From ford@jps.net Sun Mar 18 22:08:15 2001 Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 03:08:35 -0800 From: Ed Murphy Reply-To: agora-discussion@gecko.serc.rmit.edu.au To: Agora Business Subject: BUS: Agoran Weekly Journal THE AGORAN WEEKLY JOURNAL VOLUME 47, ISSUE 22 March 18, 2001 "THE END IS NI" -harvel [This space for rent - 1 VE, Papyrus, or Indulgence] ADOPTED PROPOSALS ----------------- "Auction Fractional VEs" by Blob - Proposal 4117 adopted 3/5 VEs are auctioned in units of the MUQ of VEs. "Patch Up Dependent Actions" by Ziggy - Proposal 4121 adopted 3/13 A Player may not Support emself. The Rule defining Dependent Actions is increased to Power=2. A Rule defining a specific Dependent Action may restrict the eligibility of Players to Support or Object to that action. "Zombie Upkeep" (proto by Steve; duplicated and Proposed by Goethe) - Proposal 4118 adopted 3/5 Zombie upkeep is increased from one Indulgence per quarter to one Indulgence per month, and if the debt is not paid as soon as possible, then the Zombie is lost. REJECTED PROPOSALS ------------------ "Clarity of Communication" by Goethe - Proposal 4115 rejected 3/5 A Communication is a single declaration with a specific effect. A Communication has effect only if it has exactly one reasonable interpretation. A message is a (possibly empty) set of Collections to be sent to a Public Forum. A message's Communications have effect only if they have an unambiguous order. "Start the Sanity-Insanity" by harvel - Proposal 4120 rejected 3/13 Each non-Senator receives 100 Stems. "The CotC's Budget" by Blob - Proposal 4119 rejected 3/13 The CotC's Budget specifies the penalty for each Crime (from 0 to 15) and Infraction (0 to 5, except Dereliction of Duty which may be penalized as if it were a Crime). "VE Upkeep" by Blob - Proposal 4116 rejected 3/5 The Treasuror's Budget contains the VE Upkeep, which is from 0 to 2 times the Basic Officer's Salary. The Treasuror may amend eir Budget's upkeeps Without 3 Objections. E may still amend eir Budget's compensations With Support. At the beginning of the second month of each quarter, the Assessor bills each non-Bank entity for the VE Upkeep for each VE it owns. If any part of such a debt remains outstanding for a week, the Assessor may forgive the rest of the debt and bill the entity for a corresponding quantity of VEs instead. (This clock stops running while the debt is disputed or the Player is On Hold.) PENDING PROPOSALS ----------------- "Allow Tax Exemptions" by Murphy Rule 1853 (Levying Taxes) permits exemptions. "Bonds" by Hooloovoo Bonds are Property. The Recordkeepor of Bonds is the Fed. Bonds cost 50 Stems each, have a term from 1 week to 1 year, and may be redeemed at the interest rate currently in effect for the Bond's term length. "Bonds" by Kelly Bonds are Property. The Recordkeepor of Bonds is the Usuror. Bonds with the same Issuer, face value, and maturity date form a species, and are fungible. Players, Groups, Contests, and the Bank have Bond Issuance Authority. A mature Bond is redeemed by transferring it to its Issuer for the purpose of redemption. The Issuer owes the transferor the Bond's face value. (If the Bond is immature, then the Issuer owes the transferor the Bond instead.) Redeemed Bonds may not be further transferred. The Usuror's Budget contains the Basic Fee for creating one or more of a species of Bond. (The Bank is exempt from this fee.) The Bank may issue Bonds (With 2 Supporters) and Auction Bonds (Without 3 Objections). An unredeemed Bond matures immediately, and is deemed to have been redeemed, if its Issuer ceases to have an Executor. The Bank may mint Bank Currencies as follows: (a) Up to five times the Basic Officer Salary, within thirty days after a new Player registers (With 2 Supporters). (b) VEs equal to the VE Surplus minus the Bank's VE holdings (With 2 Supporters). (c) At any time (Without Objection). "Cleanup the Transfer Tax" by Elysion