COM input

Feedback and updates relating to the Westmarch kingdom corpora.

COM input

Postby Hannoske » Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:11 am

All, thought I would copy over the input from the E-sam Circle of Monarch's thread about our bid/corpora. I also thought I would try to present my view of some responses (where I think might need them), and then the monarchy can work at submitting their answer formally to the COM on the issues they so desire. I have also included Randall's initial response supporting us. My responses in color.

Elder Vermillion wrote:Alright, I am not a monarch, but since no one else has pointed anything out. I will lend my proofreading services. The corpora is well put together for the most part and covers a lot of things that the EH only just recently added or clarified. I especially appreciate the random audits that are laid out in the corpora.

HOWEVER, here are some Proofreading points about this Kingdom corpora:

III.1.4: (All officers must be voting members in one of the core chapters) I know you MEANT "KINGDOM officers" but it doesn't say that, and this corpora is also used as a park corpora, so right now non core parks can't have officers.

Concur

IV.2.2 and IV.4.1 "The month of the crown" is probably supposed to be "The Time of the Crown."

Concur

V.1.5: "Proxy" votes. That word does not mean what you think it means. What is described are "Absentee" Votes. A Proxy vote is empowering another person to vote for you, with no input from you. (And is a terrible idea in Amtgard)

Mostly concur, absentee is more in line with what we are doing.

V.1.8:(All candidates for office may appoint a representative to witness the counting of votes) ... Really? ... are you REALLY sure about this? I would think that the many reasons this is a bad idea are self apparent.

We have been doing this for years, and it works well in both closed ballot and open ballot situations. The key is transparency. It reduces the potential drama after an election, and allows for oversight in the process.

V.3.2: (Althings must have a Quorum of 51% of all voting members) !!? Wow. Hope you like constantly rescheduling Althings.

Currently Westmarch achieves greater than 70% participation on every election. Due to our attendance requirements on vote elligibility (6 times in 3 months), less-active people are not likely to be voting members. With the addition of Absentee votes, meeting quorum will not be a problem. And if it is, we have a bigger concern about either how we are scheduling our Althings, or why our members are not voting. Additionally, this policy prevents crash althings where a few people change the entire groups course.

V.4.3:(dues are $10 for core parks, $6 for non-core) A) Why are dues $10 for core parks?
B) I am not sure dues are allowed to be more than $6.

Dues are $10 in order to allow adequate funds to be available for both the running of Westmarch, and the individual land. Our structure allows for $5 from each core park to be sent up to support the operations of Westmarch, and $5 remain to support the operations of the land. As for if we are allowed...our parent kingdom does, and they seem to work well.

Other than VI.3.4.(GM candidates must pass a reeves test) Elections for and duties of Class Guildmasters are not addressed.

The other Guildmaster positions were intentially removed, largely due to non-use. Additionally, it was felt that the appointment of other guildmasters should be left up to the lands that are choosing to use them. A shire of 5 people with one archer, doesn't really need a guildmaster of archers. Most smaller lands do not appoint a guildmaster of smiths. We did feel though, that if you were going to have them, they should be familiar with the rules of play. (Actually, I think we just forgot to remove that one... but I like my rationale)

VI.6.4: A) (Three (5) points for first.) Well that clears that up. I am sure you meant Five (5) points for first.
B) I assume the .5 for each win is ONLY in the event of a tie. But that is going to throw off the numbers a lot. I would suggest: "in the case of a tie, half a point (.5) to the tied combatant with the most individual wins."

Concur

VII.5: Titles: There is no title for serving once as Kingdom Regent (although there is for one term as Principality Regent).
VII.5.2.h: Defender can only be given for Principality Champion (not Kingdom).

Concur, recommend we add Kingdom Regent as a qualifier for Count and we change defender to read "may be granted for serving one (1) complete term as Champion of a Principality or Kingdom."

Article IX: BOD meetings. It is highly implied but not actually stated that BOD meetings have to be announced in advance, or how far in advance they are to be announced.

