Path: uni-berlin.de!fu-berlin.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!feed.news.tiscali.de!easynet-quince!easynet.net!news-peer-lilac.gradwell.net!not-for-mail From: Barry Salter Newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce,uk.net.news.config,uk.gay-lesbian-bi Subject: RESULT - Change to election system for moderators of newsgroup uk.gay-lesbian-bi - All proposals FAIL Followup-To: uk.net.news.config Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 21:01:15 +0100 Message-ID: Sender: Chris Croughton as Control Approved: Chris Croughton as Control Lines: 899 NNTP-Posting-Date: 26 May 2005 20:02:36 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 80.0.192.110 X-Trace: 1117137756 news.gradwell.net 38044 control/80.0.192.110 X-Complaints-To: news-abuse@gradwell.net Xref: uni-berlin.de uk.net.news.announce:3395 uk.net.news.config:203583 uk.gay-lesbian-bi:293051 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- RESULT - Change to election system for moderators of newsgroup uk.gay-lesbian-bi Summary of results: Proposal A - Change Maximum Number of Moderators Stage 1 - Comparison of Options to Status Quo Option A preferred to Status Quo by 10 votes to 2 Option B preferred to Status Quo by 9 votes to 1 Status Quo preferred to Option C by 6 votes to 2 Status Quo preferred to Re-Open Discussion by 5 votes to 4 None of the options beat Status Quo by 12 votes or more, therefore the proposal FAILS and Stage 2 (comparison of remaining options) is not necessary. Proposal B - Change Voting Method (Simple Yes/No for all candidates) YES = 10 votes NO = 2 votes YES beat NO by a majority of 8 votes. This is less than the +12 majority required to beat the Status Quo. Accordingly, the proposal FAILS. Proposal C - Change Voting Method (Where there are more candidates than vacancies) Stage 1 - Comparison of Options to Status Quo Option A preferred to Status Quo by 11 votes to 1 Option B preferred to Status Quo by 8 votes to 3 Status Quo preferred to Re-Open Discussion by 8 votes to 2 None of the options beat Status Quo by 12 votes or more, therefore the proposal FAILS and Stage 2 (comparison of remaining options) is not necessary. Proposal D - Limit to Number of Consecutive Terms Served YES = 7 votes NO = 4 votes ABSTAIN = 1 vote YES beat NO by a majority of 3 votes. This is less than the +12 majority required to beat the Status Quo. Accordingly, the proposal FAILS. ======================================================================== Voting closed at 23:59:59 BST, 20th May 2005 Proponent: Neil Matthews Votetaker: Barry Salter As per usual UKVoting practice, all addresses in these Results are munged, to reduce the likelihood of address harvesting, be it by spambots or virus-infected machines. ======================================================================== Distribution: These results have been posted to the following newsgroups: uk.net.news.announce uk.net.news.config uk.gay-lesbian-bi ======================================================================== The Results: The results follow below in the following order: 1) Results 2) Particulars of the Vote 3) Votetakers Comments 4) Voting and Appeal Guidelines 5) Rationale & Proposed Changes 6) Newsgroups Line 7) Amended Charter ======================================================================== Results: To make formatting simpler, and also to reduce the overall length of this post, the results for Proposals B and D are given first, followed by those for Proposals A and C. Proposal D ----\ Proposal B ---\| Voter Name E-Mail Address || Bryan news$heian$org$uk YY Dale abuse$webeye$freeserve$co$uk YY David Boothroyd david$election$demon$co$uk YN JohnM john$scroll$demon$co$uk YY Jon H jon$serf$org YY Lyn David Thomas lyn$trebute$fsnet$co$uk NY mark MarrkN19$aol$com YN Neil Matthews neil$chaos$org$uk NY Niles alex$foster$zetnet$co$uk YN paul {voter}$watman$clara$co$uk YN PaulG notion$paddington$org$uk YY robert marshall robert$chezmarshall$freeserve$co$uk YA ============================== Proposal A - Change Maximum Number of Moderators RAW PREFERENCES GRID A B C ROD SQ Option A [n/a] [ 8] [ 10] [ 12] [ 10] Option B [ 4] [n/a] [ 8] [ 8] [ 9] Option C [ 2] [ 2] [n/a] [ 5] [ 2] ROD [ 0] [ 2] [ 3] [n/a] [ 4] Status Quo [ 2] [ 1] [ 6] [ 5] [n/a] In this grid, each number represents the number of votes which were cast that preferred the option named in the number's row to the option appropriate to the number's column. For instance, 8 votes preferred Option A (Maximum of 8 Moderators) to Option B (Maximum of 10 Mods) while 2 votes preferred the Status Quo to Option A (Maximum of 8 Mods). PARTICULARS OF THE VOTE Status Quo -------\ Re-Open Discussion ------\| Option C -----\|| Option B ----\||| Option A ---\|||| Voter Name ||||| Preference Bryan 31452 B > SQ > A > C > ROD Dale 12453 A > B > SQ > C > ROD David Boothroyd 43152 C > SQ > B > A > ROD JohnM 1AAAA A > B = C = ROD = SQ Jon H 21AAA B > A > C = ROD = SQ Lyn David Thomas 13A2A A > ROD > B > C = SQ mark 12534 A > B > ROD > SQ > C Neil Matthews 12453 A > B > SQ > C > ROD Niles 23145 C > A > B > ROD > SQ paul 13524 A > ROD > B > SQ > C PaulG 21AA3 B > A > SQ > C = ROD robert marshall 1AAAA A > B = C = ROD = SQ Notes: A = Option not ranked, AAAAA = Abstain ============================== Proposal C - Change Voting Method (Where there are more candidates than vacancies) RAW PREFERENCES GRID A B ROD SQ Option A [n/a] [ 9] [ 11] [ 11] Option B [ 2] [n/a] [ 8] [ 8] ROD [ 0] [ 2] [n/a] [ 2] Status Quo [ 1] [ 3] [ 8] [n/a] In this grid, each number represents the number of votes which were cast that preferred the option named in the number's row to the option appropriate to the number's column. For instance, 9 votes preferred Option A (Voting by Simple Yes/No unless more candidates than vacancies) to Option B (Simple Yes/No, order of election determined by vote difference) while 1 vote preferred the Status Quo to Option A (Voting by Simple Yes/No unless more candidates than vacancies). PARTICULARS OF THE VOTE Status Quo ------\ Re-Open Discussion -----\| Option B ----\|| Option A ---\||| |||| Voter Name |||| Preference Bryan 1243 A > B > SQ > ROD Dale 2143 B > A > SQ > ROD David Boothroyd 1432 A > SQ > ROD > B JohnM 1AAA A > B = ROD = SQ Jon H 12AA A > B > ROD = SQ Lyn David Thomas 1423 A > ROD > SQ > B mark 1243 A > B > SQ > ROD Neil Matthews 1243 A > B > SQ > ROD Niles 1243 A > B > SQ > ROD paul 2134 B > A > ROD > SQ PaulG 12A3 A > B > ROD > SQ robert marshall AAA1 SQ > A = B = ROD Notes: A = Option not ranked, AAAA = Abstain ======================================================================== Votetakers Comments: Not a lot to say really. This vote had one of the lowest turnouts in recent uk.* history, which is rather a shame, and most people managed to follow the voting instructions properly. There was, however, one person who put YES as his only preference for the two proposals being counted under the Condorcet system, despite the voting instructions, and the "clues" on the ballot paper, and another voter sent an HTML copy of his vote, which managed to "break" the script I use for initial validation. There was also a small incident during the latter half of the vote, when I was testing a revised script and it decided to send a new ack to all of the existing voters telling them that their vote had been deemed to be invalid, for which I swiftly issued an apology. You'll notice that, despite none of the proposals having passed, there is still a revised charter at the end of this posting. This is merely to effect the change to Clause 3.xi mentioned in the original proposal as being independent of whether Proposal D passed. For the avoidance of doubt, the control message that made the group moderated was issued on the 28th of April 1999, therefore the Moderator Elections SHOULD take place at the end of March each year. ======================================================================== This vote was conducted by a neutral third party member of UKVoting. UKVoting is a group of independent votetakers who count votes on CFVs in the uk hierarchy. The rules under which this vote is taken are posted regularly to uk.net.news.announce or can be found at the following URL: The UKVoting web pages can be found at There is a five day discussion period after these results are posted to uk.net.news.announce. Allegations of irregularity should be sent to control(at)usenet.org.uk. ======================================================================== Rationale: When the group originally became moderated, it was agreed that the size of the moderation panel would be between four and twelve people. It was also agreed that the annual election of moderators would be by the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. In the years since moderation commenced, there have never been more than 12 candidates and therefore the elections have been considered to be a foregone conclusion, despite the inclusion of the Re-open Nominations (RON) option on the ballot. STV votes involve the vote-taker in significant extra work and where the number of candidates is less than the number of positions available, it's value is limited. This proposed charter change seeks to make the voting system more sensible. Although most moderators have informally and voluntarily chosen to take a year out after after a number of consecutive years in post, there is no formal requirement for them to do so. While some continuity is desirable from year to year, concern has been expressed about 'perpetual' moderators. The proposal of a maximum of three consecutive terms seeks to address this concern. The proposed changes are as follows: The maximum number of moderators is reduced from 12 to 8 If the number of candidates is 8 or less the vote is conducted on the basis of a single Yes/No