Pro-rated Zombie Maintenance is billed by the Registrar (not the Herald), and is pro-rated according to normal Zombie Maintenance being monthly rather than quarterly. "Create Bards" by Goethe Anyone may grant Patent Title of Bard With 2 Supporters, or With Support if both e and the Supporter are Bards. Anyone may revoke Patent Title of Bard With 3 Supporters, or With 2 Supporters if both e and the Supporters are Bards. "End the Popularity Contest" by Elysion Kudos are repealed. "Expanding Abbreviations" by harvel Abbreviations are amended to a consistent format. "Fix blanket quieting" by Tim Making another Player Quiet is limited to once every 24 hours. "Fix double Auction debts" by Steve (duplicated by Goethe) - Proposal 4122 Rule 1887 double-bills Auction winners - once explicitly, and once by requiring the Auctioneer to bill them. The former clause is repealed. "Fix Rule 1953" by Hooloovoo Rule 1953 (Sane Proposals) claims precedence over other Rules, particularly Rule 1950 (Voting Power). "Rational Objections" by Lindrum - Proposal 4123 Players Objecting to an action must provide reasons. "Restore Our Sanity!" by Steve (duplicated by Goethe) Rule 1953 (Sane Proposals) clearly takes precedence over Rule 1950 (Voting Power). "Streamline Rebellion" by Murphy Upon a successful Rebellion, the Registrar (not the Herald) levies an Indulgence tax. PROTO-PROPOSALS --------------- "Bluff Auctions" by Blob Cards are Property. Their Recordkeepor is the Dealer. The Deck and the Pile are entities. A random Card may be bought for 10 Stems. A Player may call for a redeal, Without Objection by Players with four or more cards. If this happens, then all Cards return to the Deck, and each Player receives as many random Cards as e had before. A Hand is a set of one to five Cards. For Bluff Auctions: * The Dealer is Auctioneer. * A Player becomes a bidder by transferring one or more Hands to the Pile. * Initial bids (per hand) are at most 20 times the MUQ of the Auction Currency. * Non-winning bids may be raised to a value that exceeds the highest bid by at most 20 times the MUQ of the Auction Currency. * Bids may be cancelled. The Hand is given back, and the bidder owes the bid to the Bank. * At the end of the Auction, each bidder owes eir non-winning bids (if any) to the Bank. Papyri, VEs, and Indulgences are auctioned using Bluff Auctions. "Fix 'Complacent Oligarchy'" by Steve Ordinary Proposals failing Quorum and becoming Democratic are implemented by adding a Democratic Distributable copy of the Proposal to the Pool. "Fix Rule 1585" by harvel Rule 1585 (Official Duties upon Officer Change) is amended by removing obsolete text that refers to how ASAP used to require actions to be performed in a certain order. "Fix Rule 1714" by harvel The order of events when deregistering a Lawless Player is clarified. "Fix the Rule that Never Ends" by harvel Fix the format of Rule 1794 (Classes of Orders), which was damaged when clause (3) was deleted. "Group Bidding" by Blob Players may transfer Stems to eir Group. A Mature Group (one at least three months old) may have a Role, and may bid in Auctions. If it bids in an Oligarch Auction, then it must name one of its members, and the bid is cancelled if that member leaves the Group during the Auction. All Groups are Immature for three months after this Proposal is adopted. "Help New Players" by harvel Players in eir Grace Period are Unready, unless they claim Readiness. Rule 698 (Always an Eligible Judge) explicitly asserts its ability to require Inactive Players to act. Unready Players are omitted from the Order of Succession. Ordering an Unready Player to submit a Formal Apology is optional. Unready Players are subject to half the usual Blot penalties. The New Player Award is removed from the Treasuror's Budget and is equal to three-quarters of the average holdings of Players not in eir Grace Period. "Increase Currency Awards for New Players" by harvel New