CZ:Management Council Motions Passed

The following information is not current. Older practices became guidance only after 15th November 2016, when the Citizendium project's last set of voted-on policies came into effect. Now that participation in the wiki is low, our current rules are finalized by the managing editor after listening carefully to participants and advisors. Changes may be suggested and discussed through in the forums.

All motions passed in 2010 are in CZ:Management Council Motions Passed/Archive 2010.

Recent actions are shown at the bottom of this page.

Motions passed in the year 2011

2011-001, 4 January 2011

The MC authorizes technical staff to transition to a 3 server configuration at Steadfast Networks and to work to complete a migration of all CZ applications by 22 January 2011.

2011-002, 18 January 2011

The MC approved the minutes for October found at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Management_Council/Minutes/October_2010. Forum thread.

2011-003, 28 January 2011

The constables may delete all personal comments that are derogatory to named individuals who are not public figures. Offenders shall be warned. Offenders who exhibit a pattern of personal attacks will be banned. This rule shall apply to all applications at citizendium.org. Forum thread.

2011-004, 2 February 2011

The contact for image issues shall be replaced in all existing image files, the Template:Image_Details and wherever else needed with the email list cz- image-questions@citizendium.org, and the email list members shall be the members of the Management Council as well as the Chief Constable. Forum thread.

2011-005, 2 February 2011

The MC directs technical staff to change the logo appearing on the live wiki to one that does not contain the words "beta". Forum thread.

2011-006, 2 February 2011

Recognizing that one purpose of Citizendium is to establish knowledge through expert guidance, pseudonyms undermine the principle of expertise by the anonymity of authors; however pseudonyms may be granted only on a case-by-case basis by special resolution of the Management Council. Pseudonyms may be granted in cases only when the identity of an author may endanger the life, person [i.e. bodily harm], or property of the author. Pseudonyms will not be granted in cases where the reputation of the author may be damaged by the writings of the author. Authors must be responsible for what they write.

2011-007, 11 February 2011

Any policy page officially approved by the MC will be protected. Any future edits to the page (excluding spelling and grammar edits) will require a vote from the MC.

2011-008, 11 February 2011

Citizens who wish to leave Citizendium may email constables@citizendium.org to formally resign from the project. The Constabulary will block that user's account from editing, place a notice at the top of their user page stating "This user has resigned from Citizendium" and protect their user page. From that point the user will no longer be considered a Citizen and therefore no longer be subject to rules applying to Citizens nor have the rights conferred to Citizens.

Any user who has resigned and wishes to rejoin the project may email constables@citizendium.org to formally request reinstatement. This request will be passed to the Management Council who will consider the request. Should the request be granted the user account will be unblocked, the user page unprotected and the user will be once again considered a Citizen.

2011-009, 11 February 2011

The MC officially approves the user page rules contained in revision http://en.citizendium.org/wiki?title=CZ:User_pages&oldid=100754848.

2011-010, 12 February 2011

The Tech staff shall be instructed to remove the Image:Beenverifiedlogo.png from the Special:RequestAccount page. The Tech staff shall also be instructed to revise the sentence that now reads This could include a link to your (optional) BeenVerified™ page; credible webpages listing your (free) e-mail address, names of persons that we can look up online to aid in confirming your identity, current members you know, etc. so as to read 'This could include links to credible webpages listing your (free) e-mail address, names of persons that we can look up online to aid in confirming your identity, current members you know, etc.

2011-011, 4 March 2011

Until resolved, the top-priority issue for the Management Council is finding a long-term funding solution for Citizendium. Activity addressing this issue will take precedence over that addressing any other issue.

2011-012, 6 March 2011

(1) Create a Wiki page called Management Council Passed Motions which would list, date and number each passed motion as Year - XXX, date and then the motion itself where: the Year is 2010, 2011, etc., the XXX is the number from 000 to 999, the date is the numerical date followed by the spelled out month and followed by the numerical year as per this example:

2011-006, 2 February 2011: Recognizing that one purpose of Citizendium is to establish knowledge through expert guidance, pseudonyms undermine the principle of expertise by the anonymity of authors; however pseudonyms may be granted only on a case-by-case basis by special resolution of the Management Council. Pseudonyms may be granted in cases only when the identity of an author may endanger the life, person [i.e. bodily harm], or property of the author. Pseudonyms will not be granted in cases where the reputation of the author may be damaged by the writings of the author. Authors must be responsible for what they write.

