THE AGORA NOMIC CODE OF REGULATIONS
These ACORNs are also online at http://agoranomic.org/ruleset/
Date of this ACORN: 6 Sep 2021
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Table of Contents:
Auction Regulations
* Regulation AM0: Generalized Auction
* Regulation AM1: Forward Auctions
* Regulation AM2: Sealed-bid Auctions
* Regulation AM3: Second-price Auctions
* Regulation AM4: Nonwinning-price Auctions
* Regulation AM5: Selective-bid Auctions
Administrative Regulations
* Regulation PA0: Certification
* Regulation PA1: Proposal Style Guide
* Regulation RA1: Tardiness
* Regulation RA2: Guidelines to Referees for Compiling Weekly Reports
* Regulation RA3: Holiday Rule Reminder Practice
Birthday Tournament
* Regulation BT29: Survivor 2021
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Auction Regulations
This section has the regulations, written by the Treasuror, governing
how auctions proceed.
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Regulation AM0/4
Generalized Auction
Generalized auctions exist to give context to the form of other
types of auctions. They CANNOT be held directly. Other auction
methods that use this type of auction as a starting point can
override attributes of generalized auctions except when it is
explicitly stated that that attribute is not able to be
overridden.
INITIATION: When a person CAN begin an auction by this or any
derivative method, e CAN only do so by specifying the type of
auction method to be held, a list of lots to be auctioned off, and
the currency for the auction in a public message (henceforth the
"initiation message"). The bidding period starts at this point.
BIDDING: Players CAN place a bid on an auction in its bidding
period by creating a public message (henceforth a "bid message")
specifying an amount of that auction's currency. Players CAN
withdraw from an open auction by announcement.
EXCLUSIVITY: Bids in an auction are grouped into classes of that
auction. Unless otherwise specified, all bids in a given auction
are in a single class. A bid CANNOT be made if, in the class it
would be in, another bid already exists with the bid amount of the
hypothetical bid.
TERMINATION: The bidding period ends four days after the final
instance of any of the following events' occurance:
* the auction begins
* a bid is placed
* a player withdraws from the auction
RETRIEVAL: When the bidding period ends, the retrieval period
begins. During the retrieval period, bidders will be allowed to
retrieve the assets required to pay for their bid. The retrieval
period lasts three days. Failing to have the requisite assets when
the retrieval period for an auction ends constitutes the Class 1
Crime of Underfundedness.
AWARDING: For each auction, there are a number of awardees equal
to the number of lots. The Nth lot of an auction goes to the Nth
awardee of that auction. If the identity of an awardee is
undecidable, then that lot cannot be given away. Auction methods
specify how awardees are picked for auctions using that method.
PAYMENT AMOUNT: The amount that an awardee in an auction is
required to pay for eir lot is, unless otherwise specified, the
amount of the auction's curency specified in eir highest bid on
that auction.
FUNDED PLAYERS: Derivative auction methods should ensure that only
players who, at the end of an auction's retrieval period, have at
least as much of that auction's currency as the amount that e is
required to pay in that auction (hereafter "funded players") can
be selected as awardees for auctions using that auction method.
RESOLUTION: The auctioneer for an auction SHALL, during that
auction's retrieval period, create a public message (henceforth
the "resolution message") that contains a full history of bids on
the auction and withdrawals from the auction. It must also clearly
indicate who each awardee would be if all players were funded, as
well as the lot each one would recieve. Failing to publish a
resolution message constitutes the Class 3 Crime of Auction
Negligence.
DISTRIBUTION: In a timely fashion after the retrieval period for
an auction ends, that auction's auctioneer CAN and SHALL, for each
awardee in that auction, destroy the amount to be paid from the
inventory of that awardee and transfer to that player (or create
in eir possession if the item is new) the set of assets associated
with the lot e won. Failing to create or transfer items as
described in this paragraph constitutes the Class 3 Crime of
Auction Abandonment.
