Preamble:
The CDS Portal – referred to in the rest of this document as ‘the Website’ – is intended to be a ‘one-stop’ location for citizens and others to access information about the CDS and its community. Viewing of the Website is to be open to all; content of the Website is to be provided and controlled by members of government and private citizens, as described in this bill.
The website domain and the website itself, including all content on official pages of the Website, belong to the Confederation of Democratic Simulators. The Website’s official web pages include, but are not limited to, documentation of the Constitution, Laws, history of the CDS, and current information regarding citizenship, land and other administrative information.
The Website’s unofficial pages provide a location for NGOs, community groups and private citizens to add information regarding community activity in the CDS through postings to a webpage; in addition, citizens can provide further information on their activities or community by providing links to personal blogs.
This Bill addresses the administration of the Website; responsibility for, and control of, content, and criteria for addition of private webpages or links.
This Law replaces all previous laws related to the ‘CDS Portal’.
NL 7-3 ( just to be clear)
(NL 4-26 Public Information Act
CDSL 15-04 CDS Web portal)
Technical Management of the Webpage:
An Administrator of the Website will be appointed with the agreement of the Chancellor and a simple majority of the RA. The Administrator will agree to maintain the technical aspects of the Website and to follow all requirements as identified in this law. The Administrator does not control content of any area of the Website. The Administrator is a civil servant, and is part of the Chancellor’s Administrative arm of government.
The Administrator may be removed for failure to perform the duties of the position, by the following process:
The Chancellor or a simple majority of the RA may request that a new Administrator be appointed. Such a replacement will occur if the Chancellor and a simple majority of the RA agree to such replacement. Any new appointment to Administrator of the website will be a qualified website developer with the skills necessary* to make the transition and maintain the site as per this law indicates.
*Skills necessary:
- FTP to and from web server: setting up the website and monthly backup of all files – this takes about 2 hours on a good bandwidth
- phpMyAdmin on the database server: setting up the WordPress database and monthly backup of same.
– copying these backup files to an online archive. - HTML and CSS to clean up text on some pages: on a regular basis to improve text layout when needed
- installing new WordPress plugins, widgets, themes, adding new pages, sub-pages to the navigation, updating the WordPress: on a regular basis
- using the FAQ plugin: create new FAQ category and FAQ page, inserting the code for these in the text
- optional but desirable: creating a WordPress theme from scratch
- resizing graphics
- creating a photo gallery, inserting into the page
- creating new users/passwords
The current Administrator will be given 3 months notice of the replacement. It is expected that the 3 month period will be used to ensure a smooth transition to the new Administrator. In the event that an Administrator is removed for failure to perform the duties of the position, the replacement may be immediate.
The Administrator of the Webpage will:
- ensure required payment is made to maintain service of the Website
- present each incoming Chancellor with a notecard identifying costs for the coming term, for inclusion in the budget
- identify, with the Chancellor’s agreement, two assistants to ensure that technical support is always available. Assistants may be removed by agreement of the Administrator and the Chancellor. Where such agreement cannot be reached, a simple majority vote of the RA will be used to affirm or replace the assistant in question.
- create monthly backups of the Website and its database/s and ensure that the Chancellor and the Dean of the SC have access to such backups through password or administrative access.
- manage all technical aspects of the webpage
- provide usernames and passwords to all government members and citizens authorized to have access
assign roles to government members and citizens authorized to have access, coinciding with their access requirements - maintain the appearance, themes, plugins, widgets and picture galleries of the homepage as directed by the Chancellor and the RA.
- create webpages or insert links for other arms of government, NGOs and citizens as described in this Law
- agree to give 2 months notice if he or she intends to resign
- agree to transfer control of the domain, servers, passwords, and all other necessary information to his or her successor
- not be permitted to hold the position of Forum Administrator, while acting as Website Administrator
The Chancellor of the CDS will identify a location for digital storage of database and Website backups and will ensure that the monthly backups are copied to this location. The Chancellor will ensure that the Dean of the SC and the LRA have any relevant passwords or access levels required to retrieve these backups if needed.
Control of Content:
Each arm of government will control the content of the official webpages related to their work. No user will remove content related to the Laws, Constitution or History of the CDS without the agreement of the Chancellor and a simple majority of the RA.
NGOs and private citizens will control content of their own webpages or links.
All content of official and unofficial web pages must conform to LL ToS; all Laws and the Constitution of the CDS; and may not contain pornographic material or inflammatory or libelous speech directed at any identifiable person or group.
The Administrator, when authorized by the Chancellor, will remove any unofficial web pages that do not meet these content rules.
The Administrator will ensure that it is clear that CDS is not responsible for the content of links outside of the Website; however, where such links are found to contain material that does not conform to these rules, the Administrator will notify the Chancellor and remove said links from the website.
Chancellor:
The Chancellor, or his designated PIO, will control the content of the homepage and all webpages related to land, events and promotion of the CDS. The Chancellor will consult with the Administrator regarding the technical aspects of major changes to the website to ensure that such changes are technically possible and within reason for cost or work involved.
LRA:
The LRA, or designated members of the RA, control the RA webpage, the RA journal page, the Code of Law page, and any webpages related to the history or to the long term plans of the CDS. The LRA or RA appointed person will add new laws and move repealed and archaic laws as necessary to maintain the current laws.
SC:
The Dean of the SC, or a designated member of the SC, will control the SC webpage, the SC journal page and any other web pages related to their duties.
The Dean of the SC, or a citizen appointed by a super-majority vote of the SC, will control the content of the Constitution webpage. The Dean, or the appointed person, will add amendments to the Constitution once they have been ratified by the SC.
NGOs and Community Groups:
NGOs and community groups may request web pages to provide information about specific activities of the group e,g: The Guild, MoCA. NGOs or community groups will designate who has control of the content of their webpages.
These web pages are considered unofficial but must still comply with the rules for content identified above.
Individual Citizens:
Citizens may request a webpage to provide information about their activities related to the CDS e.g. historians, artists, performers. These citizens will control content of the page they request. These webpages are considered unofficial but must still comply with the rules for content identified above.
Citizens may have links to personal or commercial blogs added to the Links provided on the website. The CDS is not responsible for the content at such links; however, they must still comply with the rules for content identified above.
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Passed October 17, 2015