Fall 2012 Admin Meeting
2012 was the first year two Admin Meetings were held, and the second one took place on September 16th.
Contents
Amyrlin
Town Hall Meeting
The format and mission of the Town Hall meetings were reviewed. The purpose is to update the membership on the status of items from the Admin Meeting. The format is working, but is rather stilted just by it’s nature. We've tried to keep diversity in moderators and will continue to do so. Feedback was received wanting a more fluid meeting with members asking questions in channel and voicing their opinions within a given time limit. Because of the potential confusion in the chat format with everyone talking at once, we decided to keep the moderated format at this time for its clarity. We will try a slightly different system though, where members can ask to be un-muted to ask specific follow up questions through the moderator. This will be implemented at the next meeting.
PSA's
These have gone very well so far, so will continue. Future topics will come from the Director of Research talking about our library and the wealth of information that can be found there, as well as from the Keeper talking about our different departments and all the different projects and positions are going on. If you have additional suggestions/ideas, please send them to us officers@tarvalon.net and executive@tarvalon.net.
Transparency
Publishing the agenda for the Admin Meeting in conjunction with the results forum was, overall, successful as a method of transparency earlier this year. The Admin Meeting results forum will go active again with the results of this meeting. This time the forum will be more heavily moderated. Along with the Directors and Officers, we will ask three to four current Administrators to assist in moderating the forum. At this time, this forum will continue in it’s current form – active for several weeks after the Admin Meeting with a focus on the items discussed there.
The decision to allow truly anonymous feedback was discussed. There seems to be a feeling among the membership that reporting issues to the Administration will be held against them. Let me say unequivocally that this isn't the case. While we may not always end up agreeing with everyone, we welcome criticism and the opportunity to improve and to make the experience of all members better. It was decided that no special email would be set up to provide for anonymous reporting of issues as it becomes almost impossible to resolve things and help if we don't know who the people involved are and what exactly is going on. However, a specific policy will be adopted and placed in the Membership Manual regarding reporting problems and issues since it was expressed that it's not always clear who to go to. A piece will also go up in the Membership Manual that informs members how to report issues and who to report them to. This will also be released in a PSA.
Bullying
The admins spent quite a time talking about this topic and going over the results from the bullying survey. They definitely agreed with quite a number of respondents that bullying happens, but that it is the exception rather than the rule. Many of the comments indicated that members were not aware of a resolution to issues that happened or were reported. There were also indications of fears of reprisals for reporting. It was also stated that many members will report issues on behalf of another person. Consequences of bullying actions will be further discussed in the Membership section of this meeting. A definition of what is considered bullying is being worked on by the Executive team and will be added to the Membership Manual. A policy regarding reporting incidents is being created and will be covered in an upcoming PSA.
The Code of Conduct will be reviewed for intent and wording so that we are clearly communicating our intent and our rules. The Keeper found this definition which we also found helpful:
- Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
An Imbalance of Power: People who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people. Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Admin Meeting Attendance
Going forward, Mistress/Masters of Revels will no longer be invited solely due to their position. Decisions regarding upcoming parties are no longer handled at this meeting. Official invitees will include: The Board, Officers, Executives and special invitees of the Amyrlin.
Keeper
The nomination period for the first Keeper’s Awards has finished and we have received many nominations for each category. So far, the Administration is pleased with the success of this program. Announcements will be made in the coming weeks, and all Nominees or Honorable Mentions will be contacted by the Keeper to make sure they know that their hard work has been noticed.
The work on an Operations Manual has started in Membership due to the transition happening in that department. Some feedback has already been received, along with existing documents from that department. Both the new and phasing out Directors will help finalize and detail these procedures. The Keeper will continue to work on other departments going forward.
Shatayan
The Shatayan reports that we are solvent with no unexpected expenses. The PSA that was posted was well received. We will be purchasing additional server space at the end of 2012. Please see the Technology section for more information.
Archivist
The old phpBB2 forum archiving will be completed by the end of 2012 unless new archiving assistants need to be hired. If that is the case, it will be completed by the end of January 2013. The majority of the phpBB3 forums should already be archived if necessary due to the method used on those forums. A review will be undertaken and archiving will be completed in full on the last forums by the end of March 2013.
There is a list of possible Merits that stemmed from the last meeting. The Archivist will release this list to the membership of the site for feedback by mid October. The Archivist will also solicit new ideas from the membership at that time. Once suggestions are collected, each member group will submit 1-2 members to form a committee to discuss and finalize new Merits. These new Merits will be rolled out after the Servant of All Program.
