THE FULL LOGICAL RULESET Last proposal with recorded effect on this ruleset: 5572 Last change to this ruleset: by proposal Rule ID numbers: highest orderly: 2209 disorderly: none ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Statistics Current total number of rules: 118 Power distribution: 1 with Power=4 31 with Power=3 32 with Power=2 5 with Power=1.7 10 with Power=1.5 40 with Power=1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Index of Categories * The Game of Agora * Rules * Players * Definitions * Offices * Agoran Decisions * Proposals * Adjudication * Patent Titles and Degrees * Contract Law * Frankenstein's Monster * Foreign Relations * Trophies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Index of Rules * The Game of Agora Rule 101: Agoran Rights and Privileges Rule 2125: Regulation Regulations Rule 1586: Definition and Continuity of Entities Rule 1688: Power Rule 2140: Power Controls Mutability Rule 2149: Truthfulness Rule 2186: Victory Rule 2110: Win by Paradox Rule 2199: Ribbons Rule 2177: The Senate * Rules Rule 2141: Role and Attributes of Rules Rule 217: Interpreting the Rules Rule 1482: Precedence between Rules with Unequal Power Rule 1030: Precedence between Rules with Equal Power Rule 105: Rule Changes Rule 1681: The Logical Rulesets Rule 1051: The Rulekeepor * Players Rule 869: How to Join and Leave Agora Rule 2144: Limited Partnerships Rule 2139: The Registrar Rule 1789: Cantus Cygneus Rule 2130: Activity * Definitions Rule 478: Fora Rule 2208: Clarity of Announcements Rule 2170: Who Am I? Rule 754: Definition Definitions Rule 2152: Mother, May I? Rule 1023: Common Definitions Rule 2161: ID Numbers Rule 2146: Indices Rule 2162: Switches Rule 2150: Personhood Rule 2166: Assets Rule 2181: The Accountor Rule 1728: Dependent Actions Rule 2124: Agoran Satisfaction Rule 1769: Holidays Rule 1750: Read the Ruleset Week * Offices Rule 1006: Offices Rule 2154: Replacing Officers Rule 2138: The International Associate Director of Personnel Rule 2143: Official Reports and Duties Rule 1551: Ratification Rule 2202: Ratification Without Objection Rule 2201: Self-Ratification Rule 2160: Deputisation * Agoran Decisions Rule 693: Agoran Decisions Rule 107: Initiating Agoran Decisions Rule 2137: The Assessor Rule 683: Voting on Agoran Decisions Rule 2127: Conditional Votes Rule 2168: Extending the voting period Rule 208: Resolving Agoran decisions Rule 2196: Standard Classes of Agoran Decisions Rule 955: Determining the Will of Agora Rule 879: Quorum Rule 2034: Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges * Proposals Rule 106: Adopting Proposals Rule 2153: Interest Index Rule 1607: The Promotor Rule 1450: Separation of Powers Rule 1698: Agora Is a Nomic Rule 1950: Voting on Democratic Decisions Rule 2156: Voting on Ordinary Decisions Rule 2134: Win by Clout Rule 2126: Notes Rule 2142: Support Democracy Rule 2019: Prerogatives Rule 2188: Win by Proposal * Adjudication Rule 991: Judicial Cases Generally Rule 2175: Judicial Retraction and Excess Rule 1868: Judge Assignment Generally Rule 1871: The Standing Court Rule 2204: Linked Assignments Rule 2203: Hawkishness Rule 2157: Judicial Panels Rule 2158: Judicial Questions Rule 2164: Judicial Self-Recusal and Case Transfer Rule 591: Inquiry Cases Rule 1504: Criminal Cases Rule 2190: Crime Doesn't Pay Rule 2169: Equity Cases Rule 911: Appeal Cases Rule 2205: Judicial Arguments and Evidence * Patent Titles and Degrees Rule 649: Patent Titles Rule 1922: Defined Regular Patent Titles Rule 1367: Degrees * Contract Law Rule 1742: Contracts Rule 2197: Defining Contract Changes Rule 2198: Making Contract Changes Rule 2178: Public Contracts Rule 2173: The Notary Rule 2191: Pledges Rule 2145: Partnerships Rule 2209: Agoran Welcoming Committee Rule 2174: Aliens Rule 2136: Contests Rule 2179: Points Rule 2187: Win by High Score * Frankenstein's Monster Rule 2193: The Monster Rule 2192: The Mad Scientist * Foreign Relations Rule 2200: Nomic Definitions Rule 2135: Advertising Rule 402: Identity of the Speaker Rule 103: Role of the Speaker Rule 2184: Foreign communications Rule 2148: The Ambassador Rule 2172: Acting on Behalf of Agora Rule 2189: Win by Extortion Rule 2147: Protectorates Rule 2159: Protective Decrees Rule 2206: Foreign Trade Rule 2207: Trade Embargo * Trophies Rule 2105: The Map of Agora Rule 1727: Happy Birthday Rule 104: First Speaker Rule 2151: Agoran Arms Rule 2029: Town Fountain ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [Rules are listed as follows. "nnnn" is the rule's ID number, mandated by rule 2141 and governed by rule 2161. "r" is the revision number, which is not defined by the rules. "p" is the rule's power, as defined by rule 1688 and governed by rule 2141. Rule titles are governed by rule 2141.] Rule nnnn/r (Power=p) Title of Rule Text of rule. [Annotations in square brackets are unofficial, added at the rulekeepor's discretion. These annotations have no legal force.] History: Historical annotations required by rule 1681. An ellipsis (...) indicates that the history is incomplete. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Game of Agora A category concerning this nomic generally, constitutional matters, and relationships between the most fundamental nomic entities. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 101/7 (Power=3) Agoran Rights and Privileges The rules may define persons as possessing specific rights or privileges. Be it hereby proclaimed that no binding agreement or interpretation of Agoran law may abridge, reduce, limit, or remove a person's defined rights. A person's defined privileges are assumed to exist in the absence of an explicit, binding agreement to the contrary. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would allow restrictions of a person's rights or privileges. i. Every person has the privilege of doing what e wilt. ii. Every player has the right to perform an action which is not regulated. iii. Every person has the right to initiate a formal process to resolve matters of controversy, in the reasonable expectation that the controversy will thereby be resolved. Every person has the right to cause formal reconsideration of any judicial determination that e should be punished. iv. Every person has the right to refuse to become party to a binding agreement. The absence of a person's explicit, willful consent shall be considered a refusal. v. Every person has the right to not be considered bound by an agreement, or an amendment to an agreement, which e has not had the reasonable opportunity to review. vi. Every player has the right of participation in the fora. vii. Every person has the right to not be penalized more than once for any single action or inaction. viii. Every player has the right to deregister rather than continue to play. Please treat Agora right good forever. [CFJ 24: Players must obey the Rules even in out-of-game actions.] [CFJ 825 (called 7 November 1995): Players must obey the Rules even if no Rule says so.] [CFJ 1848 (called 21 December 2007): The game must operate according to the rules that prevail at the time, and not attempt to incorporate any retroactive changes made in the future.] [CFJ 1709 (called 26 July 2007): The rules are binding on all those who play the game in the broader sense, regardless of whether they have the rule-defined status of "player".] [CFJ 1132: A Player failing to perform a duty required by the Rules within a reasonable time may be in violation of the Rules, even if the Rules do not provide a time limit for the performance of that duty.] [CFJ 1488 (called 11 February 2004): Engineering a situation in which other players are unable to follow a particular rule is not in itself a violation of that rule.] [CFJ 1856 (called 29 December 2007): The requirement that "no interpretation of Agoran law may abridge ... a person's defined rights" means that it must be feasible, given the practical limits of Agoran evidence-gathering, to remain reasonably sure that a person's defined rights are not being limited.] [CFJ 1768 (called 22 October 2007): The right of participation in the fora is the right to participate in them for their intended purposes, and is not necessarily infringed by regulations regarding the manner and type of participation.] [CFJ 1738 (called 29 August 2007): An obligation on a player to not publish statements that e believes are true would conflict with the right of participation in the fora.] [CFJ 1753 (called 28 September 2007): The right to cease playing applies only to those who have the rule-defined status of "player", not to those who play the game in the broader sense without having that official status.] History: Initial Immutable Rule 101, Jun. 30 1993 Mutated from MI=Unanimity to MI=3 by Proposal 1480, Mar. 15 1995 Amended(1) by Proposal 3915 (harvel), Sep. 27 1999 Amended(2) by Proposal 4833 (Maud), 6 August 2005 Amended(3) by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(4) by Proposal 4867 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(5) by Proposal 4887 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 4944 (Zefram), 3 May 2007 Amended(7) by Proposal 5090 (Zefram), 25 July 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2125/2 (Power=3) Regulation Regulations An action is regulated if: a) It is IMPOSSIBLE. b) It is ILLEGAL. c) The rules explicitly state that it CAN be performed while certain conditions are satisfied. Such an action CANNOT be performed except as allowed by the rules. d) The rules explicitly state that it MAY be performed while certain conditions are satisfied. Such an action MAY NOT be performed except as allowed by the rules. e) It would, as part of its effect, modify information for which some player is required to be a recordkeepor. Such an action CANNOT modify that information except as allowed by the rules. f) A judicial finding has determined that it is regulated, and has not been superseded by subsequent legislation. History: Created by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(1) by Proposal 5235 (Goddess Eris), 3 October 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5536 (Murphy), 7 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1586/3 (Power=2) Definition and Continuity of Entities Two Rule-defined entities CANNOT have the same name or nickname. If the Rules defining an entity are repealed or amended such that they no longer define that entity, then that entity and its properties cease to exist. If the Rules defining an entity are amended such that they still define that entity but with different properties, then that entity and its properties continue to exist to whatever extent is possible under the new definitions. [CFJ 1807 (called 25 November 2007): Rule-defined entities include pending timed events, which can therefore occur under modified rules even if the events that originally triggered them would not trigger them under the new rules.] History: Created by Proposal 2481, Feb. 16 1996 Amended(1) by Proposal 2795 (Andre), Jan. 30 1997, substantial Amended(2) by Proposal 3999 (harvel), May 2 2000 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 3999 (harvel), May 2 2000 Amended(3) by Proposal 5077 (Murphy), 18 July 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1688/4 (Power=3) Power The power of an entity is a non-negative rational number. An instrument is an entity with positive power. The power of an entity cannot be set or modified except as stipulated by the rules. All entities have power zero except where specifically allowed by the rules. A rule that secures a change (hereafter the securing rule) thereby makes it IMPOSSIBLE to perform that change except as allowed by an instrument with power greater than or equal to the change's power threshold. This threshold defaults to the securing rule's power, but CAN be lowered as allowed by that rule. History: Created by Proposal 3445 (General Chaos), Mar. 26 1997 Amended(1) by Proposal 3994 (harvel), Apr. 20 2000 Amended(2) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(3) by Proposal 4940 (Zefram), 29 April 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5276 (Murphy, Pavitra, Zefram), 7 November 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2140/0 (Power=3) Power Controls Mutability No entity with power below the power of this rule can (a) cause an entity to have power greater than its own. (b) adjust the power of an instrument with power greater than its own. (c) modify any other substantive aspect of an instrument with power greater than its own. A "substantive" aspect of an instrument is any aspect that affects the instrument's operation. History: Created by Proposal 4940 (Zefram), 29 April 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2149/8 (Power=1) Truthfulness A person SHALL NOT make a public statement unless e believes that in doing so e is telling the truth. Merely quoting a false statement does not constitute making it for the purposes of this rule. Any disclaimer, conditional clause, or other qualifier attached to a statement constitutes part of the statement for the purposes of this rule; the truth or falsity of the whole is what is significant. [CFJ 1739 (called 29 August 2007): A quotation can result in a violation of rule 2149, depending on the context of the rest of the message.] [CFJ 1849 (called 21 December 2007): Violation of rule 2149 can occur without any intent to misdirect.] [CFJ 1887 (called 30 January 2008): Publicly making the statement "This statement is a lie." would most likely be a violation of rule 2149, because it is logically indeterminate and so making it would not be telling the truth, and its logical indeterminacy would be understood by any reasonable player.] History: Created by Proposal 4990 (Zefram), 6 June 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5075 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5129 (Zefram; disi.), 13 August 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5140 (Murphy), 19 August 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5140 (Murphy), 19 August 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5147 (comex), 29 August 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5179 (Zefram), 29 August 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5180 (Zefram), 29 August 2007 Amended(7) by Proposal 5257 (AFO), 27 October 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5280 (Zefram, Murphy), 7 November 2007 Amended(8) by Proposal 5280 (Zefram, Murphy), 7 November 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2186/0 (Power=2) Victory Winning Conditions and Losing Conditions exist only as defined by rules. Defining these things is secured. A win announcement is a correct announcement explicitly labeled as a win announcement. When one or more persons satisfy at least one Winning Condition and do not satisfy any Losing Conditions, all such persons win the game. This is the only way to win the game, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. Each Winning Condition should (if needed) specify a cleanup procedure to prevent an arbitrary number of wins arising from essentially the same conditions. When one or more persons win the game, for each Winning Condition satisfied by at