From the Chairman

I have gone over the outline submitted by Delegate Tape and I am loathe to post any objections.

Yes, my original idea was to allow only one active motion at a time, and to shut down comments on other topics when a motion is either being debated or voted upon.

But I am not going to impose my ideas on the Committee. I am sure that when you have the caucus forums up and running according to your best consensus, you will still learn through experience what works and what doesn't, what is used by the delegates and what they ignore.

I am not as good at planning as I am at learning from my mistakes.

If, when the forums are in place, I perceive improvements that may be needed, I will make recommendations or suggestions. It will be for the Committee to decide whether changes are needed.

Starting outline for state caucus forums and motions

I've tried to put Judge Brennan's vision for state caucus forums and motions in an outline form that tries to spell it all out in detail.  This should give itself over better to revision, clear up (or call attention to) ambiguities and be easier to work from in developing the forum.  It is not meant to be anything like complete, but it seems to me like a good way to start.

1. Caucus FORUM pages
   1. Provide a FORUM for each of the state caucuses.
   2. Limit access to each state caucus forum to delegates from that state, and other selected delegates as appropriate.
   3. FORUM page will provide:
      1. A list of links to existing TOPICS pages including information on any MOTIONS pending for each TOPIC.
      2. Opening new TOPICS. If a NEW TOPIC is created, send email notification and invitation to comment, to every caucus member.
2. TOPICS pages
   1. At the top of the page:
      1. Display a form for caucus members to SUBMIT MOTIONS for consideration by the caucus. Include fields for the title of the MOTION and the text of the MOTION.
      2. For any PENDING MOTION, display the title, text and current state of the MOTION
         1. If no one has moved to CLOSE DEBATE, display a link to the MOTIONS page.
         2. If someone has moved to CLOSE DEBATE, display a link to the VOTE page.
   2. Allow caucus member to post COMMENTS to a TOPIC. When a COMMENT is posted, send email notification to members who have previously commented on that topic
3. MOTIONS Page
   1. Display the title, text and current state of the MOTION.
   2. Provide the ability to manage MOTIONS.
      1. If no one has moved to CLOSE DEBATE
         1. Display form for delegates to post COMMENTS on the MOTION. If delegate SUBMITS a COMMENT, send email notification to all members of the caucus.
         2. If the delegate has not submitted a comment, display a button to CLOSE DEBATE
      2. If a delegate has clicked to CLOSE DEBATE, send email notification to every delegate giving them 72 hours to vote on CLOSURE.
   3. Display all COMMENTS for the MOTION
4. VOTE page.
   1. Display
      1. The title, text and current state of the MOTION.
      2. A digital CLOCK showing how much time remains for voting.
      3. If the delegate has not already voted, and:
         1. the vote is on CLOSURE, display "DO YOU FAVOR CLOSING DEBATE ON THIS MOTION?" and a form for voting YES or NO.
         2. the vote is on passage of the MOTION, display "DO YOU FAVOR PASSAGE OF THIS MOTION?" and a form for voting YES or NO.
      4. A list of all delegates who have voted, whether they voted YES or NO, with totals at the bottom.
      5. A list of all delegates who have commented of the MOTION, with their COMMENT.
   2. If, at the end of the time for voting,
      1. there are more YES than NO votes
         1. if the VOTE is on CLOSURE, debate is closed and the CLOSURE VOTE page is replaced by a PASSAGE VOTE page
         2. if the VOTE is on PASSAGE debate is closed and the MOTION is PASSED
      2. there are more NO than YES votes
         1. if the VOTE is on CLOSURE, debate is closed and page reverts to the PENDING MOTION page
         2. if the VOTE is on PASSAGE debate is closed and the MOTION is FAILS

In one instance, I used my best judgement to reconcile two points that I was unsure corresponded with one another,  Judge Brennan wrote:"When a motion has been submitted ... The FORUM is no longer open," and "If, at the end of the time for voting on CLOSURE, there are more NO votes than YES votes, the page reverts to the PENDING MOTION page."


If a vote for CLOSURE failed and the MOTION reverted to PENDING, the FORUM would remain closed and the only possibility would be to comment and vote on the MOTION again.  So that debate could continue and so that a PENDING MOTION would not close the FORUM in one case but would in another, the outline does not indicate closing the FORUM when a motion is initially submitted.

Reverting a MOTION to a PENDING MOTION on a failed CLOSURE MOTION indicates that the original MOTION should remain for consideration, but I was not sure if more than one PENDING MOTION was permissible.  The logic of this outline permits multiple PENDING MOTIONS.

Test Forum Design

With no objection to the selection of MyBB as the forum software to pursue, I am now initiating the construction of a test forum.

The basic structure of the test forum and sub-forums will be constructed by 3/9.

I will attempt to unify the log in process with the Convention USA website by 3/16.

Regardless, on 3/16 I will make the test forum available to:
- All Convention USA officers,
- All Convention USA Committee Chairmen,
- Any other delegate requesting access, upon verification by the Credentials Committee.

To request access, post here with your delegate ID, or send a request to me at:
internet@ConventionUSA.org

Discussion on the basic design will be opened on 3/9.

Ben Prather
Internet Committee Chairman
internet@ConventionUSA.org

CAUCUS RULES

I think we need to identify what we are talking about.

1) The extensive discussion of available Internet forums and Bulletin Boards is way above my pay grade. I have said and repeat, any delegates who want to create any kind of forums for discussion by delegates either nationally or in a given state is fine with me, as long as it doesn't impinge on any part of the existing web site. Tennessee has done something like this and Doug McCormick has created another forum and invited delegates to join in discussions there.