Players get 2 Papyri (not just 1) and 1 Indulgence. "Public Reforum I" by harvel The phrase "the Public Forum" is abandoned, in favor of "a Public Forum". Synonyms for posting-to-the-Public-Forum apply even to optional actions. "Public Reforum II" by harvel The phrase "the Public Forum" is abandoned in many Power=1 Rules. Rule 1565 (Dismissal of a CFJ) is modified by replacing "can not logically admit to either being TRUE or FALSE" with "is logically inconsistent". "Public Reforum III" by harvel The phrase "the Public Forum" is abandoned in these Power=2 Rules: Rule 376 (When Proposals Take Effect) Rule 1016 (Putting Oneself On Hold) "Simple Pragmatic Transfers" by Blob Performing an illegitimate transfer is the Crime of Laundering. Stem transfers are illegitimate, except for a) from the Bank b) to the Bank c) from an Organization to Players, within seven days of obtaining the Stems transferred "Various Minor Changes" by harvel Rules 1884 (Zombie Masters) and 1886 (Returning to Life; renamed to "Vivification Due to Noise") are simplified by removing redundant language. CALLS FOR JUDGEMENT ------------------- CFJ 1268 "Peekee has committed the Crime of Application Fraud as described in [TRUE] Rule 1626 by claiming that eir Application (included in Evidence below) was signed by Players who did not actually sign that Application." 2/7 Called by Wes 2/7 Assigned to lee, who Judges TRUE 2/8 Appealed by Peekee 2/10 Appeal assigned to Chuck, Steve, and (improperly) Wes 2/15 Steve moves to overturn and reassign 2/16 Appeal assigned to Chuck, Steve, and Elysion 2/16 Chuck moves to overturn and reassign 2/17 Elysion moves to overturn and reassign 2/25 Reassigned to Razl, who Judges TRUE at some point between 2/25 and 3/14 3/15 Peekee appeals Razl's redundant Order to assign Blots, as lee had already issued such an Order Caller's argument (summary): Peekee published a Dissenting Position, then changed it to Concurring and got some signatures, then sent the Dissenting copy by mistake. Counterargument: X is the action Peekee performed. Y is the action Peekee believed e was performing at the time. Peekee believed that X was a Crime (or would have if anyone had pointed it out), but did not believe that Y was a Crime. If eir belief about Y is what matters, then Rule 1575's last paragraph forgives Peekee. Commentary: lee submitted eir Judgement early by mistake (by eir own admission) and had not yet addressed Peekee's defense. Judge Razl's argument (summary): The action Peekee actually performed is what matters. CFJ 1274 "t's Order of Wed, 14 Feb 2001, 'I order everyone to make fewer [TRUE] bids in the next auction.' was improperly or invalidly executed." 2/15 Called by Oerjan 2/15-21 Assigned to Evantine, who Judges TRUE 2/16 Evantine makes a Motion to emself that e issue a Judicial Order, an Order to Compel, for the Clerk of the Courts to stay t's Order as soon as possible; e then grants the Motion and issues the Judicial Order 2/21 Evantime Orders emself to vacate t's Order 2/22 Appealed by Taral 3/8 Crito submits a Concurring Opinion; Oerjan and Elysion sign Judge's argument (summary): The Rules do not require, permit, or describe this type of Order, so it is invalid. Counterargument (summary): Game custom holds that arbitrary Private Orders are valid, unless Judged "improper" (a deliberately variable standard). Concurring argument (summary): Players who made no bids in the previous auction were ordered by t to make a negative number of bids in the next auction. CFJ 1276 "An entity is a Player if, and only if, the Rules cannot distinguish [FALSE] that entity from a Player." 2/19 Called by Goethe 2/25-3/4 Assigned to Lindrum, who Judges FALSE Judge's refutation (summary): Some entities are non-Players despite the Rules not specifying whether or not they are Players. CFJ 1278 "The Assessor has announced the results of the voting on Proposal [TRUE] 4111." 