Okay, so here are my thoughts on the roles, as well as on candidates (will update as the topic goes on, or others can start their own):
ProgrammersClearly need to be both trustworthy and technically skilled. Gerbil will be able to answer better than anyone how many bodies are needed here, and how much is/can be exposed to others (eg creation of new charts).
Candidates:GerbilSoft: obviously. Quite apart from being teh awesomes, he owns and operates the TSC server (by the way, the offer of monies towards that stands).
Douglas: zomg presumption! I can code (rusty in PHP/SQL, but will pick it up again quickly), and am trustworthy when sober.
Minus: needs something to do this summer (<_<), keen to learn.
RefereesMy take here would be to give all members of the Rules Committee the power of banhammer (as well as editorship over LD and of course the rules page). This is a pretty big jump in trust, and would rely on members both taking this seriously and having excellent knowledge of the games they're presiding over (so eg if I was on, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to ban a player for offences in SA:DX). It's also important that such actions are recorded so they're transparent and it becomes obvious if anyone's taking the piss. With all that in mind, I'd propose quite a large committee, drawing on the Spaceship Users, and with a chair who has the job of
herding cats keeping things organised (the chair may be the same person as the Grand Overseer, see below).
Candidates:DarkspinesSonic: probably unrivalled knowledge of many, many games (particularly in the sordid land of 3D).
Zeupar: again, excellent knowledge across a number of games, plus is the most fair and
anal thorough researcher you could ask for.
Thorn: see his post.
Douglas: on previous RC, know my way around the GeneDrive and GBA titles, OCD on consistent basis for rules rather than case-by-case considerations.
SpinballWizard:
http://www.soniccenter.org/forum/index.php?topic=4302.0 - 'nuff said.
Stefan: similar reasons to Zeupar.
Community LeadersI see this as essentially a combination of forum admin and newbie helper - kind of the role that Spaceship Users should be fulfilling, only with power over forum privileges. I'm ambivalent over this; on one hand I think SUs can be trusted to pitch in more on this (eg being able to delete posts), but on the other I think it's worth this being distinct from SUs because some of us can be something of an acquired taste (read: Doug is an asshole <_<), and it probably helps to have people who've a mindset to help new users. Should also get edit privileges over stuff like the FAQ, Visitor Orientation, etc. We should have as many of these as Referees members if at all possible.
Candidates:Thorn: again, see his post (note in particular a track record at this kind of thing).
flyby: pretty much a shoe-in. Most nicest person ever.
Grand OverseerIn my view, in order to have a coordinated approach this person should automatically be both on the Rules Committee and a Community Leader, as in terms of the member experience they're two sides of the same coin (stick and carrot). This person needs to have the support and respect of the TSC community, but also be accountable to it. I therefore have a proposal - TSC General Election. I don't think the other positions require this (though could be persuaded otherwise), nor do I think being elected should give you absolute control over the site (the Rules Committee and the Community Leaders are your checks and balances, as it were). I also think the election process (as a series of debates about the direction in which we should take TSC) could be a worthwhile exercise.
Thoughts?
