House Rules

Guidelines for the Blog

 

• Any person wishing to become an Author or Administrator of this blog should contact the current Administrator, and supply a contact email to be sent the necessary information. At this time, Author and Admin posts are reserved for members and Alumni of GMTG Birmingham only, but third parties may comment on posts made without restriction. They may also be appointed as Contributors, if both GMTG current and Alumni users consent to this.

• The Authors and Administrators of this blog should be a deliberate cross section of current members and Alumni of GMTG Birmingham. Fair representation of both sides must be maintained, to guarantee an ongoing process of knowledge transfer and networking.

• Therefore, current members should ensure that they invite new members to join the blog, when they themselves become Alumni. Administrators to the blog should oversee this process, to make sure it continues effectively.

• As Alumni users may represent many different institutions and companies, some of which are in competition; and current member users may come from many different departments of Birmingham University; there may be the potential for conflicts of interest. To prepare for this, the Admin team should be as diverse as possible, to ensure all parties are represented, and can agree on solutions, should such a situation arise. Users can avoid conflict effectively, by remaining focussed on issues common to all institutions and departments. For example, joint discussions on funding issues, long term employment, licensing laws and so forth should heal most divisions that arise.

• For the purposes of good relations, special representation may be given to either society members, or members chosen from the Alumni network, should the need arise. Special representatives could be offered a permanent seat on either the Authors or Admin teams, at the behest of GMTG Birmingham’s committee, and/or representatives of the Alumi network. Full co-operation will be given by the blog Administrators in either case.

• The Administrators of this blog are in effect, its executive committee. The blog should be administered as a full time business, and in the spirit of GMTG the society. It shall be, therefore, the Admin Team’s responsibility to ensure the smooth running of the blog, and to uphold its rules and agreements. As such, they may designate roles to themselves (secretary, finance etc); set conditions for election/selection of other admins; and the appointment of a Chief Administrator to act as the blog’s president and manager. Rules and procedures agreed upon may be considered binding to all users of the blog, until such time as they are altered and/or reppealed.

• The Admin Team and Chief Administrator collectively, may form the legal, administrative and executive body of the blog. They may represent the blog to other parties and make administrative/executive decisions by majority vote where necessary. Any issue affecting the blog or its users should be addressed in this way.

• Procedures may be put in place by the Admin Team for such an event. Should none exist to deal with a problem as yet unprecedented, then a solution may be reached via general consensus between the Admins and Authors of the blog.

• It may also be necessary to decide admin roles by vote. In which case, the Poll function on this blog will be a good way to determine the most popular candidate(s). This voting process can also be used when an issue is in disopute and no clear solution can be agreed upon.

• While this blog is made officially to benefit GMTG Birmingham, third party commentators may be invited to comment on all posts made, to ensure the widest possible range of different viewpoints.

• The blog may be used to advertise the businesses and Google Ad Sense related products, relevant to the performing arts, but although profit may be made if desired, the defining purpose of this blog must always remain that of a network to bridge the academic and professional sectors, through members and Alumni of GMTG Birmingham.

• All users of this blog should respect the rules for online use. The blog should not, in any way, be used to undermine GMTG the society, its Alumni network, nor any other third party whatsoever. While debates on certain topics may become heated, criticisms should not be made as personal attacks, or derogatory remarks. Please remember, Google is watching, and all messages can and will be traced to their senders.