McRoget Recharter

Senior Staff Charter

Introduction

Charter Preamble

The SCP Wiki is the home of a writers' community dedicated to collectively creating content about the fictional SCP Foundation.

Senior Staff is the institution which has managed the SCP Wiki since 2008. Its legitimacy and lineage is drawn from the founders and original creators of the SCP Foundation and all associated concepts.

05command exists to facilitate three primary jobs for Senior Staff. These are:

1. Policy Discussion: Rules, regulations, and promotions as determined by Senior Staff.
2. Site Maintenance: Appearance and functionality of the Wiki as well as regulating the privileges of community members.
3. Coordinating Staff Activity: Disclosing and tracking staff team activities to the benefit of other teams and the community at-large.

The Charter for Senior Staff instructs protocol for carrying out these tasks.

Policy & Voting

I

Adjustments to rules and policies can be made by Senior Staff according to the following procedures.

A. Policy Discussion

Policy discussions should take place in the relevant section(s) of 05command.

Any member of Senior Staff may bring an issue up for discussion on 05command. Discussion threads should be given a timer of at least one week in length to ensure that every staff member has an opportunity to weigh in on discussion.

1. Staff are responsible for:
   • Contacting any relevant team captains prior to putting a policy discussion up on 05command for review or discussion.
   • Maintaining an awareness of and remaining up-to-date on discussions about changes to site policy.
   • contributing to discussions about site policy as befits their knowledge and experience.
   • Maintaining a professional demeanor and exhibiting emotional control during policy discussions.
2. Any member of Senior Staff may recuse themselves from conversations at any time. If Administration deems a staff member to have a conflict of interest, they may ask that staff member to recuse themselves.
3. A policy discussion thread may restrict discussion to designated substrata of staff equal to and above their own (Administrators only, Moderators and administrators only, etc.) as they see fit, this decision can be overruled by Administrative fiat. Staff are to abide by these restrictions.
4. Staff may not restrict discussion away from higher strata of staff (e.g. operational staff cannot prevent administrators from commenting on a thread they create).
5. A policy proposal must include information on exact amendments to be made (e.g. which guides are to be edited, and a list of people responsible for its implementation).
6. Discussion on any policy proposal requiring a vote by Senior Staff must be open for a minimum of 1 week after being posted before voting can begin.

B. Voting

1. In order to make a policy official, there must be a vote in the appropriate 05command subforum(s).
2. Votes must be posed as binary yes or no question(s), accompanied by limited explanation. Elaboration of one's position is to remain in the accompanying Discussion thread(s).
3. Senior Staff have voting privileges as long as they are Active or Reserve.

C. Voting Periods

1. Votes must last for a minimum of 48 hours, a vote can be called early if a supermajority of eligible Senior Staff is reached.
2. Emergency votes may waive any time limit.
3. Issues which have received less than the required amount of Staff participation may be extended for 72 hours by an Administrator, or longer with the agreement of at least three Administrators.
4. Votes without a quorum of eligible Senior Staff participation are not passed. Staff members who do not wish to vote on an item may abstain for the purpose of reaching this quorum. Abstention may not be available on some votes by Administrative fiat.

D. Voting Requirements

1. Changes to the Charter/Rules require a supermajority (60%) of all currently active Mods and Administrators to be implemented.
2. Decisions affecting the policies of multiple substrata of Senior Staff require a quorum of active Senior Staff to vote in favor, which is 50%+1 of that quorum.
3. Votes within teams taking place on 05command may be decided by a "Rule of Three" majority (vote of 3-0, 4-1, 5-2, 6-3).
4. Reserve Staff are not taken into consideration in determining the quorum threshold, unless they choose to vote, in which case the total possible number of votes is increased by one per Reserve Staff member voting. (Example: With 20 Active Staff, and 2 Reserve Staff voting, the maximum vote is 22, and quorum moves from 11 to 12.)

E. Voting Rights

1. So long as a staff member is Reserve, their votes are not required to determine a quorum, and they may not hold the position of Team Captain. Reserve Staff are expected to limit their votes to: (1) subjects where they have the necessary knowledge and context, (2) situations where rapid action is useful, or (3) promotion votes.
2. So long as a Staff member is Inactive, their votes do not count, they do not count towards any quorum, and they may not use the powers of their position unless in an emergency where no other Staff member with appropriate powers are available.

F. Ties and Failure

1. Votes that result in a tie require a new voting thread to be created to choose between those two options, if this does not take place within 72 hours of the first thread ending then the vote does not pass.
2. Votes that fail will be sent back to the discussion stage. The vote cannot be raised again without another discussion period taking place.

