Declarations of Candidacy for the 18th RA closed

[Callipygian]

I have posted this officially in the SC announcements and copy it here:

As the official deadline for declaring candidacy has passed we find ourselves, once again, with less candidates than seats available.

The declared candidates for the 18th RA are Tanoujin Milestone, Ranma Tardis, Moonrise Azalee, and Shep Titian.

We have one declared candidate for the position of Chancellor: Tor Karlsvalt

Delia has quoted the relevant part of the Constitution, with an explanation of what this situation means, here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3920&start=15#p20193

I will add that while the SC provides the official dates related to elections, it does not control what those dates will be. The dates of the election cycle are based on the Constitution, which states:

The Representative Assembly shall serve for a term of six months. New RAs shall take office on 1 December and 1 June. Elections shall be held over a 168 hour period beginning at noon SLT on the Saturday before the 16th of the month prior to the new RAs taking office.

Census dates and deadlines for declarations or challenges are calculated to ensure that the Constitution is upheld.

Callipygian

[Beathan]

There are frequently people who indicate a willingness to serve, but only if there are an insufficient number of candidates to fill seats (or to have a contested election). I believe that Gwyn made such a statement on the forums at the opening of the declaration period. She is not on the list of declared candidates, probably because, as a conditional candidate, she did not formalize her declaration.

I think we should reform the process in two ways --

1. provide alternative methods, rather than a single method (notecard to Dean of SC -- which is a cumbersome process for some people). That is, we should allow candidates to declare by notecard, by announcement on the forum in the proper thread, and perhaps in other ways -- and count as declared candidate anyone who declares in ANY of these ways.

2. provide for conditional declarations (such as Gwyn's would be) -- as in "I will run if there are fewer candidates than seats" or "I will run unless there is at least one more candidate than seats to allow for some minimal choice in the election."

Beathan

[Tanoujin Milestone]

Thank you, Calli. I am looking forward to a by-election, according to CDS Constitution Article I Section 2 Sentence 5:

Vacancies in RA positions will be filled by by-election administered on a schedule set by the Scientific Council consistent with other applicable CDS law.

I feel in agreement with Delia who already stated this on Wed Oct 31 here:
http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php? ... =15#p20193

In reply to Beathan:
As much as I appreciate your intention to lower the doorstep to RA candidacy I disagree to what you suggest here. Note card dropping is the gold standard of "inworld" communication: create a document that carries your ID, briefly indicate your intention, deliver it personally in a timely fashion to the authorized recipient which creates two time stamped transaction history entries. This is almost bulletproof and the description of this act is more cumbersome than the act itself.

Just in case some people broke down on the technical cumbersomeness to declare themselves candidate for the 18th RA, here is the step by step tutorial you might want to follow when the by-elections are called:

1) Log on to SL. 2) Open your Inventory. 3) Create a new notecard. 4) Name it like "Candidacy Declaration Jane Doe". 5) Click on the notecard window and write some text like "Hereby I declare my candidacy for the 18th Representative Assembly by-elections. Jane Doe" 6) Save and close the notecard. 7) Spot that notecard in your inventory window: it is already selected (oh, how cumbersome ) - click "share". 8.) Click the search tab in the resident chooser that has popped up. 9) Enter the name of the current leader of the scientific council and hit "go". 10) Select the name and approve. 11) See the viewer message "Item successfully shared"

Now, Beathan, do you really think this is asked too much? On a structural level the threshold for participation could hardly be lowered more: if you want to join the legislative body of this society, just raise your hand to throw a note and be acclaimed in lack of eligibility. It is not meant to be like this! We are in an emergency mode. Again. Commotion is counter productive. The crucial question is: what has to be changed to make people run for office in terms of social psychology and political culture? What is holding them back? This is not a rhetorical question. I really want to know, because I suspect there is a 12) start to regret what you have started. Why?

As to conditional declarations: activate your faction and publish a ranked list of nominated candidates. It is in place already. Here you go. But do not forget: Factions are private associations now and can no longer lever white rabbits out of the sorcerer's top hat to the Assembly. Every candidate has to declare and run for herself. Conditions are pointless. It is just binary logic: Are you eligible to stand for election, yes or no? Do you run for office, yes or no? Everything else will provide for endless discussions. We do not need that. We need results. Gwyn has made her decision to abstain from the first ballot. I tease her about that, but in the end I respect it. I think you should too.

