Along the lines of Anne's suggestion, I wonder if we made a mistake by considering this piece by piece. If we revisit Allyson's original post (I will Nilly it up in a Second) it seemed like a great idea. Very simple. I wonder if we should look at it as a whole.

This is Allyson's original post:

Okay, so. We have a Bureaucracy thread to deal with administratriva.

Why not a So It Is Written, So It Shall Be thread for community decisions?

Ex: Bill Buffista wants an asspicking thread. Betty, Brooke,and Bob Buffista all think that's a great idea.

Joanie, Jackie, and Julie Buffista think that idea sucks.

So, Stompy says, "We will open discussion on Asspicking Thread, now. The discussion will last for one week, and end on March 3rd, 8PM GMT, in the Supreme Court thread.

At that point, people can philibuster til their heart's content, until March 3rd, when a Mr.Poll announcement is made, and people can vote for another week. Votes are tallied and the decision is posted.

I was trying really hard to stay out of this because it was making me cry that this thing that I thought would simplify things made them worse.

Thanks for your post, Anne, but it makes me really sad that the first, trial, vote we've already taken might be thrown out. I really don't think it was invalid. A lot of people voted, and the winners were clear.

Back in the day, when a separate thread for natter was first proposed, it was met with a resounding chorus of HELL NO. I imagine the original proposer felt piled-upon.

That was me. I think I retreated back into MWT for about a week. And whimpered. Did I mention the whimpering?

But the "told ya so" value is priceless :-).

As for representation ... I suggested it a little over a week ago, got a HELL NO, and decided to drop it. And now I've had more time to think, and I don't like the idea. First, because electing people to represent what's really a core group of about 150 is both absurd and bound to be divisive; second, because anything that makes peopes blood boil this hotly is not, by definition, a good idea. I think voting is about as much anarchy-control as we need.

Keep it Simple

These are the words that I beg you all to remember. I know that talking things to death is the Buffista way, and I understand that there are people who enjoy this administriva (there must be, right? Otherwise this thread wouldn't be going so crazy), but know that there are many of us who just wish this would all get decided and go away. As someone who's been a part of this community (off and on) for a long time, I felt at first that I needed to keep up with this discussion, that I had some responsibility to. But so many negative feelings have been created here over the last month or two that I have been avoiding it. I don't come here for that. Call me Pollyanna, but I think we can do better than that.

THIS POST NOT ABOUT VOTING PROCEDURES:

The only other thing where I think we would need a formal, procedures-laid-out-in-advance system of government would be if we (heaven forfend) attracted a particularly malicious troll or had a current member turn into a troll.

I really can't think of anything other than thread creation. I'm sure that something else will probably come up, but it'll be very rare.

Are we really having this discussion about only the small things like thread creation and naming?

I didn't think I was. If that's all it is, then I don't care in the slightest about how we vote, whether we vote, when we vote, or if some people believe "Quorum" means "Majority" and "Majority" means "anyone who was at the F2F".

What will we do about serious things then?

What will we do about serious things then?

Could you give an example of a "serious thing"? Because I'm really having trouble coming up with one.

White font rules for discussion of current seasons of BTVS in Angel topic and vice versa.

Could you give an example of a "serious thing"?

Really? I don't think you want me to. But let's say "what to spend Buffista funds on" or something. That's non-frivolous.

White font rules for discussion of current seasons of BTVS in Angel topic and vice versa.

No, really!

More serious even than that!

Are we really having this discussion about only the small things like thread creation and naming?

With the idea of a) keeping discussion from going on eternally and b) keeping a "concensus" from being determined by whatever big mouth is around (neither of which seem like enormous problems IMHO), yeah.