THE SHORT LOGICAL RULESET 11 January 2014 ====================================================================== ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Index of Rules * The Game of Agora Rule 101: The Rights of Agorans Rule 2125: Regulation Regulations Rule 1586: Definition and Continuity of Entities Rule 1688: Power Rule 2140: Power Controls Mutability Rule 103: The Speaker Rule 104: First Speaker * Rules Rule 2141: Role and Attributes of Rules Rule 217: Interpreting the Rules Rule 1030: Precedence between Rules Rule 2240: No Cretans Need Apply Rule 105: Rule Changes Rule 1681: The Logical Rulesets Rule 1051: The Rulekeepor Rule 2327: Read the Ruleset Week * Players Rule 869: How to Join and Leave Agora Rule 2170: Who Am I? Rule 2139: The Registrar Rule 1789: Cantus Cygneus Rule 2130: Activity * Economy Rule 2419: Winning Rule 2166: Assets * Definitions Rule 2152: Mother, May I? Rule 1023: Common Definitions Rule 2347: Speed Rule 1769: Holidays Rule 2162: Switches Rule 478: Fora Rule 1728: Dependent Actions Rule 2288: Induction * Offices Rule 1006: Offices Rule 2143: Official Reports and Duties Rule 2379: No News Is Some News Rule 2160: Deputisation Rule 2154: Election Procedure Rule 2276: Assumption of Vacant Offices Rule 2138: The Interstellar Associate Director of Personnel Rule 1551: Ratification Rule 2202: Ratification Without Objection Rule 2201: Self-Ratification Rule 2395: Government Waste * Agoran Decisions Rule 693: Agoran Decisions Rule 107: Initiating Agoran Decisions Rule 683: Voting on Agoran Decisions Rule 2127: Conditional Votes Rule 2280: Implicit Votes Rule 2168: Extending the voting period Rule 208: Resolving Agoran decisions Rule 955: Determining the Will of Agora Rule 879: Quorum Rule 2034: Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges * Proposals Rule 2350: Proposals Rule 106: Adopting Proposals Rule 1607: Distribution Rule 2373: Voting Chambers Rule 2389: Ordinary Chamber Rule 2374: Democratic Chamber Rule 2409: Star Chamber Rule 1950: Decisions with Adoption Indices Rule 2137: The Assessor Rule 1698: Agora Is A Nomic * Adjudication Rule 991: Judicial Cases Generally Rule 2158: Judges Rule 591: Inquiry Cases Rule 1504: Criminal Cases Rule 2277: Appeals of Criminal Cases Rule 2205: Judicial Arguments and Evidence Rule 2157: Judicial Panels Rule 2341: Judgements by Judicial Panels Rule 2318: Motions to Reconsider Rule 911: Appeal Cases Rule 2342: Judicial Appeals Panels Rule 2175: Judicial Retraction and Excess Rule 1868: Judge Assignment Generally Rule 1871: The Standing Court Rule 2378: Court Protector Rule 2204: Linked Assignments Rule 2164: Judicial Self-Recusal and Case Transfer Rule 2394: Crime by Proxy * Patent Titles and Degrees Rule 649: Patent Titles Rule 1367: Degrees Rule 2231: Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic Rule 2415: Badges * Trophies Rule 1727: Happy Birthday Rule 2029: Town Fountain ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The Game of Agora ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 101/15 (Power=3) The Rights of Agorans WHEREAS Agora, since its inception, has functioned not only as a game but as a society, and WHEREAS a society, to function, must balance its Rules with the natural rights of its participants, BE IT HEREBY PROCLAIMED that no interpretation of Agoran law or binding agreement may substantially limit or remove a person's rights as defined by this Rule, except through the explicit and legal amendment of this Rule. For the purposes of this Rule, a "person" is defined strictly as any unique biological organism that is generally capable of initiating the communication of independent thought, and a "player" is any such organism that is also a player of Agora. This rule takes precedence over any rule which would allow or mandate restrictions of the rights contained herein. i. Every person has the right, though not necessarily the ability, to perform actions that are not prohibited or regulated by the Rules, with the sole exception of changing the Rules, which is permitted only when the Rules explicitly or implicitly permit it. ii. 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. iii. 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. iv. Every person has the right to not be considered bound by an agreement, or an amendment to an agreement, or a Rule Change, which e has not had the reasonable opportunity to review. For the purpose of protecting this right, a rule change which would otherwise take effect without its substance being subject to general player review through a reasonably public process is wholly prevented from taking effect. v. Every player has the right of participation in the fora. vi. Every person has the right to not be penalized more than once for any single action or inaction. However, this right is not violated by replacing part or all of a penalty with a different but comparable penalty, e.g. when the rules governing penalties are amended. vii. Every player has the right to deregister; e may continue to accrue obligations and penalties after deregistration but, if e wishes to ignore the game, such penalties shall not unduly harass em. viii. The players of Agora have the right not to be deregistered en masse. A person has the right to register and to remain a player except where forbidden due to eir own prior actions. Please treat Agora right good forever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2125/7 (Power=3) Regulation Regulations A regulated action is an action satisfying any of the following: 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. In particular, if the action in question is publishing a type of document, then a public message is not that type of document (even if it is labeled as such) except as allowed by the rules. d) The rules explicitly state that it MAY be performed while certain conditions are satisfied. Except as allowed by the rules, performing such an action is the Class-N Crime of Restricted Behavior, where N is the maximum power of the rules explicitly allowing it (rounded up as needed to become a valid Class of Crime). 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. A person SHOULD NOT violate a rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1586/8 (Power=2) Definition and Continuity of Entities If multiple rules attempt to define an entity with the same name, then they refer to the same entity. A rule-defined entity's name CANNOT be changed to be the same as another rule-defined entity's name. A rule referring to an entity by name refers to the entity that had that name when the rule first came to include that reference, even if the entity's name has since changed. If the rules are amended such that they no longer define an entity, then that entity and its attributes cease to exist. If the rules are amended such that they define an entity both before and after the amendment, but with different attributes, then that entity and its attributes continue to exist to whatever extent is possible under the new definitions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1688/6 (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, action, or value (hereafter the securing Rule) thereby makes it IMPOSSIBLE to perform that change or action, or to set or modify that value, 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 (including by the Rule itself). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2140/1 (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) set or 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 103/17 (Power=2) The Speaker The Speaker is an elected office and a figurehead of Agora. The Speaker SHOULD be a person who has proven themselves to be worthy of the title, and for a time can direct Agoran government affairs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 104/0 (Power=3) First Speaker The Speaker for the first game shall be Michael Norrish. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Rules ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2141/7 (Power=3) Role and Attributes of Rules A rule is a type of instrument with the capacity to govern the game generally, and is always taking effect. 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 in a timely fashion. 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. However, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the Rulekeepor CAN set rule aspects as described elsewhere in this rule. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 217/9 (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. A term explicitly defined by the Rules, along with any of its ordinary-language synonyms not otherwise so defined, has that meaning when used in any Rule of equal or lesser power, or when used in a Rule of greater power that is clearly intended to comply with that meaning. Otherwise, terms have their ordinary- language meanings; with definitions contained in lower-powered Rules providing non-binding guidance. Differences in spelling, grammar, capitalization, whitespace, or dialect, and the use of synonyms or abbreviations, are generally inconsequential in interpreting rules or communications, as long they do not create ambiguity in meaning. In general, the gamestate only changes as explicitly stated in the Rules. Definitions and prescriptions in the rules are only to be applied using direct, forward reasoning; in particular, an absurdity that can be concluded from the assumption that a statement about rule-defined concepts is false does not constitute proof that it is true. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1030/11 (Power=3.2) Precedence between Rules In a conflict between Rules, the conflict shall be resolved by performing the following comparisons in the sequence written in this rule, until the conflict is resolved. - In a conflict between Rules with different Power, the Rule with the higher Power takes precedence over the Rule with the lower Power; otherwise, - 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 be used to resolve the conflicts; otherwise, - 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 be used to resolve the conflict, unless they lead to contradictions between each other; otherwise, - If any of the rules in conflict have ID numbers, then the Rule with the lowest ID number takes precedence; otherwise, - The Rule enacted earliest takes precedence. Clauses in any other rule that broadly claim precedence (e.g. over "all rules" of a certain class) shall be, prima facie, considered to be limited claims of precedence or deference that are applicable only when such claims are evaluated as described within the above sequence. No change to the Ruleset can occur that would cause a Rule to directly claim precedence over this Rule as a means of determining precedence. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2240/1 (Power=3) No Cretans Need Apply In a conflict between clauses of the same Rule, if exactly one claims precedence over the other, then it takes precedence; otherwise, the later clause takes precedence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 105/7 (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 or if it specifies a power less than one, 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) reenact a rule. A repealed rule identified by its most recent rule number may be reenacted with the same ID number and the next change identifier. If no text is specified, the rule is reenacted with the same text it had when it was most recently repealed. If the reenacting proposal provides new text for the rule, the rule must have materially the same purpose as did the repealed version; otherwise, the attempt to reenact the rule is null and void. (d) amend the text of a rule. (e) retitle a rule. (f) 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. An inconsequential variation 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1681/20 (Power=1) The Logical Rulesets The Short Logical Ruleset (SLR) is a format of the ruleset. 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 DISCOURAGED from including any additional information in the SLR, except that which increases the readability of the SLR. The Full Logical Ruleset (FLR) is a format of the ruleset. 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 SHOULD also 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). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2327/1 (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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Players ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 869/34 (Power=3) How to Join and Leave Agora Any biological organism that is generally capable of communicating by email in English (including via a translation service) is a person. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, no other entities are persons. Citizenship is a person switch with values Unregistered (default) and Registered, tracked by the registrar. A player is a person whose citizenship is Registered. Changes to citizenship are secured. 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). A person CAN (unless explicitly forbidden or prevented by the rules) register by publishing a message that indicates reasonably clearly and reasonably unambiguously that e intends to become a player at that time. A non-person CANNOT be registered (or created in a Registered state), rules to the contrary notwithstanding. A player CAN deregister by announcement. A person CANNOT register within thirty days after being deregistered, unless rules define the method of deregistration as passive. Initiating a frivolous judicial case on the success or failure of a registration attempt is the Class-3 crime of Hazing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2170/12 (Power=3) Who Am I? Rules regarding persons pertain to those persons directly, not to rule-defined avatars or other entities representing those persons within Agora. A person SHALL NOT make a public statement intended to mislead others as to the identity of its publisher. A player SHALL NOT select a confusing nickname. A public message's (possibly implicit) claim as to the identity of its publisher is self-ratifying, provided that the claim is neither ambiguous nor self-contradictory, and no 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 person who sends it, or who most directly and immediately causes it to be sent. (Upon a judicial finding that the Executor of a public message cannot otherwise be determined within reasonable effort, the judge SHOULD attempt to ratify a document specifying eir identity.) The executor of an action performed by announcement is the executor of the announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2139/6 (Power=2) The Registrar The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of players. The Registrar's report includes: a) A list of all players, including information sufficient to identify and contact each player. b) The date on which each player most recently became a player. c) The Activity of each player, and when each Inactive player became Inactive. d) For each former player for which the information is reasonably available, the dates on which e registered and deregistered. The Registrar is also responsible for tracking any switches that would otherwise lack an officer to track them, unless the switch is defined as untracked. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1789/8 (Power=2) 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 Registrar, clearly labeled a Cantus Cygneus, detailing eir grievances and expressing eir reproach for those who e feels have treated em so badly. In a timely fashion after receiving a Cantus Cygneus, the Registrar shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugere Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered. The Registrar shall note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar Reports. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2130/13 (Power=2) 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. Changes to Activity are Secured. 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. This is a passive method of deregistration. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Economy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2419/0 (Power=1) Winning A player's Score is a complex number, tracked by the Herald. If a player's score has not been previously changed by the Rules, or cannot be determined by reasonable effort, it is 0. If a person ceases being a player, eir score is set to 0. Changes to score can only be made as specified by the rules. A player has achieved Escape Velocity any time the magnitude of eir score is 100 or greater. Upon a true announcement that one or more specified players have achieved escape velocity, then all such players win the game, and all players' scores are set to 0. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2166/19 (Power=2) Assets An asset is an entity defined as such by a rule or contest (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 transferred to the Lost and Found Department if it is owned by an entity outside that class. If an asset is owned by the Lost and Found department any player CAN transfer or destroy it with 1.5 Agoran consent or without 2 objections. The Lost and Found department may own any asset, and have assets transferred to and from it, regardless of the asset's backing document or any Rule, Rules to the contrary notwithstanding. The recordkeepor of a class of assets is the entity (if any) defined as such by, and bound by, its backing document. That entity's report includes a list of all instances of that class and their owners. This portion of a public document purporting to be 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" (syn. "spend") 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Definitions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2152/7 (Power=3) Mother, May I? The following terms are defined. These definitions are used when a rule includes a term in all caps, and provide guidance in determining the ordinary-language meaning of a term 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, POSSIBLE, EFFECTIVE: Attempts to perform the described action are successful. 5. MAY, LEGAL, PERMITTED, PERMISSIBLE: Performing the described action does not violate the rules. 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 (in the ordinary-language sense) be understood and carefully weighed. 