MeatballDuplicate- The worst crisis is the first crisis, because it's not just "We need to have some rules." It's also "We need to have some rules for making some rules." --ClayShirky, http://shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html
Initially, most communities get away with very little in the way of formal rules, instead solving problems socially. a LegalSolution is required, and the community requires some form of internal law to progress.
The problem is that, with no formal rules, there is no formal way for rules to be created, so new rules face a legitimacy problem. Where does authority to create rules come from? Why should people follow the newly created rules? Who enforces the rules? What are the benefits, what are the penalties?
Solutions
When a group is small, this is often the best approach, being simple and flexible. However, there may come a time when In smaller communities, it is often taken as read that all power derives from the
BenevolentDictator, and thus he can create some new rules, or write down what he always had in mind, but never made explicit. If acting as a
FirstServant, he may first try to seek a consensus of some kind. However, many communities have no clear leader, or some form of
AbsentLeader, or a leader who is simply not up to the task.
Fortunately there are other ways to give rules legitimacy, some of which are better than others:
- Democracy. Set up an informal vote of some form. The immediate problem is bootstrapping this: votes have rules, different voting systems have pluses and minuses, and there are issues of StuffingTheBallotBox and suffrage to be resolved. In any case VotingIsEvil. Nevertheless, some form of vote can help add to the aura of legitimacy in a difficult case.
- Precedent. As in countries with an unwritten constitution, or in international law, some legitimacy can be steadily built up from past actions and decisions. Often these things are never formalised, but are a form of CommunityLore, interpreted by longstanding community members who act as historians/judges.
- MilitaryCoup. Power grows out of the barrel of a gun. If there are technical means for members of the community to moderate each other, such as EditThisPage, or UseNet cancelbots, then a subset of the community, or an external force, can seize power when necessary, and use this power to confer legitimacy (and enforcement) on their edicts.
- Consensus. Any rule which enjoys consensus support typically attains de facto legitimacy, and retains that legitimacy even when the consensus is broken.
- Leadership. An effective community leader, can act as a speaker and leader of the community, and their pronouncements acquire a measure of legitimacy simply from who said them.
If the community continues to grow and to require law-like structures, it will eventually acquire an extended rule-system (constitution), written down to create a clear situation for contributors and TheAudience. Even where a community has an unwritten constitution, there will emerge documents written by members of the community that act as guides to that unwritten constitution. Once such an extended rule system is created, the possibility of future constitutional crises is greatly reduced.
Difficulties
An OnlineCommunity typically cannot rely on much in the way of common political values. Community members come from many different countries, and the political differences between Europe and America, say, are difficult to bridge. Most communities will have at least a few strong libertarians in their midst, while others favour strong leadership. Further difficulties are caused by AntiAuthoritarian voices in the community. Finally, recall that there must have been some severe problem that caused the demand for a LegalSolution in the first place. In many cases it may be better to solve the immediate problem using existing methods, and then deal with the ConstitutionalCrisis as a seperate issue.