Proposal Archive (2801-2850)

Proposal 2801 - Wed 25 Mar 1998 09:32 EST
Thallos
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Status: retracted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Warning Contains: complementary

Replace the last paragraph of Rule 675 "Mercury Poisoning" with:

If the Mad Hatters have been in possession of a given Visible Agenda Hat for more than 7 days, and a player points this fact out, then that Visible Agenda Hat and its complimentary Nemesis Eggplant are destroyed.

{{ All Nemesis Eggplants, for which an agenda hat with the same condition does not exist, are destroyed }}

{{[When TGW traded eir hat to TMH and it was subsequently destroyed the eggplant continued to exist. I suppose if someone submitted the exact same condition this time round things could become interesting.... ]}}

Amend the following paragraph of rule 597 "The Frankenstein Monster(s)":

Any voting player (including the Mad Scientist) has the option of digging up and delivering a Frankenstein Part to the Mad Scientist, once per calendar week.

to read:

Any voting player (including the Mad Scientist) has the option of digging up and delivering one valid Frankenstein Part to the Mad Scientist, once per calendar week.

{{[this bit is from my self-amending proposal bungle 2651, it seams appropriate to put it in this proposal which is otherwise a bit light-on, and shouldn't make it any more unpalatable :). Essentially this modification means that if you bungle and submit a part from a gadget, when the MS points this out according to section v) it is still possible to submit a valid part during that week. ] }}

Proposal 2802 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 12:50 EST
The truth cannot be denied!
Vynd (John McCoy)
Decision: accepted

"I was young and foolish then, I feel old and foolish now."

Create a new Rule 1340, The Color Black, with the following text:

Black is a color. Contradiction of this fact is Black Heresy. Witchhunts may be called against those who have publicly questioned this fact, using the same methods and results as described in Rule 1307, except that the alledged Heretic need not have claimed the Earth is Round in this case.

Proposal 2803 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 12:55 EST
Hydrargyrum
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Warning Contains: complementary

Replace the last paragraph of Rule 675 "Mercury Poisoning" with:

If the Mad Hatters have been in possession of a given Visible Agenda Hat for more than 7 days, and a player points this fact out, then that Visible Agenda Hat and its complementary Nemesis Eggplant are destroyed.

{{[Homonyms should be banned, or at least severely restricted IMVUHO :)]}}

{{ All Nemesis Eggplants for which an agenda hat with the same condition does not exist are destroyed }}

Amend the following paragraph of rule 597 "The Frankenstein Monster(s)":
Any voting player (including the Mad Scientist) has the option of digging up and delivering a Frankenstein Part to the Mad Scientist, once per calendar week.

to read:
Any voting player (including the Mad Scientist) has the option of digging up and delivering a valid Frankenstein Part to the Mad Scientist, once per calendar week.

{{[this bit is from my self-amending proposal bungle 2651; It seams appropriate to put it in this proposal which is otherwise a bit light-on, and shouldn't make it any more unpalatable :). Essentially this modification means that if you bungle and submit a part from a gadget, when the MS points this out according to section v) it is still possible to submit a valid part during that week. ] }}

Proposal 2804 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 12:57 EST
Appeal Penalty Revocation
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

{{[I was convicted of Being Annoying, appealed it to the Supreme Court, who made an error of fact and convicted me again, fining me 15 points. When the error of fact was pointed out and I re-appealed, the conviction was quashed. But the 15 points I lost stayed lost. I don't feel that this should be the case - after all, if you are proven right in the end, why should you be penalised because an earlier appeal saw you wrongly judged against?]}}

Amend Rule 217, "Overturning Judgements", by replacing the following UNFORTUNATE-delimited text:

UNFORTUNATE
If the court agrees with the previous verdict, then the player who lodged the appeal shall be fined an amount from 1 to 25 points for frivolously bothering the judges. If the Justices fail to specify the amount of this fine with their verdict, it shall be 25 points. However, if the Court finds the case differently than the previous verdict, then the verdict shall be overturned to the new verdict, and the judge (or each justice on the court) who delivered the previous verdict, shall be fined an amount from 1 to 10 points, to be decided by the Justices of the Court. If the Justices fail to specify the amount of this fine with their verdict, it shall be 1 point.
UNFORTUNATE

with the following FAIRER-delimited text:

FAIRER
If the court agrees with the previous verdict, the player who lodged the appeal shall be fined between 1 and 25 points for a frivolous appeal, with the penalty to be 25 points unless the Justices specify otherwise.

If the court disagrees with the previous verdict, then the verdict shall be overturned to the new verdict, and all players who decided the previous verdict [i.e. judge, or justice on a Cortex] shall be fined between 1 and 10 points, the penalty to be 1 unless the Justices specify otherwise.

Further, if the judgement (A) under appeal included a penalty for a frivolous appeal or a judgement overturn, and judgement A is itself overturned, then points shall be awarded to the parties penalised by judgement (A) as described above, to exactly balance the points lost from that judgement.
FAIRER

Proposal 2805 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 12:59 EST
Ineligibility
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Create a new rule numbered 218 entitled "CFJ Ineligibility list" and reading as follows, delimited by QUACK:

QUACK
A player whose name appears on the CFJ Ineligibility List (List) is ineligible to be selected as a Judge. As a public action, a player may remove their name from the List if it is on the List by paying the standard harfer fee, or add their name to the List if it is not there already. If a player voluntarily put eir name on the CFJ ineligibility list then e does not need to pay the standard harfer fee to remove eir name from the list.

Whenever a player is considered a deadbeat as per rule 212 or rule 213, their name is added to the CFJ Ineligibility List if it is not already there.

Whenever a player leaves Ackanomic eir name is removed from the CFJ ineligibility list, if it is already there. {{All non player have their names removed from the CFJ ineligibility list.}}
QUACK

Delete the last two paragraphs of rule 212.

Modify rule 413 by replacing:

"(d) maintaining and making public upon request the CFJ Ineligibility List. The Clerk of the Court shall be Acting Speaker when there is no Speaker or Acting Speaker, and is the default Acting Speaker when the Speaker is on vacation."

with:

"(d) maintaining and making public upon request the CFJ Ineligibility List, including noting whether the players on it are there by their own choice.

The Clerk of the Court shall be Acting Speaker when there is no Speaker or Acting Speaker, and is the default Acting Speaker when the Speaker is on vacation."

Proposal 2806 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 13:00 EST
Slightly easier cheeses
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: rejected

This is a modest proposal.

Modify rule 611 to replace " five or more players" with " three or more player".

Proposal 2807 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 13:02 EST
Hippy Hippy Shakes
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[ There still seems to me to be some ambiguity about when something occurs when it depends not only a public action but on a random determination. It makes more sense to me for it to occur when the determination does, and that's what this tries to do. ]}}

Amend Rule 371, "Timing", by inserting the following text(delimited by LOBOS)as a paragraph coming before the last one:

LOBOS
An event that depends on a random determination for its full specification shall not occur until the random determination is publicly knowable.
LOBOS

Proposal 2808 - Mon 30 Mar 1998 13:03 EST
A World We Never Made
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

Create a new rule, entitled "The Cubical Earth Implementation Society", numbered 1319.2, with text as follows(delimited by QUACK):

QUACK
The Cubical Earth Implementation Society exists. Tired of the quibbling over round, flat, and banna, the Cubical Earth Implementation Society is taking a proactive approach to the whole matter. Their aim, as expressed by their name, is to make the world cubical.

