CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

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FernLeissa
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CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by FernLeissa »

Below is a re-drafted version of the General CDS Covenants.

I am looking for comments and suggestions, so please jump into the discussion.

Many of the restrictions and much of the language are identical to what you will find currently (with variations in format and completeness) under the land tab for Neufreistadt, Alpine Meadow, Colonia, Locus Amoenus and Monastery.

Several changes reflect additions I found in the Google draft document developed by the 13th RA. I have borrowed liberally from that draft. I deleted several additions to the covenant from that draft version.

I also have made several changes, based on the discussions during the Covenant Commission community meetings of Jan 17, 2011 and Jan 20, 2011. These changes are not identical to those suggested during the meetings, as we did not always reach a consensus or conclusion, but are hopefully in line with the general feeling/intent of the others who participated (Please correct if not)

Please note these issues/changes:

-Restriction on modification of certain existing structures without prior approval by Executive.
This type of restriction is already in place within the specific covenant for Colonia Nova. Adding this to the General CDS covenant would make it a CDS-wide restriction, with specific structures identified within each specific sim covenant. The intent would be to protect certain “historic” and city-center builds.

-Terraforming would be done by the Executive or appointee of the executive

-Private security scripts.
This was a much discussed issue in the Covenant Commission community meetings. I have removed the language inserted in the 13 RA draft that allows for private security scripts with restrictions. I have left it, in the draft below, as it is in current Land Tab versions of the CDS General Covenant; “…. bounce scripts are not permitted.”
This appears to be primarily a personal privacy vs. friendly community dilemma.

-Restriction on commercial function.
This was not discussed at either of the Covenant community meetings.
I removed this clause, which had been added to the 13th RA draft version.
The restriction inserted in that draft was: “Commercial function is allowed if falling within the theme of the sim, or, failing that, be kept in interior spaces. Cultural, Social and Arts and Crafts organizations are exempt of this clause.”
Given our very serious problem with attracting merchants, I do not feel this is in our best interests.

-Per person maximum on parcel ownership
There was a general consensus in the community meeting discussions that we should have both a CDS cap to land ownership as well as sim specific restrictions (including sub-sections of sims)
There was no consensus as to the actual number of parcels and m2 a person could own CDS-wide.
The issues behind the discussion were: 1) making sure there is land available for new members, 2) that citizens who choose to live here have a reasonable amount to build what they want and 3)that no one can own so much land that their departure would leave a serious cash-flow problem for the community.
There was no resolution as to how to determine what a reasonable and fair amount per person was.
The figures I have inserted (8 plots and 8192 m2) are my thoughts on what might be enough to meet conditions 1) and 2) without leaving us financially venerable to a departure by a major landowner. Please see the postings of the community discussions for different ideas/figures.

-Paying Tier.
There has been only limited discussion as to whether we should include information in this covenant on where and when to pay tier.
Many estates have covenants that include a formula for calculating monthly tier payments. We have also not included that in this draft

DRAFT (2011-01-24)General CDS Covenants (These covenants apply to all CDS sims)

By purchasing this parcel of land, you, the owner, understand and agree that you become a voting citizen of the community of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS).

As a member you agree to abide by the rules and laws of the community as displayed on the CDS web portal, www.slcds.info, as well as by the terms of use of this parcel of land.

Your status as citizen in this community is dependent on your making regular payment of the monthly fee for this land, which will be reclaimed by the community if you do not make this payment. Responsibility for monthly fees continues until a new owner claims the tier box, or you officially abandon the property. It is your responsibility to inform the treasurer of changes in ownership. Tier fees are paid to CDS, and not to Linden Labs. The two systems are totally separate. You do not need a Premium account to become a citizen in CDS.

Actions taken by the Executive pursuant to these covenants may be appealed to the Scientific Council. The Executive branch may waive any provision according to the powers conferred to him/her by the RA.

