[PASSED] Discord Administration and Moderation Act

[studentloandebt]

Discord Administration and Moderation Act, DAMA

Author: The Confederacy of Dank Ass Communes

Catagory: Charter Amendment
Sponsors: Xingal, West Bengalis, Danera, New Andureo, Ratateague, La Pays de Soliel, Cuscatlan, Cephesylon, Mauvemarke, Syvis, Balkvla Islands, Szargia, Propatria, Alpyrea, Slotheria, Nchikhumbwa, Venovica, Svafareyjar, Dekks, Cessnia

A Resolution to establish a moderator staff and administrator for the Discord Server of the Democratic Socialist Assembly

In recognition that the Discord server in question has not only become a popular means of communication for members of the region, but has indeed become the central hub within which the vast majority of regional activity occurs, this amendment recognizes a simple and obvious truth:

The Discord server of the Democratic Socialist Assembly is, first and foremost, above all else, an online communications forum which requires a full time administrator to manage and a full time moderator staff which moderates all user conduct and behavior equally within the Discord server to ensure adhesion to DSA conduct and behavioral rules and carry out swift and according punishment to violators of those rules.

It is further recognized that as those tasked with protection of the community and bestowed with immense trust by the community, it is ultimately the community, through the body of the Congress that the Moderator Staff serves at the pleasure of.

Chapter 1 – General Provisions

I.This act will come into effect immediately upon its passage
II. This act may be cited as DAMA or the Discord Administrative and Moderation Act
III. The following is hereby added to the Charter of the Democratic Socialist Assembly:

Chapter 2 – Glossary of Terms

I. The key terms of this act and their definitions here on out shall be defined by this chapter.
II. Previous definitions of these terms shall be altered to fit these.

Glossary of Terms

User– all people who utilize the DSA Discord Server

Discord Conduct and Behavior Rules – the official rules of the DSA Discord Server which all Users will be expected to abide by within the DSA Discord Server

Troll/toxic element – any User found to be in violation of the Discord Server Conduct and Behavior Rules.

Moderator – a User whose task is to enforce the conduct and behavior rules and only the conduct and behavior rules on the Discord Server and only the Discord Server

Administrator – a User who is the official owner and sole administrator of the Discord Server with full and total administrative privileges and permissions, serving indefinitely but at the pleasure of the Congress or until their resignation.

Head Moderator – the Administrator acting within their capacity to assemble a Moderator Staff and coordinate moderation activities, including participating in moderation.

Moderator Staff – the Administrator acting as Head Moderator and the Moderators, includingan automod, working as full time server staff to enforce the conduct
and behavior rules and only the conduct and behavior rules on all users of the Discord Server and only on the Discord Server

Automod– a Discord bot that enables the 24/7 automation of various Moderator tasks, such as, mutes, temporary bans from particular channels, anti-spam, anti-@everyone, anti-@role, and removing NSFW content from inappropriate channels.

Ordinary Misconduct – the overreach of Moderator Power into realms outside of the Conduct and Behavior Rules of the Discord Server and the overreach of the Moderator Staff into jurisdictions outside of the Discord Server. May be accidental or willing.

Extraordinary and Gross Misconduct – the betrayal of the trust given to the Moderator Staff and Administrator by the community for reasons of personal gain and augmentation, such as personal amusement or personal vendettas.

Chapter 3 – DAMA
I. The current Article 4 will be moved to new Article 5, with all numbering altered accordingly

Article 4

Section 4.1

The Administrator and Moderator Staff

4.1.1

1. Effective immediately upon the passage of this act, actions and decisions that affect only the Users of the Discord Server and the Discord Server itself, including the Congressional actions and votes outlined within this document, shall involve only those Members of Congress on the Server with votes held within the #congress channel itself. The Member of Congress role will be pinged upon the commencement of such a vote and upon its closure, where votes shall last a maximum of 48 hours or until a decision is reached one way or the other. Votes shall be tallied with reactions applied to the message which opens the vote, Y for Yes and N for No, or simply by stating Yes or No in the #congress channel. A User may not do both.

