Notification of debate closure

The Debate over Epimenides has been closed. This may or may not be relevenat, depending on the fate of the "Stagnation of The Academy" proposal. Anyway, moderate away.

If you're going on walkabout fair

Parsley sage rosemary and 8 hours time to sign up for it

Proposal: Null

I humbly submit that syllogisms are fun.

Append the following to rule 13:

All proposals must include some change to the ruleset in order to be considered legal.

Therefore, all legal proposals (by Disciples other than the Philosopher-King) begin with "I humbly submit"

Failed 1-7, timed out. Failed by Excalabur, 18th July at 16:26

Call for Judgement

Cronos says that 2.66666666 is 2 while Rodney says that it is 3. As evidence that it is 3 take a look at this page: http://www.jimloy.com/arith/rounding.htm.

4-7. Failed to reach quorum in four days. Didn't do anything anyway. Adminned by Excalabur on 18th July at 17:56.

Proposal: How many Philosophers does it take to screw in a Lightbulb?

I humbly submit we create a rule called Hot Potato which reads as follows:

Occasionally, a Disciple may create a 'Hot Potato' (aka 'Potato') and put it into play by posting with the format "Thesis: [Unique Hot Potato Name], Version 1". This can only be done if there isn't another Hot Potato in play.

The body of the Hot Potato post must be a single grammatical sentence of no more than 25 words (flavor text in italics is ignored for this restriction).

Any Disciple may Pass the Potato by posting "Thesis: [Target Hot Potato Name], Version [previous version +1]", as long as e hasn't passed either of the last 2 versions of that Potato. The body of the Hot Potato must be the same, except that one of these modification methods has been used on it (once again, any italic flavor text is ignored):

- Replacement: A single word may be substituted for another in a single instance, or in every instance throughout the Hot Potato.

- Insertion: A word, clause or a whole sentence may be inserted into the Hot Potato text. This addition cannot exceed the wordcount limit of the initial Hot Potato sentence, but the total resulting text may do so. If the addition is a sentence or clause, it must relate to the meaning of the existing text in some way.

- Deletion: A sentence, clause or single word may be removed from the Hot Potato, as long as this leaves at least one complete sentence.

Any of these modifications must result in proper grammatical text.

This new version of the Hot Potato is now in play and the previous version ceases to be in play. If an illegal modification is made in passing the Potato, that version of the Hot Potato is invalid, and the previous version is still considered in play.

A Hot Potato post may be Vetoed by the Philosopher-King or Gadfly, which immediately puts it out of play.

If a Hot Potato has been in play for 48 hours without being passed, it ceases to be in play and immediately becomes a new rule with the same name as the Hot Potato and its final version number. (It goes into effect even if not yet entered into the ruleset.)

Passed 6-5, timed out. Enacted by smith, 18th of July at 15:40.

Proposal: Stagnation of the Academy

I humbly submit that rule 15 - Debate is not being actively used. While it was an interesting idea, it doesn't seem to be igniting the heated and aspect-point moderated debates that were hoped. I made a token effort at starting a debate, and response was lukewarm. Granted, the main argument was pretty stupid, but nobody else has made any better attempts.

If this proposal passes, than if no Debate has received comments from at least 5 distinct members of the academy within 48 hours of the enactment of this proposal, than rule 15 shall be repealed.

Failed 3-4, 2 abstain, timed out. Failed by smith, 18th of July at 15:30.

Proposal: Stock Market under Repair

I humbly submit that rule 22 - Stock Market should be slightly altered, to remove a potential loophole. If this proposal passes, then all instantes of "a Disciple" in the last paragraph of the rule shall be changed to "all Disciples" and all instances of "their" in the last paragraph of the rule shall be changed to "eir own".

If you read the present rule, you will see that this is just a clarification to the rule to avoid any potential loophopes about who may / must alter their aspects.

Passed 9-0 (reached quorum). Enacted by smith, 17th of July at 16:27.

An Apology.

After taking my actions I felt a bit guilty for using Polemarchus' law to fine Cronos for something that wasn't all that serious and causing a massive chain reaction. So I hereby apologize. I was really mad at Cronos for making very anti-thief proposals when I was just doing my job.

Shameless plug

I've setup a wiki dedicated to the development of a Massive Multi-player On-Line Role-Playing Game Development (MMPORPG). It's open at http://www.phaenon.com.br/game/.

Proposal: Less thievery

I humbly submit that the first ocurrence of "2DICE6" on rule 11.1 - Degenerate Roles shall be changed to "DICE6".

Failed 5-7 (timed out). Failed by smith, 16th of July at 15:56.

