PokeCommunity President!

Started by Volkner's Apprentice November 4th, 2008 8:14 PM
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Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
This is just a fun topic idea I had while watching all the exciting election coverage happening across the nation. What would PokeCommunity do with a President? The community itself is quite the pool of culture, so we'd have a huge difference of opinions on how a government within PC might pan out. Obviously, the site is hugely decided by what the admins and moderators discuss behind the woodwork, yet they of course do listen (and quite intently) to many ideas presented by the members. but factoring in just a few fun questions:

~How would PC benefit from having some sort of Presidential "cabinet"?

~What kind of a government do you think PC would have? Feel free to suggest other methods of leading roles from other countries (since I'm not greatly familiar with the election process of officials in other areas of the world.)

~What kinds of things could a President of PC decide? Obviously they wouldn't have a huge amount of power, considering the administrators of PC worked very hard to get this Community to where it is today and certainly no ones complaining. However, a lot of members do produce some great ideas that get considered, but aren't discussed in the community, just behind the scenes.

~How would PC go about choosing it's President? Pure "vote for so-and-so"'s or would there be a more complicated process?

~Would there be restrictions on who could vote in a PC election? For instance, newer members/people here only to battle/trade, etc.

~Would there be pre-requisites one would need before they could run for a spot in PC's presidency?

Definitely add input on anything else that might come up. One thing I'd suggest (don't mutilate me, it's just a suggestion! XD) would be simply having elections for the regular moderators every five months (or whatever amount of time would be deemed suitable.)

Moderators, over the past 4 months here at PC, have altered quite a bit with some dropping, some being promoted to higher ranks, and lots of new faces on the commission. At the same time, I feel like I haven't gotten to know over half the lower ranked staff members because they either a) don't venture much outside their own forum (which makes sense that they're the moderator of said forum) or b) they tend to lose a whole lot of activity once they become a moderator.

So that's just one topic, very different in itself from that of electing a President to PC. I'd just like to hear everyones thoughts on this kind of an idea. Again, JUST A THOUGHT, in no way am I saying "LET'S OVERULE PC BLAHH!" because I feel that everyone on the staff does a really excellent job with the place. I just thought this might be fun to hear everyones opinion. ^_^


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Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
We had the PC Elections like... four or so years ago.

It was pretty fun, although no different from a 'large-scale member of the month'.
Ohh interesting, I only joined in '06 so I didn't hear about that. ^_^

Well that's one thing I think, if some sort of election were to happen again, that could easily be avoided. I mean if Beachboy ran against a member with like, 470 posts who only floated around anime/gaming forums then of course it'd be a landslide large-scale MotM.

With that said, I think having some new faces (aka not the widely known mods we love already) to get up there and represent regular members of PC with suggestion ideas, majority voting polls, etc. would bring a fun new image to PC. Someone could probably even design a skin theme for the board when election month goes on. :P


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Her

Age 29
Seen 46 Minutes Ago
Posted 5 Days Ago
Being an small-time poster, I obviously would have no influence in the polls, but one thing I would like to see is that there is two partys.

Eg:

The "Cheese and Bananas" party and the "JHWHNQKDJQDQDJN00B!!!!!" party. (Also known as Democrat and Republican partys).


People choose which team they want to join, and then people vote 2 candidates they want to have running per team. [eg: Gilgamesh, and running mate Platinum Lucario (lolololol) vs Rekyht and running mate, Kayashi).

And then theres a actual vote on who becomes president, blah blah blah.

Pamela Anderson for President!
Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
Well one of the biggest differences, in my mind, is right now most people for MotM vote for a lot of people with 5,000 posts or a lot of moderators/admins just because they're already widely known. Well in a presidential council type setting, mods/admins wouldn't be eligible simply because they've already got that high fame status. They already technically represent us, but honestly not close enough, since the vast majority of discussion on new additions to Pokecommunity goes on behind the scenes in the mod/admin forums and a lot of ideas/suggestions don't even see the light of member's eyes (or the majority of them that didn't see/suggest an idea in the first place.)

