[OBJECTION] [BYLAW REVISION] Disciplinary Process Update

THIS PROPOSAL HAS THE POTENTIAL TO AUTOPASS

I, Gabriela Fernandez, as Head Coordinator, hereby propose the following changes to the Administrative Bylaws:

Bylaw 6 Before:

6. Disciplinary Policy
   
   1. Board of Inquiry
      
      1. Council shall preside over any disciplinary case that could result in an OWbN-wide punishment that is proposed as a Disciplinary Action.
   2. Issuing a OWBN Disciplinary Action
      
      1. To initiate an OWBN Disciplinary Action a proposal must be submitted to Council proposing an action against a member, where a member is defined as an individual who participates in OWBN. These proposals go immediately into discussion and do not require a second.
         1. A disciplinary proposal explicitly does not require that a formal bylaw has been violated by the accused member. Council may utilize the disciplinary procedures to issue disciplinary action any time it feels the shared values of the community have been violated in some way.
         2. Any person has the right to keep their private out of character communications to themselves. They are not required to supply any out of character documentation that they deem as private to anyone.
      2. The individual member to be issued with an OWBN Disciplinary Action must be sent notification at the same time the proposal is made to Council, via email, or any other acceptable means of notification, and that must be documented within the proposal and done so by the person proposing the Disciplinary Action.
         1. If after 24 Hours of the notification of the proposal, the Individual has not responded in any fashion that they have been made aware of the proposal, it becomes the Head Coordinator's responsibility to make sure the person becomes aware of the proposal in a timely manner, and all attempts must be documented and presented to council for review.
         2. The individual member has the right to defend themselves to Council by either any Council Member who is willing to do so or a member of the Executive Team.
         3. The discussion period for a disciplinary action is normally seven (7) days. The Head Coordinator may extend this discussion for any reason, for up to twenty-one (21) additional days, up to a maximum discussion period of twenty-eight (28) days. Any further extension requires a Council vote. The voting period for the disciplinary action shall not begin until the discussion period has concluded.
         4. If no response has been received from the member within the allotted time, and due diligence has been made by the Head Coordinator in an attempt to do so, then the member shall have forfeited the right to a Defense.
      3. Head Coordinator (HC) and Assistant Head Coordinators (AHCs) may seek further information as they see fit for the case. Should it be necessary, the HC and AHCs may appoint a team of members to act as their Subcoordinators for the length of the proposal process to investigate the situation.
      4. The results of the investigation and supporting evidence must be made available to the Council for assessment before the voting period begins.
      5. The Disciplinary Action must be ratified by a majority vote of the Council. The Head Coordinator breaks ties in all Disciplinary Actions.
      6. The vote for a Disciplinary Action will only determine if the individual member accused is “Responsible” or “Not Responsible” for the accusations against them. If the majority of Council determines that the individual is “Responsible,” a second vote opens, lasting seven (7) days to determine the punishment to be levied against them.
      7. The punishment vote will offer all OWBN Disciplinary Actions that apply to the individual and the situation, in accordance with the bylaws. A Council Member may vote for only one option, with the understanding that they agree to any lesser punishment as an alternative to their choice. The result of the punishment vote will be determined by counting votes from the most severe option down through each lower punishment until a majority has been achieved.
      8. The punishment options are ranked as below, with the first option being the most severe.
         1. Permanent Ban
         2. Indefinite Ban/3 Strikes
         3. Temporary Ban
         4. 2 Strikes
         5. 1 Strike
         6. Probation
         7. Censure
         8. Condemnation
      9. If the member's behavior is a violation of OWBN rules and values as decided by the Head Coordinator (HC), the Head Coordinator may order an immediate ban of that member from OWBN, whether or not that member has already been disciplined by a chronicle for that behavior.
         1. Following this ban, the Head Coordinator must initiate a disciplinary proposal to council proposing the ban action within fourteen (14) days. If this vote fails or the proposal is not made, the ban is reversed and all effects of the ban are removed from the member.
   3. Disciplinary Action Procedure for Council
      
      1. There will be two representatives during every Disciplinary Action:
         1. Representative for the accuser(s)
            
            1. This representative will be the individual who proposed the Disciplinary Action
            2. If it is a member of the Executive Team, that member will not be permitted to be a moderator for this particular proposal.
            3. Representatives for the accuser may speak about this private proposal, for the purpose of gathering information related to the case.
         2. Representative for the accused
            
