The Rules of Agora Nomic

Agora is a game of Nomic, wherein Persons, acting in accordance with the Rules, communicate their game Actions and/or results of these actions via Fora in order to play the game. The game may be won, but the game never ends.

Please treat Agora Right Good Forever.

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An action is regulated if: (1) the Rules limit, allow, enable, or permit its performance; (2) describe the circumstances under which the action would succeed or fail; or (3) the action would, as part of its effect, modify information for which some player is required to be a recordkeepor.

Regulated Actions CAN only be performed as described by the Rules. The Rules SHALL NOT be interpreted so as to proscribe unregulated actions.

The following terms are defined. These definitions are used when a rule includes a term in all caps, and provide guidance in determining the ordinary-language meaning of a term when a rule includes a term otherwise. Earlier definitions take precedence over later ones. If a rule specifies one or more persons in connection with a term, then the term applies only to the specified person(s).

1. CANNOT, IMPOSSIBLE, INEFFECTIVE, INVALID: Attempts to perform the described action are unsuccessful.

2. MUST NOT, MAY NOT, SHALL NOT, ILLEGAL, PROHIBITED: Performing the described action violates the rule in question.

3. NEED NOT, OPTIONAL: Failing to perform the described action does not violate the rules.

4. SHOULD NOT, DISCOURAGED, DEPRECATED: Before performing the described action, the full implications of performing it should be understood and carefully weighed.

5. CAN: Attempts to perform the described action are successful.

6. MAY: Performing the described action does not violate the rules.

7. MUST, SHALL, REQUIRED, MANDATORY: Failing to perform the described action violates the rule in question.

8. SHOULD, ENCOURAGED, RECOMMENDED: Before failing to perform the described action, the full implications of failing to perform it should (in the ordinary-language sense) be understood and carefully weighed.

The Power of an entity is a non-negative rational number. An Instrument is an entity with positive Power.

The Power of an entity cannot be set or modified except as stipulated by the Rules. All entities have Power zero except where specifically allowed by the rules.

Power less than one is called Ephemeral power, and an instrument with a power less than one is an Ephemeral instrument.

A Rule that makes a change, action, or value secured (hereafter the securing Rule) thereby makes it IMPOSSIBLE to perform that change or action, or to set or modify that value, except as allowed by an Instrument with Power greater than or equal to the change's Power Threshold. This Threshold defaults to the securing Rule's Power, but CAN be lowered as allowed by that Rule (including by the Rule itself).

No entity with power below the power of this rule can

(a) cause an entity to have power greater than its own.

(b) adjust the power of an instrument with power greater than its own.

(c) set or modify any other substantive aspect of an instrument with power greater than its own. A "substantive" aspect of an instrument is any aspect that affects the instrument's operation.

When the Rules state that a Player or Players win the game, those players win the game; specifically they win the Round that ends with the indicated win. Agora itself does not end and the ruleset remains unchanged. The Herald is then authorized to award those players the Patent Title of Champion.

Winning the game is secured, except as described in Ephemeral Rules.

The Speaker for the first game shall be Michael Norrish.

A rule is a type of instrument with the capacity to govern the game generally, and is always taking effect. A rule's content takes the form of a text, and is unlimited in scope.

Every rule has power between 0.1 and 4.0 inclusive. It is not possible for a rule to have a power outside this range.

Rules have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Rulekeepor.

Every rule shall have a title to aid in identification. If a rule ever does not have a title, the Rulekeepor SHALL assign a title to it by announcement in a timely fashion.

For the purposes of rules governing modification of instruments, the text, power, ID number, and title of a rule are all substantive aspects of the rule. However, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the Rulekeepor CAN set rule aspects as described elsewhere in this rule.

When interpreting and applying the rules, the text of the rules takes precedence. Where the text is silent, inconsistent, or unclear, it is to be augmented by game custom, common sense, past judgements, and consideration of the best interests of the game.

Definitions and prescriptions in the rules are only to be applied using direct, forward reasoning; in particular, an absurdity that can be concluded from the assumption that a statement about rule-defined concepts is false does not constitute proof that it is true. Definitions in lower-powered Rules do not overrule common-sense interpretations or common definitions of terms in higher-powered rules.

Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, any rule change that would (1) prevent a person from initiating a formal process to resolve matters of controversy, in the reasonable expectation that the controversy will thereby be resolved; or (2) prevent a person from causing formal reconsideration of any judicial determination that e should be punished, is wholly void and without effect.

In a conflict between Rules, the conflict shall be resolved by performing the following comparisons in the sequence written in this rule, until the conflict is resolved.

- In a conflict between Rules with different Power, the Rule with the higher Power takes precedence over the Rule with the lower Power; otherwise,

- If all of the Rules in conflict explicitly say that their precedence relations are determined by some other Rule for determining precedence relations, then the determinations of the precedence-determining Rule shall be used to resolve the conflicts; otherwise,

- If at least one of the Rules in conflict explicitly says of itself that it defers to another Rule (or type of Rule) or takes precedence over another Rule (or type of Rule), then such provisions shall be used to resolve the conflict, unless they lead to contradictions between each other; otherwise,

- If any of the rules in conflict have ID numbers, then the Rule with the lowest ID number takes precedence; otherwise,

- The Rule enacted earliest takes precedence.

Clauses in any other rule that broadly claim precedence (e.g. over "all rules" of a certain class) shall be, prima facie, considered to be limited claims of precedence or deference that are applicable only when such claims are evaluated as described within the above sequence.

No change to the Ruleset can occur that would cause a Rule to directly claim precedence over this Rule as a means of determining precedence. This applies to changes by the enactment or amendment of a Rule, or of any other form. This Rule takes precedence over any Rule that would permit such a change to the Ruleset.

In a conflict between clauses of the same Rule, if exactly one claims precedence over the other, then it takes precedence; otherwise, the later clause takes precedence.

Where permitted by other rules, an instrument generally can, as part of its effect,

(a) enact a rule. The new rule has power equal to the minimum of the power specified by the enacting instrument, defaulting to one if the enacting instrument does not specify or if it specifies a power less than 0.1, and the maximum power permitted by other rules. The enacting instrument may specify a title for the new rule, which if present shall prevail. The ID number of the new rule cannot be specified by the enacting instrument; any attempt to so specify is null and void.

