RT9910- P99.01.02
From StarFleet Bureau of Information
Proposal P99.01.02
Title: ASR Charter
Author: Jeffrey Jenkins
Proposal: The administration shall set out to adopt a concensus charter
for the newsgroup.
Rationale: A Charter lends validity to the club and to our attempts to
regulate non-RPG-related posting on the Alt.StarFleet.RPG newsgroup.
Comments: Because of time constraints last RT which effected the vote and
the amount of work involved in the adoption of a charter, I chose to allow
the issue to rest until this session of the RT. This proposal has
technically been adopted, but I would feel much more confortable allowing
the discussion and vote to take place again.
The charter has been directly requested, to my knowledge, at least once in
the last 6 months.
---
alt.starfleet.rpg (ASR) Consensus Charter (draft)
April 22, 1999
I General
This Consensus Charter is the official charter for the unmoderated Usenet
newsgroup, alt.starfleet.rpg (ASR). The current participants in ASR, who
also collectively form the Alt.Starfleet.Rpg on-line club (ASR RPG), have
voted upon and ratified this document to define acceptable subjects and
posts in the newsgroup.
ASR is a forum for people to publish and share original works of fiction in
a setting based on the Star Trek universe. Participants collaborate with
each other to collectively create stories built upon each others' work.
Participation in the newsgroup is open to everyone, and especially
appropriate for aspiring writers and/or Star Trek enthusiasts.
ASR was created in November, 1993. Since its creation, the participants
have developed and refined certain rules and conventions for posts, which
are designed to improve the quality of posts, avoid confusion, organize
participants into useful writing units, and help new participants quickly
join and participate in the newsgroup. These rules and conventions are
contained in this consensus charter and other documents which are either
periodically posted in ASR, and/or published on the ASR RPG's website at
<http://www.gator.net/~psy342/asr.> All participants in ASR are required
to follow all ASR RPG guidelines. Posts and posters who violate those
guidelines are not welcome in ASR.
II Newsgroup Posting Guidelines
Acceptable Posts:
* Role Playing Game (RPG) Posts - Role Playing posts of an approved
unit in the ASR RPG.
* Inquiries - Posts from individuals requesting information about ASR.
* ASR Documents - Periodic posts of ASR-related documents.
* General discussions - Announcements or discussions related to topics
that affect all ASR participants.
Unacceptable Posts
Any article that does not fall under the classification of an acceptable
post, as defined in the previous paragraph, is not permitted. Specific
examples of unacceptable posts include, but are not limited to, the
following:
* Commercial Advertisements
- Advertisements or announcements of goods or products for sale
or services offered are prohibited.
- Required footers appended to posts by on-line services, ISP's,
or e-mail providers are acceptable.
- Signature lines advertising businesses or services are
acceptable only if they are included at the end of an
acceptable article, as defined above. Such signatures are
limited to four lines, with a maximum of 80 characters per
line.
* Solicitations/Announcements - Other groups, organizations, games or
individuals may not announce their existence or solicit members,
participants or visitors in ASR. Examples of these groups include,
but are not limited to, the following:
- MU* sites - i.e., MUD, MUSH, MUCK, etc.
- Web sites
- IRC channels or chat groups
- Other Usenet newsgroups
- PBEM games
- Online service or ISP games or activities
- Mailing lists
* Excessive Multiple Posting (EMP)/Spam - Is not permitted.
* Excessive Cross Posting (ECP)/Velveeta - Is not permitted.
* Requests For Help - Articles requesting assistance with Star Trek
computer, card or board adventure games, simulations, etc., are
not allowed in ASR.
* General Star Trek Questions - Posts regarding the various series,
movies, conventions, etc. are inappropriate in ASR. Posts regarding
the United Paramount Network (UPN), UPN affiliates or syndicated
broadcasters of the various series are also inappropriate. There is
a Usenet hierarchy, rec.arts.startrek.*, where these posts are
appropriate.
* Binary Files - Are prohibited.
* Tests - Verifying that posts are being propagated by posting a test
message in ASR is not allowed. There are other appropriate
newsgroups which are better suited to this purpose. The appropriate
alt.* newsgroup is alt.test. Contact your ISP for further
assistance.
