Informarian Code of Practice.


An Informarian has a role that can be transferable in skillset to other online communities. The role is charged with responsibilities of high magnitude, meaning that individual is trusted, builds their reputation through interactions with other members and has the authority to impose sanctions. This is a professional, remunerated position within this Pollee community and is directly tied to the quality of service.

Observe the Code of Conduct.

An Informarian is first and foremost a member of the community and must abide by the same Code of Conduct as all members. They have the added responsibility of ensuring any member participating in activities or matters to which the Informarian is attached, all due respect, and comply with the Code.

Truth, Honesty, and Trust are paramount.

An Informarian is responsible for maintaining the arguments (“Arguments”) relating to any matter, over which they have a responsibility. They must ensure that a proper record of the truth (“Truth”) as it is known, is maintained and generally agreed at the time of publication.  In the event that any published material is found to be inconsistent with the provable facts of a matter, the Informarian will update the arguments and materials to show the change and publish any supporting evidence, testimony, or material that has contributed to this state of change.

It is in the interests of the Informarian to always honestly disclose any mistake,
as an Informarian receives both income and reputation, via comments and ratings. Informarians are the core of the community and the successful delivery of their service is dependent on honesty, trust, and integrity.

Impartiality and Declarations of Interest.

An Informarian must at all times strive to maintain impartiality in all matters relating to their engagement in any matter to which they have been assigned.  As a member of the community, the Informarians will always have an opinion on a matter for which they are responsible and are required to make a personal declaration of interest in the matter. This statement may be amended by addition only, as and when, an Informarian’s own understandings, circumstances, and convictions change.

Moderation and Mediation

An Informarian is the principal-agent responsible for maintaining respectful discussion on any matter to which they are assigned.  An Informarian has the ultimate sanction of removing a member’s writing (“Write”) privileges for repeated contraventions of the community Code of Conduct.

When an Informarian receives a complaint that is a violation of the Code of Conduct by a member they must:

  1. First, investigate the matter, and assess if the matter is a contravention of the Code of Conduct or a criminal act;

  2. Contact the Complainant and ascertain the status of the matter, to be mediated within the community, or refer to the appropriate authorities. In a pastoral care capacity, the Informarian will also seek to ascertain that the complainant is safe and in the case of any threat or harm, make a report based on the conversation/contact.

  3. Contact the member who has been reported privately, explaining the nature of the complaint, and the effect it has had on the Complainant. If that member shows understanding and remorse then the Informarian will suggest mediation between the two members;

  4. Bring both parties together in a mediated meeting such that the complaint can be settled by exchange of views, evidence and any argument required to reach an agreement with the desired outcome being mutually and individually acceptable. On the completion of the meeting, the Informarian is to close the report on the complaint with the signed agreement of both parties as to the outcome achieved;

  5. The member not accepting or failing to attend mediation will be informed of the violation of the Code of Conduct and the appropriate sanction.

Sanction

Any acts of violence or any other criminal act perpetrated against another member of the community will result in the immediate implementation of read-only privilege from the community. Any criminal conviction resulting in a custodial sentence of five (5) or more years will result in a suspension of voting rights for the term of incarceration.

General sanction conditions that are contraventions of the Code of Conduct are:

  • Any minor infraction will result in a 24-hour write privilege suspension;

  • A second infraction will result in a seven (7) day writing privilege suspension;

  • A third infraction will result in a twenty-eight (28) day writing privilege suspension;

  • Any further infraction will result in a member-only ever having read-only privilege - in effect banned permanently from writing privileges;

Appeal Panel

If a Member wishes to appeal the sanction, the Informarian is to attend the appeal hearing with both parties present before a panel (“Appeal Panel”) of five (5) selected community members.

All parties involved will present their statements and the Informarian will present their report. The matter will be decided by the majority vote of panel members officiating that Appeal Panel.

Assist Contributing Members to Deliver their message.

An Informarian has a variety of tools available to them within Consul (“Consul”) and through external ancillary programs for the creation of various types of media. 

At the most basic level, an Informarian must review all contributions to assess their compliance with the Code of Conduct, that the submission is intelligible, delivered in a way that is clearly understood by the majority of members, achieving the contributor’s aim, and the intended outcome. If there are any issues with a contribution, the Informarian must engage with the contributing members privately until any issues are resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.

Proposals from members will rise in importance and prominence based on the up or down vote and will attain levels of assistance (“milestones of achievement”) and priority that merit the popularity and attention given to the matter and help them promote their submission.  An Informarian can also dedicate time to the development of the Proposal as it heads toward becoming a framed legislative matter to be voted on in a Poll.

Provide Help and Assistance to any member requiring it.

An Informarian is the principal point of contact for any member engaging in a matter.  Members will need help with using the tools Consul has available, and can report on problems they encounter to the Consul developers. 

An Informarian must either immediately assist or direct the member to the appropriate agency for assistance if they encounter a problem (“Bug”) and assist with the resolution of their issue. Any call for assistance or help must be logged (“The Informarians Help Log”). This assists the Cooperative administrative staff and Consul maintainers to identify trends and consistencies in the problems being experienced.

Privacy and Confidentiality

An Informarian may never publicly disclose any information relating to any community member or matter they are engaged with.

The only exception to this rule is if the Informarian has the written consent of the members involved in the matter and a release authority from the Cooperative administration to disclose that information. We take the privacy (“Privacy”) of our member’s information very seriously.

All member’s information is stored and recorded under the terms of the privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) and confidentiality policy (“Confidentiality Policy”) and remains the property of the member as described in the Copyright Policy (“Copyright Policy”). The external publication or transmission of any contributions made to any matter by a member may only occur by the direct action of the member such as a public member posting to social media or express written consent being given by the member or members party to the matter.