(b) repeal a rule. When a rule is repealed, it ceases to be a rule, and the Rulekeepor need no longer maintain a record of it.

(c) reenact a rule. A repealed rule identified by its most recent rule number may be reenacted with the same ID number and the next change identifier. If no text is specified, the rule is reenacted with the same text it had when it was most recently repealed. If the reenacting proposal provides new text for the rule, the rule must have materially the same purpose as did the repealed version; otherwise, the attempt to reenact the rule is null and void.

(d) amend the text of a rule.

(e) retitle a rule.

(f) change the power of a rule.

A rule change is any effect that falls into the above classes. Rule changes always occur sequentially, never simultaneously.

Any ambiguity in the specification of a rule change causes that change to be void and without effect. An inconsequential variation in the quotation of an existing rule does not constitute ambiguity for the purposes of this rule, but any other variation does.

A rule change is wholly prevented from taking effect unless its full text was published, along with an unambiguous and clear specification of the method to be used for changing the rule, at least 4 days and no more than 60 days before it would otherwise take effect.

This rule provides the only mechanism by which rules can be created, modified, or destroyed, or by which an entity can become a rule or cease to be a rule.

The Short Logical Ruleset (SLR) is a format of the ruleset. In this format, each rule is assigned to a category, and the rules are grouped according to their category.

Rules are assigned to, ordered within, or moved between categories, and categories are added, changed, or empty categories removed, as the Rulekeepor sees fit.

The listing of each rule in the SLR must include the rule's ID number, revision number, power, title, and text.

The Rulekeepor is strongly DISCOURAGED from including any additional information in the SLR, except that which increases the readability of the SLR.

The Full Logical Ruleset (FLR) is a format of the ruleset. In this format, rules are assigned to the same category and presented in the same order as in the SLR. The FLR must contain all the information required to be in the SLR, and any historical annotations which the Rulekeepor is required to record.

The Rulekeepor SHOULD also include any other information which e feels may be helpful in the use of the ruleset in the FLR.

Whenever a rule is changed in any way, the Rulekeepor SHALL record a historical annotation to the rule indicating:

a) The type of change.

b) The date on which the change took effect.

c) The mechanism that specified the change.

d) If the rule was changed due to a proposal, then that proposal's ID number, author, and co-author(s) (if any).

The Rulekeepor is an office; its holder is responsible for maintaining the text of the rules of Agora.

The Rulekeepor's Weekly report includes the Short Logical Ruleset. The Rulekeepor's Monthly report includes the Full Logical Ruleset.

The first Agoran week each year which falls entirely in February is Read the Ruleset Week. Agorans are encouraged to read the ruleset during Read the Ruleset Week.

Replacing a non-zero amount of whitespace with a different non-zero amount of whitespace is generally insignificant, except for paragraph breaks.

The Rulekeepor CAN, without objection, cause this rule to amend any specified rule by:

a) Changing the capitalization of a word, except to or from all caps. b) Changing visual formatting (such as the layout and bulleting of a list). c) Correcting formatting inconsistencies (such as doubled or skipped items in a list).

Such a change SHALL NOT be made if it would plausibly affect the interpretation of a rule.

Any organism that is generally capable of freely originating and communicating independent thoughts and ideas is a person. Rules to the contrary notwithstanding, no other entities are persons.

Citizenship is a person switch with values Unregistered (default) and Registered, tracked by the Registrar. Changes to citizenship are secured. A registered person is a Player.

A person CAN (unless explicitly forbidden or prevented by the rules) register by publishing a message that indicates reasonably clearly and reasonably unambiguously that e intends to become a player at that time. A person, by registering, agrees to abide by the Rules. The Rules CANNOT otherwise bind a person to abide by any agreement without that person's willful consent.

A player CAN deregister (cease being a player) by announcement. If e does so, e CANNOT register by announcement for 30 days.

If a player has not sent a message to a public forum in the last month, then any player CAN deregister em without objection. In the first week of every month, the Registrar SHALL use this method to attempt to deregister every player that has not sent a message to a public forum in the preceding month.

The Rules CANNOT compel non-players to act, nor compel players to unduly harass non-players. A non-person CANNOT be a player, rules to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Registrar is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of players.

The Registrar's report includes:

a) A list of all players, including information sufficient to identify and contact each player. b) The date on which each player most recently became a player. c) For each former player for which the information is reasonably available, the dates on which e registered and deregistered.

The Registrar is also responsible for tracking any switches that would otherwise lack an officer to track them, unless the switch is defined as untracked.

Whenever a Player feels that e has been treated so egregiously by the Agoran community that e can no longer abide to be a part of it, e may submit a document to the Registrar, clearly labeled a Cantus Cygneus, detailing eir grievances and expressing eir reproach for those who e feels have treated em so badly.

In a timely fashion after receiving a Cantus Cygneus, the Registrar shall publish this document along with a Writ of Fugiendae Agorae Grandissima Exprobratione, commanding the Player to be deregistered. The Registrar shall note the method of deregistration for that Player in subsequent Registrar Reports.

The Player is deregistered as of the posting of the Writ, and the notation in the Registrar's Report will ensure that, henceforth, all may know said Player deregistered in a Writ of FAGE.

The Tailor is an office, and the recordkeepor of Ribbons.

Ribbon Ownership is a person switch, tracked by the Tailor in his monthly report, whose values are the subsets of the set of types of Ribbon, defaulting to the empty set.

To "award a person a " is to add that type of Ribbon to that person's Ribbon Ownership. A person "owns a " if that type of Ribbon is an element of eir Ribbon Ownership.

While a person qualifies for a type of Ribbon, any player can generally award em that type of Ribbon. A person qualifies for a type of Ribbon if e has earned that type of Ribbon within the preceding 7 days (including earlier in the same message) and has not owned that type of Ribbon within the preceding 7 days.

While a person owns all types of Ribbon, that person can Raise a Banner by announcement. This causes that person to win the game. That person's Ribbon Ownership becomes the empty set.

The types of Ribbon, and the methods of obtaining them, are as follows:

Red (R): When a proposal is adopted and changes at least one rule with Power >= 3, its proposer earns a Red Ribbon.

Orange (O): When a proposal is adopted via an Agoran Decision on which no valid votes were AGAINST, its proposer earns an Orange Ribbon.

