Addendums to SPEW Rules
The winds of change have hit SPEW with my arrival as the new Head of SPEW, and I would like to start off my reign as your reviewing monarch by putting my stamp on things early. Since I joined SPEW in March of 2010, I’ve seen most of what there is to see of the group inside and out. Also, my tenure has been a prime source of ideas for changes and innovations for SPEW, which I will now have at my disposal.
SPEW has been the same for a great number of years, but the fact that the fandom is dwindling, as is the population of MNFF. Measures must be taken to adjust the group accordingly in order to maintain our status as one of the ‘places to be’ in MNFF. My ultimate goal is to not only give current members of SPEW a sense of pride in what they do, but to encourage other non-SPEWers to want to be a part of it. In the end, what the group is really about is helping one another with care and respect; a feeling of belonging is a huge dimension of that.
I fully recognise that members of SPEW like to be treated as individuals and that what they have going on in real life matters as much to the group leadership as it does to them. That starts with the individual, and the person who currently holds the most power over change in SPEW is me, so this is what I’m going to do. After copious suggestions from the members of the group past and present, I will hereby be amending the rules regarding both hiatus requests and fulfilling late requirements. It is my hope that the change of these policies will promote an atmosphere of care and respect for the individual, as well as for the group, by offering understanding and concern as compared to a written-in-stone paragraph.
I. Late Monthly Requirements
The current policy is as follows:
If a member of SPEW fails to turn any number of reviews for one or several review periods, the following applies:
· Month One: The reviewer is to turn in all of their missing reviews plus one penalty review before the end of the following review period.
· Month Two: The reviewer is to turn in all of their missing reviews plus two penalty reviews before the end of the following review period. If a member fails to complete their missing and penalty reviews, they are put on probation and is required to hand in all missing reviews within the review period of the third month or else they will be fully suspended.
Missing reviews should not be posted in any review thread but always be sent straight to the Head of SPEW by PM.
Additions:
· If a member fails to review a SPEW Buddy within the required period, one extra penalty review will always be added irrespective of the existing number of penalty reviews. The extra penalty review will be always be written for the affected SPEW Buddy.
· If a member fails to review their SPEW Buddies two periods in a row, penalty reviews (to be written for the SPEW Buddies) will be issued for both months, and the member may not participate in next month’s SPEW Buddy Program.
· Any SPEW member who has been suspended due to missing reviews or breaking of SPEW or Forum rules will not be allowed to re-apply until a minimum of three months has passed since their suspension date.
Most of these concepts will remain intact. The key changes in this are:
1. The enforcement of penalties for late requirements.
2. The suspension policy.
As it was in the former SPEW policy on late requirements, late monthly requirements will see the SPEWer in question assessed one penalty review. However, the change will be in the deadline for all delinquent requirements plus penalties. Formerly, SPEWers were afforded the entire subsequent month to finish their late reviews plus their penalty review(s), but this will no longer be the case. It is my view that the most frequent offenders of tardiness are typically procrastinators, and putting off penalties and delinquent requirements is almost an inevitability. This is why, effective immediately, all late reviews/activities plus any accrued penalties are due no later than the 15th of the following month. With this policy, the SPEWer in question is still afforded adequate time in the rest of the month to complete current requirements without hardship. It also gives the RAC enough time to score the late reviews without causing delay with their regular workload.
One other addition to the current set of rules is the addition of a ‘mulligan’. We here at SPEW realise that things do happen at unexpected times, and we don't wish to penalise you for that if it can be avoided. So, there will be one 'freebie' issued to each member per calendar year. This free pass allows a member to turn in their late monthly activity and/or late review(s) by the 5th of the following month, no questions asked, without any penalty or repercussion. If a member chooses to exercise this option, they must notify the Head of SPEW as soon as possible but no later than the 5th of the following review period, which is the due date. Any reviews turned in under this rule will not be eligible to receive the SPEW Review Award or the SPEW Review Most Improved Award in the period for which the reviews/requirements were late.
If a SPEWer requests their freebie and still turns in their review within the original review period, then their free pass will still be available for them to use at a later date. If a SPEWer requests their freebie and fails to meet its deadline, then they lose the use of that free pass for either six calendar months or one year from the last date they were last issued a freebie, whichever is longer, and a penalty review will be assessed to that member as per the aforementioned rules regarding lateness.
This freebie is not eligible for use on deadlines for story exchanges or other SPEW activities outside of monthly requirements. It is also only available for SPEW Buddies if the requesting member's assigned buddy PMs the current Head of SPEW and says that it is okay with them.
The ultimate displeasure of my role as Head of SPEW is most definitely the necessity for punishment, the most drastic of which includes suspension. However, it is only pertinent for any serious organisation to have specific rules regarding abuse and or negligence of rules, policies, and requirements. As illustrated above, we have specific regulations regarding lateness, but eventually, chronic procrastination and delinquency has to end, and the first step after penalty reviews is suspension.
The current SPEW policies regarding suspensions are listed above, but they are quite vague. What I want to do is define exactly how one can be suspended from SPEW and exactly what suspension means. First of all, what is a ‘suspension’? From this point forward, a suspension will be defined as a hiatus imposed upon a member who has surpassed disciplinary actions such as penalty reviews and probation. A suspension lasts for three review periods, starting after the current one in which the suspension was issued expires. For example, if a member is suspended in June, the first month in which they will be able to fully participate will be October. The consequences of a suspension include being barred from all SPEW-related activities for the three month period already specified, as well as a three-month probationary period. In addition to this, any member who is suspended is not eligible to receive any sort of reviewing award or house points for any SPEW-related activities until the suspension and probationary period have fully passed.
