Proposal Archive (3151-3200)

Proposal 3151 - Fri 29 May 1998 02:30 EDT
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

[Given that Senatorial and Presidential election times are now linked, we should prevent a player holding both the Presidency and a Senate seat at the same time.]

Amend Rule 411, "Senate", by replacing the text

"The Speaker is not eligible to hold this office."

with the text

"The Speaker and the President are both ineligible to hold this office."

Append the following ONEONLY-delimited text to Rule 411 as a new paragraph:

"If Nominations are being held concurrently for the Office of President and the Office of Senator, then no player may nominate for both Offices. If a player attempts to nominate for both Offices, only the first nomination received by Count Tabula from that player for either of the offices shall be legitimate. This paragraph overrides Rule 402 in the event of a conflict."

Proposal 3152 - Fri 29 May 1998 02:31 EDT
Changing Locusts Again
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: accepted

In rule 1230.42 replace the text:

"A Locust is a piece with a Material Value of the smaller of "

with the text:

"A Locust is a piece with a Material Value of the larger of "

In the same rule replace:

"and then N/2 squares"

with

"and then up to N/2 squares".

Also, rename the rule "PartyChessPiece Locust" and renumber it to 1230.24.

Renumber rule 1230.41 (Party Chess Piece Guard) to 1230.25 [whilst I'm at it].

{{All on board party chess pieces of type locust are moved off board. All swingers controlling a party chess piece of type locust receive A$1 in compensation for each locust they own. All party chess pieces of type locust are destroyed.}}

[I spoke to Hubert about this and he assured me that this was what he intended (the first bit of it anyway). He also suggested that I destroy all the locusts that Slakko and myself had bought, which I agree with. The three middle bits are just my own personal opinions.]

Proposal 3153 - Sat 30 May 1998 11:31 EDT
Not As Good as an Outright Repeal But....
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Delete the second sentence of rule 206 (Keep 'em in the game).

[It currently reads:

"Anyone whose score reaches exactly -60 has their score changed to 20."]

Proposal 3154 - Sat 30 May 1998 11:32 EDT
But it's Really Interesting, Steve!
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Delete the following SNOOKER delimited text from rule 207:

SNOOKER
VII. Boring Proposals

A proposal is Boring if and only if at least half of the votes cast on the proposal were Present or Baa! votes. The above provisions notwithstanding, no points are scored by any player as a result of a Boring proposal being accepted or rejected.
SNOOKER

{{[The problem with boring proposals, as I see it, is that the only proposals likely to be declared boring are ones which are in a specialist area, such as party chess or the stock market. These proposals are not normally boring but have a large number of present and baa! votes cast on them because people aren't sufficiently knowledgeable on the subject]}}

Proposal 3155 - Sat 30 May 1998 11:33 EDT
And We'll Watch Them Fall
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Decision: accepted
Declared harfy by JT (JT Traub) on Sat 30 May 1998 16:03 EDT

{{ [ Another "collect 'em all" method of winning. More difficult than, more interactive than, and mutually incompatible with Cheeses. ] }}

In the tomes of the Ancients, in the lost pages of the Ackanomicon, there are listed Crimes far more heinous than mere Annoyingness, Heresies far greater than simply doubting the colorhood of Black. These are acts so foul, so terrible, with such nasty pointy teeth, that they are known simply as the Seven Deadly Sins of Ackanomic.

Unfortunately, the exact details of the Seven Deadly Sins have been lost in the mists of time. Thus, the entire populace of Acka is called upon to, through frantic research and long hours of burning the midnight oil, determine exactly what constitutes these seven heresies.

Any player without a Brie cheese (i.e., a player convicted of a Crime within the past two months) may post a message which purports to add a Rule detailing a new sin to this Rule Suite or replace a Sin already described in this Rule Suite with a Rule detailing a new sin. Such a message is known as a Sin Submission and is invalid if it does not contain at least the following three bits of information:
a) the name of the Sin it wishes to create,
b) an action or actions which constitutes the commission of that Sin, and
c) the name and/or Rule number of the Sin it is replacing, or, if it intends to create a new Sin, the fact that it wishes to do so.

Upon the posting to a public forum of a valid Sin Submission, a Sinquisition is called. A Sinquisition is a type of Hearing; it is also a Cause for Rejoicing. The player who submitted the Sin Submission shall be the Hearing Harfer for this Hearing and shall be known as the Faerie Queene for its duration. The valid verdicts in a Sinquisition are "Right up there with Disrespecting the Harfers" and "I'm still looking for the original sin." If the verdict is "Right up there with Disrespecting the Harfers," then if the Sin Submission purported to replace a current Sin, the Rule describing that Sin is repealed. Whether a replacement was intended or not, a new Rule is added to this Rule Suite with the title "The Deadly Sin of X", where X is replaced by the name for the Sin given in the Sin Submission. The body of this Rule shall be the text detailed by the Sin Submission, and the player submitting the Sin Submission shall gain 7 points for eir vigilance.
If the verdict of the Sinquisition is "I'm still looking for the original sin," the player submitting the Sin Submission loses 7 points and must spend three days in the Library researching further the nature of Sin.

If, at any time, there exist more than seven Rules besides this one in this Rule Suite, the highest-numbered Rule in this Rule Suite shall be repealed.

A player who commits any of the Seven Deadly Sins is guilty of the Crime of Original Sin, and a judge convicting such a player is encouraged to be as harsh as possible in penalizing the infidel. In fact, the penalty in a CFCJ convicting a player of this Crime must contain an Apology of at least 7 lines; this takes precedence over Rule 710. The initiator of a CFCJ which attempts to convict a player for Original Sin must clearly state in eir Reasoning which Sin or Sins were committed and how.

When a CFCJ alleging that a player has committed the Crime of Original Sin is returned with a final verdict of TRUE, that player becomes a Vile Committer of Y, where Y is replaced by the name of the Sin which that player was convicted for committing. If a player was convicted for multiple Sins at once, e gains such an attribute for each such Sin. If a player ever receives a Brie cheese in any manner, all attributes granted em by this Rule are removed from em. If ever a player is a Vile Committer of all seven Sins detailed in this Rule Suite, and only those seven Sins, e shall gain a Winning Condition.

{{ Renumber to 777. Retitle to "The Seven Deadly Sins Rule Suite". }}

Proposal 3156 - Sat 30 May 1998 11:35 EDT
Everybody's Doin' a Brand New Dance Now
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Status: retracted
Declared harfy by JT (JT Traub) on Sat 30 May 1998 16:03 EDT

Create a Rule numbered 41 with the following JIHAD-delimited text:

JIHAD
There exists the Optional Political Office of Emperor.

No Impeachment Paper may ever be authored with the intent to remove the Emperor from Office. If such a Paper is authored, it fails immediately.