(2) Place a link, in the Management section of the left-hand navigation column of each CZ page, entitled "MC motions passed" which would take readers directly to the Wiki page called Management Council Passed Motions.

2011-013, 10 March 2011

The Constabulary is the line organization entrusted to enforce Citizendium policy. Its decisions are authoritative and must be followed by all citizens. Failure to do so is an infraction of Citizendium rules of behavior, which may lead to disciplinary action, including banning. If a citizen believes a Constabulary decision violates Citizendium policy, he/she may appeal this decision to the Management Council. The Management Council will then consider the case and render a judgment. This judgment may confirm that the Constabulary decision implements current policy or indicate where it does not and direct the Constabulary to correct the problem. As a subcategory of the first outcome, the Management Council may decide the appeal is frivolous and quickly confirm the Constable decision without further comment.

When the Constabulary declines to take an action requested by a citizen, this decision may be appealed to the Management Council.

2011-014, 15 March 2011

The MC shall instruct the Chief Constable to unblock David Finn on a probationary basis until the MC has established an appeals process and is ready to consider his appeal. By probationary, it is meant that the Chief Constable may re-activate the block if David Finn's subsequent behavior makes that necessary again.

The MC shall inform the Chief Constable that the reasons for the probationary unblocking of David Finn are: (a) the MC has been remiss in not yet having considered David Finn's appeal against having been blocked, (b) the MC has not yet established an appeals process and (c) that it may yet be another month or more before the MC has an established appeals process.

The MC shall also instruct the Chief Constable to inform David Finn of the above reasons for removing his block on a probationary basis.

2011-015, 22 March 2011

The following guidelines control appeals made to the MC in regards to constable decisions:

An appellant must have standing in the dispute. Standing means the decision under appeal directly involves him or her. An appeal by someone without standing will be dismissed.

Both the involved constable(s) and the appellant must provide their analysis why the decision under dispute either satisfies or contravenes CZ policy, the latter to include a constable decision based on non-existent policy. The Ombudsman will collect the relevant information for the appeal and present it on either the MC private communications board (for appeals the appellant or involved constables request remain private) or on a public board that only the MC and Ombudsman may modify.

The MC may request the Ombudsman to collect further information from the disputants and present it as part of the appeal process. The presentation of appeal evidence is a matter for the Ombudsman and not for the disputants. The Ombudsman is required to present all evidence provided to him by the disputants, but disputants are not parties to the discussions of this evidence by the Management Council. The Ombudsman may provide his views on the merits of the case, but does not have a vote on the disposition of the appeal.

Appeals will be based on the policy that existed at the time of the appealed decision. Appeal judgments by the Management Council will not include the provision of new policy. If an appeal identifies conditions requiring new policy, the Management Council will establish this policy in a separate administrative action.

The Management Council has complete flexibility in the judgments rendered for a particular appeal case. However, some common outcomes are: 1) denying the appeal without comment (for appeals the MC judges to be frivolous), 2) denying the appeal with comment, 3) confirming the appeal, and 4) acknowledging part of the appeal as meritorious. In the first two cases, the constable decision stands. In case 3 the decision is reversed. In case 4, the Management Council will specify how the decision should be modified to conform to CZ policy.

2011-016, 06 April 2011

After deliberation, the Management Council has decided to set David Finn's probationary period to one month. That means, assuming he does not violate Citizendium professionalism provisions during the intervening period, the probationary status of his reinstatement will end on April 15, 2011. At that point in time his appeal will be moot and therefore its final disposition will be: dismissed without prejudice. Once again, the Managment Council apologizes to David for not acting on his appeal more expeditiously.

2011-017, 09 April 2011

The following are established as infractions of Citizendium rules of professional discourse with the specified penalties. "Disturbing the Peace" occurs when two or more correspondents in any discussion venue of Citizendium engage in personal attacks on each other. "Taunting" occurs when one correspondent in any discussion venue of Citizendium engages in personal attacks on any other correspondent without retaliation by those attacked. A personal attack is any derogatory reference to another correspondent. Spirited discourse that attacks arguments or positions without reference to their author or supporter is not a personal attack.

