5:04- Allthing opened
Old business is the 5 proposals Uther gave at the last allthing. Three are up for a vote, and two are just up for discussion
The floor is given to Uther, and he explains his first proposal to give $1,000 to AI for their budget this year
The total AI budget is $20,000, and $16,000 of that will go towards the legal fight regarding the name “Amtgard.”
AI has requested $1,000 from each kingdom to make up this budget
5:05- $100,000 was the estimated cost of the legal fight, and if the budget is reached, AI will have spent $40,000 towards it
5:06- GP funds will be $1,600 if we decide to give the $1,000 to AI
At this point, several people made mention of a ghetto ice cream truck that was driving by
5:07- The money can be replaced by the dues apportionment from the parks as well as fudnraisers, such as auctions
Uther assures the allthing that GP will be able to sustain itself after giving the money
5:08- He estimates that it will take one year to replinish the funds, with $600 budgeted for the year towards events that make a profit, as well as donations given
5:09- Badger suggests giving less, but Zander asserts that we need to give all that we can to ensure the future of Amtgard as a whole
Safire mentions that most of the kingdom events are run by donated assets, so this kind of donation would not hurt our events
5:10- Nai states that she believes GP should give the entire amount of $1,000 so that we support AI in an equal amount as other kingdoms
Hern states that should the legal battle be lost, every player would be affected, as we would essentially have to make a new game
5:11- It is stated that our opponent in this legal fight wants to move Amtgard from its current dues system to a full on pay to play design
5:12- it is also mentioned that other fundraisers, such as the T-shirt fundraiser and Zander’s fundraiser have raised a significant amount of money towards the legal fight as well
5:13- The in-person vote was taken
5-14- Uther begins discussing his second proposal, which is to allow local parks to have an online voting system
The full proposal would b to have a park populace send their vote to the local PM via their regstered email by midnight of the allthing date
5:15- It is mentioned that Facebook Messenger would be too messy to use, then Zander suggested using a poll on Facebook instead
5:16- It is mentinoned that polls remove privacy for online votes
5:17- Cathan states that with the sheer number of non-park members on a page, human error could easily skew the voting results
Zander asserts that one could easily filter out the non member votes on a poll
5:18- Cathan mentions that a Facebook vote can be affected by Facebook bans, then Ryuujin states that CK uses an email system successfully
5:19- Uther reminds everyone that the proposal cannot be changed at the allthing, and that if they wanted a revised proposal, they would have to vote not to pass this proposal first
It is stated that the PM may use either their personal or an Amtgard exclusive email to take online votes
5:20- The in-person vote was taken
5:21- Uther begins discussion on his third proposal, to make it so that late audits may still pass, but they cannot gain a “Superior” rating
5:22- Only one park did not request an extension, and most parks did not turn one in
Late audits affect the BoD because they still have to have all audits graded by a certain date
5:23- Cathan understands wanting a penalty, but states that life happens and can affect the turning in of an audit. Plus, we could give the BoD an extension to make up for the audit extensions
5:24- Cathan mentions that during an audit, his scanner broke, and it made it more difficult to complete his audit on time
Uther states that with the new audit system, there are no variables, and it can be worked on for the entire audit period. He goes on to say that the audit drop box is always open, and PMs can upload their data as the 6 months go on
5:25- Uther adds that there is already an extension built into the new system, going from seven days after the audit period to fifteen days after the audit period
5:26- Safire states that while life does happen, a PM knows what they’re getting themselves into, and that the audit doesn’t come up as a surprise
Hern states that it is possible that a medical condition could make it temporarily impossible to use a keyboard
5:27- Spork states that she did in fact recieve a surprise audit when she took office, and mentioned that depending on how the previous PM did, the work it would take to finish the audit could be much harder
5:28- Spork goes on to state that the audit could only be fully submitted if the previous PM did their job correctly
Uther states that if a PM cannot use a keyboard, then that PM should step down. He goes on to state that the current PM has the support and resources to make up for a previous PM who did not do the job correctly, and that parks should be willing to replace a PM if it is needed
