The expectation is that if you say you are going to take on a task, that you follow through with it, or ask for assistance if you are unable to do so.
Regardless of whether they choose to be a steward or not, node staff are still required to abide by the Website League's code of conduct, and address issues within their own node, or respond to reports made by other node staff and/or stewards as needed. If they are unable to do so, it may jeopardize their standing in the League, but again, a decision will be made before any such response occurs, based on the severity of the issue at hand. Stewardship is also not a strict requirement for involvement in ongoing Website League projects, though it may be helpful to request the role if you plan to contribute significantly. As mentioned, the role indicates not just a willingness to vote, but a desire to *help*, and makes it easier for everyone to keep track of who is actually working on projects for the League. Similarly, if you feel at any time that you would no longer be a steward for whatever reason, simply let your other stewards know. So long as you still feel like participating in the League, you are welcome to do so, steward or not. ### The governance process Decision-making within the League is done by majority vote; a quorum based on the current number of active stewards is required for a decision to pass. All votes will be recorded on [Consensus](https://consensus.websiteleague.org), our voting platform, and anyone, steward or not, should be able to view them. When a vote is concluded, it is expected that the Website League and its members will make whatever changes necessary to implement the result. If unable to do so, another vote may be called later on; it is entirely possible that a decision may be reversed if it turns out to be completly infeasible or prevailing opinion changes at some point. It's also possible that the voting process may become more strict if we see evidence of abuse, so please make sure you are being responsible with both your requests for votes, and your comments on votes, which are more or less a matter of public record once submitted. Harassment of League members or stewards through the Loomio system or in an attempt to influence a voting decision(or, anywhere else, for any reason) will not be tolerated. ### The infrastructure group A central group of stewards familiar with the central infrastructure of the League has also been established for the purposes of maintaining and administering the platforms that are hosted on websiteleague.org; this is again a mostly voluntary role but it is not recommended that users or stewards request to be in the infrastructure group unless they are well familiar with the maintenance or administration of one or more of the platforms in use. Currently, membership in this group is fairly restricted as these individuals are essentially "key holders" for our central infra; if you wish to volunteer for this task, it may not be granted unless you have demonstrated your ability to be responsible with that authority. # How to Become a Steward Per [the original proposal](https://consensus.websiteleague.org/d/EG3zICZX/proposal-4-procedures-of-the-decision-making-group) that initially set up the League, anybody can become a Steward with a consensus vote from existing stewards. That means you, too, dear reader. To re-iterate, we expect a few things from stewards: #### Expectations of Stewards - *some* available time to at least read proposals and provide any input on them you feel is necessary - having time to at least skim chats would also be helpful, but 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 might 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 other people 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 might personally not like them for one reason or another) and adherence to the Zapatista principles of “good government” that are the basis of everything else so far, which are: - 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 (to listen to the people we are building this for) not above (toward 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. #### Joining If this sounds interesting to you, you should start by creating an [Authentication account](https://authentication.websiteleague.org/). Anybody can do this, even if they aren't looking for any extra responsibility, but this is the thing that will grant you access to all the steward-y stuff later. With that, you should request an existing Steward put up a vote for you. Whoever you pick as your sponsor should at least do a bit of vetting, so if you already know one you can ask directly, and save a bit of that time. Otherwise, you can post a new topic in the [\#Governance](https://coordination.websiteleague.org/#narrow/stream/23-Governance) Zulip Channel and explicitly ask for a sponsor. Either way you should prepare an intro statement for your sponsor to include in the vote. this should include, at a minimum: - Who are you? Do you already have an account on the League, or some other kind of public presence? - Why do you want to be Steward? - What would you like to focus on as a Steward? If applicable, you can mention existing experience, but this isn't a job interview or anything. Here's a [real-life example](https://consensus.websiteleague.org/d/2PAhSpEw/alloyed-kit-stewardship-vote) of this kind of vote, with intro statement: [](https://information.websiteleague.org/uploads/images/gallery/2025-10/ilbNoNSUohT1SnrP-image.png) And then the vote will go through. Consensus means that of all the people that vote, nobody should have an objection to you joining. Good luck! # Central Services The following services are used in the day-to-day work of being a steward:| Name | Software | Purpose |
| [Consensus](https://consensus.websiteleague.org) | Loomio | The core voting platform. |
| [Coordination](https://coordination.websiteleague.org) | Zulip | Real-time chat, like Slack. |
| [Information](https://information.websiteleague.org) | Bookstack | Shared Wiki and reference material, like Confluence (you're here right now!) |
| [Planning](https://planning.websiteleague.org) | Vikunja | Project and Task tracking, like Jira. |
| [Authentication](https://authentication.websiteleague.org) | KeyCloak | Single Sign On (SSO) provider, like Active Directory |