The Harper Constitution

Table of Contents

1. Structure of the Harper Council
2. Duties and Limitations of the Harper Council
3. Duties and Limitations of the Chairperson of the Harper Council
4. Means of Communication within the Harpercraft
5. Abbreviations Used in this Document

Structure of the Harper Council

1. A Council shall be formed of all harpercraft members of the ranks of Journeyman, Senior Journeyman, and Master. This shall be called the Harper Council.
2. Each member of the Harper Council has an equal right to be heard in council discussions, regardless of their IC rank.
3. The Harper Council shall be guided and led by one member, called the Harper Chairperson. two people, known as the OOC Craftmaster and the OOC Craftsecond. On all occasions, the OOC Craftmaster shall serve as the Harper Chairperson. If the OOC Craftmaster is unavailable for a period of time and wishes the OOC Craftsecond to serve in his or her place, the OOC Craftsecond will become the Harper Chairperson until the return of the OOC Craftmaster or until the turnover of office as described below.
4. All points referring to assignment, removal, eligibility and rotation of the Harper Chairperson shall apply equally to the OOC Craftmaster and the OOC Craftsecond.
5. The office of Harper Chairperson shall not be held by any one person consecutively for less than one (1) week or more than three (3) months unless the Harper Council decides to allow it with a 2/3 majority vote. In such case, a vote must be held every three months, again requiring a 2/3 majority vote to allow the Harper Chairperson to continue to serve. If a vote is not brought before the Council prior to the scheduled turnover, the current Chairperson will be expected to step down as usual and the rotation will continue.
6. Any member of the Harper Council who has been a Council member for a at least six (6) months or a fill rotation (whichever is shorter), who has been active for seven (7) hours per week for at least two (2) weeks preceding the turnover of office and who has no objections to serving as the Harper Chairperson is eligible to serve as the Harper Chairperson. The exceptions to this are dragonriders, Lords Holder and harpers who serve in positions of leadership in other crafts or in other areas of the MOO, who shall not be eligible to serve as the Harper Chairperson.
7. One Rotation will occur when each eligible member of the Harper Council has served in the position of Harper Chairperson exactly once. The order of rotation shall be according to each member's database reference number (DBREF).
8. Any single harper shall not serve as the Chairperson out of their specified turn unless the Harper Council decides to allow it with a 2/3 majority vote.
9. The current Harper Chairperson may be removed from that office by a 2/3 majority vote of the Harper Council. This vote may be called for by any harper, providing that the harper who calls for the vote has not already called for a vote during the current term of office of the Harper Chairperson.
10. In the event that the Harper Chairperson is removed from office, that Harper may not serve as OOC Craftmaster or OOC Craftsecond until the next Rotation.
11. Any previously removed Harper Chairperson is not made ineligible by that removal vote to serve as the Harper Chairperson, OOC Craftmaster or OOC Craftsecond in the next Rotation.
12. Any member of the Harper Council may be promoted off of the Council if their activity remains below one (1) hour per week for more than two (2) months by a 2/3 majority vote of the Harper Council.
13. The Harper Council may not be dissolved except by the unanimous vote of all members of the Harpercraft who have been active for more than one (1) hour per week for one (1) week prior to the vote.
14. Any vote of the Harper Council shall remain open for no less than one (1) week. Any members of the Harper Council who have not registered a vote within that time will be assumed to have abstained from voting.
15. All issues regarding leadership and Council membership require a 2/3 majority vote to pass unless otherwise specified in this document.
16. All issues which do not deal with leadership or Council membership require a simple majority vote to pass unless otherwise specified in this document.
17. The Chairperson of the Harper Council does not ordinarily vote except in the case of a tie, when it becomes the Chairperson's job to cast a tiebreaking vote.

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Duties and Limitations of the Harper Council