2. The Administrator shall be appointed by the Secretary-General but serve at the pleasure of the entire Congress and must be approved by a simple majority vote. The Administrator shall serve indefinitely once approved. The Administrator may resign at will or be removed by Congress via methods and circumstances outlined further in this document. Whosoever serves as Administrator may not serve any position in government above Cabinet Aide. The Administrator may, however, serve as a Department Director only through the passage of a Congressional Referendum to be held in the #congress channel allowing them to do so, requiring a simple majority.

   
   

4.1.2

1. The Administrator shall be the official owner and sole administrator of the Discord Server. A new role shall be created named, Administrator. This shall be the only role to hold all possible Discord permissions. The World Assembly Delegate shall be the role which may bestow the Administrator role onto the Administrator and may remove it should the Administrator be relieved from duty. All other Roles are relinquished of all administrative duties on the Discord Server.

2. The Administrator will be responsible for fulfilling all requests of the Cabinet for necessary Discord permissions deemed by the Administrator to be relevant to their duties within their Ministries. Fully at the Administrator's discretion,  certain administrative tasks may be delegated to Cabinet Members where relevant for their tasks within their Ministry.
   

3. The Administrator, if so desired, may work in cooperation with the Secretary-General in the management of Discord Channels. Deletion of Discord channels require a simple majority vote of the Congress on Discord.
   

4. The Cabinet will no longer be responsible for the creation of new channels. Creation of Discord Channels may be proposed to the Administrator by a Cabinet Member to be created upon approval by the Administrator or may, by simple majority referendum, be proposed directly by the Congress to the Administrator for approval. The Administrator and Secretary-General may create any Discord Channels themselves upon notifying the Congress.

5. The Cabinet, of course, retains administrative duties within all other holdings of the DSA and access to the DSA Google Drive. The Administrator shall also have access to the DSA Google Drive. The Administration holds jurisdiction  only on the Discord Server.

4.1.3

1. The Congress and the Administrator shall be responsible for legislating the methods in which closed-door meetings, Congressional debates, and other relevant information on the Discord Server is archived.

2. The Administrator, in cooperation with the Secretary-general if desired, will be responsible for managing server emoji, role names, channel placement, and establish fun and festive themes and role names for holidays or other some such occurrences, with prior notice to the Congress on Discord, relinquishing the Cabinet of the responsibility.
   

3. The Congress may, by 2/3rds majority referendum, propose a Server theme to the Administrator, who will make the necessary changes to the Server upon referendum passage.

   
   

4.1.4

1. The Administrator will act as Head Moderator, holding lead responsibility in coordinating the task of curating an amicable environment of safety, fun, and cordial, friendly relations between Discord Server Users, in accordance with DSA conduct and behavior rules.

2. The Administrator may appoint a team of up to five (5) Moderators, if possible from different time zones, and an Automod bot, for the Discord Server and grant them the appropriate permissions necessary to carry out their tasks.
   

3. Moderator appointments must be approved by the Congress via a simple majority. Moderators serve at the pleasure of Congress and may be removed by a 2/3rds majority in cases to be defined later in this document. Whosoever  serves as a Moderator cannot serve any government position above Cabinet Aide. A Moderator may, however, serve as Department Director only through the passage of a Congressional Referendum to be held in the #congress channel allowing them to do so, requiring a simple majority.

4. The Moderators and Administrator, when acting in their duty as Head Moderator, shall hereby be referred to as Moderator Staff. The Administrator role shall also be considered the role of Head Moderator.

Section 4.2

Jurisdiction, Duties, and Limitations of the Moderator Staff

4.2.1

1. The Moderator Staff, in their moderation duties, exist only to equally enforce the Discord Conduct and Behavior Rules within the Discord Server, upon ALL Users, regardless of whether or not they are actually in the DSA, and nothing more and nowhere else. A new Role shall be created named Moderator Staff, which will have all permissions deemed necessary by the Head Moderator for the purpose of fulfilling moderator duties. They shall be tasked with the removal, management, and containment of trolls and toxic elements from the Discord Server. All other Roles are relinquished of their present moderation duties.
   

