[Cz-editcouncil] Resignation

Thu Nov 6 22:34:02 CST 2008

Dear All,
As Larry has rightly suggested, I had missed out on the last date for
setting aside the rules for the mailing list. The rules are suspended
temporarily up to Friday November 14, 2008 3:30 hrs. UTC.
That is also the deadline for receiving nominations for the post of
Secretary.
It is expected that Brian,  or anyone else interested, will be able to put
forth a proper Resolution within that date as per the procedure stated in:
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Editorial_Council_How_to_Make_a_Resolution
In the case there is no proposal framed within the time frame, the rules of
the mailing list will automatically prevail again and there shall be no
further discussion on this topic.
However, if a formal Resolution is ready, it will proceed as per
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Editorial_Council_Rules_of_Procedure
Naturally, the rules of the mailing list will automatically prevail again in
that case too.
With warmest regards
Supten

On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 9:57 PM, Larry Sanger <sanger at citizendium.org> wrote:

>  Does the Chair mean to say, perhaps, that he is asking whether there is
> any objection to the motion, and that it will be considered to be passed "by
> acclamation" if there is no objection?  If we are going to suspend normal
> rules for this mailing list, I request that we set a (if necessary
> extendable) *ending date* for suspended-rules period.  If we do not set an
> ending date, *I* will have an objection to the motion.  I won't object to
> the motion otherwise, but I can give you one good reason to object and to
> insist on holding any discussion on the forums: these are issues that deeply
> concern the whole community, and are not *wholly* in the purview of the
> Editorial Council.
>
> John says, "mechanisms should be in place to intellectually resolve
> disputes over content without these sorts of problems causing
> resignations."  In my experience, when disputes cause resignation, they are
> not disputes over content, but instead over bad-behaving fellow contributors
> or over CZ policies.  Over the many months of this project's existence, we
> have in fact already proposed and discussed many dispute resolution
> mechanisms--I proposed several myself--and these have either been tried and
> rejected, or died in discussion due to lack of interest.  See e.g.,
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Dispute_Resolution  Discussion has
> generally taken place either in the Forums or among the Executive
> Committee.  Currently, the Executive Committee has tentatively adopted a
> "moderator" system that was executed mainly by Gareth Leng, but his recent
> academic promotion and additional duties have cut into the time he has had
> to spend on CZ.
>
> I want to emphasize how difficult the whole matter of dispute resolution
> is.  In an open, largely flat project, it is very difficult indeed to
> legitimize and gain support for any community decision, and decision-making
> process, that will satisfy one party and overrule another.  This has an
> inherent tendency to create a hierarchy and, potentially, change the
> operation of the project fundamentally; I say that because the project works
> precisely because it is collaborative and largely free of top-down control (
> *pace *Martin in this case!).  I don't mean to discourage anyone from
> making proposals (or supporting those already proposed); I'm just trying to
> lay out some constraints.  As soon as such a process is officially
> installed, we can easily predict that power-hungry, controlling types will
> leap to participate as much as they can.  The more we anticipate and design
> to solve such problems, the better off we'll be in the long run.
>
>  As to purview, please see
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Editorial_Council_Rules_of_Procedure#Vote_on_the_issue_of_purview
>
> and also
>
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Editor_Policy#Editorial_Council
>
> which explicitly lists *editorial* dispute resolution as in the Council's
> purview.  We have traditionally distinguished between "editorial" dispute
> resolution and "behavioral" dispute resolution, although obviously there
> must be great overlap, if the distinction is not completely incoherent.
>
> More than anything, I feel, we need some understanding of the basic
> requirements and constraints of such a resolution process.  I've made a
> number of stabs at this in the Forums, but I doubt I ever got to the bottom
> of it.
>
> Of course, you might say that there is a more tractable issue we can take
> up that is related to Martin's complaint.  (I am informed that Martin is off
> the list now, by the way.)  Namely, to what extent and under what rules the
> Editor-in-Chief may (or even should)* *engage in content controversies,
> and according to what rules he may overrule decisions or undo work the work
> of subject editors.  I would be happy to work with both the Editorial
> Council and the Executive Committee to clarify such fundamental matters;
> they are, I admit, rather vague at present.
>
> --Larry
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
> *From:* cz-editcouncil-bounces at mail.citizendium.org [mailto:
> cz-editcouncil-bounces at mail.citizendium.org] *On Behalf Of *Dr.Supten
> Sarbadhikari
> *Sent:* Thursday, November 06, 2008 1:11 AM
> *To:* The Citizendium Editorial Council
> *Subject:* Re: [Cz-editcouncil] Resignation
>
> Dear All,
> The issues in question are numerous.
> 1. Suspension of the normal rules of the Editorial Council mailing list.
> 2. Formation of the Judicial Board.
> 3. Installation of a Secretary to carry out the regular administrative
> activities of the EC.
>
> For the first issue, as John has already seconded Brian, I agree to suspend
> the normal rules and allow for discussions related to the way ahead.
> However, I'd be mostly traveling on duty from Saturday Nov 08 to Thursday
> Nov 13, and will not be having regular access to the Internet.
>
> Regarding the second issue, whether the EC can pass a Resolution for the
> setting up of the Judicial Board or not has to be decided. The Executive
> Committee, The Constabulary, The Editorial Council and the proposed Judicial
> Boards are supposed to be independent of each other!
>
> To me, the third issue is the most burning one and I again request that any
> of the EC members may volunteer or nominate another member for the post of
> Secretary. The candidate is expected to be familiar with the Rules of
> Procedure and the trivial housekeeping activities. The Rules of Procedure
> can be found at:
>
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Editorial_Council_Rules_of_Procedure
>
> Additional information can be obtained from:
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Editorial_Council_Resolution_0007
> I'd be happy to clarify any other doubts or queries that you may have.
>
> Please send me the consent/nominations privately at supten at gmail.com within
> eight days, i.e., latest by Friday November 14, 2008, 03:30 hrs. UTC.
>
> With warmest regards
>
> Supten
> The Chair, CZ EC
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.citizendium.org/pipermail/cz-editcouncil/attachments/20081107/1df4dbed/attachment.html 