            1. If it is a member of the Executive Team, that member will not be permitted to be a moderator for this particular proposal.
            2. The Representative and Defendant: May discuss the proposal for the purpose of gathering a defense. The accused may also speak on the proposal to whomever they like.
      2. During the discussion phase, all questions regarding the proposed disciplinary action will be sent directly to an appropriate representative with the Executive Team, as a neutral party, copied on the email. No questions/comments/concerns regarding the contents of the DA will be posted to Council by individual Council Members not serving as representatives.
         1. The representatives may offer paraphrased versions of questions to represent multiple individuals asking the same thing, or to remove leading or suggestive phrasing.
         2. Representatives will post questions, along with the appropriate responses, to Council stating whether a Coordinator or a Council Member asked them, without naming the specific office, chronicle or individual.
      3. With the exception of the Executive Team in their role as mediators and moderators and the representatives for the accuser and accused, any Council Member or Coordinator who posts questions/comments/concerns to Council in a Disciplinary Action Discussion will be placed on moderation immediately for 24 hours.
         1. Further violations of this restriction will result in a Disciplinary Action against the Council Member or Coordinator in question.
      4. Disciplinary Action votes will be blind, meaning that individual votes and comments will not be visible until the vote is closed.
   4. Treatment of Old Disciplinary Actions
      
      1. Unless noted in the original proposal, all members with disciplinary actions shall be subject to the restrictions, conditions and durations in effect at the time they were issued.
      2. Members with disciplinary actions that have been reversed or reduced are subject to the restrictions, conditions and durations of their reversed or reduced disciplinary action in effect at the time of the reversal or reduction.
   5. Disciplinary Actions
      
      1. OWBN Condemnation
         1. This action is to allow Council to condemn an action that does not deserve other punishment. A Condemnation action will stay on the Archivist's records unless it is successfully appealed.
      2. OWBN Censure
         1. Consequences of OWBN Censure
            
            1. No member holding any OWBN Censure shall be permitted to hold any of the following positions in OWBN: Council Member, Sub-Coordinators or Portraying NPCs for Coordinators or Sub-Coordinators.
            2. Should any member receive three OWBN Censures, that player will be treated as though having received an OWBN Strike.
      3. OWBN Strike
         1. Consequences of OWBN Strikes
            
            1. No member holding any OWBN Strikes shall be permitted to hold any position within OWBN at the organizational level. Organizational Level positions are: Coordinators, Sub-Coordinators, Council Members, and Portraying NPCs for Coordinators or Sub-Coordinators.
            2. No member holding two OWbN Strikes shall be permitted to hold the position of Storyteller, Assistant Storyteller, narrator, or similar within an OWbN Chronicle, full, probationary, satellite, or otherwise.
            3. Should any member receive three OWBN Strikes, that player will no longer be eligible to play in any OWBN Chronicle, nor hold any position within OWBN.
      4. Removal of Storyteller
         1. A proposal must be made to remove an ST by 2/3 majority, if no disciplinary actions are being rendered or proposed that would prohibit an ST from holding a position.
         2. Procedure that proposal is made followed by one week of discussion, one week of voting for removal. Subsequent to this will be the determination of length of time that ST is not permitted to hold chronicle administrative positions at either 6 months, one year, or indefinitely.
         3. Overturning the removal of a Storyteller requires 2/3 majority vote, following proposal to Council.
      5. OWBN Probation
         1. Upon ratification of the action and notification of the member, the member receiving a Probation Action is restricted to interacting with a single chronicle. The member is not permitted access to the national e-mail lists of OWBN for the duration of the probation; neither may they serve OWBN in any organizational level position during this time.
         2. Probations last for six (6) months, but may be extended through additional disciplinary proposals.
      6. OWBN Temporary Ban
         1. A temporary ban action lasts for six (6) months, after which a six (6) month Probation occurs. During that probation the member may serve in no position, at either the chronicle or OWBN level.
         2. Upon ratification of the ban and notification of the member the member will not be allowed to interact with OWBN in any capacity for the duration of the action.
      7. OWBN Indefinite Ban
         1. This Disciplinary Action grants three (3) OWBN Strikes in one (1) action and will be recorded as the member having received three (3) OWBN strikes, which will be treated as separate actions for reversal.
      8. OWBN Permanent Ban
         1. This Disciplinary Action requires a 2/3 majority vote to enact, and permanently bans the person from interaction with OWBN in any capacity unless specifically overturned by council proposal. No proposal to reduce or change this action may be made until six (6) months after the ban has been enacted. A proposal to reduce or change a Permanent Ban must also receive a 2/3 majority vote to enact.
   6. Process for appeal or reversal
      
