Process for Advancement

Active in a support channel: Attempting to give meaningful support to a person in a support channel. Making jokes and non-useful comments are not considered active.
All voting moderators: All eligible moderators who have voted in a given vote. This number only exists after a vote ends.
All voting trusted: All eligible trusted who have voted in a given vote. This number only exists after a vote ends.
Days active: The number of unique days a person sends a message in any channel. This day count is based on the observer’s time zone and may differ from person to person.
Eligible moderators: Any member that has the highest staff role as “Moderator”, "", or “super op”, regardless of age, activity, availability, or status.
Eligible trusted: Any member that has the highest staff role as “Trusted”, “Moderator”, "", or “super op”, regardless of age, activity, availability, or status. Formal vote: A vote following the procedures written in this document.
General consensus: When the amount of yes votes by all voters is strictly more than 50% (exactly 50% shall not count).
Informal vote: This vote can be run however the initiating voter wishes it to be run. Informal votes are only allowed in a small selection of cases.
Initiating voter: The trusted or moderator who starts a vote or conducts a promotion/demotion action.
Moderation Actions: Any action by a member that adds an entry into the audit log (excluding changing their own nickname), either directly or using a bot, sending messages and closing modmail threads, and voting when they are asked to.
Staff roles: The following roles are staff roles: “Regular”, “Helper”, “Trusted”, “Moderator”, ”_”, “super op”.
Stale vote: A vote which has ended, and the results are final.
Support channel: Any channel in the “support” category.

Regular

A regular is defined by anyone with the highest-ranking staff role of “Regular”. There is currently no limit to the number of regulars.

Becoming regular

The bare minimum requirements for becoming a regular are:

Has not been banned or kicked from the discord since becoming regular, or demoted from regular
Is not barred from becoming regular for any reason

If the above requirements are not met, they can by bypassed by a successful vote. This vote shall only run for 24 hours instead of the regular 48 hours.

For this vote, the requirements for passing are:

A general consensus of all voting trusted

There is otherwise no required voting process to advance someone to regular; however, an informal vote may be sought if desired. If a vote is sought, as long as at least one other eligible trusted approves, the vote is successful. There is no minimum time after a vote for regular. In the event that an informal vote is started, if this vote fails, a formal vote following the above requirements must be conducted prior to promotion.

All voting trusted get a say in promoting people to Regular. Unless the initiating voter cannot or is unavailable, it is exclusively their responsibility to assign the role. Delegation must occur if the initiating voter cannot or will not. The role should only be assigned when the person is active and on the server.

After the assignment, the new regular shall be pinged in the regulars channel and informed of their new role by the individual responsible for assigning the role. They are the sole individual who decides what information is relevant immediately, a ping storm doesn’t need to occur as everyone shares what they think is needed.

An interest form is not a requirement for becoming a regular.

Removing regulars

Removing a regular should have a formal vote conducted unless there are extreme circumstances, such as abuse or harassment. Extreme circumstances will be left up to the initiating voter to decide. In the event of extreme circumstances, the initiating voter must immediately ban the offender. If a regular is removed, a formal vote is required to bring them back.

This vote shall only run for 24 hours instead of the regular 48 hours.

This vote shall end immediately in the following case:

A general consensus of all eligible trusted

In this case, the vote is over and no further votes shall be cast.

For this vote, the requirements for passing are:

At least 1 eligible trusted, who is not the initiating voter, votes yes AND
A general consensus of all voting trusted

In this vote, the initiating voter must choose one of two cases:

They select what action should happen when the vote finishes (Demote, remove all roles, kick, ban, etc)
They have people vote on what action should happen

If the second case is chosen, a vote for any action is considered a vote for yes. Unless there is a tie, if the yes vote passes, the plurality vote for action is selected. If there is a tie, everyone who voted for the other option(s) is asked to re-evaluate and given 24 hours to make a new decision. If no conclusive decision is made after that, the initiating voters choice is picked.

Unless there is an outstanding issue, action can happen immediately after voting formally concludes. The removal action must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

Helper

A helper is defined by anyone with the highest-ranking staff role of “Helper” There is currently no limit to the number of helpers.

Becoming helper

The bare minimum requirements for becoming a helper are:

Have been a regular for at least 15 consecutive days

Voting can occur before the 15-day mark, but the role cannot be given until on or after the 15-day mark.