2. The rules shall be placed in a new channel called, #rules, to which only the Administrator may post to, edit, and manage. The rules in this channel shall be considered the official binding conduct and behavior rules of the Discord  Server, which all Server Users will be expected to abide by.
   

3. The Rules shall consist of the official DSA Conduct and Behavior Rules as outlined in the Charter of the DSA and may be altered. Alterations shall affect only the Discord Server. The Head Moderator may edit and change the server rules in the aforementioned #rules channel, upon notifying congress.
   

4. The Moderators shall not have the permission to manage roles, edit messages, manage and edit nicknames, manage and edit emoji, nor remove reactions from messages.
   

   
   

4.2.2

1. In the event that the Discord server must be terminated for whatever serious, pressing, and valid reason, termination of the server may only be done via a 2/3rds majority in the Congress on Discord.
   

2. Should the vote move in favor to terminate, it shall be the responsibility of the Administrator to terminate the server only upon authorization from the Congress.

3. The Administrator shall be tasked with the creation of a new Server, wherein they and Moderator Staff, shall resume their duties.
   

   
   

4.2.3

1. The Moderator Staff shall function, in their moderation duties, on the Three (3) Strike System.

2. Should a Discord Server User accumulate three (3) strikes of violations of conduct and behavior rules, the Moderator Staff may ban the offending user from Discord Server, regardless of role on the Discord Server or if they are in the DSA or not.

3. The ban shall be a length of time to be determined by the Moderator Staff based on the nature of the offense, up to a permanent ban. Should a user be permanently banned from the Discord Server, the Head Moderator may recommend expulsion from the DSA of the permanently banned user to the High Judge.

4. Exceptions to the Strike System shall be those in which discriminatory, fascistic, and reactionary imagery and language are purposefully used to offend either a user directly or people and decency in general. As a safe, accommodating leftist region, all purposeful manner of discrimination based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, nationality, ancestry, cultural heritage, ability, mental health, all sexual harassment, either serous or in jest, and any manner of threats against a particular User or any number of Users, either serious or in jest, shall be approached with zero tolerance and be ground for an immediate ban from the Discord Server.
   

5. All NSFW and obscene content including but not limited to, porn, gore, discriminatory messages, the posting of personally identifiable information either accidental or purposeful and of the self or of others, will be removed immediately by any present Moderator or the Automod and will warrant a Strike.

6. Moderator Staff will have full access to all channels of the Discord Server. The Cabinet no longer has the parliamentary privilege granted to them under Subsection 2.2.3 of the DSA Charter and all users of the Server will be held liable to the Moderator Staff for statements made within any hidden channels of the server, should they be in violation of Conduct and Behavior Rules.

4.2.4

1. For 2nd and 3rd Strike offenses, the Moderator Staff must provide, on the #congress channel, to the Congress all evidence and reasoning as to why punitive measures were delivered to server users, to ensure transparency and to  provide the Congress with its opportunity to challenge a punitive action seen as unfair or unnecessary or as moderator overreach.
   

2. The Moderator Staff shall provide this regardless of user server role and channel in which the offense transpired. The Moderator Staff can, in the event of violation of behavior and conduct rules, disclose the happenings of any hidden channels to the Congress, in so far as what is relevant to the violation of conduct and behavior rules.

   
   

4.2.5

1. A channel in the Discord Server shall be established for the Moderator Staff to discuss and coordinate their activities, and only their activities, within their capacity as moderators.
   

2. This channel will only be able to be posted to by Moderator Staff, but will remain visible to all Server Users, in the interest of transparency and accountability.

   
   

4.2.6

1. The Moderator Staff may employ, at the discretion of the Head Moderator, an automod bot. The automod bot will be used to enforce the regular duties of the Moderator Staff should no Moderator be present, sans the capability to warn, kick, or ban users.
   

