From ford@jps.net Mon May 7 23:06:43 2001 Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 01:52:20 -0700 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 48, ISSUE 2 Monday, May 7, 2001 NOTES OF COMMUNITY INTEREST --------------------------- Andre - Stare Decisis http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/stare.txt harvel - THE END IS NI http://www.sodaplay.com/ Kelly - The Agora Trader http://www.pyrzqxgl.org/~kmartin/agoratrader.pl Lindrum - The AgorEx http://www.panix.com/~lindrum/agorex/ Murphy - Garden Nomic II http://groups.yahoo.com/group/garden-nomic/ Wes - Web Judiciary http://www.netgecko.com/cotc/ ADOPTED PROPOSALS ----------------- "Assistant Director of Personnel" by Murphy - Proposal 4142 adopted 4/15 Duties of the Grand Warden of the Oligarchy pertaining to Offices are transferred to this new Office. The GWotO remains responsible for the Oligarchy. The current GWotO becomes the initial ADoP, but not its Electee. The Office of GWotO also ceases to have an Electee. "Bank Loans" by Blob - Proposal 4144 adopted 4/22 The Bank may buy Bonds for Stems, at rates specified in the Usuror's Budget and dependent on the face value and time-to-maturity of the Bonds. The Credit Limit is an amount of Stems from 0 to 1000. No Player may sell Bonds to the Bank equivalent to more than this amount of Stems. The Treasuror may, With Support, stop or start the Bank from buying Bonds. "Becoming Parliamentary" by Goethe - Proposal 4146 adopted 4/22 A Group may become Parliamentary if at least two members are not in eir Grace Periods, and (a) It has existed continuously for at least one month, and has Voted on at least one Democratic Proposal; or (b) It was formed before May 1, 2001. This is a supplement to "Better Democracy Through Groups"; see below. "Mentor's Bonus" by Blob - Proposal 4143 adopted 4/22 During the four weeks after the end of a Player's Grace Period, the Player (if not a Zombie) may award a Mentor's Bonus to one other Player. "More Ways to Win (redux)" by Murphy - Proposal 4138 adopted 4/15 An Insane Proposal getting no FOR Votes is worth a Win. "Points Adjustments" by Wes - Proposal 4141 adopted 4/15 Points are explicitly not possessed, hence not Property. Points awards/penalties are "ineffective" rather than "invalid" if they do not meet certain requirements. Patent Titles are worth 5 Points again, but only if not held by the same Player within the previous week. Degrees are worth Points only if not held by the same Player previously. Distributor is no longer a Patent Title. "Restore our Sanity!" by Ziggy - Proposal 4139 adopted 4/15 Rule 1953 (Sane Proposals) takes precedence over the Rules that determine normal Voting Power. "The Speaker, Sanity and insane bidding wars" by Ian - Proposal 4145 adopted 4/22 The Speaker may only make Interested, non-Contested Proposals Democratic. Proposals made Democratic by the Speaker are also made Sane, and the Distribution Cost is increased accordingly. For the change to be made during the Voting Period, someone must first pay the difference in Distribution Cost. A Player may, With 3 Supporters, Contest a Proposal that could be made Democratic by the Speaker. Doing so costs 0.1 VE. Players may pay VEs for or against a Contested Proposal. At the end of the Voting Period, if more VEs were paid for than against, then the Proposal becomes Democratic. (Ties cause a change only if the Player who Contested the Proposal was the Speaker and Untainted.) "Yet Another Cleanup Proposal" by Wes - Proposal 4140 adopted 4/15 A Judge who dismisses a CFJ is paid a normal Judicial Salary, rather than a hard-coded amount of 20 Stems. Salaries and the Treasuror's Budget are no longer limited to "wage-earning" Offices. REJECTED PROPOSALS ------------------ "Fix insane bidding wars" by Ian - Proposal 4149 failed quorum This is a supplement to "The Speaker, Sanity and insane bidding wars" (Proposal 4145); see above. "Contested" is renamed to "Attacked". Lists of conditions and effects are expressed in convenient list form. PENDING PROPOSALS ----------------- "Ambiguous Ordering Fix" by Elysion - Proposal 4150 failed quorum 5/2 and became Democratic An attempt to make multiple simultaneous communications, not explicitly ordered, fails if any two specific orderings would result in substantively different gamestates. "Criminal Simplification" by Murphy - Proposal 4152 General restrictions on the identity, reporting, and penalizing of Crimes and Infractions is streamlined into a single Rule. A Notice of Infraction shall explicitly specify the Infraction, committer, Rule(s) defining it, action/inaction, and Orders to impose the penalty; these Orders shall be vacated if a COE on the commission is admitted. "Finally, pragmatic Currencies" by Steve (Proposed by Ian, presumably so as to recover Distribution Cost upon adoption) Property transfers unauthorized by the Rules are no longer generally ineffective, but the Property must be returned; failure to do so is the Class 10 Crime of Receiving Stolen Property. Making an intentional unauthorized Property transfer from the Bank is the Class 10 Crime of Embezzlement. "Group Votes revised" by Michael - Proposal 4153 For Democratic Proposals, Groups with three or more members have Voting Power equal to the number of Players divided by the number of such Groups. "Help New Players" by harvel New Players become Unready at the beginning of eir Grace Period, and Ready at the end of it. An Unready Player may become Ready by saying so. Rule 698 (Always an Eligible Judge) explicitly asserts its power to command Inactive Players, and extends eligibility to the Caller as a last resort. An Unready Player does not appear in the Order of Succession to the Speakership. Ordering an Unready Player to Formally Apologize for violating a Rule is optional. An Unready Player may expunge half of any Blots e receives. The New Player Award is part of the Treasuror's Budget. All Players currently in their Grace Period become Unready. All Players who registered on or after September 21, 2000, with a Grace Period, receive the New Player Award. "Inflationary Patronage" by Kelly - Proposal 4151 failed quorum 5/2 and became Democratic The Speaker's Patronage is half the Basic Officer Salary. "Keep it Quiet" by harvel A Player is never more than one of Noisy/Quiet/Silent. "Minor CFJ adjustment" by Wes When a CFJ is reassigned, the new Judge is selected based on eligibility at the time of reassignment. "Oligarchic Orthodoxy" by Elysion Rebels shall be removed from the Oligarchy. "Points Contests" by Goethe A Points Contest is one whose ACO says so. A Player may not join a Points Contest if e has been a member of one during the past four weeks. Each month, each Points Contest that existed at the beginning of that month may award Points to one or more Contestants, totalling at most five times the number of Contestants it had at any time during the past two weeks. "Poor Man's Agora" by Syllepsis A Sanctimonious Player is all of the following: * an Immaculate Senator * neither a Zombie nor a Zombie Master * possesses no VEs, and at most 4 x BOS in Stems * controls no other entity (other than the Bank or Monastery) possessing Zombies, VEs, or Stems A Player Sanctimonious for at least a week may become a Monk. A Monk reported as non-Sanctimonious for at least 48 hours ceases to be a Monk at the beginning of the next week. At the beginning of the month, or while