proj-branchDemocracy-bylaws-simplifiedForumRules

Simplified Forum rules of order for Small and Medium groups

The Forum has two message boards to which messages may be posted; proposals and proxies. All messages on these boards are public.

Creating and voting on proposals

Any voter may at any time propose a bill or an amendment to the bylaws.

To make a proposal, post the proposal on the Forum proposals board along with the date of posting. Each proposal should have space for three lists of signatures (votes) associated with it, labeled Yes, No, Still Deciding. These lists start out empty.

A Still Deciding vote indicates that the voter reserves the right to make up their mind later; the proposal is not decided until either they make up their mind, or their decision is rendered irrelevant to the passage of the proposal.

All votes are public. To cast a vote, a voter adds their name underneath the relevant proposal, in the relevant space.

The time elapsed since a proposal was posted is said to be the amount of time that the proposal has been "standing". A proposed act must normally stand for at least 1.5 weeks before being passed, except for a veto, which must normally stand for 5 days. A proposed amendment to the bylaws must normally stand for at least 1.5 months before being passed.

Once posted, proposals cannot be amended; instead, make a new proposal, and vote against the previous one. Voters are encouraged to air their proposals informally before posting.

Creating and using proxies

To grant a proxy, the giver posts a message to the proxy board which notes who receives the proxy, and under what conditions, and which is signed by the giver.

Voters may give other voters their proxy for any subset of issues. This allows the receiver to cast the givers vote for them on those issues. Proxies are transitive; that is, a voter may forward a proxy that they have received along to another voter.

Any voter may change their vote or take back their proxy at any time until the conclusion of a vote (which is defined as when the proposal passes or fails).

To vote a proxy, the voter who holds the proxy casts the vote by writing "for (original person’s name), cast by (receiver’s name), proxy chain: (chain by which the receiver came into possesion of the proxy vote)". The receiver is responsible for keeping track of which proxies they have accumulated.

When a proposal passes or fails

For each particular proposal, define the number of Participating Voters to be the sum of Yes, No, and Still Deciding votes, including votes cast by proxy.

A proposal passes when both of the following conditions obtain:

• The proposal has been standing for enough time, AND ((the number of Yes votes) divided by Participating Voters) meets the relevant threshold. Alternately, there can be a "rush vote": if the proposal has enough Yes votes such that the Yes votes divided by the total number of all voters exceeds the relevant threshold, then the proposal passes immediately.
• At least sqrt(total number of all voters) Yes votes were cast. Proxy votes are included in this count.

A proposal fails and is removed from the proposals board when both of the following conditions obtain:

• The proposal has been standing for enough time
• There are enough "No" votes such that ((the number of Yes votes plus Still Deciding votes) divided by Participating Voters) does not meet the relevant threshold.

Note that the effect of Still Deciding votes is that, in order to pass, a proposal must be strong enough so that even if all "Still Deciding" votes were turned into "No" votes, the proposal would pass. In order to fail, a proposal must be weak enough so that even if all "Still Deciding" votes were turned into "Yes" votes, the proposal would fail.