In contrast to their Round and Flat counterparts, the CEIS is more interested in donations of equipment than of money. Specifically, they require the following materials:

4 Pulse Lasers (to carve off the sides of the cube)
1 Silver Spaceship (to go and cut off the other side as well)
2 Gravitational Monopoles (to collect the matter thus removed)
1 BWG Laser and 1 BWG Laser Shotgun Attachment (to dispose of the waste matter)

Any player may donate any item that they own to the CEIS. Donated items will be placed in the Museum(as part of the CEIS's promotional display), but will not actually be considered to have been donated to the Museum, nor shall they be available for theft(since the CEIS security system is said to be impregnable). This takes precedence over any other Rule which concerns entities in the Museum.

If at any point the above-requisite entities have been donated to the CEIS, then the donor who has donated the most items to the CEIS(or one of them if there are more than one) will board the Silver Spaceship with the other entities(which will no longer be in the Museum, but will not be in the Treasury either)and go forth to execute the Cubicalization plan. The player will be on the Spaceship for the next week, and will suffer the same restrictions as being in Gaol _and_ on a moon of Ackanomic. However, upon eir return, e shall achieve a Winning Condition. At this time all the entities donated to the CEIS shall be destroyed, except for the spacecraft which shall be Decommissioned. This Rule, as well as Rule 1319 and 1319.1(the RERS and FEPS rules), shall be repealed then, and all occurrences of the word "flat" in Rule 1307 shall be replaced by "cubical".
QUACK

Proposal 2809 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:23 EST
Things got quite silly without this
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[Remember the debacle we had with the org currently known as Klingon formerly known as something to do with the standard harfer fee? We were joining and getting thrown out in quick succession. This proposal aims to eliminate this.]}}

Modify rule 1006 to read in full:

A player may not denounce an Organizational action which:

1) consists entirely of eir removal from that Organization unless there are only two members of the organisation.
2) was suggested prior to eir most recent acquisition of membership in that Organization.

Proposal 2810 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:25 EST
A Truly Standard Harfer Fee
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

{{[We introduced the concept of a Standard Harfer Fee, but there are still a number of small Ackadollar values floating around the ruleset which should probably be replaced with the SHF. These include both payments and receipts, so the Standard Harfer Fee is also becoming a standard harfer salary. This makes the game more flexible if we want to increase or decrease the relative value of Acka currency compared to other entities such as Swingpoints or Points.]}}

Amend Rule 252 by replacing "e receives A$25" with "e receives an amount equal to the Standard Harfer Fee" wherever it occurs.

Amend Rule 403 by replacing "monthly salary of A$25" with "monthly salary equal to the Standard Harfer Fee" wherever it occurs.

Amend Rule 405 by replacing "monthly salary of A$35" with "monthly salary equal to A$10 more than the Standard Harfer Fee" wherever it occurs.

Amend Rule 596 by replacing "shall receive A$15" with "shall receive an amount equal to the Standard Harfer Fee" wherever it occurs.

{{[The amount received by the Mad Scientist for creating an FM]}}

Amend Rule 620 by replacing "18 A$ shall be paid" with "the Standard Harfer Fee shall be paid", wherever it occurs, and "the 18 A$ is not paid" with "the Standard Harfer Fee is not paid", wherever it occurs. Also amend it by replacing "12 A$ to treat the Goose" with "the Standard Harfer Fee to treat the Goose", wherever it occurs, and "5% chance" with "10% chance" wherever it occurs.

{{[The amount spent on Goose Chow each time officer salaries are paid. It's a small increase, I don't see that an extra A$7 should be a problem. I've also doubled the cost of luxuries, but at the same time doubled the chance that the Goose will take pity and fly away when luxuries are offered, to maintain the balance.]}}

Amend Rule 910 by replacing "will cost the player A$30" with "will cost the player the Standard Harfer Fee", wherever it occurs.

{{[This changes the price to change Beldin's Pants. A small price drop, and the event is so rare anyway (The Secret) that this shouldn't happen too often.]}}

Amend Rule 925 by replacing "A$ 20" with "the Standard Harfer Fee" wherever it occurs.

{{[This slightly increases the cost of Starting up a Newspaper, but I think that for the sake of standardisation of fees this is worth it.]}}

Amend Rule 1125 by replacing all instances of "A$30" and all instances of "A$25" with "the Standard Harfer Fee"

{{[These are the penalty values for lame or hot trinkets, all close enough to the standard harfer fee that I think they can be transferred over safely.]}}

Amend Rule 1317 by replacing all instances of "A$25 for misleading" with "the Standard Harfer fee for misleading", and all instances of "A$25 compensation" with "compensation equal to the Standard Harfer fee".

{{[The Codex of Kra - these are the penalties / compensation for bogus or falsely claimed bogus translations from the Codex.]}}

Proposal 2811 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:27 EST
Striking Out Into The World
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Status: retracted

{{ The person in charge of updating the rule set must chose this rule's number, such that it is an unused integer greater than 42 and less than 4242 }}

All player mentioned by their real or Ackanomic name in a publication in the real world which also contains the word Ackanomic will gain 20 points for each such publication.

Players should submit such occurences to the Speaker (or if the Speaker themselves, to the president) for acknowledgement and also to the public forum.

It is good form for the Historian to take note of this.

Proposal 2812 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:29 EST
Bluebird of Friendliness
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Decision: rejected

Ackanomic is not a sad place. However, a player whose proposal fails to pass might crash the mood. Hence the last player whose proposal did not pass will get the Bluebird of Friendliness. She is a Blue canary who likes to perch in the outlet by the light switch of that player's home. She spends her time watching over him like a guardian angel, always near.

Players may not speak of her in public, nor ownership recorded anywhere explicitly. It is a private matter. {{[ which will save work! ]}}

People who don't know better think the Bluebird of Friendliness looks like a common light bulb. They are just a room full of screaming argonauts who can't listen when she leaves out the whistles and bells.

{{[ As an aside, I first wanted for this proposal to be literature, considering how much I quote from the song. However, it's tough. In the end, I wanted to have a good BoF proposal rather than a patchy one that would get the (ridiculously) small amount of extra points. Any one else find that problem? ]}}

Proposal 2813 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:30 EST
Swinger Swingpoint Simplification
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

{{[Currently Rule 1044 says a lot more than it needs to. A slight simplification wouldn't hurt to make the rules more readable, and it has only one side effect - enabling the 7th best, 8th best, etc. Swingers to get swingpoints if they have non-zero weight. Given that this would only ever add 1, 2 or in an extremely rare case 3 Swingpoints to someone's total, and in such cases some other Swinger is earning 8, 9 or 10, I don't see this side effect as anything more than minor.]}}

Amend Rule 1044, Swingpoints, by replacing the following ITERATE-delimited text:

ITERATE
2. a. Every two weeks on Monday the Chess-Umpire awards Swingpoints to Swingers who have positive Weights according to the following scheme:
(i) The Swinger or Swingers with the highest Weight receives NoS SwingPoints.
(ii) The Swinger or Swingers with the second highest Weight receives NoS-1 SwingPoints.
(iii) The Swinger or Swingers with the third highest Weight receives NoS-2 SwingPoints.
(iv) If NoS>4 then the Swinger or Swingers with the fourth highest Weight receives NoS-3 SwingPoints.
(v) If NoS>5 the Swinger or Swingers with the fifth highest Weight receives NoS-4 SwingPoints.
(vi) If NoS>6 then the Swinger or Swingers with the sixth highest Weight receives Nos-5 SwingPoints.
b. If it is not possible to find a Swinger that answers the description in any of the above sections, then that section is ignored. A Swinger who received Swingpoints by one section cannot receive Swingpoints by section which follows it.
c. If the application of Section 2a results in Swingpoints being awarded to at least one Party Swinger on a particular Monday, then all other members of the Party of the Party Swinger who received more Swingpoints than any other Party Swinger (or the only Party Swinger who received Swingpoints, if only one received any) each receive one Swingpoint for eir support immediately after Swinger Swingpoints are awarded.
ITERATE

with the following PARALLEL-delimited text:

