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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	186
Proposal	Proposed Listserv Protocol for Delegates Discussion and Votes Lists -- Amended
Presenter	Green Parties of Utah, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Maine
Floor Manager	Jody Grage
Phase	Closed
Discussion	10/10/2005 - 11/06/2005
Voting	11/07/2005 - 11/13/2005
Result	Adopted
Presens Quorum	32 0.6666
Consens Quorum	64 0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

A high volume of posts, as well as the frequent personal attacks, gratuitous
vulgarity and inflammatory nature of many posts on the Natlcomvotes and
Natlcomaffairs list serves have contributed to alienation of and resignation
by GPUS NC members. NC Delegates from many states have requested that usage
guidelines be established.

Proposal

The GPUS National Committee (NC) shall institute the following guidelines and procedures for the Natlcomvotes and Natlcomaffairs listservs used by the GPUS NC. The NC recommends all GPUS listservs develop and implement similar guidelines and procedures regarding list conduct. This document replaces the guidelines approved by the NC (then CC) on October 28, 2001.

GPUS NATIONAL COMMITTEE LISTSERV PROTOCOLS AND POLICIES DEFINITIONS

List / Listserv / Forum - These terms are used interchangeably to refer to a group of people (members) who can send emails to a common email address and have those emails disseminated to the other people who are in the group.

I. Natlcomvotes List

A. The purpose of the Natlcomvotes list (also known as the Votes or COOlist) is to facilitate communications for the purpose of decision-making and management of the affairs of GPUS. List content should be limited to messages relating to proposals, formal GPUS business, committee reports, and related formal matters. Personal messages, forwarded articles, petitions, and general discussion not pertinent to formal business before the GPUS National Committee should be posted to the Natlcomaffairs list.

B. Natlcomvotes list membership is limited to:
1. Delegates to the National Committee.
2. Alternates to the National Committee.
3. Steering Committee members.
4. Liaisons from GPUS standing or ad hoc committees (maximum of two
individuals above those who may be on the list for additional reasons.)
5. Paid staff of GPUS (as determined by the Steering Committee).
6. Voting page and list administrators.
7. Advisors. Advisors are professionals in their field serving the Green Party in their professional capacity (e.g. legal advisors, fundraising advisors, technology consultants, etc.) Advisors can either be recommended to and approved by the Steering Committee and announced to the National Committee, or approved by the National Committee by a simple majority vote.
The National Committee may remove an advisor by a simple majority vote.
8. Observers. Observers are vetted by an accredited state party or caucus and announced to the National Committee, recommended to and approved by the Steering Committee and announced to the National Committee, or approved by the National Committee by a simple majority vote.

C. The membership list of the Natlcomvotes list must be available to all subscribers. Anonymous subscriptions are not permitted.
D. Delegates are the primary persons to post to the Natlcomvotes list.
E. Posting to the Natlcomvotes list is in general limited to delegates, alternates, Steering Committee members, committee liaisons, and paid staff. Voting page and list administrators and advisors may post in relation to their area of focus.
F. Observers are not permitted to post to the Natlcomvotes list. Observers wishing to comment should do so through their state/caucus delegation.

II. Natlcomaffairs List
A. The purpose of the Natlcomaffairs list (also known as the Affairs, Discussion, or DX list) is to facilitate general discussion related to coordinated national actions and current issues.
B. Natlcomaffairs list membership is limited to:
1. Delegates to the National Committee.
2. Alternates to the National Committee.
3. Steering Committee members.
4. Liaisons from GPUS standing or ad hoc committees (maximum of two individuals above those who may be on the list for additional reasons.)
5. Paid staff of GPUS (as determined by the Steering Committee).
6. Voting page and list administrators.
7. Advisors. Advisors are professionals in their field serving the Green Party in their professional capacity (e.g. legal advisors, fundraising advisors, technology consultants, etc.) Advisors can either be recommended to and approved by the Steering Committee and announced to the National Committee, or approved by the National Committee by a simple majority vote. The National Committee may remove an advisor by a simple majority vote.
8. Observers. Observers are vetted by an accredited state party or caucus and announced to the National Committee, recommended to and approved by the Steering Committee and announced to the National Committee, or approved by the National Committee by a simple majority vote.
C. The membership list of the Natlcomaffairs list must be available to all subscribers. Anonymous subscriptions are not permitted.
D. Except as otherwise stated, all Natlcomaffairs list members are permitted to post.