      1. Reversal of OWBN Disciplinary Actions
         1. Any member who has received an OWBN disciplinary action may apply for a reversal of the action through a proposal seeking reversal of the action from a Council Member, AHC or the HC after one half (1/2) the assigned duration or six (6) months in the case of a strike. Only one action may be reversed per proposal.
         2. Only one such proposal on behalf of a member will be considered per three hundred sixty five (365) days beginning at the ratification of the first action given to the member.
         3. If the reversal would reduce the number of strikes held by the member to two (2), the Head Coordinator must make the proposal and the member will receive a Probation Disciplinary Action for a duration of six (6) months.
         4. Any strikes reversed in this way shall be noted as reversed in the Archivist's record.
      2. Appeal of OWBN Disciplinary Actions
         1. Should new evidence about a disciplinary action become available, a Council Member, an Assistant Head Coordinator or the Head Coordinator may introduce a proposal to appeal the original vote.
         2. If the appeal is ratified, the appealed action is nullified and will be treated as though that action's vote failed.
   7. Archiving
      
      1. All OWBN Disciplinary Actions must be logged in the Disciplinary Action Report by a member of the Executive Team at the conclusion of the punishment vote.
         1. The Disciplinary Action Report is available to all STs, Council Members, and Coordinators via their Vineyard Dashboard.
         2. They may ask the Archivist for the list of players, or may inquire after a particular member in that regard.
      2. Following the reinstating of full member status, all positions denied through Probation or Temporary Ban Actions [see section 6.d Disciplinary Actions] are again available to the member. Also, record of the action will be removed from the record of Disciplinary Actions.
      3. The result of an OWBN Disciplinary Action Vote must be announced on the ST and Council mailing lists.
      4. At any time during the duration and within seven (7) days after the end of the Probation or Temporary Ban disciplinary actions, the Council Member of the chronicle with which the member is interacting may file a report on the member's conduct and a recommendation to grant another disciplinary action equal to the one ratified by council.
         1. If probation follows a ban, the additional option of granting another ban of the same duration as the original is available to be recommended.
         2. If there are no objections to this recommendation within one (1) week, the recommendation will be executed as though it were a successful vote.
         3. If an objection is made, the recommendation may either be withdrawn or resubmitted as a proposal.
         4. If neither a withdrawal nor proposal happens within seven (7) days of the objection, then it will be treated as though no recommendation had been made.
         5. Should no recommendation be made, the member will be reinstated to full membership status. The duration of this action will be the duration of the original proposal.
   8. Local Disciplinary Matters
      
      1. Chronicle discipline is the province of the chronicle staff, however the chronicle staff must enforce however disciplinary actions passed by Council.
      2. Visitors to a chronicle are subject to the disciplinary procedures of the chronicle that they visit, just as their characters are subject to the actions of the game under Character Regulation Bylaws 4.

Bylaw 6 After:

6. Disciplinary Policy
   
   1. Board of Inquiry
      
      1. Council shall preside over any disciplinary case that could result in an OWbN-wide punishment that is proposed as a Disciplinary Action.
   2. Issuing a OWBN Disciplinary Action
      
