public issues in order to promote effective public agenda-setting through dialogue. These online public forums about the sharing of ideas and information rather than being right with one's ideology or winning an argument. Our forums are not designed for debating abstract political philosophy or ridiculing others for their beliefs, backgrounds, or speculative motivations. The purpose statement in each forum charter defines a forum's scope. A charter may establish additional rules and highlight essential rules. The rules are further supported E-Democracy.Org's constitution and by-laws. As the legal forum host, E-Democracy.Org seeks to exercise your public trust by responsibly mediating conflict among member rights and expectations for the benefit of the community. Participants are responsible for reading and understanding these rules. By participating you agree to the spirit of a forum's purpose and these rules. Rules Summary
2. Limits on Posting - Two per member per day in most forum charters. 3. Keep Topics within Forum Purpose - Local issues on a local forum for example. 4. Be Civil - This is a public forum with real people. Respect among citizens with differing views is our cornerstone. 5. No Attacks or Threats - This keeps the forums safe. If content is illegal it will be forwarded to the proper legal authorities. 6. Private Stays Private - Don't forward private replies without permission. 7. Avoid False Rumors - Asking for clarification of what you've heard in the community can be appropriate if issues-based. You alone are responsible for what you post. 8. Right to Post and Reply - Sharing your knowledge and opinions with your fellow citizens is a democratic right. 9. Items Not Allowed in Forums - No attachments, etc. 10. Public Content and Use - You are sharing your content, but retain your copyright. 11. Warnings - You may receive informal or official warnings from the Forum Manager. 12. Suspension - With your second official warning in one year, you are suspended for two weeks. It goes up from there. 13. Appeals Process - You
can appeal a warning(s) once you receive a third warning and six month
removal. About 1 in 1500 forum members each year have appealed a six month
removal in past years.
1. Sign Posts - All
forum posts must be signed at the bottom of every message by the author
with their real first and last name, and city and/or neighborhood. Posting
with a pseudonym, anonymously or the use/theft of another person's identity
is strictly forbidden and has special penalties described under Warnings
#7.
2. Limits on Posting
- Participants must follow any posting frequency limits (often 2 per day
per person) when established in a forum charter. Participants must not
post messages about topics that are specifically not allowed in a forum's
charter.
3. Keep Topics within Forum Purpose - Requests by the Forum Manager to bring discussions within the scope of the forum must be followed or warnings may be issued. Limit posts to topics within the geographic area or issues related a forum's scope. 4. Be Civil - No insults,
name calling or inflamed speech. Personal one-on-one arguments, disagreements
or personality conflicts are not appropriate on the public discussion forum.
The Forum Manager shall provide guidance to participants on what is appropriate
and what is not allowed. Attempts at humor or sarcasm should be labeled
... ;-), :-), etc.
5. No Attacks or Threats
- Personal attacks or public threats against the safety or security of
participants are not allowed. The Forum Manager may issue warnings or remove
participants based on their public posts to a forum legally owned by E-Democracy.Org.
If you receive private communication from another participant that causes
you serious concern, you may communicate that to the Forum Manager, but
no action should be taken by the Forum Manager or E-Democracy.org to intervene
in private disputes among individuals. If you feel you have privately
received an illegal threat via e-mail you should contact the appropriate
legal authorities. E-Democracy.Org and its Chapters are not responsible
for any private behavior. However, if it is determined that a pattern of
abusive behavior is having a chilling effect on other's participation in
the public forum, the Forum Manager may issue a warning and/or removal
upon advising the local Chapter Steering Committee.
6. Private Stays Private
- Forwarding private messages to the online forum is not allowed
without the express permission of the original author. This includes
private replies to public posts and other private or personal communication
including e-mail communication with public officials who may or may not
be forum members. Public officials and Forum Managers have equal participation
rights and responsibilities in our forums - everyone is a citizen first.
7. Avoid False Rumors, You are
Liable - Rumors of a personal nature are not allowed. Your posts must
be accurate based on your full knowledge and never intentionally false.
Unverified "grapevine" information of a public nature must be within a
forum's issue-based scope to be appropriate. If in doubt about the
appropriateness of a given topic, check privately with the Forum Manager
before posting. Otherwise, the Forum Manager might take disciplinary action
if your post is deemed to be off-topic. Further, via the forum itself,
you must correct your previous expressions of fact or "known" information
that you find later to be false or substantially incorrect. Exceptions
include your assertions already publicly corrected or clarified by others
in forum discussions. Corrections must be made within any daily posting
limit or via the Forum Manager if urgent. You, and you alone are liable
for the content of your own messages. E-Democracy.Org is not responsible
or liable for the content posted to any technically unmoderated forum or
moderated announcement service.