least one of those persons, its cleanup procedure occurs. History: Created by Proposal 5394 (Murphy, Goddess Eris, OscarMeyr, Zefram), 16 January 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2110/5 (Power=3) Win by Paradox A tortoise is an inquiry case on the possibility or legality of a rule-defined action (actual or hypothetical, but not arising from that case itself, and not occurring after the initiation of that case) for which the question of veracity is UNDECIDABLE. Upon a win announcement that a tortoise has continuously been a tortoise for no greater than four and no less than two weeks, the initiator satisfies the Winning Condition of Paradox. Cleanup procedure: Each winner satisfying this Winning Condition SHALL, as soon as possible, make a reasonable attempt to resolve the paradox. The same person can not satisfy this Winning Condition again for the same tortoise or for any other tortoise that was linked to it in assignment. History: Created by Proposal 4781 (Sherlock), 3 June 2005 Amended(1) by Proposal 4891 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5195 (Zefram), 6 September 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5297 (Murphy), 22 November 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5394 (Murphy, Goddess Eris, OscarMeyr, Zefram), 16 January 2008 Amended(5) by Proposal 5451 (root, Murphy, Zefram), 1 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2199/1 (Power=2) Ribbons Ribbons are a class of fixed assets. Changes to Ribbon holdings are secured. Ownership of Ribbons is restricted to players. Each Ribbon has exactly one color. Colors with different names are distinct, regardless of spectral proximity. Each color of Ribbon is a currency. The Tailor is a low-priority office, and the recordkeepor of Ribbons. Ribbons are gained as follows, unless the player already possesses the color of Ribbon to be gained: (+R) When an interested proposal is adopted and changes at least one rule with Power >= 3, its proposer gains a Red Ribbon. (+O) When an interested proposal is adopted by voting with no valid votes AGAINST, its proposer gains an Orange Ribbon. (+G) At the end of each month, each player who held at least one office continuously during that month gains a Green Ribbon, unless e failed to perform an official duty within a time limit during that month. (+C) When a player deputises for an office, e gains a Cyan Ribbon. (+B) When a player assigns a judgement to a judicial question other than a question on sentencing, e gains a Blue Ribbon, unless e violated a requirement to submit that judgement within a time limit. (+K) When a player assigns a judgement to a judicial question on sentencing, e gains a Black Ribbon, unless e violated a requirement to submit that judgement within a time limit. (+W) When a first-class person becomes a player for the first time, e gains a White Ribbon. When a first-class person has been a player continuously for at least three months, was never a player before that period, and names another first-class player as eir mentor (and has not named a mentor in this fashion before), that player gains a White Ribbon. (+M) When, during Agora's birthday, a player publicly acknowledges the occasion, e gains a Magenta Ribbon. (+U) When a player is awarded the Patent Title Champion, e gains an Ultraviolet Ribbon. (+V) When a player is awarded a Patent Title, e gains a Violet Ribbon, unless e gains a different Ribbon for the award. (+I) When a player is awarded a degree, e gains an Indigo Ribbon. (+Y) At the end of each month, for each contest that awarded points to at least three different contestants during that month, the contestmaster gains a Yellow Ribbon. If this rule mentions at least six different specific colors for Ribbons, then a player CAN destroy one Ribbon of each such color in eir possession to satisfy the Winning Condition of Renaissance. [Cross-references (6 February 2008): the Tailor's duties are: * recordkeepor of ribbons (rule 2199)] [Note (30 August 2007): here is a set of colors with convenient abbreviating letters, suggested for future inventions of new types of ribbon: Amber, Blue, Cyan, Denim, Emerald, Fern, Green, Heliotrope, Indigo, Jade, blacK, Lime, Magenta, iNfrared, Orange, Pink, aQuamarine, Red, Silver, Turquoise, Ultraviolet, Violet, White, flaX, Yellow, Zinnwaldite.] History: Created by Proposal 5424 (Zefram; disi.), 6 February 2008 Amended(1) by Proposal 5485 (root), 9 April 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2177/5 (Power=2) The Senate A Senator is any Player who has been registered continuously for the immediately preceding sixty days. The collection of Senators is the Senate. The Registrar's report includes a list of all Senators. A Senator CAN call an Emergency Session with 2 Senate supporters, provided no other emergency session existed at any time in the preceding 48 hours. An emergency session lasts for 21 days after being called. The Assessor's report includes the most recent date on which an emergency session was called. The roll call of an emergency session is the set of senators at the time the emergency session was called. During emergency session, the previous definition of senator does not apply; instead, any player who is a member of the roll call is a senator. The Assessor's report includes the roll call of the most recent emergency session. During emergency session, any Senator CAN declare a filibuster on a proposal in its voting period, with 2 supporting Senators, provided no filibuster has been declared on that proposal in the past. Any Senator CAN end a filibuster on a proposal with 4 supporting Senators. A proposal that ends its voting period in filibuster has a quorum of the number of eligible voters plus 1, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. When an emergency session begins, all non-Senators' postures become supine, and non-Senators CANNOT flip their posture while the session lasts. History: Created by Proposal 5309 (Goethe), 24 November 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5331 (root), 5 December 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5332 (root), 5 December 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5333 (root), 5 December 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5333 (root), 5 December 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5357 (root; disi.), 16 December 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Rules A category concerning the rules of the game, including the processes of changing the rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2141/1 (Power=3) Role and Attributes of Rules A rule is a type of instrument with the capacity to govern the game generally. A rule's content takes the form of a text, and is unlimited in scope. In particular, a rule may define in-game entities and regulate their behaviour, make instantaneous changes to the state of in-game entities, prescribe or proscribe certain player behaviour, modify the rules or the application thereof, or do any of these things in a conditional manner. Every rule has power between one and four inclusive. It is not possible for a rule to have a power outside this range. Rules have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Rulekeepor. Every rule shall have a title to aid in identification. If a rule ever does not have a title, the Rulekeepor shall assign a title to it by announcement as soon as possible. For the purposes of rules governing modification of instruments, the text, power, ID number, and title of a rule are all substantive aspects of the rule. [CFJ 1498 (called 12 April 2004): A rule's title is not strictly a name for the rule, and so rule titles are not subject to the uniqueness requirement on names of rule-defined entities.] History: Created by Proposal 4940 (Zefram), 29 April 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5110 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 217/6 (Power=3) Interpreting the Rules When interpreting and applying the rules, the text of the rules takes precedence. Where the text is silent, inconsistent, or unclear, it is to be augmented by game custom, common sense, past judgements, and consideration of the best interests of the game. [CFJ 1139: Interpretations [judgements at the time of CFJ 1139] need not necessarily accord with the reasoning and arguments of Judges or Justices given in past CFJs.] History: Initial Mutable Rule 217, Jun. 30 1993 Amended(1) by Proposal 1635, Jul. 25 1995 Infected and amended(2) by Rule 1454, Aug. 7 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 2507, Mar. 3 1996 Amended(4) by Proposal 4825 (Maud), 17 July 2005 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4867 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(5) by Proposal 4867 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Retitled by Proposal 5105 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5105 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1482/2 (Power=3) Precedence between Rules with Unequal Power In a conflict between Rules with different Power, the Rule with the higher Power takes precedence over the Rule with the lower Power. No change to the Ruleset can occur that would cause a Rule to stipulate any other means of determining precedence between Rules of unequal Power. This applies to changes by the enactment or amendment of a Rule, or of any other form. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule that would permit such a change to the Ruleset. [CFJ 1103 (called 18 August 1998): In the case of conflict between Rules of unequal Power, the higher Powered Rule cannot defer to the lower Powered Rule, unless the higher Powered Rule takes precedence over Rule 1482.] [CFJ 858 (called 15 February 1996): If a low-Power [low-MI at the time of Judgement of CFJ 858] Rule attempts to define a term used in a Rule of higher Power to mean something other than its ordinary English meaning, that may or may not constitute a conflict; whether it does must be decided on a case-by-case basis.] History: Created by Proposal 1603, Jun. 19 1995 Infected, but not Amended by Rule 1454, Dec. 2 1995 Amended(1) by Proposal 3445 (General Chaos), Mar. 26 1997, cosmetic (unattributed) Amended(2) by Proposal 4942 (Zefram), 3 May 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1030/6 (Power=3) Precedence between Rules with Equal Power If two or more Rules with the same Power conflict with one another, then the Rule with the lower ID number takes precedence. If at least one of the Rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another Rule (or type of Rule) or takes precedence over another Rule (or type of Rule), then such provisions shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If all of the Rules in conflict explicitly say that their precedence relations are determined by some other Rule for determining precedence relations, then the determinations of the precedence-determining Rule shall supercede the numerical method for determining precedence. If two or more Rules claim to take precedence over one another or defer to one another, then the numerical method again governs. [CFJ 1104 (called 20 August 1998): The presence in a Rule of deference clause, claiming that the Rule defers to another Rule, does not prevent a conflict with the other Rule arising, but shows only how the Rule says that conflict is to be resolved when it does arise.] [CFJs 1114-1115 (called 27 January 1999): This Rule is to be applied to resolve Rule conflicts on a case-by-case basis; just because a Rule is inapplicable in one situation due to conflict with a Rule of higher precedence does not mean that the Rule is nullified in all cases.] History: Initial Mutable Rule 212, Jun. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 1030, Sep. 15 1994 Amended by Rule 750, Sep. 15 1994 Amended(1) by Proposal 1527, Mar. 24 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1603, Jun. 19 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 2520, Mar. 10 1996 Mutated from MI=1 to MI=3 by Proposal 2763 (Steve), Nov. 30 1996 Amended(4) by Proposal 3445 (General Chaos), Mar. 26 1997, cosmetic (unattributed) Amended(5) by Proposal 4887 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5110 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 105/3 (Power=3) Rule Changes Where permitted by other rules, an instrument generally can, as part of its effect, (a) enact a rule. The new rule has power equal to the minimum of the power specified by the enacting instrument, defaulting to one if the enacting instrument does not specify, and the maximum power permitted by other rules. The enacting instrument may specify a title for the new rule, which if present shall prevail. The ID number of the new rule cannot be specified by the enacting instrument; any attempt to so specify is null and void. (b) repeal a rule. When a rule is repealed, it ceases to be a rule, and the Rulekeepor need no longer maintain a record of it. (c) amend the text of a rule. (d) retitle a rule. (e) change the power of a rule. A rule change is any effect that falls into the above classes. Rule changes always occur sequentially, never simultaneously. Any ambiguity in the specification of a rule change causes that change to be void and without effect. A variation in whitespace or capitalization in the quotation of an existing rule does not constitute ambiguity for the purposes of this rule, but any other variation does. This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be created, modified, or destroyed, or by which an entity can become a rule or cease to be a rule. [CFJ 1499 (called 20 April 2004), CFJ 1623 (called 1 April 2007): If a low-power rule states that an officer can repeal the rule under certain circumstances, then the rule cannot actually be repealed by this process, because the officer, not being an instrument, is categorically incapable of performing rule changes; this is different from the situation where a rule can be triggered to repeal itself.] [CFJ 708 (called October 1994): An Amendment of a non-existing Rule is not a legal Rule Change.] [CFJ 1625 (called 1 April 2007): Where a proposal specifies a rule to amend by both number and title, and the number and title given identify different rules, this constitutes ambiguity that nullifies the attempted rule change.] [CFJ 1644 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal contains the form of words "Change the power of rule NNNN to P and amend it by XXX.", where XXX specifies a text change, this constitutes two attempted rule changes.] [CFJ 1638 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal contains the form of words "Amend rule NNNN by XXX. Amend rule NNNN by YYY.", this constitutes two separate attempts at rule changes, even though both attempt to amend the same rule.] [CFJ 1642 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal contains the form of words "Amend rule NNNN by XXX. Further amend rule NNNN by YYY.", where both XXX and YYY specify text changes, this constitutes two separate attempts at rule changes.] [CFJ 1640 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal contains the form of words "Amend rule NNNN by XXX and YYY.", where both XXX and