G. Execution & Enforcement

1. Upon successful voting, the individual Senior Staff who proposed it or the team they were representing is responsible for implementation.
2. Staff-specific policies that are not on any guide on the designated Staff Policy Directory are not considered enforceable. If an existing policy is missing, an Administrative Fiat can be performed to implement the missing policy.
3. Any guide on the Staff Policy Directory that is edited must be accompanied with a post on the Staff Policy Directory discussion page; this post must contain a brief summary of the change as well as Voting and Discussion thread links.
4. Policy changes to on-site guides (e.g. Site Rules, Guide to Newbies, etc) requires a brief summary of the change to be posted onto that guide's discussion page.

H. Expungement

1. If, for any reason, Senior Staff collectively decide that a decision was unjust or incorrect to the degree that it needs to be removed from 05command, they may put a call for expungement up for a vote.
2. This vote requires a super-majority in order to pass.
3. If successful, then both the expungement thread and anything which was voted on to be expunged will be moved to a hidden section of 05command or deleted outright, depending on the circumstances. Any policies or dependant policies from the expunged materials are considered null and void.
4. This is meant only for policies and pages which were put into existence by a Senior Staff vote and is not required for editing/deleting pages on 05command or the SCP Wiki which were not voted on.

Rules & Rights

II

A. Individual Rights

1. Active Senior Staff may post discussion threads to 05, provided they have allowed any relevant Team Captains to review the materials.
2. Issue a call for review for any content which the staffer feels has not gotten sufficient attention, as long as they do not have ulterior motivations in doing so.
3. Vote on deletion posts.
4. Vote on 05command proposals as long as the vote thread allows them to.

B. Staff Teams

1. Upon promotion to active Operational Staff, staff members will be assigned to a substrata of Senior Staff. Staff will be expected to fulfill responsibilities associated with membership.
2. Senior Staff will take part in wiki projects, including rewrites, contests, limited or mass edits, and other jobs as befits their role in assigned teams.

C. Disciplinary Action

1. Staff members are subject to the same rules which site members are expected to follow.
2. Senior Staff may be asked to weigh in on the behavior and judgment of fellow staff member perceived as having abused their position. See 'Demotions & Censures' for the procedure for forcibly revoking Senior Staff membership.

D. Deletions and Rewriting

1. Staff are to maintain the Deletion Policies of the wiki, including:
2. Starting and taking part in deletion votes, early deletion votes, and summary deletion votes;
3. Deleting or enabling the deletion of content which is eligible for such removal;
4. Soliciting potential rewrites of deletion-eligible articles and pausing deletion votes as needed or as deemed appropriate to facilitate such rewrites;
5. Ensuring appropriate documentation of deletions, as defined by the current Deletion Policy.

E. Administrative Fiat

1. The Administrative Fiat is an exercising of an Administrator's executive authority.
2. In addition to other specific notations of where it can be used, a Fiat may be applied to expedite Senior Staff process/project or hold it in abeyance. It has, in the past, been used positively (to ban trolls and spammers) and negatively (to delete low articles unilaterally). Abuse of administrative fiat is grounds for demotion from Senior Staff.
3. Reserve and Inactive Administrators may only perform administrative fiats in the case of emergencies (to prevent damage to the site, or to correct a serious, immediate problem which requires administrator access).

Site Discipline

III

Disciplinary matters actionable by Senior Staff are governed by whichever staff body has been authorized by Administration to do so.

A. Making an 05 Thread

1. Team members with prior authorization may make a thread in the appropriately designated subforum for discussing and documenting any relevant or actionable rule infractions.
2. Any team member may make a suggestion regarding possible disciplinary actions in response to a user's behavior. Staff may suggest disciplinary actions in keeping with contemporary policy and make their own judgment regarding the appropriate action.

B. Disciplinary Action

1. Administrators are the only individuals capable of carrying out membership revocations or bans due to Wikidot permissions. Rule of Three applies for site bans; a ban may take place once three administrators are in favor of it in excess of any administrators voting against it (e.g. if two administrators vote against, five must vote in favor for the ban to go into effect, etc.)
   1. In the event that not enough administrators are present, members of the Disciplinary Committee can function in lieu of an administrator for the purpose of voting for or against bans on wiki users. Note that one administrator still must be present to enact the ban.
2. In the event of an emergency situation where a user on the wiki is committing rapid vandalism or must for some other reason be immediately removed from the site, an administrator may execute a summary revocation of a user's membership with witnessing from any two staff members. Such administrators must immediately make a thread in an appropriate subforum explaining the user's behavior and identifying the staff witnesses; this is to ensure adequate record-keeping.
   1. Misuse of summary revocation powers will be grounds for demotion.
3. Bans and membership revocations cannot be legally enacted without the consent of designated Senior Staff.

