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by The local cluster administrator. . 604 reads.

The Local Cluster: The Procuratorate

In response to the concerns pressed by the membership of The Local Cluster in regard to the protocols and methodology of how punitive actions (including banishment and ejection) against players in the future might be executed, The Local Cluster Advisers in cooperation with Future Tech-oriented International Incidents Roleplay Mentors which have worked together since the inception of this project, a new direction in regards to how future potential issues requiring the termination of embassies, the banishment of members of the project, and the barring of players from networked regions from posting on the Regional Message Board has been created. It is our hope that this new system will serve to ease the concerns members of The Local Cluster have raised, provide a greater degree of transparency, further serve to assist Future Technology roleplayers (and those curious of the tech-level), and help increase the efficacy of the Mission Statement.

First and foremost, we would like to thank the members of The Local Cluster that have brought their concerns to us - both onsite and offsite - and have endeavored to provide suggestions and a direction for the project to go as we continue to grow and flourish. This project remains a success due to its members and has grown to be a flourishing "community within a community" because of the members' constant desire to seek improvement of the project and prosperity of its mission.

We thank you.


The Procuratorate
The primary mission of the Procuratorate will be to proactively curate and ensure The Local Cluster remains a friendly, welcoming, and neutral environment where players across the Future Technology community may find a place to collaborate and create with others, as defined by the Mission Statement. The Mission Statement will, further, act as the basis of the "rules of acceptable and unacceptable conduct" relative to activity within The Local Cluster to the addition of the One Stop Rule Shop and Terms and Conditions of Use. A violation of the latter two will result in the Procuratorate (or other parties) reporting such to the NationStates staff through the appropriate method.

The Procuratorate will be restricted from executing a banishment/ejection against any member of The Local Cluster without a record within the region consisting of three, explicit warnings against the player, or in such an instance where the player's continued presence poses an imminent threat in the form of spamming, trolling, griefing, flaming, flamebaiting, or similar. These will be defined based on their definitions found within the One Stop Rule Shop and on the Procuratorate's interpretation of their applicability relative to the project; in the instance of such, a member of the Procuratorate is required to report these instances through the appropriate methods.

The Procuratorate will be restricted from executing a banishment against any member of any networked region (as to suspend their RMB posting privileges) without a record within the region consisting of two, explicit warnings against the player, or in such an instance where the player's continued presence poses an imminent threat in the form of spamming, trolling, griefing, flaming, flamebaiting, or similar. These will be defined based on their definitions found within the One Stop Rule Shop and on the Procuratorate's interpretation of their applicability relative to the project; in the instance of such, a member of the Procuratorate is required to report these instances through the appropriate methods.

The Procuratorate will be required to make notice within the Regional Message Board that a discussion regarding potential banishment/ejection of a player is taking place; at this time, the player(s) for which this discussion is levied against will be notified via telegram to permit them to argue their case through telegram to The local cluster administrator account. The player which is being investigated will not be specifically named on the Regional Message Board, and it is up to said player if they wish to reveal their identity. There will be no set limit on how long a discussion might last, nor will there be a statute of limitations; the Procuratorate will be permitted to take into evidence: direct accounts by witnesses, publicly available evidence (such as on the Regional Message Board and on the forums), and testimony on the behalf of both the accuser and the accused. In the event a discussion involves the potential for permanent banishment from The Local Cluster, the Procuratorate will be permitted to, further, take into evidence offsite information only to act as evidence in regards to character evidence. Lastly, the Procuratorate will be permitted, in any case of deliberation, to draw upon The Local Cluster membership base for its opinion(s) as to the situation; discussion, further, is encouraged only insofar as such does not become an instance of "he said, she said," objectionable bickering, a "band wagon," "dog-piling," rampant speculation, or otherwise constitute a violation, undue disruption, or hindering of the Mission Statement.

The Procuratorate will not be required to state the name of any player which has filed a grievance against another player unless that player has stated such is permissible (and even then, only directly to the accused parties through private telegram), but will be required to - first and foremost - advise the player that if they feel another player has violated a rule beyond the Mission Statement, to file a report to the NationStates staff through the appropriate method. The Procuratorate will be required to notify any player filing a grievance that they are not official, website staff, and that grievances are concerned only with a player's behavior and conduct as such may violate, inhibit, hinder, or otherwise make untenable the fulfillment of the Mission Statement.