ACTIVE BIDS: The set of active bids for an auction is the set of
all funded, non-withdrawn players' highest bids on that auction.
History:
Enacted by Trigon, 08 Aug 2020
Amended(1) by Trigon, 28 Mar 2021
Amended(2) by Trigon, 05 May 2021
Amended(3) by Trigon, 02 Aug 2021
Amended(4) by Trigon, 30 Aug 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation AM1/1
Forward Auctions
Forward auctions function like generalized auctions except:
* The Nth awardee for a forward auction is the player who
submitted the Nth-highest active bid on that auction.
History:
Enacted by Trigon, 08 Aug 2020
Amended(1) by Trigon, 05 May 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation AM2/1
Sealed-bid Auctions
Sealed-bid auctions function like generalized auctions except:
* Players can only submit bids on a sealed-bid auction if they do
not have a bid in that auction.
* Bids must be initially hidden so that it is impossible to tell
its value but that it is verifiable that the amount bid was
decided before the bid was placed. Anything that claims to be a
bid and fits these conditions is considered a bid.
* The retrieval period for a sealed-bid auction lasts for seven
days.
* Each player SHALL reveal eir bid amount on a sealed-bid auction
while the auction is in its retrieval period. Failing to do so
is the Class 2 Crime of Potential Faking.
* The termination message need not indicate any bids for which the
amount bid is not known.
* The Nth awardee of a sealed-bid auction is the player whose bid
is the Nth-highest active bid on that auction.
History:
Enacted by Trigon, 08 Aug 2020
Amended(1) by Trigon, 05 May 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation AM3/1
Second-price Auctions
Second-price auctions function like forward auctions except:
* The amount to be paid by the Nth awardee is the amount of the
auction's currency specified by the (N-1)th highest active bid
on that auction or the lowest active bid if such a value does
not exist.
History:
Enacted by Trigon, 08 Aug 2020
Amended(1) by Trigon, 05 May 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation AM4/1
Nonwinning-price Auctions
Nonwinning-price auctions function like forward auctions except:
* The amount to by paid by all awardees is the amount of the
auction's currency specified by the highest active bid on that
auction not placed by an awardee or the lowest active bid if
such a value does not exist.
History:
Enacted by Trigon, 08 Aug 2020
Amended(1) by Trigon, 05 May 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation AM5/3
Selective-bid Auctions
Selective-bit auctions function like generalized auctions except:
* Bidding messages on a selective-bid auction must also specify a
lot that is preferred.
* One bid class exists for each lot of a given auction, with bids
falling into the class for the specified lot.
* The Nth awardee of a selective-bid auction is the player who
placed the highest bid in the set of bids made by funded, non
withdrawn players whose preferred bid is the Nth lot.
History:
Enacted by Trigon, 08 Aug 2020
Amended(1) by Trigon, 05 May 2021
Amended(2) by Trigon, 02 Aug 2021
Amended(3) by Trigon, 02 Aug 2021
Annotations:
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Administrative Regulations
This section has regulations enacted by officers, pursuant to Rule
2630.
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Regulation PA0/0
Certification
For the Promotor to cause a proposal to become pending with 2+N
support, where N is equal to the number of times e has done so in
the past 7 days, is for em to certify it.
A proposal is certifiable if:
1. it is reasonably narrowly tailored to fix one or more problems,
including a) bugs, b) errors, c) ambiguities, and d)
vulnerabilities*; or
2. unusual or exigent circumstance render it in the public
interest for it to become pending via this method.
* Note: Any of these problems may arise from a single source or
the interaction of multiple sources, which may be individually
unproblematic. This provision is to be interpreted broadly and
flexibly to effectuate its spirit.
The Promotor SHOULD NOT certify a non-certifiable proposal.
Players SHOULD support an intent to certify a proposal if and only
if it is certifiable.