vote for each candidate. Any candidate receiving more Yes votes than No votes will be deemed elected. Candidates with more No votes than Yes votes or equal numbers of Yes and No votes will be deemed not elected. If the number of candidates exceeds 8, the vote is conducted by the current STV system. No moderator may hold the position for more than 3 consecutive years. Following 3 years of tenure, the moderator must retire for a year before again becoming eligible for election. The exception to this would be that if the number of moderators falls below the minimum required, it would be permissible for the remaining moderators to co-opt a person in their retirement year following 3 consecutive years of service. Part years served as a co-opted moderator do not count towards the "3 consecutive years" period. So an individual co-opted part way through a moderation year, could then go on to be elected for 3 consecutive terms before being required to retire. However, if a moderator should be co-opted during his "retirement" year he will not be eligible for re-election until he has had a full year of retirement. ======================================================================== Proposed Charter Modifications: Proposal A - Change Maximum Number of Moderators Option A: Maximum of 8 Moderators Under the heading "Moderation Panel", replace clause 1 1 There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 12 moderators. with 1 There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 8 moderators. Option B: Maximum of 10 Moderators Under the heading "Moderation Panel", replace clause 1 1 There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 12 moderators. with 1 There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 10 moderators. Option C: No Maximum Number of Moderators Under the heading "Moderation Panel", replace clause 1 1 There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 12 moderators. with There shall be a panel of not less than 4 moderators. Option D: Re-Open Discussion Option E: Status Quo (No more than 12 moderators) Proposal B - Change Voting Method (Simple Yes/No for all candidates) If Option C on Proposal A wins then replace Clause 3.vi vi. Voting will be by the Single Transferable Vote method, with a reopen nominations candidate (RON) added to the ballot. If RON passes the quota then all the then unfilled places are void requiring a new election for those vacancies. with vi. Voting shall be by simple Yes/No vote for each candidate. Any candidate receiving more Yes votes than No votes will be deemed elected. Candidates with more No votes than Yes votes or equal numbers of Yes and No Votes will be deemed not elected. If the election produces less than the minimum number of moderators specified in clause 1 above, additional moderators will be co-opted under the provisions of clause 3.xi below. Proposal C - Change Voting Method (Where there are more candidates than vacancies) If Option C on Proposal A fails then either: Option A: Voting by Simple Yes/No unless more candidates than vacancies Replace Clause 3.vi vi. Voting will be by the Single Transferable Vote method, with a reopen nominations candidate (RON) added to the ballot. If RON passes the quota then all the then unfilled places are void requiring a new election for those vacancies. with vi. If the number of candidates is less than or equal to the maximum number specified in clause 1 above, voting shall be by simple Yes/No vote for each candidate. Any candidate receiving more Yes votes than No votes will be deemed elected. Candidates with more No votes than Yes votes or equal numbers of Yes and No Votes will be deemed not elected. If the number of candidates exceeds the maximum number specified in clause 1 above, voting will be by the Single Transferable Vote method, with a reopen nominations candidate (RON) added to the ballot. If RON passes the quota then all the remaining candidates are deemed not elected. If the election produces less than the minimum number of moderators specified in clause 1 above, additional moderators will be co-opted under the provisions of clause 3.xi below. Option B: Simple Yes/No, order of election determined by vote difference Replace Clause 3.vi vi. Voting will be by the Single Transferable Vote method, with a reopen nominations candidate (RON) added to the ballot. If RON passes the quota then all the then unfilled places are void requiring a new election for those vacancies. with vi. Voting shall be by simple Yes/No vote for each candidate. Any candidate receiving more Yes votes than No votes will be deemed elected. Candidates with more No votes than Yes votes or equal numbers of Yes and No Votes will be deemed not elected. In the event that more candidates than the maximum specified in Clause 1 pass this test, those elected should be determined by balance of 'yes' votes cast after 'no' votes have been deducted. In