Community Representatives - Will it be you?

[Nick 1,249 / 17,847]

Hi, everyone.

 

It is time for the next step of implementing the new top-level hierarchy: Community Representatives (CR). We want to add two members of the community to the Council where they will serve as CRs. This post will explain what CRs are, who can become a CR, how to become a CR, and lastly open up for applications. This is a very technical announcement which is only relevant if you would like to help shape GFL’s future and take part in top-level decisions.

 

What is a Community Representative?
A Community Representative is a member of the Council who is not a high-level staff member. GFL has tried for many years to make decisions based on more relevant input from members of the community, but the many attempts at this have not managed to fulfill that goal. CR is a new attempt at trying to accomplish this. A CR's sole responsibility is to participate in Council meetings.

 

Council meetings are open for anyone to observe, but an observer will not have a vote and will not be as prioritized as a member of the Council. A CR will be a fully-fledged member of the Council and thus will have a vote and be more prioritized than an observer. So this is a great opportunity for you if you have great ideas or visions for GFL.

 

This is an elected position which can be held for a term of 6 months. A person may only serve two terms consecutively.

 

How do I become a Community Representative?
In order to become one of the two CRs, you must win a spot in the upcoming election. The election is public and members of the community will get to vote (the exact requirements have not been worked out yet). To be considered, you must fulfill a few requirements:

• You must be a member or above.
• You must not have any outstanding punishments.
• You must get at least two current Council members to sponsor your application.

 

For reference, the current Council members are:

• @Nick
• @FrenZy
• @Shuruia
• @Ben
• @Xy
• @Skittlez
• @Pyros

 

The process will then be something like this:

1. You plan your application and get at least two Council members to sponsor you.
2. You send your application to Council with the form below.
3. The Council will go through the applications after the deadline (two weeks from this post).
4. If your application is approved, you will be eligible for the election phase which will start shortly after. (More information will follow about how this will work.)
5. If you win a spot in the election, you will become a CR for 6 months.

 

Here are some recommendations you should keep in mind before applying:

• You will have better chances if you have been in GFL for a while.
• A high content count, reputation, and in general activity will probably reflect well on you.
• You must be ready to dip into GFL politics at its worst and at its best.
• Being part of Council does put some pressure on you as the Council sets the agenda for GFL as a whole.
• You must be ready and able to serve for the entire term of six months.
• It is a big plus if you can represent a layer of GFL. (E.g. players, admins, managers, and so on.)
• Try to find time to attend our Council meeting on September 6 (more info will follow soon).

 

You can find the link to the application form in the next section.

 

Application Form
The applications are open now and will be open for two weeks. The deadline is September 12 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.

 

You can apply here: https://forms.gle/NHLPGc1mDErPu2hw5

 

Disclaimer
This is the first time (from what I know) that an election is taking place in GFL. Therefore, this will serve as a test run for more democratic practices in GFL. The Council may make changes to these guidelines and approve/reject applications at their own discretion. Becoming a CR should be seen as a privilege not a right. With that being said, the Council will strive to be as impartial as possible while keeping GFL’s best interests in mind.

 

Feel free to reach out to a Council member (Director or Division Representative) if you have any questions or concerns.

 

[Dragoon 385 / 10,455]

I'm not going to lie, but... This is pretty cool.

Edited August 29, 2020 by DragoonMCL

[Pyros 1,796 / 30,750]

Nick is indeed farming reputation points.

[ACanadianAsian 22 / 1,450]

Interesting..hmmm 🤔

[swebby 8 / 1,091]

very ebic and pog

[Spazzin 396 / 0]

#Spazzin2020

[Lone Sniper Skeleton 219 / 5,103]

Just now, Spazzin said:

#Spazzin2020

put me on the bottom of the ticket.

[Rick 1,651 / 17,972]

WOW!

 

 

time to become CR

Edited August 29, 2020 by Rick

[Shuruia 3,145 / 28,023]

Just as a heads up, I'm not sponsoring anyone for a couple of days, so please don't drown my DMs in sponsorship requests.

 

EDIT: DMs are open again, in case people are wondering.

[EnderAsteroid 51 / 0]

@Pyros for Community Representative. 

[KursKura 31 / 1,139]

Fuck spazzin. 

