We have a completely new process for submitting and approving Concepts, as was recently concluded in this PR thread. In the future, all Concepts submissions will be handled in this new subforum. However, it has still not been decided exactly how we will handle slating and/or discussing Concepts at the beginning of each CAP project. That's what we need to determine here in this PR thread.
Here are a few things we know already, that are not up for debate:
The main open question that we need to decide:
Should we have an open discussion of any Concepts at the start of each CAP project?
Yes, there will be plenty of discussion of concepts in the Concept Workshop prior to the start of a CAP project. And yes, those discussions in the Workshop will continue after a Concept has been chosen for a CAP creation project, since the Concept Workshop is an ongoing, perpetual process. And yes, the TL will determine the slate of concepts for an individual project. But should there be a project-specific discussion thread opened in the main CAP forum prior to the Concept Poll?
Pros: We generally discourage lobbying in poll threads, so I could imagine the community may want to have some opportunity to discuss the slated concepts prior to the vote. We could just tell people, "That's what the Concept Workshop is for. If you didn't participate there beforehand, then make sure to do so next time." But that might be perceived as us preventing democracy, shoving a slate down the community's throat, and in general inciting the whole "row row fight tha powa" crowd that loves righteous indignation causes like this in CAP. A discussion thread probably curbs that quite a bit.
Cons: We subvert the purpose of the Concept Workshop. Any new discussion invariably invites people to rehash all the points already covered in the workshop, question whether the approvals were valid or not, backdoor new Concept submissions ideas, etc. I'm sure a TON of people will simply post new submissions just like always, mainly because they don't know about the new process, or are intentionally ignoring it. It could possibly be a total mess.
Here is a list of various options for handling a discussion thread:
Maybe I'm missing some options or issues, so feel free to point them out. But hopefully this frames the policy discussion sufficiently for us to move to a swift conclusion.
Here are a few things we know already, that are not up for debate:
We will not accept new submissions for CAP Concepts at the start of a CAP project.
The purpose of the new Concept Workshop is to allow us more time and structure to vet Concepts appropriately before they are used as the basis of a CAP project. So we will not be vetting new Concepts, in the Concept Workshop or elsewhere, when a new CAP creation project is launched. We may even lock the Concept Workshop for any posts while the Concept is being selected at the start of a new CAP.
The Topic Leader will select the slate of Concepts for the Concept Poll.
This is no different than in the past. The only difference is that the TL will select from the list of Approved Concepts in the Concept Workshop, instead of selecting from all the Concept Submissions in the Concept Submissions thread like in the past (Remember: there will not be a Concept Submission thread for each CAP creation project!)
The community will vote to determine the winning Concept for each CAP creation project.
No different than the past. This is probably obvious to everyone, but just in case all this talk of "overhauling the Concept process" made anyone think we will not still have a democratic poll -- rest assured, the community WILL ultimately choose the Concept for each project.
The purpose of the new Concept Workshop is to allow us more time and structure to vet Concepts appropriately before they are used as the basis of a CAP project. So we will not be vetting new Concepts, in the Concept Workshop or elsewhere, when a new CAP creation project is launched. We may even lock the Concept Workshop for any posts while the Concept is being selected at the start of a new CAP.
The Topic Leader will select the slate of Concepts for the Concept Poll.
This is no different than in the past. The only difference is that the TL will select from the list of Approved Concepts in the Concept Workshop, instead of selecting from all the Concept Submissions in the Concept Submissions thread like in the past (Remember: there will not be a Concept Submission thread for each CAP creation project!)
The community will vote to determine the winning Concept for each CAP creation project.
No different than the past. This is probably obvious to everyone, but just in case all this talk of "overhauling the Concept process" made anyone think we will not still have a democratic poll -- rest assured, the community WILL ultimately choose the Concept for each project.
The main open question that we need to decide:
Should we have an open discussion of any Concepts at the start of each CAP project?
Yes, there will be plenty of discussion of concepts in the Concept Workshop prior to the start of a CAP project. And yes, those discussions in the Workshop will continue after a Concept has been chosen for a CAP creation project, since the Concept Workshop is an ongoing, perpetual process. And yes, the TL will determine the slate of concepts for an individual project. But should there be a project-specific discussion thread opened in the main CAP forum prior to the Concept Poll?
Pros: We generally discourage lobbying in poll threads, so I could imagine the community may want to have some opportunity to discuss the slated concepts prior to the vote. We could just tell people, "That's what the Concept Workshop is for. If you didn't participate there beforehand, then make sure to do so next time." But that might be perceived as us preventing democracy, shoving a slate down the community's throat, and in general inciting the whole "row row fight tha powa" crowd that loves righteous indignation causes like this in CAP. A discussion thread probably curbs that quite a bit.
Cons: We subvert the purpose of the Concept Workshop. Any new discussion invariably invites people to rehash all the points already covered in the workshop, question whether the approvals were valid or not, backdoor new Concept submissions ideas, etc. I'm sure a TON of people will simply post new submissions just like always, mainly because they don't know about the new process, or are intentionally ignoring it. It could possibly be a total mess.
Here is a list of various options for handling a discussion thread:
The TL lists the slate in the OP of the thread, and asks the community to comment on the slate and lobby for or against their favorites.
The TL lists the options under consideration, and asks the community for comments to help them decide their final slate.
The discussion could be completely open and the TL asks the community to survey the Approved Concepts in the Concept Workshop and comment on their faves. Then the TL chooses a slate based on that feedback.
We don't have any discussion thread at all. The CAP project launches with the Concept Poll.
If we go with this option -- The OP of the poll may or may not link to the discussion threads in the Concept Workshop, depending on how much we want to invite people to look at the details of past discussions. No matter what we decide on linking the workshop threads from the poll OP or not, we will NOT be deleting or hiding any threads or posts in the workshop (this was suggested in the last PR thread, iirc). That would be horrible optics and does not promote community effort.
The TL lists the options under consideration, and asks the community for comments to help them decide their final slate.
The discussion could be completely open and the TL asks the community to survey the Approved Concepts in the Concept Workshop and comment on their faves. Then the TL chooses a slate based on that feedback.
We don't have any discussion thread at all. The CAP project launches with the Concept Poll.
If we go with this option -- The OP of the poll may or may not link to the discussion threads in the Concept Workshop, depending on how much we want to invite people to look at the details of past discussions. No matter what we decide on linking the workshop threads from the poll OP or not, we will NOT be deleting or hiding any threads or posts in the workshop (this was suggested in the last PR thread, iirc). That would be horrible optics and does not promote community effort.
Maybe I'm missing some options or issues, so feel free to point them out. But hopefully this frames the policy discussion sufficiently for us to move to a swift conclusion.