The MicroMUSE Bylaws Updated 11 November 1994 0. Introduction --------------- This document, having been updated and approved by the administration of MicroMUSE, defines the organizational structure and procedural guidelines of MicroMUSE. Its information is organized in this way: 1. Membership Guidelines 2. Building Guidelines 3. Administrative Hierarchy 4. Procedures 4.1. Amendments to the procedures 4.2. How decisions are made 4.3. Consequences of abuse of authority 4.4. What to do in case of conduct violations 4.5. Limits of authority 4.6. Other references on behavior constraints 4.7. Appeals 5. E-mail Guidelines 5.1. E-mail groups 5.2. E-mail headings guidelines 5.3. E-mail protocol 6. Code Development Guidelines 6.1. General Code Guidelines 6.2. Major changes 6.3. Minor Changes 6.4. Emergency fixes 7. Definitions of Terms 8. References Please note that the goals, purposes and history of MicroMUSE can be found in the Charter, a separate document. The Charter contains the Mission Statement. 1. Membership Guidelines ------------------------ Members are the permanent characters on MicroMUSE. Membership is not granted automatically. It is a privilege granted by the MicroMUSE administration to individuals who demonstrate that they understand and accept the responsibilities of Membership. These responsibilities include: 1) To uphold the MicroMUSE mission to create a virtual community dedicated to the education of children and adults, by working to continuously improve upon the quality and variety of learning opportunities obtainable on MicroMUSE. 2) To maintain a standard of behavior which demonstrates a high regard for the freedom and dignity of others, and for the right of every Member to a creative and rich learning environment free from discrimination, prejudice and harassment. 3) To abide by the spirit and letter of the guidelines and decisions set out by the MicroMUSE administration, which are arrived at through a consensus process and are intended to protect both individual Members and the MicroMUSE culture and mission as a whole. 4) To freely offer ideas, opinions and information in such a way that benefits all parties involved, and to respect without bias the value of ideas, opinions and information offered by others. New characters are required to spend a period of time as Students, during which they are responsible for becoming familiar with MicroMUSE's expectations of its Members. Specially-qualified Mentors assist Students in this orientation. At the end of this period, the MicroMUSE Administration determines whether to accept or reject the application of the Student based upon their progress. It is vital that the Student understands and accepts the responsibilities of Membership before becoming a Member. All Visitors to MicroMUSE are required to remain within the section of the db designed to inform the Visitor of MicroMUSE goals and opportunities. The purpose of this restriction is to protect Members and Students from anonymous Visitors and to enable newcomers to obtain Student characters. All Members are responsible for their MicroMUSE character(s) and their subsequent actions. Ignorance of this policy or carelessness with character passwords will not be considered as valid excuses by the Advisory Board when rendering justice. It should be noted that all passwords should incorporate a non-alphabetical character to be considered valid by the MicroMUSE server. The following onMUSE conduct will not be tolerated and will be considered sufficient grounds for discipline, suspension or exile by the MicroMUSE Administration: 1) abuse of communication commands (whisper, say, page, +com, +mail, @announce, @emit, @remit, etc.), which includes but is not limited to: harassment of individuals or groups; invasion of privacy; use of obscene, suggestive, violent or hostile language; and spoofing (throwing ones virtual voice so as to deceive others into thinking that someone said or emoted something which they actually didn't). 2) abuse of movement commands, which includes but is not limited to: invasion of privacy, stalking, and @teleporting into private areas without invitation or permission. 3) creation or @description of violent, racist, lewd, suggestive, pornographic (or otherwise objectionable) objects, rooms or exits that are accessible to/by the public. 4) movement or sabotage of objects, rooms or exits belonging to another Member without permission (which can include implicit permission). For more information, see [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] and [11] 2. Building Guidelines ---------------------- Because of scarce resources, Members are allocated a fixed, small amount of database space for their personal building use. All construction should be logically continuous and should follow the Theme of MicroMUSE. This means that all construction should possess a logical, science-based reason for existence. Construction beyond personal building allocations is limited to special characters known as Projects and Corporations. Projects must be sponsored by the Operations Council (OC) subject to the approval of the Advisory Board (AB). Corporations, which are projects requiring extra db powers, must have the direct sponsorship of an AB member. These entities are available to responsible Members following the approval of a well-conceived plan submitted to the Operations Council. Corporate and Project construction must be accessible to all Members and must have special merit. Educational construction is given priority over non-educational construction to access to the dwindling db space. For more specific Guidelines, see [3] and [10]. 