Green (G): While a person has held an elected office continuously for 30 days, and has not failed to perform any duties of that office within the appropriate time limits during those 30 days, that person qualifies for a Green Ribbon.

Cyan (C): When a person deputises for an office, that person earns a Cyan Ribbon.

Blue (B): When a person assigns a judgement to a CFJ, and has never violated a time limit to assign a judgement to that CFJ, that person earns a Blue Ribbon.

Magenta (M): During Agora's Birthday, each person who has publicly acknowledged the fact qualifies for a Magenta Ribbon.

Ultraviolet (U): When a person is awarded the Patent Title Champion, that person earns an Ultraviolet Ribbon.

Violet (V): When a person is awarded a Patent Title other than Champion or a degree, that person earns a Violet Ribbon.

Indigo (I): When a person is awarded a degree, that person earns an Indigo Ribbon.

Platinum (P): The Speaker qualifies for a Platinum Ribbon.

Lime (L): A person qualifies for a Lime Ribbon if three or more proposals adopted in the preceding 7 days had that person as a coauthor.

White (W): A player qualifies for a White Ribbon if e has never previously owned a White Ribbon (including under previous rulesets). A player who has been registered for at least 30 days and has never caused another person to gain a White Ribbon (including under a previous ruleset) CAN award a White Ribbon to another person by announcement.

Black (K): This rule does not specify any methods of obtaining Black Ribbons.

Gray (Y): The Tailor CAN award a Gray Ribbon by announcement, unless e has done so earlier in the month. E is ENCOURAGED to award such a Ribbon in the same message in which e publishes eir monthly report.

The following terms are defined:

(a) The phrase "in a timely fashion" means "within 7 days". This time period is set when the requirement is created (i.e. X days before the limit ends). A requirement to perform an action at an exact instant (e.g. "when X, Y SHALL Z"), but not "in the same message", is instead interpreted as a requirement to perform that action in a timely fashion after that instant.

(b) Agoran epochs:

(1) Agoran days begin at midnight UTC.

(2) Agoran weeks begin at midnight UTC on Monday.

(3) Agoran months begin at midnight UTC on the first day of each Gregorian month.

(4) Agoran quarters begin when the Agoran months of January, April, July, and October begin.

(5) Agoran years begin when the Agoran month of January begins.

(5) A pivot is either the instant at which Agora Nomic began (June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200) or an instant at which at least one person won the game. When used as a period of time, a "Round" (historical syn: "game") is the period of time between a pivot and the next pivot.

These definitions do not apply to relative durations (e.g. "within days after ").

(c) If a regulated value, or the value of a conditional, or a value otherwise required to determine the outcome of a regulated action, CANNOT be reasonably determined (without circularity or paradox) from information reasonably available, or if it alternates instantaneously and indefinitely between values, then the value is considered to be Indeterminate, otherwise it is Determinate.

(d) Two points in time are within a month of each other if:

(1) they occur in the same Agoran month;

(2) they occur in two consecutive Agoran months, and the later of the two occurs in an earlier day in the month than the earlier one;

(3) they occur in two consecutive Agoran months on the same day of the month, and the later of the two occurs at the same or earlier time of day.

The period each year from midnight GMT on the morning of 24 December to the beginning of the first Agoran week to begin after 2 January is a Holiday.

The week that contains the beginning of Agora's Birthday, together with the following week, is a Holiday.

If a person breaks a Rule by missing a deadline that occurs during a Holiday, punishment is generally not appropriate.

An Era is a period of time that has a defined start, either has a defined end or is still ongoing, and has been initiated as specified by this rule.

Upon the initiation of an Era, each existing Ephemeral Rule (in the order they were created) is repealed, unless the initiation specifies otherwise.

A player CAN initiate a new Era with Agoran Support.

A type of switch is a property that the rules define as a switch, and specify the following:

a) The type(s) of entity possessing an instance of that switch. No other entity possesses an instance of that switch.

b) One or more possible values for instances of that switch, exactly one of which is designated as the default. No other values are possible for instances of that switch.

c) Optionally, exactly one office whose holder tracks instances of that switch. That officer's (weekly, if not specified otherwise) report includes the value of each instance of that switch whose value is not its default value; a public document purporting to be this portion of that officer's report is self-ratifying, and implies that other instances are at their default value.

At any given time, each instance of a switch has exactly one possible value for that type of switch. If an instance of a switch comes to have a value, it ceases to have any other value. If an instance of a switch would otherwise fail to have a possible value, it comes to have its default value.

"To flip an instance of a switch" is to make it come to have a given value. "To become X" (where X is a possible value of exactly one of the subject's switches) is to flip that switch to X.

If an action or set of actions would cause the value of an instance of a switch to become indeterminate, the instance instead takes on its last determinate and possible value, if any, otherwise it takes on its default value.

A natural switch is a switch with a default value of 0, unless the rules explicitly specify a different default value. If the rules define an upper limit for the switch, then the possible values are non-negative integers not greater than that limit, otherwise the values are the non-negative integers.

A singleton switch is a switch for which Agora Nomic is the only entity possessing an instance of that switch.

Freedom of speech being essential for the healthy functioning of any non-Imperial nomic, it is hereby resolved that no Player shall be prohibited from participating in the Fora, nor shall any person create physical or technological obstacles that unduly favor some players' fora access over others.

Publicity is a forum switch with values Public, Discussion, and Foreign (default), tracked by the Registrar. Changes to publicity are secured.

The Registrar's report includes, for each forum with non-Foreign publicity, sufficient instructions for players to receive messages there.

The Registrar may change the publicity of a forum without objection as long as:

(a) e sends eir announcement of intent to that forum; and

(b) if the forum is to be made public, the announcement by which the Registrar makes that forum public is sent to all existing public fora.

Each player should ensure e can receive messages via each public forum.

A public message is a message sent via a public forum, or sent to all players and containing a clear designation of intent to be public. A rule can also designate that a part of one public message is considered a public message in its own right. A person "publishes" or "announces" something by sending a public message.

Where the rules define an action that CAN be performed "by announcement", a person performs that action by unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and announcing that e performs it. Any action performed by sending a message is performed at the time date-stamped on that message. Actions in messages (including sub-messages) are performed in the order they appear in the message, unless otherwise specified.