* Trolls and Flames - Posts that purposely offend or attempt to goad
ASR participants (trolls) and posts that contain public arguments,
insults and/or attacks on others (flames) are prohibited in ASR.
* Public Service Posts - Posts which claim to offer benefit, services
or goodwill to the general public are prohibited. Examples of this
type of article include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Chain Letters
- Make Money Fast (MMF) Opportunities
- Cookie Recipes
- Virus Alerts
- Government Legislation Alerts
III Changes to this Consensus Charter
The participants in ASR may change the contents of this charter at any
time. A proposal to change the charter may be submitted by any participant
in good standing. If, after discussion, the proposal has the support of
ten other participants in good standing, the proposal must be voted upon.
A "participant in good standing" is a person who contributes to ASR and has
not violated the current consensus charter(s) in the past six months.
The vote may be conducted using any mechanism ASR participants deem
appropriate. The vote must be open to all Usenet users, except people
identified as violators of the current consensus charter(s) in the past six
months.
A proposal that receives 50% + 1 or more votes of all votes cast passes.
Greg, here is the ammended proposal.
Jeff.
Proposal P99.01.02
Title: ASR Charter
Author: Jeffrey Jenkins
Proposal: The administration shall set out to adopt a concensus charter
for the newsgroup.
Rationale: A Charter lends validity to the club and to our attempts to
regulate non-RPG-related posting on the Alt.StarFleet.RPG newsgroup.
alt.starfleet.rpg (ASR) Consensus Charter (draft)
Ver. 0.0.5 - March 26, 1999
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS
0.0 Administration
0.1 Revision Log
0.2 Abbreviations, Acronyms And Definitions Used In This Consensus Charter
0.3 Rationale For This Consensus Charter
1.0 ASR Overview
1.1 General Overview
1.2 The Role Playing Game
1.3 The Usenet Newsgroup
2.0 Newsgroup Posting Guidelines
2.1 Acceptable Posts
2.2 Unacceptable Posts
2.3 Expected Formats
2.4 Participants Agree To Abide By These Guidelines
3.0 The ASR Consensus Charter
3.1 This Document
3.2 Hierarchy Of ASR Documents
3.3 Maintenance Of The Consensus Charter
4.0 Modifying The Consensus Charter
4.1 Original Creation Of This Consensus Charter
4.2 Procedures For Changing This Document
4.3 Non-Consequential Changes
4.4 Revisions
4.5 Version Numbers
5.0 Enforcement Of This Consensus Charter
5.1 ASR Members' Responsibilities
5.2 Unit, Task Force And Fleet Commanders
5.3 COMPA
5.4 Actions Against Offenders
6.0 Other References
6.1 The Official Web Site
6.2 Contact Information
6.3 Documents Referenced By This Consensus Charter
7.0 Legal Notices
7.1 Copyrights
7.2 Disclaimer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.0 Administration
0.1 Revision Log
VersionDate Vote Author Comments
0.0.0 11-Aug-1997 N/A H. Iha Original outline draft created.
0.0.1 15-Dec-1997 N/A H. Iha Rough draft submitted to CINCSF for
informal review.
0.0.2 22-Jan-1998 N/A H. Iha First draft submitted to CINCSF for
formal review.
0.0.3 19-Feb-1998 N/A H. Iha Revised first draft posted on
unofficial web site.
0.0.4 15-Mar-1998 N/A H. Iha Final first draft submitted to COMPA.
0.0.5 26-Mar-1999 N/A J. Jenkins Revision by CINCSF
0.2 Abbreviations, Acronyms And Definitions Used In This Consensus Charter
The following abbreviations and acronyms are used in this document:
Article See Message.
ASR alt.starfleet.rpg a.k.a. Alt.Starfleet.Rpg - This refers to
the Usenet newsgroup in the alt.* hierarchy,
alt.starfleet.rpg. It also refers to the interactive/role
playing game conducted in the Usenet newsgroup of the same
name.
CINCSF Commander in Chief, Star Fleet - ASR's highest ranking
official. This may refer to either the PC or the RL person
who owns the PC.
COMPA Commander, Public Affairs - The PC or RL person assigned as
the liaison between ASR and the general public. Maintenance
and enforcement of this Consensus Charter is the
responsibility of COMPA.