YYY specify text changes, this constitutes a single attempt at a rule change, even though it is specified in two parts.] [CFJ 1641 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal contains the form of words "Amend rule NNNN by XXX and by YYY.", where both XXX and YYY specify text changes, this constitutes a single attempt at a rule change, even though it is specified in two parts.] [CFJ 1643 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal specifies a single rule amendment in two parts, and one of the parts is not possible but the other is possible, the possible part is applied alone.] History: Created by Proposal 4894 (Murphy), 12 February 2007 Renumbered from 2131 to 105 by Proposal 4894 (Murphy), 12 February 2007 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4894 (Murphy), 12 February 2007 Retitled by Proposal 4894 (Murphy), 12 February 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 4894 (Murphy), 12 February 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 4940 (Zefram), 29 April 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5110 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1681/12 (Power=1) The Logical Rulesets There is a format of the ruleset known as the Short Logical Ruleset (SLR). In this format, each rule is assigned to a category, and the rules are grouped according to their category. Rules are assigned to, ordered within, or moved between categories, and categories are added, changed, or empty categories removed, as the Rulekeepor sees fit. The listing of each rule in the SLR must include the rule's ID number, revision number, power, title, and text. The Rulekeepor is strongly encouraged not to include any additional information in the SLR, except that which increases the readability of the SLR. There is a format of the ruleset known as the Full Logical Ruleset (FLR). In this format, rules are assigned to the same category and presented in the same order as in the SLR. The FLR must contain all the information required to be in the SLR, and any historical annotations which the Rulekeepor is required to record. The Rulekeepor is also free to include any other information which e feels may be helpful in the use of the ruleset in the FLR. Whenever a rule is changed in any way, the Rulekeepor shall record a historical annotation to the rule indicating: a) The type of change. b) The date on which the change took effect. c) The mechanism that specified the change. d) If the rule was changed due to a proposal, then that proposal's ID number, author, and co-author(s) (if any). History: Created by Proposal 2783 (Chuck), Jan 15 1997 Amended(1) by Proposal 3500 (Crito), Jun. 3 1997, substantial (unattributed) Amended(2) by Proposal 3624 (Chuck), Dec. 29 1997 Amended(3) by Proposal 3704 (General Chaos), Mar. 19 1998 Amended(4) by Proposal 3902 (Murphy), Sep. 6 1999 Amended(5) by Proposal 4002 (harvel), May 8 2000 Amended(6) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(7) by Proposal 4841 (Goethe), 27 October 2005 Amended(8) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(9) by Proposal 4887 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 Amended(10) by Proposal 5006 (Zefram), 18 June 2007 Amended(11) by Proposal 5110 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(12) by Proposal 5334 (Murphy), 5 December 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1051/18 (Power=1) The Rulekeepor The Rulekeepor is an office; its holder is responsible for maintaining the text of the rules of Agora. The Rulekeepor's Weekly report includes the Short Logical Ruleset. The Rulekeepor's Monthly report includes the Full Logical Ruleset. [Cross-references (2 August 2007): the Rulekeepor's duties are: * manage ID numbers of rules (rule 2141) * assign title to rule (rule 2141) * report ruleset in two formats (rule 1051) * manage Logical Ruleset categories (rule 1681) * annotate the Full Logical Ruleset (rule 1681) * maintain historical rule annotations (rule 1681)] History: ... Amended(1) by Proposal 1735, Oct. 15 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 2042, Dec. 11 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 2048, Dec. 19 1995 Amended(4) by Proposal 2662, Sep. 12 1996 Amended(5) by Proposal 2696, Oct. 10 1996 Null-Amended(6) by Proposal 2710, Oct. 12 1996 Amended(7) by Proposal 2741 (Zefram), Nov. 7 1996, substantial Infected and Amended(8) by Rule 1454, Nov. 27 1996, substantial (unattributed) Amended(9) by Proposal 2783 (Chuck), Jan. 15 1997, substantial Amended(10) by Proposal 3452 (Steve), Apr. 7 1997, substantial Amended(11) by Proposal 3675 (Michael), Jan. 30 1998 Amended(12) by Proposal 3827 (Kolja A.), Feb. 4 1999 Amended(13) by Proposal 3871 (Peekee), Jun. 2 1999 Amended(14) by Proposal 3882 (harvel), Jul. 21 1999 Amended(15) by Proposal 3902 (Murphy), Sep. 6 1999 Amended(16) by Proposal 4002 (harvel), May 8 2000 Amended(17) by Proposal 4250 (harvel), 19 February 2002 Amended(18) by Proposal 5237 (AFO; disi.), 3 October 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Players A category concerning players, including the processes of becoming and ceasing to be players, and game-relevant aspects of players. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 869/25 (Power=1) How to Join and Leave Agora Citizenship is an entity switch with values Unregistered (default) and Registered, tracked by the registrar. A player is an entity whose citizenship is Registered. The verb "to be registered" means to become a player (i.e., to have one's citizenship changed from Unregistered to Registered), and the verb "to be deregistered" means to cease to be a player (i.e., to have one's citizenship changed from Registered to Unregistered). Where the verb "to register" or "to deregister" is used without an explicit direct object, the action is implicitly reflexive. A person CAN register, unless prevented by the rules, by announcing that e registers, wishes to register, requests registration, or requests permission to register. A player CAN deregister by announcement. E CANNOT register within thirty days after doing so. A player who is not a person and has never been a first-class person CAN be deregistered by any player by announcement. [CFJ 1275 (called 19 February 2001): An entity is a Player if the Rules cannot distinguish that entity from a Player.] [CFJ 1263 (called 5 February 2001): Any message expressing a clear desire or intent to register as a Player counts as a request for registration, whether or not it is explicitly phrased in the manner stipulated by the rules.] History: Created by Proposal 498 (Alexx), Sep. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 869, ca. Apr. 7 1994 Amended by Rule 750, ca. Apr. 7 1994 Amended(1) by Proposal 1313, Nov. 12 1994 Amended(2) by Proposal 1437, Feb. 21 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 2040, Dec. 11 1995 Amended(4) by Proposal 2599, May 11 1996 Amended(5) by Proposal 2718, Oct. 23 1996 Amended(6) by Proposal 3475 (Murphy), May 11 1997, substantial Amended(7) by Proposal 3740 (Repeal-O-Matic), May 8 1998 Amended(8) by Proposal 3923 (harvel), Oct. 10 1999 Amended(9) by Proposal 4011 (Wes), Jun. 1 2000 Amended(10) by Proposal 4147 (Wes), 13 May 2001 Amended(11) by Proposal 4155 (harvel), 18 May 2001 Amended(12) by Proposal 4430 (Cecilius), 16 January 2003 Amended(13) by Proposal 4451 (Cecilius), 22 February 2003 Amended(14) by Proposal 4523 (Murphy), 28 August 2003 Amended(15) by Proposal 4693 (Maud), 18 April 2005 Amended(16) by Proposal 4802 (Maud), 15 June 2005 Amended(17) by Proposal 4833 (Maud), 6 August 2005 Amended(18) by Proposal 4989 (Zefram), 6 June 2007 Amended(19) by Proposal 5007 (Zefram), 18 June 2007 Amended(20) by Proposal 5011 (Zefram), 24 June 2007 Amended(21) by Proposal 5086 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(22) by Proposal 5111 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(23) by Proposal 5117 (Zefram; disi.), 8 August 2007 Amended(24) by Proposal 5156 (Zefram), 29 August 2007 Amended(25) by Proposal 5271 (Murphy), 7 November 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2144/8 (Power=1) Limited Partnerships A partnership SHALL NOT register if its basis is the same as that of any player. Whenever a judgement of GUILTY is assigned in a criminal case alleging that a partnership has violated this rule, the judge SHOULD assign an EXILE judgement to the question on sentencing in that case. If a registered partnership has the same basis as another player, any player CAN deregister it with Agoran Consent. History: Created by Proposal 4971 (Human Point Two), 23 May 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5022 (Murphy), 25 June 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5039 (Zefram), 28 June 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5045 (BobTHJ), 1 July 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5045 (BobTHJ), 1 July 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5061 (Zefram), 9 July 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5375 (root), 1 January 2008 Amended(7) by Proposal 5380 (Goethe), 1 January 2008 Amended(8) by Proposal 5400 (woggle; disi.), 16 January 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2139/1 (Power=1) The Registrar The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of players. The Registrar's report includes, for each player: a) Information sufficient to identify and contact em. b) The date on which e most recently became a player. [CFJ 1703 (called 13 July 2007): A player cannot change eir nickname by announcement if the new nickname that e specifies is the current nickname of another player.] [CFJ 1361 (called 7 May 2002): Purporting to assign a new nickname, previously unused to refer to any entity, to another player is successful, but does not displace the target's existing name or nickname.] [CFJ 1489 (called 11 February 2004): Watchers are not a rule-defined element of the game.] [CFJ 1420 (called 17 December 2002): The list of watchers, customarily published with the registrar's report, is part of the game state, even though it is not mentioned in the rules and no one is obliged to track or publish it.] [Cross-references (13 February 2008): the Registrar's duties are: * report senators (rule 2177) * track citizenship (rule 869) * report players' identity and contact details (rule 2139) * report registration dates (rule 2139) * report deregistration by Writ of FAGE (rule 1789) * track player activity and report change dates (rule 2130) * track forum publicity (rule 478) * report fora (rule 478) * change the publicity of a forum (rule 478) * award patent title of Left in a Huff (rule 1922)] History: Created by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5172 (Murphy), 29 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1789/3 (Power=1) Cantus Cygneus Whenever a Player feels that e has been treated so egregiously by the Agoran community that e can no longer abide to be a part of it, e may submit a document to the Clerk of the Courts, clearly labeled a Cantus Cygneus, detailing eir grievances and expressing eir reproach for those who e feels have treated em so badly. As soon as possible after receiving a Cantus Cygneus, the Clerk of the Courts shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugere Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered and instructing the Registrar to note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar Reports, as long as the Player remains deregistered. The Player is deregistered as of the posting of the Writ, and the notation in the Registrar's Report will ensure that, henceforth, all may know said Player deregistered in a Writ of FAGE. [CFJ 1594 (called 16 December 2006): Players can be deregistered due to this rule even if there is no Registrar.] History: Created by Proposal 3705 (Crito), Mar. 9 1998 Amended(1) by Proposal 4099 (Murphy), Jan. 15 2001 Amended(2) by Proposal 4147 (Wes), 13 May 2001 Amended(3) by Proposal 4825 (Maud), 17 July 2005 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2130/9 (Power=1) Activity Activity is a player switch with values Active (default) and Inactive, tracked by the Registrar. The Registrar's report includes the date on which each non-Active player's activity last changed. A player CAN flip eir activity by announcement. "To go on hold" is to become Inactive; "to come off hold" is to become Active. A player CAN flip another player's activity to Inactive without objection. A player who has been continuously Inactive for at least three months CAN be deregistered by any other player without objection. History: Created by Proposal 4893 (Murphy), 12 February 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 4966 (Zefram), 3 June 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 4967 (Zefram), 3 June 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 4985 (Zefram), 6 June 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 4986 (Zefram), 6 June 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5004 (Zefram), 13 June 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5111 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5111 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(7) by Proposal 5116 (Zefram; disi.), 8 August 2007 Amended(8) by Proposal 5258 (AFO), 18 October 2007 Amended(9) by Proposal 5271 (Murphy), 7 November 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Definitions A category of definitions of terms and procedures that are widely used and do not readily fall into any other category. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 478/23 (Power=3) Fora Freedom of speech being essential for the healthy functioning of any non-Imperial nomic, it is hereby resolved that No Player shall be prohibited from participating in the Fora. Publicity is a forum switch with values Public, Discussion, and Foreign (default), tracked by the Registrar. The Registrar's report includes, for each forum with non-Foreign publicity, sufficient instructions for players to receive messages there. The Registrar may change the publicity of a forum without objection as long as: (a) e sends eir announcement of intent to that forum; and (b) if the forum is to be made public, the announcement by which the Registrar makes that forum public is sent to all existing public fora. Each active player should ensure e can receive messages via each public forum. A message is public if and only if it is sent via a public forum or is sent to all players and contains a clear designation of intent to be public. A person "publishes" or "announces" something by sending a public message. Where the rules define an action that CAN be performed "by announcement", a person performs that action by announcing that e performs it. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. [CFJs 1451-1452 (called 6 March 2003): A message that is split into multiple email messages can qualify as a single message for game purposes, if it is obvious how to combine the parts to reconstruct the single message.] [CFJ 752 (called 13 March 1995): Something sent to a Player who is obligated to send it to all Players is sufficient for sending something to the PF.] [CFJ 813 (called 22 October 1995): A Player need not prove that e can receive the PF.] [CFJ 831 (called 10 November 1995): The Date: header of a message is not necessarily the time at which the message takes effect.] [CFJ 866 (called 8 April 1996): A message is "received" when the message enters the recipient's normal technical domain of control, whether this be eir private machine or eir private account on a shared machine (but not the shared machine itself, if the recipient does not control it).] [CFJ 1112: In order to submit a Proposal, in the sense of R1865 and elsewhere, it is not sufficient that a collection of text 'with the clear indication that that text is intended to become a Proposal' (R1483) merely be sent to the Public Forum by a Proposing Entity; the collection of text must also be received in the Public Forum.] [CFJ 1314 (called 15 August 2001): If a message sent to a public forum is rejected by the list moderator, it still qualifies as having been sent via a public forum.] [CFJ 1888 (called 31 January 2008): Sending a message to a Discussion Forum, or other mailing list except for a Public Forum, does not qualify as sending it to all players.] [CFJ 1631 (called 29 April 2007): Public announcements must be made in the message body; the subject line is insignificant.] [CFJ 1784 (called 5 November 2007): An undescriptive or misleading subject line does not deprive the message body of effect.] [CFJ 1880 (called 22 January 2008): A phrase that would, in the message body, cancel the effect of the rest of the message, does not have such an effect if it appears in the subject line.] [CFJ 1761 (called 30 September 2007): Publishing part of a message is a different action from publishing the whole message.] [CFJ 1646 (called 30 April 2007): The act of "publishing" or "announcing" is accomplished when the message has left the sender's technical domain of control, indicated by one of the "Received:" headers.] [CFJ 1695 (called 23 June 2007): A partnership, which by its nature can't directly send email, can participate in the fora by means of its members sending messages on its behalf, if its governing agreement says so.] [CFJ 1719 (called 12 August 2007): A player can, if e intends, have public messages sent on eir behalf, including via a web form that allows all-comers to send messages on eir behalf without specific approval.] [CFJs 1833-1834 (called 18 December 2007): A player can, by contractual arrangement, grant another player the capacity to act by announcement on eir behalf.] [CFJ 1893 (called 3 February 2008): A non-consensual non-contractual arrangement cannot grant a player the capacity to act by announcement on behalf of another.] [CFJ 1336 (called 13 December 2001): A public statement that one wishes to perform an action that one can perform by announcement can constitute an announcement that performs that action.] [CFJ 1621 (called 8 February 2007): Where an action can be performed by announcement, announcing that one deems something to be the case that would result from that action does not constitute performing the action.] [CFJ 1584 (called 24 February 2006), CFJ 1728 (called 20 August 2007): Saying "I do X 1000 times", where X is something that can be done by announcement, is an acceptable shorthand for 1000 instances of "I do X", but this shorthand cannot be used with an infinite repeat count, because it is impossible to write out an infinite number of instances of "I do X".] [CFJ 1774 (called 1 November 2007): Saying "I do X 10000 times", where X is something that can be done by announcement, does not necessarily achieve 10000 instances of X, if writing out 10000 instances of "I do X" would be a substantial effort such that using the shorthand is abusive. The presumption is in favour of the shorthand being successful.] [CFJ 1775 (called 1 November 2007): If an announcement of the form "I do X N times" is not be acceptable shorthand for N instances of "I do X", then the announcement is completely nullified, and does not have the effect of M instances of "I do X" for any non-zero repeat count M.] [CFJ 1730 (called 22 August 2007): An appropriate announcement will accomplish an action even if its author believed the action was impossible.] [CFJ 1841 (called 20 December 2007): A message-based action cannot be retroactive.] History: Created by Proposal 478 (Jim Shea), Sep. 20 1993 Amended(1) by Proposal 1477, Mar. 8 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1576, Apr. 28 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 1610, Jul. 10 1995 Amended(4) by Proposal 1700, Sep. 1 1995 Amended(5) by Proposal 2052, Dec. 19 1995 Amended(6) by Proposal 2400, Jan. 20 1996 Amended(7) by Proposal 2739 (Swann), Nov. 7 1996, substantial Amended(8) by Proposal 2791 (Andre), Jan. 30 1997, substantial Amended(9) by Proposal 3521 (Chuck), Jun. 23 1997, substantial Amended(10) by Proposal 3823 (oerjan), Jan. 21 1999 Amended(11) by Proposal 4147 (Wes), 13 May 2001 Amended(12) by Proposal 4248 (Murphy), 19 February 2002 Amended(13) by Proposal 4456 (Maud), 22 February 2003 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4690 (root), 18 April 2005 Amended(14) by Proposal 4690 (root), 18 April 2005 Amended(15) by Proposal 4833 (Maud), 6 August 2005 Amended(16) by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(17) by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(18) by Proposal 5014 (Zefram), 24 June 2007 Amended(19) by Proposal 5111 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(20) by Proposal 5172 (Murphy), 29 August 2007 Amended(21) by Proposal 5272 (Murphy; disi.), 7 November 2007 Amended(22) by Proposal 5291 (root), 14 November 2007 Amended(23) by Proposal 5535 (Murphy), 7 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2208/0 (Power=3) Clarity of Announcements All attempts to perform an action by announcement fail if the action is not unambiguously specified. This rule takes precedence over all rules that allow performance of an action by announcement. History: Created by Proposal 5555 (ais523), 21 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2170/1 (Power=3) Who Am I? A public message's claim as to who published it is self-ratifying, unless the claim is self-contradictory, or a challenge of identity pertaining to the claimed publisher has been issued within one month before its publication. The Executor of a public message is the first-class person who sends it, or who most directly and immediately causes it to be sent. The executor of an action performed by announcement is the executor of the announcement. History: Created by Proposal 5212 (Murphy), 8 September 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 754/7 (Power=3) Definition Definitions Regularity of communication being essential for the healthy function of any nomic, it is hereby resolved: (1) A difference in spelling, grammar, or dialect, or the use of a synonym or abbreviation in place of a word or phrase, is inconsequential in all forms of communication, as long as the difference does not create an ambiguity in meaning. (2) A term explicitly defined by the Rules by default has that meaning, as do its ordinary-language synonyms not explicitly defined by the rules. (3) Any term primarily used in mathematical or legal contexts, and not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule, by default has the meaning it has in those contexts. (4) Any term not addressed by previous provisions of this Rule by default has its ordinary-language meaning. This rule takes precedence over any other rules which dictate terminology or grammar. [CFJ 1439 (called 20 February 2003): A difference in language qualifies as a difference in dialect; it is possible to take game actions by messages in languages other than English.] [CFJ 1460 (called 4 April 2003): If a message is in a language other than English, and its intended audience does not understand the language, this constitutes gross unclarity that makes the message ineffective.] [CFJ 712: Referring to a Player by a method other than eir name or nickname is acceptable, as long as it is unambiguous.] [CFJ 1861 (called 8 January 2008): A player's legal name (legal in eir country of residence) is not necessarily an acceptable way to refer to em.] [CFJ 1782 (called 4 November 2007): Referring to a player by the name of an office that e holds suffices to identify em uniquely as a person, if there is no doubt regarding who holds that office.] [CFJ 1460 (called 4 April 2003): Extremely complex synonyms, requiring extensive effort to interpret correctly, can constitute a sufficient degree of unclarity as to render the message ineffective.] [CFJ 1840 (called 20 December 2007): A proper noun that has not been explicitly defined does not adequately refer to any entity, and is not implicitly defined by the context in which it is used.] [CFJ 1580 (called 12 January 2006): Base64 encoding of (part of) a message, other than in the context of MIME with appropriate headers, can render a message ineffective for unclarity, because the decoding step requires unreasonable effort within the meaning of CFJ 1460.] [CFJ 1741 (called 11 September 2007): HTML encoding (including numerical character entity encoding) does not render a message ineffective for unclarity if a suitable MIME type is indicated by a header.] [CFJ 1741 (called 11 September 2007): An email message does not need the RFC-required "MIME-Version:" header in order for it to be interpreted in the MIME way.] [CFJ 1536 (called 13 March 2005): The phrase "AOL!" is not a sufficiently clear synonym for "Me too!".] [CFJ 1770 (called 23 October 2007): A contract can redefine a rule-defined term in its own way, and the contract's definition will then apply in situations governed by the contract.] [CFJ 1885 (called 26 January 2008): A word or phrase can acquire a meaning by custom, provided that it is a reasonable meaning and does not unreasonably change the meaning of phrases that already have a meaning.] [CFJ 1831 (called 10 December 2007): Mentioning a URI, without surrounding text stating its significance, does not incorporate anything identified by that URI into the message that mentions the URI.] [CFJ 1831 (called 10 December 2007): Character sequences within a URI by default have no significance other than their functional role as part of the URI.] History: Created by Proposal 435 (Alexx), Aug. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 754 (KoJen), Dec. 1 1993 Amended by Rule 750, Dec. 1 1993 Amended(1) by Proposal 2042, Dec. 11 1995 Infected and Amended(2) by Rule 1454, Dec. 17 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 3452 (Steve), Apr. 7 1997, substantial Amended(4) by Proposal 3915 (harvel), Sep. 27 1999 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4507 (Murphy), 20 June 2003 Amended(5) by Proposal 4507 (Murphy), 20 June 2003 Amended(6) by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(7) by Proposal 5038 (Zefram), 28 June 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2152/4 (Power=3) Mother, May I? The following terms are defined. These definitions are used when a rule includes a term in all caps, and SHOULD be used when a rule includes a term otherwise. Earlier definitions take precedence over later ones. If a rule specifies one or more persons in connection with a term, then the term applies only to the specified person(s). 1. CANNOT, IMPOSSIBLE, INEFFECTIVE, INVALID: Attempts to perform the described action are unsuccessful. 2. MUST NOT, MAY NOT, SHALL NOT, ILLEGAL, PROHIBITED: Performing the described action violates the rule in question. 3. SHOULD NOT, DISCOURAGED, DEPRECATED: Before performing the described action, the full implications of performing it should be understood and carefully weighed. 4. CAN: Attempts to perform the described action are successful. 5. MAY: Performing the described action does not violate the rule in question. 6. MUST, SHALL, REQUIRED, MANDATORY: Failing to perform the described action violates the rule in question. 7. SHOULD, ENCOURAGED, RECOMMENDED: Before failing to perform the described action, the full implications of failing to perform it should be understood and carefully weighed. History: Created by Proposal 5053 (Murphy), 5 July 2007 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 5054 (Murphy), 5 July 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5189 (Levi), 3 September 2007 Power changed from 2 to 3 by Proposal 5247 (AFO), 14 October 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5353 (Murphy; disi.), 16 December 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5354 (Murphy), 16 December 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5535 (Murphy), 7 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1023/23 (Power=2) Common Definitions The following terms are defined: (a) The phrases "in a timely fashion" and "as soon as possible" mean "within seven days". (b) The term "paragraph" means a subset of text determined as follows: (1) Each bulleted or enumerated (hereafter simply "bulleted") section is a unit of text. (2) Any remaining text is divided into units at blank lines. (3) Each unit of a document has a level as follows. All unbulleted units have level 1. Each bulleted unit has level n+2, where n is the number of bulleted units it is nested inside. (4) A barrier between two units is a unit appearing between those units which has level no greater than that of the unit appearing first. (5) The units of a document form an ordered tree, with the hierarchy determined as follows. The root is an empty unit with level zero, which nominally appears at the beginning of the document. One unit is a descendant of another unit if it appears after the latter, has strictly greater level, and is not separated from the latter by a barrier. The tree's ordering follows the order of the units in the document. (6) A "paragraph" identified by partial quotation is determined by the minimum sub-tree containing the entirety of that quotation. (7) A "paragraph" identified by an ordinal n is determined by the nth unbulleted unit and its descendants. (8) A "paragraph" identified by enumerated section labels is determined by the sub-tree arrived at by traversal from the root, using the specified series of labels. (c) Agoran epochs: (1) Agoran days begin at midnight UTC. (2) Agoran weeks begin at midnight UTC on Monday. (3) Agoran months begin at midnight UTC on the first day of each Gregorian month. (4) Agoran quarters begin when the Agoran months of January, April, July, and October begin. (5) Agoran years begin when the Agoran month of January begins. History: Created by Proposal 805, ca. Jan. or Feb. 1994 Amended by Proposal 907, ca. Apr. or May 1994 Amended by Rule 750, ca. Apr. or May 1994 Amended by Proposal 1023, Sep. 5 1994 Amended by Rule 750, Sep. 5 1994 Amended(1) by Proposal 1413, Feb. 1 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1434, Feb. 14 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 1682, Aug. 22 1995 Amended(4) by Proposal 1727, Oct. 6 1995 Amended(5) by Proposal 2042, Dec. 11 1995 Amended(6) by Proposal 2489, Feb. 16 1996 Amended(7) by Proposal 2567, Apr. 12 1996 Mutated from MI=1 to MI=2 by Proposal 2602, May 26 1996 Amended(8) by Proposal 2629, Jul. 4 1996 Amended(9) by