A rule which purports to allow a person (the performer) to perform an action by a set of one or more of the following methods (N is 1 unless otherwise specified):

1) Without N Objections, where N is a positive integer no greater than 8. ("Without Objection" is shorthand for this method with N = 1.) 2) With N Supporters, where N is a positive integer. ("With Support" is shorthand for this method with N = 1.) 3) With N Agoran Consent, where N is an integer multiple of 0.1 with a minimum of 1. 4) With Notice.

thereby allows em to perform the action by announcement if all of the following are true:

a) A person (the initiator) announced intent to perform the action, unambiguously and clearly specifying the action and method(s) (including the value of N for each method), at most fourteen days earlier, and (if the action depends on objections or notice) at least 4 days earlier.

b) At least one of the following is true:

1) The performer is the initiator.

2) The initiator was authorized to perform the action due to holding a rule-defined position now held by the performer.

3) The initiator is authorized to perform the action, the action depends on support, the performer has supported the intent, and the rule authorizing the performance does not explicitly prohibit supporters from performing it.

c) Agora is Satisfied with the announced intent, as defined by other rules.

d) If a set of conditions for the performance of the action was given in the announcement of intent to perform the action, all those conditions are met.

The actor SHOULD publish a list of supporters if the action depends on support, and a list of objectors if it depends on objections.

A Supporter of a dependent action is an eligible entity who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) support (syn. "consent") for an announcement of intent to perform the action. An Objector to a dependent action is an eligible entity who has publicly posted (and not withdrawn) an objection to the announcement of intent to perform the action.

The entities eligible to support or object to a dependent action are, by default, all players, subject to modification by the document authorizing the dependent action. However, the previous sentence notwithstanding, the Executor of the announcement of intent is not eligible to support it.

Agora is Satisfied with an intent to perform a specific action if and only if:

(1) if the action is to be performed Without N Objections, then it has fewer than N objectors;

(2) if the action is to be performed With N supporters, then it has N or more supporters; and

(3) if the action is to be performed with N Agoran Consent, then the ratio of supporters to objectors is greater than N, or the action has at least one supporter and no objectors.

The above notwithstanding, if the action depends on objections, and an objection to it has been withdrawn within the past 24 hours, then Agora is not Satisfied with the intent.

The above notwithstanding, Agora is not satisfied with the intent if the Speaker has objected to it in the last 48 hours.

A person CANNOT support or object to an announcement of intent before the intent is announced, or after e has withdrawn the same type of response.

Officeholder is an office switch tracked by the IADoP, with possible values of any person or "vacant". An officer is the holder of an office, who may be referred to by the name of that office. If the holder of an office is ever not a player, it becomes vacant.

An imposed office is an office described as such by the rule defining it. All others are elected. A person CANNOT be made the holder of an elected office without eir explicit or reasonably implied consent.

The holder of an elected office CAN resign it by announcement, causing it to become vacant. Any player CAN cause an office to become vacant without 2 objections.

For each person:

a) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that person's weekly duties, then e SHALL perform it at least once each week. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that person's weekly report, then e SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of eir weekly duties.

b) If any task is defined by the rules as part of that person's monthly duties, then e SHALL perform it at least once each month. If any information is defined by the rules as part of that person's monthly report, then e SHALL maintain all such information, and the publication of all such information is part of eir monthly duties.

Any information defined by the rules as part of a person's report, without specifying which one, is part of eir weekly report. Failure of a person to perform any duty required of em within the allotted time is the Class-2 crime of Tardiness.

An official duty for an office is any duty that the Rules specifically assign to that office's holder in particular (regardless of eir identity).

A person SHALL NOT publish information that is inaccurate or misleading while performing an official duty, or within a document purporting to be part of any person or office's weekly or monthly report.

Reports SHALL be published in plain text. Tabular data must line up properly when viewed in a monospaced font. Publishing a report that deviates from these regulations is the Class 2 Crime of Making My Eyes Bleed.

Officers SHOULD maintain a publicly visible copy of their reports on the World Wide Web, and they SHOULD publish the address of this copy along with their published reports.

If the rules define a report as including a list, then while that list is empty, that report includes the fact that it is empty.

Any player (a deputy) CAN perform an action as if e held a particular office (deputise for that office) if all of the following are true:

(a) The rules require the holder of that office, by virtue of holding that office, to perform the action (or, if the office is vacant, would so require if the office were filled). This requirement is fulfilled by the deputy performing the action.

(b) A time limit by which the rules require the action to be performed has expired, or the office is vacant.

(c) If the office is filled, then the deputy announced between two and fourteen days earlier that e intended to deputise for that office for the purposes of the particular action.

(d) It would be POSSIBLE for the deputy to perform the action, other than by deputisation, if e held the office.

(e) The deputy, when performing the action, announces that e is doing so by deputisation.

When a player deputises for an elected office, e becomes the holder of that office.

A rule which purports to allow a person (a special deputy) to perform an action via special deputisation for an office thereby allows them to perform the action as if e held the office, as long as

(a) it would be POSSIBLE for the special deputy to perform the action, other than by special deputisation, if e held the office, and

(b) the special deputy, when performing the action, announces that e is doing so by special deputisation.

Special deputisation is not a type of deputisation, and therefore does not generally have the effects that deputisation has.

A player CAN initiate an election for a specified elected office for which no election is already in progress

a) by announcement, if e is the IADoP, if the office has been deputised for within the past two weeks, or if no election has been initiated for the office either since the last time a player won the game or within the past 90 days;

b) with 4 Supporters, otherwise.

After the election is initiated, any player CAN once initiate an Agoran decision to determine the new officeholder, and the IADoP SHALL do so in a timely fashion if no one else does first. For this decision, the valid options are the players, the vote collector is the IADoP, and the voting method is instant runoff. Upon the resolution of this decision, its outcome, if a player, is installed into office, and the election ends.

The Associate Director of Personnel (ADoP) is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of officers.

The ADoP's report includes the following:

a) The date of the last change (if any) to each office's Officeholder. b) The date on which the most recent election for each office was initiated.

A public document is part (possibly all) of a public message.