BUILDING
1. All buildings in CDS must be physically plausible.
2.All structures are subject to review by the Executive branch. Upon completion of exterior construction, notice shall be delivered to the Chancellor for approval. If no approval or request for revision has been given by the Chancellor within 15 days from the date the notice of completion is delivered to the Chancellor, the building shall be deemed approved.
3. Certain structures in each sim can ONLY be modified with prior approval by the Executive branch.
4.Terraforming is allowed only at the tolerances specified for each sim. Adjustments to land to accommodate complying structures will be made by the Executive or appointee of the executive and should be requested by note card. Terraforming requests beyond the stated tolerances are at the discretion of the Executive. Parcel borders defined by water cannot be altered. Land cannot be raised over water.
5. In order to reduce lag, when building a house or large object, textures no larger than 512*512 or equivalent must be used.
6. No default plywood textured prims are to be left in place longer than 24 hours
7. Skyboxes are permitted above 512 m in altitude. Skyboxes must not extend outside parcel limits

SCRIPTS AND PARTICLES
1. Excessive script usage adversely affects sim performance and is not permitted. The determination of excessive is at the sole discretion of the Chancellor.
2. Scripts which use llListen (voice command) are permitted if they listen only after a touch and then deactivate after a certain period of time.
3. Scripts which spy on residents and bounce scripts are not permitted. Red Tape Lines or Ban lines are not permitted.
4. Particles can only be used in effects that have real-world analogies, such as lights, smoke, and fire. Particles should be set no higher than 10 particles per second. Floating, particle emitting and rotating signs are prohibited
5.Scripts and particles attached to avatars are unregulated.

USE
1. A person can own a maximum of 8 CDS land parcels and cannot own more than 8192 m2. Additionally, individual sims have specific parcel ownership restrictions that will apply within the CDS-wide restrictions on land ownership. Land purchases made prior to the enactment of this covenant are exempt from these restrictions.
2. Subletting is not permitted.
3. No outdoor hot tubs are permitted. Clubs are not permitted. No SL or RL commercial pornography is permitted.

TERMS OF SERVICE
All terms and conditions of service set forth by Linden Lab, both in their official Terms of Service (TOS) and in all official blog posts, forum posts or other official statements regarding policy, allowed behavior and terms of service must be adhered to first and foremost prior to the application of this covenant. Under no circumstances does the CDS sims permit any behavior or actions not permitted by the Linden Lab TOS or publicized policy. These covenants are subject to change from time to time as the Estate owners or the elected governing bodies see fit. Changes shall be effective upon publication.

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by Callipygian »

FernLeissa wrote:

Below is a re-drafted version of the General CDS Covenants.

I am looking for comments and suggestions, so please jump into the discussion.

.

Hi Fern

Would it be possible to get the transcript of the second meeting posted please? Having been at the first meeting, I'd be interested to see the discussion that moved thinking back to 'no security devices'. If the transcripts are already out there and I missed them, my apologies - just point me in the right direction :)

Calli

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by FernLeissa »

Hi Calli,

Take at look at the thread "CDS Covenant Review." I have transcrips from both of the Covenant meetings about the general covenants posted there. I was trying to keep them in the same thread. Perhaps not such a good idea, since you couldn't find the 2nd meeting transcript.

Sorry for the confusion :?

Fern

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by Callipygian »

FernLeissa wrote:

Hi Calli,

Take at look at the thread "CDS Covenant Review." I have transcrips from both of the Covenant meetings about the general covenants posted there. I was trying to keep them in the same thread. Perhaps not such a good idea, since you couldn't find the 2nd meeting transcript.

Sorry for the confusion :?