8. NEED NOT, OPTIONAL: Failing to perform the described action does not violate the rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1023/31 (Power=2) Common Definitions The following terms are defined: (a) The phrase "in a timely fashion" means "within 7 days." This time period is set when the requirement is created (ie. X days before the limit ends). A requirement to perform an action at an exact instant (e.g. "when X, Y SHALL Z"), but not "in the same message", is instead interpreted as a requirement to perform that action in a timely fashion after that instant. (b) 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. (5) A pivot is either the instant at which Agora Nomic began (June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200) or an instant at which at least one person won the game. When used as a period of time, a "game" is the period of time between a pivot and the next pivot. These definitions do not apply to relative durations (e.g. "within days after "). (c) If a regulated value, or the value of a conditional, or a value otherwise required to determine the outcome of a regulated action, CANNOT be reasonably determined (without circularity or paradox) from information reasonably available, or if it alternates instantaneously and indefinitely between values, then the value is considered to be Indeterminate, otherwise it is Determinate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1769/12 (Power=3) Holidays 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. The week that contains the beginning of Agora's Birthday, together with the following week, are a Holiday. If a person breaks a Rule by missing a deadline that occurs during a Holiday, the most appropriate penalty is generally DISCHARGE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2162/4 (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) Optionally, exactly one office whose holder 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. If an action or set of actions would cause the value of an instance of a switch to become indeterminate, the instance instead takes on its last determinate and possible value, if any, otherwise it takes on its default value. A natural switch is a switch with a default value of 0, unless the rules explicitly specify a different default value. If the rules define an upper limit for the switch, then the possible values are non-negative integers not greater than that limit, otherwise the values are the non-negative integers. A singleton switch is a switch for which Agora Nomic is the only entity possessing an instance of that switch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 478/30 (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. Changes to publicity are secured. 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 public message is a message sent via a public forum, or sent to all players and containing a clear designation of intent to be public. A rule can also designate that a part of one public message is considered a public message in its own right. 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 unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and announcing that e performs it. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. Actions in messages (including sub-messages) are performed in the order they appear in the message, unless otherwise specified. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1728/33 (Power=3) Dependent Actions A rule which purports to allow a person (the performer) to perform an action by a set of one or more of the following methods (N is 1 unless otherwise specified): 1) Without N Objections, where N is a positive integer no greater than 8. ("Without Objection" is shorthand for this method with N = 1.) 2) With N Supporters, where N is a positive integer. ("With Support" is shorthand for this method with N = 1.) 3) With N Agoran Consent, where N is an integer multiple of 0.1 with a minimum of 1. 4) With Notice. thereby allows em to perform the action by announcement if all of the following are true: a) A person (the initiator) announced intent to perform the action, unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and method(s) (including the value of N for each method), at most fourteen days earlier, and (if the action depends on objections or notice) at least 4 days earlier. b) At least one of the following is true: 1) The performer is the initiator. 2) The initiator was authorized to perform the action due to holding a rule-defined position now held by the performer. 3) The initiator is authorized to perform the action, the action depends on support, the performer has supported the intent, and the rule authorizing the performance does not explicitly prohibit supporters from performing it. c) Agora is Satisfied with the announced intent, as defined by other rules. d) If a set of conditions for the performance of the action was given in the announcement of intent to perform the action, all those conditions are met. The actor SHOULD publish a list of supporters if the action depends on support, and a list of objectors if it depends on objections. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2288/2 (Power=3) Induction If a person CAN perform an action by announcement, e CAN perform it with N support, without N objections, with N Agoran Consent, or with notice, where N is a number appropriate for that form of dependent action. If a person CAN perform an action with notice, e CAN perform it without N objections, where N is an appropriate number. If a person CAN perform an action with M support, e CAN perform it with N support, where N is an appropriate number greater than M. If a person CAN perform an action without M objections, e CAN perform it without N objections, where N is an appropriate number less than M. If a person CAN perform an action via multiple different means of dependent actions, e CAN perform that action via multiple of them at the same time. If a player CAN perform an action with 0 support, then e CAN perform it by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2124/17 (Power=2) Agoran Satisfaction A Supporter of a dependent action is an eligible entity who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) support (syn. "consent") for an announcement of intent to perform the action. An Objector to a dependent action is an eligible entity who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) an objection to the announcement of intent to perform the action. The entities eligible to support or object to a dependent action are, by default, all players, subject to modification by the document authorizing the dependent action. However, the previous sentence notwithstanding, the Executor of the announcement of intent is not eligible to support it. Agora is Satisfied with an intent to perform a specific action if and only if: (1) if the action is to be performed Without N Objections, then it has fewer than N objectors; (2) if the action is to be performed With N supporters, then it has N or more supporters; and (3) if the action is to be performed with N Agoran Consent, then the ratio of supporters to objectors is greater than N, or the action has at least one supporter and no objectors. The above notwithstanding, if the action depends on objections, and an objection to it has been withdrawn within the past 24 hours, then Agora is not Satisfied with the intent. A person CANNOT support or object to an announcement of intent before the intent is announced, or after e has withdrawn the same type of response. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Offices ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1006/36 (Power=2) Offices Officeholder is an office switch tracked by the IADoP, with possible values of any person or "vacant". An officer is the holder of an office, who may be referred to by the name of that office. If the holder of an office is ever not a player, it becomes vacant. An imposed office is an office described as such by the rule defining it. All others are elected. A person CANNOT be made the holder of an elected office without eir explicit or reasonably implied consent. The holder of an elected office CAN resign it by announcement, causing it to become vacant, unless e assumed the office within the last 24 hours. Any player CAN cause an office to become vacant without 2 objections or with 3 Agoran consent. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2143/21 (Power=1) Official Reports and Duties For each person: a) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that person's weekly duties, then e SHALL perform it at least once each week. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that person's weekly report, then e SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of eir weekly duties. b) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that person's monthly duties, then e SHALL perform it at least once each month. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that person's monthly report, then e SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of eir monthly duties. Any information defined by the rules as part of a person's report, without specifying which one, is part of eir weekly report. Failure of a person to perform any duty required of em within the allotted time is the Class-2 crime of Tardiness. A person SHALL NOT publish information that is Indeterminate, inaccurate or misleading while performing a weekly or monthly duty, or within a document purporting to be part of any person or office's weekly or monthly report. Reports SHALL be published in plain text. Tabular data must line up properly when viewed in a monospaced font. Publishing a report that deviates from these regulations is the Class 2 Crime of Making My Eyes Bleed. Officers SHOULD maintain a publicly visible copy of their reports on the World Wide Web, and they SHOULD publish the address of this copy along with their published reports. If an officer maintains an online copy of eir report, then e SHALL publish the URI of this copy along with each report. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2379/0 (Power=1) No News Is Some News If the rules define a report as including a list, then while that list is empty, that report includes the fact that it is empty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2160/9 (Power=3) Deputisation Any player (a deputy) CAN perform an action as if e held a particular office (deputise for that office) if all of the following are true: (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). This requirement is fulfilled by the deputy performing the action. (b) A time limit by which the rules require the action to be performed has expired. (c) If the office is filled, then the deputy announced between two and fourteen days earlier that e intended to deputise for that office for the purposes of the particular action. (d) It would be POSSIBLE for the deputy to perform the action, other than by deputisation, if e held the office. (e) The deputy, when performing the action, announces that e is doing so by deputisation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2154/38 (Power=2) Election Procedure A player CAN initiate an election for a specified elected office for which no election is already in progress a) by announcement, if e is the IADoP, or the office is Assumed, or no election has been initiated for the office within 90 days before the announcement; b) with 4 Supporters, otherwise. When an election is initiated, the current holder of the office (if any) is initially considered to have been nominated and have accepted. During the first four days of the election (the nomination period), any player CAN by announcement nominate one or more active players. In a timely fashion after the nomination period ends, the IADoP SHALL initiate an Agoran decision to determine the new officeholder. For this decision: 1) The valid options are the active players (hereafter the candidates) who, during the election, a) received and accepted a nomination for the office before the decision was initiated (self-nomination constitutes acceptance), and b) did not decline a nomination for the office. The set of candidates can change after the decision is initiated. 2) The eligible voters are the active players. 3) Each eligible voter's voting limit is one. 4) If there are no valid options for the Decision, the IADoP SHALL, in place of initiating the decision, announce this fact, ending the election. If there is exactly one valid option for the Decision, the IADoP SHALL, in place of initiating the Decision, announce the valid option (the candidate), thus installing that candidate into the office and ending the election. Upon the resolution of this decision, its outcome (if a candidate) is installed into the office, and the election ends. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2276/7 (Power=2) Assumption of Vacant Offices Assumption is an elected office switch, tracked by the IADoP with values Postulated (default) and Assumed. Changes to Assumption are secured. An active player can assume an office by announcement, causing em to become its holder, provided that the office is Assumed. Whenever a Postulated office is not held by an active player, it becomes Assumed. When a person comes to hold an office, or would come to hold an office if e did not hold it already, by a means other than the one provided by this Rule, then the Assumption of that office is flipped to Postulated. If a player has held an Assumed office continuously since the last time it was Postulated, e can flip its Assumption to Postulated by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2138/17 (Power=1) The Interstellar Associate Director of Personnel The Interstellar Associate Director of Personnel (IADoP) is an 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 that office's reports were last published. The portion of a public message purporting to be an IADoP's report that lists the holder of each office is self-ratifying. Any player CAN, with Agoran Consent, cause this Rule to amend itself by replacing "Interstellar" with an yother single word beginning with "Inter" in its text and title. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1551/17 (Power=3.1) Ratification A public document is part (possibly all) of a public message. When a public document is ratified, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the gamestate is modified to what it would be if, at the time the ratified document was published, the gamestate had been minimally modified to make the ratified document as true and accurate as possible. Such a modification cannot add inconsistencies between the gamestate and the rules, and it cannot include a rule change unless the ratified document purports to include the text, title, and/or power of the rule being changed. If no such modification is possible, or multiple substantially distinct possible modifications would be equally appropriate, the ratification fails. An internally inconsistent document generally cannot be ratified; however, if such a document can be divided into a summary section and a main section, where the only purpose of the summary section is to summarize information in the main section, and the main section is internally consistent, ratification of the document proceeds as if it contained only the main section. Text purportedly about previous instances of ratification (e.g. a report's date of last ratification) is excluded from ratification. The rules may define additional information that is considered to be part of the document for the purposes of ratification; such definitions are secured at a Power Threshold of 3. Ratifying a public document is secured with power threshold 3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2202/5 (Power=3) Ratification Without Objection Any player CAN, without objection, ratify a public document, specifying its scope. If that document is an official report or a substantial portion thereof, until such a time as that report or portion is again ratified, the date and scope of the ratification become a part of the report. Ratification Without Objection CANNOT cause the repeal, amendment, enactment, or mutation of any Rule, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. A player SHALL NOT knowingly use or announce intent to use Ratification Without Objection to ratify a (prior to ratification) document containing incorrect or Indeterminate information when a corrected document could be produced with reasonable effort, unless the general nature of the document's error and reason for ratifying it is clearly and plainly described in the announcement of intent. Such ratification or announcement of intent to ratify is the Class-8 Crime of Endorsing Forgery. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2201/6 (Power=3) Self-Ratification A public document defined by the rules as self-ratifying is ratified when it is continuously undoubted for one week. A doubt is an explicit public challenge via one of the following methods, identifying a document and explaining the scope and nature of a perceived error in it: 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 (if e was required to publish that document) or SHOULD (otherwise) do one of the following in a timely fashion: i) Deny the claim (causing it to cease to be a doubt). ii) Publish a revision. iii) Initiate an inquiry case regarding the truth of the claim (if the subject is actually a matter of law), or cite a relevant existing inquiry case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2395/1 (Power=2) Government Waste There exists an office of Governmental Waste. This office shall have no duties, shall make no reports, and shall exist as the sole result of governmental waste. This office becomes Assumed whenever it is held by the holder of another elected office. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2402/6 (Power=2) Office Salary Salary is a natural office (i.e., non-singleton) Budget Switch, tracked by the IADoP. The IADoP is a Yak Master. During the nomination period of an election, each candidate CAN set their proposed salary, a possible value of the office's salary switch, by announcement. If they fail to do so before the end of the nomination period, their proposed salary is set to the current salary of the office. The proposed salaries for each candidate are essential parameters for the Agoran decision to decide the officeholder. The proposed salary of the winning candidate becomes the salary of the office upon the resolution of the relevant decision. A player CAN flip the salary of an office without two objections. The holder of a Postulated office CAN decrease its salary by announcement. At the beginning of each month, the IADoP is impelled to award each officeholder a number of Yaks equal to the sum of the salaries of eir offices for which the officeholder held the office for at least two weeks continuously in the previous month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Agoran Decisions ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 693/14 (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. When submitting a ballot, a player can select PRESENT (syn. ABSTAIN) rather than one of the options provided by the decision. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, a ballot cast for PRESENT is considered to be a valid ballot, but, unless specified otherwise, does not count as a valid option. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 107/16 (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. The voting period lasts for 7 days. The minimum voting period for a decision with at least two options is five days. The vote collector for a decision with less than two options CAN and SHALL end the voting period by announcement, if it has not ended already, and provided that e resolves the decision in the same message. The voting period for a decision cannot be set or changed to a duration longer than fourteen days. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 683/17 (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. ("Changing" a vote is equivalent to retracting it and casting a vote with the new value.) 