Proposal: More Degeneration

I humbly submit that the Republic need to be protected from those rascals who roam around our homes. To the effect, the ruleset shall then be ammended as follows:

---

Change the first paragraph of rule 11.1 - Degenerate Roles, so it reads:

If a Disciple’s Significant Aspect reachs 0, eir Role degenerates, as follows: If a Producer has 0 or less Gold eir role is set to Thief, if a Auxiliary has 0 or less honor eir role is set to Traitor, and if a Guardian has 0 or less Knowledge eir role is set to Idiot. Thief, Traitor and Idiot are Degenerate Roles

---

Change the first paragraph of rule 14 - Polemarchus' Law, so it reads:

Often, a Disciple whose Role is not a Degenerate one may choose to examine the other Disciples, considering their recent conduct within the Republic. Upon doing so, the examining Disciple may increment or decrement any of those Disciples' Aspects by one, a maximum of five times.

---

Change the first paragraph of rule 17 - Walkabout, so it reads:

Often, a Disciple whose Role is not a Degenerate one may make a non-Proposal official post, called a Walkabout Invitation, to the blog that includes, in the title, the phrase "going On Walkabout". For 8 hours after the posting of this Walkabout Invitation, any Disciple whose Role is not a Degenerate one may post a comment in response to it. 8 hours after the posting of this Invitation, if at least two Disciples whose Role are not Degenerate ones other than the poster of the Invitation have posted a comment to it, then, for the next 24 hours, the poster of the Walkabout Invitation, along with all Disciples whose Role are not Degenerate ones who posted a comment to it, are considered to be On Walkabout.

Passed 7-4 (timed out). Enacted by smith, 17th of July at 15:56.

Going on Walkabout; AG are you still around?

Since I know there are disciples out there with itchy feet, let's take a walk.

Proposal: Soul Fixing Redux

I humbly submit that the content of the proposal "Soul Fixing" be enacted as if it began with the words "I humbly submit". If that proposal has been enacted this proposal serves no function and should be considered to have been self killed.

Soul fixing is a good idea that I suspect will fail for want of humility. Let it not be said that we disciples have been made blind to the good by sumisssion to the forms of law.

Passed 7-1 with 1 abstention (timed out). Enacted by smith, 16th of July at 15:00.

Proposal: The end of Rule 98

Change the first paragraph of rule 21 to say:

Any rule (or any clause of a rule) may assert that it is enforced under The Honor System.

Add the sentece "Rule 98 is enforced under the Honor system." to rule 21.

Repeal rule 98

Remove the sentece "Rule 98 is enforced under the Honor system." from rule 21.

Make a new entry in the Glossary with the following text:

BlogNomic is preparing to migrate from Blog*Spot to its own webspace at BlogNomic.com. The Switch will be documented and planned by The Switch Document at http://blognomic.com/switch/. The Switch Document may not change the Gamestate.

Is not humble. Failed by Chronos at 07/13/2005 GMT 05:22

Proposal: Soul fixing

Add the following text to rule 11.1:

Thieves' Significant aspect is gold, Traitors' Significant aspect is Honor and Idiots Significant aspect is Knowledge.

Is not humble. Failed by Chronos at 07/13/2005 GMT 05:21

Going on Walkabout (Again)

Let's walk...

It will start today, at 09:35 PM (GMT).

BTW, My last Walkabout went like this (All times GMT):

07/10 09:56 PM - I posted it.
07/10 11:10 PM - Josh joined
07/11 01:39 AM - Rodney joined
07/11 05:56 AM - Walkabout started
07/12 05:56 AM - Walkabout ended

Walkabout duration

I think some Disciples have been speed-walking. There is an 8 hour wait for others to join, in addition to the 24 hour duration of the Walkabout itself. So Disciples on Walkabout do not return until 32 hours have passed since the invitation was posted (though they are not on Walkabout for the first 8 hours).

Call For Judgment

Call For Judgment

The proposal "Walkers Unite" has been enacted, but without the kickback being implemented. There is some controversy around this, so for completeness I am posting this CFJ along with my argument as to why the kickback should be implemented. If this CFJ passes, then the kickback in the "Walkers Unite" proposal will be implemented.

Though this post comes from the anonymous CfJ account, I don't think it hurts my case to divulge that this CFJ is being posted by Encesantiams.

One argument against implementing the kickback is over the wording "every Disciple who used a Walkvote to cast a 'YES' vote on this proposal shall recieve 3 Walkvotes". The argument against handing out the kickbacks is that there is no such thing as a "'YES' vote". I refer you to the comments attached to "Walkers Unite" and "Splitting Hairs" for the arguments against enactment, as I would not being doing them justice to restate them myself.

