[s-b] And just to make sure...

["Craig Daniel" <teucer@xxxxxxxxx>]

I submit the following Consultation:

{
Question: Is the Contract of Epimenides a valid contract?
Unbeliever: Wooble

Reasoning: Priest Wooble's judgement on Consultation 135 established
that text can only be interpreted in the form in which it is presented
to the list. Thus, a game document whose text is encrypted even in
something so simple as rot-13 does not have a meaning contingent on
the plaintext of that encrypted text - a requirement that seems
entirely reasonable, and even necessary. The Contract of Epimenides
was submitted to the public forum in an encrypted form, which
Consultation 135 would appear to invalidate.

However, the Contract was not defined as being the encrypted file, but
as being the *contents* of the encrypted file. It is my contention
that this unambiguously defined a piece of text, but that what that
text was nonetheless remained unknown to most players. This is in
contrast to the contract "lhret rhlhr", which was defined as being a
string of apparent gibberish. I further note that game actions
including the submission of contracts must be unambiguous, making the
submission of any game document enciphered with a one-time pad illegal
even if the post is phrased so as to define the plaintext, rather than
the ciphertext, as being the game document.

I contend, therefore, that the Contract of Epimenides (and my recent
transaction contingent on its validity) exploited an entirely valid
loophole. I believe the answer to this consultation to be TRUE, but
suggest altering current contract law in such a way as to plug that
loophole before somebody uses it to more destructive ends.
}

(It is my intention to draft a proposal meeting my request at the end
there, but I haven't yet figured out what form it will take. To make
sure it's airtight, I'll proto-propose it on s-d first. Others are
more than welcome to beat me to the punch if they have their own
versions, naturally.)

 - teucer
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