[Cz-editcouncil] New Editorial Council

[M. BALDWIN-EDWARDS]

Dear colleagues,

Whereas Larry makes a correct statement of the rules, I should like to point 
out that there is no mechanism for preliminary discussion of possible 
resolutions. There is also no forum for EC members to comment on the 
implementation of existing rules, which was my actual email here.

As there is no face-to-face meeting of the Editorial Council, there is a 
question of how council members can informally discuss amongst themselves. 
The Forum is not appropriate, and it seems that this mailing list is ruled 
out of order. Democracy is not served by preventing informal discussions 
within the legislative body.

Martin Baldwin-Edwards

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Sanger" <sanger at citizendium.org>
To: "'The Citizendium Editorial Council'" 
<cz-editcouncil at voltaire.citizendium.org>
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 6:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Cz-editcouncil] New Editorial Council


> Point of order!
>
> I would like to remind members of the Council that, according to our 
> rules,
> the mailing list is not actually intended for discussion of actual or
> potential resolutions.  (See http://tinyurl.com/5mytzl : "'Official'
> discussion of a resolution ordinarily begins only as follows...")  We have
> been making an exception when we officially agree to bypass the resolution
> process, i.e., for brief comments on motions for acceptance of a proposal 
> by
> acclamation.
>
> I forget when this was decided, but as I recall, the reason for this rule,
> briefly, is that it might have two bad effects: (1) it might make Council
> membership too arduous, because it would require members to read too many
> e-mails; and (2) it would tend to favor (unfairly) those who have the time
> and inclination to speak out (and you know who you are ;-) ), which is a
> feature of asynchronous online discussion and *not* of a traditional
> face-to-face meeting under parliamentary rules.  More unconstrained
> discussion can (and does) take place elsewhere, but I believe that the
> seriousness of the Council's "parliamentary" mission and commitment to
> fairness demands that we be a little more regimented.
>
> --Larry (ex-chair)
>
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