ombudsmen / member advocates

Post by **sine nomine** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:10 am

the ombudsmen are member advocates: if you think you are being treated unfairly by board staff or you think you won't get a fair hearing or you're just afraid to approach a mod or admin, you can go to them and they will bring it up for you. they'll report back to you on what happened. their first priority is to look out for board members and make sure that concerns get heard. they represent you.

they are independent of the mods and admins. they each serve a fixed term of two months, so that they have little to gain by trying to suck up to us. unless they do something that is serious enough that they'd normally be deactivated for, they will not be fired. the fixed term also means that they won't settle in and slack off (not that i think they would, but it's a benefit of the system.

if you bring something to one of them, they will bring it up in their forum for discussion. your name can be left out of it, at least in the initial stages; if we need to know who you are, the member advocate who is handling things for you will let you know before telling us who you are.

the first group of nine will serve from now until october 15. on september 15, another group of four will join them. on october 15, four more will be added and the original 9 will be finished with their terms. after that, on the 15th of every month, four will be added and four will leave -- we'll always have four new and four experienced people on the job.

the people who are starting as ombudsmen today are:

Alone
aquana
Boogie Man
Kaz
kcat
Space_Man
swanfaerie
Total Control
__TX__

you can pm an individual or send an email to ombudsman@busmail.org

the email will be posted for other ombudsmen to see, but you can request that any identifying information be left out.

their ranks will be changed to member advocate (to make it easier for people who are new here to figure out) and they'll have black buses like the admins do.

if you've got questions, let them or me know.

deb

Post by **sine nomine** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:16 am

from www.newsombudsmen.org/what.htm

An ombudsman is someone who handles complaints and attempts to find mutually satisfactory solutions. Ombudsmen can be found in government, corporations, hospitals, universities and other institutions. The first ombudsman was appointed in 1809 in Sweden to handle citizens' complaints about the government. The word is pronounced "om-BUDS-man" and is Scandinavian in origin.

wikipedia has a lot of stuff about it:

An ombudsman is an official, usually but not always appointed by the government, who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens. The term arose from its use in Sweden, with the Parliamentary ombudsman instituted in 1809 to safeguard the rights of citizens by establishing a supervisory agency independent of the executive branch. The word ombudsman and its specific meaning has since been adopted in to English as well as other languages, and ombudsmen has been instituted by other governments and organizations such as the European Union.

The origin of the word is found in Old Norse and the word umbuds man, meaning representative. The first preserved use in Swedish is from 1552. It is also used in the other Scandinavian languages such as the Icelandic "umboðsmaður", the Norwegian "ombudsmann" and the Danish "ombudsmand".

An ombudsman doesn't have to be appointed by government; they may work for a corporation, a newspaper, an NGO, or even for the general public. Such an ombudsman obviously does not carry any governmental powers or sanction.

check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman

good question, btw.

deb

Dina · Post by **Dina** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 11:36 am

So, wasn't there gonna be an address to reach all of them by e-mail?

(I had no idea the word "ombud" wasn't translated or that we Swedes once again [smorgasbord] came up with something good to spread around the world. Ombudsman and smorgasbord huh? Kinda makes up to the dynamite...

)

Post by **sine nomine** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:12 pm

i'll get the email address set up -- thank y ou for reminding me. if i haven't posted it by the end of the day, nudge me again.

as for re-election, that's an interesting question. i'd like to know what people think... maybe a sit-out period of six months? would it be better to have people nominate and staff choose, or to have people elected by the board membership. the only problem i can see with elections is we'll have to find a way to keep the results secret until all votes have been cast. but i think it'd be healthy to have members choose their own advocates.

these guys are representatives of the board, so the board should have some say in how this works.

deb

balletomane · Post by **balletomane** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 5:25 pm

I think it would be best if the board could elect the advocates. If that isn't feasible, having the board nominate people is also a good idea. But instead of the staff choosing, I think the current advocates should choose.

Post by **Milvus** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:59 pm

Hypothetically, if, one month, only one or two people are nominated/apply, will they get the job just to fill the gap, even if they weren't a strong candidate for whatever reason? Or would the ombudsmen/mods/admins in that situation make their own choices?

It might complicate things....but maybe a certain number could be nominated by the board, and a certain number by mods/admins/current ombudsmen?

mallie · Post by **mallie** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:03 pm

If other people suggest someone (rather than someone saying they'd like to), I think its really important to PM the person and say that they were suggested as a member advocate and are they interested. No one should have to take on the role if they're not interested, no matter how many other people think they'd be great at it.

Post by **sine nomine** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 11:40 pm

contacting a member advocate
you can pm an individual or send an email to ombudsman@busmail.org

the email will be posted for other ombudsmen to see, but you can request that any identifying information be left out.

deb

The_Green_One · Post by **The_Green_One** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:21 am

I dont think the mods admin should be voting the Ombudsman in, Otherwise they cant really be seen as independant. I think we need some system of memeberes voting them in otherwise it just looks like mods are just picking them. SO people could have a hard job thinking of them as totally independant. (sorry if i'm repeating myself) As ive also said similar things abot mods

hope that makes sense

balletomane · Post by **balletomane** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:14 pm

Rad, How do you feel about member nominates candidates who are then chosen by the current ombuds? Or is that still not separate enough from the staff? I am just trying to think of ways to make the process easier from a logistical standpoint.

Boogie Man · Post by **Boogie Man** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:33 pm

i think thats a good idea b.

The_Green_One · Post by **The_Green_One** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:50 pm

balletomane wrote:Rad, How do you feel about member nominates candidates who are then chosen by the current ombuds? Or is that still not separate enough from the staff? I am just trying to think of ways to make the process easier from a logistical standpoint.

That sounds like a really good idea. Just gives that one degree of seperation but makes it practical

angelafree · Post by **angelafree** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:03 pm

i love that idea too!
sounds like a perfect way to get new ombuds!

i think the same person should only be an ombudsman maybe 2 times per year.

mallie · Post by **mallie** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:17 am

Four new advocates joining the team today:

Poppies
Say
Just me
Jaded_Melody

Boogie Man · Post by **Boogie Man** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:15 pm

and fine advocates they'll make too.

Proximity · Post by **Proximity** » Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:17 pm

hey everyone. If you're ever looking for an up-to-date list of current ombudsmen, the best place to find it is in the <a href="viewtopic.php?t=25756" target="new window">board's leadership structure</a> post. Because .. I'm going to update that one .. and I don't want to have to keep too many posts up-to-date every month.

thanks

prox.

[nada]

Forget Me · Post by **Forget Me** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:11 am

out of interest, how often do the ombudsmen deal with issues, how often is the system used?

Boogie Man · Post by **Boogie Man** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:51 am

i think it really depends what the drama level is like on BUS, sometimes there's lots of issues floating around sometimes there isn't.
i think i did more work as an ombudsmen, than what i do now as a mod, but then again RW is a pretty easy forum to moderate.

peace

Aly · Post by **Aly** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:50 pm

Do you think, as this is a sticky in administrivia, it should be and get updated?

Post by **Jomomma** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:33 pm

I don't have a lot of time to concentrate on this right this minute but after work I will work on updating it if no one else has done so already

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ombudsmen / member advocates

ombudsmen / member advocates

what an ombudsman is

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