Pre-Poll: Directory and the Clerk

[Kloreep]

Fellow Senators, you may want to have no senate organization (and I agree), but we must at least fulfill our responsibility under the NewCon.

adaMada has passed the responsibility for the Directory to me. I'll try to get started on it shortly, but first, I think it should be officialized. The Archives section of the Directory already fulfills the requirements of NewCon, so why duplicate efforts?

Here is a rough draft of the bill I want to propose. I'm not sure if it should be the President doing the appointment (perhaps it should be the Directory Manager from the previous term?), but I think everything else is there.

Please post your comments, re-writes (especially ones that shrink this giant ), etc. Here it is:

The senate hereby orders the creation of a Directory at the beginning of each term, with subsequent updates throughout the term. Each term, the President will appoint a Directory Manager; this Manager will be responsible for creating the Directory thread and maintaining it. The Manager may in turn appoint deputies to maintain any or all parts of the Directory; however, he alone remains responsible to the senate for proper maintenance of the Directory. If a senator feels the Manager is incompetent, he may propose a Resolution to remove the Manager. This poll must obey the Constitution's laws. If more than 50% vote to remove the Manager, the President must appoint a new Manager who will create a new Directory thread to be used for the remainder of the term.

In keeping with the senate's responsibility under the Constitution, this directory must index all laws, motions, resolutions and otherwise that are passed, amended, or removed. Any other topics and categories may be indexed in the Directory at the Manager's discretion.

[E_T]

Looks good to me.

E_T

[Arnelos]

(however, I'm not a Senator )

[Kloreep]

Since the legality of giving the President a responsibility is ambiguous, I think I'll give the appointment to the manager of the previous term's directory. And should this system of self-sustainment break down, anyone may put themselves forward after a waiting period.

I've also made it harder to remove the Manager, and made replacing a removed Manager operate on the same lines as lack of an appointment in the first place.

Here's the new version. Unless there any changes anyone wants made, I'll put this version up for polling in a day or two:

The senate hereby orders the creation of a Directory at the beginning of each term, with subsequent updates throughout the term. A the beginning of each term, the Manager of the previous term's directory will appoint a Directory Manager; he may re-appoint himself or appoint someone else, as he sees fit. If the Manager fails to appoint a new Manager within 10 days of the close of elections, any citizen may post a poll nominating himself for Manager; if the majority of voters approve him, he becomes the new Manager.

The Manager will be responsible for creating the Directory thread and maintaining it. The Manager may appoint deputies to maintain any or all parts of the Directory; however, he alone remains responsible to the senate for proper maintenance of the Directory. If a senator feels the Manager is incompetent, he may propose a Resolution to remove the Manager. This poll must obey the Constitution's laws. If 2/3rds or more vote to remove the Manager, the Manager must step down. Any citizen may then post a poll nominating himself for manager; if the majority of voters approve him, he becomes the new Manager, and will create a new Directory thread to be used for the remainder of the term.

In keeping with the senate's responsibility under the Constitution, this directory must index all laws, motions, resolutions and otherwise that are passed, amended, or removed. Any other topics and categories may be indexed in the Directory at the Manager's discretion.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Allow an awnry old man speak up on this?

I still would like to see the Ministers step up and take some responsibility for the maintanence of a directory. Each minister controls THEIR portion, not THAT big of a task, while the clerk simply gives them the format (so the links work) and maintains the unofficial and archive sections (a larger task than you would think).

[E_T]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Allow an awnry old man speak up on this?

I still would like to see the Ministers step up and take some responsibility for the maintanence of a directory. Each minister controls THEIR portion, not THAT big of a task, while the clerk simply gives them the format (so the links work) and maintains the unofficial and archive sections (a larger task than you would think).

Unortho, all well and good, but I can't (or my future successor) be e expected to do this (the DM part of this) while having to do the other DM duties without some kind of staff helping with it. I'm currently swamped.

E_T

[UnOrthOdOx]

I am just talking of the threads made specifically about your office. Most likely, you are the one making them. I didn't say you couldn't have one of your deputies do it, just that you would be responsible for seeing that it was done somehow.

