Moderator: SC Moderators
Hi everybody. The CDS chronicles are back. This time they are optimistically called "Fast Forward":
http://dantonsideways.blogspot.com/2010 ... art-1.html
This latest instalment takes us up to the end of January 2009. That's only about one year behind today's date!
For reference, the previous instalments were mentioned in this forum post:
Thanks Danton for reviving these chronicles. It's a reminder that we really do have a history in the CDS. I think the new 'fast forward' format works really well.
I have just read these chronicles for the first time and I think it's a great thing to have them available and to not have our history (potentially) lost. I'd really like to congratulate Danton for doing this excellent and thorough job.
However, I do have a quibble about the name. I was expecting a chronicle of the history of the CDS, but what is here is a chronicle of the *legislation* that went through the RA in a given term.
I lived through a lot of this history personally, and I can say that there were many more people involved in the political decisions, as well as many more exciting and interesting things that happened entirely outside of the legislature. 
Besides the personal stories, the events, the plays, and the interpersonal grief and excitement, there are also many political things that happened in the Guild (formerly a branch of the government), and in the Scientific Council that are not recorded here. I served on the Scientific Council for quite a while as did several others and there is no mention that we even existed in this chronicle.
I don't want to go too much here, but one of the things I was always fighting against as a CDS member was the perception that the entire community was about whatever arguments that happened to be occurring in the RA at any given moment. We are indeed the "arguing country" (love that term), but we will never be a real community until we embrace the other things that make a community work as well.
The political side of the CDS is so much more than just what happens in the RA, and the life of the CDS to me is tied up in so much more than just the political arguing we do. To paraphrase that old detective story line, "There area million stories in the CDS," some of them involve people who never had any political involvement at all but still contributed greatly to our community.
Dianne,
The point is well taken. In my blog series called "CDS Chronicles" I at least tried to mention parties and cultural activities. But in the new format called "Fast Forward" I even let those drop, just skimming rapidly through the RA meetings. I'm aware that the RA meetings reflect only a tiny portion of the active life of the community.
Other projects to give a broader presentation of our activities have been talked about. One is the CDS History Project that Brian Livingstone evoked in this thread: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2422
Another idea would be a community newspaper. I've discussed this with Rose Springvale a few times. It could be set up as a blog with multiple authors, so that any member of the community that wanted could participate, write about recent events, post photos and so on. (An editorial team could be set up to provide some kind of minimal editorial control.) This would offer an additional medium for expression alongside the portal, which is very formal, and the forum, which is mostly for internal discussion.
Dianne, i agree completely, in fact most of the really exciting 'stuff' of CDS doesn't happen in the RA meetings. Personal opinion, but hope to expound on some of this.
I'd LOVE to have the history of the SC and Guild, as that information predates me. It seems to me that the SC has sort of lost its way.. and I think it's a very important part of CDS government... (and i dont' mean this as any criticism to the individuals involved now.. i think you are great public servants but this branch of government is just not functioning well.)
And yes Danton, we do need what you are suggesting. Lets talk about it? now that i'm no longer a public servant, i have time
I'd also like for you to talk to Keila Forager who is working really hard to get some proposals to us on web presence that would include this.. but she's having trouble getting input, especially from people with actual authority to make changes. In the meantime, changes are happening on the portal.. without input... so as you can see it is pretty frustrating. Also the new Library and Silver Pen groups are doing some really cool things that you should be involved in.
More on this in a few hours,( rl and weekends. bah!)
Fast Forward part 2 is now online: http://dantonsideways.blogspot.com/2010 ... art-2.html
The Fast Forward has now reached one year ago - I still hope to get up to date eventually. Also, I feel the same as Rose about wanting to know more about the history of CDS before my arrival, but that is another subject.
Rose - We need to talk inworld. I did have one conversation with Keila about the portal, and must touch base with her again. I toyed with the idea of contributing to the portal at one point, more than a year ago, but never went beyond a brief contact with Brian Livingston.
As to the Scientific Council, I'll repeat what I said in an RA meeting a few weeks ago. The current SC should get credit for having helped steer CDS-AA through the crisis that came at the end of the last RA, when it became necessary to postpone the elections by about a week. I will admit that the SC could be more present. Delia Lake seems to be the only SC member that is very active in SL these days. As for myself, I can always be reached by email at [email protected] so anybody should feel free to contact me that way.