Disturbing the Peace and Taunting carry the same disciplinary penalties. The first offense will generate a warning by the Constabulary. The second offense carries a penalty of 3 months ban from all Citizendium wikis and fora. The third offense carries a penalty of 6 months ban from all Citizendium wikis and fora. The fourth offense carries a penalty of a permanent ban from all Citizendium wikis and fora.

2011-018, 23 April 2011

The seats of Chris Key, Joe Quick and Russell Jones are designated as those having a 1-year term.

2011-019, 26 April 2011

The MC appoints Hayford Peirce (chair), Bruce Tindall and Anton Sweeney as the election committee for the June 2011 election.

2011-020, 27 April 2011

Elections for Citizendium officials must satisfy the following:

1. Nominations shall be collected and collated by the election committee.
2. A candidate must be nominated by at least one citizen other than the candidate himself.
3. Only those nominees who accept their nomination shall be candidates eligible to appear on the ballot. Accepting a nomination serves as a declaration of commitment, in the case of being elected, to fulfill this function until the limit of the term.
4. When multiple vacancies exist for an office (e.g., Council seats), the ballot shall give citizens the opportunity to vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies. The ballot shall clearly indicate how many vacancies are eligible for votes.
5. Ballots indicating votes for more candidates than vacancies for any particular office, or ballots voting both for and against resolutions shall be declared invalid. The whole ballot shall not be counted.
6. The right to vote shall not be denied to any unblocked Citizen whose accounts were created at least 30 days prior to the election
7. No citizen may vote more than once in any election. The first ballot received by the election committee shall be the ballot counted. No citizen may cast more than one vote for any single candidate. Ballots violating this rule shall be declared invalid and not counted.
8. Candidates receiving the most votes shall be elected.
9. In the case of a tie, an immediate run-off election shall be held by the elections committee. A run-off election shall be completed within ten days.
10. The election committee shall count the ballots not more than two days after the completion of any election. Upon completion of an election and the counting of the ballots, the election committee shall announce the results listing each of the candidates and the number of votes they received and indicating who was elected.
11. All ballots shall be destroyed immediately after the completion of the election, the announcement of the results, and run-off elections if any.

2011-021, 28 April 2011

The Management Council creates (as per Article 35 of the Charter) the position of Treasurer, whose responsibilities are to manage the financial details of Citizendium. These include, but are not limited to: 1) collecting donation and other revenue; 2) banking these funds in an appropriate account; 3) paying bills, such as hosting costs; and 4) running campaigns, such as donation drives, that result in additional revenue; 5) present monthly public financial statements to the Management Council; and 6) any other tasks as assigned by the Management Council. The Management Council may appoint any citizen to this position and may also remove the current holder of the position.

2011-022, 28 April 2011

The MC appoints Milton Beychok as CZ Treasurer.

2011-023, 29 April 2011

The following referendum will occur at the next election:

Modify the charter so sections three and four of Article 25 reads as follows:

Section Three: Elections
1. The candidates collecting the most votes shall be elected.
2. A Council member who becomes inactive or unavailable for a period of 90 days or more shall be replaced by election. A Council member who resigns shall be replaced by election.
3. A vacant council member seat shall be filled by election within 90 days of the vacancy. If a normal election does not fall within this period, the Management Council shall call a special election.
4. A special election is organized exactly as a regularly scheduled election, except the number of positions to be filled equals the number of Council vacancies.

Section Four: Council Size
1. Either Council may propose a change of its size by an even number of members; this proposal shall be subject to a referendum held together with the next election. If passed, the new seats shall be filled by special election.
2. A Council member may request a temporary leave of absence. Such leaves shall not exceed 120 days in a year. The temporary vacancy shall be filled with a citizen in good standing chosen by the Council. The term of this appointment shall equal the term of the temporary leave.
3. If, through resignations or simultaneous expiration of 90 day inactivity, Management Council membership falls below a quorum, seats on the Management Council shall be filled on a temporary basis by the following elected officials in the following order: Ombudsman, Managing Editor, then Members of Editorial Council in an order determined by the Editorial Council. The Management Council so constituted with temporary members shall be devoted to the task of establishing an elections committee for the purpose of holding an election.
4. If, through resignations or simultaneous expiration of 90 day inactivity, Editorial Council membership falls below a quorum, or upon the resignation of the Ombudsman or Managing Editor, the Management Council shall appoint an elections committee, giving it the task of filling empty seats via an election.