2/21 Called by Murphy 2/26-3/8 Assigned to Syllepsis, who Judges TRUE Caller's argument (summary): The Assessor's announcement specified the Vote count correctly, but specified the result of that Vote count (adoption or rejection) incorrectly. Judge's argument (summary): Later in the message, the Assessor specified the result of the Vote count correctly. CFJ 1279 "Proposal 4112 is Democratic." [FALSE] 2/21 Called by Murphy Appealed 2/26-3/2 Assigned to pTang, who Judges FALSE 3/3-5 Appealed by Murphy, Taral, and Elysion Caller's argument (summary): If CFJ 1278 is false, then so is this; otherwise, while Proposal 4111 is adopted too early to place a requirement on the Assessor to announce Proposal 4112's failing quorum, it may still cause Proposal 4112 to become Democratic upon the Assessor's announcement. Judge's refutation (summary): Assessor t's announcement that Proposal 4112 failed quorum was not required by Proposal 4111, so it was not "such an announcement" to cause Proposal 4112 to become Democratic. CFJ 1280 "The Private, Binding Agreement knows as the Articles of Dismissed Confederation of the United Nomic Dead Groups affects the Votes of the Anemocrats." 2/28 Called by Peekee 3/3-3/8 Assigned to Oerjan, who dismisses the CFJ 3/3 Motion 1280.1 by Taral: Ordinancekeepor of the Anemocrats Ordered to publish the Agreement 3/4 Goethe, Syllepsis, and Ziggy sign this Application: PUBLIC AGREEMENT, BINDING BY THE RULES We, the Members of the Anemocrats, publicly agree that The Private, Binding Agreement knows as the Articles of Confederation of the United Nomic Dead Groups affects the Votes of the Anemocrats, and affected the Votes of the Anemocrats from the time of the Group's Formation to (at least) the time of the execution of this Application. 3/4 Oerjan denies Motion 1280.1 3/4 Motions 1280.2 through 1280.7 by Oerjan: Dave, Evantine, Goethe, Steve, Syllepsis, Ziggy each ordered to send the Judge the Agreement within 72 hours 3/4 Oerjan finds Goethe, Syllepsis, and Ziggy's public agreement insufficient evidence 3/8 Oerjan denies Motions 1280.2 through 1280.7 3/8-12 Appealed by Taral and Murphy CFJ 1281 "The Voting Power of Player Kelly on Proposal 4120 is two." [TRUE] 3/6 Called by Kelly 3/8-3/15 Assigned to Hooloovoo, who Judges TRUE Caller's argument (summary): Rule 1950 (Voting Power) takes precedence over Rule 1953 (Sane Proposals). Counterargument: See CFJ 1282. CFJ 1282 "Maximum Voting Power, as referenced in Rule 1953, is a different quantity from an Entity's maximum Voting Power, as referenced in Rule 1950." 3/6 Called by Syllepsis 3/8 Assigned to Stuart Caller's argument (summary): Rule 1953 may deem a Vote invalid (i.e. without effect), though Rule 1950 allows it to be cast. For the final clause of Rule 1953 to conflict with Rule 1950, it would have to refer to the casting of Votes, which would make the clause redundant with the previous text of Rule 1953. CFJ 1283 "On or about Tue, 06 Mar 2001 16:04:06 -0800, Hoovooloo violated Rule 1729." 3/6 Called by Kelly 3/8 Assigned to Murphy CFJ 1284 "On or about Tue, Tue, 6 Mar 2001 13:18:41 -0600, Kelly violated Rule [FALSE] 1729." 3/6 Called by Hooloovoo 3/8-9 Assigned to Evantine, who Judges FALSE Caller's argument (summary): Kelly discussed in a-d how e might Vote on Insane Proposal 4120. Counterargument: Kelly did not discuss any Votes that were actually cast. Judge's refutation (summary): Proposal 4120 is Insane - its mixed case title is not part of its text, as clearly stated by harvel, as well as by Rule 1485 (Titles for Rules). However, while Kelly "bended" Rule 1729, e did not break it. OFFICES/OLIGARCHS ----------------- 3/6 Ziggy, Michael, and harvel select Blob to become High Oligarch. 3/12 Blob selects Michael to become a Middle Oligarch. OTHER ----- 2/24 Stuart registers. 2/26 David goes On Hold. 2/28 Elysion becomes a Politician. 