#FandelTales2020

[mbs 365 / 8,846]

Poggers

[SS PigeonShit 231 / 0]

[Knives 1 / 0]

I would like to nominate someone for the Community Representatives role, if this person is interested in being considered.

 

This is someone that is a stellar role model, respectful to others, genuine and kind. They are sensitive and rational, and have always been fair to everyone. They are also open-minded in times of conflict. They have other people's backs when help is needed, and would never back-stab anyone. They are also a trusted member in GFL as a server admin.

 

For this role, I nominate Peach.

 

I can't think of a more deserving member here. He's a great guy that would represent GFL very well.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Knives

[Male_08 403 / 0]

GFL has been needing something like this for a while now

[Bae 2,489 / 41,520]

Good luck to whoever applies! I wish you luck and hopefully you'll be able to work alongside with the others and the community itself! 

[Stud 144 / 3,973]

2 hours ago, Knives said:

I would like to nominate someone for the Community Representatives role, if this person is interested in being considered.

 

This is someone that is a stellar role model, respectful to others, genuine and kind. They are sensitive and rational, and have always been fair to everyone. They are also open-minded in times of conflict. They have other people's backs when help is needed, and would never back-stab anyone. They are also a trusted member in GFL as a server admin.

 

For this role, I nominate Peach.

 

I can't think of a more deserving member here. He's a great guy that would represent GFL very well.

Hi @Knives! If possible, could you @ the person you're trying to nominate? I think it's great you've got someone that you trust so much you'd like to get them involved with this. They'd need to put an application in for themselves, as well as get sponsors. 

Good luck to everyone who applies!

[Joshy 4,364 / 44,927]

I think trying to pull in members is not a terrible idea and is a very noble one; it's great to see admission that's a new idea that's being worked out, which is okay, but the questions I'm asking will hopefully trigger some dialogue.  I do hope it works.

 

I don't understand why you have Staff positions that are not Council, but they cannot apply for Community Representative.  If they wish to apply and people are interested in voting for them, then why not?  Without the opportunity or potential to become Community Representative...  that makes those positions worse than being a Member almost similar to being a visitor the website without an account.  Even the US Vice President can vote during tie breakers in the Senate.  Plus eliminating that rule is less details to hassle just make things easy and tune only if you have to.

 

How will you hold people accountable for not fulfilling the 6 months?  Even for non- Community Representative positions we don't seem to hold people responsible nor accountable for their brief time and broken promises (6 months seems quite long); if anything: leaving before being unable to deliver on those promises are have more positive outcomes compared to directly failing in the past, and so we've seen people repeatedly request their former roles and leave again.  I don't think "You will never be able to apply again" is going to do the trick.  We've made plenty of threats like that and it has almost never stood.

 

Great effort to get community members into Staff discussions.  Another good idea that wouldn't require too much effort is to get Staff into the community.  I'm talking about actually posting (often) on the greater forums in the public eye, pushing hidden discussions out to the public eventually "declassifying" them; also, if they play any games on GFL, then they should play.  Not everybody can be Oz behind the curtains that's just no fun and this makes people feel like the team is full of non-caring robots behind the scenes who only care about the colour on their forum name and a few permissions they'd like to abuse every once in a while.

[Waylon Smithers 267 / 3,849]

na

[Nick 1,249 / 17,847]

You bring up some great points, @Joshy. The idea behind disallowing select groups was that DLs are already getting a few Council spots through Division Representatives. However, one might argue that's unfair to TAs. A minor change could be to only disallow DLs, but then again I think I'd personally prefer just letting anyone apply at that point (as you said) since that's more fair and simple. Definitely something I'll keep in mind for the future.

 

I don't think people who fail to do their duties should be punished per say. I believe the punishment will come on its own. People will hopefully notice (or we'll have some transparency™) that someone has failed to live up to the responsibility before and thus be more hesitant to vote for them again. Council can keep going without the CRs, but it would be a shame to lose the unique perspectives, so I hope people will keep that in mind when they cast their vote.

 

I agree that it'd be nice to see more staff playing and interacting with the community. It would definitely make it easier for us to grasp the things we make decisions about. I am trying my best with the time I have to interact as much as possible, and I believe most of staff is. 😄 I also hope that our public Council meetings will help with "declassifying" decisions and allow people to be more engaged in GFL.