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| Notes
These are the proposed Interim Rules for the new Chicago Issues Forum. These rules are open for public comment or communication to the Board and active volunteers. Once adopted in final form by the E-Democracy Board (most likely in August 2004), these will become the rules for all E-Democracy.Org forums. If requested, the Board may opt a longer transition period for specific forums. 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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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. The purpose statement in each forum charter defines that forum's scope. A charter may define additional rules and highlight essential rules. Based on a decade of experience, these rules provide a citizen-based foundation for online civility, a focus on public issues, and effective public agenda-setting. These online public spaces are more about the sharing of ideas and information than being right with one's ideology. Our forums are NOT designed for debating abstract political philosophy, "winning" online arguments, or ridiculing others for their beliefs, backgrounds, or speculated motivations. You have a right to participate. The following rules of participation define accountability and the limited power of forum managers and E-Democracy.Org. As the legal forum host, E-Democracy.Org seeks to exercise your public trust and responsibly mediate the inherent conflict among members rights and expectations. Participants are responsible for reading and understanding these rules. If you do not accept these rules or the spirit of a forum's purpose, please do not join or participate. Rules 1. Sign Posts - All
forum posts must be signed at the bottom of every message by the author
with at least their real first and last name, and city and/or neighborhood.
The use of pseudonyms,
2. Limits on Posting
- Depending upon the discussion technology and total message volume concerns,
a forum charter may limit the number of posts allowed per person within
specific time frames. These limits must be strictly followed. Further,
the charter with Chapter and Board approval may specifically list topics
not allowed on a particular forum.
3. Stay Within Forum Purpose
- Posting to the appropriate forum (including non-E-Democracy.Org options)
is essential - local topics on local forums, national topics on national
issue forums. Requests by the Forum Manager to bring discussions
within the scope of the forum must be followed or warnings may be issued.
The forum purpose and scope is a contract under which all forum members
joined. A forum must not be used as a convenient way to reach people
without explicitly
4. Be Civil - No insults,
name calling or inflamed speech for the sake of argument. Personal one-on-one
arguments, disagreements, and personality conflicts must be taken from
the public discussion forum and dealt with in private. Attempts at
humor or sarcasm should be labelled ... ;-), :-), etc. The Forum Manager
shall provide guidance to infringing participants to further develop a
practical sense of what is appropriate and what is not allowed.
5. No Attacks or Threats
- Personal attacks or public threats against the safety or security of
participants are not allowed. If you feel you have privately received an
illegal threat via e-mail, we ask you to contact to appropriate legal authorities.
The Forum Manager may only 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.
6. Private Stays Private
- Forwarding private messages to the online forum is NOT allowed without
the explicit permission of the original author. This includes private
replies you may receive based on your public posts to the forum 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 are considered citizens with equal participation rights and responsibilities
in a forum.
7. Avoid False Rumors, Correct
Yourself - All posts should be as accurate as possible and never intentionally
false. E-Democracy.Org is not responsible or liable for the content posted
to any forum. Rumors heard in the community, even those carried by the
media or other web sites, must be within a forum's issue-based scope to
be appropriate. In rare cases, such postings will not be considered
rule violations if the private conduct of a public official(s) has a direct
bearing on public policy. Such topics must be cleared with the Forum
Manager before posting publicly to the forum. Further, if you obtain factual
corrections to your previous post that was not shared in the discussion,
??? you should/must ??? issue a correction (within the posting limit or
via the Forum Manager if urgent).
8. Right to Post or Reply - Only those who are forum members may post directly. The subject of a forum post has a right of public reply once that individual or an individual representing that organization becomes a forum member. 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 moderation period of 24 hours applied equally no more than four times a year. The Forum Manager may moderate, rename, clean headers, and/or ignore non-member messages. 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. 9. Items Not Allowed in Forums
- No attached files (on e-mail-based forums), commercial product or service
advertising, virus warnings, or chain letters. Public event promotions
and links to commercial 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 is not allowed anywhere. Text
placed automatically at the bottom of messages by free e-mail services
are exempt. Public discussions of forum management and posting public complaints
about potential rule violations are out of scope.
10. Public Content and Use - By sharing an original message, forum members (authors) agree to distribute their intellectual property via the Internet and inclusion of that content a permanent publicly accessible online archive in perpetuity. A discussion forum posting may only be removed from the public archives under a court order or a case-by-case decision a Chapter or Board. With copyrighted material, you may post quotations from articles or web sites with the source URL. While forum posters (original authors) retain their personal copyright, they grant others through E-Democracy.Org the right to quote or forwarded their public forum messages to others as long as the author's name and the forum's name or web address are cited or linked. 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. If at any point you feel these rules
as written or generally 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 and Complaints 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
participant 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 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
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 and Removal 6. Removal 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. - Internal Phase (Private to avoid public member embarrassment - an excessive sanction.) A. First Warning - Each
warning expires after one full year.
B. Second Warning - The second official warning results in immediate suspension from the specific forum for two weeks. 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. Another two week suspension may be granted should the initial first warning expire before their third rule violation. - Public Phase D. Third Warning - A third warning within a year of the first warning results in immediate suspension for six months from the specific forum. Upon returning, the member remains on probation for two months. Notification of the suspension of this member must be sent to the local E-Democracy Chapter, the E-Democracy.Org Board, and after any appeals at that person's request posted in a factual manner to the forum itself without comment as to the cause. The Forum Manager shall remind forum participants that public discussion of suspensions violates the rule and shall offer links to appropriate places for discussion of E-Democracy rules and administration. [E-Democracy will create a web forum for ongoing and open rules discussions among participants.] E. Fourth Warning -
A fourth official warning within one year of the three other warnings 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 of which that member belongs and
sent to the E-Democracy Chapter and Board. The removed member has
the option to provide an up to 500 word public statement. This will be
attached to an optional 500 word statement from the Forum Manager about
the causes for removal. This will be sent to the forum in which the
warnings were generated.
7. Web Access Allowed - While
those suspended from forums may read the postings from the web (not via
e-mail), they may not forward those posts to other E-Democracy.Org forums
on which they maintain full posting rights.
8. False Identity Process and Removal - If it is determined with careful consideration by the Forum Manager/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 will notify the appropriate legal authorities in the political jurisdiction most closely associated with the forum. The only exception to this rule/penalty
is the case-by-case prior approval by the Forum Manager, E-Democracy Chapter
or E-Democracy Board for the use of aliases by those under official court
protection or participation by individuals in countries where political
expression is illegal and the serious threat of oppression exists.
Further, the charters for special time-limited web-based online events
on sensitive topics may be designed to allow anonymous participation with
Board approval only.
9. 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 oversight 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 a Forum Manager's warning is 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.
10. 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.
11. 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 posted
on the E-Democracy.Org website.
Comment on Suspension, Removal and Due Process 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. Board action expected in August.
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