Department of Administration
Exit interviews have been created, vetted by the Executive team and are in action.
Annual reviews have been completed. In the future, review questions will be more detailed.
Job descriptions are currently in progress.
The Membership Survey for 2013 is already in progress and will be ready to go in late January or early February and will run for two weeks.
Department of Community Outreach
Servant of All System
The Servant of All system will be launched site-wide in January 2013. A Servant of All Coordinator has been hired and the program has been under review for process and streamlining. Beta testers for the system will be solicited to test out the system prior to launch!
Community Outreach is working with the Marketing group to create badges for this system that are similar to our current Merit badges. There will be Bronze, Silver and Gold achievements and public recognition of recipients. Reporting for this system will likely be through Google Drive.
Official Charity for Anniversary Events
The Director would like members of the site to vote on the type of charity we will support. Once this has been decided, Community Outreach will research to find an organization of the correct type that is nationwide (United States). The charity will be decided on and announced by January 2013.
Timeline for selection of local charities
Charities for Events should be announced no later than one month before the event takes place. Selection of charities for events will include runners up from our list of possibilities from the Anniversary charity, submissions from Mistress/Master of Revels and local liaisons and the Director of Community Outreach. The department will continue to focus on charities that accept items for donations along with monetary donations.
Pop Up Fundraisers
The Department wants to be able to host small, “pop up” fundraisers to react to current events. These fundraisers would not have large goals, but would be more focused on letting our members react to and support their local communities or our global community in the event of disasters/catastrophic events.
The Department will also consider running smaller fundraisers through the year for charitable groups. The Outreach Activities Team will work with the Director to advertise and coordinate these events.
Charity Selection for 2012 Feast of Lights
Several options were considered, included successful past charitable groups. The decision was made for Partners in Health to be our official Feast of Lights charity for 2012.
Fundraising Possibilities
Future fundraising possibilities include donating items for an online auction and official shirts where proceeds go to fundraising. We're also looking into ways/options for fundraising directly for the scholarship, etc. A current Wheel of Time licensed vendor has expressed interest in working with us.
Department Structure
A Servant of All coordinator has been hired and will hire staff for tracking this program. The Outreach Activities Coordinator will continue to manage the Outreach Activities staff. A new position will be added to coordinate Event charities, pop up fundraisers and liase with the Outreach Activities Team and the Tar Valon Times Editor. All of these are admin positions.
The Director will continue to handle the Scholarship, Annual Fundraiser, Feast of Lights fundraiser and external activities along with managing Administrators in this department.
Outreach Activities Team
The membership has expressed a concern that we have too many holidays. Beginning in 2013, the official holiday celebrations shall be: Beltine in the Spring, Feast of Fools/Sunday in the Summer and our large fundraising event in November. Shaoman will stay on this year’s schedule as planning is already underway. An email address will be created for the Department to facilitate birthday wishes. People can write in to have themselves added or removed from the public list.
Department of Events and Conferences
South Pacific Events will move to the model currently used for Continental Europe. The Director of Events and Conferences will solicit bids for an event. If approved, the local liaison will act as the Mistress/Master of Revels for the event.
Due to the dissolution of the Wheel of Time track at Dragon*Con, it will no longer be an official event for us. Jordan Con in the spring still counts though!
The Department will add two additional official Marshals to staff. These are members who are already performing this work at parties currently and adding this staff will help standardize safety practices at events. Marshals are not required at events, but are a benefit. Additionally, if only one Marshall is in attendance, they can officially take the lead in physical challenges at our events.
Next year’s Fall Ball location is scheduled to be announced at Fall Ball 2012. Dates for Euro Party 2013 will be announced as soon as possible. There are currently no bids for a British Isles and Ireland party for 2013.
Department of Marketing
Avendesora Tree
This project has been started and worked on, however it currently lacks a volunteer with the time and skills to complete it.
Ajah/Company Logos
Work is progressing on these and each group will have several options to look at. These options, once finalized, will be presented to the Head of Ajah/Company Commander and the group’s Hall representatives for feedback via email.
Merit Badges
Merit badges are complete and have been released to the membership. They are amazing and the team did an amazing job. Thank you so much everyone!
Making the Tar Valon Times Forum Public
Having this forum open to everyone is working well so we're going to keep it.
Promotional Media
The department needs to finalize the official design of fliers and a tagline representing TarValon.Net at various events.
The proposal for distribution is that three members will keep physical items to be distributed upon request; one in the United States, one in Britain and one in the South Pacific. Digital versions of promotional media will be provided to members upon request. Policies for use and quality of items printed will be established and given to members along with any promotional media.
Ideas for a tagline will be solicited from the membership of the site for final items.
Copyright Policy
A proposal has been submitted to the Executive team for review. At this time, the inclination is for TarValon.Net to keep full ownership of rights of graphics made for our website and items that represent us officially (event logos, Merit Badges, etc.). TarValon.Net would have right of use for graphics that are offered on items in our Café Press store. Once the policy has been made official, it will be released to the membership.
Department of Membership
The new Mentor system for the male half of the site is in place and is working. Feedback from the Captains and the male Junior Members will be solicited at the end of the year to evaluate it’s performance.
A list of Senior Members as well as Soldiers and Accepted who are available to answer questions for new members has been collected and placed in the Introductions forum.
It can be scary and sometimes bewildering trying to figure out what to type in your introduction thread. A list of 5 questions has been created and posted in the Introductions forum. The purpose of this list is to help new members in telling us a bit about themselves.
The Invited Guests program was launched and each Senior Member group entered into discussions about whether to allow it. Some groups are still discussing this program, some groups have decided not to opt in, while a few have already approved the program and a process. The groups that have approved this program are: Gray Ajah, Red Ajah, Brown Ajah, San d’Ma Shadar, Mahdi’in d’ma Dieb and Dai M'hael. At this time, it is not required for a group to make their process public but they can make it available on their Community page in the Library if they wish.
Consequences for behavior on the forums
There do need to be consequences for bad behavior on the forums. Currently our options are a reprimand or banning and this is not sufficient. A formalized process for not complying with moderator and admin requests will be adopted. We've discussed this in exec, and now bring that process to the rest of you to take a look at and offer suggestions if you have them. We'll then look at any suggestions given and will have the final policy ready to go most likely in November. (depends on how many thoughts come in and how active this discussion stays ) Essentially we're looking at a 3 strikes policy that looks like this: (and forgive the brevity, it'll be prettied up when the final version is announced, but if it's hard to understand please let me know and I'll clarify!)
Strike 1:
1) someone says something that isn't appropriate, moderator places a general warning in the thread. 2) warning is ignored, action continues, person is directly PM'd/emailed by the forum moderator and warned to chill. 3) If this is also ignored, person is then banned from that specific forum for 2 weeks
First strike handled completely within the Department of Moderators.
Strike 2:
If the same behavior happens again after their return to the forum within 6 months, then moderators will jump straight to step 2 and the individuals membership admin is notified to address the issue. If it again escalates to step 3 they are "confined to quarters" so can only see Ajah/Company or Hall of Novices/Garrison for a period of 3 months by the Director of Membership.
this round happens with moderators notifying membership that the problem has reoccured, and is escalated to the membership admin to address via email.
Strike 3:
If the same behavior happens again after they're 'released' within a year, then again step 2, with the email coming from the Director of Membership to address the behavior. If it still has no impact, then the individual is placed before the Hall for a site-wide ban with the time-frame determined by the Keeper/Amyrlin with advice from the Directors of Membership and Moderators.
this round happens again with moderators notifying membership immediately, and all correspondence handled by the Director/Keeper/Amyrlin
Now if after the first issue happens and 6 months pass with no further problems then the clock resets and we are back on phase 1 with the individual and the timeline starts over if an issue comes up again.
Department of Moderators
The Chat Operator Training Manual and Guide has been completed and released to the Chat Operators in their forum.
The Creative Endeavors forum was split into Hand Crafts and Literary & Fine Arts. The new format works well and will be adopted on a permanent basis.
Department of Research & Records
The Classroom was opened to Citizens, “real life” topics were approved and a quarter system was implemented after the last meeting. These processes are working well and will be kept.
The Director of Research and Records will create the next PSA for our membership. This PSA will focus on the information we currently have available in our Library for our members.
Department of Technology
The transition to vBulletin is complete. The Technology team continues to work on the theme and functionality requests from membership. There are still a couple threads for those topics in the "Ask the White Tower" forum.
The Membership Tracking System has been started with information solicited from the Executive team. Further work on this program and implementation will wait until the Technology staff has completed working out any bugs or issues with vBulletin. This item will be revisited in January 2013.
The Shatayan has approved the purchase of back-up server space for our website. Currently, our back-up is on a member’s personal server.
Google is the provider of our TarValon.Net email system and document storage. They are switching to “Drive” instead of “Documents”. This transition should be transparent and have no effect on our current procedures or documents and will give us more functionality than we currently have.
