Your two uses of "they" in our ruleset are both for plural nouns: "officers" and "persons". The only use of they as a pronoun is in Green Cards with "whenever a person receives a Green Card, they are ENCOURAGED to travel to the United States". Perhaps the next proposal should cursorily amend this.
On Sat, Jul 8, 2017 at 11:06 AM, Cuddle Beam <cuddleb...@gmail.com> wrote: > This is my official submission of my Thesis "Spivak Culture". > > I intend to apply for a degree. > > humble agoran farmer gettng that edumacation lol. > > Let's go!: > > -------------------------------*------------------------------- > > Spivak is very common in Agora, evidenced by its widespread use throughout > the current Ruleset and its history. > > However, how did these niche pronouns arise to become so prominent in the > Agoran (and nomic) context? > > Additionally, Spivak is discouraged in BlogNomic, the other largest nomic > currently on the web, via “[Players] may correct obvious spelling and > typographical mistakes in the Ruleset and their own Pending Proposals at > any time, including replacing Spivak and gender-specific pronouns with the > singular “they”. > > How have they grown to take opposite approaches to the same problem? > > Let’s delve into the history of it, to uncover the roots of these cultures. > > ---*--- > > The game of Nomic was first introduced to the public in the column of > Metamagical Themas (published in the Scientific American) of Douglas > Hofstadter, in June 1982, when excerpts from a book (still unpublished at > the time) by the game's creator Peter Suber were printed and discussed. [1] > > Additionally, Douglas Hofstadter has an impassioned chapter in Metamagical > Themas about gender-neutral language. [1] > > In those days, that was what brought people to Nomic, so there has been > likely a tight relationship between Hofstadter’s writings (the > gender-neutral language chapter in particular) and the game he revealed > there as well: Nomic. This is further evidenced by mentions that in Nomic > World, use of Spivak was a conscious homage to them. [2] > > Agora arose from Nomic World, which started on the 9th of October, 1992. > In its initial Ruleset, it used the conventional singular “they” to refer > to other people throughout, with no use of Spivak whatsoever [3], for > example: > > “When a Judge has been selected, they shall have 3 days in which to accept > or refuse their appointment as Judge.” > > “Once a Judge is selected, (ie has accepted their selection) they then > have exactly one week to post an official Judgement on the issue for which > their Judgement has been invoked.” > > However, the Ruleset at the 04 Nov 1992 shows a first (and single) > evidence of Spivak use [4], here: > > "Rule 1047. [mutable] by Blob, last changed Tue Nov 3 13:19:28 1992 > > New players > > New players begin with zero points. > > A new player is a player who registers for the first time. If the player > has > > been registered within the past 6 weeks, then e is not counted as a new > > player." > > Additionally, another single sign of Spivak use emerged on the Ruleset at > December 11th [5] (Again, by "Blob", suggesting that they might be the > originator of Spivak use that eventually flowed into Agora). > > *Rule 1108. [mutable] by Blob, last changed Fri Dec 11 16:29:23 1992 > > Playing Tag > > ----------- > > I propose the following mutable rule be enacted: > > At the passing of this rule, a player is selected at random from all > recently > > active players. The player becomes "it". > > At all times thereafter, there must be one and only one player who is > > currently "it". This player then has the option of "tagging" another > > registered player, who is online and in the same room as "it". > > The tagged player then becomes "it" (except as outlined below), and the > player > > who tagged em is no longer "it". > > There is no way for any player, other than "it", to know who is "it" at any > > given time, until such time as they are tagged by "it". > > If "it" tags a player who has been "it" in the past hour, then the tagged > > player does not become "it", and the player who was "it" stays that way. > > If a player who is "it" is deregistered, another "it" is selected randomly > > from all recently active players. > > A player who is "it" is to be informed that they are "it" whenever they > logon > > to the game. > > However, those are the only registered cases, with all other pronoun use > being the conventional "they". > > Further information about how Agora inherited Spivak can be seen here, via > the following mention by Chuck Carroll (Agora's Originator) [6]: > > "I don't believe I took the idea of using Spivak pronouns in the Initial > Ruleset from any other source than Nomic World. Although the use of Spivak > pronouns may have been sparse within the Nomic World ruleset, I believe > there were a few players using Spivak as their preferred pronouns within > Nomic World, and thus Nomic World players who were coming over to the game > that would come to be called Agora were familiar enough with Spivak > pronouns