[LVS] Council Voting
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:59 amAt the meeting, I proposed a radical reform on the voting system and elections of the Council. This thread is to discuss and explain my idea in as much detail as possible. If you do have any questions or are unclear on something, just ask.
As of now, we have a total of 20 council members. At the meeting we decided by voting that this was the cap. I agree to this and see it is definitely in the best interests as council days are packed as it is. Members couldn't log online as the server was full and increasing the limit would cause major server lag.
But what was raised was that the server is not well represented fairly, and I agree.
Although I fully believe the council is capable of looking after every players interests, I feel it best that the Zedlings get a vote and voice towards matters concerning the server. So I think that a reform is necessary.
Here is what I propose;
The Server is split into areas; I think 4 warps and Nether Hub is the best arrangement for this.
In each area, the population is estimated. Players with more than one house of residence that is used will be consulted, but otherwise your most active build area will be counted as where you live.
Once this has been found, (yes this will take a lot of dedication and time and there will be the odd issue in terms of who lives where but if the counting is done effectively it should not change the final outcome), the areas will have the correct representation. There is a flaw in this, that the new warp, being relatively new, is under-populated. What I suggest is the population be guessed in comparison to extreme hills. Again, if this is seen as unfair, I also suggest and even split where half is the nether hub, and the warps consist of 1/8. This is a rough estimate but I think the majority of the server uses the nether hub. Please discuss what the best course of action for this is
Once the representation has been decided, we have the basis of a proportionally represented council. This is when we can start correct voting. Even if we go for estimated populations, we still have a count of where people live. We then hold elections. Any Zedling+ can run for election for their local council. The local council consists of twice the number of members as they send to the server council. This is a bit confusing so here's a diagram:
Server Council [10 Nether Hub, 3 Ex Hills, 3 Forest, 2 Savannah, 2 Swamp] Total Members: 20
V
Local Councils [20 Nether Hub, 6 Ex Hills, 6 Forest, 4 Savannah, 4 Swamp] Total Members: 40
V
The People
So there will be a total of 40 people on the server who have been voted for that help run the server. Local Councils do not have meetings unless they choose to host one. The Server Council will still meet every 2 weeks.
So we so far have this;
- Split into ares
- Population Estimation
- Proportions made
- Local Elections
For the local elections, I think the best way to do this would be by Forum vote, similar to how the Forest Hills Warp Elections are displayed. Local elections will last for one week. You get two votes, but cannot vote for the same person twice (but you can vote for yourself if you choose to run). When the elections are to be held will be decided once all the prior information has been collected, and after the elections, 40 people will for the Server Government, as voted for by all Zedlings who choose to vote.
After this, each local council will decide between them who they want to represent them in the Server Council. This can be decided how each local council likes. Either by their own voting system or a general discussion. They will have one week to decide as by that time there will be the first proportionally represented council. This does not have to be permanent, councils can choose to send different people each week or have a certain team, but only they get the voice at the Server Council, not the other members if they are not Members.
I will warn all of you, this may not be amazing for you if you are on the council now or hoping to. Using this method is unpredictable and some council members may be easily elected and others will fight for it, but that is how voting works.
Minus the calculations of representation, which only needs to be done initially and maybe again much later if there is a disproportionate council, the whole process would take 2 weeks. Most users will only notice this happening over two weeks, and even then most days in those two weeks will be as normal. The only difference would be the decision days and some discussions.
To keep it fresh, and to make sure the council is active, elections can be held every 4-6 months, ie 2/3 elections a year. This isn't a major kerfuffle as election weeks only span between Server Council Meetings but they should not be more often as then it becomes repetitive and time consuming.
Please feel free to discuss this. I know a lot of you "just want to play Minecraft" and in that case, leave it as the current system as I think the server runs well with it. But, if you think a server wide vote is needed for the council, this I think is the best and most organised way to go about it. Its not that easy to just go "I vote for [x]" and an effective council to be made.
Proposal by DannyC96
As of now, we have a total of 20 council members. At the meeting we decided by voting that this was the cap. I agree to this and see it is definitely in the best interests as council days are packed as it is. Members couldn't log online as the server was full and increasing the limit would cause major server lag.
But what was raised was that the server is not well represented fairly, and I agree.
Although I fully believe the council is capable of looking after every players interests, I feel it best that the Zedlings get a vote and voice towards matters concerning the server. So I think that a reform is necessary.
Here is what I propose;
The Server is split into areas; I think 4 warps and Nether Hub is the best arrangement for this.
In each area, the population is estimated. Players with more than one house of residence that is used will be consulted, but otherwise your most active build area will be counted as where you live.
Once this has been found, (yes this will take a lot of dedication and time and there will be the odd issue in terms of who lives where but if the counting is done effectively it should not change the final outcome), the areas will have the correct representation. There is a flaw in this, that the new warp, being relatively new, is under-populated. What I suggest is the population be guessed in comparison to extreme hills. Again, if this is seen as unfair, I also suggest and even split where half is the nether hub, and the warps consist of 1/8. This is a rough estimate but I think the majority of the server uses the nether hub. Please discuss what the best course of action for this is
Once the representation has been decided, we have the basis of a proportionally represented council. This is when we can start correct voting. Even if we go for estimated populations, we still have a count of where people live. We then hold elections. Any Zedling+ can run for election for their local council. The local council consists of twice the number of members as they send to the server council. This is a bit confusing so here's a diagram:
Server Council [10 Nether Hub, 3 Ex Hills, 3 Forest, 2 Savannah, 2 Swamp] Total Members: 20
V
Local Councils [20 Nether Hub, 6 Ex Hills, 6 Forest, 4 Savannah, 4 Swamp] Total Members: 40
V
The People
So there will be a total of 40 people on the server who have been voted for that help run the server. Local Councils do not have meetings unless they choose to host one. The Server Council will still meet every 2 weeks.
So we so far have this;
- Split into ares
- Population Estimation
- Proportions made
- Local Elections
For the local elections, I think the best way to do this would be by Forum vote, similar to how the Forest Hills Warp Elections are displayed. Local elections will last for one week. You get two votes, but cannot vote for the same person twice (but you can vote for yourself if you choose to run). When the elections are to be held will be decided once all the prior information has been collected, and after the elections, 40 people will for the Server Government, as voted for by all Zedlings who choose to vote.
After this, each local council will decide between them who they want to represent them in the Server Council. This can be decided how each local council likes. Either by their own voting system or a general discussion. They will have one week to decide as by that time there will be the first proportionally represented council. This does not have to be permanent, councils can choose to send different people each week or have a certain team, but only they get the voice at the Server Council, not the other members if they are not Members.
I will warn all of you, this may not be amazing for you if you are on the council now or hoping to. Using this method is unpredictable and some council members may be easily elected and others will fight for it, but that is how voting works.
Minus the calculations of representation, which only needs to be done initially and maybe again much later if there is a disproportionate council, the whole process would take 2 weeks. Most users will only notice this happening over two weeks, and even then most days in those two weeks will be as normal. The only difference would be the decision days and some discussions.
To keep it fresh, and to make sure the council is active, elections can be held every 4-6 months, ie 2/3 elections a year. This isn't a major kerfuffle as election weeks only span between Server Council Meetings but they should not be more often as then it becomes repetitive and time consuming.
Please feel free to discuss this. I know a lot of you "just want to play Minecraft" and in that case, leave it as the current system as I think the server runs well with it. But, if you think a server wide vote is needed for the council, this I think is the best and most organised way to go about it. Its not that easy to just go "I vote for [x]" and an effective council to be made.
Proposal by DannyC96