3. Administrative Hierarchy --------------------------- The administration of MicroMUSE consists of the following groups: 1) A Board of Directors (all Directors) 2) The Advisory Board (Directors, Administrators and Advisors) 3) The Operations Council (OC) (all administrative personnel) 4) The Disciplinary Committee (DC) 5) The Mentoring Committee (MC) 6) The Space Administration 7) The Citizens Council (CC) 1) The Board of Directors holds ultimate responsibility for the success of the Mission Statement displayed in this document. They have final say on the appointment of new administrative volunteers to existing or new positions within the administrative hierarchy, the changes to TinyMUSE and MicroMUSE, and the allocation of scarce resources under their control. This position is to provide a check to the Advisory Board and to ensure that MicroMUSE follows the path outlined in the Mission Statement. Directors are generally SysOps or SysAdmins onMUSE. 2) The Advisory Board consists of the Directors, Administrators and Advisors (a limited number of interested, mature individuals whose advice and viewpoints are sought by the Directors to provide balance and insight into solving administrative problems). The Advisory Board operates on a consensus basis and is authorized to make decisions on behalf of the Board of Directors if there is no dissent from the Board of Directors. Administrators generally are SysOps or SysAdmins onMUSE. Administrators are largely responsible for the maintenance and development of specific aspects of MicroMUSE, such as character registration, and can aid in directing the efforts of Operators. Administrators are SysOps or SysAdmins onMUSE. 3) The Operations Council (OC) consists of all administrative personnel, including Operators, SysOps, SysAdmins, Advisors, Administrators and Directors. The OC exists primarily to facilitate communication among all administrative personnel. It is used for efficiently disseminating information about decisions made by the AB or BD. While the OC is not a decision-making body, it may be consulted for its collective knowledge, opinion and advice. Operators have specific onMUSE powers to conduct specific onMUSE tasks, usually related to maintenance and development. In their onMUSE time, all Operators, SysOps and SysAdmins are encouraged to make themselves available to assist Members, Students or Visitors who are in need of help. 4) The Disciplinary Committee investigates and decides, by consensus, allegations of misconduct, subject to Advisory Board approval. It consists of the MicroMUSE Mediator (permanent chairman) and three members of the AB (a Director, an Advisor and an Administrator) who sit in rotation. 5) The Mentoring Committee consists of a permanent chairperson and three members of the OC on a rotating basis. The Mentoring Committee is responsible for guiding the Mentors and for approving the applications of new Mentors. 6) The Space Administration is lead by a Director and is responsible for maintaining and updating the model of outer space on MicroMUSE. 7) The Citizens Council is an optional body of the MicroMUSE administration which has the mission of accomplishing the following tasks: 1) making area planning suggestions to the Advisory Board 2) providing a forum for the initial suggestions of Members for improvement to MicroMUSE 3) aiding in recycling unnecessary and abandoned construction 4) polling the Members on important issues 5) presenting Member viewpoints and suggestions in an organized, efficient manner to the Advisory Board or coordinating and planning MUSE-wide events (such as the Olympics) If formed (based on the interest of the Members of MicroMUSE), the Citizens Council consists of eight elected Members with limited term length and one Citizens Council spokesperson appointed by the previous Citizens Council (or the Advisory Board, if there is no previous Citizens Council) from the members of the previous Citizens Council (this is intended to provide continuity between Citizens Councils and to assist Members in learning about how to work within a committee structure effectively). This spokesperson has no voting privileges upon the Advisory Board, but works as a liaison between the Citizens Council and the MicroMUSE Administration. 