In addition, I thought it might be cool to have some sort of Presidential council. Instead of just voting for one person, we could have that same voting ability as well as a vote for representatives from each of the main sections on PC (DPP, Pokemon General w/ its surrounding forums, Anime/Gaming, Other chat w/ it's surrounding forums, graphics/hacking, etc.) If we had a rep selected from each area, members could suggest an idea to the council through whichever representative they had, then the idea could float through to PC's 'Congress' and from there be presented to the higher ups.

Plus, wouldn't it be fun to have a full sheet of people to vote for? That way it's less like a popularity contest and more like who represents and contributes most to their chosen section on PC.

As for counting ballots, heck, I'd love to do something like that. :P I'm just the type to like organizing data and collecting statistics and I'm sure there are some like minded individuals around here to help out with that.

At the very least, the introduction of an elected council who agree on some ideas presented by members could at least have a small impact with the staff. Saying, "hey, well, everyone seems to think this would work and might be fun/a good idea, why not give it a try?"


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BakingBluePotatoe

The Red Death Alchemist

Age 28
Female
Catatonia
Seen March 28th, 2016
Posted February 12th, 2016
2,279 posts
15.8 Years
Maybe a week for the applications and then a month for the debate stuff and then 2 days to vote?

and perhaps you can use an actual Poll for the sake of simplicity?

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Potato Buddy

Her

Age 29
Seen 46 Minutes Ago
Posted 5 Days Ago
Well one of the biggest differences, in my mind, is right now most people for MotM vote for a lot of people with 5,000 posts or a lot of moderators/admins just because they're already widely known. Well in a presidential council type setting, mods/admins wouldn't be eligible simply because they've already got that high fame status. They already technically represent us, but honestly not close enough, since the vast majority of discussion on new additions to Pokecommunity goes on behind the scenes in the mod/admin forums and a lot of ideas/suggestions don't even see the light of member's eyes (or the majority of them that didn't see/suggest an idea in the first place.)
Agreed. I see a whole argument coming from [person] vs BeachBoy because he got 5,000 votes just because he's a mod, and that person didn't get any because he's new.
In addition, I thought it might be cool to have some sort of Presidential council. Instead of just voting for one person, we could have that same voting ability as well as a vote for representatives from each of the main sections on PC (DPP, Pokemon General w/ its surrounding forums, Anime/Gaming, Other chat w/ it's surrounding forums, graphics/hacking, etc.) If we had a rep selected from each area, members could suggest an idea to the council through whichever representative they had, then the idea could float through to PC's 'Congress' and from there be presented to the higher ups.
Meh. That we like, 50 reps? I'd prefer a rep from each whole section, eg; one from new member, one from Pokemon General and so on.

Plus, wouldn't it be fun to have a full sheet of people to vote for? That way it's less like a popularity contest and more like who represents and contributes most to their chosen section on PC.
Full sheet? How many people do you think are going to rep?
As for counting ballots, heck, I'd love to do something like that. :P I'm just the type to like organizing data and collecting statistics and I'm sure there are some like minded individuals around here to help out with that.
You do that, saves me from doing it.
At the very least, the introduction of an elected council who agree on some ideas presented by members could at least have a small impact with the staff. Saying, "hey, well, everyone seems to think this would work and might be fun/a good idea, why not give it a try?"
Elected council, ftw. Have a mix between mods, admisn and normal members as well.

BakingBluePotatoe

The Red Death Alchemist

Age 28
Female
Catatonia
Seen March 28th, 2016
Posted February 12th, 2016
2,279 posts
15.8 Years
Applications shouldn't happen, if someone has been chosen to be added to be a candidate, they should be asked I think.
you ever think that there have to be requirements to apply?

