Old Syntagma
Contents
The Syntagma
Valid as of 25th January 2007
Preamble
The Syntagma is the Constitution of the Total War Center Forums, which defines the role of Citizens within the Total War Center Community.
All Citizens are expected to adhere to the rules of the Syntagma and the forums Terms of Service. The Syntagma can be suspended by the Hexagon Council in times of crisis or danger to the community and website as a whole. If the Syntagma is suspended it is the duty of the Hexagon Council to inform the Curia why the action was required, and to estimate how long the Syntagma is to be suspended for.
Network Administrators & Moderators
Administrators and Senior Staff: These two groups of Staff form the highest decision making Council on TWC.
The Total War Center is run by a group of Administrators and Senior Staff who form the "Hexagon Council". A decision of the Hexagon Council is the supreme authority on the site. Any member of the forum may be appointed to the Hexagon Council, although traditionally they are appointed from the current and ex-Staff by vote of the Council. Members of the Council are removed in the same way. On any matter where the Syntagma notes some particular responsibility or right of the Hexagon Council, any of its members may fulfil that responsibility or exercise that right, subject to internal Hexagon policies.
- Members of the Hexagon Council have the power to veto the actions of all lower Staff members, and can veto any other action on TWC as per The Staff Veto section of the Syntagma.
- Members of the Hexagon Council may hold varying degrees of administrator access, depending on the requirements of their duties.
- The Hexagon Council has responsibility for the appointment and firing of all moderators and administrators.
Moderators:
The Moderators handle the majority of moderation on the site and are directly responsible to the Hexagon Council.
The Tribounos are the frontline moderators of TWC. The Hexagon Council has full power to hire or fire Tribounos at will, but, while retaining that power, may also delegate the elections of Tribounos to the Curia, as per the "Curia Elections" section of the Syntagma.
Citizens with one month experience in either Citizen rank are eligible to stand for Tribounos should such an election be called. The total number of Tribounos, their assignments and powers are set by the TWC Administrators. If a Citizen is elected by the Curia to the position of Tribounos, he will undergo a vote on Patrician status after gaining one month's experience. If they are already performing another function, as indicated in Appendix A, then this vote is initiated immediately.
- Local Moderators
These are members drawn from both the general membership and Citizen classes. They generally run personalized sub forums such as Mod Project forums or News sections and have the abilities to edit posts and Pin/Unpin, Close/Open and Move threads. Some specific local moderators are: Members appointed to handle some basic site responsibilities such as News writers, picture of the day, TWC daily news and so on. These people fall directly under the responsibility of staff and can be appointed and dropped according to the needs of the site. Content Staff - Members can be appointed to provide the community with content such as reviews, guides, walkthroughs and any other information which is of benefit to the community.
Member Ranks and Rights
All members of the Total War Center forums can be divided into the classes listed below. Each class confers to the member who holds it a specific set of rights and privileges unavailable to other classes unless specifically stated. It is possible for a member to hold more than one of these classes, in which case he may choose which he wishes to display while still retaining the associated rights of the additional classes he holds.
Peregrinus
The rank of Peregrinus is conferred automatically with registration to the TWC forums. Any Peregrinus has the right to ask questions and suggest changes in the "Questions and Suggestions"forum.
Contributing members of TWC have the opportunity to become a Citizen of the forum as per the Patronization section of the Syntagma. There are two ranks of Citizen, one is elevated for their contributions to the Total War Community (Artifex), the other is elevated for their contribution to the Common Community (Civitate).
- All Citizens of TWC have limited rights to post within the Curia forum, as stated in the Curia section of the Syntagma.
- All Citizens are granted access to the Symposium and the [insert name of new forum dedicated for advanced discussion of Total War.]
- All Citizens may nominate other members for Citizenship as per the "Patronization" section of the Syntagma.
Patricians are members who have proved they are good posters (as conferred by the rank of Civitate or Artifex), are interested in TWC and have made a good contribution to it, and who therefore deserve the right to have a greater say in the running of TWC. Patricianship is awarded by the Consilium de Civitate for significant contribution to TWC (Appendix A). None of these contributions provide automatic Patricianship however, but they do allow for nomination. In addition to those contributions, the member must have at least one month’s experience as a Citizen and have no active warnings at the time of the election. Patricians are expected to contribute to the developing the site. Involvement in the Curia is part of that.
- Patricians have the same rights as Citizens but may also participate in the Curia to a greater extent, as stated in the Curia section of the Syntagma.
- All Patricians may nominate members for Citizenship in accordance with the Patronization Section of the Syntagma.