CSFO Chief of Star Fleet Operations - ASR's second highest
ranking official. This may refer to either the PC or the RL
person who owns the PC.
Fleet Fleet is the highest organizational level for RP units
within ASR. Fleets are comprised of task forces and/or
individual ASR units. Fleets generally contain one to three
task forces with four to 10 units. Each fleet has a
commander which oversees the operations of the fleet, its
task forces and the units within the fleet.
Message Usenet newsgroup message - A file submitted for distribution
to one or more Usenet newsgroups. In this document, the
terms "Article" and "Post" are synonymous with "Message".
ISP Internet Service Provider - A generic term used here to
identify the company or organization that provides internet
access, including e-mail and Usenet access.
NRPG Non Role Playing Game - A newsgroup article, or section of
an article, which contains information that is not part of a
RPG story. NRPG sections are usually notes or instructions
to players.
PBEM Play By E-Mail - A game where participants communicate with
each other using electronic mail.
PC Player Character - A fictional character, created by a
participant in ASR, for the purpose of participating in ASR.
Post See Message.
RL Real Life - Reality, as opposed to the fictional universe in
which ASR is conducted.
RP Role Play or Role Playing - Describes actions or attributes
which refer to RPG characters, elements or articles.
RPG Role Playing Game - A game where players take personae of
characters they have created, and through those characters,
interact with other players.
RT The ASR Round Table - The governing body of ASR, composed of
games leaders and administrators. The Round Table is the
body of the club that establishes procedures and guidelines
for ASR.
Task Force Task Force is the second highest level of organization for
units within ASR. Task forces are composed of two or more
individual ASR units. Units within a task force are often
assigned joint missions or similar duties to perform. Each
task force has a commander which oversees the operations of
the task force and the units within it.
Unit Unit is the third highest level of organization within ASR.
A unit is an independent operating entity which is able to
perform assigned duties, missions and roles in ASR. Most
units are ships or space stations/outposts. Each unit has a
command structure and hierarchy which are filled by players
in the ASR.
0.3 Rationale For This Consensus Charter
The Usenet newsgroup alt.starfleet.rpg (ASR) was created circa November,
1993. It was created to provide a new forum for people participating in an
existing on-line role playing game (RPG) set in the Star Trek Universe. As
an "alt" newsgroup, a Usenet charter was not required, and none was created.
In March, 1999, ASR is still intact and active. The newsgroup has a
consistent posting rate of 100 or more on-topic articles a week. The RPG has
grown to include over 100 participants, consisting of more than 30 RP units
organized into six groups/fleets.
In the Spring of 1997, an alarming trend began in ASR. A large number of
inappropriate articles began appearing in the newsgroup. These articles,
mostly commercial ads for web sites or phone services and/or binary files,
began cluttering the newsgroup, adversely affecting participants in the RPG.
Fearing the day commercial ads and spam would overrun the newsgroup, several
players and game administrators agreed to create a consensus charter (this
document) to define the audience and appropriate post topics in ASR. It was
hoped that a consensus charter would legitimize the newsgroup (as much as
possible for an alt.* group) in the eyes of news administrators in our
efforts to stop off-topic articles from overrunning the newsgroup.
This Consensus Charter is the official charter for the unmoderated Usenet
newsgroup alt.starfleet.rpg. It has been voted upon and approved by the
current participants in ASR, who are collectively recognized as the sole
group for whom the ASR newsgroup exists. It defines the target audience and
topics applicable to the ASR newsgroup, and defines the role of the ASR
newsgroup within ASR.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 ASR Overview
1.1 General Overview
ASR is a forum for people with a common interest in Star Trek, interactive
fiction, and role playing to interact. At its basic level, it is an on-line
game. At a higher level of organization, it is a club, where people who
share common interests meet on-line and exchange stories and ideas.
Participants in ASR write fictional accounts of their characters' actions.
Most of these stories involve interaction with characters created by other
participants, and generally advance a collective plot. These stories are
created in the fictional universe of Star Trek, approximately 40 years after
the events depicted in the Paramount Pictures television series, Star Trek:
The Next Generation.