1. The Harper Council is responsible for interviewing any player who requests to enter the craft.
2. Any single member of the Harper Council may allow any member of the Harpercraft to interview any applicant to the craft.
3. The Harper Council is responsible for accepting or refusing new craft members.
4. Any single member of the Harper Council may interview and/or accept or deny any applicant to the harpercraft.
5. The Harper Council is responsible for providing instruction to all members of the harpercraft in any and all areas which fall within the scope of the harpercraft.
6. The Harper Council is responsible for providing rules and regulations by which the members of the harpercraft must abide.
7. The Harper Council is responsible for enforcing those rules which the Harper Council deems necessary to create.
8. The Harper Council is responsible for promoting members of the harpercraft to their earned rank.
9. A promotion of any Harper to Master rank requires notice to be given to all existing Masters one month before the candidate's final examination date. A successful promotion requires the approval of 2/3 of the responding Masters with the number of approving votes not below three (3).
10. On the occasion that there are no Council members of Master rank who meet the activity requirements, a vote may be taken to promote a member of the Council to Master rank. The standard requirements for a promotion to Master rank still apply with the exception that in the event that no existing Masters respond to the announcement within the required month, the promotion may still take place with a 2/3 majority vote of the Council.
11. The promotion of any Harper requires the approval vote of at least one (1) Council member of Master rank in addition to the rules set forth below.
12. Any three (3) members OR half of the Harper Council, whichever number is smaller, may promote any member of the Harpercraft as long as that promotion does not place the Harper on the Harper Council.
13. A simple majority vote of the Harper Council is required to promote any member of the Harpercraft onto the Harper Council.
14. Any three (3) members OR half of the Harper Council, whichever is smaller, may post any member of the Harpercraft to any non-leadership position as long as that Harper does not have any objections.
15. A simple majority vote of the Harper Council is required to post any member of the Harpercraft to any leadership position, as long as that Harper does not have any objections.
16. A simple majority vote of the Harper Council is required to demote any member of the Harpercraft as long as such demotion does not remove the Harper from the Harper Council.
17. The Harper Council is responsible for expelling members of the harpercraft who either wish to leave or who have acted against the interests of the craft in some way
18. A unanimous vote of the Harper Council is required to expel any member of the Harpercraft who has not asked to be released from the Harpercraft.
19. Any single member of the Harper Council may expel any member of the Harpercraft who has requested to be released.
20. The Harper Council is responsible for maintaining the code to any programs which are deemed necessary for the functioning of the craft. This includes the HarperHall Builder character, the structure of the Harper Hall and the various means of communication within the hall as listed below in section 4.
21. One member of the Harper Council must serve as the liaison to the MOO leaders. This member is responsible for bringing all MOO matters to the attention of the Harper Council, and for communicating the decisions of the Harper Council to the other MOO leaders.

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Duties and Limitations of the Chairperson of the Harper Council

1. The Chairperson of the Harper Council is responsible for bringing any matters which require craft attention to the Harper Council.
2. The Chairperson is required to set the agenda for and run all meetings of the Harpercraft and/or the Harper Council.
3. The Chairperson may delegate the task of running a meeting in the case of RL time conflicts.
4. The Harper Chairperson is required to bring all matters of import before the Harper Council before acting upon them.
5. The Chairperson is expected to keep an accurate record of any decisions the Chairperson makes which are considered too insignificant for the attention of the Harper Council.
6. If the Harper Chairperson feels that action must be taken without the normal discussion period, the Chairperson may act on the authority of the Harpercraft. In this case, the Chairperson must post the action and the circumstances surrounding the action to the Council for the standard review and discussion period of one (1) week. If the Harper Council deems by means of a 2/3 majority vote that the action was taken incorrectly, the Harper Chairperson must make all possible efforts to reverse and/or reduce the effects of that action.
7. The Chairperson is expected to be familiar with any projects which occur in the Harper Hall during the Chairperson's tenure.
8. The Chairperson is responsible for making the transition of office to the next Chairperson as easy as possible, to cause the smallest disruption of the craft. This includes transferring any documents and/or other knowledge which the next Chairperson should have for the execution of the Chairperson's duties.
9. If the Harper Chairperson is deemed by a simple majority vote of the Harper Council to have acted improperly, a vote must be taken immediately to remove the Harper Chairperson from office, as in Article 1, section 8.

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Means of Communication within the Harpercraft

1. The *Harper-Council mailing list is to be considered the primary communication tool between members of the Harper Council. All matters to be voted upon must be posted on the *Harper-Council mailing list and remain there for a minimum of one (1) week.
2. The HarperCouncil channel is appropriate for casual discussion, but votes given on the channel will not be counted.
3. The *Harper mailing list is the primary communication tool between members of the Harpercraft. All decisions and matters which affect the Harpercraft as a whole shall be posted there and remain there for a minimum of one (1) week.
4. The Harper channel is appropriate for casual discussion. Nothing decided on any channel will be considered binding until it has been posted to one of the *Harper or *Harper-Council mailing lists.
5. Final vote counts should be taken via the Harper Voting Booth feature, dbref # 1207.
6. All standing Harpercraft information must be made available on one of the following places:
   1. The Staff Tackboard, dbref # 1987, located in the Harper Office.
   2. The Harpercraft Member Features, dbref # 2870.
   3. The Masterharper's Office, http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/2287/harper
   4. The Harpercraft Anthology, dbref # 269
   This list of places must remain posted in "help harper".
7. All official meetings of the Harper Council or Harpercraft must be logged and posted within an approved Council web site or the Masterharper's Office, http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/2287/harper.
8. Both the *Harper and *Harper-Council mailing lists must be archived periodically and posted within an approved Council web site or the Masterharper's Office, http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/2287/harper.

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Abbreviations Used in this Document