      1. To initiate an OWBN Disciplinary Action a proposal must be submitted to Council by a Council Member or Coordinator proposing an action against a member, where a member is defined as an individual who participates in OWBN. These proposals go immediately into discussion and do not require a second.
         1. A disciplinary proposal explicitly does not require that a formal bylaw has been violated by the accused member. Council may utilize the disciplinary procedures to issue disciplinary action any time it feels the shared values of the community have been violated in some way.
         2. Any person has the right to keep their private out of character communications to themselves. They are not required to supply any out of character documentation that they deem as private to anyone.
      2. The individual member to be issued with an OWBN Disciplinary Action must be sent notification at the same time the proposal is made to Council, via email, or any other acceptable means of notification, and that must be documented within the proposal and done so by the person proposing the Disciplinary Action.
         1. If after 24 Hours of the notification of the proposal, the Individual has not responded in any fashion that they have been made aware of the proposal, it becomes the Head Coordinator's responsibility to make sure the person becomes aware of the proposal in a timely manner, and all attempts must be documented and presented to council for review.
         2. The individual member has the right to defend themselves to Council by either any Council Member or Executive Team Member who is willing to do so. If the individual member refuses all willing volunteers, then the member shall have forfeited the right to a Defense.
         3. The discussion period for a disciplinary action is normally seven (7) days. The Head Coordinator may extend this discussion for any reason, for up to twenty-one (21) additional days, up to a maximum discussion period of twenty-eight (28) days. Any further extension requires a Council vote. The voting period for the disciplinary action shall not begin until the discussion period has concluded.
         4. If no response has been received from the member within the allotted time, and due diligence has been made by the Head Coordinator in an attempt to do so, then the member shall have forfeited the right to a Defense.
      3. Head Coordinator (HC) and Assistant Head Coordinators (AHCs) may seek further information as they see fit for the case. Should it be necessary, the HC and AHCs may appoint a team of members to act as their Subcoordinators for the length of the proposal process to investigate the situation.
      4. The results of the investigation and supporting evidence must be made available to the Council for assessment before the voting period begins.
      5. The Disciplinary Action must be ratified by a majority vote of the Council. The Head Coordinator breaks ties in all Disciplinary Actions.
      6. The vote for a Disciplinary Action will only determine if the individual member accused is “Responsible” or “Not Responsible” for the accusations against them. If the majority of Council determines that the individual is “Responsible,” a second vote opens, lasting seven (7) days to determine the punishment to be levied against them.
      7. The punishment vote will offer all OWBN Disciplinary Actions that apply to the individual and the situation, in accordance with the bylaws. A Council Member may vote for only one option, with the understanding that they agree to any lesser punishment as an alternative to their choice. The result of the punishment vote will be determined by counting votes from the most severe option down through each lower punishment until a majority has been achieved (or ⅔ Majority in the case of Permanent Ban).
         1. Should the member already have 1 Strike, the 2 Strike option would be removed, and the Indefinite Ban/3 Strikes option will be replaced by Indefinite Ban/2 Strikes.
         2. Should the member already have 2 Strikes, the 1 Strike and 2 Strikes options would be removed, and the Indefinite Ban/3 Strikes option will be replaced by Indefinite Ban/1 Strike.
      8. The punishment options are ranked as below, with the first option being the most severe.
         1. Permanent Ban
         2. Indefinite Ban/3 Strikes
         3. Temporary Ban
         4. 2 Strikes
         5. 1 Strike
         6. Probation
         7. Censure
         8. Condemnation
      9. If the member's behavior is a violation of OWBN rules and values as decided by the Head Coordinator (HC), the Head Coordinator may order an immediate Permanent Ban of that member from OWBN, whether or not that member has already been disciplined by a chronicle for that behavior.
         1. Following this ban, the Head Coordinator must initiate a disciplinary proposal to council proposing the ban action within fourteen (14) days. This proposal is a simple Majority Vote For or Against the ban; representatives are not chosen. If this vote fails or the proposal is not made, the ban is reversed and all effects of the ban are removed from the member.
   3. Disciplinary Action Procedure for Council
      
      1. There will be two representatives during every Disciplinary Action:
         1. The Representatives will post evidence and answer questions presented to them on Council.
         2. Representative for the accuser(s)
            
            1. This representative will be the individual who proposed the Disciplinary Action
            2. If it is a member of the Executive Team, that member will not be permitted to be a moderator for this particular proposal.
            3. Representatives for the accuser may speak about this private proposal, for the purpose of gathering information related to the case.
         3. Representative for the accused
            