[Moonrise Azalee]

I am sad about the lack of interest.
However, there are a few points that I think make people uninterested in running
1) having two hours twice a month to sit in a meeting. Let's face it, these meetings can be very boring, and may not be at all what a person comes to SL to do.
2) (probably the most likely culprit) Drama. If things aren't boring, they're overly dramatic.. lol. No happy medium it seems

In all honesty, about 90% of my time is spent at InWorldz these days. The only thing that brings me to SL is the CDS. If the CDS falls apart, I probably won't bother coming to SL anymore and that is the reason that I ran - to support something that I still actually enjoy in SL. The drama has often threatened to kill that for me, but for now, it's still my SL home. And I care about it.

[Rosie Gray]

I am sad about the lack of interest.
However, there are a few points that I think make people uninterested in running
1) having two hours twice a month to sit in a meeting. Let's face it, these meetings can be very boring, and may not be at all what a person comes to SL to do.
2) (probably the most likely culprit) Drama. If things aren't boring, they're overly dramatic.. lol. No happy medium it seems

I do agree, Moonrise. Within the CDS, the sheer amount of bureaucracy it often takes to just get something positive done is sometimes daunting. Personally, I have so much quasi-politics in my RL that sitting on the RA for me isn't all that appealing - however I really do appreciate the work that is done by others.

For me, right now is a VERY busy time in RL and I can't commit to anything else that requires specific hours. This sort of thing comes and goes for me on a regular basis, and I expect the same is true for many other CDS citizens.

It would be wonderful if some people who haven't stepped up before to help would consider doing so. I think they would find it overall a positive experience, and can be good experience for anyone who hasn't worked with committees or boards to learn how meetings are run.

[Tanoujin Milestone]

@ Rosie: ...and I appreciate the work you have done and still do elsewhere in CDS and would like to hear which overly complicated laws, regulations and procedures bar you from your contributions - the more because you already served at RA and might be able to draft realistic submittals - at your pleasure.

@ Razzy, so true! And if we draw the consequences and adapt the procedures at the first possibility? What duration and frequency is workable for you? Twice 60 minutes per month including 45 minutes of substantial (=prepared) work? Brainstorming and informal discussions to be placed after adjournment with the guiding question "what's next"? Close cooperation with the LRA to prepare the next agenda, flesh it out to be a concise room document so you can easily catch up before the next meeting? Publish the agenda a bit earlier than prescribed to give you time to read it? Would like to hear Ranma and Shep on that...
And drama: I have a bit of that on the record. But I am stoppable. Give it a try.

[Beathan]

Tan --

I just don't see the point in unnecessary difficulty in participation. Even if the difficulty is slight, if it is unnecessary, it is pointless and should be gotten rid of.

Moonrise --

I just opened an Inworldz account (largely at Shep's suggestion). Anyone have any advice or recommendations?

Beathan

[Sudane Erato]

I just opened an Inworldz account (largely at Shep's suggestion). Anyone have any advice or recommendations?

I owned an Inworldz sim for a year or so as an outpost of our New England community, and out of the expectation that New England might have to migrate there if conditions in SL got any worse. But I gave it up finally for $$ reasons. Even though it is only US$75/month (as opposed to US$295 here in SL) for a full region that will hold many times the 15,000 prims we have here in SL, my finances were too difficult to sustain it.

But I would think that if we have sufficient interest, we might establish a sim in IZ. As mentioned, it is much cheaper than SL. Some of us are spending more time there. And IZ is far and away the most popular grid substitute to SL, for many reasons. Finally, I personally feel that our community is not SL dependent, but that our destiny lies in the metaverse as a whole, and not any particular grid. Expansion to IZ or to other grids, for those of us who have a permanent identity in virtual worlds, is simply our future.

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

[Tanoujin Milestone]

It is ok, Beathan, we disagree on a trifle and I should have been less sarcastic.
Inworldz: what disadvantages do you see in regards to the platform compared to SL? Will take a look right now.

edit: oh, cute! Old School

[Nolligan]

My position is very much like Rosie I'm very busy in RL and can't commit to anything that requires specific hours unless they co-incide with my early evening which is 4:00 to 6:00 am SLT. Unfortuantely, during these hours I typically see no green dots on the map for any CDS Sim.