The Bahram Document
eglug.org Charter

please check the [الدستور|Arabic Version]]

1 The charter, versions and naming conventions

The eglug charter is a document describing the purpose of eglug and outlining its ideals and driving motives. This document is intended to serve several purposes:

1. To bring new members up to speed with the culture of eglug
2. To serve as an aid and reference in decision making situations to improve the group's chances for achieving its ideals
3. To separate the identity, ideals, and ownership of eglug from individuals, such that the community may achieve independence

The charter does not have version numbers though it is expected to evolve (slowly, one hopes) over time. The different versions are given names of individuals whom the group feel have contributed meaningfully to the existence of the group specifically and GNU/Linux in particular in Egypt. This is intended as a symbolic gesture of appreciation to these individuals. A chronological listing of the versions, the associated version names, and a brief explanatory note is to be found in Appendixsec:Appendix_A.

2 Why Does eglug.org exist?

eglug.org is the Egyptian Linux Users' community. eglug exists for several reasons:

• To promote the use of open source software in general and GNU/Linux in particular within Egypt
• To provide support for open source software and GNU/Linux users in Egypt
• To build a proactive and friendly and intelligent community of GNU/Linux users

3 What are the rights of members?

One is said to be a member of eglug by simply registering with the eglug.org website. It is that simple. eglug members have several basic rights. These are:

1. The right to gratis membership. This right is not revocable except for under the most severe circumstances as outlined in the administrator section, sub:Membership-revocation.
2. The right to be heard. All eglug members are valued for their ability to voice their opinion and give input and feedback, and to contribute to the decision making process of the Egyptian Linux Users' Group. No member has more right to be heard over another; the administrator is not more important than the moderator, the moderator is not more important than the senior user, the senior user is not more important than the new user.
3. The right to be free of imposed leadership. There are no leaders for eglug; the administrators and moderators exist only to provide technical support for keeping the site up and functioning smoothly. If leadership is required at any point it is to be temporary and with a strictly defined duration such as coordinating a meeting place; in this case, it is a requirement that each and every single person under this temporary leader have expressed:
   1. their desire for temporary leadership for this event/circumstance/project
   2. their approval/rejection of the designated person (the majority of two thirds of participants in said event/circumstance/project will give the chosen person legitimacy).

4. The right to take initiatives. eglug is a volunteer group, and it lives by personal initiative. The members have the right to propose ideas concerning linux to the eglug community and to develop these ideas and lead projects which the community finds useful and productive and interesting.

4 What is the role of administrators?

The administrator is a person in the community who has ultimate responsibility for the eglug.org forum. The administrator has no formal role outside the eglug.org site. The administrator's role is to ensure the integrity of the site from a technical standpoint and from an ideological one. The following guidlines govern administration:

1. The administrator may moderate content only when it is found to be in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy. An administrator's moderation may only be revoked by a consensus of three administrators/moderators, and only in cases where it is found to violate the AUP only subjectively.
2. The administrator is responsible for carrying out site changes which have been approved by popular vote within a reasonable amount of time. The popular vote is carried out through the poll functionality on the eglug.org site. A poll is left open for 10 days, and members are alerted to it by e--mail. When the poll is closed, the administrators propose within 48 hours to the community a reasonable time for implementation of the change.(please refer to sectionsec:The_Procedure_For_Voting for details on the voting procedure) This time period is considered approved unless a two thirds majority of moderators, administrators, and senior users find it unreasonable in which case the administrators have two further chances to propose deadlines. If all three proposed deadlines are rejected, a replacement administration team is chosen from the moderators pool and the existing administration team are transferred to moderators. This selection is voted on by administrators, moderators, senior users, and new users.
3. The administrator is charged with directing his effort at enriching the community spirit within the community.
4. The administrator is expected to choose democracy over personal gain at every time. Where it can be demonstrated that this role was violated the administrator may have his/her administrative role removed with a two thirds vote of all classes of users. Any user may submit such evidence to the community. It is expected that when such evidence is spurious, the peer scorn will be sufficient punishment to the accuser.
5. The administrator is selected from the pool of moderators by popular vote; two thirds majority of all classes of members.
6. The number of administrators at any given time is to be one fourth to one third as many as there are administrators. This ratio may only be changed by a vote of two thirds majority from amongst the administrators, moderators, and senior users. When the ratio is changed such that the number needs to be reduced, the administrators will vote amongst themselves for who will leave and become moderator instead.
7. The administrators will share the costs associated with maintaining hosting and the domain.
8. The administrator must follow up with the periodic reviews the moderators conduct to determine which new users become senior users.
9. The duties of the administrator include the duties of the moderators as described below.

