Opening up Discussion on Hosting Guidelines [View all]

Aloha Occupy Underground subscribers and friends,

Leopolds Ghost and I have been drafting ideas about how hosting in this group should function (you can find the current drafts at this link: Mic Check: Bulletin Board - Most Recent 2 Versions of Draft hosting guidelines (read at yr leisure). Some further brainstorming/debate is needed! Link to list of prior threads debating this group and some of these topics: List of Previous Threads - I suggest reading the first link and consulting the links at the second link if you want to see more of some of the previous debate on this, including how the Statement of Purpose came about. The Statement of Purpose will of course be subject to further review, but as it is no small thing to get admin to tweak it, I would just ask that we stick to discussion of Hosting Guidelines and not the text of the Statement of Purpose itself. Let's move forward.

Our purpose in this process has been to act as a facilitators, and since I have no desire to host this group and have some experience in the organization of such entities as this group, I will continue to do my best to help build consensus toward something awesome. I have no desire to dictate anything to anybody. I am a strong believer in participatory democracy and in constitutionalism. If anyone thinks I am out of line in any way, or wishes to help in this process by either creating a new set of guidelines/or editing existing proposals. Please speak up, all our welcome, and all help is needed, and especially if you're a good writer, have experience in this sort of organizational project.

I am sure there is a desire to avoid the drama that has happened in some of the other groups. I am also sure there are many different ideas about the details, and in fact, there is probably even some disagreement about if this group needs hosts, and so to open up discussion on this matter I think it is useful to consider the basic questions about how we would like to see this group function and how hosts relate to this mission. If you have any questions, concerns, ideas that are not included in the following attempt to encompass some of the debate, please express them constructively.

1. Does this group need a host? If so, do you think there should be a few hosts or many hosts?

2. Do you think with the idea that the main purpose of hosts is to act as a "sort of justice of peace/vibes watcher figure" or to act as a protector to enforce a "safe haven" at all times?

3. Contingently, do you think hosts should have some autonomy in making decisions, should have some autonomy in making decisions, just a little autonomy, or no autonomy?

4. How do you feel about the ideas of term limits and recalls as a check on host decision making? How long do you think a term should be, how many votes should it take to recall?

5. Would you prefer to elect hosts via open vote or by an anonymous poll (likely at DU2)? Do you think there should be any qualifications in place on voters in host elections?

I would just close out before stepping back and letting people weigh in, by stating that there is no reason to rush this process, and in fact, it's probably productive to drag it out. Moreover, no decisions will be made without the utmost attempt to build democratic consensus and there will be fair and free opportunities to vote on any proposal. I think the general idea is to have this discussion before selecting a host so that there are no issues down the line on the basic question, that at some point, most everyone agreed on the basic constituent issues of this group. Be good to each other.

Mahalo.