THE FEDERATION'S FUTURE FORM OF GOVERNMENT
0. SUMMARY
This report is about how the federation between Toxspace and SimSense should be run.

Toxspace has participated in two failed federation attempts: SSN and the cross channels. Both attempts failed because the party that controlled most of the material resources used that to force its will on the other(s).

The purpose of a written constitution of an online community with multiple sources of power is to allow disputes occurring between them to be resolved peacefully with a minimum of disruption to the users.

The first question is what the scope of the new federal government ought to be. It should not have supremacy over the two communities it unites. Its powers should be confined to managing the channel that Toxspace and SimSense share, whose users should be subject to both federal rules, and local rules made by the party they connect from.

The second question is how it should be internally organized. Every government has three functions: making rules, enforcing them, and monitoring their implementation.

The rule-making power should be vested in a council with an equal number of representatives from both parties.

The enforcing power should be held by the existing moderators of both parties, who will be responsible for executing federal rules to the same extent as the local rules they were appointed to enforce.

The monitoring power should also be vested in the council. Mods should be required to report all bans to the council. All banned users should have the right to appeal to the council. If they provide a means of contact, they should be notified of the outcome of their appeal.

The third question is whether there should be a bill of rights. Most fundamentally, it is a recognition of the power the users collectively hold. Without users a community is nothing. There should be one, but it should cover only actions under federal, not local, authority.

The final question is how the constitution should be amended. For now, an amendment should be made simply by agreement between the parties. Referendums are not required for any question, but a plebiscite should be required to change anything that has been popularly voted.