STF

OOC: Questions about TECH and Discord

Posted Nov. 18, 2021, 11:24 a.m. by Gamemaster Wombat (Gamemaster) (Geoff Joosten)

Posted by Sarah M in OOC: Questions about TECH and Discord
Hi everyone!

There was a brief discussion yesterday in Discord about how Discord and TECH work and I wanted to take a few minutes to walk through some information about the STF government and how it relates to all of that. It may seem needlessly complex and insane, but recall that STF has been around for 30 years and has, at times, had nearly 400 members, so we’ve needed some boundaries to keep everyone safe and to keep our club running successfully. I’m always happy to answer any questions you might have, ask away!

  • Sarah, CO (and TECH member)

TECH was established by Dedul Bill #3 (https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/dedul/#b3) and amended by Bayes-2 Bill #2 (https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/bayes2/#b2).

How does someone become part of TECH?

The TECH bylaw states that TECH must have four members. If there is an opening that needs to be filled, an open application is posted and the existing members of TECH review any applicants and interview potential candidates. TECH then selects the replacement, which is subject to Presidential approval.

How long is a TECH term?

TECH members remain in their positions until they either resign or are removed. There is no defined term length for the role. The obvious follow on question here is “how are TECH members removed?” so I’ll answer that too – a member of TECH may be removed in three ways:

  1. A member of TECH may be removed by unanimous internal vote (in other words, the three other members of TECH all agree that the person should be removed).
  2. A member of TECH may be removed by the President if the person has violated the Terms of Service or other STF law (which means other bylaws, essentially) in a negligent or malicious manner.
  3. A member of TECH is automatically removed if punished by a temporary or permanent ban from the club.

Who is in charge of Discord? Who makes the rules? Where can I find the rules?

The TECH bylaw states that TECH establishes any official real-time chat venues and has “exclusive authority” over these venues. The STF Terms of Service apply to them as well as any additional rules created by TECH. Currently, TECH has established the Star-Fleet server on Discord as the only official real-time chat venue and set the rules linked above as the additional rules that go above and beyond the regular TOS (the link also goes into how the regular TOS will be enforced in Discord as well). It’s up to TECH to add, change, or otherwise modify the rules (but they can’t contradict the TOS). The Discord rules can be found here (they used to be in a Google Doc, but TECH didn’t have access to that to update as needed): https://www.star-fleet.com/tech/discord.html.

What if I have a suggestion for the Discord rules?

Well, there’s a rule for that… just kidding. First, it’s always good to take a read through the rules document if you haven’t recently as your suggestion may actually already be there. If it’s not or your suggestion is about the rules document itself, please feel free to email TECH. We may say yes, we may say no, we may ask that you post it for discussion, we may be able to explain the thought process behind a particular decision and how it may or may not be relevant any longer… the best thing to do is to ask! The rules document is a ‘living’ document in that we are always open to making changes and improvements as needed

Are TECH members automatically Operators in Discord?

TECH members are actually a step above Operators in Discord per the structure laid out in the current rule set, but also fulfill the role as needed. TECH chooses Operators and we expect that they be familiar with the rules document and the moderation techniques outlined in it. If there is a concern with how an Operator has handled something, it should be brought to TECH so that we can assist in resolving the situation.

Can we have X in Discord?

Well… maybe? Bring it up and let’s talk about it. No one in TECH claims to be a Discord expert and we’re always interested in hearing about things that people think could benefit our community. Just keep in mind that we are all volunteers and there is a limit to how much time and energy we can devote to the club and supporting/moderating any new features (which is why, for example, custom ship channels are required to be moderated by their COs, not Operators).

I don’t like TECH being in charge of Discord. How can we change that?

As noted above, TECH is charged with Discord as part of its bylaw, which is a special kind of edict that establishes clubwide policy or governs administrative features of the club. To change a bylaw, a bill must be issued by the sitting President following a discussion in Command. At that point, for a period of ten days after the issuance of the bill, the bill may voided if at least two of the three members of EGO veto it.

The Bills and Bylaws Edict (“BABE”, https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-babe.html) and the Establishment Edict for Executive Government Oversight (“EEEGO”, https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-eeego.html with a few revisions that are not in the library version) both go into much more detail about this process.

And just for reference, your senior staff include two past presidents and a sitting EGO. We get needlessly passionate about this stuff and, as this is an academy setting, we are more than willing to discuss anything and everything. Just ask!

Geoff


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