spoon-business: Judgement on RFJ 22

[Roland of Gilead <inertia@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On the matter of RFJ 22, "Motions requiring a vote introduced during an 
nweek's voting will not become Ballot Issues," I rule False.

According to Rule 110/0, "Voting on a nweek's Ballot opens at the start of 
the eighth day of that nweek, and closes at the end of the tenth day of 
that nweek."  The voting period lies entirely within the nweek during which 
the proposals on that ballot were made; and the termination of the voting 
period is concurrent with the end of its nweek.

Rule 201/0 states that, prior to the end of the voting period, the 
Adminstrator shall "distribute to all Players the Ballot for that nweek. 
Each nweek's Ballot shall list all Ballot Issues for the nweek."  This rule 
may seem to imply that only proposals initiated or activated during the 
current nweek are eligible for the ballot, but it does not explicitly make 
the point.  Also, there exists precedence, in rule 227/0, for proposals 
active in one nweek to remain active into the next nweek.  So, it would 
appear that it is possible for an active proposal to remain active into 
subsequent nweeks, though this can only occur through specific instances 
outlined in the Ruleset, from dirty pool by the Administrator, or by an 
undesirable coincidence of timing and Ruleset semantics.

The requirements for a Rule to be included in a ballot are given in Rule 
202/0.  The first is "Proposals then active," which includes all active 
proposals, regardless of how they came to be active.  This requirement is 
not explicitly limited or modified by other rules.

Rule 222/0 states that all proposals are live, unless they are declared 
dead.  A proposal can only become dead by being voted on in a weekly 
Ballot, or by being withdrawn.  All live rules are active unless they have 
been deactivated by their owners, according to rule 221/0.  This rule does 
not explicitly deactivate proposals which are active prior to the issuing 
of the Ballot, but not included in the Ballot and not voted on.  Thus, 
proposals remain active--and as such, eligible for the ballot--until they 
are withdrawn, deactivated, or voted upon.

As such, proposals made or activated after the issuing of a Ballot, but 
before the end of an nweek, remain active into the subsequent nweek.  Since 
the Ballot for the following nweek includes all active proposals, and does 
not exclude proposals that 'should' have been voted on in previous weeks, 
they are eligible for that Ballot and should be voted on.  I rule False.