PARALLEL
2. a. Every two weeks on Monday the Chess-Umpire awards Swingpoints to Swingers who have positive Weights. Each such Swinger receives a number of Swingpoints equal to the number of Swingers (excluding Swingers on Vacation, but including Acting Swingers) with equal or lower Weights.

b. If the application of Section 2a results in Swingpoints being awarded to at least one Party Swinger on a particular Monday, then all other members of the Party of the Party Swinger who received more Swingpoints than any other Party Swinger (or the only Party Swinger who received Swingpoints, if only one received any) each receive one Swingpoint for eir support immediately after Swinger Swingpoints are awarded.
PARALLEL

Proposal 2814 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:45 EST
Demolishing
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)
Decision: rejected

Create a rule, numbered 1182, and titled "Preposterous Hearings", with the following text, delimited by "BESTER"

BESTER

Warning: contains "Preposterous"

Any player may call a Preposterous Hearing at any time. As its name may suggest, a Preposterous Hearing is a hearing; the player who called it is its Hearing Harfer.

The valid responses to a Preposterous Hearing are: "'Tenser', said the Tensor", "That was by way of being artistic license" [Terry Pratchett, Small Gods, p. 220], and "'Data' is plural, thank you very much."

If more players voted "'Tenser,' said the Tensor" than either of the other two possibilities, then each player who voted "That was by way of being artistic license" shall gain 5 points, and each player who voted "'Data' is plural, thank you very much" shall lose 5 points.

If more players voted "That was by way of being artistic license" than either of the other two possibilities, then each player who voted "'Data' is plural, thank you very much" shall gain 5 points, and each player who voted "'Tenser,' said the Tensor" shall lose 5 points.

If more players voted "'Data' is plural, thank you very much" than either of the other two possibilities, then each player who voted "'Tenser,' said the Tensor" shall gain 5 points, and each player who voted "That was by way of being artistic license" shall lose 5 points.

It is the Crime of Gratuitous Preposterousness to call a Preposterous Hearing when one has already been called within the past 30 days.

BESTER

Proposal 2815 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:47 EST
Everyone needs a gender identity
JT (JT Traub)
Status: retracted

Each player has a property 'gender' which can take any of 3 values and begins with the value 'Androgynous' when a new player is created.
{{ All existing players gain the property 'Gender: Androgynous' }}
Each player may change eir gender to any other valid value of the gender property as a public action.
The valid values for the gender property are 'Male', 'Female', and 'Androgynous'.
No player may have more than one gender at any given time.
It is considered to be the Crime of Sexual Discrimination for any player to refer to any other specific player by an inappropriate pronoun for their current publically knowable gender in a public message.
Androgynous pronouns (e, em, eir) are always correct, regardless of gender.
{{[ Note that since rules do not refer to a specific player, they are not a problem under this proposal, and should continue to be taken as they are now to apply to any player, regardless of chosen gender]}}

Proposal 2816 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:48 EST
The Tensor
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: rejected

The Tensor is a unique unownable entity, similar to the Spelling Bee. Like the Spelling Bee, it can only operate on and move through Stingable Entities and may not operate on, nor move through any other entity.
It is said the Tensor abhors poor grammar, most especially instances where the tense of two seperate words in a phrase are in conflict.
The Tensor may be initiated by any officer that has the right to initiate a Spelling Bee, and is initiated by a public message with the term 'Tensing:' in the subject, and in the body of the message, a list of all changes being made, clearly identified by title, number and document as appropriate, the phrase being replaced, and the phrase to replace it with.
Noone, other than the authorized officers may initate a use of the Tensor, and no use which contains illegal changes will be initated.
The only permitted use of the Tensor is to change words from one tense in the English language to another tense such that the new tense agrees with the tenses of other words in the item changed.
The Tensor may not be used to change the meaning of a given item by its action.
Upon the legal use of the Tensor being announced, the changes will take effect.
Changes made by the Tensor will not be included in the history of the item changed. This rule takes precedence over other rules which require such notation.

{{[ Please note that this rule uses the phrase 'said the Tensor' in accordance with rule 207.1]}}

Proposal 2817 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:50 EST
Got Silver?
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Decision: accepted

Bribe: If this proposal is accepted, each player that voted YES on it shall receive A$15 from Hubert.

Warning Contains: Werewolf

[ I thought I'd try this once more as a Song, getting rid of the Astronomer part. There is currently no way that I know of for its Trigger to be true, but there should be. :-) (I think the moons are going to play a crucial role in the future of Acka, and we should start to study them more closely.) ]

Create a new Rule, said the Tensor, as a member of the Ackanomic Sound System Rule Suite with the title "ASS Song: Werewolves of London" and the following JAGGER-delimited text:

JAGGER
Title: Werewolves of London

Artist: Warren Zevon

Trigger: It is publically knowable that one or more Ackanomic moons are full.

Duration: Until the moon or moons that triggered this song are no longer full.

Effect: When this song is triggered, the Werewolf of London (hereafter Werewolf) begins to roam the streets of Ackanomic. Each time, while this Song is playing on the ASS, that one or more of the following three conditions become true:

a) a player's Location changes, whether voluntarily or not,
b) it is determined that a player is being followed by the B-Ack,
c) any two players post messages to public fora, each mentioning that a certain other player "got mutilated late last night," ["Werewolves of London," Warren Zevon] {{[ yes, I know I don't get Lit points ]}}

the Werewolf will bite the player for whom that condition is true.

The Werewolf of London is a unique, unownable entity. If the Werewolf should bite a player, that player becomes Lycanthropic in the animal of eir choice if e is not Lycanthropic already. If e has not chosen an animal within three days, an animal shall be assigned to em by the Mad Scientist. {{[ True, this too has no effect yet, but may soon. ]}}

Players may only become Lycanthropic as defined by the Rules. The Web-Harfer is encouraged to provide an account of which players are Lycanthropic, and in which animal.

Explanation: "Ah-ooooo, the Werewolves of London." ["Werewolves of London," Warren Zevon]
JAGGER

Proposal 2818 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:53 EST
Didn't Mean It That Way
Hubert (Eric Plumb)
Decision: accepted

Amend Rule 330, "Retractions," by appending the sentence "A player who retracts his own proposal in this manner loses 2 points." to the end of the first paragraph. [ No more free rides... ]

Amend Rule 330, "Retractions," by changing the word "member" in its penultimate sentence to "player".

[ These changes were unintended side effects of my first accepted Proposal. I was young and foolish then, and I'll hopefully be old and Foolish now... said the Tensor. ]

Amend Rule 340, "Conventions," by appending the sentence "Text delimited by double quotes is known as a string." to the end of section III.

Proposal 2819 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:55 EST
DNotTHS
K 2 (Kelly Kelly)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Create a rule numbered 842 Titled "The Town Hall" with the following text:

The Town Hall is a lavish building and a Common Location.

The building's exterior is clad in chartreuse marble.
From a flag pole fourteen cat heights high mounted on the highest point of the roof, flies the Ackanomic Flag. During a state funeral when an Elder is inducted it is flown at half mast.
Leading up to the building are a series of steps each, one cat height high and one cat height long. At any moment in time there is exactly one more step than there are players enshrined in the hall of Elders (material and labour required for construction is generously provided by the Ackanomic Construction Guild Inc.). Engraved on the riser of each step in gold lettering is the name of an Elder, starting with the most recently inducted on the top most step. On the bottom most step in the language of the ancients is the phrase "Said the Tensor: Let Their Be Harf".

