Meritocracies

I didn't realize we were arguing. I thought we were having a discussion.



You'll find none of that happening in Port Neualtenburg ::hrug:::



I agree. So do my associates --now



I don't find it ironic at all, and I quite agree. FWIW --I don't find anyone in Neufreistadt to be my "enemies" old or otherwise. The enmity is totally one-sided --and not from my side at all.

I don't believe credibility for my Projekts rests on having to include any of them, however.

There are greater minds that exist in SL beyond the confines of either Neualtenburg or Neufreistadt. I hope to involve them.

To me it's a place for people to sell things, regardless of how much they pay in rent. That's a mall/store in my book. But you can call it anything you wish.

I don't use malls because I prefer to own the land under my store, that way I can list the land in "Find" as a specific store instead of a mall listing which includes many different objects for sale.

Do you ever stop?

Do you?

Yes. I stopped when I opened The Port.

Stopped what?

Engaging in a childish circle-jerk.

I’ve never liked the idea of meritocracy, period. I suppose I’ve seen very few if any examples where it doesn’t really mean(or eventually mean) “good ol’ boy’s club”. Merit is also something tough to measure… I guess I could illustrate it best with a job that I almost accepted where promotions and advancement were based on “merit” – Here merit meant “If you fit in with our clique and go out drinking with the management on the weekends, you’ll go somewhere”.

What Gabe says rings true - there will always be the flawed human element, people will engage in ego conflicts and territorial pissing, it will often be(or shortly become) nothing more than a popularity contest in sheep’s clothing. If by some small chance any such self-selected group actually has a genuine and balanced group with diverse and opposite viewpoints which are truly representative of the people they claim to represent, they usually spend so much time bickering over the little details that nothing is accomplished. In other words, I’d much rather have one selected by the people as opposed to self-selected, but until our Unbiased Robot Overlords step in I’d much rather have neither.

P.S. Dear electoral college, I still hate you.

P.P.S OMFG Kendra said “Circle Jerk”, Schwiiiing!

Exactly. The problems with a simple "meritocracy" is there are rarely agreed upon standards of "merit".

What I've been calling "ergocracy" is actually incorrect for the term. I've been meaning
Ergatocracy.

In short is a type of government dominated by the artisans.

Well, I'm certainly glad you finally stopped engaging in a childish "circle-jerk". What ever that is.

I'm referring to your nonsensical grudge match with Port Neualtenburg.

I have no such issues with Neufreistadt and anxiously await your self-professed Christianity to kick in so you can move on already.

I'm far too busy planning the next Cluck Off tourney.

*My* grudge match with Port Neualtenburg? Why would I care about that?

From the beginning of this I have supported the renaming of our Sim so you can have it back.

I think any grudge match you were struggling with was from within your own mind. Don't make it more than it was, unless you want to, of course.

yes --that would be why you go out of your way to snipe at "The Port" any chance you get. puh-leeeeze.

Snipe? Because I said I prefer to own my store land rather than renting from a mall/whatever you call it, I am now sniping? Or could it be you are sensitive?

zei gezunt

I start a thread and then get too busy to participate.

As some know, I created a group in N'burg Phase II to act as a judicial body to be a self-selected meritocracy, a group of talented individuals that would pick other talented individuals to protect founding documents above personal motivations. As many have heard, it was and continues to be (now in Neufreistadt) an abject failure, suffering from selective interpretation of law, being used as a tool for retaliation against dissenters, and failing to hold officials accountable for ethical and legal transgressions. There are two sets of rules, one for those in power and another for those who dissent.

Now, the reason I started this thread, is that I met my first real-life self-selected meritocracy a couple of weeks ago. The group has a reputation of being rude and arrogant, something which after just an hour of interaction with a few members I can verify. I was told that the group is occasionally dissolved and more mild-mannered folks are appointed. Nevertheless, in time the group invariable reaches a tipping point and, due to cronyism, degenerates again. As a solution, they're trying a hybrid method where part of the group is self selected and another smaller part is elected by a larger body. Unfortunately, the elected group tends to seek positions based on prestige (for one's curriculum vitae) as opposed to getting work done. So the group now consists of a group of power-hungry jerks and a group of semiproductive prestige seekers.

Perhaps the key is to create an electorate of individuals who have achieved a certain level of skill (submeritocracy) and have them select from a large pool of willing, qualified candidates a smaller pool from which a random sample is taken to be placed on a council. It could help mitigate cronyism and prestige seeking simultaneously.

~Ulrika~

well if you're seeking to mitigate cronyism and prestige seeking, you would need to have a pool of candidates who would take the roles of responsability even if they didn't want to. This would have to be a charter to all the citizens of the country, sort of like the draft, only for public office. If it were a smallish community of 50 or less where everyone knew each other, an open ballot system, where you could vote in anyone in the community. One with most votes 'wins' and takes the reins for a set amount of time.

In a larger community, you may need to narrow the focus somewhat. There is no objective way to say who can run and who can't though, based soley on artistic merit, unless you base it on what someone's gross income is being an artist. (no way to really accurately check that, that I know of. So, perhaps the existing council can narrow it to 50 candidates, though that selection process is certainly prone to croneyism. However with a sufficiently large pool, it shouldn't matter for an open election such as the type mentioned in the previous paragraph.

No one would 'put' themselves up for office as such, as it would be a popular or limited popular vote. In a community such as Port Neualtenburg (henceforth referred to as P-NAB), where the artistic abilities of each resident should be know, an open ballot should work.

Question: since you are divinding the residents into Maester, JM, and Apprentice, would all be given voting rights? just land/shop owners?

In the case of a Citywide vote, The Meisters will campaign on their personal platforms and positions, and their votes will be weighted according to the size of their support amongst journeymen and apprentices as well as the relative success of their business ventures.

Votes will be periodically called for by the Gildemeister, and it is certainly possible for the Gildemeister to respond to a petition for a vote.

At the moment there is 1 Gildemeister, 5 Meisters, 4 Journeymen and zero apprentices --the remaining 15 members being simply interested partys at this point.

The planned citizenry is for 25 community members, afterwhich we will begin planning for the next community -- Phase IV / Colonial Neualtenburg...which will be modeled after the hundreds of German settlements along the Volga in the late 1700s (I'll be playing the part of Catherine The Great)

The Groups as follows are:

Die Gilde (For Meisters)

Facharbeiter Gruppe (For Journeymen)

Die Lehrlingsstammrolle (For Apprentices) which I will make open enrollment on the First of July.


oh --and we prefer to call it P3 or simply The Port. PNAB sounds like something Cheney would have.