A vote must be conducted before advancement. For this vote, the requirements for passing are:

At least a 60% vote for yes by all voting trusted, where at least 4 eligible trusted voted OR
A general consensus by all voting trusted, where at least 8 eligible trusted voted

This vote shall only run for 24 hours instead of the regular 48 hours

There is no waiting period after the voting has concluded.

Promotion must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

Unless the initiating voter cannot or is unavailable, it is exclusively their responsibility to assign the role. Delegation must occur if the initiating voter cannot or will not. The role should only be assigned when the person is active and on the server.

After the assignment, the new helper shall be pinged in the helper channel and informed of their new role by the member responsible for assigning the role. They are the sole individual who decides what information is relevant immediately, a ping storm doesn’t need to occur as everyone shares what they think is needed.

Removing helpers

The removal of helper requires a vote prior to action.

If desired by the initiating voter, this vote may be restricted to eligible moderators only instead of eligible trusted. If this is exercised, a compelling reason must be stated.

If this vote is open to eligible trusted, the requirements for passing are:

At least a 50% vote for yes by all eligible trusted OR
At least a 50% vote for yes by all voting trusted, where at least 4 eligible trusted voted OR
A complete agreement by 5 different eligible trusted with 0 votes for no

If this vote is restricted to eligible moderators only, the requirements for passing are:

At least a 50% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 50% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 4 eligible moderators voted OR
A complete agreement by 5 different eligible moderators with 0 votes for no

In this vote, the initiating voter must choose one of two cases:

They select what action should happen when the vote finishes (Demote, remove all roles, kick, ban, etc)
They have people vote on what action should happen

Unless there is an outstanding issue, action can happen immediately after voting formally concludes. The removal action must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

Trusted

A trusted is defined by anyone with the highest-ranking staff role of “Trusted” There is currently no limit to the number of trusted.

Becoming trusted

The bare minimum requirements for becoming trusted are:

Have been a helper for at least 30 consecutive days

Voting can occur before the 30-day mark, but the role cannot be given until on or after the 30-day mark.

A vote must be conducted before advancement. For this vote, the requirements for passing are:

At least a 60% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 60% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 5 eligible moderators voted OR
A general consensus by all voting moderators, where at least 7 moderators voted

If the vote is successful, a mandatory waiting period of 24 hours shall be held. Promotion must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

Unless the initiating voter cannot or is unavailable, it is exclusively their responsibility to assign the role. Delegation must occur if the initiating moderator cannot or will not. The role should only be assigned when the person is active and on the server, even if that means waiting longer than 24 hours.

After the assignment, the new trusted shall be pinged in the trusted channel and informed of their new role by the member responsible for assigning the role. They are the sole individual who decides what information is relevant immediately, a ping storm doesn’t need to occur as everyone shares what they think is needed.

Removing trusted

The removal of trusted requires a vote prior to action. The conditions under which a vote can pass varies based on the length of time a person has been trusted. The requirements are set on the day the vote is started.

If this person is not an inactive trusted by the definition in the “Voting to remove inactive individuals” section, and has been trusted for less than two months, these are the requirements for passing:

At least a 60% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 60% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 5 eligible moderators voted OR
A general consensus by all voting moderators, where at least 7 moderators voted

If this person is not an inactive trusted by the definition in the “Voting to remove inactive individuals” section, and has been trusted for at least 2 months, these are the requirements for passing:

At least a 70% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 70% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 6 eligible moderators voted

In this vote, the initiating voters must choose one of two cases:

They select what action should happen when the vote finishes (Demote, remove all roles, kick, ban, etc)
They have people vote on what action should happen

Unless there is an outstanding issue, action can happen immediately after voting formally concludes. The removal action must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

Moderator

A moderator is defined by anyone with the highest-ranking staff role of “Moderator”, ”_”, OR “super op” At no point shall there be more than 15 individual moderators.

Becoming moderator

The bare minimum requirements for becoming moderator are:

Have been trusted for at least 30 consecutive days
Be at least 18 years of age
There must currently be 14 or less moderators, OR plans in place to remove 1 moderator prior to promotion.

Voting can occur prior to these requirements being met, but the role cannot be given until the requirements are met.

A vote must be conducted prior to advancement. For this vote, the requirements for passing are:

At least a 65% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 65% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 9 eligible moderators voted

If none of these are met when the vote ends, the vote fails. In the event of a failed vote, a mandatory waiting period of 1 week is required before another vote for this person is attempted.