Proposal 2770 (Steve), Dec. 19 1996 Amended(10) by Proposal 3823 (Oerjan), Jan. 21 1999 Amended(11) by Proposal 3823 (Oerjan), Jan. 21 1999 Amended(12) by Proposal 3897 (harvel), Aug. 27 1999 Amended(13) by Proposal 3950 (harvel), Dec. 8 1999 Amended(14) by Proposal 4004 (Steve), May 8 2000 Amended(15) by Proposal 4278 (harvel), 3 April 2002 Amended(16) by Proposal 4406 (Murphy), 30 October 2002 Amended(17) by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(18) by Proposal 4938 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(19) by Proposal 5005 (root), 18 June 2007 Amended(20) by Proposal 5077 (Murphy), 18 July 2007 Amended(21) by Proposal 5102 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(22) by Proposal 5081 (Zefram; disi.), 1 August 2007 Amended(23) by Proposal 5408 (root), 22 January 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2161/2 (Power=2) ID Numbers If a rule defines a type of entity as having ID numbers, then: (a) Whenever an instance of that type does not have an ID number, the player held responsible by that rule SHALL assign an ID number to it by announcement as soon as possible. (b) Such an assignment is INVALID unless the number is a natural number (expressed as a decimal literal with at most 14 digits) distinct from any ID number, and greater than any orderly ID number, previously assigned to an entity of that type. The player SHALL select the smallest number possible, unless e reasonably believes that selecting any smaller number might be invalid or confusing. (c) Each ID number is either orderly (default) or chaotic. Upon a judicial finding that the assignment of an ID number was ILLEGAL, the ID number becomes chaotic. (d) Once assigned, an ID number cannot be changed. (e) If an office is responsible for assigning ID numbers, then that officer's report includes the greatest orderly ID number, and a list of all chaotic ID numbers, previously assigned to the type of entity. History: Created by Proposal 5110 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5133 (Zefram), 13 August 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5237 (AFO; disi.), 3 October 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2146/1 (Power=2) Indices Indices are elements of the extended real numbers, which is a total order consisting of the real numbers plus a minimum element, called negative infinity, and a maximum element, called positive infinity or unanimity. The ratio of a positive index to zero is positive infinity. The ratio of a negative index to zero is negative infinity. The ratio of zero to any index is zero. History: Created by Proposal 4979 (Zefram, Maud), 31 May 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2162/1 (Power=2) Switches A type of switch is a property that the rules define as a switch, and specify the following: a) The type(s) of entity possessing an instance of that switch. No other entity possesses an instance of that switch. b) One or more possible values for instances of that switch, exactly one of which is designated as the default. No other values are possible for instances of that switch. c) Exactly one officer who tracks instances of that switch. That officer's report includes the value of each instance of that switch whose value is not its default value. At any given time, each instance of a switch has exactly one possible value for that type of switch. If an instance of a switch comes to have a value, it ceases to have any other value. If an instance of a switch would otherwise fail to have a possible value, it comes to have its default value. "To flip an instance of a switch" is to make it come to have a given value. "To become X" (where X is a possible value of exactly one of the subject's switches) is to flip that switch to X. History: Created by Proposal 5111 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5271 (Murphy), 7 November 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2150/3 (Power=3) Personhood A person is an entity that has the general capacity to be the subject of rights and obligations under the rules. An entity is a person if and only if it is defined to be so by rules with power 2 or greater. Any biological organism that is capable of communicating by email in English is a person. "First-class person" means a person of a biological nature. "First-class player" means a player who is a first-class person. The basis of a first-class person is the singleton set consisting of that person. [CFJ 1700 (called 10 July 2007): The requirement of capability to communicate by email can be satisfied even if the players of Agora do not know the organism's email address.] [CFJ 1685 (called 31 May 2007): Being in a mindless job (e.g., keyboard, stenographer, spokesman) may create a rebuttable presumption against personhood and against one having spoken on one's own behalf.] History: Created by Proposal 5007 (Zefram), 18 June 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5061 (Zefram), 9 July 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5303 (root), 24 November 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5476 (Murphy; disi.), 27 March 2008 Power changed from 2 to 3 by Proposal 5509 (root; disi.), 28 May 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2166/5 (Power=2) Assets An asset is an entity defined as such by an instrument or contract (hereafter its backing document), and existing solely because its backing document defines its existence. Each asset has exactly one owner. If an asset would otherwise lack an owner, it is owned by the Lost and Found Department. If an asset's backing document restricts its ownership to a class of entities, then that asset CANNOT be gained by or transferred to an entity outside that class, and is destroyed if it is owned by an entity outside that class (except for the Lost and Found Department, in which case any player CAN transfer or destroy it without objection). The recordkeepor of a class of assets is the entity defined as such by its backing document. That entity's report includes a list of all instances of that class and their owners. This portion of that entity's report is self-ratifying. An asset whose backing document is not a rule generally CAN be created by its recordkeepor by announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. To "gain" an asset is to have it created in one's possession; to "award" an asset to an entity is to create it in that entity's possession. An asset generally CAN be destroyed by its owner by announcement, and an asset owned by the Lost and Found Department generally CAN be destroyed by its recordkeepor by announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. To "lose" an asset is to have it destroyed from one's possession; to "revoke" an asset from an entity is to destroy it from that entity's possession. An asset generally CAN be transferred by its owner to another entity by announcement, subject to modification by its backing document. A fixed asset is one defined as such by its backing document, and CANNOT be transferred; any other asset is liquid. A currency is a class of asset defined as such by its backing document. Instances of a currency with the same owner are fungible. [CFJs 1790-1791 (called 11 November 2007): The self-ratifying asset report is the complete list of ownerships of assets of that class; a partial list does not self-ratify.] [CFJ 1850 (called 22 December 2007): The general ability of the recordkeepor to create assets does not include an ability to determine who possesses them when created, so they are necessarily owned by the Lost and Found Department [at the time of CFJ 1850, the Bank] upon creation.] [Note (11 March 2008): The existence of this rule is in question due to a scam. See CFJ 1914.] History: Created by Proposal 5173 (Murphy), 29 August 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5216 (Murphy), 13 September 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5388 (Murphy), 1 January 2008 Amended(3) by Proposal 5475 (Murphy), 24 March 2008 Amended(4) by Proposal 5476 (Murphy; disi.), 27 March 2008 Amended(5) by Proposal 5496 (Murphy), 23 April 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2181/3 (Power=1) The Accountor The Accountor is a low-priority office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of miscellaneous assets. The Accountor is the default recordkeepor for all assets that do not specify a different recordkeepor. If any such assets exist, then the Accountor's report includes a list of their backing documents; otherwise, the Accountor has no report. The Accountor is the default recordkeepor for all assets whose backing document does not specify a different recordkeepor. [Cross-references (28 May 2008): the Accountor's duties are: * report classes of assets (rule 2181) * default recordkeepor for assets (rule 2181)] History: Created by Proposal 5363 (Murphy; disi.), 20 December 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5482 (Murphy), 2 April 2008 Amended(2) by Proposal 5508 (Murphy), 28 May 2008 Amended(3) by Proposal 5527 (Murphy), 2 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1728/19 (Power=2) Dependent Actions A player CAN perform an action dependently (a dependent action) if and only if the Rules explicitly authorize the player to perform the action by one of the following methods: - Without N Objections, where N is a nonnegative integer; - With N Supporters, where N is a nonnegative integer; or - With N Agoran Consent, where N is an integer multiple of 0.1, with a minimum of 1.0. The phrase "Without Objection" is synonymous with "Without 1 Objection"; the phrase "With Support" is synonymous with "With 1 Supporter"; the phrase "With Agoran Consent" is synonymous with "With 1.0 Agoran Consent". A player authorized to perform a dependent action (the initiator) CAN publicly announce eir intent to do so, unambiguously describing both the action and the method, including the required value for N. A player (the performer) CAN perform a previously unambiguously described dependent action by announcement, if and only if all of the following are true: (a) the time elapsed since the announcement of intent is no more than fourteen days, and (if the action is to be performed Without N Objections or With N Agoran Consent) at least four days; (b) either the performer was the initiator, or the action depends on support and the performer has supported the action and the rule allowing the action to be performed dependently does not explicitly prohibit supporters from performing it, or the initiator was authorized to perform the action by virtue of holding a rules-defined position and the performer is the holder of that position when e attempts to perform the action; and (c) At the time the action is attempted, Agora is Satisfied with the announced intent, as described elsewhere. The specification in the rules that an action may be performed dependently does not prohibit performing that action independently if doing so would otherwise be permissible. [CFJ 1722 (called 15 August 2007): The method of dependent action need not be described exactly: an approximate but inexact description suffices, as does the rule-defined term.] [CFJ 1802 (called 19 November 2007): The phrase "by Agoran Support" is not an unambiguous description of a method of dependent action.] History: Created by Proposal 3521 (Chuck), Jun. 23 1997 Infected and Amended(1) by Rule 1454, Nov. 2 1997, substantial (unattributed) Amended(2) by Rule 1728, Nov. 16 1997, substantial Amended(3) by Proposal 3812 (Steve), Dec. 21 1998 Amended(4) by Proposal 3836 (General Chaos), Mar. 2 1999 Amended(5) by Proposal 3950 (harvel), Dec. 8 1999 Amended(6) by Proposal 3973 (harvel), Feb. 14 2000 Amended(7) by Proposal 3991 (Steve), Mar. 30 2000 Amended(8) by Proposal 4011 (Wes), Jun. 1 2000 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 4121 (Ziggy), Mar. 16 2001 Amended(9) by Proposal 4121 (Ziggy), Mar. 16 2001 Amended(10) by Proposal 4279 (harvel), 3 April 2002 Amended(11) by Proposal 4461 (Maud), 17 March 2003 Amended(12) by Proposal 4915 (Murphy), 2 April 2007 Amended(13) by Proposal 4981 (Zefram), 31 May 2007 Amended(14) by Proposal 4999 (Zefram), 12 June 2007 Amended(15) by Proposal 5007 (Zefram), 18 June 2007 Amended(16) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(17) by Proposal 5370 (Zefram), 20 December 2007 Amended(18) by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 Amended(19) by Proposal 5543 (Murphy, Pavitra, root), 16 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2124/7 (Power=2) Agoran Satisfaction A Supporter of a dependent action is a first-class player who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) support for an announcement of intent to perform the action. An Objector to a dependent action is a first-class player (or other person explicitly allowed to object to that action by the rule allowing that action to be performed dependently) who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) an objection to the announcement of intent to perform the action. The Executor of such an announcement of intent CANNOT support nor object to it. A rule authorizing the performance of a dependent action may further restrict the eligibility of players to support or object to that specific action. Agora is Satisfied with an intent to perform a specific action if and only if: (1) the action is to be performed Without N Objections, and it has fewer than N objectors; (2) the action is to be performed With N supporters, and it has N or more supporters; or (3) the action is to be performed with N Agoran Consent, and the ratio of supporters to objectors is greater than N, or the action has at least one supporter and no objectors. History: Created by Proposal 4853 (Goethe), 18 March 2006 Amended(1) by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(2) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(3) by Proposal 4978 (Murphy), 31 May 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5370 (Zefram), 20 December 2007 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 Retitled by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 Amended(6) by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 Amended(7) by Proposal 5504 (Murphy), 10 May 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1769/7 (Power=2) Holidays A Holiday is a period of time designated as such by the Rules. During a Holiday, the Promotor SHALL NOT distribute any proposals, and judges SHALL NOT be assigned to any judicial case, and judges SHALL NOT assign judgement to any judicial question. If some Rule requires that an action be done prior to a given time, and that given time falls during a Holiday, or within the 72-hour period immediately following that Holiday, then that action need not be done until 72 hours after that Holiday ends. If some Rule bases the time of a future event (including the time limit to perform an action) upon the time of another event, and a) that other event occurs during a Holiday, then the time at which that Holiday ends shall be used instead for the purpose of determining the time of the future event. b) the future event would occur during a Holiday, then the future event occurs 72 hours after