NCTS Rules and Procedures (as of November 19, 2011)
1. NCTS is an organization of active individual participants. Members of reading groups, political organizations, etc., are welcome to participate as individuals.
2. All participants have equal voice and vote. All participants have equal opportunities to post and read messages and comments on the NCTS website, to make links and archival material available on it, and to make use of such links and archival material.
3. Because we want NCTS to facilitate dialogue and mutual assistance, not just be a source of information, use of the website is limited to active participants in NCTS. Active participants are defined as those who engage with what others say and write.
4. To apply to become a participant in NCTS, you need to send us a written message that (a) indicates that you will engage with what others say and write, (b) indicates that you will abide by our rules and procedures, including those pertaining to the use of our website, and (c) expresses agreement with the aims of NCTS. We strongly encourage you to include, as well, information that lets us know about you and your background, concerns, and interests.
5. Applications will be approved or rejected by majority vote of the participants.
6. The homepage and procedures page of http://www.nctswebsite.wordpress.com, and a small amount of “sample content” on this site, will be viewable by the public at large (on a different, public site). All other contents of the site will be viewable by participants only. Participants may not share the site’s links or archival materials with non-participants (except publicly-available ones originally obtained elsewhere). Posts and comments made by a participant may not be cited or quoted, except on the website itself, without the prior, written permission of the author and the website administrator.
7. In order to facilitate dialogue, the administrator of http://www.nctswebsite.wordpress.com will ensure that posts and comments do not divert from the topic under discussion, engage in ad hominem critique, or contain remarks that are racist, sexist, heterosexist, or demeaning to members of any nation, nationality, or ethnic group.
8. In order to facilitate engagement with what others say and write, the administrator of http://www.nctswebsite.wordpress.com will ensure that those who introduce new topics for discussion have recently participated in discussions on topics that other participants introduced.
9. Those who wish only to express their own views or publicize what they’ve written should not apply to participate. Those whose “participation” is limited almost entirely to expression of their own views or publicizing what they’ve written may be dropped as participants, after discussion and deliberation, by majority vote of the participants, as may those who repeatedly submit posts or comments that are prohibited by point 7, above. Their right to use http://www.nctswebsite.wordpress.com may be suspended by its administrator pending the completion of such a process. Those who have not actively participated in NCTS discussions for two months or longer may be dropped as participants.
10. The administrator of http://www.nctswebsite.wordpress.com must be an active participant in NCTS.
11. The first 11 NCTS Rules and Procedures, including this one, may be modified if more than four-fifths of those voting approve the proposed modification. Any other rule or procedures may be adopted or modified by majority vote, unless it specifically indicates that some larger supermajority is required.
nctsinfo 