2. It shall be the duty of the Congress and Moderator Staff to devise a reporting system and until such a system is established, the interim report system shall be to send a private message, containing screenshots of the offense, to the Moderator Staff.

3. Should the interim system prove sufficient, it may be considered for permanent use.

4. At any time, the Moderator Staff role may be able to be pinged to bring misconduct and violations of the conduct and behavior rules to the immediate attention of the Moderator Staff.

5. User abuse of any report system will warrant a cease and desist warning from the Moderators. Further user abuse shall warrant Strikes.

6. If the Automod is found to be malfunctioning, Users must report any bugs to the Administrator and the bot shall be deactivated until the issue is resolved.

   
   

Section 4.3

Punishments to Be Levied to the Moderator Staff and Administrator in Cases of Misconduct

In recognition that the Moderator Staff is entrusted not only with a considerable amount of control over the server but a significant amount of trust from the Discord Server Community, the punishments for misconduct of the Moderator Staff and misuse and abuse of Moderator Power, and thus most heinously the betrayal and abuse of the trust bestowed to the Moderator Staff by the Community, shall be swift and harsh.

The abuse of Moderator and Administrator Power is an intolerable offense which must necessarily result in only considerable and harsh punishment for the offending party. There will be no such “slap on the wrist” type punishments for Moderator Staff nor for the Administrator.

4.3.1

1. In cases of Ordinary Misconduct, the Moderator Staff shall also be subject to the Three (3) Strike System.

2. The Congress shall be the Body which deliberates and exacts punitive measures upon the Moderator Staff in cases of Ordinary Misconduct.
   

3. The Congress may, after the passage of a referendum requiring a 2/3rds majority to open proceedings against a member of the Moderator Staff which must be presented by a Member of Congress, deliver a First Strike offense, which is a warning, via a simple majority, a Second Strike, which is a Congressional censure, via 2/3rds majority, and a Third Strike, which is the permanent removal of a Moderator from their position, via a 2/3rds majority.
   

4. If a case of Ordinary Misconduct is found to be accidental and unknowing, the offending party shall receive no greater than a warning.
   

   
   

4.3.2

1. If a referendum to begin a 3rd Strike proceeding against a member of the Moderator Staff is passed, the Moderator in question shall have their Moderator Role and all related permissions stripped from them pending the result of the investigation and Congressional vote.

2. If an Administrator is under a 3rd Strike investigation and pending removal from their role, they shall have their Administrator privileges and permissions revoked and stripped pending the result of the investigation and Congressional vote and the Secretary-General shall take on their administrative responsibilities until the Administrator is cleared or a new one chosen.

   
   

4.3.3

1. Cases of Extraordinary and Gross Misconduct are to be punished swiftly and harshly by the Congress and are not subject to the Strike System but must be presented via the referendum procedure which requires a 2/3rds majority and, only should the offense have taken place outside of the Discord Server, be posted to and voted on in the ProBoards forum, following the procedure utilized for proposed legislation.
   

2. Offenders shall have their permissions revoked until an investigation into their innocence is complete.
   

3. A Moderator or Administrator found to be suspected of Extraordinary and Gross Misconduct shall be presumed guilty until proven innocent. Investigation into such a case shall then be an attempt at discovery of the supposed innocence of the offender.
   

4. An offender during such a case shall remain in the Discord Server but be able to speak only within the Congressional channel.
   

5. The minimum punishment for Extraordinary and Gross Misconduct shall be a temporary ban from the Discord Server for a minimum of 30 days in addition to immediate removal and permanent blacklisting from serving Administrator and Moderator roles ever again.
   

   
   

4.3.4

1. From the point of passage of this legislation and forward, should the Administrator be found to have terminated and moved the Discord Server without the express approval of the Congress, they shall be immediately expelled and banned from the Democratic Socialist Assembly without trial by the High Judge, as this is a heinous breach of trust.

2. If the Server is terminated in such a manner, it shall be the task of the Secretary-General to establish a new server, and serve as temporary Administrator until a new Administrator is chosen.