When a public document is ratified, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, the gamestate is modified to what it would be if, at the time the ratified document was published, the gamestate had been minimally modified to make the ratified document as true and accurate as possible. Such a modification cannot add inconsistencies between the gamestate and the rules, and it cannot include rule changes unless the ratified document explicitly and unambiguously recites either the changes or the resulting properties of the rule(s). If no such modification is possible, or multiple substantially distinct possible modifications would be equally appropriate, the ratification fails.

An internally inconsistent document generally cannot be ratified; however, if such a document can be divided into a summary section and a main section, where the only purpose of the summary section is to summarize information in the main section, and the main section is internally consistent, ratification of the document proceeds as if it contained only the main section.

Text purportedly about previous instances of ratification (e.g. a report's date of last ratification) is excluded from ratification. The rules may define additional information that is considered to be part of the document for the purposes of ratification; such definitions are secured at a Power Threshold of 3.

Ratifying a public document is secured with power threshold 3.

Any player CAN, without objection, ratify a public document, specifying its scope.

Ratification Without Objection CANNOT cause the repeal, amendment, enactment, or mutation of any Rule, rules to the contrary notwithstanding.

A player SHALL NOT knowingly use or announce intent to use Ratification Without Objection to ratify a (prior to ratification) document containing incorrect or Indeterminate information when a corrected document could be produced with reasonable effort, unless the general nature of the document's error and reason for ratifying it is clearly and plainly described in the announcement of intent. Such ratification or announcement of intent to ratify is the Class-8 Crime of Endorsing Forgery.

A public document defined by the rules as self-ratifying is ratified when it is continuously undoubted for one week.

A doubt is an explicit public challenge via one of the following methods, identifying a document and explaining the scope and nature of a perceived error in it:

a) An inquiry case, appropriate for questions of legal interpretation.

b) A claim of error, appropriate for matters of fact. The publisher of the original document SHALL (if e was required to publish that document) or SHOULD (otherwise) do one of the following in a timely fashion:

i) Deny the claim (causing it to cease to be a doubt). ii) Publish a revision. iii) Initiate an inquiry case regarding the truth of the claim (if the subject is actually a matter of law), or cite a relevant existing inquiry case.

The Speaker is an imposed office and the figurehead leader of Agora.

The player or players who have most recently won the game are called Laureled. If at any time the office of Speaker is vacant, or when one or more players win Agora, then the Prime Minister CAN and SHALL, once and in a timely fashion, appoint a Laureled player to the office of Speaker.

If the office of Speaker has been held continuously by the same person for 90+ days, then any player CAN appoint another player to the office with Support.

The offices of the Speaker and the Prime Minister are incompatible. If at any point in time one player holds both of these offices, e ceases to hold the position of Prime Minister.

For an election of the Prime Minister, the Speaker has voting strength one greater than e would have if e did not hold the office.

The Prime Minister is an office. The Prime Minister is elected by the players of Agora primarily on account of not being the other guy. The Prime Minister SHOULD ensure that Agoran affairs proceed smoothly.

The holder of the office of Prime Minister has voting strength one greater than e would have if e did not hold the office. This does not apply in respect of an election of the Prime Minister.

Once per week and except as otherwise forbidden by this rule, the current Prime Minister CAN issue a Cabinet Order and perform the action(s) authorized by that Order.

Each Cabinet Order is associated with an office. The current Prime Minister CANNOT issue more than one Cabinet Order associated with the same office more than once in the same month, nor can e issue a Cabinet Order associated with a vacant office.

The available Cabinet Orders are:

- Certiorari (CotC): The Prime Minister assigns emself as judge of a specified open case.

- Dive (Referee): The Prime Minister issues a specified Card to a specified player. In doing so, the Prime Minister SHOULD cite a specific grievance against that player, not necessarily a violation of a rule.

- Manifesto (Promotor): The Prime Minister distributes a specified proposal in the Proposal Pool.

The Agoran Newspaper is a weekly publication describing noteworthy recent events that occured in the public fora in the prior Agoran Week. The Herald SHALL write and publish The Agoran Newspaper each week. When the Herald publishes the Newspaper for a given Agoran week, any obligation e has to publish the Newspaper for a prior week is discharged.

The Agoran Newspaper will be formatted at the discretion of the Herald. The Herald SHOULD include all information necessary to give the Agoran people a comprehensive understanding of the events occuring in Agora in a given week.

The purpose of the Agoran newspaper is to provide the Agoran people an easily understandable source of information concerning the happenings of Agora in order to create a more informed people.

When the rules calls for an Agoran decision to be made, the decision-making process takes place in the following three stages, each described elsewhere:

(a) Initiation of the decision. (b) Voting of the people. (c) Resolution of the decision.

An Agoran decision is initiated when a person authorized to initiate it publishes a valid notice which sets forth the intent to initiate the decision. This notice is invalid if it lacks any of the following information, and the lack is correctly identified within one week after the notice is published:

(a) The matter to be decided (for example, "the adoption of proposal 4781").

(b) A clear indication of the set of valid votes.

(c) The identity of the vote collector.

(d) Any additional information defined by the rules as essential parameters.

The publication of such a valid notice initiates the voting period for the decision. The voting period lasts for 7 days. The minimum voting period for a decision with at least two options is five days. The vote collector for a decision with less than two options CAN and SHALL end the voting period by announcement, if it has not ended already, and provided that e resolves the decision in the same message.

The voting period for a decision cannot be set or changed to a duration longer than fourteen days.

An entity submits a ballot on an Agoran decision by publishing a notice satisfying the following conditions:

(a) The ballot is submitted during the voting period for the decision.

(b) The entity casting the ballot (the voter) was, at the initiation of the decision, a player.

(c) The ballot clearly identifies the matter to be decided.

(d) The ballot clearly identifies a valid vote, as determined by the voting method.

(e) The voter has not publicly retracted the ballot during the voting period. ("Changing" a vote is equivalent to retracting it and casting a vote with the new value.)

(f) It is the most recent of the voter's otherwise-valid ballots.

The voting strength of an entity is an integer between 1 and 5 inclusive, defined by rules of power 2 or greater. If not otherwise specified, the voting strength of an entity is 1.