It is a Duty of the Emperor to invoke Judgement on all Proposals which are still under voting consideration. E does this by deciding whether each such Proposal is accepted or rejected. If e decides to accept the Proposal, its effects are applied as described in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Rule 104 and it is removed from voting consideration, otherwise it is simply removed from voting consideration.

It is a Duty of the Emperor to amend the Rules of Ackanomic as e sees fit. E has the power to add a new Rule, repeal an existing Rule, or amend in any way an existing Rule as a public action, as often as e likes.

It is a Privilege of the Emperor to declare that any player who posts a public message which the Emperor does not like is Outcast. When a player is Outcast, e is immediately moved to the Wilds of Ackanomia and may not change eir Location until the Emperor decides to allow em to do so.

This Rule takes precedence over all other Rules where there is a conflict.
{{ The player formerly known as The Gingham Wearer is appointed to the Office of Emperor. ['Cause e won IN 29, you know.] }}
JIHAD

[ Hey, it'll get rid of anti-voting points... ]

Proposal 3157 - Sat 30 May 1998 12:27 EDT
Wall Street
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Decision: accepted

There is a building know as the Ackan Stock Exchange. It is classy [because the Reserve can't get approval for that sixth kaa]. It is owned by the Ackan Reserve, as are the kaas of land it is on, and is a common location. The Ackan Reserve also owns an undeveloped kaa of land adjacent to the building.
The Ackan Stock Exchange is a tall building made of glass. About half way up, there is a stock ticker, and the stock price is always displayed on it. Although any player may enter the Stock Exchange, only a member of the AREB can go to the top floor.

Proposal 3158 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:27 EDT
No Auto-hunting
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.
Repleal rule 1395 'Mu-Cow Hunter'.
{{[Please help make breadbox's life easier. I voted for the Mu-Cow merely to prevent that proposal from finding it, and I suspect others did as well.]}}

Proposal 3159 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:29 EDT
And the World Screams "Kiss Me, Son of God"
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Status: retracted

Repeal section VI of rule 419.2
Renumber rule 419.2 to 419.3
Create rule 419.2, named "The Foreign Affairs Council", reading as delimited by CIA
CIA
The Office of Foreign Affairs has four Seats. The Ambassador is not eligible to hold this office. The Officers of Foreign Affairs are collectively a Unique Organization known as the Foreign Affairs Council. The Ambassador is the titular head of the Senate, with the title of Director of Foreign Affairs. If a Foreign Affairs Council vote is tied after all the Officers of Foreign Affairs have voted, then the Director of Foreign Affairs may cast a tiebreaking vote on the matter in question.
The Foreign Affairs Council is charged with expanding the influence of Ackanomic in its dealing with other nomics. As an organizational action, the FAC may change the attitude of Ackanomic towards any nomic. As an organizational action, the FAC may create a type of CSR known as a Foreign Aid Request. A Foreign Aid Request may only involve the transfer of entities to another nomic by a method specified in the rules. {{[If Acka joins the ITA, that would be one.]}}
The FAC may create a list of nomics which have requested "Membership Aid". Members of Ackanomic are encouraged to join these nomics, and if they join a nomic on that list and remain for three months, upon pointing this out publicly they will receive A$100.
The FAC may vote on hearings for Internomic proposals. If the proposal in question was made by an ally, then the FAC will vote YES. If the proposal was made by an enemy, the FAC will vote NO.
CIA

Proposal 3160 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:31 EDT
Mimsy repeal
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.
{{[The mimsy state of objects doesn't really seem to have much effect on anything except the wool sweaters and the chartruese goose. The state seems to be a legacy holdover from earlier days, and so this attempts to remove it. The one effect of it that needed to be kept was making sure the goose stayed with a player that left the game (at least until forced to go elsewhere by the rules), and this proposal also leaves that behavior intact. The other effect, of forcing wool-sweaters to become unowned by a player leaving the game seemed like a useless effect, and was thus not preserved. They can also now be donatated to the treasury, though why someone would bother.....]}}

Amend rule 256 (Leaving the game) by replacing all occurances of the word 'mimsy' with the word 'unique'.

Amend rule 500.3 (Entity Uniqueness) by removing the last paragraph. {{[which currently reads as follows: A unique entity is also mimsy, unless the rules specify that it is not. A non-unique entity is not mimsy, unless the Rules specify that it is.]}}

Amend rule 505 (Treasury and Ackadollars) by replacing all occurances of the word 'mimsy' with the word 'unique'. {{[this only occurs once in section V]}}

Amend rule 620 (Chartruese Goose) by removing the words 'non-mimsy' from the first sentence. {{[This has the game effect of removing the goose from a player who leaves the game, so we will now fix that]}}

Amend rule 620 (Chartruese Goose) to insert the following GOOSE delimited paragraph as the second paragraph of the rule.
GOOSE
The Chartreuse Goose is not removed from a player upon that player leaving the game. This clause takes precedence over rule 256 where there is a conflict.
GOOSE

Amend rule 923 (The Amber Banana) by removing the word 'mimsy' in the first sentance.

Amend rule 929 (Baaa) by removing all occurances of the word 'mimsy'.
{{[This changes the fact that wool sweaters get removed from a player when they leave the game, but I don't consider that a signifigant change.]}}

Amend rule 933 (Purple Robe of Justice) by removing the word 'mimsy' from the last sentance of the first paragraph.

Amend rule 1150 (The Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired)) by removing all occurances of the word 'non-mimsy'.

Proposal 3161 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:32 EDT
Encore, Encore!
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

Amend rule 667 (Fat Lady) as follows.
Replace the sentance 'The Fat Lady's singing will endure for exactly three hours, or until any player publicly posts an original limerick politely asking her to stop, whichever comes first.' with the following sentance:

The Fat Lady's singing will endure for exactly one day, or until any player publically posts an original limerick politely asking her to stop, whichever comes first.

{{[Three hours isn't sufficient unless you check your mail constantly, and if I ever happened to have the Tuba and the Trombone, I'd certainly like the oppurtinity to try :)]}}

Proposal 3162 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:33 EDT
Land? Nahh, we don't need no steekin' land
JT (JT Traub)
Status: retracted

Amend rule 844 by appending the following SELLSELL delimited text as the second paragraph of the rule.

SELLSELL
Any player who owns a kaa of land which does not have any building on it may sell that kaa of land for A$40. The kaa of land which was sold becomes unowned, common land.
SELLSELL

Proposal 3163 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:34 EDT
I speak with forked tongue
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

Amend rule 854 with the following HISSSSS delimited text
HISSSSS
Forked Tongue: Cost A$250 - Players who have this mutation have a better ability to speak and pronounce the language of the ancients. Whenever a player with this mutation reads an ancient text [such as the Ackanomicon or a Spell Book of Chorg] and the result of that reading of the text specifies a random outcome, the player shall have a 25% chance of being able to pick the outcome deterministically. This paragraph takes precedence over any rules with which it conflicts.
HISSSSS

{{[The purpose here is to have a bit of fun, and give a bit of control to some players over some of the more random but fun events]}}

Proposal 3164 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:35 EDT
I Can't Believe We Missed This
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

[If the world is made cubical, we have a nice little rule conflict which is created. Fortunately precedence ensures it will remain cubical, but I don't want to take any chances.]