4. Procedures ------------- 4.1. Amendments to the procedures These bylaws provide rules governing the due process of the administration of MicroMUSE. The Board of Directors (and, by extension, the Advisory Board) are empowered to amend these bylaws through a consensus process if circumstances warrant the changes. In the case where these bylaws do not cover a specific situation, the Board of Directors (and Advisory Board) have the authority and the responsibility to act in a manner which supports the Mission Statement. 4.2. How decisions are made The Board of Directors and Advisory Board (hereafter referred to as the MicroMUSE Administration) operate primarily by a consensus process where consensus is required of the voting members before a decision can be made in any issue. A majority vote is used by the MicroMUSE Administration in cases where a consensus is not possible because of the issue. A division of issue categories is shown here: Consensus Issues Resource allocation (major project proposals) Changes to TinyMUSE, online messages, etc. Discipline or exile of abusive Members or Operators Appointment/promotion/demotion of administrative volunteers Amendments to the Charter and Bylaws Majority Vote Issues Impeachment, discipline or exile of abusive AB members Administrative volunteers should consider the following division of proper procedures when encountering a situation which requires action: 1) Action is easily reversible and not likely to inspire controversy In this first case, the administrative volunteer should feel comfortable first acting within the bounds of the authority given by the MicroMUSE Administration, then notifying the Advisory Board of the action with a CFA (Call for Assent). If there is dissent by any active members of the Advisory Board, the action should be immediately reversed pending a consensus decision. 2) Action is reversible with some difficulty and might be controversial In this case, the administrative volunteer should send out a CFN (Call for Nays) to the Advisory Board. Following one week without dissenting opinion (in this case, no response counts as an approving vote), the volunteer should feel comfortable in executing the proposed action. 3) Action is extremely difficult to reverse and has significant consequences In this case, the AB member should send a CFV (Call For Votes); a one week period is allotted for voting and there must be, in addition to no dissent, a positive response from a majority of the active voting members of the AB (in this case, no reply counts as an abstention). 4.3. Consequences of abuse of authority All MicroMUSE administrative volunteers are required to use their onMUSE powers and administrative authority only in furthering the Mission of MicroMUSE under the direction of the MicroMUSE Administration. Any abuse is cause for discipline, suspension or exile by the MicroMUSE Administration. All MicroMUSE administrative volunteers are also bound by the bylaws pertaining to Members, since all administrative volunteers are also Members. 4.4. What to do in case of conduct violations Response of an empowered administrative member should be, upon discovery of possible conduct violations, the following: 1) begin logging activity 2) ascertain the situation, make a on-the-scene judgement as to whether a violation might have occurred, and take any immediately warranted actions within the scope of their authority 3) warn the offender that a complaint has been registered (the administrative member, as a Member, can register a complaint), what the violation was and that the offender should desist from further violations 4) if the offender refuses to cooperate or continues violating the MicroMUSE bylaws, the administrative volunteer is authorized to @boot or @arrest the offender pending an investigation by the MicroMUSE Administration. 5) the administrative volunteer should then question any witnesses (including the person who registered the complaint) and forward the log with a summary of the situation and a recommendation to the Advisory Board and/or the Disciplinary Committee. 6) the Advisory Board (or DC) has a minimum of 48 hours after the initial e-mail to discuss the situation and decide if further time/investigation is necessary. This time period is specified to allow Board members to read and respond to their e-mail 7) upon reaching a consensus, the Advisory Board is authorized to pursue disciplinary, suspension or exiling action if it decides that such an action is warranted. 4.5. Limits to authority The MicroMUSE Administration reserves the right to do whatever it deems necessary under a consensus process to keep MicroMUSE safe for all Members and to advance the cause of the Mission. 4.6. Other references on behavior constraints For more information on behavior constraints, see references [3] and [4]. 