Like...:

Being active in all (or mostly all) sections
Being a member for 2+ years

Uh... I'm sure there's others I'm not thinking of. =/

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Potato Buddy

Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
Mmm, no, I'd say perhaps some sort of narrowing process (maybe this could be how the actual staff influences the decisions made in the election) of everyone for each represented section (that is if we did the council type election rather than just one President.) Rather than doing a type of applications thing, we'd have staff (and perhaps a select chosen group of 50 key PC members) to choose officials from the areas. Then those two officials could run against each other for Area Rep; same process would apply to everyone looking to go for Presidency.

We'd also need a lot longer period for the actual vote. And a regular poll might be simple, but if one wouldn't be willing to fill out a sheet like the MotM to vote in an election, then maybe they shouldn't be counted anyway. It might sound complicated when put into so many words like this, but it's honestly a very straight forward idea. Hopeful reps and presidents hold a primary election to be narrowed down from a field of say, six candidates (I guess for President we'd need like..two parties?) to two and then they could hold debates, campaigns, etc. over a period of a month or so, leading up to a 3-week election, plenty of time for all the great members of PC to log in and vote (just in case many that are busy won't miss out on the action if they decide to focus on other things outside PC.)

A list of everyone running and who's running for what would be great; those could then just be PM'd to the election council to tally up over a messenger like MSN, AIM, etc. (just so there'd be live feedback.)

you ever think that there have to be requirements to apply?

Like...:

Being active in all (or mostly all) sections
Being a member for 2+ years

Uh... I'm sure there's others I'm not thinking of. =/
Definitely there should be pre-requirements in order to run for a position. Years, I wouldn't say; BeachBoy joined around January of last year if I'm not mistaken and he's one of the most famous moderators around. It didn't take long for him to establish a reputation just as it might not others. But of course we don't want teh n00bz0rz coming in and saying they want to rule the place...that'd be one big 'LOL'.

I'm not sure what the exact requirements could be; perhaps for President, being a member of PC for 2 years would be a perfect pre-req. As for section representatives, perhaps just a nomination by a mod or admin saying they've been an active contributor to that section for some time (this could apply to each forum except Other Chat where everyone intermingles.) There's plenty of ways to go about deciding who gets to run initially and I'm sure, if this idea seems to have a legit standing, that the staff could make a decision on the matter.

And for those just floating in and out I'd love to hear how everyone reacts to the idea of a PC Presidential Council! So be sure to comment, that's what the thread is for after all. If you can take the time to read for a bit it's worth it. :P


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Aurafire

provider of cake

Age 32
Male
New York
Seen April 25th, 2017
Posted November 8th, 2011
5,735 posts
15 Years
This could be pretty cool if we could get some cool specialized positions made. Again, it'll be hard to distinguish from the generic MOTM categories, but I think this might get a bit more attention, and we could try to make some fun new categories. I'll have to think of a few ideas =P

Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
I think it could be way more influential than a simple MotM. They don't even get to do anything, in fact often times they haven't even gotten recognition for winning that XD.

Either way, I'm in love with this council rep idea. We could talk about deciding how the sections of PC would be divided. For instance, my main area, DPP, battling, trading and diamond/pearl/platinum talk usually all have the same members posting often and with good quality in them, so they would obviously hold the same council representative.

What about the other sections? How would they be divided? Would we have a rep for each individual forum for better distribution of power? Or would we limit the sections due to overload of voting?

And YES! All ideas that could be thrown into the pool here are greatly appreciated.


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Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
I would have won but I was modded instead.
XD I thought I recognized you from somewhere; did you recently just return or are you a floater nowadays?

If new positions are made, they should just be titled 'PokeCommunity President' or something, and should have a different colored name (that is different to the rest of the moderators/admins).
I'm sure that would happen too, Maybe orange or purple since the supporters didn't go with those colors. XD
Perhaps a new forum would be created that only Presidential Council members could access, just like the mod forums (of course any higher staff could also have access to the Council threads.)