Amend Rule 1319.2, "Cubical Earth Implementation Society", by replacing the following INCOMPLETE-delimited text:

INCOMPLETE
all occurrences of the word "flat" in Rule 1307 shall be replaced by "cubical".
INCOMPLETE

with the following BETTER-delimited text:

BETTER
all occurrences of the word "flat" in Rules 1307 and 1309 shall be replaced by "cubical", all occurrences of the text "the topside of the earth" in Rule 1309 shall be replaced by "the other faces of the earth", and all occurrences of the text "the underside of the Earth" in Rule 1311 shall be replaced by "the face of the Earth which includes Ackanomia".
BETTER

[There. No nasty questions about which side is the topside, or anything like that, once we make the Earth a cube.]

Proposal 3165 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:36 EDT
Minor Tactical Retreat Change
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

In rule 1240.9 replace: "A King may not be removed from the board in this way" with: "This move may never be used to get out of check"

[I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be allowed for kings in the course of general play. If you spot that you're in trouble then you should be able to bale out before you get put in check.]

Proposal 3166 - Sun 31 May 1998 14:38 EDT
How Tired is this Now?
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal. [and not a chess proposal, even if it looks like it is]

In rule 1230.2 replace the text:

(a) it is impossible to place the piece without it attacking at least one other piece, and the Swinger involved has fewer than five on-board pieces and a weight of 0; "

with the text:

"C. Placement - The Swinger places one of eir off-board pieces on an unoccupied square on the board. The Swinger may not place the piece in such a position that it attacks one or more opposing pieces, or causes any other piece to attack a piece belonging to any player other than the one who made the placement(i.e. no attacks may exist that weren't there before the placement except those attacking the player who made the placement), unless either

(a) it is impossible to place the piece without it violating this above clause, and the Swinger involved has fewer than five on-board pieces and a weight of 0. Even so, the piece may only be placed such that it is attacking if there are no possible positions it could be placed where it wouldn't be attacking; "

In the same rule replace: "7. Check and Checkmate " with "7. Check" [whilst I'm at it. The checkmate bit has, much to my chagrin been removed].

Amend rule 1240.10 by replacing the following "LOOKALFVAENIMMOVINGAPERIODOUTSIDETHEDOUBLEQUOTES" delimited text:

LOOKALFVAENIMMOVINGAPERIODOUTSIDETHEDOUBLEQUOTES
1. This rule defines an Otzma Card type called "Paratroop."

2. An Otzma Card of type Paratroop may be played only by a Swinger, and only in their turn. If the Swinger uses an Otzma card of type Paratroop, and before the end of his turn, places an off-board piece on the board, he may place that piece where it attacks one or more enemy pieces. This takes precedence over the usual conflicting restriction on placement plays.
LOOKALFVAENIMMOVINGAPERIODOUTSIDETHEDOUBLEQUOTES

with the following "SHORTDELIMITER" delimited text:

SHORTDELIMITER
1. This rule defines an Otzma Card type called "Paratroop".

2. An Otzma Card of type Paratroop may be played only by a Swinger, and only in their turn. If the Swinger uses an Otzma card of type Paratroop, and before the end of his turn, places an off-board piece on the board, he may place that piece where it attacks one or more enemy pieces, or causes another piece to do so. This takes precedence over the usual conflicting restriction on placement plays.
SHORTDELIMITER

[This just brings the rule in line with the change I'm making here, as well as moving a full stop, or period as you Americans call them :-)]

Proposal 3167 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:29 EDT
Well, we've tried flow voting so maybe...
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)
Status: retracted

Amend Rule 106/15 to include the following HERD delimited text as new text in between the current first and second paragraphs:

HERD
Upon counting the votes, all BAA! votes shall be converted into either Yes or No votes as follows:

For each player who voted BAA! follow the following algorithm.

1) If they are not a member of a political party then they are deemed to have voted PRESENT.

2) The votes of the political party that the player is a member of are tallied. Let the number of YES votes be named y and the number of NO votes be named n for the further purposes of this rule.

3) If y is greater than n then the player is deemed to have voted YES.

4) If n is greater than y then the player is deemed to have voted NO.

5) If y and n are equal, and the Swinger for the party has not voted BAA! then the player is deemed to have voted the same way as the Swinger of the party.

6) If the Swinger of the party has voted BAA! and y and n is equal then the player is deemed to have voted PRESENT, and all the members of the party are deemed to be silly until they next achieve a unity vote.

BAA! votes never count as anything but BAA! votes for the purposes of unity votes...
HERD

[if I've got this right, it effectively means voting BAA! amounts to saying 'I think the same as everyone else in my party', which gives what I consider to be an appropriate significance to BAA! votes.]

[This proposal is heavily mirred on Pandora's debut proposal.]

Proposal 3168 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:31 EDT
Official Songs.
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)
Decision: rejected

Create a rule, numbered howsoever the Rule-harfer shalt decide, with the name "Official organisational songs" and with the following YANKOVIC-delimited text:

YANKOVIC
Each organisation may have an official song.
Choosing an official song is an organisational action.
If an organisation fulfills one of the conditions below then it's official song is played over the Ackanomic Sound System.
Official songs may be Esoteric, but may not be so at the time at which they are chosen as an official song.

Conditions:
-----------

The organisation is a political party and it has achieved a unity vote in the most recently published proposal result.

[Feel free to add to this list...]
YANKOVIC

Proposal 3169 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:32 EDT
Unity bonus votes too.
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)
Decision: rejected

If a political party has achieved one or more unity votes upon a proposal and all it's members have also cast Bonus votes YES on that proposal then the number of unity votes that have been achieved are doubled.

Proposal 3170 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:34 EDT
Honour Roll
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

Bribe: A$3 for voting YES

Create a new rule numbered 550 titled 'Honour System Rule Suite' with the following SUITE delimited text
SUITE
[Honour System Rule Suite]
Each Ackanomic player and undead has an Honour score. This score may only be manipulated as stipulated by the rules. The Honour score of a player or undead is always integral.

A player or undead's Honour score may be referred to as their Honour, and gaining or losing a certain amount of Honour means gaining or losing that number of points from their Honour Score.

The rules in this rules suite take precedence over any other rules which deal with when Honour is gained or lost by a player or undead.

It is a duty of the Herald to track the amount of Honour each player or Undead has at any given time and to make that information publically available to any player on request.

The Herald is the Custodian of the Honour System rule suite.
SUITE

Create a rule numbered 550.1 titled 'Honourable Acts' with the following text delimited by HONOURABLE:
HONOURABLE
There are two types of Honourable Acts, Uniquely Honourable Acts and Repeatably Honourable Acts.