4.7. Appeals In general, decisions of the MicroMUSE Administration may be appealed once only after a period of two months following the execution of the original judgement. It is the prerogative of the Board of Directors to decide if the appeal of a decision by the Advisory Board warrants a discussion and vote by the Board of Directors. This policy does not apply to judgments rendered upon repeat offenders or upon those who have violated a probationary period. Immediate appeals may be made to the Board of Directors of Advisory Board decisions which the defendant feels violated the due process stated in these Bylaws. Appeals must pass a majority vote of the Board of Directors in order to be considered. 5. E-mail Guidelines -------------------- E-mail is a vital, necessary tool for the successful administration of MicroMUSE. As such, members should be careful not to abuse the e-mail system by sending frivolous messages or by sending unnecessary copies of replies. In order to assist in the categorizing of e-mail messages, use of the following guidelines are suggested. 5.1. E-mail groups The primary e-mail groups supported by MicroMUSE are shown here: bd@michael.bbn.com corresponds to the Board of Directors; open only to Directors ab@michael.bbn.com corresponds to the Advisory Board; open to AB members oc@michael.bbn.com this is the Operations Council; open to all administrative personnel mentor@michael.bbn.com for all Mentors for discussion of Mentoring issues (LISTSERV) mc@michael.bbn.com Mentoring Committee members dc@michael.bbn.com Disciplinary Committee members space@michael.bbn.com corresponds to the Space Administration; open to all interested code@michael.bbn.com used by the Programmers consortium@michael.bbn.com used by the Consortium for the Development of Educational MUSE Technology and Infrastructure micromuse-registration@michael.bbn.com monitored by those in charge of character registration micromuse-problems@michael.bbn.com monitored by administrative staff town@michael.bbn.com open to all Members of MicroMUSE and used specifically to build a sense of community. wrc@michael.bbn.com the e-mail list of the Women's Resource Center of MicroMUSE cc@michael.bbn.com for use by elected members of the Citizens Council 5.2. E-mail headings guidelines It is strongly recommended that those sending e-mail to a group on MicroMUSE make use of the following Subject Headings: Opinion: ... used to express an opinion on an issue Info: ...... used when referring/presenting factual information Proposal: .. used to present/initiate a proposal RFD: ....... Raised For Discussion. Used to begin a discussion. CFV: ....... Call For Votes on an issue. Voting is generally open for one week; issue is implemented only with a majority of YES votes and no NO votes. CFN: ....... Call For Nays on an issue. Voting is open for one week; issue is implemented only with no NO votes. CFA: ....... Call For Assent on an issue. Voting is open for one week, but issue is reversed only if any NO votes are received. Decision: .. Report of the results of a vote tally by the one who called for the vote. Summary: ... Summary of a Discussion, onMUSE meeting or any Issue Survey: .... Survey of the group Issues: .... Presentation of Current Issues Question: .. Request for information Log: ....... Presentation of a logged event 5.3. E-mail protocol All onMUSE group meetings (requires a quorum) must be logged and/or summarized and the summary posted to the relevant group. The following headings should be answered by personal replies: CFV, Question, and Survey. Those who initiate e-mail with those subject headings should also send out summaries of the replies (e.g., CFV --> Decision). Votes should be tallied in Decisions so that the actions of each voter are displayed. Those who reply to e-mail should do their best to keep their messages brief and to-the-point. Simple YES votes to CFV's should be sent only to the person who called for the vote; any NO votes should be explained to the entire group. 6. Code Development Guidelines ------------------------------ This section applies to the development of the MicroMUSE server code. 6.1. General Code Guidelines 1) All code needs to be approved by the Director in charge of Code Development before entry into the MUSE source code. 2) All modifications should be thoroughly tested, first by the programmer, then by any Administrative personnel who are interested. 3) Code developers must conform to the programming guidelines specified by the Director in charge of Code Development. 6.2. Major changes 1) Major changes are: a) Anything that involves changing the database format b) Anything that involves changing any existing commands in a non-backwards-compatible manner c) Any case where it isn't obvious how the user interface should work or what powers should be used for controls() 2) When making a major change, a) the change should be discussed by the Advisory Board before implementation (a consensus vote is required by the Board of Directors prior to implementation as described in section 3). b) all changes should be approved when they are complete, including approval by the Director in charge of code development c) if the change involves a database format change, a backup database from just before the change must be saved. This can be done using the dbtar script. 