I guess the best way forward is to try the wiki thing with the process itself, so here’s the entire document – feel free to edit anything if you think your change has consent:
The old draft version
Process for consent decisions on the forum
The following consent decisions have been made (i.e. reached consent) about this process itself:
Next review: 2020-07-18
How to create a proposal
Any forum user can start the decision-making process. Begin like this:
- If possible: Before coming up with solutions for a problem, write about the problem on the forum and get feedback. Make sure everyone agrees it’s a problem that should be solved.
- Write a proposal for something simple to try, even if it doesn’t solve the problem completely. Don’t waste time on this step. Timebox for a few hours at most, write the best proposal you can write in this very short time, and get it out there soon.
- Add a proposed review date to the proposal. If unsure, place it 6 months ahead.
Once you’ve written the draft, post it on the forum and make it a wiki by using the admin wrench below your post. If you lack the permissions for doing so, ask {TODO: Who should they ask?} to do it for you.
Once you think the proposal has stabilized and is ready for more attention, ping @-team in a new reply. For example, you could do this once the last activity was 2 days ago.
Once you think the proposal has stabilized again and is ready for a consent decision (you could do this after another 2 days of no activity), proceed like this:
How to start a consent decision
Edit the forum post with the proposal and add the following notice at the bottom (available from the canned-replies feature):
`=== Consent decision ===`
Are there any objections :gift: / concerns :thinking: to the above? (Let's take 7 days for this.)
Additionally, remove the wiki status (or ask {TODO: Who?} to do it for you) and reply to the post to ping @-team.
If there’s no objections after 7 days and at least two team members (forum group) have consented explicitly, anyone – including you – can post a celebration notice (the default below is available in the canned-replies). That marks the decision effective:
Looks like we have consent! :partying_face:
Feel free to edit the exact content of the notices where appropriate.
Reviewing decisions
On the review date, we will follow the same process again — this time starting the wiki with the current agreement. It’s the secretary’s job to kick this off and to propose a date for the next review by editing the review date included in the agreement.
How to integrate objections
Once there’s an objection:
- Discuss possible ways to integrate the objection with the objector and the entire group
- Give the others enough time to propose amendments, instead of rushing to amend it yourself
- Once there’s a good amendment: Copy the proposal into a new wiki post, edit it there and proceed with the usual process as described above. This time, don’t ping the team in the wiki phase, only ping it for the consent decision. Please also edit the old proposal to add a disclaimer that links to the new one.
Doing minor/trivial changes
The following changes can be made to proposals/agreements at any time:
- Trivial changes, i.e. typo fixes or changes in formatting
- Minor changes, i.e. small changes that don’t impact the implementation of the agreement. If you make a minor change, also post a reasonably precise statement of the change you did.
How to participate in a consent decision
All forum users may participate in consent decisions. You can raise any objections or concerns you have:
- An objection is an argument demonstrating (or revealing) how a (proposed) agreement or activity can lead to unintended consequences, or that there are worthwhile ways to improve it.
- A concern is an assumption that doing something (even in the absence of objections) might stand in the way of (more) effective response to a situation.
The proposal is accepted if no objections are raised – concerns can be handled in separate consent decisions if it’s worth to invest the time. (See objection (S3 pattern) for more background.)
To participate, do the following:
- Read the proposal thoroughly, ask questions if you don’t understand everything.
- If you can find an objection or a concern, explain it in a reply. Mark objections with
:gift:
and concerns with :thinking:
.
- Other responses may include marking appreciation with the thumb’s-up button and/or posting a reply (esp. nice if someone is elected for a role). This will make it explicit that you’ve read the proposal, even if you didn’t find objections or concerns.
- Participate in any follow-up discussion. Contribute ideas for improving the proposal in a way that fixes objections.
How to deal with invalid objections
Only people in the team (forum group) can formally disqualify objections. Here’s how to proceed:
- Try to integrate the objection anyways. If there’s a good way to integrate it, there’s no need to disqualify the objection.
- Discuss the matter with the objector. If you can convince them while the decision is still running, they can still drop it. If they’re convinced only after the time is up, start a new decision. Be open to the possibility that the objection is valid after all.
- If the matter really cannot be resolved differently, here’s how an objection can be disqualified formally:
- A team member starts a consent decision, proposing to disqualify the objection. Give a good reason, i.e. an objection to the objection. Make it clear that only team members can participate in this consent decision.
- Start a new consent decision for the original proposal that was objected to. Make it clear that the original objection cannot be raised again. Be friendly and open to other objections from the original objector.
The power remains with the team
The team invites all forum users to participate in consent decisions. However, it reserves the right to withdraw this invitation at any point.
When team members start consent decisions, they have the option to specify that only team members can raise objections. If they want to permanently withdraw the invitation, a consent decision can be made to remove the invitation from this very proposal.
Open problems:
-
Who should people contact for help if they don’t have the permission to make their post a wiki? (Needs changes in two places above, marked with TODO)
-
Objections cause a huge interruption because the proposal needs to be copied to a new wiki post in order to remove appreciation marks from people who gave their explicit consent to a previous version.