Social Committee proposal text (diff), updated
Hi,
I went back and examined the thread that started with
Message-ID: <20070212023252.GA2439@keid.carnet.hr> in February, and
came up with the following diff at the Constitution.
The changes from the last version include:
* replaced the somewhat confusing 'day-to-day' reference
* added section 'Intervene in communication processes in matters of common
interest.', summing up Ian's recent proposal, but genericized, and
linked (warning must precede action), with the primary example
* noted joint technical+social disputes in relation to tech-ctte and leader
* added example for lending authority
* added example for overriding a developer
* limited nomination period repetition
* postponed publicizing votes
* clarified that there is a list of winners, removed confusing NOTA
requirement (it was in the wrong section)
* allowed the list to be smaller than sqrt(N)/2
* limited senior criterion, both relative and absolute
* slightly reduced the senior quota
* described multiple winners procedure in the Standard Resolution Procedure,
with the handling of multiple winners being inclusive
The diff is attached (for the benefit of those like me who have syntax
highlighting :).
--
2. That which causes joy or happiness.
--- constitution.wml 2007-02-12 01:49:13.000000000 +0100
+++ constitution+soc-ctte.wml 2007-06-05 01:08:50.000000000 +0200
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@
<LI>The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman;</LI>
+ <LI>The Social Committee and/or its Chairman;</LI>
+
<LI>The individual Developer working on a particular task;</LI>
<LI>Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific
@@ -64,7 +66,8 @@
<LI>
<P>A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader,
- Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must
+ Project Secretary, the Chairman of the Technical Committee
+ and the Chairman of the Social Committee must
be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as their
own Delegate.</P>
</LI>
@@ -142,6 +145,11 @@
Committee, provided they agree with a 2:1 majority.</p>
</li>
+ <li>
+ <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the
+ Social Committee.</p>
+ </li>
+
<LI>
<P>Issue, supersede and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
statements.</P>
@@ -193,7 +201,8 @@
<OL>
<LI>If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical
- Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override them
+ Committee, or the Social Committee, has made a decision,
+ then Developers can override them
by passing a resolution to do so; see §4.1(3).</LI>
<LI>If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers,
@@ -203,7 +212,8 @@
<LI>If the original decision was to change a discussion period or
a voting period, or the resolution is to override the Technical
- Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution
+ Committee, or the resolution is to override the Social Committee,
+ then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution
to be able to put the decision immediately on hold.</LI>
<LI>If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to
@@ -263,11 +273,11 @@
<OL>
<LI>
<P>Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical
- Committee.</P>
+ Committee, or delegate decisions to the Social Committee.</P>
<P>The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a
- specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or to the
- Technical Committee.</P>
+ specific decision and hand it over to another Developer, or to the
+ Technical Committee, or to the Social Committee.</P>
<P>Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the
Project Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however, they may
@@ -737,6 +747,246 @@
that includes the commitments those organisations have made as
to how those assets will be handled.</p>
+<toc-add-entry name="10">10. Social committee</toc-add-entry>
+
+<H3>10.1. Powers</H3>
+
+<p>The <a href="soc-ctte">Social Committee</a> may:</p>
+
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>Decide on any matter of social policy.</p>
+
+ <p>This includes social norms and customs, non-technical communication
+ among developers, and general matters of organization within the Project.
+ </p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Decide any social issue where Developers' jurisdictions
+ overlap.</p>
+
+ <p>In cases where Developers need to implement compatible
+ social policies or stances, the social committee may decide the
+ matter.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Make a decision when asked to do so.</p>
+
+ <p>Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to the
+ Social Committee, or seek advice from it.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Offer advice.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee may make formal announcements about its
+ views on any matter.
+ <cite>Individual members may of course make informal statements about
+ their views and about the likely views of the committee.</cite></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Intervene in communication processes in matters of common interest.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee may issue a formal request that a person refrain
+ from certain acts and communications. Such requests, explaining the
+ nature of acts to be avoided, may be made in an effort to avoid serious
+ hindrance to constructive and agreeable relations.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee may instruct the administrators of Debian's
+ official communication forums to make or remove access control
+ arrangements which allow or prevent a person from pursuing a particular
+ action that was previously a matter of an aforementioned request
+ to refrain.</p>
+
+ <p>For example, the Committee can ask a Developer not to post to
+ a particular mailing list, and it can instruct the mailing list
+ administrators to prevent a Developer from doing so.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Defer judgement to the Technical Committee.</p>
+
+ <p>If the Social Committee can not decide whether an issue is
+ social (rather than technical), it defers judgement to the
+ Technical Committee.</p>
+
+ <p>Where a dispute contains both technical and social elements,
+ the Social Committee will discuss the matter with the
+ Technical Committee in an effort to come to a common decision.</p>
+
+ <p>In cases of jurisdictional disputes, the Leader will be asked to
+ decide the appropriate venues and priorities.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Lend authority to other Developers.</p>
+
+ <p>If a Developer brings up an issue with the Social Committee,
+ the Committee can vote to lend authority to a willing Developer
+ in order to assist in resolving the issue.</p>
+
+ <p>For example, the Committee can appoint a mediator to a dispute.</p>
+
+ <p>The Project Leader may override the aforementioned action.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority).</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee may ask a Developer to take a particular social
+ course of action even if the Developer does not wish to; this requires
+ a 3:1 majority.</p>
+
+ <p>For example, the Committee can ask a Developer to stop rehashing
+ old arguments in a public forum.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Appoint the Chairman of the Social Committee.</p>
+
+ <p>The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members.