If the vote is successful, a mandatory waiting period of 48 hours shall be held. Promotion must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

After the assignment, the new moderator shall be pinged in the moderator channel and informed of their new role by the member responsible for assigning the role. They are the sole individual who decides what information is relevant immediately, a ping storm doesn’t need to occur as everyone shares what they think is needed.

Removing moderators

The removal of moderator requires a vote prior to action. The conditions under which a vote can pass varies based on length of time a person has been moderator. The requirements are set on the day the vote is started.

If this person is not an inactive moderator by the definition in the “Voting to remove inactive individuals” section, and has been moderator for less than 2 months, these are the requirements for passing:

At least a 50% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 50% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 6 eligible moderators voted

If this person is not an inactive moderator by the definition in the “Voting to remove inactive individuals” section, and has been a moderator for at least 2 months, these are the requirements for passing:

At least a 90% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 90% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 10 eligible moderators voted

In this vote, the initiating voter must choose one of two cases:

They select what action should happen when the vote finishes (Demote, remove all roles, kick, ban, etc)
They have people vote on what action should happen

Unless there is an outstanding issue, action can happen immediately after voting formally concludes. Demotion must occur within 7 days of the vote concluding or a new vote must be run.

General voting procedures

If a vote is conducted, the initiating voter is responsible for:

Initially reacting to the vote message
Pinging the moderator role (not @here/everyone)

The reactions shall be:

Upvote - Indicating a yes vote
Downvote - Indicating a no vote

Anyone who doesn’t vote for exactly one of the above two options (regardless of other reactions on the message) shall not be considered as a voting individual.

After a vote starts, the vote will run for exactly 48 hours, unless otherwise specified. This can be changed to 24 hours if the initiating voter specifies in the initial voting request message. After that, anyone who has not cast a vote will be considered “inactive” for the purposes of that vote only. No formal conclusion can be drawn or actions can be done until after the vote ends. At this point, the vote will become stale. If this topic is to arise again, the old vote cannot be used, and a new vote must be started. No prior votes will count in this new vote.

Rounding is not allowed in voting. The vote either passes or doesn’t. Being close means it fails.

A perfect tie means that no action will take place, regardless of if that would be the vote was successful or failed.

Default passing cases

In a vote not classified above, the vote shall be restricted to eligible moderators only, and the following will be the passing case:

At least a 50% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 50% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 6 eligible moderators voted

Voting to remove inactive individuals

If the person being removed is inactive on the server, a formal vote is not required.

An initiating voter may say “these people are inactive”, list names AND highest staff role, and ping the moderator role for approval. If any single moderator has an objection, that person can still be removed but must be considered active for the purposes of removal. This status is temporary and lasts 14 days. Any moderators may require a review by another moderator. In this case, removal of roles must be halted until that moderator gets a chance to review, regardless of if it has been 12 hours or not.

Inactive demotion must happen within 24 hours of approval, or new approval must be sought.

While not required, notifying people of pending removal and/or post removal inactive can be done. It is the initiating voters choice.

The following definition of inactive shall be followed:

Not active in a support channel for at least 90 days. OR
Not active in any channels for at least 60 days. This activity must be more than saying hi occasionally. This definition is based on the initiating voters observations. OR
Not using moderation actions, if applicable, for at least 30 days.

If after 12 hours, there are no outstanding objections, roles shall be removed or changed following the this guide:

If the sole reason for removal is lack of moderation actions, the member shall be demoted to helper
Otherwise, the member shall have all of their staff roles removed

If the goal is to remove someone to moderator, trusted, or regular, a normal removal vote shall take place as if the person is active.

The moderation actions case only applies to those who should have moderation actions.

What happens in a failed vote

If a vote fails for any reason, no action is taken. A mandatory waiting period of 1 week is imposed before this topic is required before another vote is held. The previous initiating voter cannot be the initiator for a repeat vote.

Edge cases

What happens if a vote is held but doesn’t comply with these rules

If a vote is conducted and it is determined that the rules stated here are not followed, the vote is immediately cancelled if no action is taken. If action has already been taken, a vote MAY occur to undo the actions on the basis of an invalid vote. This vote is not required to take place.

In the event a vote like that takes place, the following are the requirements for passing:

At least a 50% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 50% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 5 eligible moderators voted
At least a 40% vote for yes by all eligible moderators who successfully voted in the invalid election

Regardless of where the initial vote took place, a reversal of an invalid vote shall be restricted to moderators only.

In the event the voting is cancelled, there is no mandatory waiting period before bringing up this topic again. Once the issue causing the vote to be invalid is resolved, the vote can start over.

