MIA Leaders - What to do and how to do it. (Citizen discussion and law proposal)

What should we do when a Leader goes absent for an extended period and leaves us in the lurch? Currently we have a disfunctional Science Department because Strider disappeared shortly after winning the election. No word of where he went and no idea of when he'll be back. I propose the following addition to the Presidential duties and responsibilities:

The President may remove a Leader from office under the following circumstances:
* Absence, announced or unannounced, when there is no backup (Deputy, Judiciary Pro-Tem, Acting Governor) for the leader; or
* Unannounced absence of 2 chat turns or longer; or
* Extended announced absence of 4 chat turns or longer.

Again, I think too much emphasis is being place on turn chats. It is not necessary for a leader to attend. A forum absence where the leader does not post in the turn chat thread should be used instead.

Fear not, Eyrei. I don't think Shaitan meant participating in chats. If that were the case, not many would last long. I think he meant in length of time.

My clarity is at fault here. I didn't mean absent from the turn chats. I meant in an absent status through that number of turn chats. I was thinking of game turns. If a leader disappears from the Forum and misses two complete cycles of instructions then we need to act to get that Department under new leadership.

Missing in Action Leaders should be dealt with. Right now, we have the following MIA Leaders:

Strider
Lovro
Plexus
adamsj
Civanator

I don't think we offer absentee Leadership positions, so I agree with Shaitan's proposal.

Same thing with announced absences. If a leader is going to miss 4 consecutive turn cycles (2 weeks, half a Term) then that leader needs to step down or be removed.

I also think too much emphasis is on the turn chat. Suppose I were to make 3 (or 4) turn chats in one week (say we were getting close to victory, or we just had a few short turn chats). If someone's on vacation, that knocks them out. Maybe it should be something like 'missing 40 turns of the game'.

Since, the following could happen (in the worst case scenario). Suppose everyone had nukes:

Turn chat 1 - 2 turns, Babylon throw nukes at us, and stop for 2 days of discussions.
Turn chat 2 - (2 days later) - 5 turns, maybe we get a great leader - again, stop for discussions (build queues still intact)
Turn chat 3 - (2 days later) - 10 turns. normal turn chat.
Turn chat 4 - (2 days later) - normal turn chat.

8 days. It's possible someone could be on vacation during that time.

Is that 2 weeks an example? If not, then 2 weeks is fine.

Not too likely, but that's why I built in discretion. It's the President's decision.

In the example you gave, it would only matter if Turn one was on Friday or Saturday as turn schedules are set each Sunday.

In any case, the more things are happening, the more a working Leader is needed.

Originally posted by Cyc
Missing in Action Leaders should be dealt with. Right now, we have the following MIA Leaders:

Strider
Lovro
Plexus
adamsj
Civanator

I don't think we offer absentee Leadership positions, so I agree with Shaitan's proposal.

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Also, remember that Lovro and adamsj are deputies. There's not much for them to do unless the respected department leader asks them to do something. Civanator did annouce that he's on vacation until the 13th. (sometimes, you can't help real life intruding unexpectedly). I can see that Plexus hasn't been around (so the Ameri build queues are lacking, and some of the Kashmir build queues).

EDIT: I just looked at the govt', sub forum, and there seems to be no Term 4 thread for Ameri. (Plexus's province)

Posted by Shaitan: (from the culture department thread)
It's informal and unregulated. No poll is needed as there is no actual power bestowed. Governors can appoint an Acting Governor to do their duties during a Forum absence but that is a temporary position that evaporates with the return of the Governor.

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I think governors should have Deputy Governors based on the elections (like runner ups, or appointed ones once they're elected).

My proposal above only deals with Leaders. In fact, our criteria for absenteeism already specifies that it is applicable to Leaders. Although I don't approve of absentee Deputism (new word, do you like it?) the key is the Leader position.

Originally posted by Chieftess


I think governors should have Deputy Governors based on the elections (like runner ups, or appointed ones once they're elected).

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I agree, but was shot down when i brought it up in Term 2. Perhaps with the rash of retirements, resignations and absenteeism it would get a better response now. Start a discussion and I'll support it.

Don't we have deputies or did we scare them all away, too?

We can always cut the MIA leaders some slack and just wait for 'em to return. In the mean time someone, anyone, can post proposal discussion threads and/or polls for any departments or provinces lacking leadership. I finally did that for Ameri in term three and really think it is a good solution.

I don't like the slack cutting idea. If a position is important enough to be elected then it's important enough to be filled. It's one thing for Civanator to go on vacation and leave the department in good shape. It's another thing to not even have the official thread for a province because the leader disappeared.

Working around a missing leader is possible but it's an additional hassle. If it's being done simply to accomodate somebody who left us in the lurch then I'd rather expend effort in getting a good leader in the position than cover for one who obviously doesn't give a rat's petard.

It doesn't have to be a hassle especially with the provinces. Remember in term three when the governor of Ameri disappeared? Philadelphia cranked out about 5 workers in a row because we left it on auto-pilot. We can do the same now. If the citizens don't like the results perhaps they will be more careful come election time.

what about the following proposal for missing governors:
provinces with missing governors are filled up with interims governors from the official deputy list, following the coc.
meaning:
1nd province=domestic deputy
2rd province=...
this way we get the deputies to more duties and fill in the gap.

btw:
lovro, for example, is here, just he has nothing to do right now (only deputy).

i think leaders should be remove if absent for 1 week without announcement of a reason and without proclaiming a follow up or leaving a plan for the department in their absence (for example, a leader could state that he is absend for 3 weeks and that the deputy takes over for him. then he could lay out a rough plan where and how to go).

I Agree with setting down Absentee Guidlines. However, I feel that it should be based on Calender Days rather than the # of Turn Chats that go by. As Cheiftess said, depending on what's happening we could have more frequent turn chats. A Leader who's Absent for a legitimate reason for say a week and a half (like I was earlier) amount of time can't be blamed if something BIG happens while they're gone that requires their advice.

If it's announced a replacement needs to be appointed (Deputies being the automatic first choice, an alternative should be listed if the Deputy isn't there either), and the must respond, within 24 hours of the announcement. If the person(s) appointed don't accept their appointment, then the President will have the right to make the temporary appointment himself or herself. If the Deputy rearrives relatively quickly but after such an appointment, he/she would take up the reigns of the dept. from the Temp. appointee.

In Cases when it's unannounced, the President would make the appointment when the absentism is apparent.

The Temporary replacement would relinquish their powers when the absent leader returns, unless the It meets the requirements for dismissal and the President feels (and/or a public poll determines) dismissal is appropriate.

If a person is Dismissed, depending on time left till Elections, a "quick" election will be held. Or if it's near election time the Temporary appointment will remain until elections are over.

Originally posted by donsig
It doesn't have to be a hassle especially with the provinces. Remember in term three when the governor of Ameri disappeared? Philadelphia cranked out about 5 workers in a row because we left it on auto-pilot. We can do the same now. If the citizens don't like the results perhaps they will be more careful come election time.

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I completely agree. My votes in the elections have always been for those who had shown commitment rather than those I like more than others.

If you recall, Civanator was not heard from for the first week after the elections. Then he popped in and said he was leaving for another week and didn't appoint an acting Governor. So basically for the first two weeks of his tenure as Govenor, he posted a build queue of one improvement and then dumped his Province on the Domestic Department.

As far as Deputies go, I have needed the assistance of my deputy Lovro since the elections. I guess because he came in second for two races, he decided to quit. Well where am I to turn for help? Apparently nowhere. Leaders need to be able to oust deputies and appoint new ones when the elected deputy (by defalt) goes MIA.

cyc: you should pm him