the end of that Holiday instead. This Rule takes precedence over all Rules pertaining to the timing of events, and over all Rules which require events to be performed before a specified time. The period each year from midnight GMT on the morning of 24 December to the beginning of the first Agoran week to begin after 2 January is a Holiday. [CFJ 1434 (called 24 January 2003): The registration of a player is an event for the purposes of rule 1769.] [CFJ 1434 (called 24 January 2003): The expiration of a rule-defined period is an event for the purposes of rule 1769.] [CFJ 1480 (called 5 January 2004): An automatic event specified to occur at regular calendar intervals, for example quarterly, happens at its specified time even if that is during a holiday.] History: Created by Proposal 3679 (General Chaos), Jan. 30 1998 Amended(1) by Proposal 4036 (Oerjan), Aug. 7 2000 Amended(2) by Proposal 01-003 (Steve), Feb. 2 2001 Amended(3) by Proposal 4866 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(4) by Proposal 5077 (Murphy), 18 July 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5086 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5484 (Murphy; disi.), 2 April 2008 Amended(7) by Proposal 5535 (Murphy), 7 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1750/1 (Power=1) Read the Ruleset Week The first Agoran week each year which falls entirely in February is Read the Ruleset Week. Agorans are encouraged to read the ruleset during Read the Ruleset Week. History: Created by Proposal 3601 (Chuck), Dec. 9 1997 Amended(1) by Proposal 4398 (harvel), 23 October 2002 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Offices A category concerning administrative positions held by persons within the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1006/25 (Power=2) Offices A role is an office if and only if it is so defined by the rules. Each office at any time either is vacant (default) or is filled (held) by exactly one player. The holder of an office is an officer, and may be referred to by the name of the office. An office is imposed if it is so described by the rule defining it; otherwise, it is elected. The holder of an elected office CAN resign it by announcement, causing it to become vacant. As soon as possible after an elected office becomes (or is created) vacant, the IADoP SHALL make at least one nomination for the office; this requirement is waived if another player so makes a nomination. [CFJ 1660 (called 13 May 2007): This rule does not define the meaning of the term "office", in the sense meant by rule 754, but rather references the usual English definition of "office" and governs offices as thus defined.] [CFJ 1702 (called 12 July 2007): A requirement to submit something to an officer is satisfied by publishing it, even if that office is vacant at the time.] History: Created by Proposal 386 (Alexx), Aug. 16 1993 Amended by Proposal 733 (Ronald Kunne), Nov. 24 1993 Amended by Proposal 881, ca. Apr. 13 1994 Amended by Rule 750, ca. Apr. 13 1994 Amended by Proposal 1006, ca. Aug. 25 1994 Amended by Rule 750, ca. Aug. 25 1994 Amended(1) by Proposal 1336, Nov. 22 1994 Amended(2) by Proposal 1582, May 15 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 1699, Sep. 1 1995 Amended(4) by Proposal 1763, Oct. 31 1995 Amended(5) by Proposal 2442, Feb. 6 1996 Amended(6) by Proposal 2623, Jun. 19 1996 Amended(7) by Proposal 3902 (Murphy), Sep. 6 1999 Amended(8) by Proposal 4002 (harvel), May 8 2000 Amended(9) by Proposal 4250 (harvel), 19 February 2002 Amended(10) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(11) by Proposal 4887 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 Amended(12) by Proposal 4889 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 Amended(13) by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(14) by Proposal 4956 (Murphy), 7 May 2007 Amended(15) by Proposal 4980 (Murphy), 31 May 2007 Amended(16) by Proposal 5029 (Murphy), 28 June 2007 Amended(17) by Proposal 5059 (Zefram, Goethe), 9 July 2007 Amended(18) by Proposal 5070 (Zefram), 11 July 2007 Amended(19) by Proposal 5088 (Murphy), 25 July 2007 Amended(20) by Proposal 5103 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 5133 (Zefram), 13 August 2007 Amended(21) by Proposal 5133 (Zefram), 13 August 2007 Amended(22) by Proposal 5239 (AFO), 3 October 2007 Amended(23) by Proposal 5407 (root), 22 January 2008 Amended(24) by Proposal 5519 (Murphy), 28 May 2008 Amended(25) by Proposal 5534 (root; disi.), 7 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2154/11 (Power=2) Replacing Officers Any player CAN by announcement nominate one or more active players to be candidate(s) for an elected Office. This begins a nomination period for that office, during which other candidates may be so nominated. The nomination period lasts for four days. Once a nomination period begins, a new one CANNOT begin for the same office until the nomination or resulting election is resolved. A player who has not refused eir nomination is a consenting candidate. As soon as possible after the nomination period ends, then: (a) if there is only one consenting candidate, the IADoP SHALL install em in the Office by announcement; (b) if there are two or more consenting candidates, then the IADoP SHALL initiate an Agoran decision to determine the new officeholder; this process is known as an election. In an election, the valid options are the consenting nominees (hereafter the candidates), quorum is the lesser of three and the number of active players (other rules on quorum notwithstanding), the eligible voters are the active players. If a player refuses eir nomination during the election, e ceases to be a valid option. In the notice resolving the decision, the IADoP will select a candidate that received at least as many votes as any other candidate (if any); this candidate thereby becomes the officeholder. Stability is an elected office switch, tracked by the IADoP, with values Temporal (default) and Perpetual. Any player CAN flip an office's stability without 2 objections. A Perpetual office becomes Temporal when its holder leaves office. If an office is Temporal at the end of a quarter, and no nomination period began for that office during that quarter, then the IADoP SHALL make at least one nomination for the office during the following quarter. These requirements are waived if another player so makes a nomination. History: Created by Proposal 5059 (Zefram, Goethe), 9 July 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5096 (Murphy; disi.), 25 July 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5108 (Zefram; disi.), 2 August 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5133 (Zefram), 13 August 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5224 (Murphy), 23 September 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5407 (root), 22 January 2008 Amended(6) by Proposal 5452 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 Amended(7) by Proposal 5453 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 Amended(8) by Proposal 5491 (Murphy), 23 April 2008 Amended(9) by Proposal 5497 (Murphy; disi.), 23 April 2008 Amended(10) by Proposal 5499 (Goethe), 23 April 2008 Amended(11) by Proposal 5503 (root), 1 May 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2138/4 (Power=1) The International Associate Director of Personnel The International Associate Director of Personnel is an low-priority office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of officers and reports. The IADoP's report includes the following: a) The holder of each office. b) The date on which each holder last came to hold that office. c) The date when the most recent nomination period for that office began. [CFJ 1672 (called 18 May 2007): The International Associate Director of Personnel is the Director of Personnel.] [Cross-references (1 March 2008): the IADoP's duties are: * hold election for office where contested (rule 2154) * track stability of elected offices (rule 2154) * attempt to change officeholders quarterly (rule 2154) * report officeholding (rule 2138) * award long service patent titles (rule 1922)] History: Created by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 4956 (Murphy), 7 May 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5237 (AFO; disi.), 3 October 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5367 (Levi; disi.), 20 December 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5517 (Wooble; disi.), 28 May 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2143/2 (Power=1) Official Reports and Duties For each office: a) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that office's weekly duties, then the holder of that office SHALL perform it at least once each week. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that office's weekly report, then the holder of that office SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of that office's weekly duties. b) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that office's monthly duties, then the holder of that office SHALL perform it at least once each month. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that office's monthly report, then the holder of that office SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of that office's monthly duties. Any information defined by the rules as part of an office's report, without specifying which one, is part of its weekly report (unless the office is defined by the rules as low-priority, in which case it is part of its monthly report). History: Created by Proposal 4970 (Zefram), 23 May 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5239 (AFO), 3 October 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5485 (root), 9 April 2008 Amended(2) by Proposal 5485 (root), 9 April 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1551/12 (Power=3) Ratification A public document is part (possibly all) of a public message. When a public document is ratified, the gamestate is modified so that the ratified document was completely true and accurate at the time it was published. Nevertheless, the ratification of a public document does not invalidate, reverse, alter, or cancel any messages or actions, even if they were unrecorded or overlooked, or change the legality of any attempted action. Ratifying a public document is secured. History: Created by Proposal 2425, Jan. 30 1996 Infected and Amended(1) by Rule 1454, Feb. 4 1997, substantial (unattributed) Amended(2) by Proposal 3445 (General Chaos), Mar. 26 1997, substantial Amended(3) by Proposal 3704 (General Chaos), Mar. 19 1998 Amended(4) by Proposal 3889 (harvel), Aug. 9 1999 Amended(5) by Proposal 4147 (Wes), 13 May 2001 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4832 (Maud), 6 August 2005 Amended(6) by Proposal 4832 (Maud), 6 August 2005 Amended(7) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(8) by Proposal 5101 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(9) by Proposal 5212 (Murphy), 8 September 2007 Amended(10) by Proposal 5275 (Murphy), 7 November 2007 Amended(11) by Proposal 5315 (Murphy), 28 November 2007 Amended(12) by Proposal 5459 (Murphy), 9 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2202/0 (Power=3) Ratification Without Objection An official document is a public document purported to be part (possibly all) of an official report; this part is the document's scope. Any player CAN, without objection, ratify an official document, specifying its scope. The date of this ratification and the scope of the ratified document become part of the official report in question, until the same scope is ratified at a later date. [CFJ 1836 (called 18 December 2007): Ratification of an official document affects only those aspects of gamestate that are defined to be part of the official report, and not aspects that are incidentally reported on; in particular, ratification of an official report on certain parameters pertaining to each player does not ratify the list of players.] History: Created by Proposal 5459 (Murphy), 9 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2201/0 (Power=3) Self-Ratification Any public document defined by the rules as self-ratifying is ratified one week after its publication, unless explicitly and publicly challenged during that period via one of the following methods, explaining the scope and nature of the perceived error: a) An inquiry case, appropriate for questions of legal interpretation. b) A claim of error, appropriate for matters of fact. The publisher of the original document SHALL respond to a claim of error as soon as possible, either publishing a revision or denying the claim. If e denies the claim, then the original document is ratified one week after the denial, unless it is challenged again (subject to the same requirements) during that period. [CFJ 1690 (called 19 June 2007): A challenge to a self-ratifying document [at the time of CFJ 1690, the resolution of an Agoran decision] must explicitly identify the document, either individually or as part of a set, and explicitly contest the accuracy of some aspect of it.] [CFJs 1790-1791 (called 11 November 2007): A challenge to any part of a self-ratifying document prevents ratification of all parts of it.] History: Created by Proposal 5459 (Murphy), 9 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2160/3 (Power=1) Deputisation Any player (a deputy) CAN perform an action as if e held a particular office (deputise for that office) if: (a) the rules require the holder of that office, by virtue of holding that office, to perform the action (or, if the office is vacant, would so require if the office were filled); and (b) a time limit by which the rules require the action to be performed has expired; and (c) the deputy announced between two and fourteen days earlier that e intended to deputise for that office for the purposes of the particular action; and (d) it would be POSSIBLE for the deputy to perform the action, other than by deputisation, if e held the office. [CFJ 1776 (called 1 November 2007): A requirement to perform an action, for the purposes of this rule, can be a logical implication from rules and circumstances, not just directly imposed by the rules.] History: Created by Proposal 5103 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5200 (Zefram; disi.), 8 September 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5414 (Murphy), 26 January 2008 Amended(3) by Proposal 5454 (Murphy), 9 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Agoran Decisions A category concerning the means by which this nomic makes collective decisions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 693/9 (Power=3) Agoran Decisions When the rules calls for an Agoran decision to be made, the decision-making process takes place in the following three stages, each described elsewhere: (a) Initiation of the decision. (b) Voting of the people. (c) Resolution of the decision. History: Initial Mutable Rule 205, Jun. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 693 (Wes), Nov. 12 1993 Amended(1) by Proposal 1564 (Steve), Apr. 28 1995 Infected and Amended(2) by Rule 1454, Sep. 14 1997, substantial (unattributed) Amended(3) by Rule 693, Sep. 28 1997, substantial Amended(4) by Proposal 3809 (General Chaos), Dec. 7 1998 Amended(5) by Proposal 3921 (Wes), Oct. 3 1999 Amended(6) by Proposal 3968 (harvel), Feb. 4 2000 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 4040 (Oerjan), Aug. 7 2000 Power changed from 2 to 3 by Proposal 4811 (Maud,Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(7) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(8) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(9) by Proposal 4887 (Murphy), 22 January 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 107/9 (Power=3) Initiating Agoran Decisions An Agoran decision is initiated when a person authorized to initiate it publishes a valid notice which sets forth the intent to initiate the decision. This notice is invalid if it lacks any of the following information, and the lack is correctly identified within one week after the notice is published: (a) The matter to be decided (for example, "the adoption of proposal 4781"). (b) A description of the class of eligible voters sufficient to enable public agreement on which persons are eligible. In particular, an explicit list of the eligible voters is always sufficient for this purpose. (c) A clear indication of the options available. (d) The identity of the vote collector. (e) Any additional information defined by the rules as essential parameters. The publication of such a valid notice initiates the voting period for the decision. By default, the voting period lasts for seven days. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the voting period for a decision cannot be shorter than seven days. [CFJ 1650 (called 6 May 2007): The intent to initiate the decision and the information required in the notice need not be explicit.] [CFJ 1743 (called 18 September 2007): If the notice does not mention voter eligibility but the type of Agoran decision is clear and the rule defining the relevant type of Agoran decision fully determines the class of eligible voters, then the notice thereby implicitly describes the class of eligible voters.] [CFJ 1722 (called 15 August 2007): Information that is explicitly presented in the notice takes precedence over any information that would be implicit, even where the explicit information is inaccurate and the implicit information would have been accurate.] [CFJ 1651 (called 6 May 2007): If a R107 notice initiating an Agoran decision does not contain an explicit list of the eligible voters, and there is later a dispute (evidenced by submission of a CFJ) over which voters were eligible at that time, then the notice's description of the class of eligible voters was necessarily insufficient to enable public agreement on which persons are eligible.] [CFJ 1652 (called 6 May 2007): The set of eligible voters on an Agoran decision can change during its voting period.] History: Initial Immutable Rule 107, Jun. 30 1993 Mutated from MI=Unanimity to MI=3 by Proposal 1391, Jan. 24 1995 Amended(1) by Proposal 3889 (harvel), Aug. 9 1999 Amended(2) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(3) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(4) by Proposal 4964 (Murphy), 3 June 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5229 (root), 27 September 2007 Amended(7) by Proposal 5413 (root), 26 January 2008 Amended(8) by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 Amended(9) by Proposal 5455 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2137/2 (Power=1) The Assessor The Assessor is an office; its holder is responsible for collecting votes and keeping track of related properties. [CFJs 1758-1759 (called 30 September 2007): If Assessorship changes hands, vote collection duties move with it.] [Cross-references (1 March 2008): the Assessor's duties are: * report date of most recent emergency session (rule 2177) * report roll call of most recent emergency session (rule 2177) * report EVLOD (rule 2156)] History: Created by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5078 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5453 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 683/14 (Power=3) Voting on Agoran Decisions An eligible voter on a particular Agoran decision submits a ballot to the vote collector by publishing a valid notice indicating which one of the available options e selects. To be valid, the ballot must satisfy the following conditions: (a) The ballot is submitted during the voting period for the decision, and the submitter is an eligible voter at the time of submission. (b) The ballot clearly identifies the matter to be decided. (c) The ballot clearly identifies the option selected by the voter. (d) The voter has not publicly retracted the ballot during the voting period. Among the otherwise-valid votes on an Agoran decision, only the first N submitted by each entity are valid, where N is the entity's voting limit on that decision. The voting limit of an entity that is not an eligible voter on an Agoran decision is zero. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an Agoran decision is one, except where rules say otherwise. The strength of an option is the number of valid ballots selecting that option. Other rules may place further constraints on the validity of ballots. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would loosen the constraints specified by this rule. [CFJ 1609 (called 13 January 2007): To "clearly identif[y] the matter to be decided" does not necessarily require specifying it in detail.] [CFJs 1852-1853 (called 23 December 2007): Claiming to submit more votes than ones voting limit on the decision does not constitute the making of a false statement.] History: Initial Mutable Rule 207, Jun. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 683 (Jeffrey S.), Nov. 10 1993 Amended(1) by Proposal 1473, Mar. 8 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1531, Mar. 24 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 1554, Apr. 17 1995 Amended(4) by Proposal 1641, Aug. 1 1995 Amended(5) by Proposal 2590, May 1 1996 Amended(6) by Proposal 3718 (Steve), Apr. 3 1998 Amended(7) by Proposal 3937 (Wes), Oct. 31 1999 Amended(8) by Proposal 3968 (harvel), Feb. 4 2000 Amended(9) by Proposal 3972 (Peekee), Feb. 14 2000 Amended(10) by Proposal 4190 (Steve), 18 July 2001 Amended(11) by Proposal 4699 (Sherlock), 18 April 2005 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4811 (Maud,Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(12) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(13) by Proposal 4964 (Murphy), 3 June 2007 Amended(14) by Proposal 5078 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2127/2 (Power=1) Conditional Votes A ballot option (vote) on an Agoran decision may be submitted conditionally, and the truth or falsity of the condition and thus the selected option will be determined as it exists at the end of the voting period. The option selected shall be considered to be clearly identified if and only if the truth or falsity of the specified condition(s) can be reasonably determined, without circularity or paradox, from information published within the voting period. Casting a vote endorsing another voter is equivalent to conditionally casting a vote whose value is the same as the most common value (if any) among that voter's valid votes on that decision. Casting a vote denouncing another voter is equivalent to conditionally casting a vote whose value is opposite to the most common value (if any) among that voter's valid votes on that decision. FOR and AGAINST are opposites; PRESENT is its own opposite. History: Created by Proposal 4875 (Goethe), 1 December 2006 Amended(1) by Proposal 5427 (Murphy), 9 February 2008 Amended(2) by Proposal 5506 (Murphy; disi.), 10 May 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2168/0 (Power=1) Extending the voting period Whenever the voting period of an Agoran decision would end, and the result would be FAILED QUORUM, the length of the voting period for that decision will immediately be doubled, provided this has not already happened for the decision in question. Upon such an occurrence, the vote collector for the decision SHOULD issue a humiliating public reminder to the slackers who have not yet cast any votes on it despite being eligible. History: Created by Proposal 5191 (root), 6 September 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 208/7 (Power=3) Resolving Agoran decisions The vote collector for an unresolved Agoran decision CAN resolve it by announcement, indicating the option selected by Agora. If it was required to be initiated, then e SHALL resolve it as soon as possible after the end of the voting period. To be valid, this announcement must satisfy the following conditions: (a) It is published after the voting period has ended. (b) It clearly identifies the matter to be resolved. (c) It specifies which option was selected by Agora, as described elsewhere, and provides a tally of the voters' valid ballots on the various options. Each Agoran decision has exactly one vote collector, defaulting to the initiator of the decision. If the vote collector is defined by reference to a position (or, in the default case, if the initiator was so defined), then the vote collector is the current holder of that position. This rule takes precedence over any rule that would provide another mechanism by which an Agoran decision may be resolved. [CFJ 1711 (called 1 August 2007): If a purported resolution notice refers via a References: header to a previous notice with an incomplete vote tally and lists additional votes but does not give revised totals, this does not qualify as including a vote tally.] [CFJ 1810 (called 28 November 2007): If a purported resolution notice refers via an approximate date header to a previous notice with an incomplete vote tally and lists additional votes but does not give revised totals, this does qualify as including a vote tally.] [CFJ 1822 (called 4 December 2007): If a purported resolution notice includes invalid votes in its tally of votes, this makes the notice invalid.] History: Initial Mutable Rule 208, Jun. 30 1993 Amended(1) by Proposal 1401, Jan. 29 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1531, Mar. 24 1995 Power changed from 1 to 3 by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(3) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(4) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 5229 (root), 27 September 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5450 (Murphy), 27 February 2008 Amended(7) by Proposal 5453 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2196/1 (Power=3) Standard Classes of Agoran Decisions An Agoran decision with an adoption index is either ordinary or democratic. An Agoran decision with an adoption index greater than or equal to 2 is democratic. Any other Agoran decision with an adoption index is ordinary by default. If an Agoran decision has an adoption index, then the following are essential parameters: a) Its adoption index. b) Whether it is ordinary or democratic. For any Agoran decision with an adoption index, the available options are FOR, AGAINST, and PRESENT. History: Created by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(1) by Proposal 5455 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 955/13 (Power=3) Determining the Will of Agora The outcome of an Agoran decision is determined as follows. (a) If there is more than one available option, and the number of distinct voters who submitted valid ballots is less than quorum, then the outcome is FAILED QUORUM, regardless of the remainder of this rule. Otherwise, the decision achieved quorum. (b) If the decision is ordinary or democratic, then the voting index is the ratio of the strength of FOR to the strength of AGAINST. If the voting index is greater than 1, and greater than or equal to the decision's adoption index, then the outcome is ADOPTED; otherwise, the outcome is REJECTED. [CFJs 1673-1675 (called 20 May 2007): Quorum for an Agoran decision is determined at the time the vote collector makes the calculations described in rule 955.] History: Initial Mutable Rule 209, Jun. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 396 (KoJen), Aug. 23 1993 Amended by Proposal 658, Oct. 29 1993 Amended by Proposal 761, Dec. 8 1993 Amended by Rule 750, Dec. 8 1993 Amended by Proposal 955, Jul. 25 1994 Amended by Rule 750, Jul. 25 1994 Amended(1) by Proposal 1279, Oct. 24 1994 Amended(2) by Proposal 1531, Mar. 24 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 1723, Oct. 6 1995 Mutated from MI=1 to MI=3 by Proposal 2398, Jan. 20 1996 Amended(4) by Proposal 3721 (Steve), Apr. 16 1998 Amended(5) by Proposal 3818 (Chuck), Dec. 21 1998 Amended(6) by Proposal 4263 (Steve), 4 March 2002 Amended(7) by Proposal 4302 (Murphy), 17 May 2002 Amended(8) by Proposal 4412 (Steve), 6 November 2002 Amended(9) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(10) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(11) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(12) by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(13) by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 879/27 (Power=2) Quorum Quorum for an Agoran decision is N/3 (where N is the number of eligible voters with a positive voting limit on that decision), rounded up, with a minimum of five (unless this is greater than N, in which case quorum is N). [CFJ 1562 (called 3 May 2005): A cancelled vote on a Proposal does not count towards quorum.] [CFJs 1673-1675 (called 20 May 2007): Quorum for an Agoran decision changes as the set of eligible voters changes.] History: Initial Mutable Rule 201, Jun. 30 1993 Amended by Proposal 879, Apr. 13 1994 Amended by Rule 750, Apr. 13 1994 Amended(1) by Proposal 1471, Mar. 8 1995 Amended(2) by Proposal 1554, Apr. 17 1995 Amended(3) by Proposal 1708, Sep. 4 1995 Infected and Amended(4) by Rule 1454, Jul. 27 1996 Amended(5) by Proposal 2786 (Steve), Jan. 15 1997, substantial Amended(6) by Proposal 3643 (General Chaos), Dec. 29 1997 Amended(7) by Proposal 3777 (Blob), Aug. 3 1998 Amended(8) by Proposal "A Separation of Powers" (Steve, Without Objection), Apr. 20 1999 Amended(9) by Proposal 3897 (harvel), Aug. 27 1999 Amended(10) by Proposal 3956 (harvel), Dec. 28 1999 Amended(11) by Proposal 3972 (Peekee), Feb. 14 2000 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 3980 (Steve), Mar. 1 2000 Amended(12) by Proposal 3980 (Steve), Mar. 1 2000 Amended(13) by Proposal 4018 (Kelly), Jun. 21 2000 Amended(14) by Proposal 4239 (Murphy), 29 January 2002 Amended(15) by Proposal 4276 (Steve), 28 March 2002 Amended(16) by Proposal 4278 (harvel), 3 April 2002 Amended(17) by Proposal 4282 (Goethe), 16 April 2002 Amended(18) by Proposal 4311 (root), 28 May 2002 Amended(19) by Proposal 4410 (Steve), 6 November 2002 Amended(20) by Proposal 4576 (root), 31 May 2004 Amended(21) by Proposal 4665 (Kolja), 9 April 2005 Amended(22) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(23) by Proposal 4964 (Murphy), 3 June 2007 Amended(24) by Proposal 4997 (Zefram, Goddess Eris), 6 June 2007 Amended(25) by Proposal 5000 (Murphy), 12 June 2007 Amended(26) by Proposal 5113 (Murphy, Maud), 2 August 2007 Amended(27) by Proposal 5445 (Goethe, Murphy), 