Staff Activity Levels

IV

A. Defining Active/Reserve/Inactive Status

1. Staff activity levels are: "Active", "Reserve", and "Inactive", meaning active, passive, and inactive in the day-to-day running of the site.
2. Active Senior Staff are moved to Reserve status after failing to participate in two consecutive promotion votes, and Inactive if they do not participate in any further such votes.
3. If a Staff member has not been in contact with other members of Senior Staff for a period of time exceeding six months, Administration may remove them from Senior Staff entirely.

B. Movement Between Active/Inactive/Reserve Status

1. A Team Captain may request that any staff member with low activity on their team be moved from Active or Reserve to Inactive status. Any Staff member who has gone without contact with the site for a period of time exceeding six months receive Inactive status.
2. Inactive Senior Staff will remain Inactive until Administration determines that they qualify as Active or Reserve again. Returning from the Inactive status usually requires a return to work before the Inactive status is lifted, as a show of good faith.
3. Staff members may move themselves from Active to Reserve status. If done voluntarily, this move can be reversed at any time as long as other criteria for a change in status are not met.
4. In the event of a Senior Staff member's death, their status is changed to Inactive permanently.

Demotions & Censures

V

Demotions rarely take place due to the nature of the site, but when they do, there is a set policy that must be followed. Please note that a discussion of demotion and a discussion of banning are separate topics, and a separate thread should be created for each.

A. Initiating Demotion Proceedings

1. Any staff member concerned over how a fellow Senior Staff member has behaved may bring the issue up with any other member of staff privately. If two members of staff agree that a staff member has been engaging in improper conduct, they may escalate the matter to Administration or a group within Senior Staff designated by Administration to hear petitions on Administration's behalf.
2. Calling someone out or attempting to get them demoted will lead to hard feelings. However, if you feel that there's been a severe problem which calls for demotion, you must contact a relevant staff member to discuss it.

B. Explaining Circumstances

1. Prior to any official action taking place, staff members who have had demotion procedures initiated against them are given the opportunity to privately explain themselves. If it is deemed that there any extenuating circumstances which absolve them, the demotion process will not proceed.
2. The initiation/explanation processes may be waived by Administrative Fiat if the relevant actions are determined to be particularly egregious or heinous.
3. Malicious attempts to provoke demotion are themselves grounds for demotion.

C. Determination of Guilt

1. Once the staff member has been given an opportunity to explain their conduct, and the issue is still found to be valid, then an administrator will make an 05command post with:
   • A thorough description of the incident.
   • Logs, screenshots, or links to the evidence.
2. Once a post has been made on 05command, it may be responded to by both the peers of the user and all members of the disciplinary team. Additional opinions and posts will be removed. These posts should include a clear opinion on if they should be demoted from staff or demoted in rank.
3. While discussion is taking place, the user's position within Senior Staff will be held in abeyance until the demotion process has resolved. They will have the ability to make one post on 05 in their defense, this can be blocked by Administrative Fiat.
4. This post is open for discussion for no longer than 72 hours.

D. Ruling

1. After open discussion period has ended, Administration and all relevant staff will vote on whether the staff member should be demoted.
2. Demotion can be enacted as either Full Removal or Rank Demotion:
   • Full Removal: The user should be removed from Senior Staff, 05command, and any other relevant listing or position.
   • Rank Demotion: The user's place on their teams and rank on staff lists should be corrected. The author's page should be updated to reflect this change.

E. Censure Votes

1. A Censure uses the same procedural process as Demotion, the difference being whether a demotion or censure is being called for in that case.
2. Demotion Votes cannot be changed into Censure Votes or vice-versa. If it is determined that an offense is more or less deserving of the initially intended punishment, then the process must begin anew starting as prescribed in C. "Determination of Guilt".

