CZ:Editorial Council How to Make a Resolution

If you are an Editorial Council member and you would like to sponsor a resolution, this page explains how.

1. As a first step, acquaint yourself with Editorial Council Rules of Procedure--at the very least, "Outline of the process" and "Initial resolutions."
2. In most cases you'll want to discuss the substance of your proposal first on the Citizendium Forums or (probably better) the proposals system.
3. Create links to a page for the new resolution (before you create the page). To do this,
   • First add a link to what will be the resolution page to CZ:Editorial Council Resolutions Complete List. Add a line following this format:

     * [[CZ:Editorial Council Resolution NNNN|]] - short description

     Replace "NNNN" with whatever the next number in the list is. Then add a very short description of your resolution.

   • Second, go to CZ:Editorial Council and, in particular, the "Initial resolutions" section. Edit that section and paste in exactly what you typed on the Editorial Council Resolutions Complete List page.
   • Those are the only two places where you need to link to the resolution page.
4. Then create the resolution page. For a template, see CZ:Editorial Council Resolution 0001. The required sections are:
   • The resolution. Note: this should be in the standards "Whereas, ... Resolved, ..." format.
     • Method of execution
     • Amendments
   • Current status
   • Discussion (and discussion should eventually have four links: Initial comments from Council Members; Forums board for Resolution NNNN; Member position statements; and Longer statements from Council Members.
   • Sponsors
   • Resolution history
5. Send a mail to cz-editcouncil (the Editorial Council mailing list) stating, "I move the adoption of Resolution NNNN, found at <URL>." If, in the process of composing the resolution, you have already found two co-sponsors, announce that fact. But if you still need one or two co-sponsors, then write, "I am calling for one/two co-sponsor(s)."

   NOTE: After a day, you can repeat your call for co-sponsors, if necessary. Please do not repeat your call for co-sponsors more than once per week thereafter; and if there are no co-sponsors within a month, the Rules Committee will consider the resolution rejected.

6. Once there are two co-sponsors, ask the Chair (privately is fine) to move the resolution to the queue.
7. At that point, the Chair and Rules Committee, and the Council as a whole, take "ownership" of the resolution, and it is mostly out of your hands.

Non-members can help primarily by formulating the text of a resolution, which a Council member can then sponsor, either on a Forum board or else a subpage of your user page. The members sponsoring the resolution takes sole responsibility for the initial resolution; as a non-member, you may make comments, but you may not edit the resolution.

The Editorial Council was merged with the Management Council into a single governing body in 2013. All EC rules and decisions were upheld
except where they contradicted the merger. The following links are to archived and out-of-date pages:
Mailing List Archives • Resolutions • Log • Essential Policy • Rules of Procedure • How to Make a Resolution