If a vote on an Agoran decision is submitted conditionally (e.g. "FOR if is true, otherwise AGAINST"), then the selected option is evaluated based on the value of the condition(s) at the end of the voting period, and, rules to the contrary notwithstanding, is clearly specified if and only if the value of the condition(s) is/are determinate at the end of the voting period. If the option cannot be clearly identified, a vote of PRESENT is cast.

Casting a vote endorsing another voter is equivalent to conditionally casting a vote whose value is the same as the most common value (if any) among that voter's valid votes on that decision.

Casting a vote denouncing another voter is equivalent to conditionally casting a vote whose value is opposite to the most common value (if any) among that voter's valid votes on that decision. FOR and AGAINST are opposites.

Whenever the voting period of an Agoran decision would end, and the result would be FAILED QUORUM, the length of the voting period for that decision is instead increased to 14 days, except if it is already that length, provided this has not already happened for the decision in question.

Upon such an occurrence, the vote collector for the decision SHALL issue a humiliating public reminder to the slackers who have not yet cast any votes on it despite being eligible, and CAN end its voting period by announcement (resolving it constitutes an implicit announcement that its voting period is first ended) if the result would no longer be FAILED QUORUM, or if the decision is whether to adopt a proposal and no voter (other than possibly the proposal's author) has voted FOR.

The vote collector for an unresolved Agoran decision CAN resolve it by announcement, indicating the outcome. If it was required to be initiated, then e SHALL resolve it in a timely fashion after the end of the voting period. To be valid, this announcement must satisfy the following conditions:

(a) It is published after the voting period has ended.

(b) It clearly identifies the matter to be resolved.

(c) It specifies the outcome, as described elsewhere, and, if there was more than one valid option, provides a tally of the voters' valid ballots.

Each Agoran decision has exactly one vote collector, defaulting to the initiator of the decision. If the vote collector is defined by reference to a position (or, in the default case, if the initiator was so defined), then the vote collector is the current holder of that position.

This rule takes precedence over any rule that would provide another mechanism by which an Agoran decision may be resolved.

In general, changes to the gamestate due to the outcome of an Agoran decision take effect when the decision is resolved.

Each Agoran decision has a voting method, which determines how voters may vote on it and how to calculate the outcome. The following voting methods are defined:

(1) AI-majority: the valid votes are FOR and AGAINST. Let F be the total voting strength of all voters with valid ballots cast FOR a decision, A be the same for AGAINST, and AI be the adoption index of the decision. The outcome is ADOPTED if F/A >= AI and F/A > 1 (or F>0 and A=0), otherwise REJECTED.

This is the only voting method which takes voting strength into account.

(2) Instant runoff: the valid votes are ordered lists of options, and the outcome is whichever option wins according to the standard definition of instant runoff. In case multiple valid options tie for the lowest number of votes at any stage, the vote collector CAN and must, in the announcement of the decision's resolution, select one such option to eliminate; if, for N > 1, all eir possible choices in the next N stages would result in the same set of options being eliminated, e need not specify the order of elimination.

(3) First-past-the-post (default): the valid votes are the options, and the outcome is whichever option received the most votes. In case of a tie, the vote collector CAN and must, in the announcement of the decision's resolution, select one of the leaders as the outcome.

The previous notwithstanding:

- If there is more than one option, and the number of valid ballots is less than quorum, the outcome is instead FAILED QUORUM. - PRESENT is always a valid vote, with no effect on the outcome except counting towards quorum. - If there are no valid options, the outcome is null.

The outcome of a decision is determined when it is resolved, and cannot change thereafter.

Quorum for an Agoran Decision is equal to the number of players who voted on the most recently resolved Agoran Decision to adopt a proposal, minus 3.

A public message purporting to resolve an Agoran decision constitutes self-ratifying claims that

a) such a decision existed, b) it was resolved as indicated, and c) (if the indicated outcome was to adopt a proposal) such a proposal existed, was adopted, and took effect.

A proposal is a type of entity consisting of a body of text and other attributes. A player CAN create a proposal by announcement, specifying its text and optionally specifying any of the following attributes:

* An associated title. * A list of co-authors (which must be persons other than the author). * An adoption index.

Creating a proposal adds it to the Proposal Pool. Once a proposal is created, nether its text nor any of the aforementioned attributes can be changed. The author (syn. proposer) of a proposal is the person who submitted it.

If a decision of whether to adopt a proposal was resolved as FAILED QUORUM in the last seven days, the Promotor CAN once add the proposal back to the Proposal Pool by announcement.

The author of a proposal in the Proposal Pool CAN remove (syn. retract, withdraw) it from the Pool by announcement.

The Promotor CAN remove a proposal from the Proposal Pool by announcement if it is not pending and has been added to the Pool more than 14 days ago.

Imminence is a switch, tracked by the Promotor, possessed by proposals in the Proposal Pool, whose value is either "pending" or "not pending" (default).

Spending power is an office switch, whose values range over the positive integers between 1 and 10 inclusive, with a default of 1. Spending power is tracked by the IADoP. The IADoP CAN flip the spending power of an office by announcement, provided that the Promotor always has spending power no less than 1 less than the greatest spending power among offices, and further provided that the current IADoP has not already flipped that office's spending power in the current month.

A player can flip a proposal's imminence to "pending" by announcement, unless e has already done so a number of times that week that equals or exceeds the total spending power of the offices e holds.

A player CAN expedite a proposal whose adoption index is at most 1.5, in a message containing the character string "[Expedition]" in the subject line,

(a) by specially deputising for the Promotor to distribute the proposal, if it has not been distributed; or (b) by announcement, otherwise.

If, in an Agoran Decision to adopt a proposal, the strength of AGAINST is zero, and the proposal was expedited at least 7 days earlier, then any player CAN specially deputise for the Assessor to resolve the decision.

When a decision about whether to adopt a proposal is resolved, if the outcome is ADOPTED, then the proposal in question is adopted, and unless other rules prevent it from taking effect, its power is set to the minimum of four and its adoption index, and then it takes effect. Except as prohibited by other rules, a proposal that takes effect CAN and does, as part of its effect, apply the changes that it specifies. If the proposal cannot make some such changes, this does not preclude the other changes from taking place.

If there is no Agoran Decision to adopt a particular proposal that has an outcome of ADOPTED, that proposal CANNOT take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding.