3/4 Goethe goes On Hold. 3/6 loh goes On Hold. Ziggy reveals Article 19 of the UNDEAD Agreement, which deems the automatic creation of an additional level of reference whenever an UNDEAD Member or Group is required to reveal all or part of the Articles by an outside agency. (Article 19 itself, however, may be revealed without triggering itself.) Article 19 is probably ineffective, though, because non-members are in no way bound to recognize its legal deeming. 3/7 Tim registers. 3/10 Goethe comes Off Hold. 3/13 VE Auction ends. Michael wins 1, Taral wins 1, and Elysion wins 2, at 500 Stems each. 3/14 Crito transfers the Zombie Schneidster to Blob. 3/15 Auction begins for 8 Papyri. Harlequin becomes a Scribe. 3/16 Auction begins for 10 x 0.1 VEs. Taral goes On Hold. Hooloovoo becomes a Scribe. Bidding for 8 Papyri beginning 3/15 ---------- 500 Murphy 300 Steve 250 Murphy 167 Murphy 151 Hooloovoo 150 Kelly 150 Harlequin 150 Steve 125 Murphy 100 Steve 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 t 100 Murphy 84 Murphy 75 Kelly 75 Harlequin 75 Steve 72 Murphy 63 Murphy 60 Steve 50 Kelly 50 Harlequin 50 Steve 37 Harlequin 36 Oerjan 35 Kelly 30 Kelly 30 Harlequin 25 Kelly 25 Harlequin 21 Harlequin 20 Kelly 19 Tim 18 Harlequin 18 Oerjan 16 Tim - cancelled 15 Kelly 12 Oerjan 9 Oerjan 7 Oerjan 6 Oerjan 5 Oerjan 4 Oerjan Bidding for 10 x 0.1 VEs beginning 3/16 ---------- 249 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 124 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 83 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 62 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 49 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 45 Ziggy 45 Ziggy 45 Ziggy 41 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 35 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 31 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 27 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold 24 Taral - invalid because e was On Hold Bidding for 4 VEs beginning 2/28 ---------- 2000 Elysion - cancelled 1368 Elysion - cancelled 999 Michael 749 Taral 684 Elysion - cancelled 500 Michael - cancelled 500 Elysion 500 Elysion 499 Michael 456 Elysion 400 Wes 374 Taral 342 Elysion 333 Michael 279 lee 249 Taral 249 Michael 200 harvel - cancelled 200 Blob 187 Taral 141 Anthony 100 Blob 50 Taral - cancelled 50 Taral - cancelled 50 Taral - cancelled 50 Taral - cancelled TRADE OFFERS ------------ Ongoing offers: Player Date Will sell In return for ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Blob 6/19/00 Votes as Oligarch Highest bidder; minimum 10 Stems Elysion 7/23/00 Herald's Privilege Negotiable Murphy 2/4/01 Ad in AWJ 1 VE, Papyrus, or Indulgence OotEE 9/13/99 1 Iris 1 VT; non-members subject to 9% Tariff Peekee 3/2/01 Votes on Proposals Negotiable and Elections Wes 4/5/00 1 Twig Commenting on and changing a proto Wes 4/5/00 ad space 1 Twig per 30 days Recent one-time offers: Player Date Will sell In return for ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Blob 1/23/01 1 Indulgence 1 Papyrus Blob 3/1/01 Indulgences Papyri Blob 3/1/01 1 VE at least 4 Papyri Chuck 2/6/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences harvel 2/9/01 Negotiable 3 Papyri harvel 3/15/01 2 VEs Papyri / Negotiable Hooloovoo 3/2/01 1 Papyri 1 VE Kelly 7/1/00 1 VE Negotiable Kelly 10/4/00 9 BTs Negotiable Kelly 1/24/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences Steve 2/5/01 2 Indulgences 2 Papyri t 2/6/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences Taral 10/4/00 5 Stems 1 BT Wes 10/19/00 16 Stems 1 Indulgence ERRATA ------ Syllepsis became a Scribe on February 6 (see CFJ 1267); so eir bids in the recent Auction for 8 Papyri were valid; so that Auction awarded 4 Papyri to Steve, 3 to Oerjan, and 1 to Syllepsis, at 110 Stems per Papyrus. harvel Proposed "The Speed of Light in a Vacuum". Syllepsis proto-Proposed "Acolytes and Zombies". -- Ed Murphy http://members.fortunecity.com/emurphy/ "Most of the time, it seemed sublimely unaware of its limbs, though it was beginning to suspect it had hands."