6.3. Minor Changes 1) Minor changes are anything that isn't a major change. 2) When making a minor change, a) the Advisory Board should be informed before you make the change, but no delay (or vote) is necessary. b) if anyone on the Advisory Board objects, the change should be discussed before further work is performed on the change. c) all minor changes should be approved by the Director in charge of Code Development prior to entrance into the MUSE source repository. 6.4. Emergency fixes Emergency changes should be implemented as needed; immediately afterwards, an e-mail letter should be sent to the Advisory Board describing the change and explaining why it was considered an emergency. Misuse of this Bylaw is grounds for disciplinary action (i.e., frivolous changes to the code under the guise of emergency fixes will not be tolerated). 7. Definitions -------------- Active These are those members of a group (such as the AB or BD) who are not on Leave of Absence or inactive. Administrative Staff All onMUSE (Operators, SysOps, and SysAdmins) and offMUSE (Administrators, Advisors, and Directors) personnel are considered to be part of the Administrative Staff. Administrator These people are given considerable onMUSE powers (as SysOps or SysAdmins) to manage onMUSE resources and administrative tasks. They automatically serve upon the Advisory Board as Voting Members but may not countermand the actions or directives of a Director without authorization by the Board of Directors. Advisor An Advisor is an individual who is not an Administrator or Director who has been appointed by the Board of Directors to be a Voting Member of the Advisory Board. Advisory Board The primary decision-making group of MicroMUSE, the AB operates under the Consensus Process (in general) and can be overridden by the Board of Directors. The AB comprises Administrators, Advisors and Directors. Arrest Arrest (@arrest) of a MicroMUSE individual occurs when a staff member decides that a Visitor or Member must be restrained from interacting with the MicroMUSE community pending an investigation by the MicroMUSE Administration. Those arrested can only communicate with Administrative personnel and cannot perform any other onMUSE function. Board of Directors The Board of Directors is an oversight group and is generally used only when considering promotions to Director/SysOp or in cases where a small-number of decision-makers is necessary (emergencies). The BD consists of all Directors. Citizen Old terminology refering to Members of MicroMUSE. The MicroMUSE Administration decided to change this to Member to more accurately reflect the role played by a Member. MicroMUSE is not a democracy but a volunteer organization analogous to a museum. Citizens Council (CC) This organization was set up by the MicroMUSE Administration to provide a focus for Member opinion/suggestions and to organize community-level events on MicroMUSE. CFA Call For Assent. A CFA may be submitted by any voting member of the group making the decision. Votes by e-mail must be received within one week. Non responses are assumed to be "yes" votes. CFA's are implemented prior to issuing the CFA. CFN Call For Nays. A CFN may be submitted by any voting member of the group making the decision. Votes by e-mail must be received within one week. Non responses are assumed to be "yes" votes. To be implemented, the CFN must not receive any NO votes. CFV Call For Votes. A Call for Votes may be submitted by any voting member of the group making the decision. Votes by e-mail must be received within one week. Non responses are assumed to be abstentions; to be implemented, the CFV must have no NO votes and a majority of YES votes. Consensus Process The process by which a decision may be achieved by a group without dissent by *any* of its members. There are three levels of votes: CFV (Call For Votes) -- requires majority of YES and no NO votes CFN (Call for Nays) -- requires no NO votes (prior to implementation) CFA (Call for Assent) -- requires no NO votes (after implementation) Corporation A Corporation is a special, powered Project (see Project). Director Directors are responsible for ensuring that MicroMUSE achieves its Mission Statement. Directors are authorized to act according to their conscience on areas where decisions may be easily reversed (if so decided by the Board of Directors) and are voting members of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board. Disciplinary Committee (DC) This body investigates and decides, by consensus, allegations of misconduct, subject to Advisory Board approval. It consists of the MicroMUSE Mediator (permanent chairman) and three AB members (a Director, an Advisor and an Administrator) who sit in rotation. Exile An individual who is Exiled from MicroMUSE is banned from possessing a character upon MicroMUSE. All existing characters belonging to an Exiled individual are @recycled. Impeachment Impeachment is when the MicroMUSE Administration suspends from office a member of the Administrative staff who is accused of abusing his/her