Preventing a proposal from taking effect is a secured change; this does not apply to generally preventing changes to specified areas of the gamestate, nor to a proposal preventing itself from taking effect (its no-effect clause is generally interpreted as applying only to the rest of the proposal).

The Promotor is an office; its holder is responsible for receiving and distributing proposals.

Determining whether to adopt a proposal is an Agoran decision. For this decision, the vote collector is the Assessor, the adoption index is initially the adoption index of the proposal, or 1.0 if the proposal does not have one, and the text of the proposal is an essential parameter. Initiating such a decision is known as distribution, and removes the proposal from the Proposal Pool.

The Promotor CAN distribute a proposal which is in the Proposal Pool at any time. The Promotor SHALL NOT distribute proposals which are not pending.

In a given Agoran week, the Promotor SHALL, as part of eir weekly duties, distribute all pending proposals.

Distributed proposals have ID numbers, to be assigned by the Promotor.

If there is a Proposal in the Pool that it would otherwise be IMPOSSIBLE for any player to distribute, then any player CAN distribute that Proposal Without 3 Objections.

The Promotor's report includes a list of all proposals in the Proposal Pool, along with their text and attributes. This portion of a public document purporting to be a Promotor's report is self-ratifying.

Adoption index is an untracked switch possessed by Agoran decisions and proposals, whose value is either "none" (default) or an integral multiple of 0.1 from 1.0 to 9.9.

Adoption index is secured with a power threshold of 2.

An Agoran decision with an adoption index has the following essential parameters:

a) Its adoption index. b) Its author (and co-authors, if any).

For any Agoran decision with an adoption index, the voting method is AI-majority.

The Assessor is an office; its holder is responsible for collecting votes and keeping track of related properties.

Any player CAN, with Agoran Consent, initiate a Proposal Competition with a specified Objective. Only one Competition may be in progress at a time. The Objective should be a specification of effects of a proposal, and SHOULD NOT depend on factors that could not be determined from the text of a proposal.

During the Agoran Week following the initiation of a Proposal Competition, any player CAN specify that a Proposal e submits is a Competition Proposal for that Competition. Players are ENCOURAGED to describe how their Competition Proposals fulfill the Objective.

The Promotor SHALL distribute all Competition Proposals for a given Competition in the same message. The Assessor SHALL resolve all the Agoran Decisions to adopt the Competition Proposals for a given Competition in the same message.

Once all Agoran decisions to adopt Competition Proposals for a given Competition have been resolved, the Competition ends.

Agora is ossified if it is IMPOSSIBLE for any reasonable combination of actions by players to cause arbitrary rule changes to be made and/or arbitrary proposals to be adopted within a four-week period.

If, but for this rule, the net effect of a proposal would cause Agora to become ossified, or would cause Agora to cease to exist, it cannot take effect, rules to the contrary notwithstanding. If any other single change to the gamestate would cause Agora to become ossified, or would cause Agora to cease to exist, it is cancelled and does not occur, rules to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Silver Quill is a biannual award designed to honor the authors of proposals of outstanding merit and influence on the game.

The Marker Dates are July 14, two weeks after Agora's Birthday (to avoid the Holiday), and December 29, the day of Agora's Half-birthday, of each year, except for dates preceding the enactment of this Rule. After midnight on a given Marker Date, the Herald CAN once initiate a Silver Quill Ceremony for that Date by announcement, and SHALL do so in a timely fashion; e is ENCOURAGED to initiate it on that exact Date if possible.

After a Silver Quill Ceremony has been initiated, players are ENCOURAGED to discuss which eligible proposals best satisfy the aforementioned criteria. To be eligible, a proposal must have been adopted at least 2 months, but no more than 14 months, before the Marker Date, and must not have previously won a Silver Quill Ceremony. Proposals submitted by new players SHOULD be given somewhat higher weight, but the primary reference should be the proposals themselves and their effect on the game since adoption.

Once four days have passed since initiation, the Herald CAN once initiate the Agoran decision to determine the winner, and SHALL do so in a timely fashion. For this decision, the valid options are all eligible proposals, the vote collector is the Herald, and the voting method is instant runoff.

Upon the resolution of the decision, if the outcome is not FAILED QUORUM and there were at least three votes containing it in any preference slot, that proposal wins the Ceremony, and the Herald is authorized to award its author the Patent Title of "Silver Quill YYYY/MM", substituting the Marker Date; otherwise, there is no winner. This ends the Ceremony.

Any person (the initiator) can initiate a Call for Judgement (CFJ, syn. Judicial Case) by announcement, specifying a statement to be inquired into. E may optionally bar one person from the case.

At any time, each CFJ is either open (default), suspended, or assigned exactly one judgement.

The Arbitor is an office, responsible for the administration of justice in a manner that is fair for emself, if not for the rest of Agora.

When a CFJ has no judge assigned, the Arbitor CAN assign any player to be its judge by announcement, and SHALL do so within a week. The players eligible to be assigned as judge are all players except the initiator and the person barred (if any). The Arbitor SHALL assign judges over time such that all interested players have reasonably equal opportunities to judge.

When a CFJ is open and assigned to a judge, that judge CAN assign a valid judgement to it by announcement, and SHALL do so in a timely fashion after this becomes possible. If e does not, the Arbitor CAN remove em from being the judge of that case by announcement.

The valid judgements, based on the facts of the case at the time the CFJ was initiated, are TRUE, FALSE, and DISMISS. DISMISS is appropriate if the statement is malformed, undecidable, irrelevant to the game, if insufficient information exists to make a judgement with reasonable effort, or the statement is otherwise not able to be answered TRUE or FALSE.

If a CFJ (1) has a judgement that has been in effect for less than seven days and not been appealed, and (2) has not had a Motion to Reconsider filed for it at any time while it has been assigned to its current judge, then any Player CAN file a Motion to Reconsider the case with 2 Support, or by announcement if e is that case's judge. When a Motion to Reconsider is so filed, the case is rendered open again.

If a CFJ has a judgement assigned, a player CAN enter that judgement into Moot with two support. When this occurs, the CFJ is suspended, and the Arbitor is once authorized to initiate the Agoran decision to determine public confidence in the judgement, which e SHALL do in a timely fashion.

