Guide to the Tribunal

1. Guide to the Tribunal

Posting your appeal

a. Scope of the tribunal:

• The Tribunal is intended for threads challenging infractions issued by a moderator. Any complaints or grievances against moderation in general should be taken up with an Administrator or posted in the Questions & Suggestions forum or the Commentary forum.
• You may appeal any infraction you receive except infractions for Contempt of Court. In the Tribunal forum, you are only allowed to post in threads that you create. You cannot post in appeals started by other members, and no one else except tribunes, magistrates, and moderators may post in your appeal thread.

b. Procedure:

• The appellant posts the appeal and states his case. When posting your appeal, please include the type of infraction and the number of points in the title of your appeal, and the name of the moderator that issued your note or infraction in the body of your post. This will help to ensure that the moderators post the relevant infraction. Posting generic titles and no details can lead to some confusion if you happen to have more than one active infraction.
• A moderator will first post the details of the infraction, including the original post, and number of points incurred. The moderator who issued the infraction may also post further explanation of the infraction and answer questions as needed.
• When the tribunes are satisfied with the amount of evidence presented, they will begin discussion of the case in the judge's forum.
• When a verdict is reached it will be posted in your appeal thread.
• The Tribunal's decision is final.
• An appellant can be given a Contempt of Court infraction at the discretion of the tribunes, if during the process he abuses any of the members involved. This will automatically lead to a dismissal of the case and the member will lose posting rights in the Tribunal for a period of time decided by the Tribunes.

c. Glossary:

• [Granted]: The appeal has been granted and the infraction reversed.
• [Denied]: The appeal has been denied and the infraction stands.
• [Resolved]: The appeal has been resolved between moderation and the member before proceedings have come to a conclusion.
• [Partially Granted]: The appeal has not been granted in its entirety but has been partially granted, usually in the form of a reduction of infraction points issued.
• [Reclassified]: The infraction given is found to not be appropriate for the offense recognized, and the infraction is therefore reclassified to better reflect the nature of the transgression.
• [Non-Case]: The thread is not a valid appeal and will not be voted upon by the Tribunal.

2. Archives

An Archive has been introduced to the Tribunal forums. All cases where the decision was posted over a week ago will be moved into this public archive; however, posting in there is banned. If a member wishes to discuss a case they opened which has been placed in the Archive, please PM a Tribune to get it reviewed for movement back into the main area.

3. From the Constitution

The TWC Constitution:

Article II. Tribunal

To defend the rights of Members, and to ensure fair and just punishment towards those who violate the laws of TWC, a Tribunal shall be established.

The purpose of the Tribunal is to provide those members of TWC who have been punished in the past by the Moderation Branch a place to request the reversal of their punishment. This is in no way a guarantee that the punishment will be removed, but every case presented will be reviewed by a panel of three judges.

Members may create a thread in the Tribunal Forum, The Judges will study the case details, and may request any additional information on the member from the Senior Moderators. The Judges will then post the majority decision. The Judges are not tasked to decide the appropriateness or validity of a Forum Rule of Term of Service, and may only rule on whether the Term was correctly enforced and the punishment suitable for the offence.

Article III. Judges

To serve on the Tribunal, a panel of Tribunes is appointed by the Hexagon Council. Tribunes can only be drawn from the ranks of those with at least a Silver Moderator's Mace or from those who have served as Magistrate for at least one term.

In addition, two Magistrates shall be elected, for 3 month terms, by the procedure in Section II, Article II. Applicants cannot have received a Moderation Warning, or a Curial Warning, in at least one year.

Magistrates rotate as acting Tribunes, each voting on one of every two cases. Should a Tribune recuse himself or there is a tie between Tribunes, the other Magistrate respectively votes in their stead or is called to break the tie. Magistrates are terminated by a unanimous vote of the Tribunes.