User:John Stephenson/ME2010-006-CriteriaforCitizenship

Citizenship put to referendum
While one way to look at this issue is to leave specific cases to the Management Council, I wonder what people think of the idea that, in some circumstances, individuals could see their membership terminated (or reinstated) via referenda.

The first point I would like to make is that it is far from clear whether this is prohibited at the moment anyway. If someone took a dislike to Fred Smith and launched a Citizen-initiated referendum to remove him from the project, would that be binding if passed by majority vote? Perhaps we need a rule on this, even if it's just to outlaw such referenda.

However, I suggest that referenda might be needed to deal with individuals who chart a course between rule-breaking and true contributing, i.e. they are disruptive but don't break the rules, such that many members of the community might want rid of them. Likewise, a member may have been, in the judgement of many in the community, unfairly banned. A referendum might be the only solution, but would need a series of checks and balances to prevent abuse. How about:

1. Referenda on ending Citizenship or reinstating banned members on Citizens may only be initiated by either one of the Councils and not by individual Citizens;

2. A Council must vote to put forward the referendum;

3. A Council may only put one name per election to a referendum vote;

4. The reason for the referendum must be made public and be in the purview of that Council [e.g. the EC believes that the individual's edits are so poor as to warrant the removal of Citizenship];

5. The referendum may only be passed with a two-thirds majority of valid votes;

6. The minimum number of valid votes in support of the referendum shall not be less than the total number of elected officers plus one [i.e. 15 at the moment - this is to stop the Combined Council etc. voting alone in a block to remove someone];

7. The individual's wiki and forum accounts must be promptly blocked or unblocked on ratification of a referendum result in favour;

8. Any party may appeal to the Ombudsman at any stage in cases of suspected irregularities in procedure or improper reasons given;

9. Where the individual named in a passed referendum on ending Citizenship has formally resigned, then the result shall be interpreted as a binding vote to block future re-instatement.

I would also suggest putting this to a referendum to incorporate the rules into the Charter, which would require a two-thirds majority vote to allow this. If, on the other hand, the preferred rule was to prevent such referenda, presumably an MC motion would suffice. Furthermore, I think there should be a way for office-holders to be removed via referenda as well. John Stephenson 14:21, 19 January 2012 (UTC)