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 two, 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2127/8 (Power=3) Conditional Votes If a vote on an Agoran decision is submitted conditionally (e.g. "FOR if is true, otherwise AGAINST"), then the selected option is evaluated based on the value of the condition(s) at the end of the voting period, and, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, is clearly specified if and only if the value of the condition(s) is/are determinate at the end of the voting period. If the option cannot be clearly identified, a vote of PRESENT is cast. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2280/1 (Power=3) Implicit Votes When an eligible voter on an Agoran decision attempts to cast ballots without explicitly specifying the number of ballots to be cast (e.g. "FOR" instead of "FOR*1" or "FOR*3"), e casts a an implicit vote. At resolution time, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, an implicit vote is treated as if it were a number of identical votes equal to eir voting limit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2168/7 (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 is instead increased to 14 days, except if it is already that length, provided this has not already happened for the decision in question. Upon such an occurrence, the vote collector for the decision SHALL issue a humiliating public reminder to the slackers who have not yet cast any votes on it despite being eligible, and CAN end its voting period by announcement (resolving it constitutes an implicit announcement that its voting period is first ended) if the result would no longer be FAILED QUORUM, or if the decision is whether to adopt a proposal and no voter (other than possibly the proposal's author) has voted FOR. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 208/10 (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 in a timely fashion 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 the outcome, as described elsewhere, and, if there was more than one valid option, 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. In general, changes to the gamestate due to the outcome of an Agoran decision take effect when the decision is resolved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 955/18 (Power=3) Determining the Will of Agora After an Agoran Decision's voting period ends, it has an outcome (syn. "the chosen by Agora"). (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 has an adoption index, then if the strength of FOR is greater than the strength of AGAINST, and the ratio of the strength of FOR to the strength of AGAINST is greater than or equal to the decision's adoption index (or the strength of AGAINST is zero), then the outcome is ADOPTED; otherwise, the outcome is REJECTED. (c) Otherwise, the outcome is the option with the most votes. In case of a tie, the vote collector SHALL select one of the leaders as the outcome. If there are no options, the outcome is null. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 879/30 (Power=2) Quorum Quorum for an Agoran Decision is equal to the number of currently active players who voted on the most recently resolved Agoran Decision to adopt a proposal, minus 3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2034/8 (Power=3) Vote Protection and Cutoff for Challenges A public message purporting to resolve an Agoran decision constitutes self-ratifying claims that a) such a decision existed, b) it was resolved as indicated, and c) (if the indicated outcome was to adopt a proposal) such a proposal existed, was adopted, and took effect. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Proposals ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2350/6 (Power=3) Proposals A proposal is a type of entity consisting of a body of text and other attributes. A player CAN create a proposal by announcement, specifying its text and optionally specifying any of the following attributes: * An associated title. * A list of co-authors (which must be persons other than the author). * An adoption index. * A Chamber. Creating a proposal adds it to the Proposal Pool. Once a proposal is created, none of its attributes can be changed. The author (syn. proposer) of a proposal is the person who submitted it. If a decision of whether to adopt a proposal was resolved as FAILED QUORUM in the last seven days, the Promotor CAN once add the proposal back to the Proposal Pool by announcement. The author of a proposal in the Proposal Pool CAN remove (syn. retract, withdraw) it from the Pool by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 106/35 (Power=3) Adopting Proposals When a decision about whether to adopt a proposal is resolved, if the option selected by Agora is ADOPTED, then the proposal in question 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. Except as prohibited by other rules, a proposal that takes effect CAN and does, as part of its effect, apply the changes that it specifies. If the proposal cannot make some such changes, this does not preclude the other changes from taking place. If there is no Agoran Decision to adopt a particular proposal that has an outcome of ADOPTED, that proposal CANNOT take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. Preventing a proposal from taking effect is a secured change; this does not apply to generally preventing changes to specified areas of the gamestate, nor to a proposal preventing itself from taking effect (its no-effect clause is generally interpreted as applying only to the rest of the proposal). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1607/39 (Power=3) Distribution The Promotor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing proposals. Determining whether to adopt a proposal is an Agoran decision. For this decision, the vote collector is the Assessor, the adoption index and Chamber are initially the same as the corresponding values from the proposal, and the text of the proposal is an essential parameter. Initiating such a decision is known as distribution, and removes the proposal from the Proposal Pool. A proposal that was in the Proposal Pool at the beginning of a given week is a pending proposal. The Promotor CAN distribute a proposal which is in the Proposal Pool at any time. In a given Agoran week, the Promotor SHALL, as part of eir weekly duties, distribute all pending proposals. The Promotor SHALL NOT distribute any proposals that are not pending. Distributed proposals have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Promotor. If there is a Proposal in the Pool that it would otherwise be IMPOSSIBLE for any active player to distribute, then any player CAN distribute that Proposal Without 3 Objections. The Promotor's report includes a list of all proposals in the Proposal Pool, along with their text and attributes. This portion of a public document purporting to be a Promotor's report is self-ratifying. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2373/2 (Power=3) Voting Chambers Voting Chambers are a class of entity. Creating a Voting Chamber or making an entity a Voting Chamber is Secured with power 2. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2389/11 (Power=2) Ordinary Chamber Ordinary is a Voting Chamber. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an Ordinary Decision is initially the same as eir Base Vote. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2374/5 (Power=3) Democratic Chamber Democratic is a Voting Chamber. If the Chamber of an entity is not Democratic, any first-class Player CAN set it to Democratic with 3 Agoran Consent. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the voting limit of an eligible voter on a Democratic decision (eir Base Vote) is 1, plus 1 if e holds one or more postulated offices, plus 2 if e holds the office of Speaker. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2409/2 (Power=3) Star Chamber Star is a Voting Chamber. The voting limit of an eligible voter on an Star Decision is initially the same as eir Base Vote. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1950/29 (Power=3) Decisions with Adoption Indices Adoption index is an untracked switch possessed by Agoran decisions and proposals, whose value is either "none" (default) or an integral multiple of 0.1 from 1.0 to 9.9. Chamber is a switch possessed by Agoran decisions with adoption indices and proposals, with values any Voting Chamber, by default Ordinary. Adoption index and Chamber are secured with a power threshold of 2. An Agoran decision with an adoption index has the following essential parameters: a) Its adoption index. b) Its author (and co-authors, if any). c) Its Chamber. The eligible voters on a decision with an adoption index are those entities that were active players at the start of its voting period. Setting or changing an entity's voting limit on such a decision is secured with a power threshold of 2. For any Agoran decision with an adoption index, the available options are FOR and AGAINST. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1698/3 (Power=3) Agora Is A Nomic Agora is ossified if it is IMPOSSIBLE for any reasonable combination of actions by players to cause arbitrary rule changes to be made and/or arbitrary proposals to be adopted within a four-week period. If, but for this rule, the net effect of a proposal would cause Agora to become ossified, it cannot take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. If any other single change to the gamestate would cause Agora to become ossified, it is cancelled and does not occur, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Adjudication ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 991/12 (Power=2) Judicial Cases Generally A judicial case, also known as a call for judgement (CFJ), is a procedure to settle a matter of controversy. Each judicial case has exactly one subclass, with particular features as defined by other rules. Subclasses of judicial case exist only as defined by the rules. Defining a subclass of judicial case is secured, with a power threshold of 1.7. A judicial case's subclass CAN be specified by its initiator, or otherwise defaults to inquiry. The Clerk of the Courts (CotC) is an office, responsible for managing judicial activity. The CotC's report includes the status of all judicial cases without a judgement. Judicial cases (other than appeal cases, which have historically been identified by reference to the prior case) have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Clerk of the Courts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2158/11 (Power=2) Judges At any time, each judicial case is either open (default), suspended, or has exactly one judgement. This is a persistent status that changes only according to the rules. The possible types of judgement for a judicial case depend on the type of case. When a judicial case is open and has a judge assigned to it, the judge CAN assign a valid judgement to it by announcement, and SHALL do so in a timely fashion, unless e is recused from the case before the time limit for doing so has expired. A judge SHOULD NOT assign an inappropriate judgement to any judicial case. A judgement is valid and/or appropriate only as defined by the rules. Defining these things is secured, with a power threshold of 1.7. If more than one judgement is valid and appropriate, then the choice between them is left to the judge's discretion. When a non-appeal judicial case is open, and its judge has violated a time limit to assign a judgement to it, or is not an active player, the Clerk of the Courts SHALL recuse that judge with cause by announcement in a timely fashion; however, this requirement is waived if the judge assigns a judgement to it first. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 591/38 (Power=1.7) Inquiry Cases Inquiry cases are a subclass of judicial cases. An inquiry case's purpose is to determine the veracity of a particular statement. Any person CAN initiate an inquiry case by announcement, specifying a block of text which SHOULD represent a statement to be inquired into. (Including a yes/no question is equivalent to including a statement that the answer to that question is yes, and for such a case, YES and NO are synonymous with the judgements TRUE and FALSE respectively.) The initiator is unqualified to be assigned as judge of the case, and in the initiating announcement e CAN disqualify one person from assignment as judge of the case. The valid judgements for an inquiry case are as follows, based on the truth or falsity of the statement at the time the inquiry case was initiated (if its truth value changed at that time, then its initial truth value is used): * FALSE, appropriate if the statement was factually and logically false * TRUE, appropriate if the statement was factually and logically true * UNDECIDABLE, appropriate if the statement was logically undecidable or otherwise not capable of being accurately described as either false or true * IRRELEVANT, appropriate if the veracity of the statement is not relevant to the game or is an overly hypothetical extrapolation of the game or its rules to conditions that don't actually exist, or if it can be trivially determined from the outcome of another (possibly still undecided) judicial case that was not itself judged IRRELEVANT * UNDETERMINED, appropriate if the statement is nonsensical or too vague, or if the information available to the judge is insufficient to determine which of the FALSE, TRUE, and UNDECIDABLE judgements is appropriate; however, uncertainty as to how to interpret or apply the rules cannot constitute insufficiency of information for this purpose * MALFORMED, appropriate if the text identified by the initiator as the statement cannot be parsed as a single statement in the ordinary-language sense; however, a compound statement (e.g. "X and Y", "X or Y") counts as a single statement Players SHOULD take the judgement of the question in an inquiry case, and the reasoning by which it was reached, into account when attempting to determine what is possible and/or legal in future play (including when making future judgements); but the judgement does not directly affect the veracity of the statement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1504/67 (Power=2) Criminal Cases Criminal cases are a subclass of judicial cases. Any person can initiate a criminal case by announcement, specifying: (a) a person (the defendant), (b) an action the defendant allegedly performed or failed to perform, and (c) a rule allegedly violated by that action/inaction. The initiator and each member of the defendant's basis are unqualified to be assigned as judge of the case. The valid judgements for a criminal case are as follows: * GUILTY with a valid sentence, appropriate if the judge finds, beyond a reasonable doubt, that ALL of the following are true: (a) the defendant breached the specified rule via the specified act; (b) the breach occurred within 30 days prior to the case being initiated; (c) judgement has not already been reached in another criminal case initiated between the breach and the initiation of this case with the same defendant, the same rule, and substantially the same alleged act; (d) the defendant should have reasonably believed that the alleged act did violate the specified rule; (e) the defendant could have reasonably avoided committing the breach without thereby committing a different breach of equal or greater severity. * NOT GUILTY, appropriate if GUILTY is not appropriate. In delivering this verdict, the judge SHOULD indicate which of the sub-requirements for a finding of guilty were not found to be true beyond a reasonable doubt. When a sentence has been assigned as part of a GUILTY judgement, the defendant is known as the ninny, and the sentence is in effect. The valid sentences are: * DISCHARGE, appropriate only in extraordinary circumstances, if any available non-null punishment would be manifestly unjust. Has no effect. * APOLOGY with a set of up to ten prescribed words (the empty set if none is explicitly specified), appropriate for rule breaches of small consequence. When in effect, the ninny SHALL in a timely fashion publish a formal apology of at least 200 words, including all the prescribed words, explaining eir error, shame, remorse, and ardent desire for self-improvement. Failure to do so is a Class-3 Crime of Failure to Apologize. * FINE with an amount of one currency, appropriate for rule breaches of small consequence. An amount is only valid if the rules specify a maximum FINE amount for that currency, and the amount is no greater than the maximum. When in effect, unless a fine for that case has already been satisfied, the ninny SHALL pay a cost of that amount of currency to satisfy the fine in a timely fashion; if e fails to do so within four days, and has at least that amount, then any player CAN destroy that amount from eir possession by announcement to satisfy the fine. * COMMUNITY SERVICE with a set of up to five tasks (the prescribed tasks) that the ninny CAN reasonably and legally perform, appropriate for rule breaches of moderate consequence if the severity of the rule breach is reasonably correlated with the consequences of performing the tasks, and especially if any other available non-null punishment would be either unjust or insufficient. The balance between compensatory and punitive service is left to the judge's discretion. While a sentence of this type is in effect, the ninny SHALL perform the prescribed tasks (in a timely fashion, unless a different time limit is specified). * TIME OUT with a number of days between 4 and 21, appropriate for rue breaches of moderate consequence. Stasis is a player timer, tracked by the Registrar. When a sentence of TIME OUT has been in effect continuously for one week, the ninny becomes inactive, and eir stasis timer increases by the specified amount. While a player is inactive, eir stasis timer is counting down. While a player's stasis timer is positive, e CANNOT become active. * EXILE, appropriate for rule breaches of the highest severity. When a judgement of EXILE has been in effect continuously for one week, the ninny is deregistered and CANNOT register for two months after that time. During this period, e is known as a Fugitive. Being a Fugitive is the Losing Condition of Seeking Asylum. Players SHOULD NOT create rules defining Crimes of a Class greater than 14. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2277/4 (Power=2) Appeals of Criminal Cases An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a criminal case within the past week CAN be initiated by the defendant by announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2205/4 (Power=1) Judicial Arguments and Evidence Each of the following participants in a judicial case SHOULD present such arguments and/or evidence (explicitly labeled) relevant to that case as e is reasonably able to collect: 1) The initiator, when initiating the case. 2) For a criminal case, the defendant, before judgement is delivered. 3) The judge, when delivering judgement. When submitting arguments and/or evidence, a player SHOULD classify matters of legal interpretation as arguments, and matters of fact as evidence. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2157/6 (Power=1.7) Judicial Panels A judicial panel is a structure whereby a group of two or more persons (its members) act together for the purpose of judging judicial cases. A judicial panel's membership cannot change, and if two panels have the same membership then they are the same panel. Judicial panels exist implicitly, without any specific act of formation. A judicial panel CAN send messages by means of any of its members sending a message identified as being from the panel, with the unanimous Support of the panel's other members. By this mechanism a judicial panel can act, in situations where the rules state that an action is performed by sending a message. The rules may specify other mechanisms by which the judicial panel CAN act. A judicial panel can incur obligations. The members of a panel SHALL act collectively to ensure that the panel satisfies all of its obligations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2341/1 (Power=1.7) Judgements by Judicial Panels In a timely fashion after a judicial panel is assigned to a case, each member of the panel SHALL publish an opinion indicating a valid judgement to assign to the case -- only the last such published opinion for each member is used to determine the outcome. Each member SHOULD choose an appropriate judgement, and include arguments for eir choice. If, immediately after either all members have so published or the time limit for so publishing has ended, a majority of the members have opined for the same judgement, the panel acts to deliver the judgement in question. If the panel publishes a valid judgement via another mechanism specified in the Rules, the requirement for individual members to publish individual opinions is waived. If an open case is assigned to a judicial panel, and one of its members previously published an opinion for that case as part of the same or a different judicial panel, then that opinion stands for the newly-assigned panel unless the case was judged and reopened in the meanwhile. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2318/2 (Power=1.7) Motions to Reconsider If a non-Appeals judicial case (1) has a judgement that has been in effect for less than seven days and not been appealed, and (2) has not had a Motion to Reconsider filed for it at any time while it has been assigned to its current judge, then any Player CAN file a Motion to Reconsider the case with 2 Support, or by announcement if e is that case's judge. When a Motion to Reconsider is so filed, the case is rendered open again. A player who files such a Motion SHOULD include arguments as to why the case needs reconsideration, and such arguments become part of the record of the case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 911/47 (Power=1.7) Appeal Cases Appeal cases are a subclass of judicial cases. An appeal case's purpose is to determine the appropriateness of a judgement that has been assigned to a judicial case, and make remedy if the judgement was poorly chosen. The assignment of judgement being questioned (appealed against, or appealed) is referred to as the prior assignment; the word "prior" in this rule is used to refer to the circumstances of the prior assignment. An appeal concerning any assignment of judgement in a non-appeal case within the past two weeks CAN be initiated by any player with 2 support. However, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, an appeal CANNOT be initiated concerning an assignment caused by a judgement in an appeal case, nor an assignment for which an appeal has already been initiated. The entities qualified to be assigned as judge of an appeal case are the judicial panels consisting of three members, where each of the members is qualified to be assigned as judge of the prior case and none is the prior judge. If possible, the CotC SHALL assign a panel where each of the members is well qualified to be assigned as judge of the prior case. The valid judgements for an appeal case are of the form " with prejudice" or " without prejudice". Such a judgement is generally appropriate if and only if (1) the action is appropriate, and (2) the judgement is with prejudice if and only if the prior judge made an error in eir judgement which could have been reasonably avoided, or generally inappropriately discharged eir duties in the case. The valid values of and their associated effects are as follows: * AFFIRM, appropriate if the prior judgement was appropriate for the prior case; the prior judgement is assigned to the prior case again * REMAND, appropriate if there is serious doubt about whether the prior judgement was appropriate; the prior case is rendered open again; the judge SHOULD assign this judgement if the judge believes that the judge of the prior case will make a better judgement if given a new opportunity * REMIT, appropriate if there is serious doubt about whether the prior judgement was appropriate, or if the prior judge exhibited corruptive self-interest (material, with a specific and obvious impact on eir judgement and arguments, and not arising merely due to a difference of opinion or a wholly incidental material benefit common among many players); the judge of the prior case (if any) is recused, and the prior case is rendered open again; the judge SHOULD assign this judgement if the judge believes that the judge of the prior case will not make a better judgement if given a new opportunity * OVERRULE with a valid replacement judgement for the prior case, appropriate if the prior judgement was inappropriate in the prior case and the replacement judgement is appropriate for the prior case; the replacement judgement is assigned to the prior case The appropriateness of the prior judgement is measured at the time it was assigned. When an appeal case is initiated, the prior case is suspended, and remains so until the appeal case is judged. The judge of a previously-appealed case SHALL NOT assign the same judgement to it without new reasoning that addresses the serious doubt about its appropriateness. Violating this prohibition is the Class-2 Crime of Lazy Judging. A person SHALL NOT appeal a judgement (except on a criminal case) unless e reasonably believes that the judgement might be inappropriate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2342/1 (Power=1.7) Judicial Appeals Panels If the time period for judging an appeals case ends with no majority opinion among members of the panel assigned to it, then the CotC CAN, and SHALL in a timely fashion, by announcement cause the panel to judge either REMAND or REMIT with or without prejudice, whichever e feels is most appropriate. E SHALL NOT assign the case to another panel solely due to its failure to judge. These requirements are waived if the panel delivers a judgment in the meanwhile. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2175/6 (Power=1) Judicial Retraction and Excess A new case is a judicial case (other than an appeal case) that has not had any judge assigned to it. The initiator of a new case CAN retract it by announcement, thus causing it to cease to be a judicial case. An excess case is a new case whose initiator previously initiated five or more cases during the same week as that case. A person SHALL NOT initiate an excess case. The Clerk of the Courts CAN refuse an excess case by announcement, thus causing it to cease to be a judicial case. When e does so, e fulfills any obligations with regards to that case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1868/21 (Power=2) Judge Assignment Generally At any time, a judicial case either has no judge assigned to it (default) or has exactly one entity assigned to it as judge. This is a persistent status that changes only according to the rules. When a judicial case is open and has no judge assigned, the CotC CAN assign a qualified entity to be its judge by announcement, and SHALL do so in a timely fashion. The entities qualified to be assigned as judge of a judicial case are the active players who have not previously been assigned as its judge, subject to modification by other rules. Being unqualified to be assigned as a judge does not inherently prevent an entity from continuing to be judge of a case to which e is already assigned. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, entities other than players are always unqualified to judge. When a player is poorly qualified to be assigned as judge of a judicial case, the Clerk of the Courts SHALL not assign em to be the judge of that case; if e has done so, and that player is still the judge of that case, then e CAN recuse that judge from that case by announcement. Making an entity unqualified or poorly qualified to judge is secured, with a power threshold of 1.5. To recuse a judge from a case is to deassign em as its judge. Assigning a judge to a case implicitly recuses its existing judge, if any. A recusal "with cause" is a recusal defined as such by the rules. A player CAN favor or disfavor a judicial case by announcement. When assigning a judge to a judicial case, the CotC, if possible, SHALL assign a player who has favored it and SHALL NOT assign a player who has disfavored it. For appeals cases, if possible, e SHALL assign a panel maximizing the number of members who have favored it and minimizing the number who have disfavored it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1871/33 (Power=1.5) The Standing Court Posture is a player switch, tracked by the Clerk of the Courts, with the following values: * Standing. Standing players are generally qualified to judge. * Sitting. Sitting players are poorly qualified to judge, but will generally become qualified when the CotC rotates the bench. * Leaning. Leaning players are poorly qualified to judge, but are generally qualified to serve on appeal panels. * Supine (default). Supine players are unqualified to judge. Changes to posture are secured. A player CAN flip eir posture to any non-standing value by announcement. When the CotC assigns a player as judge, that player becomes sitting. The CotC CAN rotate the bench (change all sitting players to standing) by announcement, but SHALL NOT do so unless, of the judicial cases requiring assignment: a) no entity is well-qualified to be assigned to any of them; b) e immediately afterwards (in the same announcement) assigns a judge to at least one of them. When the CotC recuses a non-supine player with cause, e CAN flip that player's posture to supine by announcement in a timely fashion. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2378/2 (Power=2) Court Protector A CFJ may be submitted to the Ambassador-At-Large. For such a CFJ, the Ambassador-At-Large shall perform all duties and fulfill all roles that would otherwise be assigned to the Clerk of the Courts. This takes precedence over Rules that would otherwise assign duties and roles regarding a CFJ to the Clerk of the Courts. All persons are encouraged to submit a CFJ to the Ambassador-At-Large only when there is a good reason not to submit it to the Clerk of the Courts. If the Clerk of the Courts ever holds the office of Ambassador-At-Large, then, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the Ambassador- At-Large becomes Assumed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2204/0 (Power=1.5) Linked Assignments When the Clerk of the Courts assigns a player as judge of two or more judicial cases consecutively in the same announcement, that player only becomes sitting upon the last such assignment, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. The CotC SHOULD NOT do this unless those cases are closely related in their subject matter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2164/4 (Power=1) Judicial Self-Recusal and Case Transfer The judge of a judicial case CAN recuse emself from it at any time by announcement. Such a recusal is with cause if and only if e has been assigned to the case for at least four days. An entity (the transferee) CAN, with consent from the current judge of a judicial case (the transferor), assign emself as the new judge of that case, provided that e is qualified to be assigned as judge of that case, and e immediately (in the same announcement) assigns a judgement to that case. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2394/0 (Power=1) Crime by Proxy Being the Executor of a message in which another person commits the Class-N Crime of X (for any values of N and X) is the Class-N Crime of X By Proxy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Patent Titles and Degrees ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 649/35 (Power=1.5) Patent Titles A Patent Title is a legal item given in recognition of a person's distinction. The Herald is an office; its holder is responsible for tracking Patent Titles. A person specifically authorized by the rules to award (revoke) a Patent Title SHALL do so in a timely fashion after the conditions authorizing em to do so are announced, unless there is an open judicial case contesting the validity of those conditions. Awarding or revoking a Patent Title by any other method is secured. The Herald CAN award a specified Patent Title not already defined by any Rule or held by any entity to a specified player With 2 Agoran Consent. While a Patent Title has been awarded to (and not revoked from) an entity, that entity is said to Bear that Patent Title. The status of Bearing a Patent Title can only be changed as explicitly set out in the Rules. The Herald's monthly report includes a list of each Patent Title that at least one entity Bears, with a list of which entities Bear it. In a timely fashion after a patent title is awarded or revoked, the herald SHALL announce the award or revocation. When a patent title is used as a noun to refer to bearers of the patent title, it is assumed to refer only to persons who Bear that patent title unless context clearly indicates otherwise. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1367/18 (Power=3) Degrees Certain patent titles are known as degrees. The degrees are - Associate of Nomic (A.N.) - Bachelor of Nomic (B.N.) - Master of Nomic (M.N.) - Doctor of Nomic History (D.N.Hist.) - Doctor of Nomic Science (D.N.Sci.) - Doctor of Nomic Philosophy (D.N.Phil.) Degrees are ranked in the order they appear in this rule, with degrees listed later being ranked higher. A degree CANNOT be awarded to any person more than once, and CANNOT be revoked once awarded. After a player publishes a suitable thesis with explicit intent to qualify for a degree (the specific degree need not be mentioned), the Herald SHALL, in a timely fashion, initiate an Agoran Decision to award that player (the author) a degree as follows: - The available options are FAILING GRADE and each degree that the author does not have. The available options can change during the voting period. - The eligible voters are the active players, other than the author, at the time the decision is initiated. - Each player's voting limit on the decision is one plus the number of degrees e holds. - The specific thesis for which the degree is to be awarded is an essential parameter of the decision (but not the text of that thesis). - The outcome is, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the highest-ranked degree such that more than half the votes cast were for that degree or a higher degree, or FAILING GRADE if there was no such degree. When the Herald resolves the decision, e CAN and SHALL award the author the degree selected by Agora, or no degree if FAILING GRADE was the outcome. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2231/3 (Power=3) Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic The set of patent titles defined in this rule constitute the Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic; the titles may be collectively referred to as "Heroic titles" and a Bearer of a Heroic title as a Hero. Heroic titles are Agora's premier titles of distinction, and CAN be awarded to persons for meritorious service only by a proposal of power 3 or greater, which SHOULD explain why those persons are qualified. Players SHOULD NOT cause heroic titles to be revoked. Heroes are entitled to use the abbreviation of eir title as post-nomial letters in Agora communications and reports. The Heroic titles in decreasing precedence are: Grand Hero of Agora Nomic (GHAN) -- This title may be awarded to any person obviously and directly responsible for the existence of Agora and/or Nomic in general. As this title is the highest honour that Agora may bestow, a Bearer of this title OUGHT to be treated right good forever. Hero of Agora Nomic (HAN) -- This title may be awarded to any person for outstanding meritorious service to Agora above and beyond the call of duty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2415/0 (Power=1.5) Badges A Badge is any patent title with the word 'badge' as part of its name. A badge SHOULD be used to award multiple persons for participating in specific event of note within Agora. Any player CAN award a badge that does not yet exist to three or more persons simultaneously, with Agoran Consent. The Herald CAN award an existing badge to persons Without Objection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== Trophies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 1727/18 (Power=1) Happy Birthday WHEREAS, in June 1993, the world's only MUD-based nomic, Nomic World, had recently collapsed; yet, many of its players enjoyed nomic and did not wish to forego such a noble pursuit; And WHEREAS, Originator Chuck Carroll therefore composed an Initial Ruleset for an email nomic, based on the Initial Rulesets of Peter Suber, inventor of Nomic, and on the Rulesets of Nomic World and other nomics, And WHEREAS, a nomic thus rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Nomic World, played on the mailing list originally set up for discussion of Nomic World, and coming into existence at June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200, with a message sent by FIRST SPEAKER Michael Norrish, which read, in part, "I see no reason to let this get bogged down; there are no precedents or rules that cover this situation, so I think we may as well begin directly.... Proposals for new rules are invited. In accordance with the rules, these will be published, numbered and distributed by me at my earliest convenience." And WHEREAS, this nomic began as a humble and nameless nomic, known unofficially as yoyo, after the mailing list it was played on, until its Players, much later, gave it its OFFICIAL NAME of Agora, And WHEREAS, Agora has now become the wisest, noblest, eldest, and most interesting of all active email nomics, due to the hard work and diligence of Agorans as well as the frequent advice of Agoraphobes, And WHEREAS, Agorans desire to joyously commemorate Agora's founding, BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that Agora's Birthday is defined to be the entire day of June 30, GMT +1200, of each year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rule 2029/0 (Power=4) Town Fountain /\ /\ / \ / \ T his Power-4 Rule (the first ever) was placed to honor The Agoran Spirit Of The Game by Goethe, Steve, Murphy, root and OscarMeyr, Scamsters. Look on our works, ye Marvy, but do always Dance a Powerful Dance. Hail Eris! ----------------------------------------------------------------------