8. Right to Post and Reply - E-Democracy.Org through its right of free assembly and expression have further established equal rights among all registered forum members to participate. You may only lose those E-Democracy.Org established rights based on your actions, particularly rule violations. Only those who are registered forum members may post directly. Any person or organization that is publicly mentioned in a forum post has a right to reply, unless that person has been suspended for rule violations. In order to post a reply, the individual (or an individual representing the organization) must become a registered member of the forum. 9. Items Not Allowed in Forums, Exceptions - Commercial advertising, virus warnings from members, and chain letters are prohibited from all forums. In e-mail based forums, posts must be plain text with no file attachments. Comments or complaints about forum management or complaints about member rule violations must not be posted to the main forum. Instead, direct such messages privately to the Forum Manager. Discussion of these rules or forum management may be taken public via our Participant Assembly in our Townhall: http://e-democracy.org/townhall Public event promotions and links
to commercial, media, or non-profit online content related to the scope
of the forum are appropriate. Participant "signatures" providing
links to the work or projects of an individual are acceptable, but the
display of specific products for sale are not allowed. E-Democracy.Org
and its committees and chapters may acknowledge sponsors, donors, and their
fundraising events in messages or on the web site.
10. Public Content and Use - By posting an original message, the
message author
With copyrighted material like newspaper
articles, you may post quotations from articles or web sites with the source
URL. "Fair use" of excerpts (not the full text) is encouraged well
as the distribution of extended text from government produced content.
Warnings and Suspension from E-Democracy.Org
Forums
In our citizen-based forums, participants themselves keep the forums relevant and on track. There is no government, political group, corporation, or single individual controlling our self-governance system. You may lose your right to participate based on your behavior in a forum. You may also regain your rights. We know from a decade of experience, that volunteer-based forum facilitation and management is essential. We make difficult decisions and reign in rule violators in order to protect the public mission of our forums and E-Democracy.Org's non-profit obligations. We encourage those with different ideas about how online discussions should be structured and managed to start and announce such forums via our networks. We are just one voluntary model. If at any point you feel these rules
as written or historically applied do not serve the stated mission or goals
of E-Democracy.Org, you have the right to petition the Board for specific
changes.
Warnings 1. Manager Warnings - Official
warnings are sent to the infringing member when a Forum Manager determines
that a rule has been broken. The Forum Manager may at their discretion
send informal advisories to encourage rule compliance. They may also
at their discretion issue and record official warnings. The Forum
Manager is not required to monitor every post.
2. Member Complaints - Forum
members may send informal complaints privately to the potentially infringing
participants to encourage citizen-to-citizen accountability. Any forum
member may also file an official complaint about a specific post directly
with the Forum Manager. They may not post their complaint publicly
to the forum - this fundamentally distracts a forum from its purpose. The
Forum Manager will respond to complaints in a uniform fashion and maintain
records of all official warnings given.
3. Warnings Active - Official
warnings last for one year. They must be recorded by the Forum Manager
and kept in case of an appeal.
4. Special Moderation - A
Forum Manager may moderate the posts of specific members upon notification
to that member for up to two months while dealing with rule compliance
issues. This may be renewed upon notification.
5. Managers as Citizens -
Forum Managers retain the right to participate in the forum under same
rules as other participants. They may express their opinions but
may not allow their political views to influence specific forum management
decisions. Complaints about potential rule violations by Forum Managers
must be sent directly to the local E-Democracy Chapter or the E-Democracy.Org
Board.
