On Sun, 2024-08-04 at 14:06 +1000, Matt Smyth via agora-discussion wrote: > Can I ask what this part is, and how it is ratified?
These are patent titles that are not Rules-defined (together with a few that are Rules-defined, but don't fall into any neat categories). The non-Rules-defined ones come about in three main ways: a) When someone is given a patent title, it stays even if the rule defining it gets repealed, so some of these were meaningful under previous rules; b) Sometimes we think it'd be a good idea to give someone a title, e.g. to celebrate something that they've done or just because they were well-enough-known or relevant enough that it seemed like they should have a title; c) Because patent titles stick around indefinitely unless something happens to remove them, it has been known for people to grant themselves patent titles using scams, in order to get a fun permanent reward. The patent titles don't actually do anything unless a rule says they do (although you can obtain a Violet Ribbon when you get the title – I think it used to be generally assumed that most active players would get one eventually), but they're a sort of interesting chart of Agora's history, because pretty much all the titles have a story behind them. It hasn't been unheard of for longer-time players to dredge up one of the stories from time to time. As for how it's ratified, IIRC the list doesn't self-ratify, but it's possible to ratify it manually (either Ratification Without Objection or via proposal). -- ais523