2) My thoughts on how I wanted the state caucus pages of the web site to work is merely to provide a convenient platform for caucus activity. It is not intended to preempt the autonomy of each state caucus to do business however it wishes. I do not believe that the convention Rules should attempt to dictate procedures to the caucuses. Caucuses are of various size and greater or lesser cohesiveness. If a caucus chooses to do its work outside of the convention website, it may certainly do so.

TEB

STATE CAUCUSES, CONTINUED

When a delegate clicks on CLOSE DEBATE,

1)  the VOTE page appears.

The VOTE page shows the TITLE of the pending MOTION and lists all delegates who have voted on the motion showing YES and NO boxes after each name and totals at the bottom of the page, and has this message at the top:

DO YOU FAVOR CLOSING DEBATE ON THIS MOTION?

2) An automatic email goes out to every delegate giving them 72 hours to vote on CLOSURE.

3) When a delegate enters the caucus, only the VOTE page appears until the time for voting is over.

4) A digital CLOCK on the VOTE page shows how much time remains for voting on CLOSURE.

If, at the end of the time for voting, there are more YES than NO votes, debate is closed and a new VOTE page appears, showing;

The title and text of the motion and the time remaining to vote on the motion.

An automatic email goes out to all caucus members informing them that they have 72 hours to vote on the motion.

If, at the end of the time for voting on CLOSURE, there are more NO votes than YES votes, the page reverts to the PENDING MOTION page.

There are, I am sure,many details which a competent programmer would see needing attention, but this is what I originally intended. I still believe it should be done, and if the Committee has the expertise, I urge them to ttry to complete the CAUCUS pages.to

State Caucuses

The original plan for the state caucus page on the conventionusa web site envisioned a place where delegates could discuss ideas, exchange information, offer, debate and vote on motions.

When entering the page the delegate would have two choices: FORUM or MOTION.

If he selects FORUM, he is then given a list of TOPICS under discussion, and an option to create a NEW TOPIC.

If he selects a TOPIC, he will see all prior COMMENTS on that TOPIC and a blank box into which he can
write a comment.

Whenever a new COMMENT on a TOPIC is posted, all delegates who have previously commented on that topic receive an automatic email informing them that a new comment has been posted.

Whenever a NEW TOPIC is created, every member of the caucus should get an automatic email notification and invitation to comment.

If the delegate selects MOTION, he is given a page which has a box for the title of the motion, a box for the text of the motion, and a button to SUBMIT the motion for consideration by the caucus.

When a motion has been submitted, several things occur:

The FORUM is no longer open. When a delegate enters the caucus, he sees the pending MOTION, all comments on it which have been posted, box for him to add a COMMENT, a button to SUBMIT his comment and a button to call for a vote to CLOSE DEBATE.

If he SUBMITS a COMMENT, the CLOSE DEBATE button disappears. An automatic email goes ouT to all members of the caucus.
TO BECONTINUED

Forum Software Options

The Convention USA Chairman has established acceptable criteria for the establishment of a testbed for new ideas, leaving great flexibility as to the form such a forum may take. Further, the support offered for a forum suggests it is time to examine the potential forum options.

NOTE: It was originally my intent to begin building the forum on February 19th. I will postpone this until the 26th, to allow this conversation to reach a natural conclusion.

The selection of a forum software is an important choice, as changing forums tools becomes increasingly more difficult the longer we use a particular solution. Two solutions have been presented so far, phpBB and MyBB. I have been continuing to research the benefits of each. Here is my report. I welcome a report by Delegate Tape to ensure that a balanced presentation is made.

phpBB3.0

phpBB3.0 is the more established forum solution. As such, it benefits from being tested in a wider array of situations and from having a much larger base of developed customizations. This comes at a cost of vestigial code that handle obscure cases unrelated to our specific needs.

Its permissions system is much more elaborate, allowing much more flexibility, but leading to a more complicated administration control panel.

MyBB1.4

MyBB is the new kid on the block. As such, it is a slick new code that includes paradigms not yet available in phpBB. This comes at a cost of being tested in a wide range of situations.

In particular, MyBB locks entire database tables on a write, while phpBB only locks database table rows. This makes MyBB less scalable, particularly when handling larger forums with thousands of users simultaneously participating.

Two of these features stand out.

Hooks allow for a more efficient implementation of modifications, which is particularly helpful when upgrading forum versions.

In Line Moderation allows moderators to have far greater control while simply viewing the forum than phpBB allows.

phpBB3.1

phpBB3.1 has entered the final verification steps before alpha testing can begin. A developmental version is available, but I would strongly oppose loading a developmental version. A stable release should be available by the end of the year, though I have no guarantees of that.

This version will include built-in hooks, similar to MyBB.

My Thoughts:

The primary long-term tradeoff appears to be scalability vs. in-line moderation.

If our goal is to build a forum to handle a convention the size we are now, I would agree that MyBB would be the optimal solution. Since our view is a convention with hundreds to thousands of active delegates participating simultaneously, however, I feel that scalability is the most critical factor.

Initially, the primary goal of our forum will be building a community of delegates, not including the newest and fanciest forum features available.

My Recommendation:

It is my view that phpBB3.0 is the best initial solution for our needs, but that we should anticipate moving to phpBB3.1 once a stable release is made available. As such, we should be very judicious about adding custom code modifications until we have made that transition.

Your Turn:

This post is at least twice as long as I typically like to write. It contains a lot of information to digest. I thank you for taking the time to consider its content.

I also value your further insight into this critical decision in forming a forum that meets the needs of our fellow delegates.