- Citizens may be nominated for the rank of Patrician by any other Patrician in accordance with the Patronization section of the Syntagma. There is no patronage link created in this process (as per Patrician/Citizen relationship).
- The rank of Patrician can be removed by the CdeC as per the Citizens' Behavior section of the Syntagma.
Any Citizen who gains the rank of Magistrate will gain the rank of Senatorii. They will retain it upon retirement if time served as moderator exceeds twelve weeks and upon unanimous agreement of the Triumvirate. The Senatorii rank confers no advantage, save status. The secondary rank – Civitate, Artifex or Patrician is the one that determines where the member has access or the legibility for elections, unless stated differently.
To qualify as Opifex, the nominee must meet the following Criteria:
Served the Total War Center or Total War Community with exceptional input to any of the boards or mods in any capacity other than staff. The nominee must be seconded by a member of the Consilium de Civitate before it can go to a vote. Vote shall be refused to any user who fails the criteria for citizenship with regard to warnings and post count.
Qualifying nominees shall be voted upon in the Curia for a period of one week, and a three-fourth majority will be sufficient to decorate a user as an Opifex. A user who passes the vote shall be awarded the rank of Artifex (if the nominee was not one already). A nominee who fails to achieve a three-fourth majority is eligible to be nominated again after a three month period.
The secondary rank – Civitate, Artifex or Patrician is the one that determines where the member has access or the legibility for elections, unless stated differently.
To achieve apotheosis, the nominee must be seconded by 3 members of the Consilium de Civitates and meet the following criteria:
Served as a Administrator for at least 18 months and cannot be proposed within 3 months of their resignation from Staff. Provided exceptional service to TWC in their capacity as staff.
After at least three days of discussion, qualifying nominees shall be voted upon in the Curia for a period of one week, and a three-fourth majority is sufficient to become 'Divus'. A nominee who fails is eligible to be nominated again after a three month period.
The Curator is responsible for the day to day running of the Curia. The Curator is drawn from the Senior Staff and is appointed by the Censor. The Curator may appoint a Pro-Curator to aid in this duty.
A "basic" member of a class is a member of that class but no higher classes, for instance, a Patrician would not be a "basic Citizen", but he would be a Citizen. Citizens have the right to have their highest class membership(s) revoked, provided they contact a site administrator and make a request to revoke their membership(s).
Staff Veto
Any Hexagon Council member can veto any act or descision on TWC. However this veto is considered provisional until approved by a majority of Hexagon members. This approval should be obtained as soon as possible.
The Curia
A special section shall be made in the forum to discuss pertinent topics in governance, a place for the Citizens to propose legislation, and to post relevant developments. The Curia is a place for the exchange of ideas, and if the rules against any infractions are tough in the normal forums, in the Curia, they are doubly so. The Curia is broken into distinct sections:
For general discussion of governance related matters. Polls are not permitted within the Curia main. All Citizens may post in this area and propose informal legislation for discussion, though it will require Patrician support to become officially recognised in the Prothalamos, as per the Legislation section of the Syntagma.
Prothalamos An area specifically for formally proposing and discussing legislation and ideas relating to TWC as stated in the "Legislation" section of the Syntagma, but not for voting. Only Patricians may post in this area.
Curia Vote
An area strictly used for voting on proposed legislation and in Curial Elections, as outlined in the "Legislation" and "Curial Elections" section of the Syntagma. Surveys are not permitted within this sub-forum. Only Patricians may post and vote in this area.
An area visible only to elected Patricians and Senior Staff as per the "Consilium de Civitate" section of the Syntagma. Within this forum votes shall be taken regarding the granting and removal of certain Curial ranks.
Additional areas may be added at the discretion of Curia members and following an appropriate vote.
Curial Elections
When a Curial election is required, and the Hexagon Council deems it necessary, the Curator or Senior Staff will open a Qualification thread for the vacant position and post a relevant announcement in the Symposium. Applicants to the vacant position must post their reasons for wishing to participate and relevant qualifications within this qualifications thread, which shall remain open for no longer than one week.
Qualifying candidates are Citizens with at least one month of experience in either Citizen rank, and must also meet any further requirements stipulated by the specific position they are applying for. All qualifying applicants not vetoed by Staff go forward to a vote open for one week. If more than six eligible users apply and are not vetoed, the Staff may select the six they believe to be the most suitable to be voted on.
Where one position is to be filled, the candidate who receives the plurality of votes receives the position. Where two or more positions are to be filled, only one poll need be held, and the candidates with the highest votes are appointed. In the case of ties there will be a run-off vote between the tied members lasting three days.
