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The Governing Body
One of the grand plans for Debatewise is to make it a fully democratic organism where our members decide everything to do with the site. We’re also going to need a way of resolving disputes – be they edit wars or arguments about what’s unacceptable. My proposed solution is the Governing Body.The idea behind the Governing Body is that we need a large group of people to make these decisions and that this large group of people should be made up of people with different levels of experience in the site in order no particular policy becomes entrenched. So, the GB will have 1,000 members in total, this membership shall rotate and it will consist of newbies and old-timers.
This idea isn’t fully developed yet – and to be honest never could be by one person. So I’ve built in a way the GB can alter the very constitution of the site. Again, this needs developing but my first go at explaining how it all works is below.
How the Governing Body resolves disputes
Long-running and intractable disputes relating to the editing of debates or the direction of the site will be resolved by the Governing Body. In such instances a debate will be created and each side will argue for their position. The debate will be closed at a given time and Governing Body members will then be invited to vote on the issue. A simple majority decides the day and decisions will be binding.
We expect that precedent will emerge over time. The details are yet to be established, but it may work as follows: If an issue (such as swearing) gets voted on the same way five times in a row that issue becomes site policy. Site policy can be contested at any time, but changes to it require a vote of no less than 66% in favour of change.
It will also be possible to modify or add to our constitution In these instances, the request for change must be supported by a majority of no less than 75 per cent of Governing Body members who vote on the debate. Any proposed change to the constitution must be requested in advance and will take the form of a specifically titled debate.
All members of the Governing Body will be able to vote on all issues, though we expect only a small number will want to do so most of the time. We reduce invite overload by allowing members to choose which type of issues they are selected to vote on (editing, site structure, site policy, etc). We also ensure members are exposed to other issues by sending them a small number of random invites along with their chosen type.
How the Governing Body is formed
We want to ensure decisions affecting the site are taken by a wide range of site members, not just those who’ve been here the longest. Therefore, the Governing Body will be made up 334 long-time members, 333 medium-term members and 333 new members all chosen at random by a script made open for public scrutiny.
It will be possible to resign from the Governing Body at any time. As and when that happens, new members from the same group (ie long-term, medium-term or new members) will be invited to take their place until such time as the membership reaches 1,000 again.
Membership of the Governing Body will last for a maximum of two years. At that point membership will automatically pass to someone else. If a member of the Governing Body has not voted on any issues for 30 days their membership will be reviewed. If they no longer wish to continue, a new member will be invited in their place.