Uniquely Honorable Acts give the Honour gain only once for each player that achieves the condition for earning that honour. Repeatably Honourable Acts gain the listed Honour each time the act occurs.

The following lists are the currently defined Unique and Repeatably Honourable Acts. Other rules in this suite may define other acts or conditions which are either Unique or Repeatable Honourable acts.

Uniquely Honourable Acts:
3 honour : Recieving a Bronze Torch.
2 honour : Recieving a Blue Cross Bonus.
1 honour : Joining the game.
2 honour : Becoming an Elder.

Repeatably Honourable Acts:
1 Honour : Winning a Duel
1 honour : Becoming the caped crusader.

HONOURABLE

Create a rule 550.2 titled 'Dishonourable Acts' with the following text delimited by DISHONOURABLE
DISHONOURABLE
There are two types of Dishonourable Acts, Uniquely Dishonourable Acts and Repeatably Dishonourable Acts.

Uniquely Dishonorable Acts cause the Honour loss only once for each player that performs the action or reaches the condition which is considered dishonourable. Repeatably Dishonourable Acts lose the listed Honour each time the act occurs.

The following lists are the currently defined Uniquely and Repeatably Dishonourable Acts. Other rules in this suite may define other acts or conditions which are either Unique or Repeatble Dishonourable acts.

Uniquely Dishonourable Acts:
1 Honour: going to Gaol
2 Honour: gaining the Chartreuse Goose for a failed PWCFJ.

Repeatably Dishonourable Acts:
1 Honour: Losing a Duel
1 Honour: Being Impeached from an Office
1 Honour: Being convicted of a crime
1 Honour: Losing the office of Caped Crusader
DISHONOURABLE

{{All existing players and undead gain 1 Honour. }}
{{All existing players and undead with a Bronze Torch gain 3 Honour. }}
{{All existing players and undead with a Blue Cross Bonus gain 2 Honour. }}
{{All existing players and undead who are Elders gain 2 Honour.}}
{{The Caped Crusader gains 1 Honour.}}
{{JT loses 2 points. /dev/joe gains 2 points.}}

{{[
It is my hope that this will pass this time around, and that people will propose other honorable and dishonorable acts that they would like to see. I deliberately made myself the initial person who has to track all of this, so it shouldn't be a burden on anyone but myself. I removed BC, slippers, and stripes from the calculation this time around since after thinking about it I think they contribute to enough stuff already :)
]}}

{{[And see Alfvaen, I even spelled Honour that way just for you :)]}}

Proposal 3171 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:35 EDT
Clear and Present Trade Danger
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

[As things stand, the current trading rules appear to allow players to trade away other players' items. That's just plain stupid. Let's fix it quick.]

Amend Rule 515 by replacing the following KLUGE-delimited paragraph:

KLUGE
A trade that offers or requests any entity that is not tradeable is illegal. A trade that offers more entities of any type than the Player offering the trade owns is illegal. A trade that offers more entities of any type than the Player offering the trade owns is illegal. All other trades are legal.
KLUGE

with the following CRUFT-delimited paragraph:

CRUFT
A trade that offers or requests any entity that is not tradeable is illegal. A trade that offers any entity not owned by the Player offering the trade is illegal. All other trades are legal.
CRUFT

[The restrictions on players who accept a trade is already correct, but as the rules stand it would be legal for me to trade all of someone else's Benefyts to a third party, provided I myself owned at least as many Benefyts.]

Proposal 3172 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:36 EDT
Pointless Language Removal
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Amend Rule 601 by replacing the following MISLEADING-delimited text:

MISLEADING
A call for judgement whose statement alleges that further play is impossible, that changing the rules is impossible
MISLEADING

with the following RIGHT-delimited text:

RIGHT
A Call for Judgement whose statement alleges that changing the rules is impossible
RIGHT

[It is impossible for a player to win with a CFJ that alleges further play to be impossible. If further play is impossible, then submission of a CFJ is impossible, because it constitutes further play. Hence if the CFJ is judged TRUE, it never existed, and hence it could not result in a Paradox Win. So why allow it in the rules - it only misleads people.]

Proposal 3173 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:37 EDT
Dare I?
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Modify rule 106 by replacing "three-fifths" with "55%".

[The number of people that need to vote yes for a proposal to be accepted.]

Proposal 3174 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:38 EDT
The Financier Doesn't Have Enough Work To Do
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Status: retracted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Amend Rule 250 (Registered Players) to replace:
Players are named, unownable entities.
with:
Players are named, tradeable entities.

{{[This was the whole point ot my previous proposal, everything else was just fluff]}}

Proposal 3175 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:39 EDT
With a Big Stick
else...if (Henry Towsner)
Decision: rejected

Repeal section VI of rule 419.2
Renumber rule 419.2 to 419.3
Create rule 419.2, named "The Foreign Affairs Council", reading as delimited by CIA
CIA
The Office of Foreign Affairs has four Seats. The Ambassador is not eligible to hold this office. The Officers of Foreign Affairs are collectively a Unique Organization known as the Foreign Affairs Council. The Ambassador is the titular head of the Foreign Affairs Council, with the title of Director of Foreign Affairs. If a Foreign Affairs Council vote is tied after all the Officers of Foreign Affairs have voted, then the Director of Foreign Affairs may cast a tiebreaking vote on the matter in question.
The Foreign Affairs Council is charged with expanding the influence of Ackanomic in its dealing with other nomics. As an organizational action, the FAC may change the attitude of Ackanomic towards any nomic. As an organizational action, the FAC may create a type of CSR known as a Foreign Aid Request. A Foreign Aid Request may only involve the transfer of entities to another nomic by a method specified in the rules. {{[If Acka joins the ITA, that would be one.]}}
The FAC may create a list of nomics which have requested "Membership Aid", and set requirements for being an active player in that nomic. Members of Ackanomic are encouraged to join these nomics. If a player of Ackanomic is a member of a nomic receiving membership aid for three months while that nomic receives membership aid, meets all additional requirements set by the FAC to be an active player, and points this out publicly, then that player will receive A$100.
The FAC may vote on hearings for Internomic proposals. If the proposal in question was made by an ally, then the FAC will vote YES. If the proposal was made by an enemy, the FAC will vote NO.
CIA

Proposal 3176 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:40 EDT
A limit on a variant of two-star's trick in YORL, and some other petty fixes.
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[I was looking through the rules for vacations, games and contests, and YORL, trying to see if I could somehow open up a bench faster so saaremaa could play, because he told me he wanted to, weeks ago, and I can't put him into the game because all the benches are full. I did what I could by marking Karma as AWOL, but that will take months before he is removed from the game. I noticed that he might be removed sooner by the Under the Table bit than by being removed from Ackanomic. Anyway, this got me to reading the part about going Under the Table and reminded me of something that needs to be fixed. Remember two-star's trick of leaving YORL and immediately rejoining, paying a new ante to reduce the size of his hand to 7? If a player goes Under the Table and rejoins, it looks like he could do this trick without paying a new ante, repeatedly. I *did* say it was a modest proposal. :-) ]}}

Amend rule 1250.18, "Ye Olde Rusty Lantern", by changing the last sentence of the second paragraph under the heading "Passing" from:
"If that Bard later wishes to rejoin the game, then e need not pay ante to do so."
to:
"The next time that Bard rejoins that game, e need not pay ante to do so."