4.1 How are administrators chosen?

Administrators are chosen from the pool of moderators. An administrator is nothing more than a moderator with additional strictly technical responsibilities which means that technical competence is a prerequisite.

From time to time a need for new administrators will arise. One or more administrators are needed when:

• The ratio of administrators to moderators drops below one fourth. (mandatory)
• An administrator has given up his/her role or been relieved of it. (optional)
• The composition of administrators to moderators to senior users to new members is changed in the charter. (can be mandatory depending on changed charter)

The procedure is as follows:

1. A public thread on the forum is opened by anyone as soon as it is perceived that there is a vacancy for an administrator. The subject of discussion on this thread is nominations for administrator. The entire user base is alerted by e-mail of this thread and prompted to participate in the discussion.
2. Ten days after issuing the e-mail alert, the entire member base excepting new users votes on the nominations according to the voting procedure mentioned in section sec:The_Procedure_For_Voting.
3. If no consensus is reached, the vote is held again amongst the administrators and moderators.
4. If the administrators and moderators fail to reach a clear result, the administrators vote amongst themselves.
5. If the administrators vote does not achieve a two thirds majority, then the candidate(s) with the most votes is selected.
6. If there are several candidates with the same number of administrator votes, the candidate whose birthday when written out according to ISO specification and with the dashes removed is closest to a prime number is selected.
7. If several candidates achieve equivalent distances from prime numbers, it will be assumed that eglug was not meant to exist and all operations will terminate in anticipation of the implosion of the internet.

4.2 Membership revocation

The administrators are the only people with the authority to revoke membership. The criteria for revoking membership for a user are:

• Persistence in violation of the AUP
• Persistence in unethical behavior not covered by the AUP

Since both these criteria are subjective, the rights of members are protected as follows:

1. Nine ballots will be required to revoke membership of a member, or to reverse the decision to revoke.
2. An administrator/moderator's vote will count as three ballots.
3. A senior user's vote will count as one ballot.

The aim here is not to place the administrator/moderator above the membership base; the idea is to reduce administrative ovehead on the administrators and moderators. Where a user has his/her membership revoked, and where all nine ballots are senior user ballots it can be understood that there is a significant disconnect between the administrators/moderators and the community at large.

5 What is the role of moderators?

The moderator is primarily responsible for making sure of several things in the content of the eglug.org site:

1. That content adheres to the Acceptable Use Policy.
2. That no content detracts from the community spirit and ideal.
3. That disputes arising between members on eglug.org never become hostile even if the differences of opinion are deep and will not change.
4. That no individual or group ever oppresses any other individual or group for whatever reason.
5. Additionally, the moderators are exclusively responsible for determining which new users become senior users. The moderators are expected to conduct periodic reviews(at least once every two months) of new members to determine which ones to elevate to senior member status. The timing of these reviews will be made public in the events calendar on the site. To reduce administrative overhead, though, this user promotion process does not have to be within the formal framework. All it takes is three consenting moderators.

5.1 How are moderators chosen?

Moderators are chosen from the pool of senior users.

The number of moderators is a constant 20% to 25% of the entire eglug membership base (not counting moderators and administrators). This ratio may only be changed by a vote of two thirds majority from amongst the administrators, moderators, and senior users. When the ratio is changed such that the number needs to be reduced, the moderators will vote amongst themselves for who will leave and become senior user instead.