21 February 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2034/4 (Power=3) Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges Any proposal that would otherwise change the validity of any existing vote on any specific unresolved Agoran decision is wholly without effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. This does not prevent amendment of the rules governing the validity of votes on Agoran decisions in general. Once an Agoran decision has been resolved, votes on it CANNOT be validly submitted or retracted, and its outcome CANNOT be changed in any way, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. This does not prevent correcting errors in reporting its resolution. A public document purporting to resolve an Agoran decision is self-ratifying. History: Created by Proposal 4366 (Steve), 23 August 2002 Amended(1) by Proposal 4637 (Murphy), 19 February 2005 Amended(2) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(3) by Proposal 5212 (Murphy), 8 September 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5275 (Murphy), 7 November 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Proposals A category concerning the primary and plenipotent system by which changes are made to the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 106/13 (Power=3) Adopting Proposals A proposal is a document outlining changes to be made to Agora, including enacting, repealing, or amending rules, or making other explicit changes to the gamestate. A player submits a proposal by publishing it with a clear indication that it is intended to become a proposal, which places the proposal in the Proposal Pool. That player is its author (syn. proposer). The author of a proposal may remove it from the Pool by announcement. A person is a co-author of a proposal if and only if e is distinct from its author, and unambiguously identified by its author as being its co-author at the time of submission. The adoption index of a proposal is an integral multiple of 0.1 from 1.0 to 9.9. It may be set by the proposer at the time of submission, or otherwise defaults to 1.0. Determining whether to adopt a proposal is an Agoran decision. For this decision, the adoption index is the adoption index of the proposal, and the vote collector is the Assessor. If the option selected by Agora on this decision is ADOPTED, then the proposal is adopted, and unless other rules prevent it from taking effect, its power is set to the minimum of four and its adoption index, and then it takes effect. It does not otherwise take effect. Preventing a proposal from taking effect is a secured change. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would permit a proposal to take effect. [CFJ 1647 (called 30 April 2007): Preceding a proposal-like text with the heading "Proposal:" and a title can be sufficient to clearly indicate that it is intended to become a proposal, but is not if it can be interpreted as quoting an existing proposal.] [CFJ 1717 (called 8 August 2007): Preceding a proposal-like text with the question "What is the title of this proposal?" can be sufficient to clearly indicate that it is intended to become a proposal.] [CFJ 1885 (called 26 January 2008): "AGAINT" is a variant spelling of "AGAINST", not a customary synonym for "FOR", despite its former private usage with the latter meaning.] [CFJ 1639 (called 29 April 2007): Where a proposal attempts two separate amendments of the text of the same rule, if one of the attempted amendments is not possible and the other is then the possible amendment does in fact occur, unless the proposal explicitly requires a different resolution.] [CFJ 1781 (called 4 November 2007): Proposal distribution is not governed by this rule, so for the promotor to distribute a proposal that is not in the proposal pool is not a violation of this rule.] [CFJ 1841 (called 20 December 2007): It is possible for a proposal to have retroactive effect.] History: Initial Immutable Rule 106, Jun. 30 1993 Mutated from MI=Unanimity to MI=3 by Proposal 1073, Oct. 4 1994 Amended by Proposal 1278, Oct. 24 1994 Renumbered from 1073 to 106 by Rule 1295, Nov. 1 1994 Infected, but not amended, by Rule 1454, May 7 1995 Amended(1) by Proposal 3736 (Blob), May 3 1998 Amended(2) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(3) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(4) by Proposal 4918 (OscarMeyr), 2 April 2007 Amended(5) by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(6) by Proposal 5010 (Levi), 24 June 2007 Amended(7) by Proposal 5078 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 Amended(8) by Proposal 5083 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(9) by Proposal 5334 (Murphy), 5 December 2007 Amended(10) by Proposal 5356 (root), 16 December 2007 Amended(11) by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(12) by Proposal 5453 (Murphy), 1 March 2008 Amended(13) by Proposal 5572 (Murphy), 4 July 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2153/1 (Power=1) Interest Index The interest index of a proposal is an integer from 0 to 3. It CAN be set by the proposer at the time of submission, or otherwise defaults to 1. A proposal's interest index SHOULD be proportional to its complexity. "Disinterested" is a synonym for "interest index 0". A proposal SHOULD be disinterested if and only if its effects are limited to correcting errors and/or ambiguities. History: Created by Proposal 5056 (Murphy), 5 July 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5176 (Murphy), 29 August 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5176 (Murphy), 29 August 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1607/18 (Power=1) The Promotor The Promotor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing proposals. The Promotor MAY distribute a proposal in the Proposal Pool at any time. The Promotor's weekly duties include the distribution of each proposal that has been in the Proposal Pool since the beginning of that week. The Promotor distributes a proposal by publishing it with the clear intent of distributing it. When a proposal is distributed, it is removed from the Proposal Pool. The distribution of a proposal initiates the Agoran decision of whether to adopt the proposal, as described elsewhere. For an Agoran decision of whether to adopt a proposal, the following are essential parameters: a) Its author (and co-authors, if any). b) Its interest index. Distributed proposals have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Promotor. The Promotor's report includes a list of all proposals in the Proposal Pool. [CFJ 1546 (called 14 April 2005), CFJ 1669 (called 16 May 2007): If a proposal is purportedly distributed with a text that differs from the submitted text, this constitutes a legal distribution of the submitted proposal if and only if the difference does not affect the meaning of the proposal.] [CFJ 1655 (called 9 May 2007): Distributing a purported proposal whose text consists of the texts of two submitted proposals and separating matter from the message that submitted them both, if both submitted proposals have non-null effects, does not constitute a legal distribution of either of the submitted proposals.] [CFJ 1656 (called 9 May 2007): If the Promotor purports to distribute a proposal, but the distributed text does not match any proposal in the proposal pool, this constitutes the effective (albeit prohibited) distribution of a new proposal.] [CFJ 1780 (called 4 November 2007): If the Promotor creates a new proposal by distribution, by accidentally mangling the text of a proposal in the pool, and the new proposal is very similar in meaning to the one on which it is based (with only inconsequential differences), then the author of the new proposal is the author of the proposal on which it is based.] [CFJ 1780 (called 4 November 2007): If the Promotor accidentally creates a new proposal by distribution, and the new proposal is seriously different from any proposal in the pool, then the new proposal has no author.] [Cross-references (2 August 2007): the Promotor's duties are: * not distribute proposals during holiday (rule 1769) * distribute proposals (rule 1607) * manage ID numbers of distributed proposals (rule 1607) * report proposal pool (rule 1607)] History: Created by Proposal 2522, Mar. 10 1996 Amended(1) by Proposal 2662, Sep. 12 1996 Amended(2) by Proposal 2696, Oct. 10 1996 Null-Amended(3) by Proposal 2710, Oct. 12 1996 Amended(4) by Proposal 3827 (Kolja A.), Feb. 4 1999 Amended(5) by Proposal 3871 (Peekee), Jun. 2 1999 Amended(6) by Proposal 3902 (Murphy), Sep. 6 1999 Amended(7) by Proposal 4002 (harvel), May 8 2000 Amended(8) by Proposal 4050 (t), Aug. 15 2000 Amended(9) by Proposal 4085 (Blob), Nov. 16 2000 Amended(10) by Proposal 4250 (harvel), 19 February 2002 Amended(11) by Proposal 4486 (Michael), 24 April 2003 Amended(12) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(13) by Proposal 5077 (Murphy), 18 July 2007 Amended(14) by Proposal 5110 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(15) by Proposal 5112 (Murphy), 2 August 2007 Amended(16) by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(17) by Proposal 5457 (Murphy), 9 March 2008 Amended(18) by Proposal 5485 (root), 9 April 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1450/8 (Power=2) Separation of Powers Any change in officeholdings that would result in a single entity holding the offices of Promotor and Assessor simultaneously is INVALID. This rule takes precedence over all other rules regarding offices. History: Created by Proposal 1547, Apr. 14 1995 Amended(1) by Proposal 2442, Feb. 6 1996 Amended(2) by Proposal 3742 (Harlequin), May 8 1998 Amended(3) by Proposal 4576 (root), 31 May 2004 Amended(4) by Proposal 4592 (Murphy), 4 July 2004 Amended(5) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(6) by Proposal 4939 (Murphy), 29 April 2007 Amended(7) by Proposal 5106 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(8) by Proposal 5476 (Murphy; disi.), 27 March 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1698/1 (Power=3) Agora Is a Nomic In the interest of safeguarding Agora's nomic-ness, if a change to the gamestate would otherwise make it IMPOSSIBLE to make arbitrary rule changes and/or adopt arbitrary proposals within a four-week period by any combinations of actions by players, then that change is canceled and does not occur, any rule to the contrary notwithstanding. History: Created by Proposal 3465 (Steve), Apr. 26 1997 Retitled by Proposal 5536 (Murphy), 7 June 2008 Amended(1) by Proposal 5536 (Murphy), 7 June 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1950/20 (Power=3) Voting on Democratic Decisions The eligible voters on a democratic decision are those entities that were active first-class players at the start of its voting period. The voting limit of each eligible voter on a democratic decision is one. History: Created by Proposal 4032 (t), Jul. 24 2000 Amended(1) by Proposal 4085 (Blob), Nov. 16 2000 Amended(2) by Proposal 4221 (Steve), 10 October 2001 Amended(3) by Proposal 4282 (Goethe), 16 April 2002 Amended(4) by Proposal 4352 (OscarMeyr), 7 August 2002 Amended(5) by Proposal 4370 (OscarMeyr), 6 September 2002 Amended(6) by Proposal 4486 (Michael), 24 April 2003 Amended(7) by Proposal 4539 (Goethe), 16 November 2003 Amended(8) by Proposal 4576 (root), 31 May 2004 Amended(9) by Proposal 4624 (Goethe), 20 November 2004 Amended(10) by Proposal 4665 (Kolja), 9 April 2005 Amended(11) by Proposal 4685 (Quazie, Murphy), 18 April 2005 Power changed from 2 to 3 by Proposal 4811 (Maud,Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(12) by Proposal 4811 (Maud, Goethe), 20 June 2005 Amended(13) by Proposal 4868 (Goethe), 27 August 2006 Amended(14) by Proposal 4972 (Goddess Eris), 23 May 2007 Amended(15) by Proposal 4964 (Murphy), 3 June 2007 Amended(16) by Proposal 5000 (Murphy), 12 June 2007 Amended(17) by Proposal 5007 (Zefram), 18 June 2007 Amended(18) by Proposal 5047 (root), 1 July 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5078 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 Amended(19) by Proposal 5078 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(20) by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2156/6 (Power=2) Voting on Ordinary Decisions Each player has an associated number known as eir base voting limit on ordinary decisions (BVLOD). The BVLOD of a first-class player is four, the BVLOD of a province is four, and the BVLOD of any other player is zero. BVLOD cannot be modified. Each player has an associated number known as eir volatile voting limit on ordinary decisions (VVLOD). Whenever a player is registered, eir VVLOD is set to eir BVLOD. Changes to VVLOD are secured Each player has an associated number known as eir effective voting limit on ordinary decisions (EVLOD). Whenever a player is registered, eir EVLOD is set to eir BVLOD. At the end of each week, each player's EVLOD is set to eir VVLOD, rounded to an integer, breaking ties towards odd integers, and eir VVLOD is set to the same rounded value. EVLOD cannot be modified by any other means. The assessor's report includes each player's EVLOD. The eligible voters on an ordinary decision are those entities that were active players at the start of its voting period. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an ordinary decision is eir EVLOD at the start of its voting period, or half that (rounded up) if the voter is in the chokey at the start of the voting period. History: Created by Proposal 5078 (Zefram), 18 July 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5082 (Zefram), 1 August 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5141 (Zefram), 19 August 2007 Amended(3) by Proposal 5276 (Murphy, Pavitra, Zefram), 7 November 2007 Amended(4) by Proposal 5358 (Murphy), 20 December 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(5) by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 Amended(6) by Proposal 5447 (Pavitra), 24 February 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2134/4 (Power=2) Win by Clout Upon a win announcement that a specified player's voting limit on an ordinary decision initiated at that time would exceed the combined voting limits of all other players on that decision, the specified player satisfies the Winning Condition of Clout. Cleanup procedure: Each player's VVLOD is set to eir BVLOD, and no player satisfies this Winning Condition again (the remainder of this rule notwithstanding) until after the next time that each player's EVLOD is set based on eir VVLOD. History: Created by Proposal 4930 (Goethe), 29 April 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5222 (root; disi.), 30 September 2007 Amended(1) by Proposal 5222 (root; disi.), 30 September 2007 Amended(2) by Proposal 5343 (Murphy), 8 December 2007 Retitled by Proposal 5394 (Murphy, Goddess Eris, OscarMeyr, Zefram), 16 January 2008 Power changed from 1 to 2 by Proposal 5394 (Murphy, Goddess Eris, OscarMeyr, Zefram), 16 January 2008 Amended(3) by Proposal 5394 (Murphy, Goddess Eris, OscarMeyr, Zefram), 16 January 2008 Amended(4) by Proposal 5418 (root), 2 February 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2126/55 (Power=2) Notes Note