On Thu Aug 20, 2026 at 12:03 PM -05, André Batista wrote: > >> What the process needs is a parliamentarian who can say, "author, you >> are right, the top half of your document is off-topic, let's edit that >> out" so that the discussion is not exhausted majoring in minors. > > Care to explain? The way I read this, it would be a moderator with > authority over the rest of the community and a corruption of our > consensus process. Brazil had a similar figure during its "imperial" > phase and I can safely say this was only a way of giving the > autocratic regime some democratic makeup. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderating_power_(Empire_of_Brazil)
They are asking for a more active role of facilitators. Stuff like ensuring the discussion doesn't veer into off-topic territory, making summaries of the different points everyone made, etc. Summaries are a way to check that people are on not talking past each other. Restating what other people said lets people feel heard or realize they weren't understood. The importance of having a team of facilitators is mentioned multiple times in the seeds for change document[0] the GCD process is based on. Quoting two sections below: > Facilitation team > > Setting up a facilitation team to plan and run the decision-making process > is vital for a successful outcome. Unless you have a facilitator with > supernatural powers, you will probably need several people in a team: > someone to look after the discussion, someone to take hands, someone to > write up notes on a flipchart, a timekeeper, a doorkeeper and someone > to prepare refreshments. > Active participation > > Large meetings can easily be dominated by a few, more confident people, > with less assertive or less experienced people finding it difficult to > participate. Good facilitation and techniques such as splitting into small > groups (see below) can help everyone to take a full part in the meeting. They don't have any say on the vote, which is how consensus is reach, so I don't see how the analogy with the Moderating power is appropiate. [0]: https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/consensus#largecdm Cheers, Javier