6 What is the role of senior users?

A senior user is a class of member who has been acknowledged as participating regularly and enthusiastically to eglug activities. It is not intended to make it difficult to achieve senior user status. The mechanism of dividing non-administrator and non--moderator members into new and senior users is primarily intended to ensure that regular members have more access to sensitive democratic mechanisms than a new member who registered thirty minutes ago and has not read the Acceptable Use Policy or charter yet.

6.1 How does one become a senior member?

You become a senior member when three moderators or more think you should be one. See point 5 under Section 5 above.

7 The procedure for voting

Voting as a process is so fundamental to preserving the free and democratic nature of eglug that it will be described here in detail. An administrator's or moderator's failure to implement this process fully will be considered a violation of their mandate and will be handled as described above in their respective sections. Note that by voting here we mean votes on matters of policy/procedure/ideology which concern and affect the community, not normal polls like which window manager you use.

7.1 Which matters get voted on

To avoid a flood of potentially meaningless votes on such issues, matters are initially discussed in the meta thread in the forum. A matter can be approved for voting by either:

• Three administrators and/or moderators
• Nine senior users
• One approval by an administrator/moderator may be substituted with three from senior users

It is preferred that the first option is used; if the second is used, it is assumed that the composition of the administrator/moderator pool needs review according to the procedures described in the respective sections. If after 30 days from the opening of the thread the matter has not been approved for vote, it is automatically rejected.

7.2 Polling

When a matter is approved for vote, it will be posted as a poll by an administrator within 48 hours of approval. If one or more of the concurring members is an administrator, he/she/they will be responsible for posting the poll. Failure will be regarded as a departure from this person's role and will be examined (excepting technical difficulties). All eglug members will be alerted to the poll by means of e--mail, and the poll will remain open for 10 days.

7.3 Results of voting

A two thirds majority in the poll will be considered conclusive. Administrator, moderator, senior member and new member votes are equivalent.

8 The Acceptable Use Policy

The Acceptable Use Policy is a simple set of guidelines determining behavior in eglug. The intention is not to restrict, but rather to provide the barest possible protection for members in order to provide a respectable and constructive working environment for the site. The AUP is as follows.

1. This is a LUG built by, maintained by, and populated mainly by people living in Egypt (which doesn't mean you are not welcome if you live somewhere else and/or are not Egyptian). As such, we consider the laws of Egypt to govern us and will consider any illegal material or content to be a violation of the AUP.
2. This LUG was founded to promote the ideals of open source and GNU/Linux. Members are expected to keep the topic of work and discussion in this area as much as they can. It is understood that the line between on--topic and off--topic is sometimes not too clear, and the benefit of the doubt will be given as often as possible. Only clear violations of this rule will be considered a violation of the Acceptable Use Policy. Note that the personal blogs will be considered an area where this rule is relaxed fully.
3. Suggestions are welcome, as mentioned above. This however, doesn't grant any member the right to give orders. Telling members that they 'should' act in a certain way is not acceptable.

9 Procedure for effecting change in the eglug charter

The charter is the document which affects everything the community does and says. As such, it is beneficial to limit the rate at which it evolves to induce stability. The charter will come up for optional review once every year in the first week of August. This procedure will be effected as follows:

1. A forum is opened on the 10th of July where members can voice issues and problems with the charter, along with proposed amendments.
2. The forum is closed on the 20th of July and a poll is opened asking people to vote on whether any of the issues raised warrant a charter review.
3. The poll is closed on the 30th of July.
4. From the 1st to the 7th of August, the administrators, moderators, and senior users are responsible for producing alternate versions of the amended charter and submitting them to the community for feedback. At any point, a two thirds majority of administrators, moderators, and senior users will ratify the new charter.
5. If by the 8th of August no new charter has been ratified the old version is preserved for another year.

A Versions of this document

1. Bahram: issued the 30th of May 2004. Mr. Hesham Bahram is considered the spiritual founder of the Egyptian GNU/Linux Users' Group and provided the initial impetus to organize.