• Version 2.0 of the Anarcho Rodentia bylaws, “Anarcho Rodentia’s Structure”; ratified 1 April 2023.
• PDF: https://anarchorodentia.us/ar_structure-2023_march.pdf
• Previous version: 1.0

The Anarcho Rodentia General Assembly

March 25, 2023

1. Statement of Aims
2. Anarcho Rodentia Is for Adults
   • Child Avatars in Second Life
3. Anarcho Rodentia Is Not a Debate Club
4. License
5. Points of Unity
6. Decision Making Process
   1. Assemblies
   2. Meetings
   3. Decisions
7. Eligibility
8. Committees
   1. Purpose
   2. Scope and participation
   3. Limits and process
9. Delegated Roles
10. Representation of Anarcho Rodentia by Its Participants
11. Power to Ban
12. Conflict Resolution
13. Housing
14. Finances
15. Sample Agenda for a General Assembly

1  Statement of Aims

We develop this document first for the purpose of offering consistent guidance to new breadfellows regarding the intentions, or ethos, or vibe, of this community; and second, to share a record and atlas of our own tendencies, and desires, and requirements, in order that we keep ourselves honest in our choices of action.

This is a book of “house rules”. As with friends at a game table, we must entrust each other with their keeping, and may decline the company of those who never would. This document cannot institute law or provide for its enforcement, and we wouldn’t have it otherwise.

2  Anarcho Rodentia Is for Adults

As of 2023, Anarcho Rodentia’s Second Life parcels (the Anarcho Rodentia Autonomous Zone, or “ARAZ”) are rated at least Moderate and abide by Second Life’s applicable terms and conditions, maturity ratings, and content guidelines. Similarly, the Anarcho Rodentia Discord server is intended only for adults.

To protect our community and to protect you, we may expel or ban you if we have reason to believe you are underage.

2.1  Child Avatars in Second Life

To protect our community members and to ensure compliance with Second Life’s policy disallowing ageplay, avatars must be 18+ to enter the ARAZ. In particular, avatars used in the ARAZ may not, in general, appear to be children.

3  Anarcho Rodentia Is Not a Debate Club

In Anarcho Rodentia we align on the points of unity. Our individual politics are subject to change, and so may the precepts embodied in this document. As such, we do not attempt to enforce by any group action a particular mindset on a participant. There are infinite perfect “anarchies” one may aspire to. With this said, open argument on the merits of anarchism, in its broad sense, is not welcome.

4  License

This document is released to the public domain.

5  Points of Unity

The points of unity are the principles on which Anarcho Rodentia is presently founded, and to which all participants consent.

6  Decision Making Process

When Anarcho Rodentia must make decisions that affect its participants as a group, we apply democratic and consensus-seeking processes—with practical safeguards against bad faith maneuvering—to reach agreements that are as unobjectionable and productive as possible. Because our participants are subject to change, and flexible, then, to best accommodate one another, these rules must be the same.

6.1  Assemblies

1. Anarcho Rodentia’s decisions are made by an assembly of its participants who meet, deliberate, and vote.
2. Except in the event of an emergency impacting Anarcho Rodentia as a whole, a general assembly will be scheduled no less than 30 days and no more than 90 days in advance. Date, time, and location of a general assembly is decided by the assembled members of the previous.

6.2  Meetings

1. The assembled create and approve their agenda. An agenda is flexible, and may contain items only as needed; for example: introductions, announcements, reports, discussion topics, etc.
2. Either a facilitator designated by the previous assembly calls on people as they volunteer to speak, or participants pass the speaker role in a circle, round-robin.
3. A designated member of the assembly records the meeting minutes.
4. The assembled members designate a rotating or randomly selected vote counter from a pool of volunteers with the following responsibilities:
   1. to facilitate the accurate recording and determination of consensus and dissent during the meeting;
   2. to facilitate the accurate capture of votes during and after the meeting;
   3. to ensure, in the case of votes taken after the meeting, that the list of voters is made public, but that their final votes are not, except whereas the assembled members conclude that the disclosure of the voters’ choices is essential to the decision;
   4. to facilitate additional meeting time for deliberation, as necessary, in the event that sufficient votes are cast to block a decision that would otherwise take effect, and to represent fairly and accurately the rationale provided by those who have voted to block; and
   5. to ensure the final decisions enacted reflect the outcome of the vote according to the guidelines set forth in this document.
5. The assembly may collectively amend the meeting format and protocols using the processes described here and always in keeping with the points of unity. For example, the assembly may adopt one-time rules for debate on a given decision.