For this decision, the vote collector is the Arbitor and the valid options are AFFIRM, REMAND, and REMIT. When the decision is resolved, the effect depends on the outcome:

- AFFIRM, FAILED QUORUM: The judgement is reassigned to the case, and cannot be entered into Moot again.

- REMAND: The case becomes open again.

- REMIT: The case becomes open again, and the current judge is recused. The Arbitor SHALL NOT assign em to the case again unless no other eligible judges have displayed interest in judging.

A new case is a judicial case that has not had any judge assigned to it. The initiator of a new case CAN retract it by announcement, thus causing it to cease to be a judicial case.

An excess case is a new case whose initiator previously initiated five or more cases during the same week as that case. A person SHALL NOT initiate an excess case. The Arbitor CAN refuse an excess case by announcement, thus causing it to cease to be a judicial case. When e does so, e fulfills any obligations with regards to that case.

The Referee is an office; its holder is responsible for keeping track of wrongdoing.

The Referee CAN issue a Card to a specified player by announcement. When issuing each Card, e SHALL cite a unique violation of the rules e perceives to have occurred within the last 14 days, and CANNOT issue more than three Cards per week, or one per week to a single player. The Arbitor CAN issue Black Cards to the Referee solely for alleged violations of the former requirement.

The following Cards exist:

- Green Card, intended for offenses which the Referee does not believe warrant effective punishment. When a Green Card is issued, the target player is ENCOURAGED to travel to the United States.

- Red Card, intended for more severe offenses. The effects of a Red Card are described elsewhere.

- Black Card, naming an office held by the player, intended for severe abuses of power (the perceived rule violation must involve use or non-use of that office's powers). Within seven days after a Black Card is issued, any player CAN become the holder of the target office with two support; the issuer of that Card CANNOT initiate or support this.

The Referee SHALL issue at least one Card per week, unless no violations occurred that week.

Breaking a publicly-made pledge is a cardable offense.

After a Red Card has been issued to a player, e SHOULD publish a formal apology of at least 200 words, including all the prescribed words, explaining eir error, shame, remorse, and ardent desire for self-improvement; other effects are described elsewhere. Until e does so or 30 days have passed, e CANNOT cast votes other than PRESENT, rules to the contrary notwithstanding.

A Patent Title is a legal title given to a person in recognition of the person's distinction. The Herald is an office; its holder is responsible for tracking Patent Titles in eir monthly report.

Awarding or revoking a Patent Title is secured. A person permitted and enabled to award (revoke) a Patent Title SHALL do so in a timely fashion after the conditions authorizing em to do so are announced, unless there is an open judicial case contesting the validity of those conditions.

The Herald CAN award a specified Patent Title to a specified player With 2 Agoran Consent.

Certain patent titles are known as degrees. The degrees are

- Associate of Nomic (A.N.) - Bachelor of Nomic (B.N.) - Master of Nomic (M.N.) - Doctor of Nomic History (D.N.Hist.) - Doctor of Nomic Science (D.N.Sci.) - Doctor of Nomic Philosophy (D.N.Phil.)

Degrees are ranked in the order they appear in this rule, with degrees listed later being ranked higher. A specific degree CANNOT be awarded to any person more than once.

A specified degree CAN be awarded with 2 Agoran Consent, and SHOULD only be awarded for the publication of an original thesis of scholarly worth (including responses to peer-review), published with explicit intent to qualify for a degree. The Herald SHOULD coordinate the peer-review process and the awarding of degrees.

Heroic titles are Agora's premier patent titles of distinction, and CAN be awarded to persons for meritorious service only by a proposal of power 3 or greater, which SHOULD explain why those persons are qualified. Bearers of heroic titles (Heroes) constitute the Order of the Hero of Agora Nomic.

The Heroic titles in decreasing precedence are:

Grand Hero of Agora Nomic (GHAN) -- This title may be awarded to any person obviously and directly responsible for the existence of Agora and/or Nomic in general. As this title is the highest honour that Agora may bestow, a Bearer of this title OUGHT to be treated right good forever.

Hero of Agora Nomic (HAN) -- This title may be awarded to any person for outstanding meritorious service to Agora above and beyond the call of duty.

A Badge is any patent title with the word 'badge' as part of its name. A badge SHOULD be used to award multiple persons for participating in specific event of note within Agora. Any player CAN award a badge that does not yet exist to three or more persons simultaneously, with Agoran Consent. The Herald CAN award an existing badge to persons Without Objection.

Any player can issue a Trust Token to another person by announcement.

A player can win the game by announcement if e has been issued a Trust Token by each other player; if no player has won via this mechanism in the past; and if in the same message, e quotes, for each player, a public message in which that player issued em a Trust Token.

WHEREAS, in June 1993, the world's only MUD-based nomic, Nomic World, had recently collapsed; yet, many of its players enjoyed nomic and did not wish to forego such a noble pursuit;

And WHEREAS, Originator Chuck Carroll therefore composed an Initial Ruleset for an email nomic, based on the Initial Rulesets of Peter Suber, inventor of Nomic, and on the Rulesets of Nomic World and other nomics,

And WHEREAS, a nomic thus rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Nomic World, played on the mailing list originally set up for discussion of Nomic World, and coming into existence at June 30, 1993, 00:04:30 GMT +1200, with a message sent by FIRST SPEAKER Michael Norrish, which read, in part,

"I see no reason to let this get bogged down; there are no precedents or rules that cover this situation, so I think we may as well begin directly.... Proposals for new rules are invited. In accordance with the rules, these will be published, numbered and distributed by me at my earliest convenience."

And WHEREAS, this nomic began as a humble and nameless nomic, known unofficially as yoyo, after the mailing list it was played on, until its Players, much later, gave it its OFFICIAL NAME of Agora,

And WHEREAS, Agora has now become the wisest, noblest, eldest, and most interesting of all active email nomics, due to the hard work and diligence of Agorans as well as the frequent advice of Agoraphobes,

And WHEREAS, Agorans desire to joyously commemorate Agora's founding,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that Agora's Birthday is defined to be the entire day of June 30, GMT +1200, of each year.

/\ /\ / \ / \ T his Power-4 Rule (the first ever) was placed to honor The Agoran Spirit Of The Game by Goethe, Steve, Murphy, root and OscarMeyr, Scamsters. Look on our works, ye Marvy, but do always Dance a Powerful Dance. Hail Eris!