On the second Tuesday of each month a player may dance on the Town Hall Steps, provided that:
i) e pays $A2 to The First Citizen for a Exhibitionist's permit.
ii) During the previous three days e had a proposal accepted, was acquitted of a crime or had a CFJ submitted by em, ruled in eir favour (ie True).
iii) the dance is described in verse.

Failure to comply to these requirements constitutes the crime of Rampant Exhibitionism.
At all times it is illegal to dance naked on the Town Hall Steps.

{{[ Okay, so its a blatant attempt at foolishness, but worth a try none the less :) ]}}

Proposal 2820 - Wed 01 Apr 1998 17:56 EST
Hardware Reset
breadbox (Brian Raiter)
Decision: rejected

This is a Modest Proposal.

Replace each occurrence of the three-word phrase "said the Tensor" in Rule 207.1 ("That's just silly") with the three-word phrase "cows eat grass".

{{[Note that I won't get the ten points for this proposal, thanks to the Potato Paradox clause. But it might make things interesting on April 8th....]}}

Proposal 2821 - Thu 02 Apr 1998 12:38 EST
A small wintercap amendment
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

Amend rule 1136 as follows.

Add the following sentance to the end of the first paragraph of the rule.
When a new player joins the game e may submit a target and a word to the current President as soon as e is Active.

Proposal 2822 - Thu 02 Apr 1998 12:39 EST
It Really Is The Oldest
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)
Decision: rejected

Create a rule, whose number is the least integer greater than or equal to 1375 which is not already assigned to a rule, with the following text:

When the Ancients left Ackanomia, they left behind a single rule from their once-proud ruleset. This rule, later unearthed by the modern Ackanomians, is currently numbered 42.

The Rule-Harfer shall include the above fact in any and all media e uses to report the history of Rule 42.

This rule shall repeal itself if at any time there is no rule numbered 42.

Proposal 2823 - Thu 02 Apr 1998 12:40 EST
Disappearing References
Attila the Pun (Micah Smukler)
Decision: rejected

This is a Modest proposal.

Amend rule 210 ("Literature") by adding the text "or enclosed in brackets surrounded by double curly braces [like {{[this]}}]" immediately after the text "[like this]" in section B.

{{[People can make proposals literature without disrupting the flow of the rule created by the proposal.]}}

Proposal 2824 - Thu 02 Apr 1998 12:41 EST
Encyclopaedia Ackanomica
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Status: retracted

Create a new rule, numbered 955, with the following BRIT-delimited text:

BRIT
{{[Alfvaen's FAQ gave me a great idea for getting lots of information down to help people.]}}

The book known as the Encyclopaedia Ackanomica exists in the Library. The information kept in the Encyclopaedia Ackanomica is, like most encyclopaedias, an alphabetically arranged lists of descriptions of items related to the world around us. These items exist in the Encyclopaedia Ackanomica (hereafter also referred to as the EA) so that future generations may know what we experienced.

The text of the EA shall be kept on a webpage. The EA is an official Ackanomic document, but is not part of the rules.
{{[For now the Web-Harfer does it by default, but this can always be changed in the future.]}}

Each player may submit at most one provisional entry for the EA each calendar week. Entries must have a single key phrase which is described by the text of the entry, with the single key phrase being the first thing in the entry. Each provisional entry shall be approved or rejected by the player responsible for maintaining the webpage of the EA. When an entry is accepted, the player who submitted an entry shall receive 5 points. Rejections must be accompanied with a reason. The Senate may, as a public action, overrule a rejection or an approval within 7 days.
{{[This provision will hopefully not be used often - it is there to prevent serious abuse of the position]}}

A provisional entry may be a revision of an existing entry, provided that that entry was last modified at least two months ago. If an entry modifying an earlier entry has been approved and not overruled, then the earlier entry is superseded.

The text of the EA consists of all entries which have not been superseded, plus, following each entry, its last modification date, and a list of the players who created and modified it.
BRIT

{{[I thought about giving control to the Historian, but breadbox has a lot on eir plate right now. A CSR after the fact would be appropriate IMHO for switching control over to the Historian, should e want it.]}}

{{The following START-delimited entry is added to the Encyclopaedia Ackanomica, with the creator credit being Slakko:

START
Encyclopaedia Ackanomica: A document, created in early April 1998, designed to hold information about the past of Ackanomic. Its aim is to supply information about the world to new players, so that they may understand the legacy of what older players have created. The concept dates back to Alfvaen's creation of the Ackanomic FAQ, but was extended by Slakko.
START
}}

Proposal 2825 - Fri 03 Apr 1998 14:03 EST
Next Station Camden Town
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.
{{[The title is a reference to Mornington Crescent - the inspiration behind Abstract Crescent. Basically, I found a few ways to tweak and otherwise improve the game, including the elimination of a couple of problem spots such as the possibility of player leaving and rejoining scams, and lone player submissions.]}}

Amend Rule 1250.21, "Abstract Crescent", as follows:

(a) replace the following SLOW-delimited text:

SLOW
2. The playing section of the Round is complete after either three days have passed since the Round was announced, or all players have emailed their plays to the Referee, whichever comes first.
SLOW

with the following FASTER delimited text:

FASTER
2. The playing section of the Round is complete after either three days have passed since the Round was announced, or sufficient players have emailed their plays to the Referee to determine the result of the Round, whichever comes first.
FASTER

{{[Twice now rufus has failed to submit turns which would have had no effect whatsoever on the result. When this was the case, I have had to wait two days for no benefit. I'd rather see games played quickly - it keeps them more interesting.]}}

(b) replace the text "3. Scoring" with "4. Scoring" wherever it occurs.

FENCEPOST
If only one player should submit a number in any given round, then that player shall win the Round and gain 2*n points, where n is the current number of players.
FENCEPOST

{{[Currently as the rules stand the unfortunate lone submitter would get an undefined number of points.]}}

(d) append the following NOSNEAKS-delimited text:

NOSNEAKS
5. Leaving and Re-joining
When a player leaves a game of Abstract Crescent, any positive points they had earned in that game are lost. Should they rejoin that game at a later date, their score upon rejoining will be the lower of the score they had when they last left the game and 0.
If a player fails to submit a number in 3 consecutive rounds, then the Referee may declare them to have left at the end of the third such round. Such a declaration is equivalent to the player consenting to leave the game.

{{Any game of Abstract Crescent in progress when this proposal is passed now runs according to the updated rules.}}
NOSNEAKS

{{[You stay - you play. Otherwise it just puts a hole in the number sequences, which can have a significant impact on scoring.]}}

Proposal 2826 - Fri 03 Apr 1998 14:05 EST
Helping the Harfers
Guy Fawkes (Robert Shimmin)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.
In Rule 534 [The Ackan Reserve] replace "a functional office" with "an optional functional office."

To the end of Rule 530 [The Stock Market] add this paragraph:

If the Chair of the Ackan Reserve is filled in a non-acting capacity, the Stock Market is not Frozen. If the Chair of the Ackan Reserve is not filled in any capacity, the Stock Market is Frozen. If the Chair of the Ackan Reserve is filled in an acting capacity only, the acting Chair is empowered to Freeze or un-Freeze the Stock Market, provided e has not changed the Stock Market's state in the last three days. While the Stock market is Frozen, neither the activity value nor the positivity value will change, the remainder of this Rule notwithstanding.

