2008 Admin Meeting

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The 2008 Administrative Meeting was held in California, August 2nd

The Following changes were decided upon

Membership

Mentees

It will be stressed that mentors are in place until one is raised to Senior Membership. Administrators and Executives will be restricted to one active mentee.

Junior Member Interactions

The ban on interactions between novices and recruits was removed

Demotions

Senior Members may petition for demotion after they have been an SM for at least one year. This petition, as always, must be approved by the Amyrlin, the Keeper, and the Director of Membership. Someone who demotes may not Aspire to a group for 3 months and may not be raised for at least 6 months

Contributions

Contributions will be more thoroughly tracked so that there is a complete record of everything a person has done when they are before the Hall for raising.

Bonding

The bond rules will be re-examined to see if they can be loosened without adversely affecting the community

Membership Admins

Administrators in the Department of Membership will become positions that rotate. Membership admins cannot serve consecutive terms in the same position, though they can serve consecutive terms in different positions and can serve even in the same position more than once

Avatars

We will no longer be hosting avatars on our site for the Who's Who. We will allow people to link to their avatars that they have hosted on their own sites.

Real Life Services

1. Transportation Committee There will no longer be a Transportation Committees organized for RL events. Events begin at the site. Each participant is responsible for getting themselves to the event location by whatever means they choose.

The event forum may be used to facilitate discussion and organization of sharing rides, but the Tower no longer owns this process and is not responsible for transportation of individuals.

2. Event Bid Selection Process The selection process will remain in its current form: bids are solicited, and 5 people are involved in the selection (Amyrlin, Keeper, Dir of RLS, the appropriate Mistress of Revels, and one additional director)

3. Event Late Fees It has become apparent that the Tower can no longer financially afford to be lenient when it comes to people not paying for their event tickets by the deadline. From now on, there will be a $25 charge for payments made after deadline, with an automatic cancellation date (which will vary for each event).

4. Other Changes for Growth Registration will open first to necessary participants (Executives and other essential admins/facilitators), followed by all administrators, followed by the general public.

5. Baby Gift Policy Previously, we have sent a baby gift to each Tower member who has had a baby. Unfortunately, our size is such that we can no longer afford to send a baby gift to each and every member. From now on, baby gifts will be sent to Senior Members (mothers or fathers). Others on a case by case basis, to be considered based on time and activity within the community.

6. Servant of all Competion Rather than having a year round even, we will have two 2 month events, to correspond with the holiday season in December and the American summer.

Moderators

--As stated in another Department, we have decided to dissolve Creative Endeavours and migrate content into the appropriate Guild forums.

--Moderation in IRC will remain fluid, as the strictness of moderation depends on who's in the chatroom. Guidelines will remain as they are.

--Ask the Aes Sedai will be changed to Ask the Senior Members (or Ask the White Tower).

--And now the biggie. Current Events. I'm sure this will interest many of you.

Moderation in CE will remain largely the same, with some key clarifications. There will be a list of infractions with more defined consequences:

1. Hate Speech
2. Deliberately causing trouble
3. Personal attacks
4. Name calling
5. Cursing at someone
6. Condescension
7. Refusal to edit posts
8. Cursing
9. Generalizations
10. Going off topic

Technology

The decision to abandon the flash map was reversed

We will convert from phpbb2 to phpbb3

All websites associated with our community will now become _____.tarvalon.net . So the forums will change from tarvalonforums.net/forums to forums.tarvalon.net . Whenever this happens, it will be announced in Site Announcements before the change occurs.

A new position to handle support for our applications (wiki, b2evo, wordpress, etc) has been approved, and Zhareen Sedai will begin the hiring process for it soon. A position for the development and maintenance of webforms was also approved.

The major decision for Dept of Technology was the decision to switch to a content management system, most likely Joomla.

Research and Communications

Communications

It was decided that the Tar Valon Times will be released every two months, to alternate with radio segments.

Research

The library Wiki was opened up to all Senior Members

Community Development

The Avatar gallery will be disbanded to be replaced with a page with the following information:

1. A list of sites with avatars to consider.
2. A list of recommended artists, with categories for dead artists, living artists who give permission, living artists who never give permission, and artists at our site who would be willing to make avatars.
3. A list of people at TarValon.Net who are willing to help with finding avatars, resizing/cropping avatars, and hosting avatars.

The Manager of Online Services position will be discontinued

No new guilds were created
No multiple membership will be allowed
Guild icons are to be introduced

The Art Museum will transform from a place housing art by our members to a place that houses great Wheel of Time art. The curator will actively seek out such art and obtain permission for us to display it.

Online events will become more centrally planned, with the Online Events Coordinator working more directly with members rather than membership admins. The Department will develop events in IRC to coordinate with our festivals. OE will also work on developing a new members' night in IRC, to be held every month/two months/quarter.

Radio will alternate with the Tar Valon Times and be released bi-monthly. We will look at interviewing Harriet, Sanderson, and others involved with the series.