[s-d] Thoughts on our Lamentable State

[Tyler <wisety@xxxxxxxxx>]

I submit this discussion message in response to the latest emergency, which
began about an hour ago when ehird became the fourth Paranoid because he
didn't like the title of a rule.

As a somewhat democratic self-governing society, we ought to be able to come
up with a set of rules, given enough time, that a majority agrees with.
There are three possibilities I can see off the top of my head for why this
doesn't seem to be working:
1 - The 4-Paranoids clause is allowing a dissatisfied minority to keep us in
constant upheaval (i.e. state of Emergency)
2 - The Emergency rules haven't been giving us enough time to come up with a
good, consistent set of rules.
3 - We don't have it in us collectively to find a good set of Rules that we
all agree on. Either we can't construct rulesets effectively or we are too
disagreeable.

I think the general opinion is against number 2. We rushed the last
emergency without objection. So either we have a good set of rules now, or
at least a workable set, or there is some defect in ourselves as a society.
In the first case, (number 1,) we simply need to decrease the power of the
minority. I suggest a higher paranoia threshhold. Perhaps one that grows as
the society does would be more effective long term.

If number 3 is the problem, then we may need to learn to make do with what
we've got. Let's be a little more forgiving of defects in the rules. We can
fix them by proposal, especially if they are minor things. If they prevent
normal proposals from going through, we need to focus all our attention on
the simple goal of fixing the proposal system. How many rules does that
involve? Rules, Game Objects and Documents, Changes, Ministries. Any other
rules or parts of rules? If we need another emergency to fix a major
mistake, we should do it as simply as possible. If that means eliminating
all unnecessary rules to preserve the most important ones, then so be it.
Once we get proposals back online, we can restore what we lost piecewise.
This is going to take some major cooperation. We can't be looking for ways
to scam each other at this point, or we'll have scammed a crumbling
framework. Where's the glory in that? And it's time to let go of some of our
petty disagreements and focus on what's most important: what we had but are
losing, our stability.

Don't worry about mack. Or even Contract rules for now. Don't complain if
someone isn't doing their duty as, say, mad scientist or Minister of Fauna.
Do keep track of what serious problems we have, and suggest fixes. Do try to
get proposals back online. Once we get through an nweek or two we can start
deliberating on the details again.

-- 
 -Tyler
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