Proposal 2827 - Fri 03 Apr 1998 14:07 EST
It pays to recruit
JT (JT Traub)
Status: retracted

Amend section II as follows.
Replace the follwing OLD delimited text

OLD
A person wishing to join the game, and who cannot do so as a Returning player, should notify the Registrar, providing a valid email address, their real name, and the legal Ackanomic name they wish to play under. Upon them providing this information, should the requested name indeed be a legal Ackanomic name, the Registrar shall post a public message announcing the new player and providing their Ackanomic name, real name, and email address, and if the prospective player provided it, how they discovered the game. Upon the posting of such an announcement, the person becomes registered as a player.
OLD

with the following NEW delimited text

NEW
A person wishing to join the game, and who cannot do so as a Returning player, should notify the Registrar, providing a valid email address, their real name, the legal Ackanomic name they wish to play under, and optionally the current active player who convinced them to join the game or where they heard about the game. Upon them providing this information, should the requested name indeed be a legal Ackanomic name, the Registrar shall post a public message announcing the new player and providing their Ackanomic name, real name, and email address, and if the prospective player provided it, the optional information. Upon the posting of such an announcement, the person becomes registered as a player. In order for this sponsorship to be legal the sponsor should tell the Registrar prior to the new player joining that the new player will be joining, but some leniency for the vagaries of mail should be given. A sponsor is valid if and only if the above conditions are met.
NEW

Amend section III as follows

replace the following OLD delimited text

OLD
3) The Registrar shall select a Mentor for the new player. If the Mentor was chosen from the volunteer pool, e receives A$25 from the Treasury immediately; otherwise, e receives A$25 if and when e accepts the mentorship.
OLD

with the following NEW delimited text5

NEW
3) The Registrar shall select a Mentor for the new player. If the player provided a valid sponsor, that sponsor shall be the first choice of Mentor for the new player if e is eligible. If the Mentor was chosen from the volunteer pool, e receives A$25 from the Treasury immediately; otherwise, e receives A$25 if and when e accepts the mentorship.
NEW

Add the following section to rule 252 section III
4) If the player provided a sponsor the new player recieves a Trinket named 'Sponsored by <name>' where <name> is the name of the sponsor. This trinket has a value of A$10 and a description of 'I joined the madness on <date> at the urging of <name>' where <date> is the date the new player joined and <name> is the name of the sponsor. The sponsor shall likewise recieve a Trinket named '<name> is all my fault' with a value of $A10 and a description of 'On <date>, I encouraged <name> to join.' where <date> is as above and <name> is the name of the new player.

Proposal 2828 - Sat 04 Apr 1998 17:45 EST
It pays to advertise (2nd times the charm)
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

Warning Contains: Sponsor

Amend Rule 252 Section II as follows
Replace the following OLD delimited text

with the following NEW delimited text

NEW
A person wishing to join the game, and who cannot do so as a Returning player, should notify the Registrar, providing a valid email address, their real name, the legal Ackanomic name they wish to play under, and optionally the Ackanomic name of the current active player who convinced them to join the game or where they heard about the game. Upon them providing this information, should the requested name indeed be a legal Ackanomic name, the Registrar shall post a public message announcing the new player and providing their Ackanomic name, real name, and email address, and if the prospective player provided it, the optional information. Upon the posting of such an announcement, the person becomes registered as a player. If the active player named by the new player informs the Registrar within a 'small' period of time (preferably before the new player actually sends email) then that current active player shall be known as the Sponsor of the new player. The Sponsor is valid if and only if they notify the Registrar and the new player mentions them as their sponsor.
NEW

Amend Rule 252 Section III as follows
Replace the following OLD delimited text

with the following NEW delimited text

NEW
3) The Registrar shall select a Mentor for the new player. If the player provided a valid Sponsor, that Sponsor shall be the first choice of Mentor for the new player if e is eligible as a Mentor. If the Mentor was chosen from the volunteer pool, e receives A$25 from the Treasury immediately; otherwise, e receives A$25 if and when e accepts the mentorship.

4) If the player provided a valid Sponsor the new player recieves a Trinket named 'Sponsored by <name>' where <name> is the name of the Sponsor. This Trinket has a value of A$10 and a description of 'I joined the madness on <date> at the urging of <name>' where <date> is the date the new player joined and <name> is the name of the Sponsor. The Sponsor shall likewise recieve a Trinket named '<name> is all my fault' with a value of $A10 and a description of 'On <date>, I encouraged <name> to join.' where <date> is as above and <name> is the name of the new player.
NEW

Proposal 2829 - Sat 04 Apr 1998 17:48 EST
Harfmeister as Style Guru
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

{{[Proposals can be harfy, but so can other stuff - why not let the Harfmeister judge the style of that as well?]}}

Amend Rule 1112, "Let there be Harf!", by inserting the following GURU-delimited text immediately before the text "The Harfmeister may use his or her discretion":

GURU
The Harfmeister should also be on the lookout for particularly harfy courses of action, things which might later be considered for a Silver Moon, or at least are worth a good laugh at the time. The Harfmeister has the privilege of designating a player other than emself to be "Funky and Stylish".
At most one player is "Funky and Stylish" at any one time; a designation of a player as "Funky and Stylish" removes the designation of "Funky and Stylish" from any other player possessing it. When a player is designated "Funky and Stylish", they gain 5 points. Only one player may be designated "Funky and Stylish" per calendar week.

This privilege of the Harfmeister should be used regularly, when it is justified. Failure to do so on a regular basis, without justification, may lead to accusations that the Harfmeister is hogging the harf, as described below.
GURU

Proposal 2830 - Sat 04 Apr 1998 17:50 EST
Curse the B-ack!
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Status: retracted

This is a modest proposal.

Modify rule 961 by replacing:

"Ackans who visit the Wilds of Ackanomia must be careful to avoid the Curse of the B-Ack. It is therefore best that they keep quiet when in the Wilds. Therefore, each day that a player is in the Wilds of Ackanomia and posts a public message, there is a 40% chance that the B-Ack will hear the player and chase them on the following day. The player will be treated as if e had Gone Postal. This is because (i) further public messages ruin a player's attempts to elude the B-Ack, and thus lead to further hiding, and (ii) the only weakness of the B-Ack is good poetry."

with:

If the B-Ack hears a player then the player will be treated as if e is hosed as by a BWG laser for as long as e remains in the wilds or twenty-four hours, whichever is shorter. This is because:
(i) further public messages ruin a player's attempts to elude the B-Ack, and thus lead to further hiding.
(ii) the only weakness of the B-Ack is good poetry."

Proposal 2831 - Sat 04 Apr 1998 20:36 EST
All We Like Sheep.
IdiotBoy (Matt Miller)
Status: retracted

Amend the text of rule 106 by replacing the following FREETHINKING delmited text

FREETHINKING
Voting Players may vote either YES, NO, or PRESENT on each proposal
FREETHINKING

with the following HERD-MENTALITY delimited text

HERD-MENTALITY
Voting Players may vote either YES, NO, BAA! or PRESENT on each proposal
HERD-MENTALITY

{{[You will note that, while this adds a new vote, presently a BAA! vote is functionally equivalent to a PRESENT vote.]}}

Proposal 2832 - Sat 04 Apr 1998 20:38 EST
Literature modification
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

{{[Remember my ill-fated and hideously flawed (I'm good at that sort of thing, aren't I?) proposal from a bit ago? Well it's b-ack and it's better than ever.]}}

Modify rule 210 (Literature) by replacing the NOW delimited text below with the CHANGE delimited text, and the following ONE delimited text with the following TWO delimited text below:

NOW
A) The proposal must contain in it's body [as opposed to title] one or more quotations from sources listed on the Literature list. This quotation must be an exact copy of words found in, written, uttered or otherwise communicated by the source, enclosed in quotation marks. It must be either a complete sentence of 7 words or more, or a contiguous phrase of at least 14 words in length. [This last bit is to try and stop people from trying to pass off "to be" as a quote from Hamlet, and the like.]
NOW

CHANGE
A) The proposal must contain in its body [as opposed to title] one or more quotations from sources listed on the Literature list. This quotation must be an exact copy of words found in, written, uttered or otherwise communicated by the source, enclosed in quotation marks. It must contain one of the following:

(i) a complete sentence or series of consecutive sentences totalling 7 words or more [i.e. if a player has two sentences of six words in length it is a phrase of consecutive sentences totaling seven or more words].