{{[ I had another idea while I was here, inspired by some of the Party Chess rules governing absent Swingers. ]}}

Append the following to the first paragraph after the heading "Passing", in rule 1250.18:
"If it is ever a Bard's turn while that Bard is on vacation from Ackanomic with an expected return 3 or more days away, or while he is On Ice, the Barkeep may declare that player Asleep and consider him to have Passed without waiting 3 days."

In the last sentence of the paragraph just before the "Interruptions" heading in Rule 1250.18, change "received" to "receives".

Proposal 3177 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:41 EDT
If I May be so Bold as to Make a Suggestion
breadbox (Brian Raiter)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Amend Rule 251 ("Player Names") by replacing the sentence in the first paragraph that reads:

"Neither the first nor the last character in this string may be the space character."

with the following sentence:

"Neither the first nor the last character in this string may be the space character, and there must be at least one character that is not a numeric digit."

Proposal 3178 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:42 EDT
Cracker
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: accepted

Replace the following sentence of Rule 611 (Le Grand Fromage):
If any CFCJ returns a TRUE verdict against a player, any brie they may have is destroyed.
with:
At the instant a verdict of TRUE on a CFCJ against a player can no longer be legally appealed, any brie they may have is destroyed.

Proposal 3179 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:43 EDT
No, Sorry, Changed My Mind
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[ It seems to me that there's some ambiguity as to whether or not a Bronze Torch can be awarded to someone who has delivered 15 verdicts, even if some are still appealable and could be overturned... ]}}

Amend Rule 907, "Bronze Torch", as follows:

In the fourth paragraph, replace the text "Verdicts which have been overturned" with "Verdicts which are still appealable or have been overturned".

{{[ While I'm here... ]}}
Capitalize the word "torch" in the second paragraph.

In the third paragraph, replace "Bronze Torches are awarded" with "Bronze Torches may be awarded". {{[ Not crucial, just a better phrasing. ]}}

Proposal 3180 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:44 EDT
I'm Not Flyin' No Quirpele, Nohow
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Replace all instances of the text "Quirpele of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" in each and every Rule where it appears with the text "Spelling Bee".

[I am not going to initiate a flight of the Quirpele of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.]

Proposal 3181 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 03:45 EDT
Preventative Quorum Medicine
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Status: retracted

This is a Modest Proposal.

{{Any player whose name is Johnny Don't-Vote has their name changed to the name that they had at the time that the proposal which mandated this change was distributed, unless they joined Ackanomic after the above time, in which case their name is changed to "Loophole Surfer". Any other entity called Johnny Don't-Vote is destroyed.}}

[Currently the only method of working back towards quorum is through the Puppet Heads. This is an after-the-crisis method, and doesn't do anything to stop a quorum crisis happening in the first place. Some preventative steps may be more useful.]

Create a new Rule, numbered 254.1, titled "Johnny Don't-Vote" with the following COVER-delimited text:

COVER
If a player (who in this rule is hereafter referred to as Johnny Don't-Vote) has abstained on the last 100 proposals whose voting results were reported, and any player points this fact out publicly, then Johnny Don't-Vote becomes a non-voting player, with all the events in Rule 254 occurring as if the player voluntarily became non-voting.
COVER

Proposal 3182 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 20:39 EDT
D'oh!
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[It seems the rule titled "Who Will Buy K 2" doesn't have the precedence to make K 2 (the Player) a tradeable entity - it does create a nameless tradeable mimsy entity called K 2 tho...]}}

Create a rule numbered 1152 titled "Bonk" with the following BONK delimited text:
BONK
This rule has precedence over rule the rule titled "Who Will Buy K 2". This rule is permitted to repeal the rule titled "Who Will Buy K 2". At the moment this rule is created repeal the rule titled "Who Will Buy K 2" and then repeal this rule.
BONK

Create a rule numbered 1151 titled "Former Emperor of Ackanomic" with the following HIYA delimited text:
HIYA
K 2 once ruled Ackanomic. The player who is legally able to assume the name "K 2" is a Former Emperor of Ackanomic.
HIYA

Proposal 3183 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 20:40 EDT
D'oh!
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Status: retracted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[Some of my actions during my recent take over seem to have generated some unfortunate side effects. This proposal attempts to address them. Rule 1351 overwrote TGW/MTM's Mooning rule and doesn't have the precedence to make me a tradeable entity anyway... sigh]}}

Create a rule numbered 1152 titled "Bonk" with the following BONK delimited text:
BONK
This rule has precedence over rule 1351.
This rule is permitted to repeal rule 1351.
At the moment this rule is created Repeal rule 1351 and then repeal this rule.
BONK

Create a rule numbered 1351 titled "Mooning" with the following OOPS delimited text:
OOPS
Ganymede and Titan are both moons of Ackanomic. If any player has been to both Ganymede and Titan and e posts a message containing the phrase: "To Ganymede and Titan, yes sir I've been around" [Lister, The End, Red Dwarf] then e will receive a random boon of the ancients. After e has received this boon e may not do so again until e has visited Ganymede and Titan again.
OOPS

Change the authorship of rule 1351 to The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley).

Proposal 3184 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 20:41 EDT
How about this instead
Vynd (John McCoy)
Status: retracted

{{I think it is about time we fixed the whole business about self-deleting text in the self-deleting text rule not self-deleting. Hehe. This exception has already led to a couple of paradox wins and now this whole infinite points deal. So lets just make self-deleting text apply even to Rule 340, and put the example of it inside a note.}}

In Rule 340 Conventions, replace the text of section V. with the following:

Text delimited by double curly braces is self-deleting text. Self-deleting text is applied once, in the order it appear in the document, then it is deleted. Rules whose text section consists of nothing but self-deleting text, whitespace, and furniture are called "Self-Deleting Rules", and such rules are repealed after their self-deleting text is applied. [The following is an example of self-deleting text: {{This text would be self-deleting if it wasn't part of a note}}]

Proposal 3185 - Tue 02 Jun 1998 20:42 EDT
Getting Rid of More Rule Viruses
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Decision: accepted
Declared harfy by JT (JT Traub) on Thu 04 Jun 1998 19:04 EDT

{{[Allow nothing to insert the name of any entity into the rules, or replace one name with another, in an uncontrolled fashion.]}}

In Rule 207.1, "That's just silly", by changing "All instances of the phrase" to "all quoted instance of the phrase".