In rebuttal to this, I claim that since "'YES' vote" is not a game-defined term, it takes on the standard english usage. The standard english meaning of a "'YES' vote" is clearly the same as a "'FOR' vote" in this context. The muddled wording I used in my proposal should be interpreted according to standard english usage, thus eliminating the argument that a "'YES' vote" does not exist.

Another argument against implementing the kickback, raised by Smith, is that it would set a bad precedent against the intentional use of sneaky language. The "Walkers Unite" proposal could have been a trick to lure people into wasting their Walkvotes (which will be the net effect of the proposal if this CfJ doesn't pass). Smith wonders in a comment to "Splitting Hairs" if the miswording was an intentional lure. It was not, though I don't know if me claiming that necessarily has any bearing on the case.

Smith worries that if we don't enforce the use of well-defined terms, then trickery and sneaky misdirection will be hindered. I, for one, would hate to see an end to trickery and sneaky misdirection. However, I believe that any such misdirection must fall within the glossary rule asserting that undefined terms default to their standard english usage. Sneaky misdirection must not be an exception to the glossary rule.

That is all I've got to say on the matter. Make up your minds and let's move on.

4-10. Failed to reach quorum in four days. Failed by Excalabur, 18th July at 16:21.

Queue update

I've processed a batch of pending proposals. After some debate, I decided NOT to give the kickback for Walkers Unite. Please see my reasoning on the enactment notes of that proposal. If anyone is unsatisfied with this, please make a Call for Judgment.

It's a beutifull day, I'm going on Walkabout

Anyone willing to join me?

An Ignorant Suggestion

This is the first Blognomic dynasty I've played, so what I'm about to suggest may be an old hat idea around here. In fact, I'm pretty sure it must be.

Enforcement of our ruleset, like any set of rules I suppose, is heavily depentant on the exact order in which events have happened. If somebody makes a vote on a pending proposal that causes it to meet quorum, and afterwards goes on walkabout, the effect is different then if it only becomes pending after they are on walkabout, to name one example of this obvious claim.

It seems like there is no central "changelog" where all game events and their timestamps are deposited, though. It is possible to piece together when things happened by going to several sources, but this is tedious. Ideally, every game event (posts, comments, GNDT changes, rule changes, rule-initiated events) would be logged in such a changelog, making it much easier to determine when and what has happened, and if it was within the rules.

Is this idea on the plate for the eventual Switch alluded to in rule 98?

Proposal: Playing the Stock Market

I humbly submit that the economic health of The Republic is tied to its stock market, and that all aspects of The Republic are tied to its economy somehow.

If this proposal passes, the blockquoted text will be added as a rule entitled "The Stock Market"

A Stock Update post is an official post with the subject "Stock Update". A Disciple may make a Stock Update post often, as long as no other Stock Update post has been made that day.

A Stock Update post must begin either with the phrase "Stocks Are Up" or "Stocks Are Down". A post beginning with the phrase "Stocks Are Up" is a Stocks Are Up post. A post beginning with the phrase "Stocks Are Down" is a Stocks Are Down post.

A Stocks Are Up post may only be made at a time when the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) General Index is up at least 2% on its previous close value. A Stocks Are Down post may only be made at a time when this index's value is down at least 2% on its previous close value. The information source for the index's value will be the website http://www.ase.gr/default_en.asp . This paragraph of this rule is enforced under The Honor System.

If, at any point during the game, the present information source becomes unavailable, the Philosopher-King may select an alternative (but equivalent) source of information about the ATHEX General Index. If no replacement can be found, this rule is automatically repealed.

Within 24 hours of a Stocks Are Up post, a Disciple may once increase each of their aspects by 1, citing the stock market somehow in the comment field of their GNDT change. Within 72 hours of a Stocks Are Down post, a Disciple must once decrease each of their aspects by 1, citing the stock market somehow in the comment field of their GNDT change. This paragraph of this rule is enforced under The Honor System.

Enacted 7-5, reaches quorum. Enacted by Angry Grasshopper, 12th of July at 19:54.

Notice: Going on Walkabout

Anyone interested in joining? I'm not doing proper admin work due to being on travel since July, the 1st. I don't want to (or need, I can use cybercafes) to go idle, since this is a good dynasty.

BTW, I've reverted the enactment of Proposal: Walkers Unite!, since there are lots of older pending proposals. C'mon, guys! A Proposal can only be admined if it's the oldest pending proposal.

Debate: The Epimenides Paradox

This sentence is false.

Welcome, Noah, to Blognomic!

A (humble) round of applause for our newest Disciple, Noah. Philosopher-King Aaron, you may now determine an appropriate role for our new member. Quorum stays at eight.

Erk, I should start a Debate soon.