(ii) a continuous phrase of at least 14 words in length

(iii) a phrase that is not found in any other piece of literature.

[The reasoning for these limitations is to try and stop people from trying to pass off "to be" as a quote from Hamlet, and the like. There are however some short snippets that are very unique to individual pieces and this takes that into account.]

It is up to the player who submitted the proposal to find proof that his quote is indeed literature, and up to any player to find another piece of literature that also contains the quote. All such proofs are adjudicated by the scorekeeper, unless the scorekeeper submitted the proposal, in which case it should be adjudicated by the President. If the scorekeeper and president are the same person then it will be adjudicated by any other random active player (as selected by the OiCoRT).
CHANGE

ONE
II. Whenever a proposal that is literature passes, it's author gains X points. X is either the number of sentences quoted according to section I of this rule, or the number the total number of words quoted according to section I divided by 14, whichever is smaller.
ONE

TWO
II. Whenever a proposal that is literature passes, its author gains X points. X is either, the number of sentences, or series of sentences, quoted according to section I of this rule, or the total number of words quoted according to section I divided by 14, whichever is smaller. [That is, for each sentence or phrase which is eligible to be literature the author scores one point, taking the lower total if there are more than two ways in which such a phrase is eligible, i.e. two complete sentences making a total of fourteen words would only score one point.]
TWO

{{[The change here means that if, for example, there is a proposal containing two consecutive sentences of six words each, it can now be counted as literature. It's only a small change, I know, but one I feel is necessary. Previously, scoring from literature was not fully described, but it is now. IMHO, of course :-). And since the last version I've also put the emphasis on the player submitting the proposal to prove that it is literature.]}}

Proposal 2833 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:20 EDT
It's a Duel, Not a Feud!
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: rejected

This is a Modest Proposal.

[Currently there is no limit to how long a Duel can run for. Meanwhile, the two main protagonists remain untouchable - so they could start up a Duel which runs for ages and ages to avoid Duelling other people. Besides, the concept of a Duel running for months and months just doesn't appeal to me - the current Spades duel between Hubert and Goldenmean is beyond a joke.]

Amend Rule 1215, "Duels", as follows:

(a) Append the following DRAW-delimited text after the text "the loser's Second loses 3 points.":

DRAW
If no winner has been declared, but the Duel is over, then no points are gained or lost by any player involved in the Duel as a result of the Duel.
DRAW

(b) Renumber Section 4 to Section 5, and Section 3 to Section 4.

LONG
3. If a Duel is still in progress three months after it was started, then the parties have lost interest, and it is declared to be over without a winner.
LONG

Proposal 2834 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:25 EDT
Initiatives and good Intentions.
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
Decision: accepted

Append the following text to R419.3 "How Are Thing Out There"
"
When the Ambassador receives a messaged from a Liaison of another nomic which is a member of Internomic, and the message is addresses to the People of Ackacnomic, then the Ambassador must forward this message to the Public Forum, and it is deemed to be a public message by the nomic from whose Liaison it was received.
"

Proposal 2835 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:27 EDT
Party Hall Unity
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
Decision: accepted

Append the following text to R1040 "Party Hall" as section VI:
"
A proposal that attempts to add a rule to the Party Chess Rule Suite, Repeal a rule from the Party Chess Rule Suite, or amend a rule in the Party Chess Rule Suite, and does not attempt to change the text of any rule which is not a member of the Party Chess Rule Suite, shall be refered to in this proposal as a Chess Proposal.
Whenever all Swingers vote on a Chess Proposal the same way, an additional vote is cast by Party Hall. The vote cast by Party Hall is called the Swing Vote and it identical to the vote cast by the Swingers."

Proposal 2836 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:28 EDT
Insurance Policy
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Decision: rejected

{{ Amend section XIII of R850 to add "The Museum owns all objects in the Private Collection Room until they are requested again by their donator." at the end of that section. This clears up ownership problems that may arise. }}

X. Scandals and Insurance
If an object is stolen from the Private Collection Room of the Museum, there is said to be The Scandal of the Century. The Caped Crusader must explain that he was "stuck in traffic at the time". If the original donor the stolen object says that he is "much saddened by this event", then he will collect an insurance premium from the Treasury worth 90% (rounded down) of the value of the stolen object. In compensation for the sentimental value, he will also get, randomly, one Qualified Gadget in proper working order.

Proposal 2837 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:32 EDT
Who's afraid of Agatha Christie?
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Decision: rejected

If there is a Scandal of the Century and a player is put in Goal for it, then the Caped Crusader will gain the title of Poirot's Little Gray Cells.

{{ Add the following to the Literature List:
Artist: Agatha Christie ; author of detective stories }}

Proposal 2838 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:40 EDT
Wenn der Tone Zauber walten und des Worte Weihe spricht
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Decision: rejected

{{ Add the following to the Literature List.
Work: Blade Runner ; Sci-fi movie
Work: Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet ; 1996 movie
Work: Declaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen ; French constitution of 1789
Artist: John leCarre ; British author of spy novels
Artist: Beethoven ; German composer
Artist: Mozart ; Austrian composer }}

Proposal 2839 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:45 EDT
Wizards Return
Calvin N Hobbes (Thierry Joffrain)
Decision: rejected

The age of Magic has returned. Wizards now battle each other again on spiritual planes in titanic struggles. There exists Light Wizards and Dark Wizards. However, they have special powers defined as Astral Spells by other rules. A Wizard may not be a member of any organization or political party, nor hold any offices. Nor can he own any Ackadollars or trinkets, and if receiving some, must get rid of them within 24 hours. At any time, a wizard who does not fulfill these criteria will no longer be a wizard.

Any player who is eligible to be a Wizard and bangs their heads on the bottom of the river during white water rafting, and then spends one month in the library, becomes a Wizard at the end of that month if they still meet the criteria above.

Proposal 2840 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:48 EDT
Organization Disbanding
JT (JT Traub)
Status: retracted

{{[I believe this allows at least VSOs to disband, something which recently came up in a CFJ. It also allows other organizations to disband, but I suspect that something special might need to be done to handle some various other special cases for Churches or Parties that I might have missed. If there are, I suspect there will quickly be amendments to this rule to fix any such problems. ]}}

Amend rule 1003 Section 2 as follows
replace the following CURRENT delimited text
CURRENT
The rules may call for the disbandment of an Organization. When an Organization is disbanded, everything owned by the Organization is transferred to the Treasury and the Organization is then no more.
CURRENT

with the following NEW delimited text
NEW
The rules may call for the disbandment of an Organization.

Unless the rules for a specific type of organization specify another way for disbanding, then Disbanding an organization is allowed as a public action.

