Summary of a discussion on ##nomic: Rule 2141's authorization of the Rulekeepor to assign ID numbers to rules is unsuccessful, because ID numbers are a substantive aspect of a rule (as they affect precedence), so Rule 2140 (Power Controls Mutability) prevents em (who has Power 0) from modifying it. 2140 takes precedence.
Except that it might not, because by the time Rules 2140 and 2141 were purportedly assigned ID numbers (shortly after they were created in April 2007), their bodies were already in place and in conflict about whether they could be assigned ID numbers-- with the normal ID number precedence mechanism impotent to resolve the conflict. Either way, just about every conflict since then that involved a rule with ID number > 2141 actually involved a rule with no ID number, and was thus indeterminate, unless this was somehow fixed by ratification. (Before Rules 2140 and 2141 were enacted, the equivalent of Power Controls Mutability only applied to proposals, so it was not an issue.)