Consilium de Civitate
Function:
The Consilium de Civitate (CdeC) manages the granting and removal of the ranks of Civitate, Artifex and Patrician through votes as per the "Patronization" and "Citizens' Behavior" sections of the Syntagma. The CdeC may also function as an advisory body to the staff of TWC in matters concerning the Curia and its Citizens.
Membership:
The Consilium de Civitate is primarily an elected body of Patricians. The full membership of the CdeC comprises of:
- 16 elected Patricians, who may discuss and vote on all matters within the CdeC forums.
- Senior Staff, who may discuss all matters within the CdeC forums, but have no normal vote.
- The Syntagma Curator, who may take part in all CdeC discussions, and has the deciding vote in cases of a tie, but otherwise has no normal vote. The Curator has veto powers over any CdeC decision and may fire any elected member of the CdeC for non-attendance.
Elected members of the Consilium de Civitate must actively participate in discussions and votes, Senior Staff participation is optional.
Elections:
CdeC members are elected as per the Curial Elections section of the Syntagma - with the added requirement that candidates hold the basic rank of Patrician and have no Staff warnings at the time of election.
Each elected CdeC member has a term of three months starting from their date of election. When their term expires, new elections will be held for membership to the CdeC.
If a member of the CdeC resigns during their term, or if during elections less than 16 eligible Patricians apply in the candidates thread, the 'spare' positions may be filled by staff of any rank (with normal voting rights) until appropriate Patricians can be found to stand for election.
Patronization
Any Citizen holding their rank for three months without warnings can Patronise a peregrinus for Citizenship at a rate of one per month (subject to requirements, section 1). The granting of Citizenship is determined by the Consilium de Civitate. The process for patronage works as follows:
- The patron reviews the member before recommending him, ensuring the member has at least fifty posts, has been a registered member for at least one month and has no warnings in the last six months.
- The nominee sends a private message to explain his duties, privileges, and contributions towards TWC to his patron. The patron then sends this paragraph (along with his own paragraph outlining why he chose this person for a client) to a member of the CdeC.
- The CdeC member then opens a thread and vote in the Consilium de Civitate section and the proposed nominee is then discussed and voted on.
If the nominee achieves at least a 60% majority, the nominee shall become a Citizen. This must be concluded within 1 week.
If a nominee fails his Citizenship vote he must wait a minimum of one month before being put up for vote again. The nominating Citizen of a failed candidate may not patronise again for two months. Members of the CdeC must abstain from voting on those they wish to patronize.
All CdeC votes associated with patronage shall be concluded within one week (7 days) of the thread being opened in the CdeC.
Points 3 and 4 above are used for the promotion of Patricians nominated by an existing Patrician as per the requirements listed in Appendix A.
Citizens' Behavior
The Consilium de Civitate (CdeC) handles all disciplinary proceedings against Citizens of TWC regarding the removal or temporary suspension of Curial ranks. No Citizen may be subject to more than one of the following procedures for a single offence. There are two kinds of disciplinary proceedings:
Referral from any member of the forum:
Any member of TWC may report a Citizen to a member of the CdeC for behaviour unbecoming of a Citizen. The specific procedure is as follows:
- The accuser must present a detailed charge.
- The accused is then asked to produce a written defence within 72 hours - they are shown the written charge but the name of the accuser is withheld.
- The CdeC has a further 72 hours to investigate the charges.
After this investigation, a public vote is held by the CdeC as to whether the accused loses one level of rank. A 75% majority of non abstaining voters is required in order pass. The vote must be closed within 72 hours.
If this first vote fails to pass, a second vote is automatically held as to whether the accuser should have their rank suspended 2 months for reckless use of the disciplinary process. This second vote operates the same as the first but must be concluded within 24 hours.
Referral for receiving a Staff Warning:
If any Citizen receives an official warning from a member of Staff, they will be automatically referred to the CdeC. A public vote will be held after two days discussion of the case. All relevant user notes of the accused member will be viewable in this discussion, and the accused may return no defence. The voting options in this vote depend upon the referred member's current Staff warning level. This vote must end within one week.
- A warning level of one will result in a poll where the CdeC can vote for a suspension of rank of up to two months.
- A warning level of two will result in a poll with where the CdeC can vote for a suspension of rank for up to two months, or for a maximum penalty of permanent loss of rank.
A simple majority of non abstaining members is required for votes to pass, otherwise the case is dismissed.
