Summary: A rating process that provides for the fair and orderly construction and prioritization of an "Issue List."

1. Submitting Issue Suggestions

Registered members shall be given the opportunity to submit what they believe are the most significant issues that need to be addressed. The Webmaster shall provide a "New Issue List" page on the web site that is capable of collecting and processing these member contributions.

The following are suggested issue parameters:

A. Title Character Limit

An issue must be stated within the title character limit established by the registered members (please take notice that this is a character limit and not a word limit), and the Webmaster shall provide for the availability of a hyperlink to a more descriptive explanation of each issue.

B. Issue Explanation Word Limit

The explanation itself shall not exceed the member-established word limit.

C. Author's username

The submitting member's username will be assigned to each issue that is listed on the "New Issue List".     index

2. Current and Personal Issue Lists

Once the number of registered members who register as Issue Participants for a particular issue in the New Issue List reaches the required minimum number (from each participating sub-division if applicable), the issue will be transferred to the Current Issue List. >From the either the New Issue List or Current Issue List registered members may select the issues that interest them the most and place them in their own Personal Issue List.     index

3. Prioritizing Issue Lists

A. When and how to Prioritize

The applicable registered members have the authority to prioritize the issues in the New, Current or Personal issue lists. Along with this prioritization authority, the members may also submit their notice to drop an issue. The drop option may be used by the members to prevent duplication of issues; it is also used for clearing the issue list of inappropriate submissions. Members should keep in mind that issue with an "urgent priority" average will attract "fast-track" status in the Proposition Rating, Qualifying Questions Submission, Qualifying Question Rating and Final Vote Phases. Members may select shorter times for these "urgent priority" settings in the Change Settings section of this site. Each Member may individually assign each issue on the "Issue Lists," with a priority value indicating their choice of priority. An "urgent" signifies the highest priority, a "high" signifies the next highest priority, a "medium" signifies a middle priority, a "low" signifies a lo! wer priority, and a "drop" signifies a notice to drop an issue.    index

B. Method of Priority Calculations

The priority is determined by the average of all submissions. The Webmaster will tally all individual member-prioritizing submissions. The values, urgent, etc., are given mathematical values of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and averaged. The issue that attracts a value of 4.5 or higher will receive an urgent priority, and it will be listed on the current issue list at its priority position. The issue attracting a value of 1.5 or lower will be dropped from the current issue list once the appropriate number of Issue Participants enter their end discussion notice on the issue. The values in between will be averaged and placed in a like manner.     index

4. Addressing Issues

Members may address any issue at any time once it appears on the Current Issue List. The term "address" refers to an issue open for the submission of propositions. Applicable members may also participate in any of the individual proposition forums.     index

Co-authors: None
Part of proposition copied from a previously submitted proposition: None

General Statement in Support:

All United People members may 'view' any portion of any sub-division within the United People system. However, It is an extremely important function of all Registered Members of United People to carefully maintain and review all issues listed in the New and Current Issue Lists of those sub-division in which they have 'write' capabilities. The responsible managements of these lists allows each member to keep her or his finger on the pulse, so-to-speak, of the current priorities of those sub-divisions of United People in which they have power to act. It is important that all members understand the significance of entering an "urgent" priority for an issue.

The members have the freedom to choose a different duration for proposition rating, qualifying question submission, qualifying question rating and the final vote for issues that attract an urgent priority rating. This means that the urgent priority issues can be processed much faster than all other issues that have a high priority rating or lower. Each member should use caution when assigning an urgent priority rating to an issue. It is recommended that only issues considered emergency issues should be assigned an urgent rating. Otherwise, the overall United People membership or particular sub-division as a whole will appreciate all the regular time durations that enable all members to carefully evaluate and process each issue.

The United People Constitution may have provisions that deal with issues that may need an "immediate" decision by one individual (usually a site facilitator). However, the membership, using the usual decision-making process may confirm or reverse a decision made by such an individual. The members can use the Current Issue List as a guide to better manage their time and prepare for the appropriate decisions that must be made concerning each issue at an appropriate time.

Before addressing the subject of priority issues, one must be aware of two separate needs in an organization. One is the need of the general membership, and the other is the need of the individual member. A balance between these two needs is necessary in order to maintain a healthy organization. The entire body of Members in either the United People overall or any of its sub-divisions cannot possibly address unlimited numbers of issues simultaneously without chaos and confusion. Order and restraint must be maintained. An environment lacking procedural efficiency and effectiveness would only result in a significant waste of time, an increase in member apathy, and poorly made decisions.

At the same time, it must be recognized that various segments of the membership may be more knowledgeable in certain fields. Therefore, it is possible to have many issues in progress simultaneously, utilizing the specific genius of some members, without the possibility of straining and over committing the organization as a whole.

It must be remembered that not all members will have the same interests, and it would not be efficient to condemn some members to the sidelines while they could be productive and beneficial to the organization. There are two very important settings on this site that are related to the priority process. They are the Issue Participant Minimum and the Issue Participant Minimum Deadline -- explained in more detail in the Reduction Process Rules. Each member should be cautiously aware of each of these settings (and their management) as they weigh the balance between individual and overall membership interests.

The first setting is the minimum number of registered members that is required to be registered in a particular issue for that issue to continue moving along the entire reduction and voting process. The second setting is the length of time (consecutive days) that is allowed for an issue to be lacking the participant minimum before it is dropped from the current issue list. Even if an issue were to attract no more than one proposition it could perceivably survive the entire rating and voting process. The issue would only have to have an acceptable priority rating and enough members registered as participants -- even if they were only casual, but interested, viewers and they voted during the scheduled votes.

There is a natural human element found in virtually every organization where some people are eager for the next opportunity to complain, call a protest, or draw unnecessary attention. The entire organization cannot permit itself to be held hostage by the inappropriate behavior of a few if it wishes to survive and flourish. Therefore, an organization and its members must acknowledge the difference between organizational issues versus private issues. The United People web site allows its members to efficiently separate the two.

Although each member is responsible for preventing duplications in the developing issue list, there is always the possibility that duplications will be entered. If duplicate issues exist, the membership may use the "drop" notice to eliminate them. As explained in the Reduction Process Rules, once there are enough members registered in an issue and they submit the end discussion notice, the issue will be dropped if it has a priority rating of 1.5 or less. The United People site has given the authority to the individual members to handle this dilemma rather than give the censorship power to any one individual. In other words, if a member wishes to participate in dropping an issue they simply need to enter a drop rating or the issue, register in the issue on the Current or Personal Issue List page, open this issue and click on "End Discussion".

When issues are considered 'significant' United People will have a well-ordered and functional process in which to address these issues. In other words, in order to be fair, unbiased, and unhindered in dealing with matters related to the collective good of the United People and its members, issues simply have to wait their turn. Each member, individually, has equal power to declare their priority level for any issue in two different ways. One is to submit their actual priority level for the issue (changing its order in the current priority list), and the other is to submit their notice to end discussion on any issue. The notice to end discussion is the trigger mechanism that has either one of two results. If the priority rating for an issue is above 1.5, the rating process begins. If the priority rating is 1.5 or below, the issue is dropped. These two powers in the hands of all members allow the organization to, in an orderly fashion, both eliminate inappropriate issues as well as catch up to the individual members who are actively involved in issues currently deemed appropriate.     index