The Procuratorate will not be required to acknowledge any precedent in regard to specific punitive actions, and may execute such on a case-by-case basis.

The Procuratorate will consist of the following players: Kyrusia, Lubyak, and Santheres. The Procuratorate will determine whether a banishment/ejection should occur based on a simple majority (two out of three votes) in support of executing an ejection/banishment against a player. Following a vote which results in support of banishment/ejection, the Procuratorate will be required to notify the player against whom such will be carried-out via telegram, and will further be required to notify The Local Cluster through the Regional Message Board of the context of the decision, the majority opinion, and a vote count; the Procuratorate will not be required to state which member voted in favor or against any action.

The Procuratorate as individual members will reserve the right to execute warnings or punitive actions short of banishment and ejection (permanent or otherwise), to include the suppression of posts and the regional warning of players, based on individual prerogative. This is to include the acceptance or rejection of embassy requests.

The Advisers
In addition to the currently defined roles of The Local Cluster Advisers, Advisers who desire (they will be indicated) will act in a capacity where a player might file a grievance with an Adviser to be forwarded to the Procuratorate and an avenue for players who prefer to not directly converse with Mentors, regardless of their reasons.

Advisers whom accept this position will, further, serve to act as arbitrators for disputes between players who are members of The Local Cluster whose services may be requested at any time by two or more players.

Advisers will consist of all currently accepted Advisers; each will be requested to indicate whether they are willing to accept these further responsibilities. Even if they choose not to, they will still remain as Advisers in their original capacity. Any new Advisers, further, will be selected based upon two methods: "shortlist" or nomination. The shortlist will consist of potential Advisers chosen by the Procuratorate; nomination will consist of a player nominating a player that is not themselves for the position. Self-nominations will be disregarded and considered invalid and, further, will invalidate the self-nominating player from being nominated or "shortlisted" for a standard, calendar year. Once a player has been "shortlisted" or nominated, the Procuratorate will vote to accept or reject them as an Adviser based on a simple majority (four out of seven votes in support). Removal of a current or future Adviser will follow the same protocol (simple majority).

Advisers will be approved (or denied) based upon any and all evidence available to the Procuratorate, both offsite and onsite, relating to their behaviors in regard to upholding the Mission Statement, their knowledge of the standards and conventions of the Future Technology community, their willingness to provide advice and assistance, and their general conduct as players.

Grievances
Any player which is a member of The Local Cluster reserves the right to file a grievance either directly with the Procuratorate or with an Adviser against any other member of The Local Cluster or against any player in a networked region which shares an embassy with The Local Cluster and has, further, posted at least once on the The Local Cluster Regional Message Board.

Any player filing a grievance is required to name the player and provide evidence for their grievance, as well as an argument stating the purpose for such a grievance. Any player filing a grievance must be notified that the Procuratorate is not an official organization of the NationStates staff and must respond to this notification before the grievance will be considered valid.

Any grievance filed which does not have the potential for a banishment/ejection (thus the accused player does not have more than three/two warnings) will be handled individually by one or more members of the Procuratorate. Any grievance filed which does have the potential for a banishment/ejection will default to the normal deliberation process.

All grievances must be filed through telegram. Any grievance filed on the Regional Message Board will constitute a disruption of The Local Cluster or otherwise an attempt to hinder the execution of the Mission Statement

Tie-breaking
In the event the Procuratorate cannot resolve whether a banishment or ejection is necessary, there are two potential avenues which may be taken.

First, in the event of a tie, if the discussion is the result of a grievance, the player which has filed the grievance will be notified and offered an opportunity to dismiss or disregard their grievance. If this occurs, the deliberation terminates with no further punitive action undertaken and is considered a dismissal of complaint.

Second, in the event of a tie, if the discussion is not the result of a grievance or if the aggrieved player does not wish to dismiss their grievance, the Procuratorate is required to open to vote a simple poll with three options: AYE, NAY, and ABSTAIN; this poll will be open to all members of The Local Cluster for no less than seven (7) days. A decision is reached by this method through a simple plurality: whichever voting option has the highest number of votes is the action the Procuratorate will take. In the event poll manipulation is discovered, the poll is automatically invalidated.


If any players have any questions or concerns, they are free to send a telegram to The local cluster administrator or request clarification on The Local Cluster Regional Message Board.

The local cluster administrator

The local cluster administrator

Edited:

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