Yes, I know, another post about chatroom business, another wail of the leaderless multitude, et cetera, etc.
The thing is, we've been noticing that the IRC doesn't have a whole ton of mods (I think we have... two? Plus the Bot, which can kick for mechanical infractions, but can't ban in the case of trolls, and doesn't have the human perception to note people violating Rule One), and the DAs are lacking in pretty much any power whatsoever. This is partially the point, as I think DAs were put in place less to wield Cudgels Of Authority and more to remind people they were trampling toes, but with few DAs and fewer mods, people are beginning to worry about issues arising. Also, because it has been brought up in the past, Mods aren't perfect, Mods are human, and therefore very much capable of violating Rule One, getting into arguments that upset people, saying hurtful things, and so on - I've certainly done it. Right now, DAs have no power to kick mods, and have to rely entirely on the mod who's causing problems to relent, apologize, listen to reason, and/or withdraw. As I said, we haven't had a serious issue arise in a while, but I know I've gotten in arguments with people on the chat, and Plat's had to sort of forcefully go "Take this elsewhere, or stop talking about it," and although I really really really appreciate his skill and tactfulness in doing so, it would really make his job - the job of any and all DAs - much easier if they could go "Take this elsewhere, or stop talking about it; if you refuse, I will kick the lot of you until you come to your senses."
I personally haven't seen any massive behavioral issues, and I haven't heard anything about such, so this might seem a bit like jumping the gun or looking for trouble. But, as with Permission-Giver Census, I'd rather see this averted before anything has a chance to pop up, rather than waiting until crisis hits and then scrambling amidst the impending waves of drama.
I should also clarify, here - I'm not worrying about people going out and being jerks and bullies to each other. I really do think we're above that; what with the issues that popped up here some months ago, I think we now have the framework and the precedent and the backup in the Constitution to shut that sort of thing down, and that's a huge step in the right direction. What I'm more worried about is situations like trolls, people wandering into the IRC from other channels or wherever, with the idea of causing mayhem and anger. If neither of the mods are around, which is very easily possible, since we only have two, and the troll breaks no Bot-programmed rules, there's a lot of really nasty damage they could do with the space.
Basically, ideas to solve this have been tossed around, discussed, put aside, and then picked up again. The one that came to attention most recently is regularly-spaced elections for both Mods and DAs - that way, we don't wind up with anyone put up as a Mod who's not a regular, and winds up disappearing; if someone does disappear, it only lasts until the next election. Likewise with DAs, we can vote on regulars who appear to be really good at keeping the peace and not going mad with power.
The spacing that was suggested was mods every 2 months, and DAs every three months, and that nobody be allowed to serve two consecutive terms.
I'm not entirely one-hundred percent sure on the serving of two consecutive terms, what with the occasional lack of steady and really-good-at-authority regulars en masse, but that's a matter for A Lot Of People to talk about and decide, I think.
My further additions would be
1) to have the elections for both be on the seasonal equinoxes and midpoints, since those are relatively easy to remember, evenly spaced by definition, and tend to make excellent Beginnings And Endings, psychologically speaking.
2) to up the mod-count to three or four at each election, and the DA count to four or five.
3) if it is at all possible, to give DAs full admin-stars, instead of half-stars, for the purpose of allowing them to kick mods when necessary.
The form that has been suggested/put together for said elections is here.
Addendum: Does anyone know whether or not to capitalize the word "Mod"? It's driving me crazy, I think I just went back and forth at least three times.
---IRC Channel Business Over---
Aaaand having finished that, let me just confuse the threads even more by throwing in a personal point of opinion - have we ever put in place a system of How To Talk About Harassment?
I mean... let me clarify, with that. One of the major things that threw me about the Really Big Explosion some months ago was that so very few of us had any idea that harassment of Boarders had been going on, partly because most of it, IIRC, took place out of public eye. If someone doesn't openly do horrible things in community space, but hides them behind shadows and walls, is there any way, besides exposing yourself with a massive Community Alert Message, to tell someone, explain what's going on, get help?
Because it kinda seems like we should have one. I'd hope it never becomes necessary, but just in case, it might save a lot of people a lot of emotional wear in the future.