the event of a tie, the absolute maximum of yes votes will determine which candidate is elected. If there is still a tie, time of receipt of nomination as determined by the votetaker will be the final arbiter. If the election produces less than the minimum number of moderators specified in clause 1 above, additional moderators will be co-opted under the provisions of clause 3.xi below. Option C: Re-Open Discussion Option D: Status Quo (Single Transferable Vote plus Re-Open Nominations) Proposal D - Limit to Number of Consecutive Terms Served Replace existing Clause 3.x x. In the event of the resignation, removal or death of a moderator the next highest candidate (if they are still willing) from the previous election will be appointed for the remainder of the term. with new Clause 3.x x. No moderator may serve more than 3 consecutive terms. Moderators who have served 3 consecutive terms must retire for a term before being again eligible for election. Co-option part way through a term shall not be considered to constitute a part of the three term limitation. Whether Proposal D passes or fails, the following clause will also be changed: Replace existing Clause 3.xi xi. If the number of moderators falls below 4 or if the moderators consider it necessary due to excessive workload, they will appoint such temporary moderators as are necessary (the total number of moderators not to exceed 12) to efficiently moderate uk.gay-lesbian- bi. Their appointment to be confirmed by a vote of the pre-approved posters within 21 days. They will serve until the annual round of elections are held. with new Clause 3.xi xi. If the number of moderators falls below the minimum number defined in clause 1 above or if the moderators consider it necessary due to excessive workload, they will co-opt such additional moderators as are necessary (having regard to any maximum number defined in clause 1 above) to efficiently moderate uk.gay-lesbian-bi. Their co-option shall be confirmed by a simple Yes/No vote (as defined in clause 3.vi above) for each of the additional moderators by the pre- approved list posters within 28 days. The co-opted moderators will serve until the annual round of elections are held. [For the purposes of this clause, former moderators in retirement following three consecutive terms shall not be excluded from co-option. However, they shall not again be eligible for election until they have been in retirement for a full term] [Note: The text in square brackets will only be included if Proposal D passes] ======================================================================== Newsgroups Line: uk.gay-lesbian-bi For bisexuals, lesbians and gays in the UK. ======================================================================== Revised Charter: Charter of uk.gay-lesbian-bi (Moderated) uk.gay-lesbian-bi provides a forum for the discussion of lesbian, gay and bisexual related issues from a UK viewpoint, but not the morality of such issues. uk.gay-lesbian-bi is intended as a safe space for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, their friends and those interested in matters of sexuality. All posters are requested to respect this. The newsgroup is moderated and operates under the moderation guidelines listed in the moderation policy statement contained within this charter. Announcements of relevant events are allowed. Long announcements belong in uk.announce. Personal advertisements must not be posted to uk.gay-lesbian-bi; use uk.adverts.personals.gay-lesbian-bi or one of the many other personal groups instead. Commercial advertising is forbidden. Pointers to commercial sites fall under the rule about commercial advertising other than statements in .sig files four lines or under in length. Test postings should be sent to appropriate test groups. Excessive cross-posting is inappropriate. Posters are requested to restrict cross-posting to no more than two other newsgroups and all such articles must meet the requirements of the charters of all groups involved. All cross-posts with other moderated groups, except those for uk.net.news.announce and signed by Control, may be rejected unless sequential approval rights have been established. Encoded binaries e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc. are forbidden. Such material belongs on a web or FTP site to which a pointer may be posted. Cryptographic signatures e.g. PGP may be used where authentication is important and should be as short as possible and under ten lines. All articles must be readable in plain text; no HTML, RTF, or similar, or attachments are allowed. To see how to make your newsreader comply with this, please read . Please do not top post; when quoting parts of a previous post please retain the author's name and quote only enough to give context and place your reply beneath the quoted section. Warning Anyone posting contrary to this charter may be reported to