Matthew G Potter on 12 Oct 2000 17:40:23 -0000


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spoon-discuss: Re: spoon-business: Judgement on RFJ 22


Fun with Eudora...it sent the judgement out on my not-listed-in-Nomic email address. Since I didn't sign it, it might not be 'official.' This one is being sent out on my mpotter@iastate account, and I'm signing it, so if the first one 'didn't happen' since it wasn't officially by a player, this one will be official. This is identical to the first.



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 A proposal can only become dead by being voted on in a weekly Ballot, or by being withdrawn.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.




Potter