Note:
The comments indented as list items have been added by luap42 as a reply.

Articles 7, 13 and 20 could be replaced by a single article stating that each case which is handled by the panel is assigned a reporter.

• This will be considered. One possible problem is, that the Title 4 proceedings reporter doesn't need admin privileges in most cases, but we can find a formulation for that.

The first sentence of the second paragraph of the preamble should be adapted:

The Panel’s duties are reviewing moderator actions and reviewing whether a moderator is suitable for the role or should be removed if this is questioned.

Removing primary eliminates possible interpretational issues like "Oh, and what are its secondary duties?". By defining clearly what the panel has to do and what not also eliminates the need of Article 33. Removing "in more serious cases" makes clear that the panel can theoretically always intervene but also removes the uncertainty what a more serious case is and what not.

• I'd not do this for two reasons: First of all, the panel is also responsible for other cases (Title 4). Secondly, I'd rather have talks than punishments. Removing "in serious cases" goes against that principle.

Can someone please explain the reasoning behind "In the first election, the three members with the lowest vote scores shall be elected for one-year terms only." (Article 1). Why doesn't this simply apply for everyone in the first election?

• See manassehkatz's comment. The idea is, that we won't change the whole panel at a time, but about the half (once 3, once 4).

Article 11 states that only the Codidact team and other moderators are eligible to initiate a Moderator Review Proceeding. Why can't regular users directly initiate one? I think that this opportunity must be there in a community-first approach. For the concern that this could lead to unwarranted and many appeals at once, there can be threshold in form of providing evidence. Evidence can be reviewed and according to Article 8 be rejected if "obviously unreasonable".

• Warranted moderator review will (and should) be rare. I'd rather not have many moderator review complaints because of possibly unfair question closure. We can revisit this if there is a need. Furthermore, communities can choose for themselves, how mods are selected and hence logically also "deselected". If a community mistrusts a mod, they can remove them without initiating a review procedure, which is for egregious Codidact rule violations.

Speaking about Article 8, this should be a general clause as the reporter articles should be as this applies to every case presented.

• I'll review this.

For Article 12, why does someone on the team need a moderator status to carry out the designated duties? In my understanding (especially as @luap42 answered me about how these terms are defined), a team member is "responsible for the administrative day-to-day operations" - is moderating considered an administrative day-to-day operations? I thought day-to-day operations are concerned with running Codidact which not only evolves about moderating but rather organising the project, the volunteers and preparing documents for boards and governing bodies. This sentence needs some clarification, especially with a legal entity in mind as the removal of a moderator status of a team member shouldn't impair the project. (See the bus factor.) It also helps to show that we all are in it and that the panel views everyone as equals in their operation.

• You are correct, that some dev won't need moderator access in most cases. However, they might get admin access (access to error logs and some site settings for example), which includes all privileges moderators enjoy. In these cases, the special provision applies.

How is option (b) in Article 17 reasonable? "Yes, you did something wrong - but hey, we know you, it's alright." Option (c) should be the main action taken but there are others problems as noted by @msh210. However, I think that (b) should be removed - personally, I don't get it. (I favour more warnings instead of acknowledging something while doing nothing.)

• This is for comparatively minor offenses, where the mod did something wrong, but it isn't severe enough to threaten removal (=formal warning) and we also don't want to dismiss the review as "unfounded"/"invalid", because it's technically correct.

Temporary replacements for recused members (Article 30 and 31) should be randomly drawn from a pool of candidates for which every member of the community can register. This reduces the probability of bias in choosing replacements as well as situations where the same individuals are repeatedly taken as replacements therefore acting as unofficial panel members even though they were never elected. The panel should be as free from bias as possible - randomising replacements keeps this relatively low.

• This is worth looking into.

Article 32 is in my opinion highly questionable. Either the board itself has the right to change the rules or the community as a whole. (I favour the community as a whole.) The Codidact team (whoever this might be after the creation of a legal entity) should have no say in this as this basically allows to dismantle the panel whenever the team feels like this. It doesn't help that "discussions with the community about the merit of the change" are held as no option is indicated for the community to stop an unreasonable change.

• Who exactly is able to change these policies will be defined by the constitution/by-laws of our organization. For now, the "Codidact team" is used as a placeholder for both all actions coming from "us" and not coming "from the community". Requiring public discussion should eliminate most possible cases of abuse. Furthermore, the community will send representatives to the board, which can have direct influence. This should be enough for now.

Besides these specific points, terms should be defined more precisely. As answered in the comments of @Lundin's answer, the panel is supposed to be network-wide, yet this word doesn't appear once in the rules (expect for removing a moderator network-wide). Similarly, as soon as there are help pages or documents explaining how the Codidact team or boards are created, these should be linked. (My last sentence only applies as soon as there is a legal entity - for a private venture I don't think that it's necessary.)

• This will be reviewed for the next draft version. However, many things with regards to legal formation are yet open and need to be discussed with a lawyer in the future and can't be decided yet.

posted over 4 years ago

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4y ago by luap42‭

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