ARTICLE I: GENERALITIES
1. The CULT is an association of up to 13 amateur publishers, who, in rotation, publish issues of the Fantasy Rotator (FR).
2. The Members occupy ordered places; their scheduled publication dates (pubdates), fall in that order on every third Monday. When there are less than 13 Members, the remaining pubdates may be assigned to Guest Publishers.
3. The CULT has one elected officer, the Official Arbiter (OA). The OA is responsible for managing the publishing schedule; interpreting the CULT Constitution (CULTSTITUTION); and intervening when the normally automatic machinery of the CULT gets out of whack.
4. The basic unit of CULTish time is the Period, which runs from the Tuesday after one FR through the pubdate of the next FR. A set of 13 such Periods, beginning with that of the first place on the Membership roster through that of the 13th, makes up a Cycle, after which the Member in first place publishes again.
ARTICLE II: PUBLICATION
1. Each Member must publish a Fantasy Rotator on the Member's Pubdate, or, with reasonable cause, not later than two weeks thereafter. Failure to do so results in an automatic termination of Membership.
2. Publication consists of either sending a copy of the FR to all other Members, or, of notifying the other Members where they can download, or browse, the FR.
3. Fantasy Rotators must carry a FR number. These numbers run consecutively from the Beginning, Peter Vorzimer's FR 1. Each may carry a secondary title as well.
4. Other than the above requirements, each Publisher is individually responsible for the contents of his, or her, FR, without any prior review or approval.
ARTICLE III: MEMBERSHIP
1. Membership runs from the actual date on which the Member last Published until the Member's next scheduled Pubdate.
2. Persons wishing to join the CULT must apply to the OA, who assigns them a Pubdate, as a Guest Publisher, or, if there are already 13 Members, to a wait list. Only after Publishing as a Guest Publisher, may the applicant become a member.
3. When there are less than 13 members, an individual may hold more than one Membership position, in which case, each such position is considered to be a separate Member.
ARTICLE IV: ELECTIONS
1. Candidates for OA, who must be Members, nominate themselves by filing with the Election Officer, normally the Member in the 13th place on the roster, by the Saturday before his, or her, pubdate. The Election Officer then must publish the candidate list within three days of his pubdate, regardless of the date his FR is actually published. If there is no Member in the 13th roster slot, the OA will appoint a Member to act as Electon Officer, but the deadlines will not be changed thereby.
2. If there are less than two candidates, no voting will take place, and the sole candidate, if any, will become OA upon publication of the candidate list. Otherwise, the situation will be handled as if the office had become vacant in mid-term.
3. The Teller is the next FR editor, normally the Member in the first place on the roster, unless he is a candidate, in which case the Election Officer appoints another Member to be Teller. The Teller receives the votes and publishes the result, not more than one Period after the candidate list is published.
4. Each Member may cast one vote, and no other votes will be counted.
5. A plurality will elect. The incumbent OA loses all ties; he will resolve any other tie. The incumbent OA serves until the results are published, at which time the new OA's term begins.
6. If the office of OA becomes vacant in mid-term, the Member whose pubdate first follows the publication of the vacancy will become an Election Officer; and an election to fill the office for the remainder of the Cycle will proceed as in the above sections. If the vacancy is first published after the pubdate of the 8th FR of a Cycle, the new OA then elected will serve for the following Cycle as well. During the vacancy, the Teller will act as OA.
ARTICLE V: PETITIONS
1. All measures presented to the Members are called Petitions, except for the election of OAs. A Petition is acted on by being moved, seconded, discussed, and voted on. Typically, these actions will be done via email, although other methods of rapid communication between Members are not prohibited. Only Members, each of whom has one vote, may participate in these activities.
2. Petitions to amend the constitution require a 2/3 majority vote to pass. If such a Petition is rejected, it may not be resubmitted in the same form for one full Cycle.
3. Petitions to reverse a Ruling of the OA require a majority vote to pass.
4. Petitions to impeach the OA require 2/3 majority vote to pass. Removal from office does not affect one's Membership otherwise.
5. Petitions to expel one from the CULT or the Waiting List require a 2/3 majority vote to pass. Persons expelled may not be readmitted for one full Cycle.
ARTICLE VI: OFFICIAL ARBITERS
1. The OA's chief task is to restore the orderly progression of CULTzines
and other CULT activity whenever the constitution, the successive FR editors,
and past Rulings are unable to cope. To accomplish this the OA may:
a. make Rulings to fill constitutional lacunae or
solve special problems.
b. waive obligations temporarily and alter pubdates.
c. re-instate dropped persons, either unconditionally
or conditionally on performance of some reasonable, extra task.
d. put Petitions before the Members for vote without
additional sponsors.
e. require the dropping of a person from the CULT
for failure to perform a constitutional requirement.
2. The OA may not:
a. dissolve the CULT
.
b. override the constitution.
c. expel persons from the CULT
d. impose requirements or penalties beyond those
specified herein.
3. The OA is responsable for maintaining the Membership roster and publishing schedule, and must make them readily available to the Members.
4. Rulings of the OA are binding and effective on receipt of the notice of those affected or on publication to the membership. Publication must be as soon as possible.
5. Only a Member may be OA. The office is vacated if the OA is dropped from Membership. Although he can re-instate himself to both Membership and office immediately on receiving notice of drop (but not impeachment or expulsion), then such re-instatement (but no other kind) may be overRuled as in Article V 3, above.
ARTICLE VII: SPECIFICS
1. Although not specifically required, applicants who do not have Internet access and the ability to express themselves clearly in the English language are unlikely to enjoy participating in the Cult.
2. Pseudonymity or even non-existence is no bar to joining the CULT. However, the lack of a contact address or the failure to maintain the appearance of independent existence are grounds for being dropped.