there is no Abbot, the Stem-poorest Monk (ties broken randomly) becomes Abbot, Executor of the Monastery. The Monastery may give away its VEs, as long as it keeps at least five. For Democratic Proposals, the Voting Power of the Monastery is one plus the number of VEs it holds. Any Monk may make a Proposal Democratic, With 3 Monk Supporters. Any Player or set of Players may make a Proposal Democratic by giving 0.3 VEs to the Monastery. "Rebels and Roles" by Goethe A Player loses eir Role (if any) upon becoming Rebellious. "Rebel Tax Seizure" by Goethe Rebels are taxable. However, if a Rebel pays tax, and a Revolt succeeds before e becomes Abiding again, then the Bank must return eir payment. "The Whole Truth" by Kelly - Proposal 4148 failed quorum 5/2 and became Democratic A Player may be convicted of Perjury or Misrepresentation only if e willfully made a false statement of fact. Specifically: * E must intend to make a false statement of fact. * E must realize that the statement e makes is false. * Excusable negligence, reasonable error, and reasonable reliance on the representations of another are defenses. * A conclusion as to the interpretation or application of the Rules is not a "statement of fact". Falsification is merged into Misrepresentation. "What is Public?" by Wes - Proposal 4147 failed quorum 5/2 and became Democratic Discussion Fora are defined. Messages sent to one are deemed not to have been sent to all Players. An announcement that a medium becomes / ceases to be a Public Forum or Discussion Forum must be made via all existing Public Fora. All other Rules mentioning a/the Public Forum are rewritten using "publicly". PROTO-PROPOSALS --------------- "Another Use for Indulgences" by Elysion A Player may change Roles after three months for free, after six weeks by paying one Indulgence, or immediately by paying three Indulgences. "Communications Decency Act" by Blob "Fix 'Complacent Oligarchy'" by Steve When an Ordinary Proposal fails quorum, the Assessor shall publish a Notice of Complacency, which puts a Democratic Distributable copy back into the Pool (so it gets reported as part of a normal Proposal Distribution). Publishing a Notice of Complacency for an Ordinary Proposal that achieved Quorum is the Class 2 Crime of Sending It Back Where It Don't Belong. "Make the Speaker's Gratuity more gratuitous" by Murphy The Speaker's Gratuity is paid to any Player who was Speaker for at least 12 days of a month. "Ministries" by Goethe Each Role may have an associated Ministry, whose members are all Players who have that Role. The Office of Minister without Portfolio tracks Roles and Ministries. For Democratic Proposals, each Ministry has a Voting Power of 16 (if AI=1), 8 (if AI=2), 4 (if AI=3), or 2 (if AI=4 or more). Each member has one Ministry Vote; the Ministry's Votes are cast FOR or AGAINST the Proposal, depending on whether the FOR/AGAINST ratio of Ministry Votes is greater than or equal to the AI of the Proposal. Acolytes belong to the Priesthood, Scribes belong to the University, and Politicians belong to the Congress. "Tag, You're It!" by Blob At most one Player is It. If no Player is It, the Speaker may make a random Player It. It may tag another Active Player by announcing it within 30 minutes of that Player posting to the Public Forum, upon which that Player becomes It. Tagging the Player who tagged you is the Class 0.5 Infraction of Getting the Butcher Back. Being It for more than a week is the Class 0.5 Infraction of Being Too Slow, and causes the offender to cease to be It. CALLS FOR JUDGEMENT ------------------- 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 3/30 Appeal assigned to lee, Steve, and Wes 4/5 Steve and lee move to