When an Organization is disbanded, everything owned by the Organization is transferred to the Treasury, all members of the Organization are no longer considered to be members, any Swingers for that Organization are no longer Swingers for that Organization, and the Organization is then no more.
NEW

-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Amend rule 1003 Section 3 as follows
Add the following
d. Disband
to the list of actions allows for a VSO

Proposal 2841 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:52 EDT
Cum On Feel The Noize
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Status: removed (deemed invalid by CFJ 561)

This is a Modest proposal.

Amend Rule 1003, "Organizations", as follows:

Append to Section 2., "Organization Disbandment", the sentence "An Organization is disbanded when it has no members. An Organization may disband as an Organizational Action."

In Section 3., "Very Small Organizations", insert after 3.c. the line "d. Disband". {{[ In case the previous clause didn't have the power to do this ]}}

Proposal 2842 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:53 EDT
Veet Voojagig
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

Amend Rule 611, "Le Grand Fromage", as follows:

Replace the following text(delimited by BIRO):

BIRO
A player receives a stilton if e the ten most recent proposals e authored, that are not in the voting queue, were all accepted.
BIRO

with the following text(delimited by GARGLE):

GARGLE
A player receives a stilton if e the ten most recent proposals e authored for which valid voting results have been released were all accepted.
GARGLE

{{[ This should exclude both Proposals that are still under voting consideration and retracted Proposals. ]}}

Proposal 2843 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:55 EDT
Born loser
/dev/joe (Joseph DeVincentis)
Decision: rejected

A$30000 is transferred from the treasury to /dev/joe.

Proposal 2844 - Mon 06 Apr 1998 05:56 EDT
Benefyts Finally Have a Use!
Slakko (Duncan Richer)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest Proposal.

Amend Rule 1230.5, "Creation of a PartyChessPiece Rook", as follows:

(a) Change its title to "PartyChessPiece Rook".
(b) Append the following BENF-delimited text:

BENF
4. A Rook has a Special Move, which consists of moving one square in any diagonal direction, followed by up to five squares horizontally or vertically, provided that the orthogonal direction taken is only 45 degrees rotated from the diagonal direction taken (e.g. you can move up-left then left, but not up-left then right). All intervening squares, and the destination square, must be unoccupied. This move may not be used as a Capture.
[As this is a Special Move it requires a cost of one Benefyt. It is not a capture because that would make checking someone far too easy.]
BENF

Proposal 2845 - Tue 07 Apr 1998 04:09 EDT
The Bucket Kicked The Rabbit
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Decision: accepted

This is a Modest proposal.

Amend Rule 404, "Offices, Impeachment", as follows:

Add the section (i) the following text(delimited by RACTER):

RACTER
A player may not submit more than one IP per calendar week, and may not submit more than one IP against the same officer in a calendar month.
RACTER

Remove the sentence "Also, the author of the IP may not author another IP for the remainder of the calendar week." from section (vi). {{[ Since it's now redundant. ]}}

{{[ I should point out the Rule-Harfer that the last sentence of Section (vi) belongs at the end of Section (v), from Proposal 2258... ]}}

Proposal 2846 - Tue 07 Apr 1998 04:11 EDT
Can I Have It All Now?
Alfvaen (Aaron Humphrey)
Status: removed (invalid by Rule 313)

This is a Grandiose Proposal.

Create a rule, numbered 110, with text as follows(delimited by GAFFA):

GAFFA
Let N be the number of players who voted YES on the Proposal which created this Rule.
Let X be 5000/N, rounded up.

Upon this Rule's creation, X Ackadollars shall be transferred from each player who voted YES on this Proposal to the player known as Alfvaen on April 1, 1998(hereafter referred to as Alfvaen), and transformed into a Trinket(whose name shall be a random string of eight alphabetic characters not used by any other entity), which Alfvaen shall have three days to describe. This transferrence may put the players into debt. No Share Your Income Otzma Card may be used on this money, nor may the Trinket be transferred to any player besides Alfvaen, or to any other entity except the Museum, and then only by the player Alfvaen. In making this donation, Alfvaen may move to the Museum in spite of any other Rules which may limit eir ability to change eir location; this takes precedence over all such Rules.

In addition, all players who voted YES on this Proposal shall be Hosed as if by the BWG Laser for the remainder of the calendar month, except that they will continue to lose A$ rather than become Weird or Really Weird. If any of these players should ever achieve a Winning Condition, then the Chartreuse Goose shall be considered to have been transferred to em an instant before this would have occurred. They will all be burned as witches, and their ashes dumped into the Ackanomian River, so that they will be thrown into Gaol for polluting the environment. Their names will be stricken from the Ruleset and all of the Ackanomian web pages, and each replaced with "Imadoofus".

They shall, however, each receive a Swingpoint for eir troubles.
GAFFA

Proposal 2847 - Tue 07 Apr 1998 04:13 EDT
Eleusis
JT (JT Traub)
Decision: accepted

{{[ This is being submitted as a rule so that it can define a new type of trophy. Otherwise I would have just made a Games Submission for it ]}}

Amend rule 1250.2 with the following to define a new type of trophy
C. The Scientist's Handbook is a nameless entity.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Create a new rule with the following text:

[ This describes a minor adaptation of the game commonly known as Eleusis. The standard rules for this game can be found at
http://www.netaxs.com/people/nerp/eleusis0.html
The rules below are an adaptation to work within the framework of Ackanomic and email. ]

{{[ I wish to thank Alfvaen and Niccolo Flychuck for their comments, some of which have been integrated into this text]}}

1) General Equipment
a) This game uses either one Eleusis Deck with the optional Wild cards or two Standard decks combined into one larger deck, again with optional Wild cards.
b) Gamepoints as needed.

2) Number of players.
a) This game is played with 5-8 players and one optional Referee.
b) This game can have an optional Referee as defined in section 10.
c) New players may *not* join during the run of an existing game except as defined under section 8.

3) How to start an instance of the game
As described in rule 1250.1, section VI.

4) General Rules of the game
a) If there is a Referee, the Referee assigns a cardinal number from 1 to N, where N is the number of players, to each player. If there is no Referee, then the player calling the game shall be cardinal number 1 and all other players shall be assigned a number from 2 to N where N is the total number of players including the player who called the game.
b) Player number 1 shall be named the Deus for the first round.
c) All player other than Deus are considered to be Scientists for that round.
d) The round is played as specified in section 5.
e) At the end of the round, the Deus from the previous round will announce the rule from that round, and all other players have a 3 day period to announce an error in the game play. Play on the next round can proceed during this error determination since the results of one round do not affect the next round. If at least one player declared there to be an error, handle it as in Section 11.
f) At the end of a round, the next higher numbered player is named the new Deus and a new round begins.
g) The game ends when each player has been Deus exactly once, and the game is scored as described in section 7.

