Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Article 4

VerdantHaven

Proposed Constitutional Amendment

This proposal is for an amendment to “Article 4 – Forest Keeper Elections” of the Forest Constitution

I am calling for this amendment in accordance with part 8.1.ii of the Constitution, and am posting it here for discussion and feedback from all residents of Forest. I want to make sure we have largescale understanding and agreement before submitting it to the Founder for approval, and then putting it to public vote. I am putting forward this amendment as promised in my campaign platform, , to facilitate regional management during the vacuum associated with the electoral period.

The purpose of this amendment can be summarized as follows:

1) To permit the appointment of temporary regional officers during the electoral period, at the Founder’s discretion, for the purposes of providing moderation on the Regional Message Board

2) To permit the appointment of temporary region al officers during the electoral period, at the Founder’s discretion, for the purpose of managing Forest’s participation in a game-wide event or response to an extraordinary circumstance.

Proposed New Text

No text in the current Constitution will be edited or removed. This amendment would add three sub-clauses to the end of Article 4, as follows:

4.8 The Founder may, at their discretion, appoint one or more Election Officers during the electoral period when all other normal workings of government are stopped. These officers shall have power over Communication only, and shall serve strictly to perform moderation functions on the Regional Message Board.

4.9 Should an extraordinary circumstance such as a game-wide event arise during the electoral period, the Founder may, at their discretion, appoint such officers as are necessary to facilitate the operation of Forest during the aforementioned circumstance.

4.10 Should the Founder choose to appoint any officers during the electoral period, such officers:
i. May not be a candidate for Forest Keeper.
ii. May not use their position to campaign for or against any candidate.
iii. Retain their right to vote in the election, if they are otherwise permitted to vote.
iv. Serve only until the conclusion of the electoral period or the conclusion of the circumstance resulting in their appointment – whichever is shorter.
v. May be dismissed by the Founder at any time, with or without a reason being given.

VerdantHaven

Greetings, all! As many of you may recall, during our last electoral period, when all officers had their powers removed per the Constitution, we experienced a persistent spate of trolling and spamming on the message board. We also had a close call with the arrival of a game-wide event, which would have been problematic had we been in the election period at the time, since we would be without legal authority to appoint event leadership.

That resulted in me adding a promise to my campaign platform that I would seek a constitutional amendment granting our Founder the authority to appoint temporary RMB moderators during the election period, and to appoint temporary event officers during that period should an event occur.

This is a much smaller and more straight-forward proposal that the amendment to Article 6, as it does not edit or delete anything currently in the Forest Constitution. This simply adds a few sub-clauses to the end of Article 4, granting the Founder the authority (at their sole discretion) to appoint these officers during that time.

Please respond with your thoughts and feedback on this amendment! It is shocking how fast the next election period is coming up - it’s just 6 weeks away - and both Forest and our Founder deserve to have the tools to manage that election period in a transparent and effective manner.

Turbeaux

VerdantHaven Should 4.10 sv read “The Founder may dismiss such an officer at any time for any reason”? Otherwise, I like everything about it. I hope that others share feedback!

VerdantHaven

Turbeaux

It certainly could read that! Since we all serve at the pleasure of the Founder, I wasn’t sure whether it was necessary to include the “for any reason” part (or even “with or without stating a reason” perhaps?), but that can be added readily. Do you have a preference between those options?

Turbeaux

VerdantHaven I would be fine with either. I believe that there should be full clarification so future Foresters cannot misinterpret/twist anything. Look at what has happened with the US constitution!

VerdantHaven

Done!

Kinectia

That looks good to me - simple and straightforward.

VerdantHaven

Kinectia Thanks for checking in on it!

Given the impending election period, I will be move forward with submitting this to Errinundera by the end of the week, barring some major surprise.

VerdantHaven

I have made a few minor grammatical corrections, and have now submitted this for Founder review and approval. Pending receipt of such, this will hopefully be coming to vote in the near future!