2011-024, 29 April 2011

The following referendum will occur at the next election:

Modify Article 39 to read:

1. The role of the Ombudsman is a) to offer guidance on existing policy and its interpretation to help resolve disputes b) to advise the Councils and c) settle disputes, including imposing interim solutions pending relevant policy decisions. Throughout, the Ombudsman's guidance is expected to be in accord with the established principles and policies of Citizendium, and particularly with the Charter. The Ombudsman is available to mediate any dispute.

2. The Ombudsman mediates a dispute when requested by all involved parties or when requested by the Chief Constable. Agreements worked out through mediation shall be binding but may be appealed.

2011-025, 29 April 2011

The following referendum will occur at the next election:

Modify the charter to replace the text indicated:

Article 29, Paragraph 2, shall be replaced with "No Citizen may serve in two elected offices at the same time, except that a Citizen may sit on an appeals board while holding another office."

Article 30, introductory clause shall be replaced with "Elections and referenda shall be organized by the Management Council and carried out by the Election Committee, with the following conditions:"

Article 34, new paragraph shall be added: "11. The number of Management Council members who are also members of a particular team managed by the Council may not equal or exceed a quorum. For example, the number of Management Council members who are Constables may not equal or exceed a quorum. The number of Management Council members who are Technical Staff members may not equal or exceed a quorum."

Article 38, new paragraph shall be added:

5. Any Constable serving on the Management Council is not eligible to vote on an appeal of a Constable action. If the number of Council members is reduced below a quorum by this restriction, then the Council shall appoint a citizen in good standing, whose only duty is to hear the appeal and vote on it."

2011-026, 08 May 2011

The election committee is instructed to include the following referendum in the upcoming June 2011 election:

Add to Article 29:

3. Any member of the Management Council or Editorial Council may resign at any time for any reason. The resignation may be made publicly or privately to the Councils. The resignation becomes effective the moment that the Chair of the Management Council or the Secretary of the Editorial Council accepts the resignation and announces the acceptance of the resignation in the official Council Forums. The moment that a resignation is formalized in that manner, that office is thereby vacant and must be filled according to the Charter.

2011-027, 08 May 2011

At the Spring elections for seats open on the Management Council, the elections committee shall:

Begin accepting nominations and referenda on May 13, 2011;
Stop accepting nominations and referenda at the end of June 3, 2011;
Have the ballot prepared by June 10, 2011;
Begin accepting ballots from eligible voters on June 10, 2011;
Stop accepting ballots at the end of June 17, 2011;

2011-028, 08 May 2011

When using the simple majority voting method for council elections, the number of votes on a ballot may be less than or equal to the number of open seats.

2011-029, 06 June 2011

It shall be the duty of the Chair of the MC, barring conflict of interest (i.e., running for re-election), to audit the report of the elections committee, by access to the ballots, and report the results to the MC. Should the chair not be available for this task, the MC shall appoint one of its own to serve.

2011-030, 22 June 2011

The Management Council expresses its appreciation to Hayford Peirce and Anton Sweeney for their work on the Citizendium June 2011 election committee. These citizens deserve special thanks from the community for their professionalism and perseverance, which resulted in a smoothly run election.

2011-031, 4 July 2011

The Management Council thanks Russell Jones, Chris Key and Joe Quick for their service on the council. Without their participation, many important issues would have remained unattended. The Council especially thanks Russell Jones for remaining in his position when in May he expressed a desire to resign. If he had not remained, the project would have been thrust into a constitutional crisis that had the potential of destroying the embryonic charter based system of governance.

2011-032, 10 July 2011

The Management Council appoints Dan Nessett as its Chairperson.

2011-033, 15 July 2011

The following set of rules shall apply to all appeals presented to the Management Council

Once the Management Council notifies an appellant that his case is on the docket, i.e. is actively being considered:

1. All members with standing in the appeal (appellants), and witnesses, are invited to submit their evidence and arguments to the OMB, in a structured, numbered, and terse manner to facilitate subsequent rebuttals by other parties. Each appellant is allowed to nominate citizens (witnesses) who may, but are not compelled to, provide input for the appeal, and this input must be structured according to the format specified above. Input from witnesses will be provided directly to the OMB. Excess puffery, emotion and verbage shall be deemed unresponsive to the matter at hand and summarily dismissed from consideration by the Management Council. In addition, any part of CZ law pertinent to the matter at hand (the act leading to punishment) must be noted at this stage. In subsequent rounds, additional laws may only be brought up if they directly refute a point of law or witness evidence from a previous round. Parties will have 1 week to submit their round 1 documents from the time the MC notifies the appellants.