their 'postmaster' and, or, Service Provider. Moderation Policy Statement Method Moderation will be by a pre-approved system: a semi-automatic moderation bot running STUMP system or similar will receive all postings to the group. Individuals who have made one approved posting will automatically be added to the pre-approved posters list, unless posting using a shared non-individual generic 'From' address in which case all such articles shall be approved individually. All pre-approved posters will have their articles automatically accepted and forwarded on to the group unless contrary to the auto-reject software. Their pre-approved status can only be revoked by the moderators if they violate the moderation policy and this action must be supported by a two thirds majority of the moderation panel and reported immediately to the group. Withdrawal of pre-approved status will be for a period of one calendar month, during which the poster shall be removed from the pre-approved and added to the manual list and have articles manually moderated; upon expiry of the withdrawal period they shall be removed from the manual list and pre-approved status shall be restored on the same terms as first time posters i.e. following their next posting of an approved article. A record will be kept of all withdrawals of pre-approved status for a period of twelve months from the date of withdrawal. Pre-approved posters who have inadvertently breached the moderation rules can apply to the moderators to be restored to the pre-approved list sooner than one month and the moderators can do so if they are satisfied that the offending post was genuinely made in error. All encoded binaries, HTML and other non-plain posts identified by the moderation software will be rejected by the moderation bot. The remaining posts from people not on the pre-approved list will be sent to the moderators. The moderators will approve all postings regardless of content unless they are: i. a personal ad. ii. a commercial article, including those aimed at overcoming the ban on commercials e.g. by generating commercial URLs or pop-up windows for the sole purpose of advertising or by including a time-delayed subscription requirement or silent dialler. iii. an encoded binary, HTML or non-plain text article that has escaped the automatic software, or any article not readable as plain text; no HTML, RTF or similarly formatted or word processor formats or any attachments are allowed. iv. an article cross-posted to more than four groups in total including uk.gay-lesbian-bi; or an article cross-posted to another moderated group unless a group where sequential approval rights have been established; or unless to uk.net.news.announce and signed by Control; cross-posted articles must meet the charter requirements of all the groups involved. v. a test post, except from a moderator or one of their Admins; all zero content articles, random character or randomized text and incomprehensible articles shall be deemed to be test posts. vi. an identical debut article; or an article with identical content or an article with similar content but different headers which has been sent to the group more than twice in any 24 hour period; or an identical or similar article which has been sent to the group more than twice in any 24 hour period and which in the opinion of a moderator forms part of a mail-bomb attack on the group and a moderator's vote shall be obtained to ratify the action taken in the interests of accountability. vii. an article of spam or velveeta, defined as one which has been multi- posted across usenet and, or, posted simultaneously or separately to each of several other groups unless a request for help or advice when consideration will be given since uk.gay- lesbian-bi provides both and the article may be relevant to several other groups. viii. an article where the follow-up has been set by the author as part of a flood to another hierarchy or group. ix. an article intended for the moderators or their Admins including all automatic responder messages; or a repetitive robot generated reply to formal reject notifications and after 12 or more similar replies auto-reject software will be activated to drop any recurrences. x. an article intended to scam or to acquire passwords or money, or to request money or donations unless by an appropriate registered community charity, or a robot or worm generated article. The moderators will return these rejected posts to the sender, if one can be identified, with an appropriate standard e-mail of explanation: Personal ads, and suggest that future ads should be sent to uk.adverts.personals.gay-lesbian-bi or other personals newsgroups, mailing lists or websites. A personal ad is an article with no other content such as could be sent to a personals newsgroup or appear in a lonely hearts column, or one which is aimed at someone more or less unknown. Where the poster