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Hiidoran

ohey

Age 32
Male
Indiana
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted February 4th, 2022
6,203 posts
17.6 Years
See, now I think this might be a good idea if we were just doing it for fun. This council idea sounds just a little redundant to me.

Why would we really need a representative from each section when we already have a representative from each section. If I am not mistaken, the resident moderator(s) of a section is/are the authority on the subject. They are the one's that listen to our suggestions and bring it in front of higher staff. Why then would we need more people to do so?

Another PC President would be a fun little activity to vote and have fun with, but I do believe that's all it should be. This was a very nice idea, however.
Age 32
Male
Vermillion City
Seen February 20th, 2016
Posted February 16th, 2014
1,726 posts
17.1 Years
See, now I think this might be a good idea if we were just doing it for fun. This council idea sounds just a little redundant to me.

Why would we really need a representative from each section when we already have a representative from each section. If I am not mistaken, the resident moderator(s) of a section is/are the authority on the subject. They are the one's that listen to our suggestions and bring it in front of higher staff. Why then would we need more people to do so?

Another PC President would be a fun little activity to vote and have fun with, but I do believe that's all it should be. This was a very nice idea, however.
As I see what you're saying, the only thing that comes to my mind is that a moderator for each section focuses much more on their responsibilities to uphold the rules of the forum rather than presenting member ideas to the admins and rest of staff. Sure, they do do this too and to a good extent, but I just think a balance of power between regular members who just like suggesting ideas and shaping the boards to favor everyones likes/needs and those who actually do the changing (admins/mods) and keep the place sane to live in would be nice to have.

The reps would just be a nice addition; they would of course just be a nice face of their concentrated section, while the President him/herself would be the one the ideas, suggestions, complaints, etc. pass through. That way, there could be a decent line of distribution between who does what. The Council would only have so much power/abilities compared to the moderators of course; it's just something to consider.


XD Basically what I'm saying in less than so many words is to make an election like this more than just a little activity to have fun with, but rather something all the dedicated members of PC could be introduced to.

Of course I wouldn't be opposed to just having a regular PC election too! I would just think more than just a President would be needed to make it really fun; even just adding VP, Secretary, Treasurer, stuff like that might make it more worthwhile (especially if we could actually find something for those members to do that regular ones cannot.)


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Melody

Banned

Female
Cuddling those close to me
Seen March 4th, 2018
Posted March 2nd, 2018
6,459 posts
18.6 Years
I don't know how well the staff will accept the idea to be honest, we had this back in '04 and it was basically abolished because the PC prez ended up being modded (Good 'ol Forest_Grovyle, such an awesome person to know I'll tell you what) and when the next 'election' was held, well certain members shirked their vote counting responsibilites and such and the staff just abolished it altogether.

I dont know how the staff is going to count votes to be honest but however we do it will have to be sure that no one tries to cast two ballots. Again this part of the election is a REAL pain in the rear end. I think if they do agree to this that they should recruit a number of members, give them the ability to see IP addresses (nothing else special, the privilage would be removed after the election is finished), and have them check votes and make sure no person is voting twice and such.

At anyrate, it's going to take a major nod from the members of the community to get this back. I don't think the staff would be willing to repeat the same failure of an election twice.
Age 30
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Ontario
Seen January 21st, 2013
Posted March 13th, 2011
981 posts
15.2 Years
So what you're saying is that you want a small group of members, who aren't already staff, to take on half the responsibilities of a moderator, when the moderator is fully capable of handling the responsibilities themselves? To me, that makes no sense. All it does is waste time, energy, and thought; the admins would probably more than likely have to have some say in the matter, and - if it goes through - they'd just need to create more user groups/permissions, probably adjust the rules, change the way the forum works, put together a couple small time jobs to make your "government" seem useful, and the list goes on and on. And how would we benefit from it? We'd just have more people to do what one person(s) could have done in the first place.

I agree with Hiidoran: It would be a nice, fun little activity, but it shouldn't be taken serious. The way this forum is run has proved itself over and over again; why change it around?