2. Appellants will receive the submissions of all other appellants as soon as is practical by the OMB.

3. All appellants may submit, again to the OMB, rebuttals that directly address, by number, evidence and arguments submitted during the initial round of proceedings. Witnesses do not participate in the rebuttal stages. Arguments, additional evidence, or CZ laws that does not refer explicitly to a numbered item of previous evidence, argument, or citation of law shall be deemed unresponsive and will not be considered by any persons or panels sitting in judgement of such proceedings. New evidence is not allowed at this stage unless it directly refutes evidence presented during the round of submission (step 1 above). Rebuttals shall both be numbered for ease of counter-argument, and within them refer to the evidence number to be rebutted.

4. All appelants shall receive the rebuttals submitted during the first rebuttal stage (Step 3 above) as soon as is practical.

5. After the round 2 submissions are sent (not necessarily received) to the parties, all appellants have 1 week to submit a final round of rebuttals. Only evidence and arguments that specifically address the rebuttals of Step 3 are allowed.

6. The Management Council adjudicates the appeal. The only official involvement of the MC occurs in this step. However, if MC members wish to ask questions after the first submission and after the provision of each rebuttal round, they may.

2011-034, 25 July 2011

The appeal by Howard Berkowitz of his permanent ban is denied on grounds of failure to provide a defense. After being informed of MC passed motion 2011-033 (15 July 2011), he provided no arguments in his defense by the deadline given him by the Management Council (22 July 2011).

2011-035, 26 July 2011

If an Editorial Council or Management Council member is blocked by the Constabulary for violations of Citizendium's polices on behavior, the other members of the affected council shall decide whether the blocked member shall continue to participate in its deliberations during the period of time that block remains in force. If the appeal (including, if necessary, consideration by an Appeals Board) fails, the member will be removed from the council and the seat held deemed vacant.

2011-036, 26 July 2011

The Management Council thanks Milton Beychok for his outstanding contributions to Citizendium, both as a member of the Management Council and as the first Citizendium Treasurer. Without his efforts creating and running our first donation drive, Citizendium would not have had the financial resources to continue operation. We look forward to his continued contributions as both an author and editor.

2011-037, 7 August 2011

The MC appoints Larry Sanger as CZ Treasurer.

2011-038, 29 August 2011

A special election will be held to fill open seats on the Management and Editorial Councils. This election will also allow referenda. The elections committee shall:

• Begin accepting nominations and referenda on September 10, 2011;
• Stop accepting nominations and referenda at the end of September 24, 2011;
• Have the ballot prepared by October 1, 2011;
• Begin accepting ballots from eligible voters on October 1, 2011;
• Stop accepting ballots at the end of October 7, 2011

2011-039, 31 August 2011

The MC appoints Anton Sweeney (chair) and Matt Innis as the election committee for the October 2011 special election.

2011-040, 6 September 2011

Election nomination information shall explicitly specify the termination date of open seats. When an election includes more than one seat on a particular council, those seats shall be filled according to the following procedure. The council seats are ordered by the the length of their remaining term. After the ballots are counted, candidates for those seats are ordered by the number of votes they receive. Seats are assigned according to these two orderings, i.e., assign the seat with the longest remaining term to the candidate with the most votes, assign the seat with the second longest remaining term to the candidate receiving the next highest number of votes, and so forth. If there is a tie (two-way, three-way or more), assign the tied candidates to the corresponding seats at random until all open seats are filled. The election committee is responsible for the random assignment with the stipulation that all election committee members shall witness the selection process and that the procedure used and its results are published to the whole community.

2011-041, 14 September 2011

The MC directs the election committee to add the following charter amendment as a referendum at the special election on October 1, 2011.
Modify the charter so the introductory clause of Article 30 reads, "Elections and referenda shall be organized by the Management Council and carried out by the Election Committee, with the following conditions:"

2011-042, 25 October 2011

The Management Council expresses its appreciation to Anton Sweeney and Matt Innis for their work on the Citizendium October 2011 special election.

