[sudo-discuss] conflict res / articles of association

[hol at gaskill.com]

looks like the list was down earlier?  forwarding my thoughts from earlier today

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>I just want to chime in on a few comments that have accumulated for consideration here on the listfeed since I've been offline for the last few days.
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>ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION 
>I think we're overdue for another constitutional (articles of associational???) convention, with exactly what was noted in previous comments - more specific target areas.  There are a few minor things that should be cleaned up or reorganized based on how things have been going operationally.  I have mostly been looking in the fiscal solvency section and have a few ideas (mostly inserting equations) of how to document our budgeting logic.  Off the top of my head, I think we should name the 3-months fixed cost fund the 'Buffer Fund" just for ease of reference.  And we have some basic guidelines for which standing funds are to be held but not so much for how expenditures are to be handled.  I would propose that for each facility we have a point person who is designated to track material/equipment needs and either crowdsource freebies or submit a request to withdraw the required amount from the maintenance fund for basic supplies to maintain all supported projects.
>Speaking of supported projects, I propose adding a 'programs' section somewhere to define standards for how ongoing programs (sudo radio, 3d printing, biohacking, possibly even already agreed upon fixed costs such as rent, utilities, internet, etc) are supported by sudo room.  Like if we have a program-specific piece of equipment (CNC mill, radio transmitter, moonraker laser, etc) that consumes a specific amount of power or a standing workstation that takes up a considerable amount of space, we document that we support it as an ongoing thing and allocate the required funds and space.  So basically I am proposing defining various classes of fiscal objects (fund, program, project) but only instantiating a few objects (rainy day fund, buffer fund, maintenance fund, capital infrastructure fund) at the time of Articles compilation, with other objects being instantiated in separate documents.  We could also classify rent and utilites as a program to provide physical space, supported 100% and directly from revenue.  This may seem like sort of a complicated way to do things, but establishing a clear process for adding/removing/modifying fiscal objects could add some clarity to the budgeting process.  I have drafted a few ideas but there are still some bugs - I'll try to send out a more coherent version of what I'm trying to describe when I get a chance to work on it.
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>CONFLICT RESOLUTION
>For the most part I have steered clear of getting involved in the conflict resolution bit because as important as it is, I am pretty easy to please and don't see a big cost to trying something imperfect out and iterating through better versions experimentally, but moreso because there are other people who are very actively considering the implied reach of terminology and proposed mechanics, so thank you to all those who have been attentive to these details!  I would like to echo these words (Rachel's IIRC) RE terminology: "hoping we can come up with words less evocative of archaic and violent forms of social engineering."  We have the opportunity to create and define brand spankin' new roles in support of whatever nuanced objectives we set our sights on, so using terminology for a role centered around enforcing existing and in my opinion tending toward unjust laws (from wikipedia: "originally, the constable was the officer responsible for keeping the horses of a lord or monarch"...really? sudo room has horses and allows for monarchs?), implicitly through force of arms, does not aid in the process of defining a detailed role unique to our particular needs.  Again I have been somewhat out of the loop but to me it seems like the role would be better thought of as a project manager for shepherding specific disputes through a predefined process, with a list of people available as points of first contact who, if sufficiently disinterested, could become manage that specific conflict through its resolution lifecycle.  Just my dos centavos.