6.3  Decisions

1. In making a decision, there is first a search for full agreement of all assembled through dialogue and deliberation, which may require problem analysis, goal-setting, and the weighing of alternative proposals.
2. If there is not full agreement, then deliberation occurs until the discussion is sufficiently exhausted.
3. If discussion is exhausted and full agreement to a decision is not reached, the assembly will classify the item subject to decision as either “non-critical” or “critical”.
   1. A decision is classified “non-critical” if a failure to find full agreement is unlikely to have any lasting or important negative impact; i.e., it is of low stakes. Non-critical votes must pass with a 51% affirmative majority (i.e., a majority not inclusive of the abstaining) of the assembled voters. In the event a member blocks (i.e., objects to a majority vote, and provides a rationale for said objection), the decision may be set aside for future deliberation, or instead be classified as critical.
   2. A decision is classified “critical” if a failure to find full agreement is likely to have a significant negative impact; i.e., it is of high stakes. Critical votes must pass with a 75% majority of affirmative votes out of a quorum of Anarcho Rodentia’s participating members, and with no more than 1 vote or 3% of the total votes, whichever is greater, cast to block the decision.
      1. The quorum is defined as the voters who cast an eligible vote. Eligible votes are counted during a period to begin at the time polling is opened promptly after the assembly, and to run through midnight SLT at the end of the 7th day later.
      2. The eligibility of a vote may be affirmed using the method set forth in the Eligibility section of these guidelines.
      3. The assembly will agree on a process by which this quorum will be achieved; e.g., an online poll.
      4. A vote to block must be accompanied by a rationale, or a rationale must be provided upon request by the vote counter, and the rationale must concern issues fundamental to Anarcho Rodentia’s principles, mission, or points of unity.
4. Dissent registered during deliberation, and at no point withdrawn, must be recorded in the meeting minutes, regardless of the final decision.
5. Decisions may amend the points of unity and the guidelines in this document, but they must otherwise maintain a form and content in harmony with them.

7  Eligibility

1. Participants in Anarcho Rodentia assert their own eligibility to assemble or vote.
2. A participant’s eligibility to assemble or vote requires acceptance of the points of unity and any one of the following:
   1. the participant is known to visit, has a residence within, or has made monetary or land contributions to, the ARAZ;
   2. the participant has current membership in the Anarcho Rodentia Second Life group or Discord server; or
   3. in the event the participant’s eligibility is called into question, which may be on any reasonable grounds, a committee member, who was previously delegated by the general assembly, will vouch for them.

8  Committees

8.1  Purpose

1. All policy-making power is held by the general assembly.
2. The general assembly may form smaller groups of community members and empower them to implement policy. These are hereafter referred to as committees, but may as well be called “teams”, “working groups”, “councils”, “task groups”, etc.
3. Committees plan and act autonomously in accordance with the constraints and policies decided by the general assembly.
4. Committees may be dedicated to purposes such as
   • to temporarily or periodically organize a special event.
   • to organize a one-time direct action.
   • to produce or procure a community resource using specialized knowledge or skills.
   • to limit the provision of extraordinary permissions required for high risk tasks related to mediation, common asset stewardship, operational security, or building.
   • to arrange for ongoing mutual aid, direct action, or common infrastructure.

8.2  Scope and participation

1. Committees are made up of community members who agree to implement a decision of the assembly.
2. The general assembly may, in any combination, direct the committee to accept volunteers, define its process or requirements for admission of new members, or delegate its specific members.
3. The general assembly may, in any combination, delegate a standing committee; or provision a task group that is dissolved at a specific time or on completion of specific tasks, or that is contingent on a specific temporary state of affairs.

8.3  Limits and process

1. Committees report their actions to the general assembly.
2. Committees do not make policy over and above the general assembly. Committees enact and enforce rules within the scope of their mandate, but they are confined to that scope, and may not act to limit or override the power of the general assembly.
3. The decisions that create and empower committees may be instantly rescinded by the general assembly, at any time and without constraint.

9  Delegated Roles

1. The necessity for the general assembly to delegate an ongoing responsibility to a single person, or very few, occasionally arises. This may be, for example,
   • due to the technical limitations of an otherwise required system.
   • because a project or concern needs an unambiguous point of contact, coordinator, or subject matter expert.
   • to assure the completion of commonplace tasks that may otherwise fall by the wayside.
2. Such ongoing roles
   1. are accessory and accommodative to a broader purpose;
   2. provide autonomy of action within the scope of their purpose;
   3. are delegated to an enthusiastic volunteer through a decision of the general assembly; and
   4. may instantly be rescinded by a decision of the general assembly.

10 Representation of Anarcho Rodentia by Its Participants

Individual participants of Anarcho Rodentia are to represent themselves only as free associates, not as leaders, envoys, ambassadors, interpreters, mediators, advocates, or any other form of representative for the group as a whole (e.g., by its name, Anarcho Rodentia), except according to the terms of a role delegated to them by the general assembly for this express purpose of representation.

