The OpenWiki Project Charter

From The OpenWiki Project

NOTE: The contents of this charter are in effect, as of Nov 14th, 2022

Preamble

The OpenWiki Project is a community-operated not-for-profit project, organized with the intent to facilitate the transparent operation of its constituent sites. It is created with the intent to ensure the means with which money is collected, maintained, disclosed, and utilized is exclusively within the agreed interests of the sites which are used to collect it.

Operating Structure

The OpenWiki Project is to be comprised of representatives chosen from each member site. The community of each member site is responsible, through means left to their discretion, for selecting two equal representatives. These representatives are entitled to vote on and present proposals.

The OpenWiki Project is to contain a Contracted Host, responsible for maintaining the equipment and technological expertise needed to host and maintain the software for project sites. This party must also choose two representatives, equal in voting power to representatives from member sites.

Each member site, and the Contracted Host, may appoint an unlimited amount of non-voting observer representatives, who may observe any private discussions, and comment on proposals.

At any time, and for any purpose, member sites and the Contracted Host may replace their representatives, with immediate effect.

Leaving The OpenWiki Project

At any time, and for any reason, each member site has the right to leave The OpenWiki project, and to be given all site assets. This includes any domains, databases, and files necessary to reestablish on a different host.

If a proposal deems the requested recipient of these assets to not be a responsible guardian of personal information, then the departing site may choose to either receive assets stripped of personal information (emails, password hashes, etc.), or to wait a month for all bearers of that personal information to be notified by email, and allowed to remove their information.

Discussion Policy

All discussions regarding proposals, or general action by the group, for The OpenWiki Project should be held in public. By default, discussion and voting on proposals are to be made visible to the public. Only if this would be in violation of law, dangerous to a wronged party, a risk to operational security, or in violation of a previously agreed contract, can discourse be held privately.

If a proposal is voted on privately, upon completion of the vote the proposal must be made public, including any public comments, and results of voting. Discussion regarding the proposal may still be sealed, but only if its release would fall under a risk detailed in the aforementioned paragraph.

When permitted or required by law, and when not violating a mutually agreed contract, all finances, including money raised or held, and all expenses, shall be public knowledge.

Proposals and Voting

All voting representatives may draft and present new proposals. Upon the presentation of a new proposal, and the notification of all representatives, voting may commence.

In the event a representative misses two consecutive votes, they shall be marked inactive. Once they vote on or propose a proposal, they shall be marked as active.

Representatives may not vote on proposals which concluded during their inactivity.

Each proposal requires a simple majority of active voters to pass, unless it is to do the following:

  • Modify this charter,
  • Eject a site from the project,
  • Eject a representative from the project,
  • Banish an individual from all sites,
  • Change the Contracted Host,
  • Prevent the release of personal information to an irresponsible guardian

then the approval of a 3/4ths majority is necessary

If there are enough votes to pass or fail a proposal, but under half of all eligible representatives have voted, then the proposal shall not conclude until a week after the proposal date.

If a proposal does not pass or fail within 14 days, then it shall expire. A single two week extension may be requested by any representative eligible to vote, except the organizer.

Representatives may relay their votes to that proposal's organizer, provided the organizer records the vote, and documents proof of the request.

What needs to be a Proposal

In order for any of the following actions to be performed, a proposal must be drafted and approved.

  • Induction of a new member site
  • Ejection of an existing member site by the project
  • Ejection of a member site's appointed representative by the project
  • Establishing means to raise money
  • Establishing means to store money
  • Establishing means to spend money
  • Non-essential changes to hosting infrastructure which impacts more than one member site
  • Changes to this charter
  • Changing the Contracted Host
  • Banishing an individual across all sites
  • Preventing the release of personal information to a member site

What can always happen without a Proposal

  • Essential changes and downtime to hosting infrastructure, when advanced notice is provided

Urgent Proposals by the Contracted Host

In the event immediate action is required to abide the law, or prevent actions unsafe to infrastructure or its users, an urgent proposal may be presented by the Contracted Host. A 3/4ths majority, and approval from at least one representative of each site is necessary to prevent the passing of such a proposal.

If such a proposal is rejected, the Contracted Host has the right to eject the offending sites from hosting after 7 days' notice. The Contracted Host is then obligated to make all reasonable efforts necessary to transfer site assets to a new host before ejection. Ejection from hosting is not equivalent to ejection from the project, and the offending sites' representation continue.

Emergency Wiki Leadership Decisions

In the event the leadership of a member site is engaged in a dispute with its community, to which there is no mutual resolution, the representatives of the project may elect to mediate with a simple majority. This proposal may only recommend action, and is not binding.

In the event such a proposal does not resolve the dispute, and if the following conditions are met:

  • At least 90% of active users from the site in dispute concur
  • All project representatives, excepting representatives from the site in dispute, concur
  • There are no other options capable of resolving the dispute

Then the project has the authority to remove the members of staff which are causing the deadlock from their on-site roles, and declare their staff positions as suspended for a length up to definition.

Forbidden Content

The following is a list of types of content which all member sites promise to refrain from containing. Refusal to remove content from this list is grounds for forcible removal by the Contracted Host, or ejection through a proposal by the rest of the group.

  • Graphic and pornographic content not excusable through context
  • Excessive political discourse irrelevant to the site's purpose
  • Intense discrimination or intentional overuse of content intended to offend
  • Content which infringes upon someone's copyright, and cannot by excused by fair use
  • Content which otherwise breaks an applicable law

Commitment to Open Source

To the degree allowable by operational security, the Contracted Host shall release all server software components under a free or open software license. The Contract Host is expected, though not required, to freely release the complete documentation necessary for anyone to recreate the full software stack for their own purposes.

Obligations of Service

The Contracted Host is obligated to provide stable and secure hosting for all member sites. They are obligated to maintain the software for member sites, to the point of installing software updates, and resolving issues resulting from the installation or configuration of that software.

The Contracted Host is obligated to provide any reasonable accommodations requested by any member site, and to abide by proposals voted on by member wikis, even when those proposals are generally disagreeable.

In the event the Contracted Host can no longer provide its services, it must assist all member sites in finding and cleanly handing off responsibilities to a new Contracted Host, agreed to through a proposal.

Ratification of this Charter

All member parties must ratify this charter, involving a general consensus among major editors/staff from each party.

Members ratifying under MiiWiki

Members ratifying under WiKirby

Members ratifying under Fire Emblem Wiki

Members ratifying under Fanon Wiki/Pikmin Fanon

  • Cheepy (Discord contact: xXxKingBoo69xXx#4484)
  • Username (talk) 00:05, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
  • Glubbfubb (Discord contact: GreatGusto#9507)
  • PinkYoshiFan#3525 14:37, 10 November 2022 (UTC)
  • CreatorofPikminE (Discord contact: PixelThistle#5831)
  • Neo (Discord contact: Neo#4216)
  • Wraith (Discord contact: Wraith#1832)

Members ratifying under System Theta

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