On Tuesday 17 June 2008 13:53:39 Alexander Smith wrote:
> Seeing what's happened to B Nomic recently (apparently almost
> everything since last December has been illegal due to
> specifying SHALL rather than SHALL and CAN), I think it's
> probably a good idea to have some way to fix Agora if things
> go really bad. So this is an attempt to write a rule which can,
> by itself and without help from other rules, get the game out
> of just about any mess.
>
> This probably needs some work. (Incidentally, 'four-fifths'
> because that's what would be needed for an AI of 4 under the
> current rules, making Emergency Refreshes harder to pass than
> Democratic Proposals).
>
> Proto-proposal (AI=3, II=3):
> {{{{
> Create a power-3.1 rule with the following text:
> {{{
> The set of Definite Players is {ais523, avpx, BobTHJ, cdm014,
> comex, doopy, ehird, Eris, Iammars, Ivan Hope, Jeremy, Murphy,
> Offhanded, OscarMeyr, Pavitra, pikhq, Quazie, root,
> Schrodinger's Cat, woggle, Wooble, Zefram}.
>
> A Definite Message is a message sent to all Definite Players,
> or to a mailing list which all Definite Players are likely to be
> subscribed to, by a Definite Player.
>
> This rule can be amended to change the set of Definite Players
> to the set of current first-class players, as long as a Definite
> Player declared eir intention to do so in an Definite Message
> between four and fourteen days before the amendment happened, by
> stating that this action is being taken in a Definite Message,
> along with the new set of Definite Players.
>
> An Emergency Refresh is a set of changes to the rules and/or
> gamestate, clearly labeled as an Emergency Refresh, written in
> a Definite Message sent within the last fourteen days.
>
> Any Definite Player can Accept an Emergency Refresh, by stating
> that e Accepts it in a Definite Message.
>
> When an Emergency Refresh has been Accepted by at least four-
> fifths of the Definite Players, the rules and/or gamestate
> change as specified in the Emergency Refresh, regardless of
> what any other rule may state.
>
> Apart from the phrase "first-class players", all words in this
> rule have their normal English meaning except as defined in this
> rule, and their meanings cannot be overriden by any other entity.
> }}}
> }}}}Hmm. . . First off, this rule takes precedence over all other rules, so it would have to have higher power than all others. I do like the idea of a failsafe mechanism, though. . . However, if someone were to become dictator of Agora or throw it into chaos, wouldn't that person just repeal this rule? I'd like more feedback on this issue, because it seems worthy of discussion. avpx