Legislation
Any Patrician is able to post a Bill in the Prothalamos for discussion, which does not require named support. If a version of the bill becomes supported by a minimum of three other Patricians, the proposer can request that the Syntagma Curator move the supported version of a bill to a vote three days after it was first posted.
Should it be judged that after the minimum of three days more time is needed for debate on the subject, or that the debate is active, and moving the Bill would be premature, the progression to voting of the Bill may be delayed at the discretion of the Syntagma Curator. If the Syntagma Curator decides to delay the vote on a Bill beyond one month, then this decision is subject to staff ratification in the same way as a staff veto.
Once moved to vote, all bills shall be voted on over a one-week period. All Bills will be required to run for the full duration so that all Patricians may be able to vote if they so wish. In addition, responses (including indirect methods such as signatures) in the Curia Vote sub-forum will be limited to notification of having voted. A Bill shall pass on the basis of a two-thirds majority in favor. Abstentions are not considered when determining whether a Bill has achieved the required proportion of voters. If any Bill fails a vote, no revote on a substantially similar bill will be permitted for twenty-eight days.
To the extent made possible by the forum software, no member will be able to view the results of a poll in the Curia until he has voted in the poll or it has closed.
If the forum software cannot reasonably be modified to prohibit viewing of poll results by any given member, that member, is hereby obliged on their honour as a Patricians not to view the results of any poll in the Curia he has not voted in unless necessary for the execution of any duties he may have to the site.
The Symposium
All Citizens of TWC have access to the Symposium forum. This forum exists as a general meeting place for both old and new Citizens of the Total War Center Forums. Within the Symposium, rules are generally more relaxed so as to allow for more concentrated debates to take place. Breach of the Terms of Service shall still be dealt with accordingly in this forum.
The Councils
Two Councils exist that advise the Staff directly about the Total War Community (Consilium Belli) and the Common Community (Consilium Pacis). They have their own subforums within the Questions & Suggestions forum.
Consilium Belli and Consilium Pacis members cannot belong to both councils at the same time and must resign position in either of councils within a week after appointment to second council or be removed from that position which they have held for the longer period.
Six members in total, drawn from the Civitates, Artifex and Patrician ranks shall be appointed by the Hex Council to discuss and advise on ideas concerning the Total War section of the forums. These members should have a strong background in the Total War modding community and be in good standing.
A public forum will be created in the Questions & Suggestions forum, where all suggestions regarding the Total War section of the Forums will be discussed. The Consilium Belli shall make necessary recommendations to the staff on issues of the TW Sections.
Appointment to the Consilium Belli:
Each member of the Consilium Belli has a term which lasts for a period of two months from when they are appointed. When a Council member’s term is due to end or a Councillor resigns, the Curator will choose when to open a candidates thread and post an announcement in the Symposium. Applicants must then post their reasons for wishing to participate and relevant qualifications within this qualifications thread, which shall remain open for 72 hours.
After the candidates thread is closed the Hexagon Council will appoint as many new Councillors as are required at that time. Councillors may serve consecutive terms though in the interests of fairness the Triumvirate will attempt to introduce new qualified councillors when possible.
Four Civitates or Patricians shall be elected by the Curia as per the "Curial Elections" section of the Syntagma to discuss and advise on ideas concerning the Common Community section of the forums. These candidates should have a strong background in the Common Community and be in good standing.
A public forum will be created in the Questions & Suggestions forum, where all suggestions regarding the Common Community section of the forums will be discussed. The Council shall make necessary recomendations to the staff on issues of the Common Community. Each member of the Consilium Pacis has a term which lasts for a period of two months from when they are elected.
Appendices
Appendix A: Qualifiers for the Patrician Rank
- Community News
- Eagle Standard Contributor or Editor
- Helios Contributor or Editor
- Podcast Contributor
General Sun's Tent Contributor or Editor
- Local Moderator
- Technical War Help Center
- The Basement
- The Mod Workshop
- Coliseum
- Foreign Language Discussion
- Librarians
- Tribounos
- Member of CoW or CoP
- Total War Contributions
- Modding Tutorials
- Modding Tools
- Open Source Modifications
- Common Community Contributions
- Articles on History, Religion, Politics, Science, Art, etc.
- Gaming Reviews in the Circus Maximus
- Hosting Contests in the Coliseum
- Significant contributions to the Suggestus Forum
- Proposing legislation in the Symposium sub forum
- Contribution to the Total War Community
- Repeated contributions of content such as articles, strategies and other general helpful information
Any other contribution, as Defined by the Senior Staff and CdeC, meriting consideration for Patricianship
See Also