overturn and reassign 4/7 Wes is automatically recused 4/8 Wes attempts to move to overturn and reassign; eir automatic recusal had been overlooked 4/8 Mistakenly reassigned to Hooloovoo 4/13 Hooloovoo (attempts to) proto-Judge FALSE 4/13 Wes replaced by Razl on Board of Appeals 4/15 Hooloovoo attempts to Judge FALSE 4/20 Razl is automatically recused 5/4 Razl replaced by Crito on Board of Appeals 5/4 Crito moves to overturn and reassign 5/5 Reassigned to Ziggy 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 Rule 1965, so it was not "such an announcement" to cause Proposal 4112 to become Democratic. Board of Appeals grounds for overturning (summary): There are three possible readings of "such an announcement" (of failed Quorum) in Rule 1965: any announcement, an announcement required by the Rules, and an announcement required by Rule 1965 itself. pTang failed to consider the second possibility. Also, due to the partly-switched information in the relevant announcement by Assessor t, it may be that Proposal 4112 failing Quorum was announced before Rule 1965 was created. CFJ 1289 "The ACO submitted by Tim to create the contest 'Agora the Beautiful' [FALSE] is invalid." 4/18 Called by Razl 4/21-27 Assigned to Goethe, who Judges FALSE Caller's argument (summary): Tim's ACO says "A Contestant ... may not cease being a Contestant until the Contest has ended". Rule 1553 allows Contestants to quit at any time. Rule 1553 also invalidates ACOs in conflict with the Rules. Judge's refutation (summary): Either the clause in question is directed solely at person(s) other than the Contestant emself, or the Contestant may escape the clause by withdrawing eir consent to be bound by the Contest's SLC, or the Contestant voluntarily forfeits Rule 1553 protection by consenting to join the Contest. CFJ 1290 "Goethe is a Contestant in the Agora the Beautiful Contest." 4/27 Called by Goethe 5/2 Assigned to Ian Caller's argument (summary): Goethe has made several statements which the Contest equates with consent to join, but e has neither explicitly consented nor explicitly denied consent to join. CFJ 1291 "The Clerk of the Courts, Wes, has broken Rule 991, 'Invoking Judgement." 5/3 Called by Goethe 5/3 Assigned to lee Caller's argument (summary): Wes announced the identity of the Judge of CFJ 1290 while omitting most of the Caller's evidence. CFJ 1292 "Kelly cast a nonzero number of Votes on Proposal 4139." 5/4 Called by Kelly 5/4 Assigned to Oerjan, who proto-Judges FALSE Caller's argument (summary): Kelly attempted to cast 0.5 Votes AGAINST Proposal 4139. Judge's refutation (summary): Rules 683 and 1715 indicate that Votes must be cast in integral quantities. OFFICES ------- 4/15 Office of Assistant Director of Personnel created, held temporarily by Murphy. 4/16 Nominations begin for Clerk of the Courts, Grand Warden of the Oligarchy, Payroll Clerk, and Registrar. Michael Nominates for Registrar. lee Nominates for Payroll Clerk. Taral Nominates for Clerk of the Courts, Grand Warden of the Oligarchy, and Payroll Clerk. Treasuror Blob (with Steve's support) amends the Budget to split the Grand Warden of the Oligarchy's Salary equally with the Assistant Director of Personnel. 4/17 lee and Taral Nominate for Registrar. Kelly Nominates for Clerk of the Courts and Grand Warden of the Oligarchy. solublefish Nominates for Clerk of the Courts and Registrar. Hooloovoo Nominates for Payroll Clerk. 4/18 Steve Nominates for Grand Warden of the Oligarchy. Nominations begin for Assistant Director of Personnel. harvel, lee, Hooloovoo, Syllepsis, and Taral Nominate for Assistant Director of Personnel. 4/20 Delegation of Usuror ends. Office remains held by Kelly because e is now its Electee. 