Fern

Haha..my mistake.I saw those but attended both, so thought there was a meeting I had missed LOL

My only query would be regarding the ban line/security orb discussion. I quote the last part of it here:

[15:19] Fern Leissa: Anna, are you ok with a security orb above 512 only?
[15:20] Tor Karlsvalt: oh that brings to mind discussions I have heard about those IP/alt logging devices.
[15:20] Anna Toussaint: yes
[15:20] Guillaume Mistwalker: I'm ok with that, Fern
[15:20] Pip Torok: me too
[15:20] Tor Karlsvalt: ok with that
[15:20] Fern Leissa: Calli?
[15:20] Guillaume Mistwalker: we can always discuss below 512m if needed
[15:20] Callipygian Christensen: have been all long Fern, so yes
[15:20] Anna Toussaint: yes
[15:20] Guillaume Mistwalker: but, as you said Fern, it isn't an issue yet
[15:20] Anna Toussaint: we can always revisit
[15:20] Fern Leissa: hehe
[15:21] Fern Leissa: yes
[15:21] Pip Torok: we have agreement???
[15:21] Guillaume Mistwalker: So, no security orbs below 512m, allowed above that alt.

It seemed to me, at the time, that we had agreement on keeping all land fully open at ground level (other than instances of specific bans of a person for cause) and allowing security orbs above 512m, for skyboxes etc. Staying with the original wording of 'no bounce scripts' seems at odds with this.

Calli

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by FernLeissa »

Hi Calli,

Thanks. You are right. I read back over the transcript of the first meeting.

Everyone (except Raffles) originally objecting to allowing bounce scripts finally agreed that the compromise position of allowing security orbs above 512m was acceptable.

Therefore, how about including in the new general CDS covenant the following wording regarding security:

Scripts which spy on residents are not permitted. Access restrictions beyond private security scripts are not permitted. If private security scripts are employed, they must be used above 512m, they must not range beyond the owners parcel borders amd must give intruders a 30-second warning prior to ejecting them. Red Tape Lines or Ban lines are not permitted.

Fern

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by Callipygian »

FernLeissa wrote:

Hi Calli,

Therefore, how about including in the new general CDS covenant the following wording regarding security:

Scripts which spy on residents are not permitted. Access restrictions beyond private security scripts are not permitted. If private security scripts are employed, they must be used above 512m, they must not range beyond the owners parcel borders amd must give intruders a 30-second warning prior to ejecting them. Red Tape Lines or Ban lines are not permitted.

Fern

That wording works i think, and reflects what people were agreeing too. Thanks Fern :)

Calli

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote -- a very different thing.

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by Sudane Erato »

FernLeissa wrote:

Red Tape Lines or Ban lines are not permitted.

May I suggest that instead of using this admittedly common expression, you indicate instead that "parcels must be set for Public Access" on the Access tab of About Land?

The reason is that while most people experience the *effects* of removing public acces as the appearance of red tape/ban lines, many people are not aware that this is caused by the parcel owner unchecking the Public Access box. As owner, it has no effect on them, so the cause and effect is usually lost. This has been my experience with many parcel owners.

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by FernLeissa »

Hi Sudane,

Point well taken. That could have been me, not so very long ago.... :oops:

Following your suggestion, this section of the covenant would now read:

Scripts which spy on residents are not permitted. Access restrictions beyond private security scripts are not permitted. If private security scripts are employed, they must be used above 512m, they must not range beyond the owners parcel borders amd must give intruders a 30-second warning prior to ejecting them. Parcels must be set for Public Access on the Access tab of About Land.

Fern

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by Rose Springvale »

three points.

1. there was never a "13th Ra draft." The google document you are using as your base was a review i did personally with the guild and jamie several terms ago. It was a beginning document to try to address issues we were having with people who bought land, yet didn't know there were covenants, couldn't find the currently used language (particularly in NFS) or where practice was to "ignore" covenants. Some of our prior residents actually sold land to newcomers by telling them once they paid the purchase price, there was no tier. Or so the newcomers said.

2. Please clarify that if there are INDIVIDUALS i don't want on my land, with this draft, i can add them to a no access list. CDS has never prohibited the use of Linden tools on our own parcels, though as a community we have tried to discourage it. I think you are changing our individual rights if the covenant is now to disallow the ability to limit such access. I am opposed to that change.