Teams & Organization

VI

This section of the charter may be edited without a supplemental vote as the structure and composition of Senior Staff changes over time. The roles for Active staff are as follows:

Master Administrator
SCP Wiki Administration
Team Name/Type	Responsibilities	Documentation	Team Formation Date:
Community Team: Outreach	Communication between staff and the on-site community, as well as addressing and responding to site issues as a whole	Team Hub	7 January 2014
Community Team: Forum Criticism	Providing critique on unpublished articles	Team Hub	8 January 2014
Community Team: Site Criticism	Criticism of articles posted to the site as completed work.	Team Hub	8 January 2014
Community Team: Internet/Off-Site	Communicating with off-site communities and the wider SCP fandom.	Team Hub	7 January 2014
Community Team: Real-Time Chat	Maintain order in the official Internet Relay Chat space(s)	Chat With Staff	1 November 2009
Operational Team: Rewrite	Overseeing and facilitating rewrites of articles within the deletion range. Additionally, they are tasked with the preservation and maintenance of older articles.	Team Hub	8 January 2014
Operational Team: Technical	Anything requiring advanced knowledge of wikidot syntax, web coding, or applications coding.	Team Hub	8 January 2014
Operational Team: Licensing	Ensuring that copyright standards are upheld across the Wiki and its community.	Team Hub	8 January 2014
Operational Team: Maintenance and Ancillary Staff	Maintaining and updating the site in order to ensure proper functionality.	Team Hub	24 April 2020
Protection Team: Rule Enforcement	Ensuring site behavior standards are met and enforced.	Team Hub	7 January 2014
Protection Team: Anti-Harassment	Handling and counteracting harassment cases between users	Team Hub	7 January 2014
Special Team: Ambassadors	Representatives of the official branches of the SCP Wiki.	Ambassadors Hub	24 February 2016

A. Team Designation Descriptions

• Community Team: Team with responsibilities primarily directed at community engagement.
• Operational Team: Team with responsibilities primarily directed at SCP Wiki operations.
• Protection Team: Team with responsibility of user protection and ensuring that site rules are being enforced for the purpose of that protection.
• Special Team: Teams made up of personnel who are not members of the SCP Wiki Senior Staff but about who have been determined that access to 05command is necessary and prudent.

B. Staff Position Descriptions

• Master Administrator: Role given the the Administrator who pays for and serves as the owner of the Wiki.
• Site Administrator: Highest order of power, responsible for the highest-level decision making.
• Site Moderator: Responsible for important tasks and given powers relevant to those tasks.
• Site Operational Staff: Serve the site in a variety of tasks and have official voting powers in Site Staff matters.
• Junior Staff: Users who are in the running to become members of the Senior Staff, only have the powers delegated to them by Site Staff.

C. Other Roles

• Reserve/Inactive: Given to Site Senior Staff who have been designated by themselves or others as being Reserve or Inactive. Replaces the "Site" portion of their title.
• Chat Administrator: One of the staff administering the real-time chat.
• Chat Operator: Role given at the discretion of the Chad Administrators
• Chat Half-Operator: Role given at the discretion of the Chad Administrators
• Ambassador: Representative from an Official International SCP Wiki present on 05command to ensure that their branch has a voice in matters relevant to their respective branches.

Charter Review

VII

Once per year on the winter solstice, the charter itself must be put up for review to ensure that this document remains relevant and useful to the site. At this time, by the will of a clear majority of staff (as defined by the charter's definition of majority at the time of the review), the charter can be changed and altered to help it come more into line with the current culture of the site.

This process is started by administration and it will last until a majority of staff agree on the current text of the charter or to forgo the process until the following year.

Individual articles of the charter should each be given a distinct vote on during this time. New articles can be added to the charter as is deemed fit by staff.

Once any alterations to the charter are approved by a supermajority of Senior Staff a designated administrator will update the charter to reflect that agreement.

Policy Thread Examples

Examples for how to structure a Policy Discussion/Policy Voting thread. The specific formatting here is not mandatory, but is recommended especially for Operational Staff who might be posting a thread for the first time. You're going to do great :)

---

Proposal Thread:

__Introduction:__

Introduce yourself and why you're bringing this up. Mention captains who have been briefed and approved this thread being posted.

__Summary Pitch:__

Provide a brief summary of what you are attempting to do. Exercise a balance between brevity and still providing all necessary information.

__Pros:__

Why this would be worth it.

__Cons:__

Why this wouldn't be worth it.

__Conclusion(Optional):__

Provide any closing remarks about why this is necessary or anything else you might wish to leave people thinking when they go to post.

Voting Thread:

[[=]]
[<<linktotheproposalthread>>]
[[/=]]

(Link the proposal thread in the above formatting by copying the URL and pasting it over the placeholder)

__Summary:__

Summarize the previous discussion and how it affected what is now being voted on, if at all.

__Voting Instructions:__

Vote Yes If... what Staff are voting on if they vote in favor.

Vote No If... what Staff are voting on if they cast a vote against.

__Vote Formatting__

||~ YES ||~ NO ||
|| ---- || ---- ||

Be sure to include Timers of at least a week with any proposal or voting threads.