Blast from the past: the CDS contract and terms of service

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

On a relatively recent discussion, one citizen complained that there is no 'binding agreement' or contract between citizens and the CDS. Some have shrugged it away as being not relevant, but I think it is. And I thought, in fact, that long ago we actually had contracts.

Now, by mere chance, I found a way to fix the historical site for Neufreistadt at http://neufreistadt.info/ Back in 2006, every time a citizen bought a parcel, they would have to agree to a Deed. Here is the text for it:

http://neufreistadt.info/id27.html

This is a template, of course, every Deed would be written out for a specific citizen and a particular parcel.

But the Deed was not all. Participation in the CDS assumed the agreement with the CDS' Terms of Service. Here they are: http://neufreistadt.info/id28.html This is actually a slightly more recent version; the original (which I have lost) had "Neufreistadt" instead of "CDS". You can tell because here and there the word "City" is still present in that ToS, which had not been corrected since 2006.

I have no idea if this document still has legal value or not. My point is that we did, in fact, remember back then to make participation in the CDS adopt the form of a legally binding service agreement.

[Josie Fotherington]

This is a fascinating peek into CDS' past Gwyn! Thank you for posting it.

Like you I wonder if this document still has any kind of authority. The deed concept intrigues me. Do you know who wrote out the deeds? Sudane? The Chancellor? Was it in a notecard?

One thing I did notice in here is the 5. User Conduct section. 5.1 Participant Conduct (x) states "you shall not 'stalk' or otherwise harass another user".

The consequences are documented as "You agree that the CDS may take whatever steps it deems necessary to abridge, or prevent behavior of any sort in the City in its sole discretion, without notice to you."

There has been a great deal of private IM harassment coming from one specific citizen who was directing it at others. Multiple people were harassed and with threatening and vulgar language. It's not "legal" to share the transcripts of private IMs, but a citizen could summarize them and include specific words that were used.

Obviously these rules are no longer valid (I assume?) but it's an example of how the consequences for harassment were handled. Another huge problem with this is that it says "CDS may take". Well, what the heck is CDS defined as? The Chancellor? The RA? Loophole land!

Do current laws not have anything like this? I was surprised to learn about the harassment and the fact that there was absolutely no recourse for it or protection from it in CDS law.

[Sudane Erato]

My point is that we did, in fact, remember back then to make participation in the CDS adopt the form of a legally binding service agreement.

Yes, I too remember back when we had this system.

It was put into place with the introduction of a notary service/device which had just been introduced, which for many years stood in the ground floor room of the Rathaus. A notecard would be prepared with the name of the new citizen (yes... prepared by me) and then passed to that person who engaged in a procedure with the notary machine, which functioned to certify that person's actions in affirming the contents of the notecard.

It was a hugely burdonsome process, compounded by the fact that the notary machine almost never worked, so I think that probably not more than a half dozen of these procedures were ever performed. I will dig about in mine or Rudeen's inventory to see if I can unearth some examples.

Apart from the problems with the system, the procedure was defeated probably more by the volume of changes in our citizenry than by anything else. The concept was highly desirable... to this day we do not have anything like an adequate definition of citizenship. But the burdonsome quality of the procedure really proved that solving this issue of establishing citizenship is among the most profound dilemmas of our community.

Sudane....................

[Josie Fotherington]

ty Sudane for the deed-was-a-notecard explanation. I thought it might have been you. I also figured it was a tedious time suck.

I think it's a great idea but it was implemented during the era in which thousands of people were pouring in to SL. Keeping up with the deeding and the influx of new citizens would have been a nightmare.

[Widget Whiteberry]

The concept was highly desirable... to this day we do not have anything like an adequate definition of citizenship.

Perhaps there's another way. If we are clear on the concept and its purposes. For instance, twice a year, we hold a swearing in ceremony for the RA and Chancellor. Might we do something similar for ourselves?

[Bells Semyorka]

The concept was highly desirable... to this day we do not have anything like an adequate definition of citizenship.

Perhaps there's another way. If we are clear on the concept and its purposes. For instance, twice a year, we hold a swearing in ceremony for the RA and Chancellor. Might we do something similar for ourselves?

I like this but i think we should extend the 28 day requirement for voting to perhaps 3 months...then hold a ceremony for citizenship. I think if we do this it would have the following benefits.

1) people would take citizenship seriously; we would have more committed citizens. (not that we don't have them now.) but the chances of us becoming a revolving door for land purposes or having a high citizenship turnover might be reduced.

2) we would have citizens that understand and have a more developed picture of what CDS is. They would have time to become a part of our community, attend meetings, events and even get an introduction to the forums.

[Widget Whiteberry]

Bells - Yes, to all your points. And what fun to have a quarterly swearing in of new citizens ... perhaps along with a solstice/equinox celebration.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Widget & Bells — I love those suggestions Actually, to be honest, I love all those formal cerimonies! They have a purpose, which is to knit the community together...

(That's why sometimes I like to toy with the idea of turning the CDS into a Monarchy )

[Rosie Gray]

I agree Bells with your points and with extending the requirement for full citizenship to be 3 months. It would really make citizenship more meaningful, even for we who have been here a long time already!

I'd vote for Queen Rudeen But who would be her heir apparent????? Seriously though, I actually think that a Constitutional Monarchy would be very suitable for the CDS.

[JerryDon Lane]

I agree Bells with your points and with extending the requirement for full citizenship to be 3 months. It would really make citizenship more meaningful, even for we who have been here a long time already!

I'd vote for Queen Rudeen But who would be her heir apparent????? Seriously though, I actually think that a Constitutional Monarchy would be very suitable for the CDS.

As a lover of freedom and democracy, sometimes you scare me, Rosie.

[Klaus Wulfenbach]

She said nothing frightening about democracy. The systems in your Great Britain and Nordic monarchies seem to work quite well without restraining any of the virtues you note.

[JerryDon Lane]

She said nothing frightening about democracy. The systems in your Great Britain and Nordic monarchies seem to work quite well without restraining any of the virtues you note.

Well no......All men and women should be equal in a functioning democracy. There should be no one that has any special status just because of a birthright, or money, or political friends, how long they have lived in a community or any other special singling out for that matter.

It goes against the very root word for democracy in the Greek: "dēmokratía" or rule of the people.

The people obviously cannot rule if a monarch does. Therefore, the two terms democracy and monarchy are an oxymoron when used together. You have to pick one or the other.

I would like to see CDS remain a democracy and even expand on that concept. Something wrong with that vision?

[Soro Dagostino]

Hey Jerry, she tells us she is from Canada . . . RL, they gave up the ball on democracy a long time ago. But, its ok, now the press gives us pictures of the princess! Just won't work in CDS, all our women are pretty.

[Rosie Gray]

I must say that I'm astonished that some people don't think that Canada, the UK, and other countries that are Constitutional Monarchies aren't democracies. You are quite mistaken on that point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_monarchy

[Josie Fotherington]

In the case of Rosie and many others in CDS, they live in countries that ARE democracies. Parliamentary democracies. They might have a Constitutional Monarchy as well, but that still leaves the power of rule with the people, the parliament.

We're different. Not better. Not worse. Just different.

And differences aside we (the US, Canada, UK, Sweden etc.) are all democracies.