5:30- The in-person vote is taken
5:31- The discussion regarding moving appeals to the BoD is opened. Uther states that this is based on a rcommendation by Medrin, the current lawyer for AI
5:32- Medrin stated at Clan that all kingdoms should have an appeals system, but it should not be done through an allthing, as it becomes a popularity contest, and privacy could not be maintained in an Allthing appeal
5:33- Having the BoD handle appeals gives the case more privacy as well as giving full representation from each park
Safire asks about the Irongate BoD member, as she cannot remember voting for one, then Uther states that that Hern was voted as BoD rep in November, adding that BoD votes are to happen every November
5:34- Spork states that she cannot believe that appeals are not already done this way
5:35- Uther states that the verbage of a ban already has to be approved by the BoD, so they do already have some involvement. Then, Cathan asks what percentage of votes would be required to overturn a ban, and Uther sates that it would be 60%
5:36- Uther states that the BoD would have 30 days to review a ban, and that the appeal should be sent directly to the monarch or to the player’s BoD representative
5:37- Nai asks if a reason would be given as to why a ban is or isn’t overturned, and Zander states that a banned person already knows the reason for the ban
5:38- Uther states that for the sake of privacy, names could be omitted from the appeal while keeping all of the data. He also states that if a ban is given simply because the current monarchy does not like the banned person, the BoD could circumvent that ban
5:39- Safire asks for a full proposal
5:40- Foxy is asked to give an explanation of what a ban entails, and she states that a typical ban means that one cannot play Amtgard in the kingdom, but that some bans may have other stipulations in them. When asked if bans can strip awards, Hern states that only an Allthing can strip awards, the only exception being that the CoK can strip Knight’s belts
5:41- The discussion on the changing of the appeals process closes, and Uther states that he will write up a full proposal
5:42- Uther then brings up the discussion for the change in the Qualls process due to requests he got from various parks during his last reign as Monarch
5:43- Uther states that this new process would be similar to the way Rivermoor, Emerald Hills, Crystal Groves, and Goldenvale handle their Qualls. He explains by stating that Warskill and A&S would no longer be required to qualify for office. instead, one would obtain a Mark of the Hydra (to be referred to as MoH in this document) by reeving or running a tournament and running or judging an A&S competition in the 6 months prior to the election. One would also have to be Reeve and Corpora certified, as well as answering 3-5 statecraft questions
5:44- Statecraft questions would be written by the outgoing monarchy, and they would be pertinent to current Kingdom or Park issues
5:45- The questions would have no right or wrong answers, but a candidate would have to answer them in order to qualify.
Safire mentions that if a candidate is already a member of monarchy and is running for another term that someone else should write the statecraft questions
5:46- Zander suggests that a pool of questions be made to prevent a monarchy from writing unanswerable questions or softball questions
5:47- Safire suggests a debate be done instead, as that would give the whole populace a chance to ask questions
5:48- Foxy states that a debate is already a part of platforming, as one would have to explain through platforming why they would be best for the job
Nai suggests that the ourgoing monarchy could pick half of the questions while the candidate could pick the other half from a pool of questions
5:49- Nai adds that she believes that the Warskill and A&S requirements should be kept, but made to count less so that the monarchy knows how the populace feels when entering tourneys and A&S competitions
5:50- Zander suggests that mere participation in warskill and A&S should be required, but one must reeve or judge if one cannot participate
5:51- Zander also states that knowledge and competence is more important for a leader than tourney skills
Nai states that she believes a monarch must know what it feels like to get feedback from a tourney and to have their crafts judged
5:52- Uther states that the statecraft questions remove the need for a debate
5:53- Uther states that he should put a definite deadline on when questions should be written
Nai states that having the monarchy write 2 questions and the candidate pick 2 questions that the monarchy could ask the questions they think are important while candidates can address changes they’d like to make to the kingdom or park
