Dear Members,
Our regular members will already be aware that SkinCell operates on a unique basis when dealing with serious issues affecting the Forum.
As well having an Admin and a team of Moderators to deal with the day to day running of the forum we also have a democratic Council made up of Mod team and regular members. The reason for including regular members is to ensure that there is impartiality, no censorship, accurate reporting to the members and to ensure that neither Admin or the Mod Team are able to act unilaterally in banning members or deleting posts.
Since our first incarnation of the council we have reviewed its performance and are generally very pleased with how things have gone, however, times change and so our set up in the council is due for a change also, hopefully for the better.
Here are the main outlines for how the council will now be structured.
Council construction.1. A new position of Head of Council has been created to act as a permanent intermediary between members and the council, also as a mentor and guide for freshman council members. The Head of Council (or HOC) would have a private email address of
council@skincell.org as an anonymous front line point of contact should it ever be needed.
The HOC will also have a username available in the forum in case a member should want to contact them by Instant Message. That contact username is
COUNCIL2. Admin (that's me) will stand down from all voting unless specifically requested to take part by Head of Council (HOC) should any other members be excluded or fail to appear in council chambers. Admin will only serve the council to ensure that all information and data brought before the council is accurate and valid.
3. Any moderator or council member will be expected to withdraw their vote from any action in the event that they have any personal involvement in the action.
4. The Council will be formed from the 5 moderators, 4 general members and 1 HOC. Admin will act as facilitator, data clerk, officer of the council and reporter of the verdicts.
Council Membership1. Any general member may be nominated to sit on the council by any other general member, by HOC, by moderators, or even by themselves. The total number of general members allowed will be four plus HOC.
2. Council membership is open to all members but the preferred source is Gods and Goddesses due to their experience with the forum and its operations. Applications will be heard and dealt with on their own merits.
3. Nominations should be heard and reviewed from within Council Chambers which is where council view all cases and submit their votes with input being accepted from the Moderators, Admin and HOC.
4. On successful nomination admin will extend an invitation to the nominee.
5. Accepted members will only receive access to Council Chambers if there is a need to vote and the council is needed.
ReportingAll matters passed before the council will be reported to the general membership using this board, News. A new thread will be created with a title similar to "Council News". This task will be carried out only after all voting and an appropriate course of action has been decided and actioned upon by the council.
ComplaintsShould you wish to register a formal complaint about any portion of the forum, its administrator, moderators or the council itself please address your complaints in the first place to any official. We are duty bound to act upon any complaint. In the event that a member is not satisfied with their response they may take the matter directly to the HOC who is sworn to impartial and independent action in all matters.
The matter may then be taken before the council for a decision.
Any appeals against a council decidion should be made to either the HOC or to Admin together with specific reasons why the appeal should be heard.
Any such appeal with then be reviewed and acted upon depending on the circumstances.
Identities.In order to prevent abuse, harassment or undue influence it is our policy to keep the identities of the council general members secret unless they themselves wish to inform any other of this fact. Also, the HOC will remain secret to all except for those general members who join the Council.
I will be leaving this thread sticky but open to replies in case any members have questions, which I will do my best to answer .
Thanks for your time.