            1. If it is a member of the Executive Team, that member will not be permitted to be a moderator for this particular proposal.
            2. The Representative and Defendant: May discuss the proposal for the purpose of gathering a defense. The accused may also speak on the proposal to whomever they like.
         4. The Representatives and those they represent, the Executive Team, and the Mediation Team may speak about this private proposal.
      2. During the Disciplinary Action process, all questions regarding the proposed Disciplinary Action will be sent directly to the Executive Team. No questions/comments/concerns regarding the contents of the DA will be posted to Council by individual Council Members not serving as representatives.
         1. The Executive Team will post the questions to Council stating whether a Coordinator or a Council Member asked them, without naming the specific office, chronicle or individual unless the member explicitly states they wish to be mentioned.
         2. The Executive Team may post paraphrased versions of questions to represent multiple individuals asking the same question, or to remove leading or suggestive phrasing.
      3. The Executive Team will act as moderators through the Disciplinary Action process. They may assign willing Mediation Team Members as moderators as well, which must be communicated to Council.
         1. The Executive Team and Mediation Team must provide any evidence they have regarding the case regardless if they are acting as a representative.
         2. It is the duty of the Executive Team and Mediation Team to remark on Council if any evidence or answers to questions provided conflict with OWbN processes or evidence they have collected.
      4. With the exception of the Representatives, Executive Team, and the Mediation Team, any Council Member or Coordinator who posts questions/comments/concerns to Council in a Disciplinary Action Discussion will be placed on moderation immediately for 24 hours.
         1. Further violations of this restriction will result in a Disciplinary Action against the Council Member or Coordinator in question.
      5. Disciplinary Action votes will be blind, meaning that individual votes and comments will not be visible until the vote is closed.
   4. Treatment of Old Disciplinary Actions
      
      1. Unless noted in the original proposal, all members with disciplinary actions shall be subject to the restrictions, conditions and durations in effect at the time they were issued.
      2. Members with disciplinary actions that have been reversed or reduced are subject to the restrictions, conditions and durations of their reversed or reduced disciplinary action in effect at the time of the reversal or reduction.
   5. Disciplinary Actions
      
      1. OWBN Condemnation
         1. This action is to allow Council to condemn an action that does not deserve other punishment. A Condemnation action will stay on the Archivist's records unless it is successfully appealed.
      2. OWBN Censure
         1. Consequences of OWBN Censure
            
            1. No member holding any OWBN Censure shall be permitted to hold any of the following positions in OWBN: Council Member, Sub-Coordinators or Portraying NPCs for Coordinators or Sub-Coordinators.
            2. Should any member receive three OWBN Censures, that player will be treated as though having received an OWBN Strike.
      3. OWBN Strike
         1. Consequences of OWBN Strikes
            
            1. No member holding any OWBN Strikes shall be permitted to hold any position within OWBN at the organizational level. Organizational Level positions are: Coordinators, Sub-Coordinators, Council Members, and Portraying NPCs for Coordinators or Sub-Coordinators.
            2. No member holding two OWbN Strikes shall be permitted to hold the position of Storyteller, Assistant Storyteller, narrator, or similar within an OWbN Chronicle, full, probationary, satellite, or otherwise.
            3. Should any member receive three OWBN Strikes, that player will no longer be eligible to play in any OWBN Chronicle, nor hold any position within OWBN.
      4. Removal of Storyteller
         1. A proposal must be made to remove an ST by 2/3 majority, if no disciplinary actions are being rendered or proposed that would prohibit an ST from holding a position.
         2. Procedure that proposal is made followed by one week of discussion, one week of voting for removal. Subsequent to this will be the determination of length of time that ST is not permitted to hold chronicle administrative positions at either 6 months, one year, or indefinitely.
         3. Overturning the removal of a Storyteller requires 2/3 majority vote, following a proposal to Council.
      5. OWBN Probation
         1. Upon ratification of the action and notification of the member, the member receiving a Probation Action is restricted to interacting with a single chronicle. The member is not permitted access to the national e-mail lists (email lists, Discord Servers, What’s App groups, etc) of OWBN and those same lists for other chronicles for the duration of the probation; neither may they serve OWBN in any organizational level position during this time.
         2. Probations last for six (6) months, but may be extended through additional disciplinary proposals.
      6. OWBN Temporary Ban
         1. A temporary ban action lasts for six (6) months, after which a six (6) month Probation occurs. This Probation follows the process above.
         2. Upon ratification of the ban and notification of the member the member will not be allowed to interact with OWBN in any capacity for the duration of the action.
      7. OWBN Indefinite Ban
         1. This Disciplinary Action grants three (3) OWBN Strikes in one (1) action and will be recorded as the member having received three (3) OWBN strikes, which will be treated as separate actions for reversal.
      8. OWBN Permanent Ban
         1. This Disciplinary Action requires a 2/3 majority vote to enact, and permanently bans the person from interaction with OWBN in any capacity unless specifically overturned by council proposal. No proposal to reduce or change this action may be made until six (6) months after the ban has been enacted. A proposal to reduce or change a Permanent Ban must also receive a 2/3 majority vote to enact.
   6. Process for appeal or reversal
      
