STF

How to make a proposal in Command

Posted June 19, 2019, 10:57 p.m. by Admiral Joe P (Librarian / TECH Chairman) (Joe P)

Posted by Fleet Captain Adam W. (Former Ruler of the Club) in How to make a proposal in Command

Posted by Admiral Joe P (Librarian / TECH Chairman) in How to make a proposal in Command

Posted by Fleet Captain Adam W. (Former Ruler of the Club) in How to make a proposal in Command
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Given the number of new members (who I encourage to participate in Command), returning members, and members who haven’t posted in Command in a while, I thought I would post this handy guide for how to make a proposal in Command.

This isn’t an official STF document or anything. It mostly summarizes “best practices” - although I have also identified when something is mandatory in the process.

Step One: Familiarize yourself with the issue.

It is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the issue in question. If you haven’t already done so, make sure to read the relevant bylaw in question (I have included links later in this post).

Reading the bylaw isn’t always enough, though. First, there may be additional policies or mandates that a specific department or Executive Assistant has. Second, the documents do not usually tell the reader “why” something was or was not included or written in a certain way. Therefore, if possible, you may want to chat with those who are familiar with the issue in question. That could be someone who has a current or former role in the department in question, current or former executive or EGO members, etc. Discord is sometimes a useful resource to find out who to chat with to become familiar with an issue.

Step Two: Discuss your proposal off the boards

Please run your proposal by a few members first (DMs, emails, etc.). Get the kinks worked out first. Try to get some support from those who are already familiar with the subject matter. This will often make the proposal process much smoother.

Step Three: Is a Command discussion even required

Generally, Command proposals and discussions are required for the following:

-Creating a new bylaw (i.e. a set-policy that will affect the club as a whole )
-Amending a bylaw (a list of current bylaws is set out at the end of this post)
-Creating a new alt-RPG outside of the X-Fleet
-Amending an alt-RPG’s charter
-Creating a new fleet or cutting a fleet
-Other large-scale changes to the club

There may be other discussions as well to identify a problem and brainstorm solutions - although Command isn’t always the best forum for that sometimes (brainstorming is difficult in this medium compared to chat venues).

Step Four: Decide if the proposal can be made in a department instead of Command

If your proposal affects a specific department or part of the club, and not the club as a whole, it may make more sense to discuss the proposal in a department’s Board rather than Command. Although any bylaw amendment will ultimately have to come to Command, it is a lot easier to brainstorm and have discussions in a department’s board rather than Command. Talk to the department’s director and discuss it with them to see what they think. Ideally, the proposal should be “work shopped” before being posted in Command.

Step Five: Discuss with the President (optional)

Although not required, it makes practical sense to run your proposal by the President. This is because (a) the President moderates the Command board, so reducing surprises is a good thing, (b) the President may have a timetable for planned discussions they want to have in Command, so they may want to give your propsoal a different priority, and (c) the President will make the ultimate decision whether they will even act on your proposal - so if you don’t have the President on board, your proposal isn’t going to be going anywhere.

That doesn’t mean you necessarily need to only post proposals the President agrees with. Debate and discussion isn’t a bad thing, and your proposal may lead to a different solution to the problem (if there is agreement that there is a problem). In addition, input from additional members may convince the President. But you should still probably run it by the President first to avoid any issues.

Step Six: Posting the proposal

Although there is no request template for making a post, best practice is to use the template on the Command MOTD: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/command/.

Step Seven: Discussion

Most proposals will usually attract some discussion. For bills (creating and amending bylaws), there has to be a period of time put aside to allow discussion before the President can even formally post the bill.

During discussions, please remain calm, and try not to make it personal. Everyone is trying to improve the club, so do your best to take things on good faith, and not post in anger.

Step Eight: Posting the bill (if the proposal is to amend or create a bylaw)

If the President agrees with the proposal, and there has been sufficient discussion, the (sort of) last step is for the President to formally post the bill in Command.

