Resolution 26-42-3
Amendment to Resolution 26-42: Restructuring and Promoting the Atlanta DSA Discussion Discord Server
Subject: Fun, Chill Social Discord and Removing Undemocratic Senate Language
Author: Blue T
Status: Passed at the October 24, 2026 General Meeting and incorporated into R26-42: Restructuring and Promoting the Atlanta DSA Discussion Discord Server.
Member statements thread here.
Reasoning:
- Base Resolution 26-42 aims to create an environment that centralizes the administrative, executive, and social functions of Atlanta DSA into a Discord server, an online chat platform. It looks to do this by turning the existing Atlanta DSA Discussion Discord server into a mandatory, permanent home of the chapter’s online organizing.
- Base Resolution 26-42’s language includes references to specific channel names, roles, moderation team. As the chapter’s needs shift, these roles could quickly become calcified and unhelpful, but would require an in-person chapter vote to address, limiting our ability to adapt to changing needs.
- Base Resolution 26-42 correctly identifies the need for a central, online location for conversation and deliberation between members of Atlanta DSA. Members should have a common platform for public deliberation on resolutions, asking questions, fostering political discussion, and otherwise better structuring our organizing.
- Amendment 26-42-3 would update the resolution’s restrictive language to be more flexible and to reflect the chapter’s goals of in-person political organizing to impact real change in the world around us.
- Amendment 26-42-3 would remove language which would create a Senate-like structure of moderators. In this case, one moderator from each branch provide unproportional representation on the resulting body, and skew voting power unequally.
Proposed Action:
Removed text will be highlighted in RED, while proposed new text will be highlighted in GREEN.
ATL DSA must overhaul the server structure.
Channels and categories listed below will be mandatory. The server shall be structured as listed. Channels shall be uncategorized unless otherwise indicated. The intent for each channel and category is described.
Campaigns - A category. Channels should be created for discussing any ongoing chapter-priority campaigns here.
Archived Campaigns - A category. Any channels for completed ATL DSA chapter-priority campaigns should be made read-only upon that campaign’s termination and brought into this category.
#Off-topic - Channel unchanged from the existing.
#Traffic - Renaming of previous #introductions. Now a read only channel.
#Announcements - For announcements of chapterwide import, such as chapter meeting announcements, campaign updates, calls to action, and select news deemed worthy by SC and the moderator team (as described below) to ping to the chapter. Messages sent here shall be pinged to @everyone. Read-only for non-SC members.
#rules - A brief static read-only rules page containing enforceable guidelines for server conduct. To be completely overhauled if rules change.
#info-&-links - A read-only channel listing explicatory texts and links of chapter-wide import. The information should be listed and sorted as follows:
Who are we? - A brief text explaining the purpose and nature of ATL DSA.
Chapter links - Links to the Instagram, Membership Portal, DSA National, and chapterwide office campaign websites.
Your Steering Committee - A list of each member of Steering Committee, listed by typed name, Discord handle, and the role for their position.
Chapter Priorities - A list of all ongoing chapter priorities for ATL DSA.
Committee Servers - Links to the Discord servers and other websites for each and every ATL DSA committee.
Branch links - Links to the Discord servers and other websites for each and every branch of ATL DSA.
#introductions - A completely new channel for intros. Time restricted to 1 hour.
Questions - A category. For asking questions
#faq - To be referred to before speaking in #ask-sc or #meta, along with the previous material.
#ask-sc - A permanently time-restricted role (15 minutes) for directly asking questions to officers of ATL DSA Steering Committee.
meta - For discussions about the server itself. Mod questions go here.
Discussion - A category. For discussion of the broadest sort of information of relevance to the chapter.
#general - Channel unchanged from the existing.
#resolutions - Channel unchanged from the existing.
#theory - For sharing and discussing political theory.
#local-politics - A renaming of the existing #current-events channel dedicated to GA politics.
#news - For events of national and international importance.
Committees - A category. For interfacing the general body with committee work. One channel per committee, with the first comment in each being a brief description of the committee linking committee spaces much as in #info-&-links. Each channel accessible by selecting its corresponding committee role.ATL DSA must overhaul the structure of its roles to better reflect and foster communication between the diversity of its organizers.
by their work and branch affiliation. Each role shall be added to the #Channels & Roles channel through onboarding. The roles for the ATL DSA Discord server shall be as follows, and listed in the settings as listed here. Non-elected committee membership is allowed to be reflected in self-assignable roles through onboarding/Channels & Roles.
Steering
Co-Chair
Branch Coordinator
Membership Secretary
Recording Secretary
Treasurer
YDSA Coordinator
At-Large Officer
HGO
Cobb Branch
DeKalb Branch
Gwinnett Branch
Intown Branch
Other DSA territory
Communications
Electoral
Labor
Membership
Mutual Aid
Operations
Political Education
Socialists-in-Office
Office Search
One Member One Vote
Records Review
AfroSoC
FemSoc
Members of Steering Committee must each possess at least both the Steering server role as well as the server role corresponding to their position in Steering Committee.
Each role in the Discord server shall both
have its own color
be pingable.
Server roles for Branches shall remain listed higher than committee server roles so that the color for such be displayed at all times, with the exception of the roles for Steering Committee and the admin account. Committee roles, i.e. Steering to FemSoc as previously described, shall be set to display separately on the list of online members.ATL DSA must establish a moderator team for the Discord server.
This moderator team must be elected to contain at least one person from each Branch of ATL DSA and an equal number of members from each branch.
ATL DSA must permanently link the server on the front pages of the following sites so that the link is immediately & clearly understandable and accessible to visitors:
ATL DSA shall continue to permanently link the server on the front pages of any website in the manner previously described that has relevance to the entire chapter.
ATL DSA shall promote the server to all of its members. It must become a permanent goal of Steering Committee to leverage its resources to bring as much of the entire membership into the Atlanta DSA Discussion server as possible.Discord, as a platform, can be used to facilitate fun, chill, and social discussion among members for the purposes of casual communication — but should not be the basis for essential chapter business or core organizational functions. Atlanta DSA should continue to prioritize live, face-to-face deliberative discussion for conflict resolution and political debate, including through online forums and discussions as well as in-person meetings.
Administration and governance of all chapterwide communication platforms should continue to be overseen by the Operations Committee. Configurations and settings for communications platforms like channels, roles, etc, should not be fixed in place by resolution, so that they can shift as needs change without requiring full membership votes for even minor updates.