The Advisory Council returns!

As part of our ongoing effort to improve general board relations between the moderators and members (of which the Mod Squad weekly reports were the first step), we've implemented our next idea and formed a new Advisory Council, where members can offer feedback and suggestions in a private forum.

The way the Advisory Council works is thus:

We have appointed three respected and longstanding members (Aunt Jar Jar Mimah, Jay, and Dev Sibwarra) who will be permanent members of the Advisory Council, as well as five rotating members. These members will be swapped out every three months for new people to take their places, so we can keep the forum from stagnating. Currently, the rotating members are Spiderdevil, Tellesto, B'omarr, Darth_Asabrush, and Darth_Dagsy. These first rotating members were picked by the moderators while the Advisory Council gets started, but after the first three month term, we'll be choosing a wider range of people, and more randomly.

 

Yup, I am there. I have been assured that the forum will not be subversive, but rather give an opportunity for small groups of users to discuss topics with mods...possibly as a way to see what regular users will think about an idea, or something like that.

This might avoid any sense of panic that could arise, for example, in Lord Banes thread about the JCC.

While the topics cant be discussed outside of the AC until a mod makes it public, I would like our jobs, as rotating members, to include hearing ideas and suggestions from other members. You could possibly make us an intermediary between yourselves and the mod squad.

 

Intresting. What exactly will this advisory council do?

edit: Sorry, I just reread the first post, question answered.

 

I completely agree with that Dags. This Advisory Council means that you as the member base will have a Council of members who are well informed as to current policy and proceedings who can relate to your concerns.
We're members just as you are, and we're there to help make new suggestions and moderating go as smoothly with the membership base as possible.

Don't be afraid to tell us how you feel.

 

The AC's basic purpose is to provide the moderators with feedback and offer suggestions, which we will take into consideration.

 

This sounds good.

 

The Advisory Council is multi-purpose:

- For the moderating staff to run ideas by a group of members who will constructively discuss and examine them, in order to provide valuable feedback from members, before being released for general consumption, as sometimes things are best discussed on a smaller scale, first.

- For the moderating staff to gain general insight as to how the 'pulse' of the general membership is doing, on a more personal level than this forum provides.

- For the members to have a chance to be involved in making the Jedi Council forums a better place, on a more personal level. The rotating positions will allow a wide variety and number of posters to discuss matters with the administration on a more 'intimate' level.

- For the members to have regular members they can go to if they have some sort of issue that they would rather not take up with any moderators... an example would be if a member had a problem with the way a moderator handled a situation, but did not wish to bring this up personally, for whatever reason. The members of the council would serve as an intermediary here.

We hope that this improves relations, but this is still ultimately only an experiment. If it does not look as though it is achieving it's purpose, it will be disbanded.

Vertical

 

Wow things are really looking up. I like this idea. Good job. Will there be summarries of the Advisary Council, or will they be handling the same things as Mod Squad?

¤Night

 

So wait a second, Private forum? Will they be made Vips?

 

And how exactly do you come to "invite" certain members to be a part of this council. What are the criteria?

In other words, how do we know that this isn't just something exclusive for mod-wannabes or for a reward for those members that suck up to the admins?

Are you going to put members on that council that actively and vocally oppose the mods and admins or only those that act as your mouthpieces?

 

After the first month, the rotating members will be picked at random to ensure that we have a mix of opinions.

Are you going to put members on that council that actively and vocally oppose the mods and admins or only those that act as your mouthpieces?

And I considered you for precisely that reason, JAS.

 

Slacker: It's a random choice as far as I know.

Yodaboy: No, we do not have colors at the moment, and I don't believe we will be getting them. This is a base of members advising the mods, nothing flashy.

 

I've always been of the philosophy of "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer".

I, for one, will absolutely not be opposed to inviting people in who question policy or administrative behavior. Why, that's one of the biggest reasons we invited Padme Bra onto the team. He always had criticism, but it was well-founded, and was always in the best interest of the forums.

We will absolutely not be filling the forum with yes-men, if that's your concern. That's also why we're rotating the position out. We don't want people to become too accustomed to it, and suffer from the Ivory Tower syndrome.

I'm interested in inviting newer members, older members, criticisers, and supporters. The wider variety of people we have in there (provided they all have the best interests of the forums in mind), the better this will work.

Vertical

 

Giving the AC members colours was discussed, but decided against since we didn't want people seeing them as too connected with the staff.

 

The members of the Advisory Council were not chosen because of respect or fawning toward us, but their knowledge of the JC as well as regular user respect.

These are your mouthpieces, if they are anyone's.

 

Also, this is not a 'secret' forum, this is simply a 'private' forum. Some discussions require a more personal setting, and some discussions will no doubt have sensitive topics.

And no, they will not be made VIPs. They're going to remain regular members, because that's why they were chosen.

Vertical

 

They aren't my mouthpiece. I didn't pick them. If someone is going to speak for me, I should at least have some ability to choose them.

Don't try and make it sound egalitarian.

 

So then naming names, who do you want on the Council, Slacker?


edit: I think it should also be known that in the past I've had a lot of bad blood with Vert and CA. That's in the past now, but we've never had much love for one another, so I'm not a suck-up.

 

JAS, did you see my little hissy fit the other day?

I wont spend my time sucking up to the mods. You have my word on that. I will be trying to do the right things for regular members.

Although I do like the idea of the special colours

 

Who says I do? I just want to know how these people are picked and by whom? Will they pick people who don't like the mods or only those people who want to be mods?

 

Not that this is all we'll do, but a fair amount of our time should be spent giving the mods constructive criticism and playing devil's advocate when discussing issues.

If we all went right along with everything they proposed, then this whole endeavor would be for nothing.


I, for one, will absolutely not be opposed to inviting people in who question policy or administrative behavior.

Didn't Vertical answer your question with that comment, JAS?

 

LOL, yes, Tellesto and I are on fine terms now, but I can assure you, he's never been guilty of being anything close to a "yes-man" when it comes to me and CA.

These initial members were selected due to their experience with the JC. Future members will be selected more randomly. We haven't really decided on a way to select them yet.

But, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Vertical

 

Picked at random? I hope Barry doesn't get picked.

 

We're still working out the details of member selection, but the proposed systems eliminate the admins from having a major role in the process.

 

So who actually decides on the members then? What criteria is used?