Community Charter Document

[Eden Parker]

Hey everyone!

I’m happy to announce that we have posted the charter document for our community and website. Formally titled the “Common Ownership Agreement and By-Laws,” the charter document’s main goal is to create a structure for our community’s efficient operations. You can see the post here.

While there's a whole lot of formal language in there, the main idea was to put the site back in the hands of the community, into the hands of those who work and contribute here every day.

The very first thing the document does is transfer ownership of the website to all of its members. That means you. No single individual owns this website. None of us owns a portion of the website. We own it together as a community.

That said, we need some way for decisions to be made. As Kal previously mentioned, this document creates a small board to act as stewards of the website. The board is responsible only for the big decisions that may face the site. Questions like, Do we need to buy more server space? Should we switch forum software? or Who will be the next coordinator for whichever sport? All other decisions affecting the day-to-day operations of the site will be made as usual by sport coordinators, site administrators, and staff members. That includes rule-making, running tournaments, setting creation, and even some decisions about site design and forum management.

You may also notice that the charter document has a section that outlines the financial management of the site. First, let me state clearly that this website will always be free for everyone. That said, it does cost some money to operate a website and we have received some very kind offers from those interested in making contributions.

We would like to be completely transparent with you about the cost of running the site. Thanks to the generous work of Kal and Jake, we have not needed to hire any service individuals to help us design and create the new website or migrate and upgrade the old forums. The total cost thus far has been limited to securing the server and registering the domains, approximately $225. These costs were paid for by staff as a matter of expediency. The domains will need to be re-registered each year, approximately $25 each. The server is secure for the next three years.

At the moment, we have no urgent financial needs. While we have some projects in mind that may require some funding, we can bring those to you for voluntary financial support as they come. But if you would still like to contribute now to the general fund, you are more than welcome.

Again, donations are entirely voluntary. They confer no greater membership benefit, or special decision-making authority with respect to the site or the spending of funds. We are still working out the remaining nitty-gritty details regarding contributions---if you’re interested, please contact the current Treasurer, Eden Parker on Discord.

We think the charter document reflects our goals and values as a community, and we hope you think so too. If you haven’t had a chance, I encourage you to review the new Community Guidelines as well.

As we’ve said all along, our goal is to have open communication between the community, staff, and the board, so that at all levels the site can be more responsive to your needs, as a player, as a dueler, as a writer, and as an artist.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the charter document. Feel free to respond to the cross post in Community Townhall here, or contact me directly on Discord.