Probation is a bit more complex, but, ultimately, it is a warning light. There are two types of probation. The first type is issued once a member has been given penalties for two sequential months. Failure to complete all delinquent reviews/activities plus penalties will result in probation, which is the last step before suspension. This is the point where the next offence will earn the member a suspension. Freebies cannot be used while under probation, as it is a privilege, not a given.
The second type of probation is automatically added to the tail end of a suspension. Its function is the same as the first; one mistake leads to harsher disciplinary action. However, post-suspension probation will lead to removal from SPEW, and the discharged SPEWer will not be allowed to re-apply for three months, which start immediately after the current month in which the suspension takes place has ended.
II. Hiatuses
The current policy on hiatuses is as follows:
If a SPEW member realises that they will be unable to hand in reviews and participate in other SPEW activities for a considerable length of time, he or she may contact the Head of SPEW and request to go on hiatus. Once a member has gone on hiatus, they may not participate in SPEW chats or post in the SPEW forum before they have officially returned.
The difference between going on hiatus and leaving SPEW entirely is that the member will still be a part of the SPEW usergroup and listed among the members on the SPEW profile on the MNFF main page. A member on hiatus does also not have to re-apply when they wish to return.
Acceptable reasons for going on hiatus may be:
· Long time without/with extremely limited Internet access.
· “Real Life” demands so extensive that the SPEW member must give up other online activities such as the entire MNFF Beta Boards, posting stories, LiveJournal and chatting.
· Various personal reasons.
However, the following examples are not acceptable reasons:
· Scheduled “Real Life” events, such as exams or sport finals.
· Lack of energy or motivation to review.
· The member wishes to devote more time to other online activities.
When requesting to go on hiatus, a member must include their reasons, and also an estimation of how long they plan on being away. A hiatus will typically last for at least 1-2 months, and the member will contact the Head of SPEW before the planned return, which will be announced in the Babble by the Head of SPEW.
Whether a request to go on hiatus is permitted or not depends a great deal on the individual case. The longer a member has been an active and devoted part of SPEW, the greater is the chance that a hiatus will be permitted. This is because they have then proved a genuine interest in SPEW, but also because the Application Guidelines clearly state that prospective members must have the proper time to devote to SPEW. As a general rule, hiatus from SPEW will not be permitted within the first four months of SPEW membership.
There are two main alternatives to going on hiatus. The first, to leave SPEW entirely for some time, must not be as drastic as it’s often made up to be. A member who has left SPEW on their own accord is welcome to re-apply as soon as they wish to.
The second and much preferred alternative is to hand reviews early, which is greatly recommended for all members with upcoming, scheduled events such as the previously mentioned exams and sport finals. If a member knows that they will be unusually busy for some time to come, they are encouraged to write and submit reviews before the affected review period. These reviews can either be sent to the Head of SPEW with a note saying which review period(s) they will cover, or else the links may be saved and posted in the proper monthly review thread.
Largely, these policies are sound and will not be altered. But, as I mentioned at the top of this ridiculously long post, SPEW will be about care and respect. This is why, effective immediately, every hiatus request will be approved or denied based on the discretion of the current Head of SPEW. I could go on for hours on the different things that could or could not qualify as a hiatus-worthy event, but there is no way that every sort of occurrence could be covered. Again, we at SPEW are reasonable people, and we understand how things could go awry when you least expect it.
That being said, abuse of goodwill is not permitted. No member will be permitted to go on hiatus more than twice per calendar year, and the time spent on hiatus may not exceed six months in total. Coming back and leaving every couple of months does not show dedication to the group, and if extenuating circumstances cannot allow for proper participation, then perhaps the member in question would be best served to leave SPEW and rejoin at a later date when other obligations have lessened.
I will reiterate the pre-existing rule that hiatuses are NOT declared by a member; members APPLY for hiatus. So I fully expect to never receive a PM from a SPEWer, telling me that they are going on hiatus. The appropriate action would be for the member to send a PM (and never via IM or the Babble thread) with a title along the line of ‘Hiatus Request’, describing what has happened or will be happening that necessitates a hiatus. This request must be timestamped before the 20th of the month for the hiatus request to take effect for that reviewing period. Otherwise, upon approval, the requested hiatus will not start until the next month, and the requesting SPEWer will still be responsible for the current month’s requirements. Twenty days is more than a reasonable amount of time to complete one’s requirements, and if time and/or issues are that big a deal, a hiatus would’ve been requested prior to the ‘last minute’.
It will also be prudent to note that members who take personal responsibility and don’t push the envelope every month will be more likely to have their requests granted. While posting your reviews on the last day of the month is allowed, it often leads to rushed reviews that might not live up to the potential they possess. These patterns do not go unnoticed by me, and rest assured that your compliance and behaviour are taken into account when a hiatus is requested.
So, that’s all for today. I believe I’ve been quite clear, and, of course, any questions are more than welcome, which I will answer as promptly as possible. Thank you for reading, and, as always, happy reviewing!