11  Power to Ban

1. Some participants in Anarcho Rodentia are entrusted by the general assembly with the power to forcibly exclude others from the ARAZ, the Second Life groups, the Discord server, or any other widely accepted meeting point for Anarcho Rodentia.
2. A community may be stringent or relaxed in the use of administration or moderation tools. We prioritize horizontality and freedom of association, so we set a high standard for their use. We also strive for the protection and mutual aid of our own, so we keep these tools at the ready.
3. Often, interpersonal difficulties may be resolved via mediation or other practices, and the section “Conflict Resolution” may serve as a guide. Where this fails or is unsuited to the problem, a one-on-one “block”, if available, may suffice. However, a ban may be the more suitable intervention in cases of
   • intentional evasion or defiance, of mediation or blocking.
   • verbal, sexual, or physical harassment, that recurs in spite of rejection, that is evidently malicious, or that is extreme in character.
   • political propagandizing that is unambiguously and knowingly contrary to the points of unity.
   • the deliberate sabotage of our good time, i.e., “griefing”.
   • intentional actions that put at risk the existence of the community or the use of our primary communications media, i.e., Second Life or Discord.
4. Because this power may be abused for individual gain, on an emotional impulse, unjustly according to a double standard, or on terms otherwise contrary to the points of unity, we apply it with transparency and expose its application to continual review.
5. A decision to ban a participant may be, at any time, by any participant acting in good faith and in orderly fashion or according to a consistent process,
   • reviewed for its original rationale, context, and history.
   • appealed for good cause.
   • reassessed regarding the duration of its term, the scope of its effect, or the substance and accuracy of its statements.
6. Cases necessitating a ban may stand on highly sensitive information. Access to or knowledge of this information should be limited to relevant parties in the context of conflict resolution. A ban in no way depends on a complete “airing out” of a difficult situation; it needs only what is sufficient to gain agreement for its use and to record the justification for its use.

12  Conflict Resolution

The following framework provides a general series of steps which may be chosen from or escalated through according to the requirements of a conflict, and are best supplemented by training outside the scope of this document.

1. Parties in conflict take time and space apart to consider the cause of the conflict and process their emotions. Where a relationship and harm both are trivial, blocking or de-rendering may be advised.
2. The parties in conflict communicate directly and constructively.
3. A trained mediator facilitates a search for a mutually beneficial resolution in a setting all parties agree upon.
4. In cases of ongoing harm or unambiguous abuse, those with administrative power to ban may deliberate and vote to disassociate Anarcho Rodentia from a participant, following criteria provided in “Power to Ban”.

13  Housing

For the purpose of this document, the Anarcho Rodentia Autonomous Zone is built on virtual private property belonging to and rented from the legal entity Linden Lab. The housing committee, on behalf of the general assembly, enacts and applies rules regarding the distribution of housing in the ARAZ. In stewardship of this limited resource, they seek to ensure

1. vacant housing in the ARAZ is accurately cataloged;
2. new participants who consent to the points of unity and the rules of the housing committee have equal opportunity to avail themselves of vacant housing;
3. residents have access to the ARAZ’s shared resources according to their need;
4. residents are provided with preferential notice and a say in the development or reallocation of their own designated land or their neighboring land, though this may nevertheless be overridden by a decision of the general assembly; and
5. following the apparent abandonment of housing and a reasonable effort made to confirm it, or according to an agreement made with the resident that defines such abandonment, said housing will be made available to others.

14  Finances

1. In the interest of following a long-term path of sustainable, equitable, informal, non-profit, and non-taxable growth or maintenance that aligns on the points of unity, the general assembly delegates a treasurer or a committee to provide an accurate appraisal of Anarcho Rodentia’s expenditures and income
   1. to be made available to the general assembly on a timely and regular basis, normally at each meeting of the general assembly, or updated and available continuously to its members;
   2. that itemizes income in aggregate by its individual donors, who may be named or anonymized; and
   3. that itemizes expenditure in aggregate according to its general use case, e.g., Second Life land tier, software rental and upgrades, purchases of art.
2. Because personal or rented property may be furnished toward the public good of Anarcho Rodentia by anyone—freely, unaccountably, and on a temporary basis—reported flows only need include that which is
   1. provided directly to Anarcho Rodentia without regard for its use via, e.g., Patreon, another crowd-funding or tipping site, or a donation box operated under those auspices;
   2. donated to Anarcho Rodentia in the form of Second Life land tier or otherwise as rents paid to the operator of a communications media or software tool, e.g., a domain host or Discord;
   3. spent or donated openly from a common budget, which is assumed to be in Anarcho Rodentia’s name; or
   4. required for record-keeping by law.
3. The security of Anarcho Rodentia’s participants in mind, our finances will be made available to the general public only as required by law.

15  Sample Agenda for General Assembly

A general assembly’s facilitator may use this framework as a starting point to prepare an agenda.

1. Assembly delegates or confirms a facilitator, recording secretary, vote counter, and other roles as required
2. Facilitator calls the meeting to order
3. Recording secretary or facilitator reads back minutes of the previous meeting
4. Assembly amends the agenda¹ as necessary and approves it
5. Committees and delegates report²
6. Unfinished business of the previous assembly
7. New business, typically in the form of presentations, proposals, and decision-making
8. Assessment or delegation of projects, tasks, roles, and committees
9. Brief announcements, communications, and a non-business open forum regarding the community (“good and welfare”)
10. For next time
    1. Delegate facilitator
    2. Agree on date, time, and place
    3. Record feedback related to the meeting
11. Motion to adjourn