appears to need guidance or help a personal e-mail from a moderator will also be sent to offer appropriate advice. All personals sites will be rejected as personals (or, sometimes, as commercial and all subscription sites will be rejected as commercial). A posting that exceeds the cross-posted limit of four groups; or a posting that includes another moderated group unless necessary sequential approval rights have been established. Multiple or identical postings. Test posts. Commercial posts. A posting in other than readable plain text. Encoded binary posts, and scam, robot and worm articles will be rejected but not returned. If a moderator doubts that a post falls within one of these categories then they should seek clarification from the poster whenever possible, or guidance by simple majority from the moderation panel, before action is taken; the panel are also guided by FAQ3. If a reasonable doubt still exists then the moderators will approve the article. Unless on notified leave a moderator will have been deemed to have abstained from any website or e-mail discussion if no response is made within three days of the matter first being flagged or raised. A quorum for all panel decisions where a majority or two-thirds is required shall comprise at least four moderators. Openness The moderation software will make a monthly report to the group stating the number of articles received, approved and rejected by robot and human moderators, the total number of human moderator articles processed and the total of new posters pre-approved. Logs of the moderators' actions are available on a web page maintained on the moderation server. Rejected articles (other than binaries, for which only the headers will be kept) will be held on the server for public inspection for one month after they have been rejected. Excessively long articles may be truncated to 60 lines before storing them in the archive. Action to withdraw pre-approved status and commence manual moderation of an individual will immediately be communicated to the group. The moderators will be subject to annual election and recall as set out below. Housekeeping the pre-approved list After notice on the group, the contents of the pre-approved posters list shall be reviewed on a rolling monthly basis with any inactive address older than six months to be automatically dropped. A record of one year's worth of names shall be maintained and once a Votetaker has been requested all names added to the pre-approved list before close of voting shall be added to it, and this will used by the Votetaker to determine voting eligibility in matters regarding the moderators. The server Admins shall carry out appropriate housekeeping on the pre- approved list only in the interests of security and integrity and as and when necessary and agreed with the moderation panel. Requests for removal of pre-approved listing Anyone who wishes to have their name removed from the pre-approved list may e-mail their request direct to the moderators' list. Cancels The moderators or their Admins may issue cancels for any articles not authorized or approved by the moderation system, e.g. where forged headers or similarly non-approved articles have eluded the moderation process. Moderation Panel Composition 1. There shall be a panel of not less than 4 and not more than 12 moderators. Election 2. Initially moderators shall be the panel elected as part of the charter change process. 3. Then each year thereafter elections will be held for the posts of moderator. i. 11 months after moderation comes into effect (and every twelve months subsequently) the moderation panel will appoint a neutral party to conduct the election as votetaker. The votetaker will issue a call for nominations for a new moderation panel. ii. Nominations will be open for 10 days and to be valid each nominee will have to be proposed and seconded by pre-approved posters (self-nomination is permitted). All pre-approved posters shall have the right to vote, regardless as to whether they were pre- approved before or after the opening of nominations. iii. At the end of 10 days a list of candidates (including their proposers/seconders) will be published. iv. A five day period of hustings will be held during which the candidates will answer questions from posters to the group. v. The votetaker will issue the first call for votes, to be followed by a second call for votes five days later, the voting period lasting in all for 10 days, votes shall only be valid if submitted on official ballot forms. vi. Voting will be by the Single Transferable Vote method, with a reopen nominations candidate (RON) added to the ballot. If RON passes the quota then all the then unfilled places are void requiring a new election for those vacancies. vii. Each voter shall receive an acknowledgement from the votetaker. They will be given a unique identification as part of their