Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 21:03:15 -0400
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[VirianDiscipline]:[DisciplinaryProcessIntroLetter]

!!!Disciplinary Process - Introductory Letter

[WorkInProgress]
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Additional URLs will be inserted before posting to the list. The "Disciplinary Process" master document in the form it will be posted is currently located at http://virus.lucifer.com/bbs/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=29433
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Given that there appears to be a great deal of misunderstanding about what the "Disciplinary Process" of the Church of Virus is - and is not, we intend to devote the next Tuesday Meeting 2003-10-07 on the #virus IRC channel at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?day=7&month=10&year=2003&hour=21&min=0&sec=0&p1=64 to that subject.

In preparation, for that, you will find the current accepted process documented on this thread.

Bear in mind as you read this, that the "Disciplinary Process does not aspire to "judgement", is not based in law and does not impose punishments. Instead, it is based on establishing community relationships and is intended to make the CoV community a pleasant place for all of its [i]meme[/i]bers, through a process which insists on appropriate behaviour and a graduated scale of sanctions intended to persuade members to conform to the desired and expected behavior.

It should be noted that the process relies on the people with the highest reputations to devote their time and efforts to this end. Unlike a normal representional system, where a representative is chosen for a fixed term, those Virians who elect to join the reputation system have the ability to change the reputations of those implementing this process at any time, and in so doing, provide immediate feedback on how this, and other processes and issues are handled. In addition, once a member of the congregation's reputation is sufficiently high, they are able to discuss "management issues" in the Cathedral section of the BBS and contribute to the development of policy on the Wiki.

It is intended to accelerate the rate at which we can respond to "wrong actions" through various technical changes, so that there is no excuse for the kind of "escalating retaliation" often seen in on-line communities (including our own) when feedback is belated.

If you would like to raise issues, discuss this process, make suggestions, call for clarifications, etc. before the meeting, please make responses and only on this thread. If you do partipate, please do not quote from the document, but simply refer to the paragraph numbers as that will simplify arranging the discussion into some kind of order.

When criticising this effort, please try to keep your responses impersonal and to the point, and whenever possible, suggest concrete changes where you feel the process is potentially non-ideal.
