Global Village BBS - Administration Team Policy

Version 1.0 - March 2005

The administration team of Global Village BBS heavily depends on the help of volunteers who take up jobs within the community. These jobs involve numerous obligations and responsibilities but also some privileges. All users are free to announce their interest to join the administration team and thus help the Global Village BBS community. Whenever there is a vacant job on the administration team, it will be announced within the appropriate rooms or the Central Square>.

Every user of Global Village BBS has the obligation of abiding by the policy. This is especially valid for members of the administration team, they should set the example. The responsibility of the members of the administration team is to take care that users who violate the policy are discovered and dealt with accordingly. Since members of the admin team have access to private or hidden userdata it must be explicitly mentioned that access to this information is restricted and only permitted for reasons directly related to administrative tasks. Using private information for any other purpose, especially outside the BBS, will lead to severe sanctions.

The administration consists of five different roles:

• (1) SysGuides
• (2) RoomAides
• (3) Room Sysops ("Pink")
• (4) User Sysops ("Blue")
• (5) Supervisors

(1) SysGuides

SysGuides are users who know the system pretty well and offer to help other users if questions arise. They are allowed to respond to users who have their messaging system deactivated, if answering a question. They are allowed to turn their SysGuide status off and on, so that they can be asked questions only if they have time to help other users. SysGuides must be online on a regular basis, otherwise they risk losing their status. New SysGuides are appointed by the person in charge (as defined in section (5), "Supervisors") if they have previously announced their interest in such a job and only if there is the need for additional SysGuides. It is not compulsory for SysGuides to completely know the BBS inside and out. But they should be able to find out the needed information by checking help files or asking other members of the administration.

(2) RoomAides

Although RoomAides do not actively take over the role of SysGuide, obviously they should have a thorough understanding of the BBS as well and be able to answer questions about the system. RoomAides are responsible for creating a room information in the room they were assigned to and keeping it up to date. They are moderators of this room and are to take care that each user posting in the room sticks to the general policy as well as the room guidelines. In case of a violation they are allowed to warn users as well as to ban them from the room for a period of time. If these actions do not suffice, they may inform the Sysops about the misbehaviour who may take other sanctions if necessary. Whenever a user is banned from a room, the RoomAide has the obligation of explaining the reasons for this penalty to the user in question, and, upon request, to the Sysops in charge. If the "Anonymous"-option is set in a room, the RoomAide may look up the name of an author ONLY if the post is in clear disagreement with the policy. Abuse of the look-up function is subject to serious consequences otherwise.

List of Duties:

• As moderators, it is the obligation of the RoomAides to generate traffic in the room they were assigned to, i.e. by proposing new discussion topics in an interval of less than two months, or by actively participating by posting within an existing conversation/discussion.
• RoomAides must not be absent from the BBS longer than 14 days without prior notification to the Sysops in charge. The Sysops reserve the right of removing RoomAides from their position who are offline longer than 21 days without informing the Sysops about their status.
• Create and maintain roominfo
• Moderate room
• Take sanctions against users if necessary
• Promote posts in room
• Inform Sysops in case of (sustained) trouble

Vacant RoomAide positions are announced either in the room in question and/or in the first room of every language area, the so-called "language lobby", by the Room Sysops responsible for the appropriate language area. After a reasonable time span has passed, the Room Sysops of that area choose the applicant best suited in their eyes.

(3) Room Sysops

Room Sysops (also referred to as "Pink Sysops") can act as RoomAide or SysGuide if it is necessary and as such must have the knowledge to be able to do so. Room Sysops are responsible for the administration of the rooms of the language area they were assigned to, both in terms of assisting the RoomAides in enforcing the policy in all the rooms of their area and administrating the list of RoomAides itself. They are to install new Room Aides and remove them if they do not fulfil their duties. Their job is to mediate in case of arising conflicts and thus they are responsible for the general conduct within the language area they have been assigned to. All duties and responsibilities that are defined in section (2), "RoomAides", are to be followed by Room Sysops, as well.

Furthermore, Room Sysops have the obligation to:

• Check messages posted to the rooms, make sure they are policy-compliant, step in if necessary and the RoomAide hasn't taken any measures yet.
• Check that RoomAides are around and doing their tasks.
• Appoint new RoomAides in case the old ones are absent for too long (see section (2), "RoomAides") or resigned, take over RoomAide-responsibilities while the room is without a RoomAide.
• Create new rooms, delete unused ones.
• Post to keep discussions going.
• Try to get new users on the BBS by advertising the system across the Internet.
• Be online as much as possible: the absolute minimum is at 6 hours per calendar month.
• Mediate in conflicts
• Be aware of overall atmosphere in language area ('good' and 'bad' users)
• Report serious problems to the other Sysops.
• Set appropriate values of CUBES per post in the rooms.
• Propose rooms eligible for tax reduction and monitor the selected rooms if they still comply to the criteria.

Permissions:

• Room Sysops have the right to create additional accounts on the BBS for test purposes, one of which may be permanent, all others only temporary (i.e. no longer than for one or two days). Such extra accounts must be clearly marked as test accounts in their profile. Usage of such accounts is subject to numerous additional rules and restrictions as set forth in the Room Sysop helpfile.

Vacant Room Sysop positions are announced by the Supervisors in Central Square>, along with a clear description of the application procedure and guidelines for applicants. The usual application procedure is two calendar weeks, but this can be extended to three calendar weeks if the required by the circumstances. After the end of the application period, the Supervisors choose the applicant best suited in their eyes by majority vote. If no candidate appears suited for the position, there is also the possibility to appoint no new Room Sysop and declare the application procedure null and void. If an application procedure for the same position was held less than half a year ago, the Supervisors reserve the right to choose one of these applicants instead of starting a new application procedure.

(4) User Sysops

User Sysops (also referred to as "Blue Sysops") are responsible for the daily tasks within the BBS. Their job is the general administration of the userbase, including the editing of users upon request or necessity, and the assistance of Room Sysops in their tasks. They monitor global issues within the BBS. All duties, responsibilities and permissions that are defined in section (3), "Room Sysops", are to be followed by User Sysops, as well. New User Sysops are appointed to their position following a majority vote by the Supervisors, after having served as Room Sysops for a reasonable period of time. Such a promotion step may only be carried out if the person in question has fulfilled his Room Sysop position with success, holds a clean record, and only if there is a real necessity for appointing a User Sysop.

List of Duties:

• Assist RoomAides, SysGuides and Room Sysops whenever needed.
• Be aware of overall atmosphere in entire BBS (as much as that is possible, of course)
• Be aware of CUBES issues (users illegaly obtaining CUBES in any way, etc.)
• Edit user data upon request or in case of violation of the policy by a user
• Monitor new users to detect duplicate accounts and phony user data (name and e-mail address). Contact user if necessary.
• Particpate in administration team discussions about the BBS in order to improve it, not necessarily in a formalised way.

(5) Supervisors

Supervisors (synonymous to "Project Members" as announced on the BBS login screen) are the main admins of the board. They are the ones who do the real life tasks as taking care of hardware, software and net connectivity. Supervisors must abide by the policy in the same way as all other users and members of the administration. The BBS is their project and thus they have the final say in all cases not involving the arbitration panel, but also the final responsibility. They have kept and keep the place running and have agreed on this policy by unanimous vote. The Supervisors must elect a person who is responsible for the administration of the SysGuide list. This person can be any member of the administration team, excluding SysGuides and RoomAides. New Supervisors are appointed to their position following a unanimous vote of all other Supervisors. There is no obligation to a formal application procedure for this job, even though the Supervisors may decide to follow such a procedure upon their own discretion.

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