1. NAME AND ORGANIZATION: The name of this organization shall be "Hot Boots", and it shall be organized and operated under the laws of the State of California. Hot Boots shall operate as a "social organization" as described by section 23701g of the California Revenue and Taxation Code, and as a "club organized for pleasure, recreation, and other nonprofitable purposes" as described by section 501(c)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code. The organization may for financial reasons choose not to apply for exemptions under such revenue codes, although it is to operate in accordance with the intent of such code sections. The organization shall operate as an unincorporated association under Title 3 of the California Corporations Code, Sections 18000-18420, although it may choose to incorporate at any time.

2. PURPOSE: The purpose of the organization shall be to operate an Internet community to provide entertainment, information, social connections, and support for bootmen.

2a. BOOTMAN DEFINED: For the purposes of this Constitution, a "bootman" is a man for whom one of his major interests is men's boots or men who wear boots. Although these individuals must be men and have their interests in masculine attributes of boots and men, there is no sexual orientation requirement to meet this definition.

3. TRUSTEES: The Organization shall be operated by a group which shall be called the "Trustees" and which shall hold legal title to all Organization assets. The Trustees shall exercise all powers customarily operated by a "board of directors". To avoid confusion with one of the organization's main activities, running a web board which is already called "the board", the Trustees shall not be referred to as "the board" or "the board of directors". The Trustees shall provide general oversight of the Organization's operation, leaving routine decisions to the Committees described below unless the Trustees opt in specific cases or areas to make such decisions.

3a. QUALIFICATIONS OF TRUSTEES: Trustees shall be "bootmen" as described in paragraph 2a and "active in management" as described in paragraph 8 of this Constitution. Their being active in management must have been continuous for the six months prior to their election, and if being reelected, they must have been active with Trustee work as well as work of one or more Committees of the Organization.

3b. TERM OF TRUSTEES: Trustees shall serve for one year, with each term starting on the first day of March of each year.

3c. ELECTION OF TRUSTEES: Trustees for each upcoming term shall be elected by the Trustees serving in the previous term, during the final month of such term. There is no specified number of Trustees; all those Committee workers who are qualified are eligible to be candidates for election.

3d. OFFICERS: The Trustees shall elect from among themselves three Officers - President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Each Officer shall have the duties attributed to his office by custom or law. Officers shall serve at the pleasure of the Trustees. The secretary may take minutes of proceedings, but these may be forgone if documented on the site or in archives of mail lists.

3e. ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PRESIDENT: The President shall plan, coordinate, and preside over activities of the Trustees and Committees to the extent that such is required. The President may designate particular individuals to perform particular tasks within Committees where he determines this is more efficient than having the entire Committee do that work. The President shall proclaim the results of all votes as soon as it is clear they have passed or failed.

3f. POWERS RESERVED TO TRUSTEES: The Trustees shall appoint and remove all Committee members, who shall serve at the Trustees' pleasure. The Trustees shall remove Committee members who cease to be qualified, cease to work, or are no longer needed. The Trustees shall have the sole authority on behalf of the Organization to approve the taking of legal action, the filing of forms or other material with government agencies or entities, the establishing of legal policies, or the signing of contracts. The Trustees may establish levels or areas of access to the site and shall have the sole authority to approve who shall have access, or lose access, into each level or area. Under no circumstances shall anyone be given access to any restricted part of the site without an approval vote of the Trustees.

3g. IDENTIFICATION OF TRUSTEES: Each Trustee must submit the following to the Secretary for the organization's records and keep it current:
a. legal first and last names
b. physical street address (not Post Office box)
c. telephone number
d. email address
Each Trustee will be identified on the site with a portrait photo and his name, which may consist of first and last names or first name and screen name.

4. MEMBERS: The Organization shall not have members. Although users of the Organization's facilities may be enrolled in Committees or listed in a directory of users, such users shall not be considered "members" in a legal sense.

5. TECHNICAL COMMITTEE: The Trustees shall appoint persons as needed to serve on a Technical Committee, which shall provide programming, system administration, and other webmastering skills requiring complete and total access to the site. The Technical Committee may assist users with technical problems and provide a general technical FAQ for the users' use. The Technical Committee shall be responsible for the site's daily technical performance.

5a. TECHNICAL CHIEF: The Trustees may designate one member of the Technical Committee to serve as its Chief, to coordinate the Committee's work among its members to assure the Committee's smooth operation. The Technical Chief shall take his direction from the President, or the Trustees if they choose to give him direction.

6. MODERATION COMMITTEE (MODERATORS) and CONTENT COMMITTEE: Although the final power of the Organization rests in the Trustees, its daily operation concerning content shall be performed by these two Committees. Moderators shall oversee material created and posted by users, and the Content Committee shall create and post other material.