2011-043, 02 November 2011

The Management Council directs the election committee for the December 2011 election to implement the following plan:

An election will be held to fill open seats on the Editorial Council. This election will also allow referenda. The elections committee shall:

Begin accepting nominations and referenda on November 24, 2011;
Stop accepting nominations and referenda at the end of December 8, 2011;
Have the ballot prepared by December 15, 2011;
Begin accepting ballots from eligible voters on December 15, 2011;
Stop accepting ballots at the end of December 22, 2011

2011-044, 02 November 2011

The MC appoints Anton Sweeney (chair) and Matt Innis as the election committee for the December 2011 election.

2011-045, 23 November 2011

First-time resignations are subject to a three-month waiting period from the date of resignation before a reinstatement request is granted.
For each citizen, the waiting period imposed on him/her is doubled each time he/she is reinstated.

2011-046, 9 December 2011

The Management Council instructs the election committee to include the 3 citizen initiated referenda found here (http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Referenda_(Citizen-Initiated)#December_2011) on the December 2011 ballot.

2011-047, 23 December 2011

Results of the December 2011 election:

The results of the election for Author seats are as follows:

1. Hayford Peirce and John Stephenson - 13 votes each
3. David Finn - 8 votes
4. Brian P. Long - 7 votes
5. Joe Quick, Ro Thorpe - 6 votes each.

Hayford Peirce and John Stephenson are therefore elected.

The results of the election for Editor seats are as follows:

1. Peter Schmitt - 17 votes
2. Maria Cuervo - 16 votes
3. Aleta Curry - 14 votes
4. Jaume Cañellas Galindo - 7 votes.

Peter Schmitt and Maria Cuervo are therefore elected.

Referendum 1

The result was: 16 Yes votes, 10 No notes

As this referendum modifies the Charter, it required a qualified majority of two thirds of the votes validly cast in order to pass. Referendum 1 therefore IS NOT carried.

Referendum 2

The result was: 15 Yes votes, 10 No notes

This referendum therefore IS carried.

Referendum 3

The result was: 11 Yes votes, 11 No notes

This referendum therefore IS NOT carried.

Voters: 28 people took part in this election. The threshold for a citizen-initiated referendum to be included in the next election is therefore the support of 6 people.

Motions passed in the year 2012

2012-001, 18 January 2012

Management Council motion 20 is rescinded and replaced by the following:

Elections for Citizendium officials must satisfy the following:

1. Nominations shall be collected and collated by the election committee.
2. A candidate must be nominated by at least one citizen other than the candidate himself.
3. Only those nominees who accept their nomination shall be candidates eligible to appear on the ballot. Accepting a nomination serves as a declaration of commitment, in the case of being elected, to fulfill this function until the limit of the term.
4. When multiple vacancies exist for an office (e.g., Council seats), the ballot shall give citizens the opportunity to vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies. The ballot shall clearly indicate how many vacancies are eligible for votes.
5. Ballots indicating votes for more candidates than vacancies for any particular office, or ballots voting both for and against resolutions shall be declared invalid. The whole ballot shall not be counted.
6. The right to vote shall not be denied to any unblocked Citizen whose accounts were created at least 30 days prior to the election.
7. No citizen may vote more than once in any election. The first ballot received by the election committee shall be the ballot counted. No citizen may cast more than one vote for any single candidate. Ballots violating this rule shall be declared invalid and not counted.
8. Candidates receiving the most votes shall be elected.
9. In the case of a tie, an immediate run-off election shall be held by the elections committee. A run-off election shall be completed within ten days.
10. The election committee shall count the ballots not more than two days after the completion of any election. Upon completion of an election and the counting of the ballots, the election committee shall announce the results listing each of the candidates and the number of votes they received and indicating who was elected.
11. All ballots shall be held for 90 days after the complete announcement of the election result, which includes the time necessary to conduct any run-off elections. Ballots shall not be used for any other purpose than to determine which candidates are elected and which referenda pass. Ballots shall only be viewed by the election committee and by the election results auditor.

2012-002, 18 January 2012

The Management Council expresses its appreciation to Anton Sweeney and Matt Innis for their work on the Citizendium December 2011 election.