3.This change:
-Restriction on commercial function.
This was not discussed at either of the Covenant community meetings.
I removed this clause, which had been added to the 13th RA draft version.
The restriction inserted in that draft was: “Commercial function is allowed if falling within the theme of the sim, or, failing that, be kept in interior spaces. Cultural, Social and Arts and Crafts organizations are exempt of this clause.”
Given our very serious problem with attracting merchants, I do not feel this is in our best interests.

I disagree with the analysis here, and the result. One of the main reasons people come to CDS is because of the carefully planned, themed sims. To now allow any commercial operation anyplace in the sim changes that. Some areas of CDS are residential, and meant to stay that way. The language allowing commercial activity on the interior, only, when the activity is OUTSIDE the theme of the sim, was a compromise on the original drafting committees part. Eliminating this restriction would allow non themed commercial functions to put out signage, goods, etc on the exterior of their buildings without violating the covenants... no matter where they are located. The provisions were used only in AM and LA... CN and NFS having even more zoning. If the plan is now to favor whatever activity merchants want, regardless of where they own land, then the themes of the sims might as well be eliminated altogether.

We can see what happens to "neighborhoods" when commercial function is not restricted by a short visit to the mainland.

For those who may be interested in where these provisions came from, the New Guild proposed the original covenants for all sims, and then presented them to the RA. You can find the original discussions in the New Guild transcripts, usually dated shortly before the new sims were open. Many of us put a lot of hours into the drafting of the covenants, and there were real reasons for each provision. That doesn't mean you need to honor the provisions, but you might at least want to review the rationale. Not everyone can be at commission meetings, or RA meetings, and most of the people participating don't have a lot of collective history with CDS at this point.

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by FernLeissa »

Hi Rose,

Thanks for the clarification. I’ll try to refer to it as the Google General Covenant draft.

As far as the right to ban individuals from ones land, I have to say as I read over your paragraph, that I’m a little “technically unclear,” as to how this relates to ban lines and security scripts as I have never personally make use of any of these. I’d welcome help for some “clarifying text.” I think I mis-understand part of the security issues that we are trying to address in the covenant.

I would like to see commercial functions falling within the theme of the sims and understand that the stipulation that non-thematic goods be only inside was a compromise of sorts. But I see a couple of problems with enforcing such restrictions. There is the problem I’ve already mentioned with respect to attracting vendors in general. Also, I assume that vendors will self-select to some extent, as they would be less likely to choose to set up shop in a community that’s not interested in what they have to sell. I also see a problem in CN and LA where many of the interior spaces in the commercial centre of the town are wide open structures and in the case of CN, presently full of “non-thematic” goods.

You have reminded me that we need to include some language, somewhere, about the use/restrictions on signage. I’m not sure if that should be part of the general CDS covenant or the sim-wide covenants. Any thoughts?

I am expecting to continue restricting commercial activity to certain zones within each sim, but to set those restrictions under the individual sim-wide covenants.

And yes, absolutely, we are suffering from a lack of history and will certainly benefit from comments here on the forum, in the RA meetings, the community meetings or wherever we can get them. I’ll definitely take a look at the New Guild transcripts. Thanks.

Fern

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Re: CDS General Covenant - DRAFT

Post by FernLeissa »

I've rewritten part of the CDS General Covenant section on "Scripts & Particles" as:

3. Scripts that spy on other residents, record or transmit chat, spy on movement/activities are not permitted. If private security scripts are employed, they must be used above 512m, they must not range beyond the owners parcel borders and must give intruders a 30-second warning prior to ejecting them. Ban lines are not permitted. Parcels must be set for Public Access on the Access tab of About Land. As a land owner you are allowed to ban individual avatars from entering your land, but please do not ban all. Use courtesy and common sense.

FernLeissa
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