Although the RPG is based on Star Trek, there are some differences between
ASR and the television series. These differences are present to facilitate
effective story writing in ASR, and to accommodate the diverse interests of
its members. An overview and introduction to ASR can be found in the
documents, ASR FAQ and ASR Ensign's Primer.
1.2 The Role Playing Game
The game, or club, is open to all members of the on-line community. ASR has
well-defined rules for participation and instructions for new players to get
started. Most of these documents can be found at The Official Web Site (see
Section 6.1).
Policies for ASR are set by the club's governing body during semi-annual
meetings. This governing body is called "The ASR Round Table" (RT), and
their operating guidelines are defined in the document, Rules and Procedures
for the ASR Round Table.
1.3 The Usenet Newsgroup
The newsgroup, alt.starfleet.rpg, is the forum participants in ASR use to
communicate with each other and the on-line community. It is the approved
venue to post ASR stories. As a Usenet newsgroup, it also serves as a public
showcase of the members' talents and creativity. Finally, the articles in
the newsgroup establish an introduction and examples of the RPG to Usenet
readers who may not be familiar with the game.
By approval of this Consensus Charter, the members of ASR, and Usenet
readers in general, recognize that the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup,
alt.starfleet.rpg, exists solely for the benefit of ASR.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.0 Newsgroup Posting Guidelines
2.1 Acceptable Posts
Only articles with the following topics are allowed in the ASR newsgroup:
1. RPG Posts - RP posts of an approved unit in ASR.
2. Inquiries - Posts from individuals requesting information about ASR.
3. Approved Announcements - Announcements targeted for all ASR
participants and approved by CINCSF or CSFO.
4. ASR Documents - Periodic posts of official ASR documents and manuals.
2.2 Unacceptable Posts
Any article that does not fall under the classification of an acceptable
post, as defined in Section 2.1, is not permitted. Specific examples of
unacceptable articles include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Commercial Advertisements
o Advertisements or announcements of goods or products for sale or
services offered are prohibited.
o Required footers appended to articles by on-line services/ISP's
are acceptable.
o Signature lines advertising businesses or services are acceptable
if they are included at the end of an acceptable article, as
defined in Section 2.1. Such signatures are limited to four lines,
with a maximum of 80 characters per line.
2. Solicitations/Announcements - Other groups, organizations, games or
individuals may not announce their existence or solicit members,
participants or visitors in alt.starfleet.rpg. Examples of these groups
include, but are not limited to, the following:
o MU* sites - i.e., MUD, MUSH, MUCK, etc.
o WWW sites
o IRC channels or chat groups
o Usenet newsgroups
o PBEM games
o Mailing lists
3. Excessive Multiple Posting (EMP)/Spam - is not permitted. Except for
periodic posts of ASR documents, any two or more articles with
identical (or nearly identical) contents may be considered EMP. COMPA,
or his/her designee, shall be the sole determiner of EMP.
4. Excessive Cross Posting (ECP)/Velveeta
o RPG articles may not be cross posted to any other newsgroup.
o Inquiries may not be cross posted to any other newsgroup.
o Approved Announcements and Approved Documents may be cross posted
to other appropriate newsgroups. Appropriate newsgroups are
determined by either COMPA, CINCSF or CSFO.
5. Requests For Help - Articles requesting assistance with Star Trek
computer, card or board adventure games, simulations, etc., are
inappropriate in the ASR newsgroup.
6. General Star Trek Questions - Posts regarding the various series,
movies, conventions, etc. are inappropriate in the ASR newsgroup. Posts
regarding the United Paramount Network (UPN), UPN affiliates or
syndicated broadcasters of the various series are also inappropriate.
There is a Usenet hierarchy, rec.arts.startrek.* where these posts are
appropriate.
7. Binary Files - Under no circumstance shall a binary file be posted to
the ASR newsgroup.
8. Tests - Verifying that posts are being propagated by posting a test
message in the ASR newsgroup is not allowed. There are other
appropriate newsgroups which are better suited to this purpose. The
appropriate alt.* newsgroup is alt.test. Contact your ISP for further
assistance.
9. Trolls and Flames - Articles that purposely offend or attempt to goad
ASR participants (trolls) and articles that contain public arguments,
insults and/or attacks on others (flames) are prohibited in ASR.