And I can assure you that no one can maintain a directory on their own. Sectioning it off is the only viable option, trust me.

[adaMada]

First thing first, let me state my full support in Kloreep. He did a great job during Term Five (while I did not), and he has my fullest support as the new Directory manager.

I believe the Directory Manager position needs to become official. "Handing it off" from volunteer to volunteer means it's no one's job -- just something you do. I also agree with UnOrthO -- doing the directory by oneself is nearly impossible. Everyone needs to help, but especially elected officials. If officials would PM the Directory Manager every time they posted a thread, or posted in a submittion thread, the job'd be that much easier. If every citizen was expected to post a URL of any thread they post in a submittion thread, it would be that much easier.

Finally, I'd love to see more interest on the directory in general. I'm as guilty as any -- the first term, before I did it, I didn't help UnOrthO at all. the Directory is a community venture -- if we all do a very little bit to ensure that threads are given to the manager when they are posted, and that the manager always has volunteer helpers to pick up a bit of the slack, the directory would be that much better for it.

-- adaMada

[UnOrthOdOx]

Just someone to point out links is a big help. If the officials could just provide a link to the director position it would be tremendous help.

I am currently runnning a directory in the PBEM forum. and from the beginning, I stated that I will post what links I am given. I know there are one or two games open that I don't have links to, but I just don't have time to keep up on it. Likewise when the game is full, people have been very good at getting back to me to update it thusly. The difference there is that it was begun that way, and everyone knows they are responsible to ensure it stays updated.

If EVERYONE simply took the time to make the link when they created a thread, it would be a relatively simple matter for someone to organize all those links. How hard is it to make that link when you post "War Academy: blah blah blah" and post it in a designated thread?

[Kloreep]

First off, I would definitely appreciate any help anyone wishes to give, whether it's compiling links and PMing them, or directly updating section(s) like I did during Term 5. Just PM me if you're interested in something like that.

Thank you all for your comments. Good to see more than a few people are paying attention to this thread.

It would be great to have people submit their own threads. Having everyone send links to the manager(s) would make the Directory a much easier job. That said, I don't want to force ministers to compile their threads for me; E_T, for one, is quite overworked. Besides, I try to keep track of these threads myself anyway, and so it isn't too difficult to also cut & paste a link into the Directory. Same thing for War Academy, Gazette, etc. The only category I see requiring submitions for next term is the Misc section; I don't want to have to determine whether each and every single thread deserves a place there, so I'll leave it to how important others think a thread is.

On the other hand, I don't want to set such a high precedent for future directory managers, so I would appreciate anyone who volunteers to submit their threads; I just don't want to force it too much, lest the Directory die out.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Be carefull asking for PM's. My box has a tendancy to get stuffed rather quickly

I think there should be a dedicated, possibly topped, possibly just AFTER the actual directory, where people would post their links.

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Be carefull asking for PM's. My box has a tendancy to get stuffed rather quickly

Haven't had it fill up yet, and I try to keep it pretty empty anyway. (I only have 4 messages saved right now.)

I think there should be a dedicated, possibly topped, possibly just AFTER the actual directory, where people would post their links.

Good idea.

A post count reward is a good incentive for people to submit threads.

Edit: Oh, and last call for bill changes. I'll probably post the poll tonight. (Just in time for no one to be here on Thanksgiving. I now see why we have a 3 day minimum.)

[UnOrthOdOx]

But you don't have PM's for 2 PBEM games, the PBEM directory, the Gazette submissions plus the many private conversations I carry out...it adds up quicker than you think. Despite my attempts to delete, front page still lists I have 130 messages (though only 4 in the inbox and roughly 10 either outbound or in tracking)

[Kloreep]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
But you don't have PM's for 2 PBEM games, the PBEM directory, the Gazette submissions plus the many private conversations I carry out...it adds up quicker than you think.

Quite true.

Despite my attempts to delete, front page still lists I have 130 messages (though only 4 in the inbox and roughly 10 either outbound or in tracking)

You need to make sure it's set to display all dates, rather than just 100 days or whatever. (I was wondering about a phantom message a little while back; turned out I still had a copy of my original Gazette subscription. )