The author of a proposal in the pool CAN, by announcement, request
certification of the proposal, provided e does so in a message
that has either "Promotor" or "Proposal" in the subject line; e
SHOULD NOT do so unless e believes eir proposal is certifiable and
is ENCOURAGED to explain why eir proposal is certifiable. Once
certification is requested, the Promotor SHALL respond publicly
before publishing the next report that contains the proposal,
unless the proposal is withdrawn or pended in the interim.
Petitioning the Promotor to certify a proposal is DEPRECATED.
History:
Enacted by Aspen, 13 Sep 2020
Annotations:
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Regulation PA1/0
Proposal Style Guide
Players SHOULD format proposals in accordance with the following
guidelines. These guidelines represent the Promotor's preferred
formatting. Most of these guidelines are flexible recommendations,
but where something is marked as STRONGLY DISCOURAGED, doing it is
actively inconvenient for the Promotor.
I. Headers and Metadata.
1. Format headers as close as possible to the heading used for
distributions, which looks like this:
Title: _____
Adoption index: _._
Author: ____
Co-authors: ____, ____
To be clear:
a) write the fields in that order;
b) write out all the fields, even the ones that have default
values; and
c) write each field on its own line.
2. a) Give proposals titles 35 characters or less.
b) Giving proposals titles over 70 characters is STRONGLY
DISCOURAGED.
II. Bodies.
1. Indent Proposals two spaces per indent level.
2. a) Wrap proposal lines to 80 characters or less.
b) Making it so the Promotor cannot wrap lines to 80 characters
or less is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED unless it is absolutely
unavoidable (e.g. in the case of URLs).
3. Players are STRONGLY DISCOURAGED from placing markings that
indicate the start of the proposal's text on the same line as
the start of the text.
History:
Enacted by Aspen, 13 Sep 2020
Annotations:
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Regulation RA1/1
Tardiness
The Referee SHALL NOT impose a fine above one blot for Tardiness
unless the Tardiness is for an obligation which has been missed
for more than 14 days, or unless the Tardiness is intentional
History:
Enacted by JTAC, 31 Jan 2021
Retitled by R. Lee, 17 Jul 2021
Amended(1) by R. Lee, 17 Jul 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation RA2/0
Guidelines to Referees for Compiling Weekly Reports
Courtesy of the illustrious Publius Scribonius Scholasticus, when
making eir weekly report on blot holdings, a Referee is ENCOURAGED
to additionally include:
1. A section tracking investigations resulting from a finger being
pointed of which the Referee is the investigator, which have not
been concluded at the time of the report’s publishing; e SHOULD
provide the following fields for each entry:
a. Name of the perp
b. Name of the person who pointed eir finger
d. Summary of the available findings at the time of the report
The Referee is strongly DISCOURAGED from reporting on
investigations of which e is not the investigator. At the time of
the promulgation of this regulation, the only rule-defined
circumstance in which the Referee is not the investigator is when
the Referee is the perp. As such, eir reports on such
investigations may be misleading and are at a high likelihood of
violating rule 2471.
2. A section tracking historical changes to the blots possessed by
persons. If available, the time period tracked is RECOMMENDED to
begin from approximately two years prior and end at the time of
the report’s publishing. E SHOULD provide the following columns
for this section:
a. Name of person in whose possession the number of blots has
changed
b. Change in number of blots
c. Date of change
d. Reason of change
History:
Enacted by JTAC, 31 Jan 2021
Annotations:
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Regulation RA3/0
Holiday Rule Reminder Practice
In addition to the recommendations contained within rule 1769, the
Referee is strongly ENCOURAGED to remind the players of the end of
the Holiday by announcement. This SHOULD be done between 2 to 4
days before the end of the Holiday.
History:
Enacted by JTAC, 31 Jan 2021
Annotations:
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Birthday Tournament
This section has regulations that govern the ongoing Birthday
Tournament.