Amend Rule 251, "Player Names", by changing "all Ackanomic business will be changed to follow their new name" to "all Ackanomic business besides Rules will be changed to follow their new name, and any Rules which refer to the player by their old name will still refer to that player even though their name has changed".

{{[ I think R101 prevents the rules from being changed in the above case anyway, but I'd like more assurance of that. ]}}

Amend Rule 348, " ", by changing "Any game document or business that referred to such an entity by name shall be changed to indicate the new name" to "All Ackanomic business besides Rules that referred to such an entity by name shall be changed to indicate the new name, and all Rules which refer to the entity by its old name shall still refer to that entity, even though the name has changed. The CSRR Officer should try to make such changes so that entities whose names appear in the Rules are not renamed, if possible".

Amend Rule 850, "Museum", as described in the following list of numbered changes:

1. Change the text of section I to read:
"The Ackanomic Museum of Antiquities (Museum) exists; it is a classy building near the Library. It is a Common Location. The Museum has 3 wings: the North Wing, the West Wing, and the McCumber Annex.
The West Wing is the most prestigious, but the McCumber Annex is sort of cramped and unused. The North Wing and West Wing each have a gold plaque at their entrances, engraved with the names of honored benefactors. A lighted sign also appears near the entrance of each of these wings.
{{The lighted sign in front of the North Wing begins displaying the name which the wing originally called the East Wing had immediately before this text was added to this rule. The lighted sign in front of the West Wing begins displaying the name which the wing originally called the West Wing had immediately before this text was added to this rule. The plaques in front of the North Wing and West Wing are engraved with all the names the wings originally called East Wing and West Wing, respectively, have ever been renamed, except for 'North', 'East' and 'West', in the order the renamings occurred.}}"

{{[Note that the North wing was originally the East Wing when the rule was created, but through some quirk became the North Wing by default after the first time the west wing was renamed.]}}

2. In section III, change the sentence which begins "All newly donated objects" to read "All newly donated objects (along with the name of the associated benefactor) are placed on display in the North wing."

3. Change the heading of section V to "V. Benefactor value and becoming a Member of the Museum" and change the text of section V to read:
"Each Museum benefactor has a benefactor value (BV), which is the sum of the value of all objects on display in the North Wing that that benefactor donated (the benefactor of record is considered to be the last player to donate a particular object). Upon a benefactor's BV exceeding A$1000, he gains the title 'Member of the Museum' and his name is added to the end of the list of names on the plaque in front of the North Wing, and the lighted sign in front of the North Wing stops displaying whatever it displayed before, and begins displays that benefactor's name.
{{All players and undeads whose names or former names appear on the plaque in front of the North Wing become Members of the Museum once for each occurrence of their name or former name on that plaque, counting only full names written on the plaque (so that somebody can't name themselves 'alenkai' and hijack this rule).}}"

4. Change the text of section VII to read:
"Upon a benefactor's BV exceeding A$5000, if e is a voting player, all objects donated by that benefactor are transferred to the West Wing, and a big ceremony, which is a public gathering, is held. If this appears to occur simultaneously with a player becoming a Member of the Museum, however, it will occur an infinitesimal time afterwards instead. Then that benefactor becomes a Life Member of the Museum, and his name is added to the end of the list of names on the plaque in front of the West Wing, and the lighted sign in front of the West Wing stops displaying whatever it was displaying and begins displaying that benefactor's name, and the lighted sign in front of the North Wing starts displaying 'North'. Then, if that is the first time that player has had a benefactor value exceeding A$5000, he achieves a Winning Condition.
{{All players and undeads whose names or former names appear on the plaque in front of the West Wing become Life Members of the Museum once for each occurrence of their name or former name on that plaque, counting only full names written on the plaque (so that somebody can't name themselves 'alenkai' and hijack this rule).}}"

Amend Rule 1150, "The Evil Overlords of Ackanomic (retired)" by changing the following VIRUS delimited text:
VIRUS
If Vulcan's name is ever legally changed, then all instances of the string "Vulcan" in this rule are simultaneously replaced with Vulcan's new name. (The quotation marks in the previous sentence are delimiters only, not part of the specified string.)
VIRUS
[end of the 4th paragraph] to the following VIRUS-FREE delimited text:
VIRUS-FREE
If Vulcan's name is ever legally changed, all unquoted instances of the word "Vulcan" in this rule not followed by the word "Headquarters" shall still refer to the organization that was named "Vulcan" on August 28, 1997, and no other entity but that one may be named "Vulcan". This takes precedence over all other rules that allow anything to get a name in any manner.
VIRUS-FREE

If Rule 999 exists, repeal it.

Proposal 3186 - Wed 03 Jun 1998 16:50 EDT
Why Not Go All The Way?
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Decision: rejected

Amend Rule 301 by replacing "Rules and Proposals are named, unownable entities." with "Rules and Proposals are named, tradeable entities."

Amend Rule 101 by replacing the first instance of "game state" with "game state (which is a tradeable entity)".

The submitter of this Proposal loses 2 points. K 2 gains 2 points.

Proposal 3187 - Wed 03 Jun 1998 16:51 EDT
Zose Foolz et zee Zuccezzion Zkeme Feexeeng Dept.
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Decision: accepted

[ Slakko's fix to the Mad Scientist rule fixed one problem but not another: what if a MS is Impeached or leaves Office without creating a FM or releasing the partially finished Blueprint? E'd be immediately reappointed by R596. A minor problem, and one that hopefully won't come up, but what the hey, I'm bored. ]

Amend Rule 596, "The Mad Scientist", by replacing ", then, the seat shall be filled by Election for Office." with ", or if the last player to submit a valid part for a Frankenstein Monster was also the most recent player to hold the Office of Mad Scientist, then the seat shall be filled by Election for Office."

[ Of course, this doesn't solve the problem where A, the last player to submit a Part, steps down, B takes office but leaves before starting a monster, and A is reappointed, but one problem at a time. ]

Deduct 2 points from the score of the submitter of this Proposal. Add 2 points to Slakko's score.

Proposal 3188 - Wed 03 Jun 1998 16:52 EDT
Modesty and Pride and Prejudice
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Decision: rejected

Amend the third paragraph of Rule 209, "Modesty and Pride",

[ current text:
If a proposal appears to be designated as both Modest and Grandiose, or it cannot be determined which designation should hold sway, the proposal is declared invalid, and is removed from voting consideration. ]

to read in full as delimited by MORK:

MORK
If a proposal appears to be designated as both Modest and Grandiose, or it cannot be determined which designation should hold sway, the proposal is declared invalid, and is removed from voting consideration. If a proposal of more than 10 lines is designated as Modest, or if a proposal of fewer than 30 lines is designated as Grandiose, that proposal is declared invalid and is removed from voting consideration.
MORK

[ It's always kind of irked me to see large proposals designated Modest simply to reduce anti-voting considerations. Since Grandiose proposals don't seem to come up so often, that isn't so much a problem, but for the sake of symmetry we might as well. ]

Proposal 3189 - Wed 03 Jun 1998 16:53 EDT
Lint Reduction
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: rejected
Declared harfy by 867-5309 (Eric Plumb) on Mon 08 Jun 1998 22:43 EDT

This is a Modest Proposal.

