This may be the best reportor report ever published On Thu, Dec 21, 2017 at 8:06 AM, Kerim Aydin <ke...@u.washington.edu> wrote: > > > I deputise for the Reportor to publish the following Weekly Report. > > > > THE WEEKLY SALPINX > Winter Solstice Edition > > > ULLETIN - ASSESSOR RESIGNS ** URGENT BULLETIN - ASSESSOR RESIGNS ** URGE > > > AGORAN ECONOMIC MALAISE DEEPENS AS LEGISLATIVE REFORM IS SCUPPERED BY > SPECIAL INTERESTS > > In a stunning reversal for the Reformers, Proposal 7988 was defeated by > several late vote-switches from FOR to AGAINST, including a switch by > the proposal's author. Proposal 7988 would have changed the basis of > Agoran money supply from a system of fluctuating stamps that drained the > Agoran bank while making Officers' pay a weekly gamble dependent on the > timing of the Treasuror's report, to a monthly automatic supply rate > independent of Agora's balance sheet. > > While initial votes favored the proposal, several legislators switched > votes due to a single clause, which eliminated non-players' ability to > freely call CFJs (instead requiring w/o 3 objections). The rights of > non-players was seen as non-negotiable to some voters, who switched > their votes and killed the proposal. The author of the proposal switched > eir vote not for the non-players per se, but due to other events: "I'm > now convinced, by the events of the Black Card Scandal, that CFJs should > be entirely removed from the economy and 2 CFJs/week should be an > absolute right in Rule 217. As for economic reforms, I'm done - you all > can do what you want there." > > Since that vote, no non-player CFJs have been called in the time it > would have taken to repair that clause, and economic reforms and general > activity has come to a near-standstill, or at least reached a new level > of uncertainty as the necessary Treasuror's Reports have languished. > Still, in principle, those rights have been protected. There is no > current word on the next steps for the economy. A land-reform bill has > been in drafting for months, but its sheer complexity leaves in question > its success with voters. Meanwhile, a new gameplay system of Favours > and Balloons may be rendering the importance of the base economy > increasingly irrelevant. > > > AGORAN CREDIT UNION OPENS, ATTRACTS DEPOSITS > > The one bright spot for economic action has been the opening of the > Agoran Credit Union, a Contract that allows persons to deposit Shinies > in exchange for an ACU private currency of Bills, at the rate of 10 > Bills for 1 Shiny. This has allowed for some flexibility in exchanges > and may ultimately provide some kind of private solution to economic > troubles. "If we can arrange it so Agora can borrow currency from the > ACU, then Shinies can go from Agora to players to the ACU to Agora > again, with the only casualty being Agora's national debt level which > will continually expand. Just like a real currency!" said one Agoran > source, though whether it was a positive statement or deranged muttering > is a subject for debate. > > > IF THIS HEADLINE IS TRUE, CONDITIONALITY MAY BE ON ITS WAY OUT > > For over 17 years, since the foundational judgements of CFJs 1214-1215, > taking actions "conditionally" has been seen as substantially clear for > the purposes of specifying by-announcement actions, with certain limits > on the complexity/scope of conditional clauses. At press time, voting > was very close on Proposal 7993, which enacts a Rule purporting to ban > the practice once and for all. However, the banning Rule would be > enacted at Power-1, so there has been some discussion on whether it > would succeed in overruling the accepted specifications of R478, as > governed in interpretation by R217. > > > HISTORY CORNER - AGORAN HOLIDAYS > > At its inception in 1993 (and in previous Nomic World), Agora was an > extremely academic exercise - in the sense that most players' internet > access was governed by the academic calendar. As such, early on it > became clear, if you were one of the few to be around on winter > holidays, you could get through all sorts of bad proposals and scams > while people weren't paying attention. > > R1769 was first adopted in 1998 as a way to work around this problem. > From its initial adoption until late 2013, R1769 actually "changed" time > in the game, by saying (in essence) "if a deadline [e.g. for voting, or > an Officer's duty] occurs during a Holiday, the deadline is instead N > time after the end of the Holiday." (N varied over the years). > > This was straightforward to say, but its legalistic effects were > complex. As mentioned recently in CFJ 3580, Agora does not have > high-level protections against "mucking with the definition of time." A > Rule might say "a day in Agora is 3 centuries of real time" and > effectively halt all play (subject to R217 definition limitations). And > indeed, every year it became a bit of a bet as to "how the holiday > deadlines will be broken this time." In this reporter's memory, one > that jumps out was an assertion that this made the deadline for posting > Intent (for Objections) come *after* the time for actually conducting > the action, with fairly predictable results. > > The current "soft" holiday rule has its problems. It simply says that > punishment is not appropriate for missing holiday deadlines - however > this does not stop Voting, nor does it prevent people from deputising > for missed Officer's duties. This is somewhat lessened by the fact > that, these days, there's no academic access limit and people generally > don't leave over the holidays, and to date it has caused no noted issues. > > > >
-- >From V.J. Rada
