========================================================================== CFJ 1124 Votes sent to the agora-discussion mailing list are neither "sent publically" nor "sent privately", and so are not valid when voting is Unrestricted. ========================================================================== Called by: Blob Judge: Elysion Judgement: TRUE Judge selection: Eligible: Crito, Steve, Elysion, David Not eligible: Caller: Blob Barred: - Had their turn: Ørjan, Blob, Murphy, Peekee, Vlad, Kolja A., elJefe, Michael, Morendil Already served: - Defaulted: - By request: - On Hold: - ========================================================================== History: Called by Blob: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 13:11:20 +1000 Assigned to Elysion: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 18:59:24 +1000 Judged TRUE by Elysion: Sun, 25 Apr 1999 19:55:42 -0400 ========================================================================== Judge's arguments: I hereby judge CFJ 1124 to be TRUE. Reasons: Had "publically" and "privately" been capitalized in paragraph (d)(3) of rule 1764, they would have been obviously referring to the conditions set in the previous two paragraphs. Though they are not capitalized, it still seems reasonable that the definitions of Publically and Privately in the rule. Votes sent to agora-discussion do not meet either criterium, and thus are not valid. ========================================================================== Caller's Arguments: Rule 1764, "Modes of Voting", says in part: (d) (1) If the mode of voting is Public, then any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding, the casting of any votes, or the declaration of Presence, by Voting Entities on that Proposal, Election or Referendum, may only be achieved by sending a message to the Public Forum. (2) If the mode of voting is Private, then any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding, the casting of any votes, or the declaration of Presence, by Voting Entities on that Proposal, Election or Referendum, may only be achieved by sending a message privately to the Vote Collector. (3) If the mode of voting is Unrestricted, then any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding, the casting of any votes, or the declaration of Presence, by Voting Entities on that Proposal, Election or Referendum, may be achieved by sending a message either publically or privately. The truth of the statement hinges on the interpretation of the words "publically" and "privately" in the previous paragraph. I argue that the preceding two paragraphs define the meanings of these words, albeit indirectly, by defining the meaning of "Public" and "Private" voting. >From the definition of Public voting, from paragraph (d)(1) a vote can only by made "publically", if it is sent to the Public Forum. It is well established that the agora-discussion mailing list is NOT a Public Forum. So votes sent to this list are not "sent publically". The definition of Private voting is less unambiguous, but states that a vote must be "sent privately to the Vote Collector". The term "sent privately" is not well-defined, but a common sense interpretation rules out agora-discussion as a private means of communication. Therefore, votes sent to agora-discussion are neither "sent publically" nor "sent privately", and so, by paragraph (d)(3), are not valid votes when the mode of voting is Unrestricted. ========================================================================== Evidence attached by the Caller: Rule 1764/5 (Power=1) Modes of Voting (a) There are three possible modes of voting on Proposals, Elections and Referenda: Public, Private and Unrestricted. The prevailing mode for each of each of Proposals, Elections and Referenda is initially Public. (b) (1) The Assessor may change the prevailing mode of voting for Proposals, with Support. (2) The Registrar may change the prevailing mode of voting for Elections, with Support. (3) The prevailing mode of Referenda is always Public. (c) When the Voting Period on a Proposal, Election or Referendum begins, the mode of voting for that Proposal, Election or Referendum is set to the prevailing mode for that kind of vote. Once set in this manner, the mode of voting cannot be changed. (d) (1) If the mode of voting is Public, then any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding, the casting of any votes, or the declaration of Presence, by Voting Entities on that Proposal, Election or Referendum, may only be achieved by sending a message to the Public Forum. (2) If the mode of voting is Private, then any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding, the casting of any votes, or the declaration of Presence, by Voting Entities on that Proposal, Election or Referendum, may only be achieved by sending a message privately to the Vote Collector. (3) If the mode of voting is Unrestricted, then any other Rule to the contrary notwithstanding, the casting of any votes, or the declaration of Presence, by Voting Entities on that Proposal, Election or Referendum, may be achieved by sending a message either publically or privately. Rule 478/10 (Power=1) The Public Forum Whether a given medium is a Public Forum or not is a Nomic Property. The Registrar is authorized to change whether a given medium is a Public Forum or not Without Objection. When such a change is made, in order to be effective, the message announcing the change must be sent to both a medium that was a Public Forum before the change, and a medium that is a Public Forum after the change. (If a single medium is a Public Forum both before and after the change, a single message to that medium satisfies this requirement.) It is the responsibility of each Active Player to ensure that e is able to receive messages sent to every medium which the Registrar has designated as a Public Forum. The temporary inability of a Player to receive a Public Forum does not deprive that medium of any legal significance as a Public Forum. Sending a message, by any medium or combination of media, to every Active Player, is equivalent to sending it to the Public Forum, provided that the message bears a clear indication that it is intended to be a message to the Public Forum, and it is verifiable that the message was in fact sent to every Active Player. Whenever the Rules call upon some Player to "announce", "post", or "distribute" some communication or notification, this shall be accomplished by posting the communication or notification to the Public Forum, unless another rule specifies otherwise. ==========================================================================