Accepted Proposals

These are proposals that have been voted on and have been accepted by stewards.

Defining the Website League's Stewards
[Temporary] Bootstrapping Coming to Agreements
Steward Procedures

Defining the Website League's Stewards

Stewards

The Website League's stewards will deliberate on proposals presented, and make the final decision on whether proposals will be accepted or not. Ultimately, stewards will be the ones to make decisions on matters relating to how the League operates and is structured, such as the rules that instances and communities within the League will follow, and what the structure of the League will look like.

Steward Membership

The current process for becoming a steward is better defined in Proposal 4 (Steward Procedures).

Becoming a steward is voluntary.

Prior to October 1st, 2024, stewardship was open to members that met any of the following conditions:

Any person that intended to, or expressed interest in, participating in the League as a node's staff member, or
Any person with a relevant skill set or prior experience that would contribute to the planning, coding, hosting, organization, advertising, social harmony, or other such need of the League.

Currently, conditions of membership require at least one of the following:

Any person who has acted, or is currently acting as, a node's staff member at the time of League formalization, or
Any person vetted by existing stewards to become a node's staff member within the League, or
Any person with a relevant skill set, prior experience, or other such need that would contribute to the League's health and continuation, or
Any person that does not fit into the prior three categories, but is otherwise agreed to by consensus of existing stewards.

Last updated: Friday, November 8th 2024 03:17:20 UTC

This proposal was voted on in the Discord #announcements channel on September 14th, 2024. It was accepted unanimously, with 43 votes in favor of and 0 against.

This proposal was modified from the original document to reflect the League's current formalization, as well as reflect the decision made October 1st, 2024 to rename the "decision making group" to "stewards" (link)

Original document, along with discussion: Proposal 1 (The Decision-Making Group)

[Temporary] Bootstrapping Coming to Agreements

This proposal is explicitly temporary, and will be replaced in the future with a more permanent procedure.

Provisional Process of Coming to an Agreement

(Drafted by Alyaza, minor edits by Tenna)

Proposals can be drafted by any steward.

Proposals will seek to have consensus from those around (or explicit approval from 2/3rds of stewards) before being voted on. Once started, the voting period will last no less than 24 hours, and must receive the support of 2/3rds of stewards (excluding explicit abstentions) in order to go into effect.

If a steward expresses they wish to veto a proposal, it immediately fails.

In a crisis/emergency situation, procedure is to exercise best judgement in the moment - there will be a time later to talk things over for a better outcome.

Proposed Principles of the Decision-Making Process

(Drafted by Alyaza, minor edits by Tenna)

The guiding principles for the decision-making process are the Zapatista principles of "good government":

to serve others not oneself;
to represent not supplant;
to build not destroy;
to obey not command;
to propose not impose;
to convince not defeat;
to go below (listen to the people we are building this for) not above (towards the accumulation of our own power as a group).

This is with the ultimate goal of working for the survival of the collective Website League, and fulfilling any responsibilities that are defined by the communities in the League.

Last modified Friday, November 8th, 2024 03:47:42 UTC

This proposal was brought to a vote on September 17th, 2024. It passed with 17 votes in favor, 0 against, 0 abstain, 0 no opinion.

Minor edits were made to the verbiage of the document to reflect the change from "decision-making group" to "stewards", as well as changes to structure. No factual/mechanical changes were made to the proposal in this edit.

Original Document (with discussion): Google Docs: Proposal 2 (Coming to Agreement, Bootstrap Stage)

Steward Procedures

(Drafted by Alyaza, minor edits by Tenna)

Steward Expectations

Some time available to at least read proposals and provide any input you feel is necessary.
- Having time to skim chats would also be useful. Efforts will be made to synthesize or copy over any important points to a more accessible venue.
The willingness to speak up, even if you may be the only one who will for an issue you feel needs addressing.
- The point of a consensus system is to incorporate everyone's concerns - otherwise, there's no sense in it versus regular voting.
An openness to changing your mind when others give feedback.
The willingness to sometimes make compromises, especially about ideas you feel attached to, without feeling attacked or taking it personally.
The ability to handle and regulate some level of frustration.
- It is likely at least some conversations in the process will be painful, irritating, frustrating, or long-winded, and this will grate on you.
The ability to work in good faith with people, even if you may not personally like them.

Principles of the Decision-Making Process

Zapatista principles of "good government" that are the basis of everything else so far:

to serve others not oneself;
to represent not supplant;
to build not destroy;
to obey not command;
to propose not impose;
to convince not defeat;
to go below (listen to the people we are building this for) not above (towards the accumulation of our own power as a group)

This is with the ultimate goal of working for the survival of the collective Website League, and fulfilling any responsibilities that are defined by communities in the League.

Adding Stewards

There are three ways to become a steward:

A person (or group of people) apply to start a new node, and voluntarily ask to become a steward.
- This will require vetting the node itself (for adhering to our requirements), and each member of staff that wants to be a steward.
Staff of an existing node nominate a new staff member to become a steward, or a staff member asks to become a steward.
- This will require vetting the individual.
A steward nominates a new member based on other criteria.

Consensus will be sought on all additions to the group, regardless of the method of joining; if no consensus is reached, they will not be added.

If no consensus can be reached, but the situation is deemed extraordinary (such as a crisis or emergency), a vote may be taken instead. This would require a 2/3rds majority to pass, and any person(s) added by vote must eventually go through the typical process to remain a steward.

Last edited Friday, November 8th, 2024 03:10:08 UTC

This proposal was brought to a vote on September 21st, 2024. It passed with 17 endorsements, 1 non-objections, 0 minor objections, 0 stand asides, 0 major objections, and 1 abstain.

Minor edits have been made by Tenna to reflect a change from "decision-making group" to "stewards", as well as minor changes to structure. No changes to facts/mechanical process have been made.

Viviridian added a hyperlink to a page with instructions on how to seek consensus on Loomio.

Original Document: Google Docs: Proposal 4 (Procedures of the DMG)