Note: If forum management responsibilities are split among a team, a member of that team shall be designated to issue warnings and receive complaints on a regular or clearly identified rotating basis. Comment
on Warnings and Complaints
Suspension 6. Suspension Process - The warning process starts with probation and results in removal periods that grow in length based on repeat offenses. Warnings are specific to each forum. Due to variations in forum purposes and management styles, similar conduct may not result in the same sanction. The initial warning process and suspension level is private in order to avoid public member embarrassment - a penalty greater than that deserved. While under suspension, a member may not post nor ask others to forward their comments to the forum. They may not receive forum posts via e-mail. While they may read the postings from the web, they may not forward or comment on those posts in other E-Democracy.Org forums on which they maintain full posting rights. A. First Warning - The first official warning is recorded. The member is not suspended. Each warning expires after one full year. The member should consider themselves on probation. B. Second Warning - The second official warning results in immediate suspension from that specific forum for two weeks. Another two week suspension may be granted should the initial first warning expire before their third rule violation. The first two warnings may not be appealed at this time. They may only be appealed on their merits if a third warning is given within one year of the first warning. D. Third Warning - A third warning within a year of the first two warnings results in an immediate suspension for six months from the specific forum. Notification of the suspension of this member must be sent to the local E-Democracy Chapter and the E-Democracy.Org Board. After any member appeals are heard, at that member's request, the Forum Manager will post a basic notice to the public forum that that member has been suspended for six months. The Forum Manager shall remind forum participants that public discussion of suspensions violate the rules and shall offer a link to the appropriate web forum that allows discussion of E-Democracy rules and administration: http://e-democracy.org/townhall Upon returning, the member may receive a fourth warning if the first warning is still active or within two months which ever is longer. Another third warning suspension will be granted after two months assuming that only their first active warning has expired. E. Fourth Warning - A fourth official warning results in full removal from all E-Democracy.Org forums for five years. After any appeals are processed, an announcement about the removal of this member will be publicly posted to the forums to which that member belongs and sent to all E-Democracy Chapters and the Board. The removed member has the option to provide an up to 300 word public statement that will be linked in the rules section of the E-Democracy web site. This will be linked to an optional 300 word statement from the Forum Manager about the causes for removal. (Former proposed rule 7 integrated into six above) 7. False Identity Process and Removal - If it is determined with careful consideration by the Forum Manager or E-Democracy.Org that a participant's actual identity is in question, E-Democracy.Org will immediately suspend posting for that person on all forums until such time that a one page letter including a photocopy of a government issued ID with the full address and notarized signature (on the same page) is delivered to E-Democracy.Org. If no proof of identity is provided within two weeks, the e-mail address(es)/members accounts shall be deleted and banned from all E-Democracy.Org forums. Any identified individual found to have violated this rule will be suspended from all participation in E-Democracy.Org forum's and activities for five years. This includes any and all e-mail accounts associated with that person whether real or falsified. If it appears that fraud, forgery, identity theft, or computer crime laws have been violated, E-Democracy.Org will notify the appropriate legal authorities in the political jurisdiction most closely associated with the forum. The only exception to this rule is
the case-by-case prior approval by the Forum Manager and E-Democracy Chapter
or E-Democracy Board for the use of an alias by someone under official
court protection or participation by individuals in countries where political
expression is illegal and the serious threat of oppression or retribution
exists. As an exception to this section, the charters for special
time-limited web-based online events on sensitive topics may be designed
to allow anonymous participation with Chapter or Board approval only.
8. Appeals and Due Process
- Any third or fourth warning may be appealed under our due process procedure
to the local E-Democracy Chapter or the E-Democracy.Org Board should a
local forum management steering committee not exist. At that time,
the validity of the first or second warning may also be reviewed and the
total number of warnings reduced if any of the Forum Manager warnings are
overturned. A forum member's suspension shall remain in effect during
the review process. The review process may last no more than three
weeks from confirmation that the appeal was received.
9. Technical Removal - Technical
maintenance, full e-mail inboxes, or excessive bounced messages may cause
a member to be temporarily or technically removed from the forum or result
in a delayed distribution of their posts. In these cases, the member may
rejoin the forum at any time.
10. Mission Responsibilities
- It is the responsibility of the E-Democracy Board to develop and protect
each forum as an organizational initiative within the non-profit mission
of E-Democracy.Org. The E-Democracy Board reserves the right to remove
any participant upon careful consideration and stipulate the terms and
duration of that removal. Notices on such removals will be linked
from the rules section the E-Democracy.Org website.
Comment
on Suspension, Removal and Due Process
Forum Manager Responsibilities These notes will form a new governance document applied to Forum Managers and Chapter Steering Committees in the future. They are in effect now. 1. Forum Managers may only moderate discussion posts over a standard size/length, posts sent to multiple addresses or forums, posts with attachments, posts from new members to make sure they are not spammers, upon the notification of those being moderated, or a temporary forum-wide moderation for up to 24 hours applied to all members as required on an extremely limited basis. 2. The Forum Manager may moderate, rename, clean headers, and/or ignore non-member messages. 3. Special time-limited online events, chats, and announcement services may be moderated on a prior and post review basis if clearly described in that service's charter. 4. The Forum Manager is selected
and accountable to the Chapter Steering Committee or the E-Democracy.Org
Board if a chapter does not yet exist. A Forum Manager may be removed
and the Chapter or Board shall consider and respond to specific complaints
from forum participants about forum management. Suggestions on future
"vote of confidence" or petition mechanisms to ensure legitimacy of the
online public space are of interest to the Board.
Answer
our short poll and/or comment in general or on
related topics.
Adopted 12 FEB 1996, Revised 1 APR
1997, Major Revision 28 JUL 1999
DRAFT Rules streamlined, guidance moved to another document, removal process updated 14 APR 2004, Not yet adopted - Interim for the Chicago Issues Forum Released for public comment, June 16 - July 1, 2004. All public comments reviewed and
edits made. Version for Board approval and any final public comments,
10 DEC 2004.
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