As you may know, in my capacity as Vice Captain of the Disciplinary Team, I have been working with thedeadlymoose and undertaking a review of staff disciplinary procedure as part of a larger, ongoing case against Dexanote in his role as Disciplinary Captain during the November 2020 Incident. This has been significantly slower and more complex than typical disciplinary cases due to several areas of policy which were unclear or not properly memorialized when they were decided upon. Another note is that when the Charter was adopted, administrators were not permitted to be permanent team captains. Disciplining an administrator who has made a severe error and disciplining the Disciplinary Captain for a severe error are separate processes, and what is meant to happen in their intersection has been difficult to fully understand.
It is believed that a majority of staff members want to see the censure process for Dexanote and Mann come to a close as soon as is feasible. It is also believed that a majority of staff members believe having this process in motion for a long period of time is damaging to staff procedure and morale, including Dexanote and Mann themselves. Until now we have operated (as best we can) according to ordinary required Disciplinary procedure. As of the last few days, we have initial groundwork to allow for a more direct resolution, althought it is not currently permitted.
The possible options here are as follows:
1. Continue the normal Disciplinary process for Dexanote, Mann, or both
Essentially the current mode of operation without special staff authorization.
Pros:
- We have already seen the need for a number of reforms as we've worked on this case, such as removing Disc-ord's blackbox and fiat transparency and accountability. Others will likely result as we continue.
- This will allow for the most thorough investigation of the November 2020 Incident, which was rather complicated (for instance being spread across multiple staff channels and DMs). The findings of the investigation will be public.
- Administrators will be able to fully review Dexanote in his current role as Disciplinary Captain prior to his disciplinary proceedings.
Cons:
- This will take weeks at minimum, and due to holidays, will likely finish after the new year.
2. Fast-track the Disciplinary process
In this situation, with staff permission (either by vote or obvious consensus in this discussion thread), as Acting Disciplinary Captain, I will create Disciplinary vote threads for Dexanote and/or Mann (as indicated by staff consensus). Unless otherwise directed by staff, each will have a discussion timer of 72 hours. Unlike when this action was suggested earlier, there are no hard blockers to going forward with this now, so it is viable.
As designated in the Charter, any staff member being considered for disciplinary action may post a defense in the thread. The relevant individuals will do so, and will also answer any unanswered questions staff have about their actions, including those in the current November 2020 discussion thread. (Note that if Dexanote's health prevents him from participating directly, other administrators may help him draft these responses).
These Disciplinary vote threads will not follow ordinary procedure. Instead they will follow this procedure:
- The Disciplinary Team will create and post a discussion threads laying out the charges against the individuals in question.
- Following the discussion threads, if there is sufficient support, the Disciplinary Team will create and post voting thread(s).
- Because this issue has impacted staff very notably and is of interest to the site at large, these threads will be open to all staff (operational or higher), as opposed to peers only (administrators and Disciplinary Team members). Note that such an exception must be approved by the Disciplinary Team or administration, and be ratified by staff, as it is a divergence from normal administrative and disciplinary procedure.
- Following the decisions in the voting threads, the appropriate results will be carried out.
Pros:
- This is much faster and may be a relief to a number of staff and community members.
- This would remove the issue from hanging over everyone's heads, and would help restore the ability of the Disciplinary Team to conduct its business and trust in administration.
- This would prevent this particular disciplinary process from significantly exceeding one year, which was an egregious error on the part of administration, which (with staff permission), we would like to quickly resolve.
- Although a thorough investigation is not completed, the initial assessment is completed.
Cons:
- This risks unexpected consequences from skipping the safeguards built into the disciplinary process.
- This risks normalizing these fast-track exceptions even in cases that were not significantly delayed or faced with other complications.
- A thorough investigation will not be completed, and it is possible that disciplinary action may be too harsh or too lenient.
- Administration's review of Dexanote's fitness in his position as Disciplinary Captain may not be completed, which denies staff information when making their deliberation.
- Admins have been reviewing whether they should be allowed to remain as permanent Team Captains generally (as opposed to only allowing special exception, such as Zyn for Forum Crit). This has urgency because of the current disciplinary case against Dexanote, but will no longer have the same urgency if this option is taken.
Note that there will be some reforms that result even if this option is taken, due to pre-existing work:
- Fiat documentation and reforms, being completed by Moose.
- Beginning the process of reviewing pre-existing recent admin fiats, with public summaries and opportunity for staff discussion.
- Providing for the review of any existing admin fiats, regardless of age, on staff request.
- Formalizing the "soft" requirement for self-recusal in disciplinary cases into a "hard" requirement. See also Fiat - Dexanote Censure Recusal.
- Admins will try to implement all other reforms that could have resulted from this process, but will do so on a slower timeline, and may adjust priorities.
For this choice, if staff approves, an amendment may be applied which permits not only operational staff to participate in the disciplinary threads, but also any junior staff who were present at the time of the incident.
3. Another method, as discussed here
Some combination of options 1 or 2, or something entirely different, as determined by staff consensus. If you feel this option is the best way forward, please provide details about how the process would go.
