Author Topic: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll  (Read 12234 times)

Offline Artiste

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Re: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
« Reply #30 on: February 02, 2008, 03:02:42 pm »
May I note:

1- An ombudsman/lady/person would NOT be a member of Bettermost!! Right??

2- All the ombudsmans (or is it ombudsmen?) I have read about are NOT government members; they are part of that government, yes, but totally impartial!! They are hired for their expertise!!

3- I used to ask myself why would we add another government official?? And now as years passed, I see the need and the wonderful work they do!! Even one lately, dared to say that some police forces were not doing their job since they tried or not to judge themselves as to complaints, but too many were unsuccessful at length about certain cases - so the ombudsman proved that and let it be know publicly too all citizens... and required certain actions of civility, etc., by done by the government and police forces!!

4- In our case, the citizens will be Bettermost members and Phillip and moderators, yes?? !! Not ombudsmans/persons!!

5- Another point, the ombudsman does not have to add more rules that we have now nescessarily; the rule of Phillp of no personal attacks seems fair and will likely continue maybe as the only one; may I wish so too!

6- Concerning gay rights, ombudsman have acted in favor and required that such right of sexual orientation be placed into the charter of human rights. That is another of many examples!!

Much more can be said too from us all,

hugs!!

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
« Reply #31 on: February 26, 2008, 01:29:16 pm »
Thanks for all of this input.  To clarify a few points:

1) The ombudsman would be a member of BetterMost.  This person would be a resident's representative, willing to review decisions made here to ensure they were in keeping with our rules, were fairly applied, and were consistent.  The ombudsman also has the role to challenge decisions that he or she feels are not in keeping with those rules and are unfair or inconsistent, and they can make that known in a public way.  It's part of an appeals process after a decision is rendered.  The ombudsman has the responsibility and right to challenge anyone in a leadership role here if their decisions seem lacking within the context of our rules.

2) This community has an extremely limited set of rules governing conduct, and that is done on purpose.  We have a very limited power structure here on purpose, to prevent any individual or group from claiming power over another individual or group.  Many social communities can dissolve because of power plays, but that's impossible here because no one has the authority to just impose their will on others unless those people go along with it.  The ombudsman is another protective mechanism to ensure a safety valve exists here.

3) There is a significant gender gap when it comes to tolerance and acceptance of different kinds of content and the way people communicate, and I recognize that.  The answer to that is more ways and places to communicate freely, recognizing that not every aspect of BetterMost will appeal to every resident.  Finding the areas that do interest you and avoiding those that don't is the best recommendation.  Where people get into trouble is when they attempt to impose their vision of acceptable content on the community as a whole, something I regularly resist.  Every resident here has the power to be their own moderator of their own blog, and as long as they don't violate the core rules of the community, they can talk about whatever they want.

4) The dispute resolution process between individuals should be conducted privately and not involve the entire community, and personal attacks of any kind are not acceptable to me.  I am working on some new ways to deal with interpersonal disputes which will be discussed at length, along with the Ombudsman position, as part of our Annual Report which is forthcoming.
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Offline jstephens9

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Re: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
« Reply #32 on: February 26, 2008, 04:02:36 pm »
I think the idea as you present it here Phillip sounds good. It appears to me that this person (or people) will serve as intermediary between the residents and the moderators as you have it presented here. Is that the case?

Offline Phillip Dampier

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Re: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
« Reply #33 on: February 26, 2008, 04:55:55 pm »
I think the idea as you present it here Phillip sounds good. It appears to me that this person (or people) will serve as intermediary between the residents and the moderators as you have it presented here. Is that the case?

Actually the ombudsman is more of an oversight person, who serves first and foremost the individual residents, not the admins or moderators. That's why I propose it be an elected position where individual residents have a vote and those serving an administrative function here do not.  That ombudsman is your representative elected to serve your collective interests.  A good ombudsman candidate would be someone who isn't closely aligned to any group of people here but is around enough to know the community.  That prevents friendships from getting in the way of good oversight.  An ombudsman isn't a perennial critic either.  There will be cases when an ombudsman will not be in agreement with an appeal over something.  Usually am ombudsman gets involved if there is a failure on our part to properly address an issue.  Most of our community gets along fine and with our minimal rules and more free-wheeling atmosphere, most people are happy and content.

The ombudsman can keep confidences with residents as well, in case they are afraid of getting some sort of social retribution.

We aren't required to adopt what an ombudsman offers as a decision, but because it is issued in public, there is a natural inclination to take it seriously.


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Offline jstephens9

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Re: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
« Reply #34 on: February 26, 2008, 07:52:16 pm »
So would the ombudsman be a type of objective peacemaker/peacekeeper?

Offline Artiste

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Re: Ombudsman for BetterMost Poll
« Reply #35 on: February 27, 2008, 01:28:42 am »
Phillip: That is NOT exactly how I thought would be such an ombudsman... as you note NOW!