2012-003, 20 January 2012

The Management Council, with the understanding that Larry Sanger wishes to leave the position of CZ treasurer, relieves him of this duty and thanks him for his service. Effective immediately, the Management Council appoints Hayford Peirce as CZ treasurer. The Management Council also requests Larry to work with Hayford to transfer the project's funds to a PayPal account accessible by Hayford, so he may pay CZ's bills.

2012-004, 20 January 2012

The Management Council finds that Referendum 2 passed in the December 2011 election is invalid.

2012-005, 2 February 2012

The Management Council requests the ME to become the primary CZ blog author. This request has the following caveats:

• The CZ blog is Wordpress based, not wiki based. Technical staff will not install a wiki based blog in the foreseeable future.
• The ME will use the blog only to discuss Citizendium related issues.
• Blog posts are official Citizendium communications and must conform to all Citizendium policies.

2012-006, 25 April 2012

At the Spring elections for seats open on the Management Council, the elections committee shall:

Begin accepting nominations and referenda on May 13, 2012;
Stop accepting nominations and referenda at the end of June 3, 2012;
Have the ballot prepared by June 10, 2012;
Begin accepting ballots from eligible voters on June 10, 2012;
Stop accepting ballots at the end of June 17, 2012;

2012-007, 2 May 2012

The Management Council directs the election committee to use multi-seat plurality voting in the upcoming June 2012 election.

2012-008, 7 May 2012

The MC appoints Hayford Pierce (chair) and Russell Jones as the election committee for the June 2012 election.

2012-009, 5 June 2012

The Management Council instructs the election committee to include the following 2 citizen initiated ballot on the June 2012 ballot:

Referendum 1

Referendum 2

2012-010, 5 June 2012

The Management Council instructs the election committee to place Anthony Sebastian on the ballot for Managing Editor.

2012-011, 5 June 2012

The Management Council instructs the election committee to include the following council sponsored majority-vote referendum on the June 2012 ballot:

As allowed by Article 25, Section 4, item 1, the number of Management Council members will be reduced to 3 on July 1, 2012.

2012-012, 18 June 2012

The Management Council certifies the following results for the June 2012 election:

Twenty-eight Citizens cast valid ballots. One ballot was received after voting closed and was not counted.
Anthony Sebastian was elected Managing Editor with 19 yays, 7 abstentions, and 2 spoiled ballots.
Referendum #1 received 17 yays and 10 nays. Since it was a charter amendment referendum and since it received only 62.9% votes in favor, the referendum failed.
Referendum #2 passed by a majority of 23 yays to 3 nays.
Referendum #3 passed by a majority of 26 yays to 1 nay.
Referendum #4 passed by a majority of 25 yays to 2 nays.

2012-013, 20 June 2012

The Management Council denies the request of Mary Ash to invalidate the results of the June 2012 election and hold a new election.

2012-014, 23 June 2012

The Management Council expresses its appreciation to Hayford Pierce and Russell Jones for their work on the Citizendium June 2012 election.

2012-015, 25 November 2012

Derek Hodges (chair) and Anthony Sebastian have volunteered, and been appointed by the MC, to run the December elections.

Motions passed in the year 2013

2013-001, 11 July 2013

1. The Management Council shall hold a special election to fill vacant seats on the Management and Editorial Councils. This election shall also allow referenda. The Management Council also directs the Management and Editorial Councils to convene as a combined group in order to choose a candidate for Ombudsman.

a) The election shall be to fill three Management Council seats, two for two-year terms until June 30th, 2015, and one for a one-year term until June 30th, 2014, with the successful candidate who has won fewest votes awarded the one-year term; in the event of a tie, placement is to be decided by the Management Council.

b) The Managing Editor shall accept the already-offered resignation from the Editorial Council of John Stephenson on behalf of the Secretary of the Editorial Council, effective immediately following the passing of this motion.

c) The election shall also be to fill two Editorial Council seats, one an Author seat until December 31st, 2013, and one an Editor seat until December 31st, 2014.

d) The Combined Councils shall seek a candidate for Ombudsman with a term of office expiring December 31, 2014 (June 30th, 2014 if the Councils are merged): if a candidate is found, the Election Committee shall include that name on the ballot.