10. Public Service Posts - Articles which claim to offer benefit, services
or goodwill to the general public are prohibited. Examples of this type
of article include, but are not limited to, the following:
o Chain Letters
o Make Money Fast (MMF) Opportunities
o Cookie Recipes
o Virus Alerts
o Government Legislation Alerts
11. NRPG Posts - Messages containing only NRPG information must not be
posted to the ASR newsgroup. These messages should be e-mailed to the
appropriate parties.
2.3 Expected Formats
1. Article Format
o Articles posted in ASR should be plain, ASCII text.
o Lines should be limited to 72-80 characters in length.
o Carriage returns (new lines) should terminate each line.
o Word processing codes, page layout codes, HTML tags and similar
formatting instructions should be removed from posted articles.
o MIME extensions, attachments, document compression, etc. are to be
avoided in posted articles.
2. Subject - The subject of a RPG article should have the following
format:
[Unit]: [Title]
Where [Unit] is the ASR Unit depicted in the article, and [Title] is
the name of the article. [Title] usually refers to a description of the
article, or the scene in which the article takes place. Some units have
different conventions for subject formatting; those conventions should
be used.
3. Signature - Each article should include information on the character,
player and unit for easy identification. The preferred location for
this is at the end of the text in the form of a Signature. Signatures
should include:
o Player's Name
o Player's E-mail Address(es)
o Character's Name
o Character's Rank
o Character's Billet
o ASR Unit
o ASR Unit's WWW or Post Archive Site (if available)
4. Inquiry Posts - As described in the document, What is this? (And how
can you join?), the subject of an inquiry post should be:
ASR Information
5. Netiquette - Standard Usenet netiquette practices should be observed.
Information on netiquette is posted periodically in the newsgroups
news.newusers.questions and news.announce.newusers.
2.4 Participants Agree To Abide By These Guidelines
By participating in ASR, individuals agree to abide by the rules and
guidelines established by the club. The guidelines are defined in the
various documents created for ASR, including this Consensus Charter.
By posting in the ASR newsgroup, individuals are presumed to be
participating in ASR. This presumption includes individuals requesting
information on ASR. Posts to the ASR newsgroup must follow the guidelines
defined in Section 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.0 The ASR Consensus Charter
3.1 This Document
This document is the official charter for the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup
alt.starfleet.rpg.
This is a Consensus Charter, not an "official charter" as defined in the
news.* hierarchy for Usenet newsgroups in the "Big 8" hierarchies. This
document serves the same purpose as an "official charter" for the Usenet
newsgroup alt.starfleet.rpg.
This Consensus Charter defines the target audience and topics applicable to
the ASR newsgroup. It also defines whom the ASR newsgroup serves, who is
eligible to vote on changes in this document, and the process of proposing
and voting upon changes to this document.
3.2 Hierarchy Of ASR Documents
ASR has a collection of many documents. These documents cover introductions
to ASR, procedures and various other topics. The ASR Consensus Charter is
but one of these documents. Although it addresses several areas of ASR, its
main focus is to serve as the official charter for the ASR newsgroup.
In matters referring to the newsgroup, the ASR Consensus Charter shall have
priority over all other ASR documents, should differences or contradictions
exist. In matters referring to RPG policies, procedures and rules, the ASR
Consensus Charter shall have subordinate priority to all other ASR
documents, should differences or contradictions exist.
3.3 Maintenance Of The Consensus Charter
The official version of The ASR Consensus Charter shall be composed in
English, using HTML 4.0 language for document layout. It shall reside on a
single server/site, as determined by CINCSF.
Translations of the ASR Consensus Charter into plain ASCII text shall be
available. In the event of discrepancies between the HTML 4.0 and text
versions of the documents, the HTML 4.0 version shall have priority over the
text version.
Annotations, comments, notes, revisions and revision history shall be
included and preserved with the document.
An archive of this Consensus Charter shall be maintained. The latest
revision of each version of this document shall be kept on the same
server/site as the current version. Those archived revisions shall retain
annotations, comments, notes, revisions and revision history. Proposed
versions of this Consensus Charter which fail to be ratified by a vote shall
likewise be archived. Existence of these failed versions shall be reflected
in the Consensus Charter Revision Log.
