What do you think of the Elements Council?

[Dragoon1140]

(And I wouldn't mind mod powers in the GS&F section)

I'm surprised you haven't yet.  It will be brought up.

You are the FG! (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,11967.0.html) is falling apart.  The organizer is MIA and the Round Robin brackets in the opening post haven't been updated in a dog's age.  Please consider replacing the organizer and getting the event back on track.

Thank you Kevkev.  The problem with this is that, in the PVP Event Submission thread, SG says that the person submitting the idea has the choice of hosting it themselves or not.  I suppose it is okay to replace the host with an organizer, but they are also supposed to have their own events running.  However, it will be talked about with the Council nonetheless.

[plastiqe]

The council decided to release some information to us proles on who they'd selected for the 3 competition organizers and no surprise they'd voted 3 new titles to 3 council members.  Corrupt politicians racking up more titles for themselves.  I tell you we are posting in a dictatorship, a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes..
What?
Hey!
Ouch!
Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.
Oh!  Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
Help help I'm being repressed!!! 

[killsdazombies]

i was a CO before the vote, and dragoon has shown extreme organization and epicness via videos.
kuro posted a contest voting and has proven to be exceptionally awesome. (maybe enough for a cookie?)

[Dragoon1140]

The OP is now completely updated, including $$$man becoming our new FGO.

[Korugar]

I understand why you don't want to make everything public, even after the fact; but once the next vote rolls around how're we to know who to vote out if we have no idea which of you did what? Just a thought...

[tyranim]

just a question:
are you guys allowed to say "i move blah blah blah"
"i second that movement"
then vote on it and it happens? or is it just "heres what your going to vote on, now vote" and thats it?

[Kuross]

To be totally honest, I understand at the outset what the council is to do, but the more I think of it, I don't know what else you guys really do. Many moons ago, I was heavily involved with an organization (exec officer) who followed the hallowed Book Of Bob (Robert's rules of order) and between that and state/federal laws requiring that we follow Open meeting laws there was a very structured set of rules we had to adhere to making it so our members had the right to know what their elected officials were up to. Usually in the form of posted minutes on our website and copies of said minutes in packets at the next big meeting.

Long story short, what chance, if any, are we going to see something along those lines? I get this is a game and shouldn't be subject to anything extreme, but a little insight into what the people that we elected into office are up to every now and then. Korugar makes an interesting point... how are we suppose to vote for incumbant council members if we don't know whatcha been up to?

Please don't take any of this as negative criticism. I do know you guys do this free and take time from your gaming to do all that you do, from organizing to actual meetings. I am just looking for more transparency so the rest of the community can see the good job you folks are doing and maybe allow for some more feedback to work with during your meetings.

[Dragoon1140]

Thank you for posting your concerns, everyone.  We want to make the Council the best it can be.

I understand why you don't want to make everything public, even after the fact; but once the next vote rolls around how're we to know who to vote out if we have no idea which of you did what? Just a thought...

Various other Council Members and Scaredgirl have highlighted the fact that when that kind of information is given out, the votes and the applicants, the amount of drama that will surface will be high.  Very high.  Somebody is going to overreact to learning that they didn't get the amount of votes required while somebody else did, regardless of why the Council did so.  That is also why we can't show the voting threads, since the Council is supposed to give their opinion about why they voted, and we can't let the public see some of the stuff we wouldn't normally post outside of the privacy of Council.

just a question:
are you guys allowed to say "i move blah blah blah"
"i second that movement"
then vote on it and it happens? or is it just "heres what your going to vote on, now vote" and thats it?

I am limited on how much detail I can say about this, but usually we suggest stuff the forum might need, take in the opinions and suggestions from the community, and vote accordingly.  However, we do not vote willy-nilly.

Long story short, what chance, if any, are we going to see something along those lines? I get this is a game and shouldn't be subject to anything extreme, but a little insight into what the people that we elected into office are up to every now and then. Korugar makes an interesting point... how are we suppose to vote for incumbant council members if we don't know whatcha been up to?

To continue the first point I made to Korugar, it is hard to show what we've done.  However, I wouldn't be against showing, say, everything we voted and discuss in the first month and a half of office during the next election.  Enough time should have passed where somebody shouldn't be offended by the amount of votes they may or may not have earned.

[Korugar]

To last point...I like that idea. I by no means think you're handling it incorrectly, I simply posted what I thought to be relevant point. By revealing these things after X amount of time everyone can still make informed votes(perhaps not in the very next election, but still in a future one) with little to no chance of having drama.

[Kuross]

I don't agree that the council should hide thier votes about voting X member to Y position, but I do agree people may react poorly to losing a vote. In my experience, one shouldn't run for an office/elected position without know full well there's no guarantee of winning it. Someone has to lose for another to win. But I will concede the point. This is a game after all and not everything needs to posted and those that did the voting would likely come under fire from those that don't understand losing is a part of life. Also, I hates the dramas to so the less drama, the better

As for posting what the council has done/is doing, a simple agenda of the upcoming meeting along with a copy of condensed minutes of the previous would be easy to do and go a long way to showing the community whatcha been up to. I "think" there is still a council thread floating around here. Just post on that with the agenda/minutes. Nothing extravagant, just enough to let the community know what's going on and a chance to maybe get something on the agenda they may feel needs dicussing.

[willng3]

Thank you for posting your concerns, everyone.  We want to make the Council the best it can be.

I understand why you don't want to make everything public, even after the fact; but once the next vote rolls around how're we to know who to vote out if we have no idea which of you did what? Just a thought...

Various other Council Members and Scaredgirl have highlighted the fact that when that kind of information is given out, the votes and the applicants, the amount of drama that will surface will be high.  Very high.  Somebody is going to overreact to learning that they didn't get the amount of votes required while somebody else did, regardless of why the Council did so.  That is also why we can't show the voting threads, since the Council is supposed to give their opinion about why they voted, and we can't let the public see some of the stuff we wouldn't normally post outside of the privacy of Council.

Also, if someone decides to start drama over a decision made by the council then they clearly wouldn't have been a good candidate for the position.

I'm not saying your decision is wrong, I just don't understand why it would make a difference.  Unless a council member votes against a person because they beat them in PvP one time or something equally ridiculous, candidates should be able to respect the council's opinions and if they can't, then that displays that they were not the best suited for the position in question.

[Dragoon1140]

As for posting what the council has done/is doing, a simple agenda of the upcoming meeting along with a copy of condensed minutes of the previous would be easy to do and go a long way to showing the community whatcha been up to. I "think" there is still a council thread floating around here. Just post on that with the agenda/minutes. Nothing extravagant, just enough to let the community know what's going on and a chance to maybe get something on the agenda they may feel needs dicussing.

The Council is made up of people from all over the world, so it would be very difficult to get everyone online at once for any period of time.  Instead, we post on threads discussing stuff.  We still take things seriously, for the most part, but it isn't as strict as a government council meeting.