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Regulation BT29/0
Survivor 2021
#0 Participation
The Host is the Herald. Any other player of Agora CAN become a
Contestant by announcement any time before the game starts. If the
Host is a Contestant, Player, and/or Ghost, e ceases to be.
The Host CAN start the game by announcement. At the time of the
announcement, all Contestants become Survivors.
Any Contestant may quit by announcement, and cease being a
Contestant, Survivor, and/or Ghost. The Host CAN, by announcement,
cause a specified Contestant who has not posted a public message
in 7 days to cease to be a Survivor and become a Ghost.
#1 Winning
The winner is the Contestant who Outlasts all other Contestants. A
Contestant outlasts all other Contestants if e is the only
Survivor.
#2 Teams
When the game starts, the host SHALL announce the teams. E may
choose teams however e wants, as long as they are even in number
of contestants (plus or minus 1).
#3 Rounds
A Round is 7 days from a Monday through a Sunday. Monday through
Friday are the default Competition Period for a Round while
Saturday through Sunday are the default Voting Period for a Round.
The Host CAN, by announcement, end a Competition Period and start
a Voting period early. E SHOULD only do so when the Competition
Period's events have clearly ended.
The first round begins the next Monday after the game starts.
Until the Pre-Finale, a new round starts every Monday.
#3.1 Competitions
Each round contains a Competition defined by a Sealed Letter that
the Host CAN and SHALL issue, by announcement, on or before the
Monday of the round. The Competition begins either at the
beginning of Monday or when the Sealed Letter is issued, whichever
is later.
A Sealed Letter specifies a Competition's rules and Immunity
Condition. The Immunity Condition of a Sealed Letter:
* SHOULD NOT encourage players to break the rules of Agora or
commit an Agoran Crime,
* SHOULD NOT require undo effort on the part of any one
individual, and
* SHOULD NOT intentionally favor one person or team.
The Host CAN, by announcement, and SHALL grant immunity to all
teams and all Contestant that meet the Immunity Condition.
The Host CAN issue a Clarifying Letter by announcement. Clarifying
Letters are binding interpretations of their corresponding Sealed
Letters. The Host SHOULD issue a Clarifying Letter whenever e
believes players/teams are confused, frustrated, or on the wrong
track.
#3.2 Voting
During a Voting Period, each Contestant whose team is not immune
CAN, by sending a message to the Host, Vote to Expel any
non-immune member of eir team.
The Host CAN, by announcement, and SHALL, by the end of the
following Monday, Expel all non-immune Contestants who were
specified the most by eir team. When a Contestant is Expelled, e
ceases to be a Survivor and becomes a Ghost. E is no longer part
of eir team.
#Plot Holes
The Host CAN, with Agoran Consent, amend these rules as specified.
E SHOULD only attempt to do so to fix unintended behavior or bugs.
#Pre-Finale
When there are half as many Survivors as they were when the game
started, the Host CAN, by announcement, cause the game to enter
the Pre-Finale.
During the Pre-Finale, the current round, if any, immediately ends
and no new rounds can begin.
During the Pre-Finale, the Host and any Survivor CAN publish a
Finale Script, specifying a set of changes to make to the rules of
this game. Contestants CAN, by announcement, support a Finale
Script. The Host CAN, by announcement, veto a specified Finale
Script. If a Finale Script has not been veto'd, and has support of
either more than half of all Ghosts or more than half of all
Contestants, then the Host CAN and SHALL apply it, causing the
changes it describes to happen to these rules.
If at least one Finale Script has been applied and it has been at
least 7 days since the Pre-Finale began, the Host CAN by
announcement begin the Finale.
#Finale
During the Finale, all Contestants CAN, by sending a message to
the Host, vote on a specified Survivor. When all Contestants have
voted, or 7 days after the Finale began, the Host CAN announce the
Survivor who received the most votes, and Expel all other
Survivors.
History:
Enacted by nix, 02 Jul 2021
Annotations:
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