Whenever a new version of this Consensus Charter is created, annotations,
comments, notes and revisions from the previous version shall be removed
from the new version of this document.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.0 Modifying The Consensus Charter
4.1 Original Creation Of This Consensus Charter
Initial ratification of this Consensus Charter shall be open to all Usenet
readers. The process of approval shall be modeled after the formal process
used in the Big 8 newsgroup hierarchies. Information on procedures and
standards can be found in news.groups.
The vote taker shall be a person designated by CINCSF. This person is not
required to be a member of Usenet Volunteer Votetakers (UVV), nor is (s)he
required to be a neutral third party.
The process for ratifying this Consensus Charter shall be:
1. Request for discussion (RFD)
o A formal announcement of ASR's intention to ratify this Consensus
Charter shall be placed in the newsgroups alt.config and
alt.starfleet.rpg.
o The first official draft of this document, Ver. 0.1.0, shall be
posted in the ASR newsgroup and a web site authorized by COMPA to
give Usenet readers an opportunity to review the document.
o All discussions regarding the proposed Consensus Charter shall be
posted in alt.config only.
o New drafts of the Consensus Charter may be created, based on
feedback from alt.config. They will be posted in the ASR newsgroup
and published on the web site.
2. Call for votes (CFV)
o When the discussion period appears to have answered all questions
and resolved all problems, but not less than 21 days from the RFD,
Ver. 1.0.0 of this document will created from the latest draft
version and presented for ratification in the ASR newsgroup and
the web site.
o The voting period shall be 21 days.
o An announcement of the CFV will be placed in alt.config and
alt.starfleet.rpg on day 1 of the voting period. A second
announcement will be placed in the same two newsgroups on or about
day 15.
o The official ballot will be posted only in alt.starfleet.rpg. As
per voting guidelines, ballots may not be forwarded by e-mail or
cross posted to other newsgroups. Ballots shall be available by
request through e-mail from the vote taker.
o Instructions for voting shall be placed on the ballot. These
instructions must be followed exactly. Ballots that do not
completely follow the listed instructions will not count toward
the vote.
o Voting fraud shall not be tolerated. Ballots that appear to be
fraudulent shall not count toward the vote. Efforts to validate
apparently fraudulent votes may be taken by the vote taker during
the voting period. Ballots not validated by the close of the
voting period shall not be counted.
3. Compile the votes
o Ratification of this Consensus Charter requires:
1. twice as many 'yes' votes as 'no' votes (2/3 majority)
2. 100 or more 'yes' votes than 'no' votes
o All ballots will be listed with the voter's name, e-mail address,
and vote. If a ballot was invalidated, the reason for invalidation
shall be listed.
o This list of results shall be archived with this Consensus Charter
on the web site.
4. Announce the results of the vote
o The results will be posted in alt.config and alt.starfleet.rpg.
o There shall be a five (5) day discussion period where questions of
voting irregularities may be discussed.
o If no serious allegations of voting irregularities are raised
within this discussion period, the vote will stand as presented.
o If voting irregularities are apparently present, the vote taker
will invalidate the ballots in question and recompile the votes.
The results of this recompilation will be final. Alternatively,
the vote taker has the option of declaring the entire vote null
and void, which has the same effect as failure to ratify this
Consensus Charter.
5. Election results
o If this Consensus Charter is ratified and the vote is not
overturned during the discussion period, this Consensus Charter
shall become the official charter for the Usenet newsgroup
alt.starfleet.rpg. This Consensus Charter shall also become an
official document within ASR.
o If this Consensus Charter is not ratified, it shall have no status
within the ASR newsgroup or ASR. A new vote to ratify this or a
revised version of this Consensus Charter may be called again, but
no sooner than six (6) months from the closing date for voting.
4.2 Procedures For Changing This Document
Except for non-consequential changes, as described in Section 4.3, and
revision updates, as described in Section 4.4, the steps required to make
changes to this Consensus Charter shall be:
1. COMPA, or his/her designee, shall submit proposed changes to the RT as
an action item to be placed on the RT agenda. The proposed changes
shall be recommended by COMPA based on his/her monitoring of the ASR
newsgroup, or upon the request of five or more ASR participants.