We do not require that the BOD meetings be announced in advance. Of note, due to the georaphic separation of the potential members of the BOD, Westmarch uses a ventrillo server to allow meetings to be held virtually. Without prior coordination, holding these meeting would be impossible. So functionally we do announce them. We choose to allow the BOD to determine their own process/timeline for this. (As an aside, since they are to be open to the public, we might want to consider codifying this as he recommends)

And for that matter, Lets talk about your Calendar. It's a mess. There is a LOT of vagueness in your calendar and the Regent has a LOT of work to do to coordinate it. It is never stated when or how far in advance the calendar is announced. Looking at your Corpora I have no idea even what months your events are held in. Midreign(and Mid-reign, you should pick one spelling) is mentioned 5 times, and the only hint as to when it is held is that PM elections are 1 week before it. Coronation is mentioned twice, and the setting of the dates for it is maddening.

Just read VI.1.2 and VI.2 and please tell me you can see the issues that it presents:
VI.1.2 "Crown Qualifications will be held once every six (6) months, at least one (1) week prior to crown elections."
VI.2. "TIME OF THE CROWN
1. The Time of the Crown is the period from when declarations are due to when a new Monarch is crowned.
2. Any person wishing to run for Monarch, Regent, Champion, Guildmaster of Reeves, or Heir Apparent must declare their intentions publicly and in writing to the Prime Minister one (1) week prior to Crown Qualifications.
3. Cultural and Fighting events of Crown Qualifications shall be held the week after declarations are due. The autocrat of Crown Qualifications may request literature entries over one (1) page be turned in up to two (2) weeks early.
4. The Crown Coronation event shall be run by the Regent within three (3) weeks after elections."

So:
Declarations are due one week before Crown quals; Crown quals are held 1 week after declarations are due and (at least) 1 week prior to Elections; Then, Coronation is held within (at most) 3 weeks after Elections.

You need to either set a general date as to when (PM and Crown) elections are held, or a general date when your events are held. They key off of each other, but neither one is actually set or even a general guideline given anywhere.

I don't have a good answer for this one. I personally am opposed to saying September will be the month of the coronation, as maybe the event will work better being in the last week of August. As for the way we schedule out the time of the crown, I am a fan to condensing it to 1 month, but I see the benefits of the 6 week program we currently use. As a reminder to everyone reading this, the time of the crown current flows as follows:


Week 1 Althing for Quals Autocrat
Weeks 2-3 Wait
Week 4 Autocrat releases Qualifications requirements/information
Weeks 5-6 Wait
Week 7 Declarations close
Week 8 Qualifications
Week 9 Elections
Weeks 10-11 Wait
Week 12 Coronation

The verbiage was changed to "within 3 weeks" from quals to coronation so it can run in a month.

I do agree that it is a little spread out and confusing if you don't understand how it is setup.




And Randall's response:
Thank you for the nitty-gritty analysis, Elder! A lot of that is inherited from the Dragonspine corpora, which still contains a lot of those quirks -- we do $10 dues and have done for years, and also allow candidates for office to appoint ballot-counting representatives, and so on. And some of the errant language comes from ours as well. I'll make sure Westmarch knows about some of this small quirks, so they can tweak them in the future.

Regarding the corpora, I am looking for deal-breakers, although I hope there are none since it's been reviewed by several groups. Regarding the bid in general, I am looking for commentary (positive or negative) on Westmarch's size, structure, numbers, justifications to be a kingdom, and the overall bid. Thank you!
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Re: COM input

Postby Dame Ailanthus » Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:44 pm

Thanks Hannoske, Randall, and Elder. I pretty much agree with everything Hannoske said above except for timing of crown events. I think there are a few issues I'd like to see altered but I'll save that for another time and place.
As for addressing the issues here, I think we could post the non-policy changes for a June vote. Unless a deal breaker comes back from the CoM, we should table all policy changes until after clan.
We should also give the monarchy some authority to make changes on site within the strict confines of dealing with issues that would prevent our bid from passing.
Disclaimer: These are just my opinions/recommendations for Jareth to consider, but I thought a response should come fairly quickly.
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Re: COM input

Postby Jareth » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:25 pm

An additional thanks to you all for this input. Especially to Sir Randall for defending some of our whacky and vague language. I know that our two major events are Dark Shore and Feast of Mars. I think it is safe to make Dark Shore in May our Coronation for the spring-fall reign. Since that event is pretty much always in May we can let it float in that month. So then the coronation for our Fall-spring reign will be six months later in November. I understand the complaint against the inconsistencies in our calender wording. I will agree with Ailanthus though, unless we get a deal breaker, or they would like to see our wording changed prior to clan we should wait until after clan to clear those issues.
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