acknowledgement, this will enable them to verify their vote when the result is published while protecting their identity from other voters. viii. The votetaker will publish the result and a voting list comprising voter identifiers and their vote. ix. In the event of less than 4 moderators being elected or RON passing quota the votetaker will issue a second request for nominations no later than 1 month after the close of ballot and hold elections for the remaining vacancies. Those elected at this election shall serve until the annual round of elections are held. x. In the event of the resignation, removal or death of a moderator the next highest candidate (if they are still willing) from the previous election will be appointed for the remainder of the term. xi. If the number of moderators falls below the minimum number defined in clause 1 above or if the moderators consider it necessary due to excessive workload, they will co-opt such additional moderators as are necessary (having regard to any maximum number defined in clause 1 above) to efficiently moderate uk.gay-lesbian-bi. Their co-option shall be confirmed by a simple Yes/No vote (as defined in clause 3.vi above) for each of the additional moderators by the pre- approved list posters within 28 days. The co-opted moderators will serve until the annual round of elections are held. Leave of Absence and Removal 4. Moderators should inform the moderating team of periods when they will be inactive. The moderation panel may appoint a temporary moderator to stand in during this period, the position being offered first to the highest loser from the last election, or failing that a person of their choice. Other than such periods any moderator that does not take part in moderation activity for 21 consecutive days shall automatically be removed from the moderation team. 5. Moderators who either approve excluded posts or decline to approve non-excluded posts may be removed by a two thirds decision of the other moderators. 6. Any moderator may be removed by a vote of no confidence. i. Such a vote may be proposed by any pre-approved poster and will need to be supported by 9 other pre-approved posters. ii. People on the pre-approved list at the time when the vote of no confidence is tabled shall be eligible to vote on such a proposal i.e. people added to the pre-approved list after the formal request for a no confidence vote will not be permitted to vote on this occasion. iii. A ballot should be held within 10 days of a formal request for a vote of no confidence. A neutral person will be asked by the moderation panel to conduct the ballot. The question shall be:- "Do you have confidence in X as a moderator of uk.gay-lesbian-bi yes/no/abstain" iv. For the purposes of calculating a majority only votes yes or no will count. A simple majority of votes cast for no shall indicate that the group has no confidence in the moderator and s/he shall immediately be removed from the moderation panel. v. A vote of no confidence in the whole moderation panel will not be permitted, only a vote for each individual moderator. vi. The votetaker shall use the same anonymising method as outlined for the annual election of moderators and shall publish the result with the anonymous identifiers and how they voted. vii. After the conclusion of a vote of no confidence which fails no such similar motion shall be brought against the same person for a period of three calendar months. Moderation Software and Location The moderation software shall be the STUMP system or similar, and shall be located on a server as agreed by the Admins and moderation team. STUMP (Secure Team-based Usenet Moderation Program) logs all decisions automatically on a website, and is fully described at: . The moderators will arrange a back up server and in the event of the loss of the moderation server will ensure the back up server provides continuity. Changes to Moderation Policy All changes to moderation policy will be treated as a formal charter change requiring a full RFD and CFV in uk.net.news.announce cross-posted to uk.net.news.config and uk.gay-lesbian-bi. Moderators Bryan Dale Gregoire Kretz Kate West Paul Anderson PaulG Stephen M Baines Yaz The names of current moderators are published regularly on the newsgroup and on the newsgroup's web page. Moderation submission address uk-gay-lesbian-bi@usenet.org.uk The moderators themselves may be contacted at uk-gay-lesbian-bi-request@usenet.org.uk or, for purely administrative matters uk-gay-lesbian-bi-admin@usenet.org.uk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG-v1.2.4-(GNU/Linux) Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBQpYrD2OfGXkh8vHZAQEfgwP/Qv56SDsRkgS1qsoaibVhjZiv+EwoRf7A J9xbGSPK44CB9gvFqmE+I1f76PGUzR3TBQHjrWkdekD1LhQs1TNSvhg/JyI89vpP dZFnWnjMpdbXspiY/5C0t04wwIgfSZx20UCRjspk1T97mj465xEp9rLM3EOJ6bja QT788mY022w= =69ah -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----