2. The proposed changes shall be accepted, rejected, or modified by the
RT.
3. If accepted or modified, COMPA shall post a notice of the proposed
changes in alt.starfleet.rpg. The proposed new version of the ASR
Consensus Charter shall be posted in alt.starfleet.rpg and published on
the web site approved by COMPA. The official proposed version (as
published on the web site) shall:
o identify the Version Number of the proposed new version.
o identify it as a proposed version, with the text "proposed" after
each instance of the proposed new version number.
o identify additions to the document by underlining the added text.
o identify deletions from the document by overstriking the deleted
text.
o identify the additions and deletions with a distinct color, which
shall be reflected in the Revision Log.
4. ASR members, as identified in unit rosters, will be asked to vote to
ratify the new version of the Consensus Charter. A member may vote only
once, even if he or she is listed in multiple unit rosters.
5. The vote shall be conducted by COMPA or his/her designee.
6. A simple majority vote (50% + 1 of cast ballots) is required to ratify
changes.
7. A 2/3 majority vote shall be required if the proposed change is to
abolish this Consensus Charter.
8. The voting results shall be inserted into the Revision Log in Section
0.1.
9. Proposed versions that are ratified shall be edited by COMPA or his/her
designee to remove the text "proposed" as it refers to the Version
Number.
10. Proposed versions that are ratified shall be edited by COMPA or his/her
designee to remove the underlines, overstrikes and color used to
identify additions and deletions to the newly ratified Consensus
Charter.
4.3 Non-Consequential Changes
Changes to the Consensus Charter that do not alter the meaning of the
document may be made without a vote of the membership. These changes may be
made by COMPA or his/her designee with the approval of CINCSF or CSFO.
Changes of this nature must be reflected in the document by an increment in
the revision number of the document. Changes of this nature include, and are
limited to, the following:
1. Spelling errors
2. Grammatical errors
3. Document formatting errors
4. Update of COMPA contacts in Section 6.2
4.4 Revisions
Changes in the revision log, or edits to annotations, comments, notes or
revisions which do not modify the text, meaning or layout of this Consensus
Charter may be made at any time by COMPA or his/her designee. Changes of
this nature are described in Section 3.3 and Section 4.2, and do not require
a change in version or revision number of this document. Changes of this
nature include, and are limited to, the following:
1. Correction of stale links
2. Updates of the revision log in Section 0.1
3. Modifications, updates or deletions of comments and formatting aides,
as described in Section 4.2
4. Updates of HTML code required by the server/site
5. Updates of CGI/SSI/Java/Javascript code/arguments embedded in the
document as required by the server/site
4.5 Version Numbers
1. The full version number of the Consensus Charter shall consist of the
version number and revision number of the document. These two values
shall be represented in three fields. These fields shall be populated
with positive integers and/or zero (0), each separated by a period (.).
The first field shall represent the major version number of the
document; the second field shall represent the minor version number of
the document; the third field shall represent the revision number of
the current version.
2. Changes to the version number are limited to an incremental increase of
the number in any single field. Changes to either the major or minor
version field require that the field(s) to its right is (are) set to
zero (0).
3. A change in the major version number shall occur when there is a
significant change in the document. Determinations of a change
warranting a change in the major version number shall be made by COMPA
or his/her designee. A significant change may include, but is not
limited to, the following:
o A change in the policies or philosophy of ASR
o A change in the nature of the ASR newsgroup
o The addition or deletion of an entire section of this document
o A major reorganization of this document
4. A change in the minor version number shall occur when there is a
material change in the document that does not warrant a change in the
major version number. A material change is one that adds, deletes or
modifies the content and/or meaning of this document.
5. A change in the revision field shall occur when there is a
non-consequential change, as listed in Section 4.3, in the document
that does not affect the content and meaning of the document.
6. No change in version or revision number will be made for changes in the
Revision Log (Section 0.1) or for other revisions, notes, or comments
as described in Section 4.4.
7. These specifications apply to approved Versions 1.0.0 and above.
Versions below 1.0.0 are unofficial drafts and are not subject to the
provisions in this section.
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5.0 Enforcement Of This Consensus Charter
5.1 ASR Members' Responsibilities
Guidelines in this document are part of the guidelines for ASR in general.