Amend Rule 250 (Registered Players) to replace:
Players are named, unownable entities.
with:
Players are named, tradeable entities.

Append to the end of Rule 250 (Registered Players) as a separate paragraph:
While an entity may own a Player it shall not be considered to own the Player's possessions.

Amend Rule 252 (Joining the Game) in the following two ways:
Append to the sentence:
Upon the posting of such an announcement, the person becomes registered as a player.
the following:
and shall own emself.

Append to the sentence:
The Undead with that player's Ackanomic name changes from an Undead to a player.
the following:
and shall own emself.

Proposal 3190 - Wed 03 Jun 1998 16:54 EDT
Skeleton Fix
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: rejected

Amend rule 1240.16 as follows.
Replace the following BAD delimited text
BAD
1. Gain entrance to any location e would otherwise not be able to gain entrance to, if and only if e has already declared eir intention to enter.
BAD
with the following FIXED delimited text
FIXED
1. Gain entrance to any location e would otherwise not be able to gain entrance to, if and only if e has already declared eir intention to enter and if and only if that location is in Acka.
FIXED

Proposal 3191 - Wed 03 Jun 1998 16:55 EDT
Retroactive Precedence
Mr. Tambourine Man (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Append the following JUMP delimited text to the end of rule 103 (Retroactive Effects).

JUMP
This rule takes precedence over all other rules.
JUMP

{{[This rule could quite easily be overcome by a rule claiming precedence over all other rules, possibly even accidentally]}}

Proposal 3192 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:34 EDT
Mu
The Mu-Cow Hunter (Larry)
Decision: accepted
Declared harfy by Dennis and Edna (Joseph DeVincentis) on Sun 14 Jun 1998 20:23 EDT

The Mu-Cow Hunter gains a Winning Condition upon the passage of this proposal.

Proposal 3193 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:35 EDT
But Was It Mungojerry or Rumpelteazer?
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

{{[ I can see the desire to avoid paradox as the reason for Rule 205's Section 5), but quite frankly I think there's an easier way to deal with it. ]}}

Amend Rule 205, "When Score Changes Take Effect", as follows:

Replace the current text of Section 5), "Scoring on Changes to Rules Which Cause Score Changes", with the following text(delimited by MACAVITY):

MACAVITY
If a Rule describes a score change that would normally come about as the result of the passage of a Proposal, then that score change is considered to occur an infinitesimal amount of time before any of the rule changes or effects listed in that Proposal occur. (For instance, if a Modest Proposal passes which changes the score for a Modest Proposal passing from 5 to 4, that Proposal would score 5 points, since that scoring would occur before the score change.)
MACAVITY

{{ Alfvaen's score is decreased by 1; breadbox's score is increased by 1. [ Hopefully this is what you meant, and will work as desired. ] }}

Proposal 3194 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:36 EDT
How about this instead of "How about this instead"?
Vynd (John McCoy)
Decision: accepted

In Rule 340 Conventions, replace the text of section V. with the following:

Text delimited by double curly braces, e.g. {{this}} is self-deleting text, except in this sentence. Self-deleting text is applied once, in the order it appear in the document, then it is deleted. Rules whose text section consists of nothing but self-deleting text, whitespace, and furniture are called "Self-Deleting Rules", and such rules are repealed after their self-deleting text is applied.

Proposal 3195 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:37 EDT
Double Dog Dare
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: rejected
Declared harfy by 867-5309 (Eric Plumb) on Mon 08 Jun 1998 22:43 EDT

Create a new Rule, named "Alfvaen's Vigenere Challenge", numbered 1221, with text as followed, delimited by BEAUFORT:

BEAUFORT
I. The Vigenere Cipher

The Vigenere Cipher is what is called a "multialphabetic cipher", essentially a means of using multiple Caesar-shifted alphabets(in a pattern known to the sender and recipient)to encrypt text.

Essentially, it works as follows:

For each letter in the message text, there is a "key" letter associated as well. The corresponding letter in the ciphertext is obtained by shifting the message letter according to the key letter, as follows:

If the key letter is "a", the ciphertext letter is the same as the message letter. If the key letter is "b", the ciphertext letter is one further down the alphabet than the message letter(a coming after z). If the key letter is "c", the ciphertext letter is two further down the alphabet than the message letter(a coming after z). And so on, down to If the key letter is "z", the ciphertext letter is twenty-five further down the alphabet than the message letter(a coming after z). [This is equivalent to being one prior in the alphabet, z coming before a.]

Decryption is the inverse of encryption(so that if the key letter is "z", for instance, and the ciphertext letter is "g", then the message letter corresponding is "h").

Normally, the assignment of key letters to a message is done through use of a key word. With an n-letter key word, the first n letters of the message are assigned the corresponding letters of the key word as key letters, and after that every kth letter has the same key letter as the (k-n)th letter. For example, with a key word of "clumsy", the assignment of key letters would go as follows:

Key      c l u m s y c l u m s y c l u m s y c l u m
Message  p r e p a r e t o l e a v e t o m o r r o w

(And that would result in a ciphertext of:

Cipher   r c y b s p g e i x w y x p n a e m t c i i )

[All clear? Okay, now it's time for...]

II. The Vigenere Challenge

Part III. of this message contains the ciphertext of a message encrypted using the Vigenere cipher(with word length concealed with a rearrangement of whitespace), and a key word as described above. The key word is in the Official Dictionary, and so are all the words in the message text.

During the thirty days that follow this Rule's creation, each player of Ackanomic may make one guess at the key word. This is done by posting a message with subject line: "Acka: Key Word", and containing a single word (the key word guess) in quotes. A guess made by a player who has already submitted a guess is invalid, as is a guess whose key word guess is not in the Official Dictionary.

If the guess is valid, then the author of this Proposal(hereafter referred to as Alfvaen ['cause that's eir name])is required to post the decryption of the ciphertext in Part III., with the key word guess supplied as the key word. If the message text thus revealed consists of a sequence of words found in the Official Dictionary(ignoring whitespace characters), then the guess is said to be successful.

If the guess is successful, then the player who submitted the guess (the master-guesser) receives a random Boon of The Ancients. In addition, the text of this Rule is replaced with the revealed message text of Part III., unless the master-guesser objects within three days, in which case this Rule is repealed.