6a. QUALIFICATIONS OF MODERATORS: Moderators shall be "bootmen" as defined in paragraph 2a and once appointed they shall remain "active in management" as described in paragraph 8 of this Constitution. Moderators shall also remain active in the web community (social networking aspects of the site) while they serve as Moderators.

6b. APPOINTMENT OF MODERATORS: Existing Moderators shall submit candidates to the Trustees for approval as they feel they need them. Candidates shall be invited based upon research by existing Moderators; applications for Moderator positions shall not be sought nor entertained. Candidates must have been continually active in the Organization's web community for the six months prior to their appointment. Of primary concern shall be a prospective Moderator's level of activity coupled with an ability to get along and work with others. Geographical and generational balance and acquisition of technical skills for the overall Moderators group may be considered but the activity of candidates shall be of primary concern.

6c. REMOVAL OF MODERATORS: The Trustees shall remove Moderators who cease to be qualified. At least annually the Trustees shall survey activity of individual Moderators to assure they are "active in management" as described in paragraph 8 of this Constitution and also active in the web community.

6d. POWERS AND DUTIES OF MODERATORS: Moderators shall be responsible for the day in and day out operation of the Organization's web community. Moderators shall make rules for user participation including the definition of appropriate material and appropriate behavior, may pre-screen selected material submitted by users, and shall remove inappropriate material. Moderators may develop documents spelling out internal procedures and policies to assist them in rendering consistent decisions. Moderators shall decide "gray area" questions concerning submitted material. Moderators may subject selected users to Moderator scrutiny or may ban such users altogether for misbehavior, for submission of inappropriate material, or for use of far more than their fair share of moderation resources ("high-maintenance people").

6e. CONTENT COMMITTEE: The Trustees shall appoint persons as needed to serve on a Content Committee, which shall collect information for the site and prepare web pages to publish it.

7. REQUIREMENT THAT TRUSTEES AND CERTAIN COMMITTEE MEMBERS BE BOOTMEN: To assure that the Organization is attuned to the entertainment, information, social, and support needs and culture of bootmen, the following shall all be bootmen: Trustees, Moderation Committee, and Content Committee.

8. REQUIREMENT THAT TRUSTEES AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS BE ACTIVE IN MANAGEMENT: It is the nature of a web community that people come and go, often being very active for a time but then losing interest. To assure that the Organization is run by people still involved, Trustees and Committee members must remain active in management. "Active in management" shall be defined as the day in and day out actual doing of work, that work being on one or more Committees of the organization: clearing held posts, removal of inappropriate material, publication and management of material on the Organization's web site, maintenance of software, performance of system administration work, issuance of passwords, repair of file corruptions, research of security breaches, management of the Organization's funds, communications with users and others on the Organization's behalf, participation in management discussion and voting, and the like. "Active in management" time shall not include time 'backseat driving' - hanging around to comment on the manner of doing work without ever doing much oneself. Because of the intermittent nature of technical and content work, the Trustees may use different criteria than that used to evaluate Moderators, in determining whether a Technical or Content worker is "active".

9. BYLAWS: The Trustees may issue Bylaws which spell out procedures or more narrowly define concepts specified in this Constitution. Bylaws may be amended by a majority of Trustees voting on any changes.

10. CONTINUOUS MEETINGS: The Trustees and Moderators shall hold all meetings on line, and both bodies shall be deemed to be in session at all times (24/7) without any requirement for a quorum. All votes shall be open for discussion for two days and for voting for two days, except for the exceptions in paragraphs 10a and 10b:

10a. Amendments to the Constitution shall be open for discussion for seven days and for voting for seven days.

10b. Votes that deal with a specific and urgent problem and won't affect general or ongoing matters may be shortened to the extent urgency requires, and discussion of such matters may be shortened or forgone if the maker of the motion determines that adequate discussion was had before the motion was made.

11. INFORMAL MEETINGS: The President shall bring together the members of the Content Committee and the Technical Chief shall bring together members of the Technical Committee whenever planning or coordination of the work of these Committees may require.

12. CONFIDENTIALITY: All communications of Organization business, all passwords, and all site software or other material not ordinarily viewable without passwords shall be deemed confidential, and no person given access to the site or Organization mail lists shall divulge the contents therein to any person not involved in Organization business and having an Organizationally recognized need for such information. The requirement to maintain confidentiality continues into the future beyond the time one leaves his post or leaves the community.

13. LOYALTY: All persons performing duties for the Organization shall do so solely in the best interests of the Organization. Commission of acts inimical to the Organization's interests shall subject the individual to immediate removal from all duties and positions with the Organization as well as any other remedies available to the Organization by law. If any removal action is to be delayed to allow for discussion or allow the subject of the action an opportunity to be heard, site access may nevertheless be temporarily suspended for that person until final decision is made.

14. AMENDMENTS: This Constitution may be amended upon the affirmative vote of 2/3 of Trustees choosing to vote on such changes. Amendment of other documents may be made by a majority of those among eligible voters choosing to vote on such changes.