Though I founded this clan, I see myself as an Elected leader. In that position I have been entrusted with the Authority to perform certain tasks. This Authority gives me the ability to do things without having to go to the membership with every triviality. When something comes up that I feel is outside my Authority I take it to the membership for a vote. In this position I retain the right of Executive Decision. This means I can take whatever action I feel is necessary to maintain the viability of and order in the clan.

What I see as my Authority is defined in The Clan Rules and Founding Principles.

I rely on the other Admins, Leaders, Founding Members and The Council of Elders to assit me in my decisions. I expect them to exercise their Authority as they see fit.

As an elected leaders we can be removed from office. If you are unhappy with our performance I encourage you to follow the procedure for change.

Pertinent excerpts from "The Founding Principles"

The concepts of leadership were added to our Founding Principles, but never fully enacted. I am going to change that.

Leadership ranks and above are by Majority Vote. By electing a person you give you tacit approval of their authority.

We have some guidelines that were established by vote. We have other concepts that govern how we operate while not specifically outlining steps. And, we have a culture that has grown up around our society. When you elect a person to leadership you recognize that this person has a greater understanding of these things than you do. Not all things are specifically described, therefore you rely on the interpretation and judgment of your leadership.

There are two parts to any rule/guideline. There is the "letter" and the "Intent". An excellent example of both concepts applied is our "5 votes to be accepted as a member". The "Letter" of this rule says that a person must post a poll and receive a minimum of 5 votes, all can be no's assuming no member posts a specific dissent. The "Intent" of this rule is to.. Block Idiots from entering and give any member a "NO". With this in mind consider: A friend of mine wants to join. I know they are not an idiot and they have me to guide them in the rules. It is understood that, however unlikely, any clan mate can still say "no". So I automatically validate them, bypassing the formal application process.

Am I in violation of this rule? No, because the intent of it remains intact. This applies to any rule, principle or culture. Leadership has a responsibility to interpret these rules and guidelines

On a routine basis Leadership will follow established guidelines. However, not everything is routine. Not everything is, or can be specifically spelled out in procedural detail. Combine that with a leaders privilege to decide and act as they see best.

Leaders have the right, even responsibility to Bend and Break the rules if they feel it is appropriate. This further defines the rules and builds on our culture. At times, a leader will push a standard beyond what you feel is appropriate. This is where the Culture of the clan pushes back.

Your turn lamer.

I am obviously only commenting on 2nd post. Things added/changed in my view have a large F before them, so you dont have to search for it...(f stands for fatso, if u didnt realize :P)

The concepts of leadership were added to our Founding Principles, but never fully enacted. I am going to change that.

Leadership ranks and above are by Majority Vote. By electing a person you give your tacit approval of their authority.

We have some guidelines that were established by vote. We have other concepts that govern how we operate while not specifically outlining steps. And, we have a culture that has grown up around our society. When you elect a person to leadership you recognize that this person has a greater understanding of these things than you do. Not all things are specifically described, therefore you rely on the interpretation and judgment of your leadership.

There are two parts to any rule/guideline. There is the "letter" and the "Intent". An excellent example of both concepts applied is our "5 votes to be accepted as a member". The "Letter" of this rule says that a person must post a poll and receive a minimum of 5 votes, all can be no's assuming no member posts a specific dissent. The "Intent" of this rule is to.. Block Idiots from entering and give any member a "NO". With this in mind consider: A friend of mine wants to join. I know they are not an idiot and they have me to guide them in the rules. It is understood that, however unlikely, any clan mate can still say "no". So I automatically validate them, bypassing the formal application process.

Am I in violation of this rule? No, because the intent of it remains intact. This applies to any rule, principle or culture.

FIn the past, some members over-react to leaders doing this on occasion. It is their privelege to do so. Our leadership works very hard. They help this clan grow and remain intact. Before you go ranting and raving when this occasionally happens, step back, and think. "Is it such a big deal? Was the intent changed?"

On a routine basis Leadership will follow established guidelines. However, not everything is routine. Not everything is, or can be specifically spelled out in procedural detail. Combine that with a leaders privilege to decide and act as they see best. F Our leaders are not robots. They cannot follow every command you spit out. Sometimes things are going to be a little different. Instead of over-reacting, relax and think about it before you put up a big stink.

Leaders have the right, even responsibility to Bend and Break the rules if they feel it is appropriate. This further defines the rules and builds on our culture. At times, a leader will push a standard beyond what you feel is appropriate. This is where the Culture of the clan pushes back. F Sometimes in absolute despotism, a leader does what is right and best for the clan, even though you may see it wrong. Again, instead of attacking them, wait. Maybe their intent was different than you primarily believed.

Add to all of this... the privileges of being a Leader.

Being a Leader of anything, especially a Clan such as this, requires a significant time investment. To counter the work, the time away from the game, and the outright abuse leaders suffer, they are entitled certain privileges.

Depending on their rank a leader is entitled to a certain level of "do what they damn well want" Myself, Sculd, Litch, Jessi.. .. Do whatever we want. Whatever we do is acceptable behavior. The amount of work we put into YOUR clan, while you sit around and pick your toes gives us this privilege. Leadership ranks like Pixie Tales and SuicidePixie get to do Almost anything they want. And will only be reprimanded in private among the leadership.

This is of course tempered by the knowledge that your leadership respects and honors the foundation of TRL and its members. We are not going to arbitrarily do things to damage it. When we exercise our privilege it may not better the clan, but it is certainly not going to hurt it.

We will not be judged or accused because we took a little liberty with our position.

So... We combine Authority and Privilege and we come up with a new understanding of the role our leadership plays. Statements like "she broke her own rules" are asinine when presented as anything other than a compliment!

The one and only rule that is inviolate in letter and intent is Democracy. Ultimately the people decide. If a leader misinterprets an intent, or over exercises their privilege the people can enact change. Add new rules or expand the interpretation of them. Or, if necessary impeachment of a leader. You are ENCOURAGE to take an active role in building our culture. However the Onus is on YOU to establish the standards to guide your leadership.

The council will act as the "supreme court" in deciding what rules are established and how they are interpreted.

What I WILL NOT Tolerate anymore is uninformed second guessing attacks on myself and my leadership...my friends. We have proper ways for the populace to reprimand and correct leadership behavior. Failure to use them will be considered "basic bad manners" and will land you in jail. Once jailed you have forfeited your rights to appeal (until released from jail).

This isnt meant to be a discussion thread per say as I see lamer is telling us what should be done, however I do have one comment reading these posts. Lamer if you find this post of mine un-reasonable or counterproductive you have my permission to delete it.

The assigment and roles of leadership were put into place for a reason. Our leaders ensure that issues are dealt with fairly and actions done by leadership are acceptable. The reason we have multiple members in leadership is to initiate checks and balances (much like Lamers example of a Supreme Court). These checks and balances ensure that while leadership has all rights to extend the rules, It will be for the benefit of all the clan. If you elect and/or support a leadership member, there should be no reason to nit-pick every action not written directly down. The whole role of the leadership is to intrepret and apply rules to a real world setting (as the "actual rules" for anything hardly every apply to the real world, since its impossible to do so).

No member should offensivly argue with how Leadership decide their decision since they put forth the time and efforts to earn that position, and therfore earn the rights to intrepret the rules set forth as guidelines.

Lamer has put enormous amounts of time into this clan, I cant even asess how much work she has done. She has every right to change or modify this structure without question if she feels it will benefit us. There is no need to abuse her work with meaningless comments and offensive remarks.