5:54- Uther states that there could be a possibility of requiring answers to statecraft questions must be in by qualls
5:56- Uther continues by stating that questions could be posted 30 days before declaration of intent is due, and that the answers would be part of the declaration of intent
5:57- Cathan states that we can keep the warskill and A&S competitions at Qualls, but that they could be eliminated from the requirements for qualification as they are not necessary for a good leader
5:59- Uther states that he likes the idea of requiring reeving or fighting and judging or entering A&S because it could eliminate the possibility of judging a candidate’s work lighter or not fighting as hard against a candidate to ensure that candidate would qualify
6:00- Nai states that things like stick figure drawing could still happen if participation only is required, but Safire states that the option o judging instead could eliminate that from happening, as only those who want to enter A&S would
6:01- Hern states that a current monarchy could block someone from getting their MoH by by not allowing candidates to reeve or judge
6:02- Nameless asks about people who have dyslexia, which would make answering written statecraft questions difficult, and Uther responds by saying that a candidate could always ask and recieve help in that regard
6:03- Lagertha asks if a protem officer who takes office in the middle of a reign would have to go through this process, and Uther states that no, they would not.
Badger states that he agrees with these changes to the qualls process because it would assure we get good leaders
6:04- Badger continues by stating that relying only on warskill and A&S to qualify, the current process could allow bad leaders into office
6:05- Nai states that she believes participation in warskill and A&S is more important that scoring points
Foxy states that a lot of people want warskill and A&S to be less important, but not completely eliminated
6:06- Skitsky states that she likes requiring participation in warskill and A&S, as reeving and judging on the same day could prove to be difficult
6:07- Foxy reminds everyone that the proposal is still a work in progress, and that it can be changed in the future
6:08- Foxy encourages the populace to post ideas on the Qualls change to the Kingdom page on Facebook, and to tag both her and Uther in the post
6:09- Uther states that the MoH for both park and kingdom levels would be attainable at any local or kingdom event, as long as it is officially sanctioned by the kingdom or one of its parks
6:10- Zander suggests only requiring participating in either A&S or warskill, but that a kingdom candidate must also have been a member of park monarchy
6:11- Zander asserts that a bottleneck of candidates would not happen, because only a small amount of people are interested in serving at the kingdom level, and he states that there would be no time restriction between service at the park level and qualification for kingdom position
6:12- Zander concludes that this would form two paths of participation: effort or service
6:13- Wiggles suggests that the statecraft answers should be anonymous, then Uther states that there are no right or wrong answers and that the answers are public
6:14- It is stated that with anonymity, there would be no bias towards the candidates, then someone else states that bias is impossible to completely eliminate
6:15- Safire forgets the point she was about to make
6:16- Uther states that MoH would be good for 6 months, but that he could possibly extend it to one year
Nai states that being in monarchy while trying to participate in warskill and A&S could get complicated
6:17- It is stated that there could be a possibility of allowing a member of monarchy to earn their MoH through running battlegames, or performing other similar duties while in office
6:18- Safire remembers her point from earlier, and suggests that running or shadowing an event could also be a part of earning the MoH
Foxy closes the discussion and once again encourages the populace to post their suggestions on the Kingdom Facebook Page
6:19- Nai requests participation from households and fighting companies to runfeast, run games, handle gate, etc. for the upcoming midreign
6:20- Cathan states that he wants to put an issue on the docket for discussion at the next Allthing
6:21- Cathan states that he has run into disagreements with other PMs on who is responsible for adding travel credits to a player’s ORK page, and adds that the Corpora does not explicitly say who is responsible. Some state that it is the player’s home PM that is responsible while others state that it is the responsibility of the one taking the sign-ins.
6:22- Cathan states that he personally believes that all extra credits should be entered by the PM with the sign-in sheet
6:23- Allting Closed