that they were understandable." > > I don't remember specifically, but I suspect I chose Spivak pronouns > because at the time I didn't like the singular "they" as a gender-neutral > pronoun and found Spivak pronouns preferable, at least in a group where > there was already knowledge of them. (I have since come around and fully > endorse singular "they" in use outside of Agora.) > > Chuck" > > Agora’s Initial Ruleset (30th of June, 1993, by Chuck Carroll) has > exclusive use of Spivak for personal pronouns [7], given in examples such > as: > > “If the Judge fails to deliver a judgement within this time, e is > penalized 10 points and a new Judge is selected.” > > “If the Speaker does not explicitly indicate that e refuses to consent to > the proposal, it shall be assumed that e consents.” > > And such use has remained throughout the years, up to the current year of > 2017. However, it's no longer exclusive. Currently, there is both of the > use of the singular "they" as well as Spivak (with the latter being much > more common in the Ruleset) [8], for example: > > Use of "they": > > "When the Rules state that a person or persons win the game, those persons > 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 persons the Patent Title of > Champion" > > "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." > > Use of Spivak: > > "Each player should ensure e can receive messages via each public forum." > > "A player CAN deregister (cease being a player) by announcement. If e does > so, e CANNOT register by announcement for 30 days." > > ---*--- > > How about Blognomic? > > It’s a relatively younger nomic, starting at the 12th of January, 2003. > Its initial ruleset used solely conventional pronouns [9], for example:: > > “Anyone who maintains an active weblog may apply to join BlogNomic by > contacting any of the Admin Staff, giving a contact email address and the > URL of the weblog that they wish to use in BlogNomic.” > > “They will be signed up as a member of the BlogNomic weblog, and will be > considered a Player from the moment that they first appear on the player > roster in the sidebar. “ > > Spivak was proposed to be law, and became so, via the proposal “Spivak”, > at the 27th of April 2005 [10], which said: > > “Add to 1 - Ruleset and Gamestate, after its second paragraph: > > Spivak pronouns, as defined in the Glossary, shall be used throughout the > Ruleset, whenever a Cremember is referred. > > Add to the Glossary: > > * The Spivak pronouns used in Blognomic are: Subject case: “e”; Object > case: “em”, Possessive Adjective case: “eir”, Possessive Pronoun case: > “eirs”, Reflexive case: “emself”. > > Whenever this is enacted, the admins may, at their leisure, correct any > pronoun used in the Ruleset.” > > However, it was later repealed, via “Spivak Attack”, at the 21st of June, > 2007 [11], which said: > > “Replace all Spivak pronouns (“e”, “eir”, etc.) with appropriate > third-person plural terms (“they”, “their”, etc.), throughout the ruleset. > > Remove “Spivak pronouns, as defined in the Glossary, shall be used > whenever a Corporation is referred to.” from Rule 1.1 (“Ruleset and > Gamestate”). > > Repeal Glossary section 3.5 (“Spivak”).” > > Then, Proposal “Maybe we’re a little too [Evil]” (13th of April, 2008), > proposed a more permanent way to replace Spivak [12], via: > > “ If “Proposal: No, Mr Spivak, I Expect You To Die [Evil]” passes, replace > all Spivak pronouns in the ruleset with the singular “they”, and add “, > including replacing Spivak pronouns with the singular ‘they’” to the end of > the last sentence of rule 1.1.” > > That clause exists even now, nearly ten years later, and currently, > Blognomic’s Ruleset doesn’t feature any Spivak, nor is it of common use > during current gameplay discussion, in contrast to Agoran discussion, where > it's currently common. > > ---------------------- > > Special Thanks to Ørjan Johansen, Chuck Carroll and Kerim Aydin for > providing valuable info for writing this. > > [1] Stories by Douglas R. Hofstadter Scientific American:Author Douglas R > Hofstadter http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/douglas-r-hofstadter/ > > [2] http://www.mail-archive.com/agora-discussion@agoranomic. > org/msg36648.html > > [3] Nomic World Initial Ruleset http://www.nomic.net/ > deadgames/nomicworld/norrish/initial-ruleset > > [4] http://www.nomic.net/deadgames/nomicworld/rules/rules.3 > > [5] http://www.nomic.net/deadgames/nomicworld/rules/rules.6 > > [6] http://www.mail-archive.com/agora-discussion@agoranomic. > org/msg36670.html > > [7] http://www.fysh.org/~zefram/agora/chuck0_nr_19930630.txt > > [8] http://www.mail-archive.com/agora-official@agoranomic.org/ > msg08091.html > > [9] Blognomic Initial Ruleset: http://blogspot.blognomic.com/ > 2003_01_05_blognomic_archive.html > > [10] Proposal “Spivak”: http://blogspot.blognomic.com/ > 2005_04_24_blognomic_archive.html > > [11] Spivak Attack: https://blognomic.com/archive/spivak_attack > > [12] Maybe we’re being a little too [Evil]: https://blognomic.com/archive/ > maybe_were_being_a_little_too_evil > >