III. Posting Guidelines
A. Signing Posts. All list posts should be signed at the bottom of every message with the first and last name of the author. Members should also identify their position and the originating state party, caucus, or committee.
B. Relevance. Posts unrelated to formal party business should not be sent to the Natlcomvotes list, and party unrelated to Green Party or general public issues should not be sent to either list. Messages of a personal nature are not considered relevant for NC lists.
C. General Netiquette. In general, when quoting other messages, the person quoted should be properly cited, and extraneous text (including headers, footers, irrelevant messages to the section being responded to when replying to a digest, and the like) should be deleted. Non-substantive one-word replies generally should be sent off-list. Violations of General Netiquette guidelines can result in written informal reminders from the Forum Managers. Repeated off topic posting, over posting and other disregard for the purpose of the lists can be grounds for an official warning.
D. Tone. Insults, name-calling, sexist/sexual, racist, homophobic, or otherwise demeaning or degrading comments will not be tolerated. (Personal, one-on-one arguments are inappropriate and should be taken off list for one-on-one communication.) Hateful, abusive, and threatening language are prohibited. Attacks of a personal, ad hominem nature are prohibited. Making false and defamatory accusations on the listserve against another list member, a Green delegate, candidate, committee, caucus or the Green Party, that can be clearly and objectively disproved, is prohibited. If such accusations are made unintentionally, a retraction is called for. Failure to retract such allegations can result in an action by the Forum Managers.
All lists serve members are strongly encouraged to bear in mind the official nature of the lists and refrain from the use of obscene or otherwise offensive language in keeping with Respect for Diversity.
E. Forwards of Private Messages. Forwarding private messages to either list without the expressed written permission of the original author is prohibited.
F. Forwards of Other Items. Copyrighted material (newspaper articles, website content, etc.) and other items forwarded should be accompanied by, if applicable, a source URL, the name(s) of the author(s), and the originating source (if a publication).
G. Proper Use of Messages. List members retain their personal copyright for their original messages, but through use of these forums grant other members the right to publicly quote portions of their message in any medium, and the right to forward messages in their entirety to others so long as the author's name and web address is cited or linked.

IV. Forum Managers and Enforcement
A. The Steering Committee shall nominate three individuals, subject to National Committee approval, to serve coincident two-year terms as Forum Managers and one individual subject to National Committee approval, to serve as Alternate Forum Manager. Forum Managers may be sitting NC delegates, alternates or others as recommended by their State or Caucus. All nominees must be either recommended or approved by their State or Caucus. All three Forum Managers can not be of the same gender. It is recommended that Forum Managers have dispute resolution training. In the event of a Forum Manager resignation or other vacancy, the Alternate will serve the remainder of the term as a Forum Manager. In addition the SC shall nominate a replacement to fill the role of Alternate, to be approved by the NC via the same method used to nominate and elect the Forum Manager. The replacement Alternate Forum Manager will fill the balance of the term as Alternate.
The Forum Managers shall provide Quarterly Reports to the NC via the Natlcomaffairs listserv. These reports shall include the number of informal advisories, number of official warnings and probations.
B. The three Forum Managers must be in agreement prior to any change in status of a member's access to a list.
C. Forum Managers may at their discretion send informal advisories to posters to encourage protocol compliance. Two of the three Forum Managers must agree on the content of an advisory for it to be sent. Every attempt shall be made by the Forum Managers to address individual complaints regarding offending posts. This may include contacting the author of the offending post and working with/educating them on constructive, neutral, and effective ways to communicate.
D. List members may file a complaint about a specific post directly with a Forum Manager. Complaints will not be publicly posted to the forum. List members are encouraged to send informal complaints privately to the potentially infringing participants to encourage member-to-member accountability. If filing a complaint with a Forum
Manager, a list member should include copies of complaints sent directly to the offending member.
E. After at least two informal advisories within a six month period, if at least two of three Forum Managers determine that the guidelines have been violated a third time by the same infringing member, an official private warning will be sent to the member by the Forum Managers. Forum Managers will respond to complaints in a uniform fashion and maintain electronic records of all official warnings. Official warnings remain in effect for six months.
F. List members that receive a second official warning within six months will be placed on probation, including moderation of the messages that the member posts. The State or Caucus represented by any delegate placed on probation will be notified immediately when any delegate is placed on probation. The Forum Managers will review all proposed submissions from the probated member and will only forward those posts that do not violate list guidelines. Probation shall be for a term not to exceed 3 months. Completing the 3-month term of probation will clear the record of official warnings.

Resources

CONTACT: Tom King, Green Party of Utah

References

Natlcomvotes List: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/private/natlcomvotes
Natlcomaffairs List: http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/private/natlcomaffairs

Existing policies: http://www.gp.org/committees/nc/listserver.shtml

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