Two new instalments are online:
Part 3 (from 15 March to 19 April 2009): http://dantonsideways.blogspot.com/2010 ... art-3.html
Part 4 (RAs of 17 May and 31 May 2009): http://dantonsideways.blogspot.com/2010 ... art-4.html
Things heat up from the meeting of 19 April 2009 onwards, when the CDS-AA merger discussion gets in full swing. You may find it interesting to review these discussions as we approach the one-year mark, which is the time limit for a possible vote to dissolve the merger.
There may have been an RA meeting on 3 May 2009. One was planned, and there are some indications that it may have been held, but the minutes seem to be missing from the Forum. Does anyone remember if there was an RA meeting on that date?
I've found time to take up this project again. The latest post is here:
http://dantonsideways.blogspot.com/2010 ... art-2.html
I'm up to September 2009, which is encouraging, because I've been steadily running a year behind for a long while now. I'm up to "only" nine months behind. Will I ever catch up? Bets anyone?
Its a cinch you will. Within a year CDS will wither and die. Normal folk who saw this as a land of promise will now see the lie of the body politic -- that really wants nothing to do with plurality, openness and wisdom.
Soro Dagostino wrote:Its a cinch you will. Within a year CDS will wither and die. Normal folk who saw this as a land of promise will now see the lie of the body politic -- that really wants nothing to do with plurality, openness and wisdom.
Don't be sour Soro. The CDS is, and always has been, a very plural and open society and democracy. As for wisdom... well, your mileage may vary.
I doubt the CDS will wither and die within a year. I'd place money on it still being around in another six years. The last eighteen months have been pretty bruising and unpleasant for everyone but... we have had other bruising and unpleasant times. They pass.
Let's just wish each other well (CDS and AA) and agree to go our separate ways without rancour. If we retain friendly relations too then all the better.
Re:
The last eighteen months have been pretty bruising and unpleasant for everyone
. Bruising and unpleasant doesn't just happen in virtual space like a real life hurricane does, Pat. In the CDS these past months it is people, real people through their avatars, with toxic speech and destructive attitudes that has made this community an unpleasant place to be. It will continue to be so unless the people of this community decide to change their behavior. I hope that does happen, and I'm not holding my breath on this one.
Reading Pat and Delia, above, juxtaposed, focused me on their distinct interests.
It's possible to want a town that above all is focused on minority rights, debate and political views.
It's possible to want a town that above all is livable, tolerant of diversity and a community.
Doing both is not a bad goal, but at some points, the goals oppose each other.
(For example, an electoral system uses rules; those rules can be designed to reward, or discourage, aggressive tactics. A communitarian spirit can welcome, or quash, differing viewpoints.)
Many of the debates of the past year, stripped of the personal issues, simply adopt one point or another on that continuum.
(My own view -- and here is where it's pure opinion -- is that the majority of CDS citizens prefer a tolerant, liveable, civil tone -- but a small, louder and more vigorous political elite prefer the bullring -- and have the benefit of deep entrenchment in the current rules and legacy power structure. Of course, some of those who I describe as that elite, might see it differently.)
However, regardless of that, I have always agreed completely with Gwyneth and her tribe about one thing: CDS is a valuable experiment in the rarely attempted field of virtual self-governance. If that continuum concept is right, then experimentation over time with our rules should yield adjustments. For example:
Did ending the faction system of election change the outcomes much?
Will changing the conditions of citizenship change the electorate much?
Does the size of the RA matter? Or the proportion of RA members to citizens?
Does having three branches mostly help, or mostly serve as an overcomplication?
On some of those issues, it's too early to tell. Still, watching them with interest. Regards JP
I think to be liveable, tolerant of diversity and a community we need to stop characterising one section of our community as an elite, accusing them of 'preferring the bullring' and referring to them pejoratively as a "tribe".
And attack issues important to the community, doing so in creative, collaborative ways. And (again) refrain from attacking people.
Delia, sorry, but I couldn't quite understand that sentence fragment.
Pat, if you feel that criticism of others is deleterious to community ... and that it's a bad thing, not a normal healthy political feature ... then I enthusiastically encourage you to lead by example.
Really, you think there have not been warring tribes in CDS?
You think I am wrong about the split between political debate, versus community, as overriding goals?
You got exactly what you wanted. AA has un-merged. Why not consider it a victory, and try being gracious?