2018 Convention Rules

A. Rule 1: Convention Business

 * 1. The business to be conducted at the convention is as follows:
 * a. Adoption of Convention Rules before conducting any other business
 * b. Complete review of all ESB policies
 * c. Complete review of all ESB bylaws
 * *c. Bylaws discussion and voting on amendments to the draft bylaws
 * d. Presentation and voting on resolutions
 * e. Discussion of fundamental issues

B. Rule 2: Voting Procedures

 * 1. To be eligible to vote in any convention business, a user must have made their first edit at Encyclopedia SpongeBobia no less than thirty (30) days prior to the start of a voting round.

C. Rule 3: Policy and Bylaws Review - Debating

 * 1. Reviewing of the ESB policies and ESB bylaws shall be done in accordance with the following rules.
 * 2. Process
 * a. All ESB policies and ESB bylaws shall be up for discussion by section. to decide which items belong in the bylaws . Then, participants can propose changes to these to improve upon them or move them between bylaws and policies. and which do not, along with any proposed changes to improve the current policies.
 * b. Each of the sections of the ESB policies shall be discussed in separate discussions.
 * c. The format shall be "ESB:Convention 2017/Policy review - TITLE" or "ESB:Convention 2017/Bylaws review - TITLE"
 * d. Everyone is welcome to comment on the discussions each of the ESB policies with suggestions to changes, ideas for merging and simplifying, and if they feel a certain policy is okay.
 * e. Each discussion will also involve which policies should be upgraded to form bylaws.
 * f. e Each discussion shall be open until discussion becomes complete and inactive as determined by the Bureaucrats.

D. Rule 4: Policy and Bylaws Review - Voting

 * 1. All ESB policies and bylaws discussed shall be voted upon in accordance with the discussions section of the October 31, 2017 revision of the ESB Policies, ESB Bylaws, except that the discussion shall take place at ESB:Convention 2017.
 * 2. After the initial review, the Bureaucrats shall take into account all suggested changes to all policies and shall make policy proposals containing the following:
 * a. Categorized into articles like the previous format (titles of policies such as I. Definitions, II. User conduct, etc.) except that sections may be condensed, merged, or eliminated.
 * b. Each new article shall be voted upon separately.
 * c. If there is any proposal to move a policy to the bylaws or vice versa, those that have passed shall be placed on the ESB:Provisional bylaws amendments page until they can be implemented into the language of the section it was proposed to move.
 * c. Each new article proposal shall contain two sections.
 * i. The first section shall be the policy revisions . Policies are rules that can be changed with the discussions policy in the form of proposals at any time.
 * ii. The second section shall be the provisional bylaws . The provisional bylaws have the same weight as policies, except that they are the initial draft of the ESB bylaws.


 * d. Upon the conclusion of voting, the following shall happen:
 * i. Approved changes to the policy revisions shall form a new policy page, the title of such rules to be determined.
 * ii. Approved provisional bylaws shall be placed on a new page entitled "ESB:Provisional Bylaws" and shall have the same weight as the policies until the official bylaws are adopted.


 * 3. Voting
 * a. Voting rounds shall last no shorter than one (1) week. A voting round may be extended to no more than fourteen (14) days by a unanimous vote of the Bureaucrats.
 * b. All proposed policy changes and provisional bylaws require a 70% vote in support, not counting neutrals.

E. Rule 5: Debating and Voting - Creation of Bylaws

 * 1. Debate on creating bylaws shall be held in a series of rounds in accordance with the following rules.
 * a. First Round.
 * i. Initial Debate Stage. The Bureaucrats shall start the discussion by providing everyone with a copy of the provisional bylaws in the top part of the discussion. Anyone may voice their concern in the form of a subtopic in proposing new amendments to the provisional bylaws.
 * ii. Amendment Discussion Stage. Following initial deliberations, the Bureaucrats shall list the proposed amendments to the provisional bylaws in context. Everyone is then invited to make comments on each bylaws amendment, including comments to modify the proposed amendments. No new amendments shall be brought up at this time.
 * iii. Voting Stage. Each amendment, in context, shall be voted upon as separate subtopics. Each person may comment and then list their vote.
 * iv. At the conclusion of the voting stage, all approved amendments shall constitute as revisions to the provisional bylaws and that document shall be updated accordingly.


 * b. Second Round.
 * i. The newest revision of the provisional bylaws shall be opened to the community to propose additional changes, following the same procedures as in the First Round.
 * ii. The proposed changes to the provisional bylaws in the Second Round shall be voted upon in the same manner as the First Round.


 * c. Third Round
 * i. The Bureaucrats may address unresolved bylaws issues and put forward discussions and voting stages to resolve those issues to modify the provisional bylaws.


 * d. Fourth Round.
 * i. The provisional bylaws shall be put to a vote to ratify the document as the Bylaws of Encyclopedia SpongeBobia.


 * e. Fifth Round and beyond
 * i. If the bylaws fails to pass in the Fourth Round, a Fifth Round will sort out ongoing issues in the form of discussions and voting stages to be officiated by the Bureaucrats.
 * ii. The discussions and voting on the provisional bylaws as a whole shall continue until the community approves a final version of the bylaws.


 * 2. Voting
 * a. Voting rounds shall last no shorter than one (1) week. A voting round may be extended to no more than fourteen (14) days by a unanimous vote of the Bureaucrats.
 * b. A non-voting round may close early if the round goes inactive for forty-eight (48) hours.
 * c. All proposed amendments and the adoption of the bylaws as a while require a 70% vote in support, not counting neutrals.

F. Rule 6 5: Debating and Voting - Resolutions

 * 1. The convention may adopt resolutions which cannot be overruled or repealed until the succeeding convention unless stated in the new bylaws.
 * 2. Any user can submit a resolution in writing to a resolutions discussion. The Bureaucrats will finalize the language and call for a vote of the resolution.
 * 3. All resolutions require a three-quarters (75%) majority in support to pass, not counting neutral votes.

G. Rule 7 6: Discussion of fundamental issues

 * 1. Any issue may be brought up to the convention for discussion during its entirety.
 * 2. Process
 * a. Following the adoption of the convention rules, a Bureaucrat shall start a thread requesting a list of fundamental issues to discuss.
 * b. If the Bureaucrats see that the issue fits within the discussion of fundamental issues as opposed to bylaws and resolutions, it shall be part of the list of issues to discuss.
 * c. All issues listed shall be the subject of their own convention discussion. Each subtopic will be a specific point within that discussion.
 * d. The goal of these discussions is to identify issues, their causes, and suggest solutions.
 * e. If a discussion runs its course or becomes too long, a Bureaucrat may end that round of discussion and began another outlining the summary and progress of what was discussed in the last round.


 * 3. Resolutions
 * a. Discussion of fundamental issues may result in proposals to bylaws changes, policy changes, or a resolution and shall be incorporated into those discussions.

H. Rule 8 7: Adjournment

 * 1. Once all convention business has concluded, a call for adjournment requires unanimous vote of the bureaucrats.
 * 2. Once there has been a call for adjournment, a 70% vote in support of adjournment, not counting neutrals, must be reached.