      1. Reversal of OWBN Disciplinary Actions
         1. Any member who has received an OWBN disciplinary action may apply for a reversal of the action through a proposal seeking reversal of the action from a Council Member, AHC or the HC after one half (1/2) the assigned duration or six (6) months in the case of a strike or ban. Only one action may be reversed per proposal.
         2. Only one such proposal on behalf of a member will be considered per three hundred sixty five (365) days beginning at the ratification of the first action given to the member.
         3. If the reversal would reduce the number of strikes held by the member to two (2), the Head Coordinator must make the proposal and the member will receive a Probation Disciplinary Action for a duration of six (6) months.
         4. Any strikes reversed in this way shall be noted as reversed in the Archivist's record.
      2. Appeal of OWBN Disciplinary Actions
         1. Should new evidence about a disciplinary action become available, a Council Member, an Assistant Head Coordinator or the Head Coordinator may introduce a proposal to appeal the original vote.
         2. If the appeal is ratified, the appealed action is nullified and will be treated as though that action's vote failed.
   7. Archiving
      
      1. All OWBN Disciplinary Actions must be logged in the Disciplinary Action Report by a member of the Executive Team at the conclusion of the punishment vote.
         1. The Disciplinary Action Report is available to all STs, Council Members, and Coordinators via their Vineyard Dashboard.
         2. They may ask the Archivist for the list of players, or may inquire after a particular member in that regard.
      2. Following the reinstating of full member status, all positions denied through Probation or Temporary Ban Actions [see section 6.d Disciplinary Actions] are again available to the member. Also, record of the action will be removed from the record of Disciplinary Actions.
      3. The result of an OWBN Disciplinary Action Vote must be announced on the ST and Council mailing lists.
      4. At any time during the duration and within seven (7) days after the end of the Probation or Temporary Ban disciplinary actions, the Council Member of the chronicle with which the member is interacting may file a report on the member's conduct and a recommendation to grant another disciplinary action equal to the one ratified by council.
         1. If probation follows a ban, the additional option of granting another ban of the same duration as the original is available to be recommended.
         2. If there are no objections to this recommendation within one (1) week, the recommendation will be executed as though it were a successful vote.
         3. If an objection is made, the recommendation may either be withdrawn or resubmitted as a proposal.
         4. If neither a withdrawal nor proposal happens within seven (7) days of the objection, then it will be treated as though no recommendation had been made.
         5. Should no recommendation be made, the member will be reinstated to full membership status. The duration of this action will be the duration of the original proposal.
   8. Local Disciplinary Matters
      
      1. Chronicle discipline is the province of the chronicle staff, however the chronicle staff must enforce however disciplinary actions passed by Council.
      2. Visitors to a chronicle are subject to the disciplinary procedures of the chronicle that they visit, just as their characters are subject to the actions of the game. under Character Regulation Bylaws 4.

Reasoning:

• Clean up and changing DA questions process so that Exec posts the questions. Reason for this is that in several DA’s, the representatives have ignored questions or reworded them to no longer be asking what the CM/Coord was asking about. This makes it so Council sees all questions asked and knows if a representative's answer addressed the question or if they wholesale ignored a question.
• Changing the wording of who can speak about DA’s to be the representatives, those they represent, Exec, and Mediation because there has been a tendency for the accused to spread a public narrative of victimization and there isn’t anything anyone can do about it. This fixes those issues.
• Making it so Mediation can be pulled in to aid in the DA process if multiple Exec members have to bow out due to conflict of interest.

Note: Credit to Chase Jelliffe for writing and formatting this prop.
Gabriela Fernandez