5) The play of a round
a) Deus creates a private rule which specifies how a valid play is to be determined. This rule may only depend upon cards which have already been correctly played, not upon incorrectly played cards, or the contents of any players hand.
b) Deus announces publicly which of the two decks is being used for that round, whether the Wild cards are included in the deck. The ranking of the cards [IE, the order of importance of the cards within the suits], the value of any cards which are different than their standard face value [IE all face cards are 10 or J=11, Q=12, K=13], the ranking and value of suits if that is pertinent, and the ranking/value of wild cards if they are in use.
c) Deus (or the Referee) privately communicates to each player their hand of 14 starting cards.
d) Deus (or the Referee) publicly communicates the face-up starter card.
e) The round is now open for play and play proceeds in numerical order starting with the player in numerical order after the Deus for the current round
f) The current player chooses a series of between 1 and 4 cards from their hand and announces them in the order they wish to play them. The player may also choose a call of 'No Play' if they believe no card in their current hand is a valid card to play in the current sequence. A sequence of cards is only correct if every card in the sequence in order is correct. If the player doesn't publicly submit a play within 3 days of it becoming their turn, they will be deemed to have played 'No Play' and Deus (or the Referee) will reveal their cards.
g) Upon calling 'No Play' the player must reveal at that time all the cards head in their hand.
h) If there is currently no prophet, and the current player has not already been prophet this round and there are more than two remaining Scientists the player may declare themselves prophet regardless of whether their play was correct or incorrect. To save time, the player should include this declaration with their play. The card played when a prophet is declared is marked with a '!'.
i) If there is a prophet:
1) The prophet publicly decrees whether the play is correct or not.
2) The Deus publicly declares whether they approve of the prophets call or not.
3) If the Deus doesn't approve of the prophets call then the Scientist who played the card(s) is not penalized, the prophet is dealt 5 penalty cards by the Deus or the Referee, and resumes play as a Scientist.
4) If the Deus approves of the prophets call and the player played an incorrect sequence, then the Deus (or Referee) deals the player 2 cards for each card in the sequence or five cards if the incorrect call was 'No Play'. In the case of 'No Play' the prophet must choose a card from the current players hand before the penalty cards are dealt that would have been a correct play and play it. If the prophet chooses a card that isn't correct at this point then the card is returned to the players hand, and the player receives no penalty cards, instead causing the prophet to be overturned as in part 3 above. If the round is in 'sudden death' then the current player is expelled from the round after the dealing of the penalty cards.
5) If the play of 'No Play' was deemed correct then the player will be privately dealt a new hand of cards with four fewer cards than in their previous hand.
j) If there is no prophet, Deus judges the play as correct or not with the penalties to the player being the same as in step 'i' part 4 above. In the case of 'No Play' Deus must choose a correct card from the calling players hand and play it. If the Deus judges a 'No Play' call to be correct, then the effect of step 'i' part 5 above occurs.
k) If there is no prophet, mark every 10th card played with a '*'. After forty cards, the round enters 'sudden death'.
l) If there is a prophet, mark every 10th card since they became the prophet with a '!'. After 30 cards (3 '!') the round enters sudden death.
m) If the current player has 0 cards or there are no Scientists left, then the round is over and is scored as in section 6.
n) The player next in numerical order becomes the current player. The player after the highest numbered player is player 1.
o) If the current player is either the prophet or Deus, go to step 'n'.
p) go to step 'f'

6) Scoring a round
a) A player is considered the 'True Prophet' if they were the prophet when the round ended.
b) The high-count is the largest number of cards in any players hand (prophet included). Call this number H.
c) Every player except Deus gets Gamepoints equal to H - the number of cards in their hand.
d) Any player with 0 cards gets 4 Gamepoints as a bonus.
e) The 'True Prophet' gains 1 Gamepoint for each correct play and 2 Gamepoints for each incorrect play after they became prophet.
f) Deus gains Gamepoints equal to the smaller of
1) the highest players score
2) twice the total number of cards played since the true prophet became prophet.

7) Scoring the game
After all rounds are completed, the winner is the player with the most Gamepoints. All other players are ranked in descending order by Gamepoints.
Let N be the number of players in the game.
The highest ranked player gains a trophy, "The Scientist's Handbook" and 2(N-1) points. Each player in decreasing order gets two less points than the preceding player. If two players have the same number of game points but the next lower player with a different number of game points recieves points as if they weren't tied. Last place will score 0 points. [Frex. in a game of 5 players with final game points of 20, 14 8, 8 and 4, the players would recieve in order 8, 6, 4, 4 and 0 points]

8) Joining and Leaving the game.
Any player who leaves the game or goes on vacation without appointing a substitute causes the game to pause. When the game is paused, any other player of Ackanomic who is not already a player in that game of Eleusis may volunteer to fill in, assuming the missing players Gamepoints and game position. If the Deus leaves the game or vacations without appointing a substitute and there is a Referee, Deus must pass the private rule on to the Referee and the round continues without pausing the game. If there is no Referee, then the round will end and players will be scored as if the round had ended normally (except no one gets the bonus for 0 cards). If the Deus appoints a substitute, then he passes the private rule on to that substitute and play proceeds normally. If no substitute for the Deus was named, the game is paused after the current round is scored until a new player joins.

9) Duties of Deus and the Prophet
The Deus and Prophet are necessary for the game to proceed smoothly and so are encouraged to respond to plays as quickly as possible. It is unfortunately not possible to impose a 3 day timeout on Deus, however if the Prophet fails to respond to a move within 3 days then that player is removed as a prophet as if they had made an incorrect call on a play. If there is no Referee, the Deus for each round assumes the responsibilities of the Referee.

10) Duties of the Referee
The Referee (or Deus for each round if there is no Referee) must track the game state including which player has which cards, must simulate shuffling the cards at the start of a round and dealing cards as demanded by the round. They must also post the current game state including all played cards with a reasonable amount of frequency (at least once every other day would be recommended, and after each players play would be best). If there is an actual Referee, that player is paid $A10 when the game is concluded for providing their services.

11) Handling of errors.
a) If a player believes there to have been an error, then if there is a Referee, the Referee decides if the error in fact occurred. Otherwise a vote among the current players occurs. The voting period lasts 3 days and a player who doesn't respond is considered to have voted 'No' meaning that there was no error. If all votes are in before the 3 day period, then the voting period ends immediately.
b) If there was a vote, and a majority of the players voted that 'Yes' there was an error, then there was an error.
c) If there was an error, Deus for the round which contained the error loses 20 Gamepoints.
d) If there is more than one error in a round, the Deus is only penalized once.

Proposal 2848 - Tue 07 Apr 1998 04:17 EDT
Radical Repeal
JT (JT Traub)
Status: removed (due to invalid bribe)

Bribe: A$1 to all players who vote on this proposal, an additional A$2 if they vote NO.
This is a Grandiose proposal.
Repeal rule number 101.

Proposal 2849 - Tue 07 Apr 1998 10:08 EDT
Disposal of Property
Niccolo Flychuck (Uri Bruck)
Decision: rejected

Create a new rule which contains the following text:
"
1.There exists a Functional Office called Trouble Shooter.
2.The Trouble Shooter has the following duties:
a. To seek out any Entities which are owned by Organizations and it is illegal for them to own.
b. When the Trouble Shooter learns of the existence of such an entity e makes the following anouncement:"I dispose of Entity <X> illegaly owned by Organization <Y>" where <X> is the entity e discovered, and <Y> is the name of the entity. If it necessary to add information to the anouncement in order to disambiguate the reference to the entity then the Trouble Shooter must do so as well.
c. Once this anouncement has been made, the designated Entity is immsediately transferred to the Treasury, and the Trouble Shooter calls start a Public Auction on that Entity.

3. If no Organization owns an entity that it is illegal for it to own.
This rule repeals itself.

{{Reunmber this rule to 43}}
"

Proposal 2850 - Tue 07 Apr 1998 10:10 EDT
Curse the B-ack (and my feeble brain)!
The Gingham Wearer (Tom Walmsley)
Decision: accepted

This is a modest proposal.

Modify rule 961 by replacing:

with:

If the B-Ack hears a player then the player will be treated as if e is hosed as by a BWG laser for as long as e remains in the wilds or twenty-four hours, whichever is longer. This is because:
(i) further public messages ruin a player's attempts to elude the B-Ack, and thus lead to further hiding.
(ii) the only weakness of the B-Ack is good poetry."

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