Club members are expected to follow all club rules, to the extent practical.
5.2 Unit, Task Force And Fleet Commanders
Violations of this Consensus Charter by club members should be addressed by
that member's Unit Commander. Unit Commanders have the responsibility of
guiding and reminding players in their units to follow the provisions in
this document.
In the event that Unit Commanders are unaware of breaches of this Consensus
Charter or fail to take appropriate actions to address those breaches, Task
Force and/or Fleet Commanders should counsel both the player and the Unit
Commander on the guidelines contained in this document.
5.3 COMPA
Violations of this Consensus Charter by non-club members shall be monitored
and addressed by COMPA.
COMPA is responsible for monitoring the state of ASR and Usenet and
proposing changes to this Consensus Charter to keep the newsgroup's purpose
and target audience intact.
5.4 Actions Against Offenders
Violations of this Consensus Charter shall not be tolerated. Club members
who violate the guidelines in this Consensus Charter are subject to
disciplinary action, as described in ASR club rules and guidelines.
Violations of this Consensus Charter by non-club members shall be handled by
COMPA or his/her designee using his/her best discretion. In handling
non-club member violations, COMPA or his/her designee shall only employ
accepted on-line recourses and Usenet practices. At no time shall any
members of ASR engage in illegal, immoral or abusive practices in response
to ASR Consensus Charter violations.
Acceptable actions to be taken against violators of this Consensus Charter
may include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Notifying the poster, via e-mail, of his violation and requesting
cessation of the offending action(s).
2. Notifying the administrator and/or abuse account(s) of the poster's ISP
detailing the violation(s) and requesting that action be taken by the
ISP to prevent future violations.
3. Notifying the ISP's upstream provider detailing the violation(s) and
requesting that action be taken by the upstream provider to prevent
future violations.
4. Notifying administrators and/or abuse accounts of any other ISP's that
are directly or indirectly involved with the distribution, contents, or
organization of the article in violation of this Consensus Charter, and
requesting that action by taken to prevent future violations.
5. Posting article(s) detailing the violation(s) in
news.admin.net-abuse.sightings.
Actions that SHALL NOT be taken against violators include:
1. Flames in the ASR newsgroup or other Usenet newsgroups
2. Mailbombing the poster's e-mail account
3. Harrassment of the violator
4. Rogue Usenet article cancellations
5. Illegal denial of service attacks
Club members who engage in prohibited responses to violators are subject to
disciplinary action as defined in club rules and guidelines and/or being
referred to their ISP's.
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6.0 Other References
6.1 The Official Web Site
The definitive source of information for ASR is at its official web site.
You may visit the site at:
* The Official Site
http://www.gator.net/~psy342/asr/
* EU Mirror
http://www.cc.tut.fi/~jarim/asr
* US Mirror Site 1 (Princeton, NJ, USA)
http://baudelaire.princeton.edu/asr
* US Mirror Site 2 (Boise, ID, USA)
http://www.cyberhighway.net/~nitefitr/asr/asr
For fastest access, select the site above closest to your geographic
location.
6.2 Contact Information
The Commander, Public Affairs, or his/her designee, may be contacted for
information regarding all aspects of ASR or the newsgroup. Please direct
your questions to Scott Lusby.
6.3 Documents Referenced By This Consensus Charter
* ASR Consensus Charter Index and Archives
* ASR FAQ
* ASR Ensign's Primer
* Rules and Procedures for the ASR Round Table
* What is this? (And how can you join?)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.0 Legal Notices
7.1 Copyrights
RPG articles posted in ASR are original works of fiction. Authors retain
copyright control over their work, whether or not their articles include a
copyright notice. Please do not repost or redistribute articles in
alt.starfleet.rpg to other newsgroups, on-line sites, e-mail lists, etc.
without the permission of the author(s). Standards of fair usage are
expected when quoting information from ASR.
Articles posted in ASR may contain references to items that are trademarks
(TM) of, registered trademarks ® of, and/or copyright © by Paramount
Pictures.
7.2 Disclaimer
This section is not intended to provide legal advice. Laws and standards may
vary by jurisdiction. Please contact your legal counsel if you have
questions regarding legal issues in this section and/or document.
