Apply for the 4th Elements Council!

[Scaredgirl]

Apply for the 4th Elements Council!


First of all, I'd like to thank the previous Council. Now it's time to select the 4th Elements Council.

For those who don't know, Elements Council is a 12 member administrative organ of the Elements community. Its two main jobs are:

1. Appointing new staff members
2. Starting and finishing different projects that benefit the Elements community

New Council System
We will do things a bit differently this time around. These changes are based on community feedback and my personal observations.

Biggest change will be how the Council is selected. The 4th Elements Council will be selected by Scaredgirl, and the 5th Elements Council will be selected by the 4th Elements Council and Scaredgirl.

Reason why we got rid of the community poll is that it kind of turned the whole thing into a popularity contest. Some people clearly voted for the celebrities, instead of people who would probably do a better job. All those dozes of projects a person has been involved, mean nothing when faced with someone who is a regular in the chat room.

During all the precious Councils, I have also seen that some Council Members were probably more interested in the title itself, rather than doing the actual work. This has always lead to a situation where after some initial excitement, the whole Council section just dies and nothing gets done. What makes things worse is that the community has no idea who is doing what, so the inactive Council Members might get elected again, just because they are famous.

I have a pretty good idea on who does what on the forums, so I think I am qualified to pick the Council this time around, although it can get pretty difficult if many people apply. Next time, the 4th Council will help me in that task, so that they pick half, and I pick the other half, or something like that. When selecting Council Members, I will try to be as objective as possible and concentrate on what they person is question has done for the community, while ignoring any possible character flaws or annoying habits.

"Head of Council" system hasn't really worked the way I had hoped, so we will get rid of that too, and all 12 Council Members will be just regular Council Members. Closest thing to old "Head of Council" will be me giving the Council different tasks that they need to complete. These range from all kinds of things from recruiting new staff, to designing and implementing a Developer Interview. With this kind of clear direction, I think the Council be much more effective.

On top of these default tasks given to them, the Council can of course run their own projects as much as they like.

Requirements
1. Joined the forums no less than 3 months ago
2. Full Member (200+ posts)

How to Apply
PM Scaredgirl (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;u=1) and explain why you should be a Council Member. A short application is recommended, but please try to include a bit more than "you know me, I'd like to apply". Don't waste more than 10 minutes in writing the application because it won't give you any extra points. If you cannot convince me in 10 minutes, I doubt it will happen in half on hour.

If you are interested, please apply. Being a Council Member will give you a lot of power in the community, and you can really make a difference if you want to. Thanks.

[willng3]

Interesting new system.  Definitely an improvement.

[jippy99]

I really like the direction Council is going in.  Last few times it was really a popularity vote and Council was very ineffective.  With this new system, it gives more of a chance for a strong, different group of people to lead the Council.  Will members of the 4th Council be able to rerun for the 5th Council?

[Scaredgirl]

I really like the direction Council is going in.  Last few times it was really a popularity vote and Council was very ineffective.  With this new system, it gives more of a chance for a strong, different group of people to lead the Council.  Will members of the 4th Council be able to rerun for the 5th Council?

Yes, Council Members will be able to return for 2nd term, but we naturally have to prevent the Council from electing all 12 members for the next term. Maybe the Council picks 6 and I pick 6 or something. This way other community members have a chance too.

[majofa]

I wouldn't say the Council was ineffective. There just wasn't a whole lot to do this time around.
We did do this:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,14902.12.html

And we were still discussing things even after our 'term' ended.

I do also like the new format. Work > Name

[ZephyrPhantom]

I wouldn't say the Council was ineffective. There just wasn't a whole lot to do this time around.
We did do this:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,14902.12.html

And we were still discussing things even after our 'term' ended.

I do also like the new format. Work > Name

Agreed. We really didn't have any major special things going for us this turn, from my point of view, but we kept things flowing, like an 'intermission period' of sorts before some really interesting things get started for the next council.

Looking forward to how the well the new system goes, too.

[TStar]

The order of business for the new Council should be the reinstatement of Cookies of Awesomeness, because everyone loves cookies lol

[Scaredgirl]

I wouldn't say the Council was ineffective. There just wasn't a whole lot to do this time around.
We did do this:
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,14902.12.html

And we were still discussing things even after our 'term' ended.

I do also like the new format. Work > Name

Um.. I'll have to disagree. Big time.

As seen in that topic you gave a link to, the Council did these two things:

1. Reputation descriptions (which was supposed to be just quick a practice project, not a "serious" project)
2. Appointed 6 staff members (Evaria was appointed by the last Council)

All that could have been done by one person in a couple of days. When we take into consideration that the 18-member Council had as much as 3+ months to work, it's pretty clear that the system does not work very efficiently. We had a couple of projects where we had pretty clear idea on what to do, but nothing happened and those projects just kind of died. One example of the inefficiency was when I resurrected that Developer Interview topic, but had to close it 3 weeks later because it didn't receive a single reply! I don't know if there was any other section on the forums at that time that was more dead than Council section.

Bottom line is this: the faster we admit that it was a massive failure, the faster we can start building something better that actually works.

I'd like to add that I'm not blaming any individual Council Members, I'm blaming the chaotic and inefficient system.

[majofa]

*Sticking up for my fellow Council Members*

I believe we did a good job. There is, of course, always room for improvement. 18 people was probably too many. 12 or less very-active people would probably be more efficient.

As far as the the Developer Interview thread that got no replies goes. If nobody commented on the thread, maybe there was another reason, other than inactivity that caused that. Perhaps no one had access to it, or no one knew what they were supposed to contribute towards it? All other threads had several replies.

Massive failure, no. Room for improvement, definitely. These changes should be a step in the right direction.

[GG]

Very convenient link that goes directly to your PM. heh.

[plastiqe]

I nominate The Mormegil for new council cause it was his 10 questions with zanz thread (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,20728.0.html) that was supposed to be done in the first place.

[TStar]

When is the application submission deadline?