+ All members of the committee are automatically nominated; the
+ committee votes starting one week before the post will become
+ vacant (or immediately, if it is already too late). The members
+ may vote by public acclamation for any fellow committee member,
+ including themselves; there is no default option.</p>
+
+ <p>The vote finishes when all the members have voted, or when the
+ voting period has ended. The result is determined using the method
+ specified in section A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure.</p>
+ </li>
+
+</ol>
+
+<H3>10.2. Appointment and composition</H3>
+
+<ol>
+ <li>S1 is the smallest integer number that is larger than Q.
+ S2 is S1 or 7, whichever is larger.
+ The Social Committee consists of S2 Developers.</li>
+
+ <li>The Social committee members are elected by the Developers.
+ Each member is elected for a period of two years. The election
+ for members of the Social committee is held every two years.</li>
+
+ <li>The election for social committee begins three months after the
+ leadership election, or (if it is too late already) immediately.</li>
+
+ <li>During the following month, any Developer may nominate
+ themselves as a candidate member of the Social Committee.
+ Every such nomination must be seconded by one other developer.</li>
+
+ <li>For two weeks after that, no more candidates may be nominated;
+ candidates should use this time for campaigning (to make their
+ identities and positions known).
+ If there are fewer than S2 candidates at the end of the nomination period,
+ then the nomination period is extended for two further weeks, repeated
+ if necessary, up to three times.</li>
+
+ <li>The next two weeks are the polling period during which
+ Developers may cast their votes.
+ Votes in social committee elections are made public one year after
+ the election is finished.</li>
+
+ <li>The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have nominated
+ themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The Above.</li>
+
+ <li>The decision will be made using the method specified in section
+ §A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure.
+ The quorum is the same as for a General Resolution (§4.2).
+ The default option is "None Of The Above".
+ The length of the list of winners is S2.</li>
+
+ <li>If fewer than S2 but more than 6 options win over "None of the Above",
+ the list of winners is reduced accordingly and the election process
+ is completed.</li>
+
+ <li>If "None Of The Above" wins the election, or if fewer than 7
+ candidates win over "None of the Above", the election process is
+ repeated.</li>
+
+ <li>PY is the age of the Project in years. SY is the square root of PY
+ or 10, whichever is smaller.
+ At least one fourth of all elected candidates should have been
+ members of the project for at least SY years.
+ If fewer than one third of candidates meet this requirement,
+ the election process is repeated.</li>
+
+</ol>
+
+<H3>10.3. Procedure</H3>
+
+<ol>
+ <li>
+ <p>The Social Committee uses the Standard Resolution Procedure.</p>
+
+ <p>A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any member
+ of the Social Committee. The minimum discussion period is one week.
+ The voting period lasts for up to one week, or until the outcome is
+ no longer in doubt. Members may change their votes.
+ There is a quorum of 50%.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Details regarding voting</p>
+
+ <p>The Chairman has a casting vote.</p>
+
+ <p>When the Social Committee votes on a matter brought upon by a member
+ of the Committee, that member may not vote.</p>
+
+ <p>When the Social Committee votes whether to override a Developer who
+ also happens to be a member of the Committee, that member may not
+ vote.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Public discussion and decision-making.</p>
+
+ <p>Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by
+ members of the committee, are made public on the Social Committee
+ public discussion list.
+ There is no separate secretary for the Committee.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>No detailed mediation or policy-making.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee does not engage in design of new
+ proposals and policies. Such design work should be carried out
+ by individuals discussing in ordinary social forums.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee does not engage in immediate mediation
+ between parties interested in an issue. Any issue must have been
+ discussed by individuals in ordinary social forums for at least
+ one week before bringing it up before the Committee.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee may decide to defer considering any issue
+ which it deems to be a repetition or continuation of another issue
+ discussed within the last one month.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee restricts itself to choosing from or
+ adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have
+ been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere.</p>
+
+ <p><cite>Individual members of the social committee may of course
+ participate on their own behalf in any aspect of policy design.
+ </cite></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Social Committee makes decisions only as last resort.</p>
+
+ <p>The Social Committee does not make a decision until efforts to
+ resolve it via consensus have been tried and failed, unless it has
+ been asked to make a decision by the person or body who would
+ normally be responsible for it.</p>
+ </li>
+</ol>
+
<toc-add-entry name="A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</toc-add-entry>
<P>These rules apply to communal decision-making by committees and
@@ -941,6 +1191,12 @@
options, the elector with the casting vote chooses which of those
options wins.
</li>
+ <li> If the election requires multiple winners, the list of winners is
+ created by sorting the list of options by ascending strength.
+ If there are multiple winners with the same ranking which exceed
+ the desired length of the list, the length of the list is extended
+ to include the entire last set of multiple winners.
+ </li>
</OL>
<p>
Reply to: