Council Code of Conduct

[Bench]

COUNCIL TERMS & CONDITIONS

The Council of Intergalactic Representatives, or the Council, is a group of community members elected to represent the interests, needs, and ideas of the community to the Schine development team; and to allow easier open-discussion and communication. As such council members are held to a high standard.

As with all members on the forums, the council members are held to the Terms & Conditions of the community, found here. The following is in addition to the existing T&Cs and applies to all active council members unless specifically described. If any T&Cs are violated by council members, they may be removed and prevented from applying to the council again.

Member Terms

• Once elected council members remain on the council for one full-term, the length of which is four (4) months.
• Council members that are removed may or may not be able to apply to serve another term, according to what they were removed for.
• Council members who serve a full term are then counted as Retired until such time they are elected to the council again to serve another term.
• Council members found to be attempting to manipulate votes to get additional terms on the council will be banned from applying to the council again, and may face harsher repercussions.

Council Badges

• Council badges are awarded to citizens who are currently on the council, and reflect the number of terms a council member has been on the council. These council badges are removed at the end of a council members time on the council.
• Council members who complete a full-term and are then labelled as retired get their council badge replaced with a Retired Council Member badge that reflects the number of terms that council member has been on the council.
• Council members who are removed for breaking the T&Cs will not keep any of their council badges, even if earned previously.

Forum and Communications

• The council is provided one public and one private forum section on StarMade Dock (herein SMD). The private forum is accessible to council members, SMD administrators (herein Admins), and the Schine development team (herein Schine).
• Council Members will not publicly share information provided by Schine or Admins where it is stated to be held in confidence, until that information is announced publicly by Schine.
• Council Members will conduct themselves to the highest standard when communicating to other players or people, as they represent both the StarMade community as well as the game. This includes council members that are removed or retired.
• Council Members are not to describe themselves or present themselves in a way that insinuates they hold an official position other than a member of the StarMade community council. Furthermore retired or removed council members are not to insinuate that they are still a current council member after their term has been concluded, partially or fully.
• Council Members are to represent the opinions of the community, developers, and the council as a whole, without bias or distortion.
• Council members found to entice or incite heated conversations between players that result in multiple T&C violations by those players, including using a council members position on the council to push a point that results in said violations, will be warned or removed from the council.
• Council Members will not use their position on the council to demean other citizens or the opinions of those citizens. Council Members are there to represent the community.
• Council members can create threads, polls, discussions and news in the council public forum, and if active on YouTube or Vimeo create news videos as well. In this they can share any material specifically approved by Schine or material already public.
• Council members are expected to be able to deliberate between each other in a professional and proper manner, without devolving into personal attacks on other council members.

Council Member Activeness

• Council members who are found to remain inactive on the council for an extended period may be removed from the council for inactivity. Inactive council members will be messaged about their inactivity, and no response will then result in the member being removed.
• Council members are expected to contribute to any discussions the council holds, in the public or private forums.
• Council members are expected to share information, where able, to members of the community when asked. They are not to act in a way where they are seen to be holding information for just themselves.
• Tasks issued to council members are to be acted upon as swiftly as possible. Council members seen to not be participating in the roles and responsibilities of the council may be removed.

Council Roles & Responsibilities

• Council members are to work together with the community to bring together ideas, issues, complaints, and suggestions. Discuss with each other the best way forward and present them to Schine.
• The Council will put together a summary thread in the private council forum that includes all these topics for Schine to then discuss in their next staff meeting and reply to in the thread for the council to then continue discussing and/or to share with the community. A new council summary thread is to be ready fortnightly by Saturday 12AM GMT to coincide with Schine staff meetings. Discussion in the summary threads will continue throughout the week between council members and Schine. Multiple summary threads can be included if topics are broad enough to warrant it.
• The Council is expected to conduct their own meetings to discuss and deliberate. The council should come to a consensus of the best time to do these, and how they are conducted, and may discuss with Schine the best way to go about these council meetings and what may be needed to streamline meetings.
• The Council is expected to run public discussion threads and polls to better get an idea on issues, suggestions, and the general state of the community; to then present in summary threads.
• The Council will manage a Q&A thread in their public forum and actively update it with responses from Schine. Questions should be included in summary threads ready for Schine staff meetings if they aren't answered earlier by a member of Schine.
• At times, Schine may ask the council for their opinion on a specific topic. This should be conducted privately unless specified that Schine wants to know the communities opinion on a topic, in which case the council should conduct their own polls and threads as much as needed to concisely find out the opinions of the community on the topic.

IMPEACHMENT PROCESS

Due Process

• An impeachment process may only be started if no other impeachment process is already running. Each impeachment process may only be used to impeach a single councilor that has come under question for offenses committed while currently acting as a councilor.
• Offenses are defined as:
  
  • Breaches in the Code of Conduct set out for the Council while a councilor.
  • Violating the Terms & Conditions of StarMade Dock, as the official StarMade forums, while a councilor.
  • Breaching the Council Non-Disclosure Agreement.
  • A clear unwillingness to engage in council roles & responsibilities.
  • Malice towards other council members, the community, or members of Schine.
• The remaining council members will conduct internal debates and discussions to determine the nature and severity of the offense(s) by the councilor under question, and potential consequences appropriate to the severity of the offenses.
• In the event the offending councilor cannot be deterred from committing offenses and continues to commit them, or that they are unwilling to discuss their reasons for continuing to commit offenses, the remaining council members may opt to vote for impeachment of the offending councilor.
• A vote for impeachment of the offending councilor could also be requested if the offenses committed are of such severity that prolonging the offending councilor’s time on the council would be detrimental to the council, the community, or Schine.
• Before a vote for impeachment can begin, there must be clear and substantiated evidence provided of not only the offences by the councilor under question, but also that the remaining council members have unsuccessfully tried to resolve the reasons given as to why the offending councilor continues to commit offenses, or that the remaining council members have attempted to have discussions with the offending councilor to dissuade them to no avail.
• The remaining council members will then be asked to vote. The votes will not be shared or discussed between council members until the result of the vote has been determined.
• All votes conducted will be decided by 2/3rds majority between the remaining council members.
• If the vote results in the impeachment of the offending council, a second vote by the remaining council members may also be conducted to determine if the remaining council members will recommend to Schine that the impeachment should extend beyond the current term to prevent disruptive citizens from re-running for the council.
  
  • Schine's representatives will discuss with the remaining council members to determine if this is deemed necessary according to the offenses that were addressed in the impeachment, and the actions of the now-removed council member in relation to their impeachment.
  • Schine will then decide if the impeachment will extend.
  • Schine reserves the right to retroactively lift an impeachment extension.

Appeals

• The impeached member may request a contractual appeal from Schine.
  • Contractual Appeal : A specific set of terms and conditions for the impeached member to prevent similar offenses that resulted in their initial impeachment, but that would allow the impeached member to either be reinstated to the council or that would enable the impeached member to run on the ballot for future terms.

• Schine will then determine if there is grounds for the appeal.

• Should Schine agree that there are grounds for an appeal, they will then discuss with the council the options going forward.

• Should the terms of the impeached member's reinstatement be violated, they will be released from the council without a second vote, and their impeachment reinstated if it initially prevented them from running in future elections.

Impeachment and Resignation

• Should an impeached councilor slander the council or Schine, or break their NDA, they will no longer be able to file for an appeal, and will be barred from future elections.
  • Additional consequences for breaches of their NDA will be determined by Schine separate to the council.

• Once the impeachment is successfully rendered; access to all council related materials, channels of communication, and associated privileges will all be terminated immediately.
  • This process will begin with the removal of any administrator / moderator access.

• The next candidate will be brought into the council, based on a recalculation of the ballot votes excluding the removed councilor, if the impeachment is conducted and concluded before half-term. Anyone who voted for the removed councilor will have their votes go to their next preference.
  • If the impeachment is concluded post-half-term the council will remain without the removed councilor until the conclusion of the term, after which the empty seat will be filled along with all the other seats based off the next election.

Parties and Roles
CIR / Council : Council of Interstellar Representatives
Schine : Development team for StarMade or the allocated representative thereof
Impeached Councilor / Councilor in question : The councilor currently under investigation due to offenses committed while currently a member of the council.