4/20 Wes Nominates for Clerk of the Courts. 4/21 Blob is Elected Speaker-Elect. 4/26 Voting begins for Clerk of the Courts. Candidates are Kelly, solublefish, Taral, and Wes. Quorum is 16. Voting begins for Grand Warden of the Oligarchy. Candidates are Kelly, Steve, and Taral. Quorum is 16. Voting begins for Payroll Clerk. Candidates are Hooloovoo, lee, and Taral. Quorum is 16. Voting begins for Registrar. Candidates are lee, Michael, solublefish, and Taral. Quorum is 16. Voting begins for Assistant Director of Personnel. Candidates are harvel, Hooloovoo, lee, Syllepsis, and Taral. Quorum is 15. 5/1 Kelly Stands Down in the Election for Clerk of the Courts. 5/2 Taral Stands Down in the Election for Clerk of the Courts. 5/3 Wes is Elected Clerk of the Courts. Taral is Elected Grand Warden of the Oligarchy. lee is Elected Payroll Clerk. solublefish is Elected Registrar. 5/5 Syllepsis is Elected Assistant Director of Personnel. Chuck resigns as Rulekeepor, appointing Michael as eir successor. OLIGARCHS --------- 4/16 Goethe wins Oligarch Auction with a bid of 1 Stem. 4/21 Goethe becomes a Low Oligarch. 4/25 Steve is promoted from Middle to High Oligarch. 4/27 Ziggy is promoted from Low to Middle Oligarch. 5/3 Wes loses eir Oligarch position due to Blots. Auction begins. Bidding for Oligarch position ---------- 100 lee 75 Elysion 25 Wes 20 lee 10 Razl 1 lee PROPERTY AUCTIONS ----------------- 4/15 Auction begins for 8 Papyri. 4/22 VE Auction ends. Units of 0.1 VE are won by harvel (5), Taral (2), Elysion (2) and Lindrum (1), at 84 Stems each. 5/1 Auction begins for ten Bonds, each maturing on 4/24/01 with face value 0.1 VE. Papyrus Auction ends. Winners are pTang (4), Kelly (1), Syllepsis (1), Hooloovoo (1), and Oerjan (1), at 121 Stems each. Bidding for 10 x 0.1 VE Bonds beginning 5/1 ---------- 250 Wes 210 Crito 210 Crito 210 Crito 205 Wes 206 Lindrum 200 Razl 200 Steve 200 Syllepsis 179 Wes 175 Razl 168 Blob 162 solublefish 162 solublefish 155 Anthony 150 Razl 150 Steve - cancelled 137 solublefish - cancelled 137 solublefish - cancelled 105 Tim 105 Tim 104 Steve - cancelled 103 Lindrum 101 Tim - cancelled 101 Tim - cancelled 100 Steve - cancelled 100 Steve - cancelled 100 Steve - cancelled 100 Syllepsis 100 Syllepsis Bidding for 8 Papyri beginning 4/15 ---------- 540 pTang 518 Murphy - cancelled 270 pTang 259 Murphy - cancelled 248 Kelly - cancelled 180 pTang 173 Murphy - cancelled 159 Kelly - cancelled 158 Kelly 148 Syllepsis 140 Hooloovoo 135 pTang 130 Murphy - cancelled 128 Hooloovoo - cancelled 124 Kelly - cancelled 121 Oerjan 108 pTang 104 Murphy - cancelled 103 Tim 103 Tim 102 t 102 t 102 t 102 t 102 t 102 t 102 t 102 t 101 Steve 100 Schneidster 100 Schneidster 90 Syllepsis 87 Murphy - cancelled 84 Tim - cancelled 83 solublefish 83 solublefish 83 solublefish 82 Schneidster 82 Kelly - cancelled 81 Tim - cancelled 80 solublefish - cancelled 80 solublefish - cancelled 80 Tim - cancelled 80 Tim - cancelled 79 Kelly - cancelled 79 Kelly 75 Syllepsis 75 Syllepsis 74 Murphy - cancelled 66 Tim - cancelled 66 Tim - cancelled 66 Tim - cancelled 65 solublefish - cancelled 65 Murphy - cancelled 64 Hooloovoo - cancelled 62 Kelly - cancelled 61 Tim - cancelled 60 solublefish - cancelled 60 Oerjan 56 Tim - cancelled 55 solublefish - cancelled 53 Kelly 52 Kelly 50 Syllepsis 50 Syllepsis 50 Syllepsis 50 Ian 50 Ian 50 Ian 50 Ian 50 Ian 49 Kelly - cancelled 41 Kelly - cancelled 40 Oerjan 39 Kelly - cancelled 39 Kelly 35 Kelly - cancelled 32 Hooloovoo - cancelled 31 Kelly - cancelled 31 Kelly - cancelled 31 Kelly 30 Oerjan 26 Kelly - cancelled 26 Kelly 24 Oerjan 22 Kelly - cancelled 22 Kelly 20 Oerjan 19 Kelly - cancelled 19 Kelly 17 Tim - cancelled 17 Oerjan 16 Hooloovoo - cancelled 15 Oerjan 9 Tim - cancelled 9 Tim - cancelled 9 Tim - cancelled 9 Tim - cancelled 8 Hooloovoo - cancelled 4 Hooloovoo - cancelled 2 Hooloovoo - cancelled 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Ian 1 Hooloovoo - cancelled Bidding for 10 x 0.1 VEs beginning 4/3 ---------- 287 lee - too late 263 harvel - cancelled 249 Taral 243 harvel - cancelled 223 harvel - cancelled 204 harvel - cancelled 144 harvel - cancelled 143 lee - too late 124 Taral 124 harvel - submitted on time, cancelled too late 114 harvel 104 harvel 101 Razl - too late 101 harvel - too late 101 harvel - too late 100 Elysion 99 Razl - too late 99 harvel - too late 99 harvel - too late 96 Blob - too late 96 Blob - too late 95 harvel - too late 95 harvel - too late 95 lee - too late 94 harvel - submitted on time, cancelled too late 94 Blob - too late 94 Blob - too late 94 Blob - too late 93 harvel - too late 93 harvel - too late 90 Elysion 90 Lindrum 84 harvel 83 Taral 80 Elysion 71 lee - too late 70 Elysion 62 Taral 61 Elysion 60 Razl 57 lee - too late 52 Lindrum - cancelled 51 Elysion 50 Razl 49 Taral 47 lee - too late 45 Lindrum 42 Elysion 41 Taral 41 lee - too late 40 Razl 35 Taral 35 lee - too late 32 Elysion 31 Taral 31 lee - too late 30 Razl 30 Lindrum 28 lee - too late 27 Taral 24 Taral 21 Elysion 20 Razl 11 Elysion 10 Razl OTHER ACTIVITY -------------- 4/17 Razl creates the Currencies of Slices (MUQ = pi/12). E also attempts to create the Currency of Circles, but fails to specify a MUQ. Tim creates the Contest "Agora the Beautiful". 4/23 Kelly announces eir intent to amend the Usuror's Budget: * Credit Limit is two times the Basic Officer Salary * Purchase rate for Stems is 95% to 14%, depending on days to maturity * Purchase rate for VEs, Papyri, Indulgences is 0% 4/24 lee announces eir intent to tax 50% of Stems, exempting 250 per Player. 4/27 Chuck announces eir intent to deregister. 4/28 Syllepsis and Lindrum grant eir Mentor's Bonuses to each other. Kelly re-announces eir intent to amend the Usuror's Budget. 4/29 lee re-announces eir intent to tax Stems, this time specifying that Rule 1917 authorizes em to do so. 5/1 Goethe announces eir intent to tax 20% of Indulgences, exempting one per Player. 5/2 Goethe grants eir Mentor's Bonus to Razl. 5/3 solublefish makes Evantine Quiet, but it doesn't last long. Razl grants eir Mentor's Bonus to Goethe. 5/5 loh comes Off Hold. 5/6 Kelly announces eir intent to amend the Usuror's Budget as follows: * Issue Fee drops to 0.1 times the Basic Officer Salary * Credit Limit is two times the Basic Officer Salary * Purchase rate for Stems is 95% to 14%, depending on days to maturity * Purchase rate for less than 20 Stems is 0% * Purchase rate for VEs, Papyri, Indulgences is 0% TRADE OFFERS ------------ Ongoing offers: Player Date Will sell In return for ----------------------------------------------------------------------- AgorEx 3/28/01 1 VE mP; see web page AgorEx 3/28/01 1 Papyrus mVE; see web page OotEE 9/13/99 1 Iris 1 VT; non-members subject to 9% Tariff Peekee 5/3/01 Votes on Proposals Negotiable and Elections Razl 4/17/01 1 Circle 2*pi Slices 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 3/22/01 2.0 VEs Papyri / Negotiable Hooloovoo 3/2/01 1 Papyri 1 VE Ian 4/27/01 submit a Proposal 0.1 VE, 0.3 Papyrus, or 1 Indulgence while in eir Grace Period Kelly 7/1/00 1 VE Negotiable Kelly 10/4/00 9 BTs Negotiable Kelly 1/24/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences solublefish 4/19/01 $5 1 VE Steve 2/5/01 2 Indulgences 2 Papyri t 2/6/01 1 Papyrus 2 Indulgences Tim 4/19/01 $25 1 VE Wes 5/5/01 Votes on Prop Negotiable 4147 - 4151 ERRATA ------ -- 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."