Deputized as registrar, I publish the following two Cantus Cygneus', and hereby
command 4st and Anti-Cleisthenes to be deregistered.
Anti-Cleisthenes wrote:
{
We have seen the end of an age. Others have eulogized the late Queen
Elizabeth II with more eloquent words than I can produce, but with her
passing, by some strange coincidence, there is another expiry to be
recognized. Lest Agora herself die without any protest at all, I write
these words as a kind of epitaph, marking a passage that few may pay
attention to, or even perceive, under present circumstances, but a passage
nevertheless deserving of recognition and lament.
Agorans take pride in their history. They are right to do so. Birthed
amidst the dawn of the Computer Age, the innocent optimism for an open,
free, and generous electronic republic of letters had long persisted within
the discussions of these fora, even after that optimism had reached
extinction in the rest of the internet, and even after a pre-Revival Agora,
in the depths of her comatose languor, seemed close to extinction herself.
One could have been forgiven for believing that the beloved game might
support that prelapsarian attitude indefinitely, but as the once juvenile,
once comatose, and once revived Agora reaches her 30th birthday, it has
never been more apparent that this attitude is sadly mistaken. It is
therefore my sad duty to report that her long-delayed demise is imminent,
and that the prognosis is likely terminal.
Many will ask, in hindsight, what the cause of death was for this great
lady. Put simply, her heart, which beat with the ichor of openness and
equanimity, has found itself closed off, partial, upbraiding, and cruel.
The unceremonial decapitation of a true son of Agora, Madrid, whose work
now permanently adorns the website chosen as the representative for a game
he will no longer be able to play, is now imminent. What crime was he
charged with? Persistent annoyance? Agora always notoriously having been
filled to the brim with highly popular and sociable individuals, it is
understandable that someone with little knowledge and less respect of the
Agoran dictates of civility might face, at some point, social consequences
for this most grievous of sins. Though none here might know in their
personal lives of the struggles of the ordeal of civility, having been
intuitively immersed in its tenets since birth, perhaps ignorance of the
law is no excuse. But at what point in Agoran history has someone faced
utter expulsion for being unsociable, even persistently? Are players now
willing to institute rules enshrining a particular form of etiquette
directly into the ruleset that Agorans delight, anyway, in violating
insofar as it is possible? Perhaps not, as, despite whatever other noises
may be made for the partisans of ostracism, there is no pretense that the
introduction of this perverse custom is made for anyone else other than
Madrid.
We will see, of course, how this new custom operates in practice, now that
all players are aware that a final sanction against the undesirable is both
possible and expedient.
And, yet, we have not reached the heart of the matter. Upon reviewing the
evidence that led to the issue being raised, indeed, being conceivable in
the first place, it is, in truth, not mere sociability (though a thing all
other Agorans hold in spades) writ large we are asked to consider, but that
Madrid’s personal beliefs, which have no bearing on the game itself or his
many positive and unique contributions to it, are so utterly repugnant that
a form of extrajudicial punishment, envisioned nowhere in the thrice-holy
ruleset, nor ever in Agoran history, is the only suitable remedy. No, the
crime that Madrid has committed is making an arguably unfavorable
comparison with feminism. The banality conceals the absurdity. Without this
great crime (which far more attention was paid to than contemporaneous,
albeit questionable accusations of cartoonish racism, demonstrating the
seriousness and gravity with which all forms of Agoran prejudice are
treated), there is no punishment. To say that he is, rather, being punished
for a “history of misbehavior,” of which the malevolent metaphor was a mere
component, when the actions comprising said "history" were never publicly
regarded as contrary to the spirit of the game or worthy of in-game
punishment, taken separately or together, is delusive. We are to believe
*no* punishment was appropriate until the *ultimate* punishment became
appropriate. Let us at least be honest with ourselves, if we will not be
honest with each other: Madrid is being punished by ex post facto decree
for an analogy.
The criminal comparison in question, of course, regardless of the opinion
of most Agorans, is a relatively common one in the country of origin of
most Agoran players, not to mention in Madrid’s. Are ordinary Spaniards and
Americans, who happen to disagree with the orthodoxy that, rightly or
wrongly, pervades the particular stratum of American society from which
most Agorans hail thereby banned from having the opportunity to play? Or
are the dictates of civility such that they may hold these beliefs, but,
unlike the orthodox, are precluded from mentioning them except in such
obsequiously disguised rhetoric as would make them utterly meaningless? The
right, not just to narrow and nuanced disagreement about rules, but to
substantial disagreement of every kind with other players, even if not in
every way, but certainly in all ways equal, has not only been a
foundational principle of Agora, but was at its outset an inherited axiom.
Agora’s heart cannot beat without it, and it is for that reason that I
eulogize her end. Some semblance of the game may remain, doubtless, for
some time, but her soul has left her body. May she rest in peace.
}
4st wrote:
{
I'd submit a Cantus Cygnus, but there's no one to receive it.
I'd deputize as registrar to receive it myself, but it's not worth it.
Maybe I'll come back later, when this is over, but for now, with these
offices and bureaucracy, it seems nigh impossible to get something that
should be simple done.
That, and it feels like there is some lingering sympathy to Madrid here,
and I don't want to deal with that at all. Without insomuch as a true,
sincere apology, in the face of everything, and there is still sympathy.
I thought I could do more with myself being present in the game, but it
seems like I cannot.
That, and I sympathize with the dead feeling of Agora presented
by Anti-Cleisthenes Alcmaeonid. (I do not sympathise with all of eir
statements.)
Overall, it's just too much and not enough, all at once. A game should be
fun to play, not a job to do.
}
Note: there are CFJs that might make these invalid.
--
Juan
Deputy Registrar
