paazin wrote:How do you feel power ought to be distributed in ALFA?
Wow, that is a big question and i'll try to answer that as good as I can. Personally I don't think that "power" should be a word used in a collaboratory community. But that aside, and focus on the question at hand. First of all, I believe that we have too many "positions" in ALFA. This enforces the illusion of "power" wheras the real power actually comes from our members because without them, there really isn't any reason to have all these rules and regulations and "power" to begin with.
If you are looking for an ideal infrastructure for the "governing" body of ALFA, then it is hard to find a perfect solution because every one in my opinion carries with them their own set of problems. So basically what it comes down to, is which set of problems do we find the easiest to manage?
Me, personally, I'd like for the community as a whole to work for what ALFA already have; the pillars. They get overlooked as the most focus is always on the Charter as it is the one thing that keeps regulating and restricting how we reach the goals of the pillars that was set up. I'd like for the community to reach decisions together instead of just having an opinion and for it to mean nothing. But I also recognize the value of the "Admin" so to speak, because in a community such as this, there is a need to centralize voices into a few in order to actually reach a decision.
In order to do that though, the ones who gets to carry these voices must do so as representatives for the community and not as individuals who have absolute say based on their own personal preferences.
This is why I feel that the electorial process that ALFA has is a great way to get a
representative democracy. Problem with it today is that the titles of the Admin restricts people from running for them and thus preventing the possibility to fully take advantage of the process. Tech Admin and Infra Admin shouldn't be Admin positions, they should be "Head of..." positions, just like DM Admin and Player Admin. We shouldn't have different Admins, because in essence, these positions shouldn't be used to rule, but to lead. I want it more to be less like G7 and more like a Senate. Bring the position of Admin back to the members because no one member should be more or less qualified to be Admin than another.
paazin wrote:Should the admin have the final say on anything within any single server or should the HDM of said server have the final word?
Also a good and hard to give a short answer kind of question. I like those.
I want to say it is as simple as letting the HDM's have their own final say on what goes on their servers, but since it's not really their servers. The reason I say this is because very few servers in ALFA history was actually kept solely under the HDM-ship of the one who started it and the position is more a position of responsibility than it is a position of privilege. Saying that the Admin should have final say on a server is a bit like indulging micromanagement and shouldn't really be needed. The Admin body is somewhat like the position of the HDM, one of responsibility. You get elected on the premise of what you can/want to contribute with and based on that, the community follows suit.
In order to be truly successful again, we need to come together as a community and stop thinking in terms of
mine and
yours and start considering it as
ours. We are all in this together and it is as a group that we will build something great. The building of Waterdeep isn't for me, it's for the community. There is no prestige in being an HDM. There is no prestige in being an Admin. (Or at least, there shouldn't be.)
