Board Thread:Suggestions/@comment-5084796-20150216183232

Due to the influx of new admins (Congrats, Rio, Gogs, and Loney!), I was thinking about the way adminship works in our community. Currently, there are no "term" lengths for admins - essentially, they serve for life, active or not, unless they resign (a rare, but precedential) occurrence, or are removed (something which rarely, if ever, happens). While this isn't necessarily a bad thing - we've had many admins who have provided continuous years of great adminship - it does have the side effect of inducing a achievement-based environment, rather than a merit-based one. A user can simply do enough to get admin, and then sort of relax, reduce their community involvement, and not fulfill their responsibilities of the office which they have campaigned for and been elected to.

'Please note this assertion is not directed at anyone or any event. It is simply an observation of the way our system works.'

With that being said, I propose a term limit on adminship. Term limits are a tried and true technique to promote community involvement and the furthering of community interests by leaders at every level of society. The term should be long enough to give someone time to show their worth as an admin and better the community, but not so long that people can become stale and drift into inactive or non-productive admins.

Adminship should be a privilege, not a permanent right. Users should have the right to make sure that their admins stay relevant.

I understand that this will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I think the benefits of such a system are practical but flexible. For admins who wish to retain their adminship, all they should have to do is just be a good admin.

I've provided some options for such a system below. Feel free to leave any comments below.

What do you think about a term-based adminship?
A) Adminship should stay the way it is. (1)

B) Term limits should be introduced, but current admins should be grandfathered in for an election cycle (AKA they get a free term) (1)

C) Term limits should be introduced, with everyone with the current rank of admin needing to under go a primary election in a timely manner. (1)

D) Other (Describe below)

If Admins were to have term limits, what should they be?
A) 6 months (2)

B) 1 year (1)

C) 18 months (1)

D) 2 years

E) 3 years  