e) The election shall also include Citizen-initiated referenda where each is supported by a minimum of one (1) Citizen in good standing.

f) The Management Council authorises the Managing Editor to direct the Election Committee to include Council and valid Citizen-initiated Charter and non-Charter referenda on the ballot. The Managing Editor may reject a referendum proposal according to his own judgement if:

• it is obviously frivolous; or
• it is not in accordance with Article 37 of the current Charter; or
• the Citizen who initiates the referendum is not in good standing;
• there is another referendum proposal on a similar matter which is better-formed;
• in the case of a non-Charter referendum, it would produce conditions likely to violate the current Charter.

g) The Management Council authorises the Managing Editor to certify the results of the election on its behalf.

h) In cases where a valid referendum is passed that appears, in the judgement of any Council or the Managing Editor, to contradict one or more other successful referenda on the same ballot, a Charter referendum shall prevail over a non-Charter referendum. Otherwise, the one with the most votes in favour shall prevail. In the case of a tie, a Council-initiated referendum shall prevail over a Citizen-initiated referendum. Otherwise, the relevant Council(s) or the Managing Editor shall decide which of the contradictory referenda are passed.

2.

a) The Management Council appoints John Stephenson (chair) and Anthony Sebastian as the Election Committee for the special election.

b) The Management Council directs the Election Committee to use multi-seat plurality voting in the special election.

c) The Election Committee shall:

• Begin accepting nominations and referenda at midnight UTC on July 13th, 2013;
• close the period for new nominations and for candidates to accept their nominations and draft their statements at midnight UTC on July 27th, 2013;
• close the period for Citizen-initiated referenda to be proposed and supported at midnight UTC on July 27th, 2013;
• have the ballot prepared by midnight UTC on July 29th, 2013;
• begin accepting ballots from eligible voters from 00:01 UTC on July 30th, 2013;
• stop accepting ballots at midnight UTC on August 5th, 2013;
• release the results by midnight UTC on August 7th, 2013.

3. The Management Council proposes a Charter referendum on merging the Management and Editorial Councils and transitional measures to that effect, the details of which shall be finalised and released onto the main wiki by the Managing Editor or John Stephenson.

4. The Management Council proposes a Charter referendum on the method of nominating and electing the Managing Editor to open the procedure to an unlimited number of candidates, the details of which shall be finalised and released onto the main wiki by the Managing Editor or John Stephenson.

5. The Management Council proposes a Charter referendum on the method of nominating and electing the Ombudsman to allow any Citizen to make nominations and to allow an unlimited number of candidates, the details of which shall be finalised and released onto the main wiki by the Managing Editor or John Stephenson.

6. In the event that the election and referenda produce neither a Management Council nor a merged 'Citizendium Council' with sufficient members to function, or at any point in the future the membership of the Management or Citizendium Council falls below a quorum and not enough seats are subsequently filled on an interim basis, the following emergency procedure shall come into effect:

a) The Managing Editor shall establish a moratorium on all future elections and independent Council activity, to remain in effect until the Citizendium has acquired at least 175 active users and at least 90 days have passed. (The Citizendium considers an “active user” as a user who, in the twelve months preceding consideration of ending the moratorium, has edited the main wiki at least six days per month for at least eight of those twelve months, or a user who regularly works on behalf of Citizendium whether they edit the main wiki or not (e.g., actively participating Council members, technical staff, PR-activists.)

b) During the moratorium, the Citizendium's governance shall consist of a combined Management Council and Editorial Council (or interim Citizendium Council if the referendum on merging them was successful), called “The Citizendium Governing Board”, chaired by the Managing Editor and comprising five members who will serve for two years, or fewer if the moratorium on elections terminates.

c) For the initial board, the Managing Editor shall call for volunteers, choosing four, requesting ratification from the Citizenry through the Citizendium-L mailing list. Any volunteer who receives more than three ’nays’ will require replacement by another on the volunteer list. Nay-votes shall be submitted to a constable by email.

d) The Managing Editor shall serve as Ombudsman pending Citizenry-accepted volunteer, unless the previous election has resulted in the post being filled.

e) Once the moratorium ends, the Councils or Council shall be (re-)established in accordance with the Charter. Any Council members shall be invited to resume duties if still within their terms of office and the Governing Board shall be dissolved once it has organised an election to fill any vacant seats and certified the results.