Organization and Staff

Sufficient Velocity is a community of thousands of people. Tens of thousands of new words of discussion, fiction, and roleplay are added each day. Implementing our goals requires the effort and participation of many tireless volunteers. These volunteers can broadly be divided into four categories:

1. Administrative Staff, who craft policy and take necessary steps to ensure that the interests set out here are effectively balanced;
2. Frontline Staff, who handle the day-to-day tasks of implementing our policy, enforcing our rules, and generally cleaning up the forum;
3. Support Staff, who handle events and other background items;
4. Community Liaisons, who act as interfaces and representatives of the users in interacting with the staff.

1. Administrative Staff

   Administrative staff are primarily responsible for assessing our community objectives and ensuring that the necessary steps are taken to accomplish them. Administrative staff are responsible for:

   • Approving long-range plans;
   • Drafting policy;
   • Appointing new staff;
   • Taking any action generally required to ensure that our objectives are met.
   
   

   Occasionally, a problem arises that involves our community values but which was either not envisioned by our rules or which would only be made worse by the strict application of them. At those times, the Administrative staff are the people who need to find a solution. They have broad powers to do so.

   • Directors

     The Directors are the owners of Sufficient Velocity. They have the final say in any matter respecting the forum's policy or its implementation.

   • Administrator

     The person directly responsible for the ongoing management of Sufficient Velocity. The Administrator is responsible for overseeing the staff, drafting and implementing temporary policy, and ensuring that all parts of the board are working smoothly.

   • Assistant Administrator

     The Assistant Administrators, working under the Administrator, take a variety of actions to keep the board working smoothly. They are involved in policy development, staff management, theme maintenance, and more.

2. Frontline Staff

   The primary role of the frontline staff is the implementation of the forum's policy and the general maintenance of order, from laying infractions to housekeeping threads.

   • Group Leader (Moderation) Group Leader (Arbitration)

     Group Leaders head each branch of the frontline staff. A Group Leader has all of the power of their branch, and, along with their assistant, is also responsible for overseeing the day-to-day work of their staff, assigning tasks, providing advice, and recommending new staff members for appointment.

   • Moderators

     Moderators are the primary enforcement and executive arm of Sufficient Velocity. For the most part, moderators carry out the public-facing tasks of keeping the forum neat and tidy. They do this in an administrative- by moving and otherwise cleaning up threads- and an enforcement- by infracting posts that are against the rules- context.

   • Arbitrators

     Arbitrators are the oversight arm of Sufficient Velocity. Their purpose is to review staff action and ensure that there is always a second pair of eyes and a "sober second thought" available.

3. Support Staff

   The primary role of the support staff is handling of running events and other backend tasks for general forum maintenance.

   • Group Leader (Content Promotion) Group Leader (Operations)

     Group Leaders head each branch of the support staff. A Group Leader has all of the power of their branch, and, along with their assistant, is also responsible for overseeing the day-to-day work of their staff, assigning tasks, providing advice, and recommending new staff members for appointment.

   • Content Promotion

     Content Promotors handle events, picks of the month, and other "promotion" items on Sufficient Velocity.

   • Operators

     Operators are the technical arm of Sufficient Velocity. They are responsible for technical maintenance, troubleshooting, and similar tasks.

4. Community Liaisons

   Any community with thousands of individuals will desire a voice into its running. While ultimate decision-making authority rests with the Directors, Sufficient Velocity encourages the participation of the community in reviewing our actions and participating in the policy-making process.

   • Councillors

     Community Councillors are the elected representatives of the users of Sufficient Velocity. They are elected by our users to communicate their thoughts and positions to the Staff. Councillors are at all times the representatives of the community: they participate in the policy process, can bring forward complaints and suggestions from the community, and have broad ability to oversee nearly everything the staff does, from observing the reporting process to reviewing appeals of staff action.

   • Advocates

     Advocates are users who have volunteered their time to, and demonstrated their ability in, assisting users who believe they have been treated wrongly and who wish to have staff action reviewed. Advocates provide advice and can request a review of staff action on behalf of that user.