Invalidating votes

Any formal vote is rejected if the following conditions are met, regardless of if the vote would have passed based on individual requirements:

At least 65% of eligible moderators have voted no OR
There are 4 or fewer voting moderators AND more than 4 eligible moderators

What happens if the initiating voter leaves during the vote

If the initiating voter leaves prior to the vote being concluded, it is the responsibility of anyone with the “super op” role to claim the initiating voter position, or assign someone else to be the initiator for the purposes of that vote.

What happens during a tie

If a perfect tie occurs and the vote has more than 2 options, a runoff election between the top two choices must occur. This election lasts for 24 hours, and everyone who didn’t vote for the top two options should be notified they need to make a new selection. People who did not vote initially are welcome to vote at this stage.

If after that runoff, there is still a perfect tie, no action is taken. In the event that there are only 2 options, there shall be no action taken.

People up for promotion leaving during the vote

If the person up for promotion leaves during the vote, the vote is over in a failed state. Should they come back, a new vote must be started.

People leaving on their own and asking for roles back

This section covers people leaving the server, and people asking to have some and/or all of their roles removed. In the event a person has given up their roles for more than 60 days, they are ineligible to get any roles back and must climb the ranks like normal. If that is the case, a person must be active on the server, providing meaningful support, for no less that 7 days before any roles, excluding regular, can be granted. In the event an individual leaves on their own and comes back, or asks to be demoted within 60 days, and asks for roles back also within those same 60 days, these cases shall be followed:

The following roles cannot be granted back immediately, and must have a waiting period of 30 days:

“super op”

The following roles must be granted back only with a passing formal vote:

”_” and “Moderator”
“Trusted” if “Trusted” was previously the highest-ranking staff role

The passing rate for this vote shall be the default. This vote shall be restricted to moderator only.

The following roles must be granted back only with a passing informal vote:

“Trusted” if “Trusted” was NOT previously the highest-ranking staff role
“Regular” AND “Helper” if “Helper” OR “Regular” was previously the highest-ranking staff role

This informal vote shall be restricted to eligible moderator only.

The following roles may be granted back without any voting:

“Regular” AND “Helper” if “Helper” was lower than the previously highest-ranking staff role

In the event that the user doesn’t directly ask for their roles back within 14 days of joining, they shall be ineligible to get their roles back through this process.

Overriding anything in this document

If a special case comes up, any rules in this document may be bypassed by the following vote:

At least a 90% vote for yes by all eligible moderators

People deciding they don’t want the promotion

If someone gets promoted and says they do not want it, that must be listened to and the promotion is to be immediately reversed without a vote. This will not prohibit that person from being up for promotion again in the future, but a mandatory waiting period of 30 days must occur before any promotion votes for this person occurs again.

Promoting people again who have lost their roles

This section only applies to those who have lost their roles by force, not by choice.
Unless the individual was demoted for inactivity, a formal vote is required to take place, even if it wouldn’t be ordinarily required. The passing line for this vote shall be the same as promotion to moderator, which is as following:

Agreement by at least 65% of eligible moderators OR
Agreement by at least 65%, but no less than 6, of all voting moderators

What happens if a staff member gets banned

In the event a staff member is banned, and has been successfully unbanned, they shall not get their roles back immediately. In the event the ban was an accident, or a mistaken ban, this section shall not apply and roles shall be granted back. All roles must be granted back with only a formal vote, restricted to moderators only. For this vote, the requirements for passing are:

At least a 65% vote for yes by all eligible moderators OR
At least a 65% vote for yes by all voting moderators, where at least 9 eligible moderators voted

Extreme harassment and threats to the community

In the event that a current member of staff with any role becomes an extreme problem, a flash vote can occur to resolve the issues that may arise. This section doesn’t apply to anyone with the highest-ranking staff role of “Regular”. In that case, a moderator may decide extreme circumstances and ban the individual if they deem it needed. This vote will last 1 hour or less, and action will be taken immediately. The only action allowed in these flash votes is to immediately ban. The initiating voter may choose to issue a 1-hour timeout on the person subject to this vote if they think it is needed.

The passing requirements are as follows:

Agreement by at least 5 of eligible moderators AND
No more than 1 person who thinks this is un-needed and a slower removal process is acceptable.

Once all 3 of these requirements are met, action can be taken immediately and the vote is over. In the event this vote fails, either by not meeting passing requirements in 1 hour, or by having 2 or more people disagree, a flash vote cannot be conducted again on this person for 48 hours.