People together
Councils and shared ownership
Read council seats, propose motions and vote on decisions about a node.
A council lets several people own a node and make decisions by vote. The Council view shows who holds the seats and what the node is deciding. A node kept by the community instead shows Free node · kept by the community.
Open Node options… and choose Council. That tab appears on your home node and nodes you own or hold a council seat on. The view belongs to the selected node, so check that you have opened the intended one before proposing a change.
Read the seats
Seats shows the number filled and the total available. Filled seats have the owner's picture; an empty seat has a dashed outline. A single owner is shown with the time they became owner. Multiple owners are listed by name.
Councils can have 3, 5 or 7 seats. A node owned by one person starts with that single owner. Adding a group administrator does not create a council seat: administrators and owners have different roles.
Read a motion
A motion is a proposal for a change. Each card identifies the change, who opened it, when it closes, and the voting requirement. Open motions appear before closed ones.
While voting is open, the card says The tally is hidden until the vote closes. You can see whether you have voted, but not a running result. After the motion closes, the result can show the yes and no totals.
Where you are eligible to vote, choose Yes or No. The card then says You have voted. A card that says You cannot vote on this one. is not a failed connection: you are not currently able to cast that ballot.
A motion's voters are fixed when it opens. Gaining a seat afterwards does not add you to an existing ballot. Owners who have held a seat for less than 30 days cannot vote on removing an owner or retiring the node. A person named for removal does not vote on their own removal.
Propose a motion
A seated owner can use Propose a motion. The form offers:
| Motion | What the form asks for |
|---|---|
| Change the rules | A proposal using the standard room rules. |
| Fill a seat | The person's Member id. |
| Expand the council | A council size of 3, 5 or 7 seats. |
| Remove an owner | The owner's Member id. |
| Retire this node | A retirement proposal. |
| Graduate early | A proposal to make the node community-owned. |
Read the ballot explanation beneath the form, then choose Propose motion. The member-id field is not a username search. If you need help identifying the intended member, ask support before submitting a seat change.
Motions remain open for 72 hours. Ordinary council changes need a majority of their eligible voters; removal, retirement and early graduation need two-thirds. Use the requirement on the card for the particular motion. A seat that is empty or a proposal that is refused does not mean ownership changed.
If the council does not load
Couldn’t load the council just now. means the view could not retrieve it. Reopen the node and try again. If a proposal or vote is refused, read the error beneath the controls and check that you are acting on the correct node with the required ownership.
For participation without shared ownership, see Communities around a node.