Step Nine: Review by EGO (if the proposal is to amend or create a bylaw)

Wait, did I say posting a bill was the final step? That’s not always true. There is another body in STF called “EGO”, which are made up of three members with flag ranks serving staggered two-year terms. They are elected from the rest of the members with flag ranks. One of EGO’s powers is that they can veto a bill within 7-days if the veto is posted by at least two of the three EGO members. EGO has vetoed bills in the past on a wide variety of reasons - and they will state those reasons in Command. Many Presidents are often able to get their bill through a second time once EGO’s concerns have been addressed. But it’s important to keep in mind that if EGO thinks your proposal is bad for the club, you may have a problem with getting it through - so pay attention to the discussion.

Step Ten: Final words of advice

When in doubt, ask in Discord. There are always members there willing to give feedback about a proposal. That will give you a good idea how it will do in Command.

Don’t take criticism personally (and when criticizing, don’t make it personal). Make sure to discuss the proposal or criticism on its merits and not on who made the post (although if you use your personal background to justify your post, you may be opening the door for the discussion to become personal…).

If you’re new in Command, maybe ask for a mentor to help you navigate the process of making a proposal.

-Daniel Lerner

Appendix: List of current bylaws with links

The current bylaws are (they can usually be identified by the silly acronyms we give them):
-“MOO” (governs our definition of “member”, ranks, promotions, LOAs and AWOLs) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-moo.html)
-“GO” (governs STF’s government structure other than EGO and TECH; also sets out the succession rules if the president has to be replaced mid-term) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-go.html)
-“FCOMM” (governs the fleets other than the Academy and X-Fleet, including FComms, AFComms, COs, XOs, ship management rules, character rules, species rules, and alt-RPG ship rules) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-fleets.html)
-“EEEGO” (governs EGO, including EGO elections, and some of EGO’s powers, including appeals and impeachment) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-eeego.html, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/bates/#b3)
-“LEGOE” (rules for the Presidential elections) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-elections.html, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/dedul/#b4)
-“BABE” (rules regarding bylaws and bills) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-babe.html)
-“GRAVITieS” (rules regarding club sanctions ) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-gravities.html)
-“BOXES” (governs the X-Fleet) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-xfleet.html, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/dipper3/#b1 and https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/archer/#b2 - currently missing from archive)
-“CADET” (governs the Academy) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-acad.html, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/dedul/#b2, https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/despain/#b1 - currently missing from archive, and https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/lerner2/#b2)
-“ENERGIE” (governs the Engineering Department) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-ed.html)
-Library bylaw (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-library.html)
-“OGRE” (governs the Gamemaster Department) (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-gmd.html, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/bayes2/#b1)
-“PDICT” (governs the Personnel Department (https://www.star-fleet.com/library/bookshelf/charters/charter-pd.html, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/lerner2/#b2 and https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/adamw/#b3)
-TECH bylaw (https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/dedul/#b3, as amended by https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/bayes2/#b2 - currently missing from archive)
-CMM bylaw (https://www.star-fleet.com/prez/edicts/adamw/#b1)

Daniel Lerner

This is a pretty good guide.

I would emphasize especially keeping Step 7 and Step 8 separate. Posting proposed text for a bill tends to jump-start a round of revisions, but if the discussion hasn’t actually conveyed to people what is actually supposed to be accomplished, it tends to descend into hostile nitpicking instead of constructive criticism. Largely because the work hasn’t been done to explain to people what the objective is to construct towards.

Joe

I believe the Terms of Service is also a bylaw. The link is at the bottom of this page.

Adam

No, it’s not, nor should it be thought of as one for all sorts of reasons that are probably beyond the scope of this discussion.

It’s definitely incompatible with being a bylaw because of this little gem in it:

“STF reserves the right to alter this agreement at any time without prior notice”

We don’t reserve that right with bylaws.

Joe

Andrew Robinson Edict #87 made Andrew Robinson Edict #45 a bylaw. If that was undone later I missed it.

Adam

Well, the Terms of Service as written clearly contradict the idea that they are a bylaw, because a bylaw has the property that it cannot be changed without notice, while the Terms of Service can be changed without notice. These things can’t both be true at the same time, so either Robinson #87 or the Terms of Service are invalid on this point.

I’m really surprised nobody noticed this for 11 years.

Joe


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