authority/power. The impeachment necessitates a hearing by the MicroMUSE Administration on what course of action should be followed, including apology, continued suspension, and exile. Inactive A member of a decision-making group (AB, BD) may declare themselves to be inactive or, by missing two consecutive votes, automatically become inactive. Inactive members do not count toward the quorum. Leave of Absence Any member of the administrative staff may request a leave of absence from their office and duty. This leave must be approved by the MicroMUSE Administration. Majority Vote A mechanism for making decisions within a decision-making group. An issue passes if the number of positive votes constitutes more than half of the Active voting members of the group. Wherever possible, a Consensus Process is preferred to a Majority Vote. Mediator The Mediator assists in the management of conflict and resolution of disputes involving temporary or permanent characters or administrative staff. The Mediator also serves as permanent chairman of the Disciplinary Committee and is a member of the Advisory Board. Access to information, powers and other resources are provided as necessary and reasonable for the effective and efficient performance of duty. Member A Member is a member of the MicroMUSE community who has passed through the registration and Mentoring process and agreed to follow the Charter and Bylaws of MicroMUSE. Mentoring Committee (MC) The MC guides the Mentors and approves of new Mentors. It comprises three OC members (rotating) and one permanent chair, Mentors Mentors are specifically-trained to assist all those on MicroMUSE who are in need of assistance. In addition, Mentors are responsible for properly introducing Students to MicroMUSE Membership. MicroMUSE Administration This term refers to the Advisory Board and Board of Directors, the latter of which holds precedence in case of disagreement between the two bodies. Operations Council (OC) The Operations Council is a body whose primary function is communication among all administrative personnel. As such, it is used for efficient dissemination of AB and BD decisions and for discussion of policy issues by those with implementation responsibility. While not a decision-making body, it may be consulted for its collective knowledge, opinion and advice. It consists of all administrative personnel (Ops, SysOps, SysAdmins, Administrators, Advisors and Directors). Operators Operators (Ops) are given some onMUSE powers and responsibilities. All Operators must have a specific responsibility which justifies the powers given. Project A Project is a special character, possibly used by more than one Member, designed to allow proper accounting of db usage for public projects. Programmer Programmers are those who are authorized to add to and change the code of the TinyMUSE program. Quorum A quorum is the minimum number of Active voting members necessary to hold an onMUSE meeting of a group. This minimum number is a majority of the Active voting members of a group. Role OnMUSE power level designation (Visitor, Student, Member, Project, Operator, Corporation, SysOp, SysAdmin, root). Space Administration The SA is responsible for maintaining and upgrading the model of outer space within MicroMUSE. Student A Student is a newly @pcreated character prior to completion of the registration process. Students have limits upon what they are permitted to do; the purpose of Students is to provide a means for new Members to learn about MicroMUSE in a controlled environment. Suspension Suspension constitutes the removal of onMUSE powers and access associated with a specific office following a decision by the MicroMUSE Administration to suspend an individual (who might be a member of the Administrative Staff. SysOp OnMUSE role intended for general system operations activity. SysAdmin OnMUSE role intended for system administration. Visitor Visitors are temporary characters that the MicroMUSE Administration provides to those who wish to visit MicroMUSE before applying for Membership. Voting member This signifies that the member may participate in Majority Votes and the Consensus Process (including blocking) for a group (such as the AB or BD). 8. References ------------- 1) History of MicroMUSE, by Shohin and Calliope 2) Cyberion City II, Inside and Outside, by Aslan 3) The MicroMUSE Charter 1991, by the Executive Council 4) MicroMUSE Introduction, by Aslan 5) Letter to Officials; Letter to New Users, by Michael (revised by Aslan) 6) Mentoring Guidelines, by Los 7) Mentoring Qualifications, by MacDuff 8) Mentoring FAQ, by Ender 9) Membership, Registration and Mentoring helpfiles, by Los ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10) Project and Corporation Guidelines, by the Advisory Board 11) Code of Conduct, by the Advisory Board 12) MicroMUSE FAQ 13) History of space(), by Priam_Agrivar and Carrie_Gram These documents and more information may be found through anonymous ftp to musenet.bbn.com or through gopher to cyberion.bbn.com