Welcome to the 1st Advisor Town Hall.
We'll follow this protocol: Report on what we've done and then open the floor to member feedback and input on that and the forum generally, which we will then work on and report on next Town Hall. Please have your say and then let others do the same, so don't sidetrack the thread. Peter and Green Arrow will monitor the thread, take question and even ask if needed. Moderators will enforce forum rules strictly.
What we've done so far:
The new Advisor Team has agreed to be more transparent and communicate about what we discuss and do. In that spirit we post the following Forum Advisor Guidelines:
- Forum Advisors are leaders of the forum, and as such should aid in our goal of promoting world-class political discussion by following the rules as an example of good behavior and good discussion ethics to the general membership.
- Forum Advisors cannot receive more than 3 infractions within a 12-month period; failure to meet this guideline will result in being removed from the Forum Advisors.
- Forum Advisors should also be active members. Unless you give good reason for inactivity, Forum Advisors will be expected to actively participate in discussion in the Forum Advisor area and on the main forum. If you do not remain active you will be removed from the Forum Advisor group. You may resume as a Forum Advisor when you return to activity, so long as a position is open.
- To help promote positive discussion, Forum Advisers will agree to choose one or two forum sections to lead by posting regularly - preferably at least one thread every other day. They will also report rule violations in their area.
- Town halls will be held on a monthly basis or by member request; the Forum Advisors are expected to lead those discussions, report posts that violate the rules, and to not contribute to poor behavior.
- Membership to the Forum Advisors is capped at 12 - 50% of the members will be chosen by the moderation/administrative team, with the remaining 50% coming from member nominations. A lengthy infraction history, which includes recent infractions, will disqualify someone from joining the Forum Advisors. Every effort will be made to maintain political balance.
- Forum Advisors should not use the Forum Advisor sub-forum to discuss specific members or to advocate for banning specific members. Those concerns should be forwarded to the moderation team or ADMIN. Rarely, an issue may need a specific example of behavior from the forum but that should not be common.
We advised opening a new forum area for Local News under Politics and News/Latest Happenings. It might be news specific to where you are, like Fiesta in San Antonio or it might give a local slant on national issues like changing the name of Robert E Lee Highschool. In many cases, the stories could give insight into members and bring people closer together like threads during Harvey and Irma. It can be found here: http://thepoliticalforums.com/forums/66-Local-News.
With that the floor is open to your feedback and input on that and the forum generally...