Alfvaen is prohibited from submitting guesses until the thirty-day period mentioned above has passed. If Alfvaen submits a successful guess, then instead of the events of the preceding paragraph, the following occurs: Alfvaen achieves a Winning Condition. This Rule repeals itself fourteen days after that. If Alfvaen does not submit a successful guess within a week of the thirty-day period ending, then this Rule repeals itself.

If a Proposal passes to amend or repeal this Rule which is not authored by Alfvaen, then Alfvaen's score is changed to the Magic Number just before that Proposal passes. [Can't be too careful...]

III. The Vigenere Ciphertext

qnwla ywmop duypk uktzu npocp suirp lfcld veeky pshir exbvo slayw momgi nlgmv hwlrl gbqmd sspec etwxp wtwgr octst lqdvm czkcu hsfls ttgea lsnhp glgqe cxbdy xcfer lknwj otgru
BEAUFORT

Proposal 3196 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:38 EDT
Ackanomic Forever
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: rejected

Append the following text to Rule 701 (Crime) as a separate paragraph:
To publicly voice the opinion that the game of Ackanomic has ended or is otherwise un-playable is to commit the Crime of Scare Mongering.

Proposal 3197 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:53 EDT
Approximation By Tchebyshev Polynomials
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

Create a new Rule, numbered 540, named "Characteristics", with text as follows, delimited by BESSEL:

BESSEL
Certain types of entities may be defined as having Characteristics, which are named but are not entities. However, Characteristic names follow the same Rules as entity names; that is, a Characteristic may not have a given name unless it is legal for an Entity to have that name.

If a Characteristic is defined for a given entity, then that entity has a number associated with that Characteristic, called the Value of that Characteristic. (For instance, if Trinkets had a Size characteristic, then the "whatever it is we're auctioning today" may have a Size Value of 1.)

The normal range for a Characteristic is from 0 to 100, unless the Rule describing that Characteristic assigns a different range. It is possible for the range of a Characteristic to be infinite or semi-infinite. The default value for a Characteristic is either 0 or the lowest possible value for that Characteristic, whichever is lower, unless a different value is defined to be the default for that Characteristic.

The value of a Characteristic may only be changed as described by the Rules. If the Rules describe a Characteristic being "lost" or "gained" with respect to a given entity, then that entity's Characteristic Value is considered to be lowered or raised by the amount described(one, by default).
BESSEL

Create a new Rule, numbered 540.1, named "Characteristic: Harf", with text as follows, delimited by EULER:

EULER
Players possess the Characteristic of Harf. The Harf Value for a Player starts at a default of 0, and has a range which encompasses any integral value.

Whenever a Player gains points from Rule 1112, eir Harf Value goes up by the number of points e gains thereby. A Player who is convicted of hogging the Harf loses 5 Harf; if an Inquisition is called and the verdict is 'No! He's going to share the Harf!', then the Supreme Inquisitor for that Hearing loses 5 Harf.

{{ Robert Sevin gains 50 Harf. [For having coined the term in the first place.]}}

{{ [I'd considered assigning Harf for past terms as Harfmeister, but I may do that in a separate Proposal, so that nobody else ends up having to do the work. ] }}
EULER

{{[ This may end up being a Rule Suite; I deliberately didn't specify it as such for now. We'll see if the idea takes off or so. I originally had this idea back last May, when I joined, and finally decided what the heck. ]}}

Proposal 3198 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 22:55 EDT
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Pandora (David Kenning)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest Proposal

Add the following SPOON-delimited text to section 6b of Rule 516:

SPOON
If multiple examples of an entity are on offer ungrouped in a single auction, the auction is carried out as if there were only one instance of that entity on offer, so that all bids must be at least 10% higher than all other bids for that type of entity.
SPOON

Proposal 3199 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 23:05 EDT
Well, we've tried flow voting so maybe... (attempt 2)
Wild Card (Jonathan David Amery)
Decision: rejected

Amend Rule 106/15 to include the following HERD delimited text as new text in between the current first and second paragraphs:

HERD
Upon counting the votes, all BAA! votes shall be converted into either Yes or No votes as follows:

For each player who voted BAA! follow the following algorithm.

1) If they are not a member of a political party then they are deemed to have voted PRESENT.

2) The votes of the political party that the player is a member of are tallied. Let the number of YES votes be named y and the number of NO votes be named n for the further purposes of this rule.

3) If y is greater than n then the player is deemed to have voted YES.

4) If n is greater than y then the player is deemed to have voted NO.

5) If y and n are equal, and the Swinger for the party has voted YES or NO then the player is deemed to have voted the same way as the Swinger of the party.

5) If y and n are equal, and the Swinger for the party has not voted YES, NO or BAA! then the player is deemed to have voted PRESENT.

BAA! votes never count as anything but BAA! votes for the purposes of unity votes or for the purposes of scoring as a result of the votes on a proposal.
HERD

[if I've got this right this time, it effectively means voting BAA! amounts to saying 'I think the same as everyone else in my party', which gives what I consider to be an appropriate significance to BAA! votes.]

[This proposal is heavily mirrored on Pandora's debut proposal.]

Proposal 3200 - Sun 07 Jun 1998 23:06 EDT
Game Custom Reset
saaremaa (Randy Hall)
Decision: rejected

{{[it has been pointed out (indirectly) that game custom has allowed

"However, if any information that is necessary to specify the action fully and unambiguously is left out of that message, then the attempt fails"

in rule 373 to be construed as

"However, if any information that is necessary to specify the action fully and unambiguously is left out of that message, then it is ok anyway because the harfer in question will take their time look up the information for you :-)"

I think this is a bad idea. Rather than say 'If trinket X exists, I perform Y', take the time to research whether trinket X exists before posting 'I perform Y'. This was one of the intents of rule 373, so everyone reading the post didn't have to do the research, and it was one of the things that particularly bothered me as as harfer. I do not know how this customary interpretation came to take hold, but lets reset it.

Note that in this example if performing Y depends on the existance of X, X's existance is implied anyway in the non-conditional form. Still it would be nice to get rid of all those conditional actions in the forum so people like me can follow along without looking stuff up on every message. If we don't want to eliminate conditional actions, then we should change the rule to conform with the way the game is played (in another proposal I gress...).]}}

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Repeal rule 373, "Public Actions".

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Create a new rule with number 373, title "Public Actions", authorship credit "Mohammed (Jason Orendorff)", and text

"
This rule defers to all other rules.

Each attempt to perform an action either succeeds or fails. To perform an action entails two things: first, to attempt the action; and second, for the attempt to succeed. Referring to information contained in other documents or data sources does not constitute including that information in the message.

The rules may specify that certain possible courses of play are public actions. Any active player may attempt any public action available to him or her simply by sending a public message specifying the action to be taken. However, if any information that is necessary to specify the action fully and unambiguously is left out of that message, then the attempt fails. [An attempt may also fail for other reasons.]

If the rules specify that a certain course of play is available to a player or organization, but do not specify how that course of play is to be taken, then that course of play is a public action, and it is taken as described above.
"

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