We have refounded the region.
During the long history of the region we have come to the understanding that even when we trust each other, the Founder nation must be carefully and explicitly regulated. We also had serious troubles when we attempted to regulate it carefully in private. Therefore, let the new epoch begin with the public and democratic deliberation on a clear and safe organization.
The region was founded January 4, 2007. It was a chaotic and rushed process. We had a number of people in an MSN conversation:
The Lexicon High Council excluding PoD Gunner who was not around that day:
1. Sovereign Dixie
2. The Crazy Monkeymen [Amy]
3. The G Rebellion
4. Myroria
5. Eluvatar
And, two persons who were helping but were not in the High Council:
6. St Oz
7. Inglo-Scotia
St Oz quickly suggested a region name that he'd thought I was going to found before, when I first created taijitu.org as a standalone website, "Taijitu". The name was fairly popular, displacing the old prepared region of Greater Nowhere. As TGR and I began making this forum, Oz and TCM both simultaneously volunteered to create the region. In an accident that some founders later bitterly suspected to be intentional, TCM instead founded the region with her own nation. I seem to remember that TCM suggested we immediately refound, but I had already moved into the region and was soon followed by multitudes. At this time [nation]St Oz[/nation] created [nation]Taijitu Founder[/nation], but [region]Taijitu[/region] was founded by [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] before he could found the region with it.
In the channel we briefly discussed that the founders would be the High Council + St Oz, that is:
1. Sovereign Dixie
2. The Crazy Monkeymen [Amy]
3. The G Rebellion
4. Myroria
5. Eluvatar
6. PoD Gunner
7. St Oz
For several months this arrangement worked well enough. To run for Delegate, Amy was persuaded to use a puppet nation called [nation]The Crazy Monkeywomen[/nation], keeping [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] out of the UN and thus shareable. At least while she was Delegate, Amy shared telegrams that [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] received as founder with the government. I was first worried when, in response to some anger by Myroria, TCM decided to lock the founder nation, [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] down from him sometime during the spring. The first real test however was when, on July the 21st, the government of PoD Gunner ([nation]Red Kagran[/nation]) used the founder nation of [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] to relocate 200 WAs to the Rejected Realms and seize the Delegacy (with some support from DEN as well). Not only did this event cause calamitous consequences in the foreign relations and internal politics of Taijitu, it also caused Amy to completely lock The Crazy Monkeymen. At this time, the government led by PoD Gunner decided to let PoD Gunner be the scapegoat for the situation, particularly to the irate Amy. Amy then allowed Sovereign Dixie and others access to the nation again.
In time, Amy grew inactive and Sovereign Dixie took over the task of keeping the nation alive. During this time Sovereign Dixie and perhaps others made several conservative Issues decisions in the Crazy Monkeymen. Sometime in later 2008, Amy returned from inactivity and demanded the password to [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation]. When she got it back, she immediately locked all others out, enraged that her nation's statistics had been altered. She then joined the UN, infuriating many of the other founders as this showed she had no intention of sharing access to the nation. At this time the hypothesis was entertained that she had purposefully 'accidentally' founded the region with her nation so as to have a unique position of ultimate power in the region, despite the explicit intention not to have that.
The six remaining founders then assembled on a secret forum and decided that:
1. We needed to regain access.
2. Amy was to be locked out.
This decision was unanimous between The G Rebellion, Sovereign Dixie, PoD Gunner, Myroria, St Oz, and Eluvatar.
Eventually Amy consented to give the password to Eluvatar and The G Rebellion, under the conditions stated in that same Telegram that we were not to use it unless necessary, nor were we to share it further. Following the consensus decision, when I got that password I immediately withdrew [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] from the UN, changed the password, changed the email to a shareable email, and set the nation into Vacation mode just in case. I then had to go. I had the intention of setting up, as discussed with the other founders excluding Amy on the secret forum, a proxy script which would be usable by the other founders to perform necessary actions. The script would not permit people other than Amy from deciding on issues. I sent no communication to Amy, as that was not part of my immediate todo list.
As some of you may remember, Amy noticed this swiftly and, much to our surprise, got Moderation to return access to her. Had we known this was possible, we would have appealed to moderation when she locked us out weeks before. Of course, the fact was Amy was the person who originally created the nation [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] so that would quite possibly have been unsuccessful.
Shortly after this, Taijitu basically died to inactivity. I hesitate to state so conclusively, but I suspect that the shock that we were stuck with Amy as the single founder for the forseeable future may have been a factor.
Fast forward... about two years, skipping the stillborn revival attempt of last year. Sovereign Dixie comes on to the forums and pokes around, awakening many. Sovereign Dixie and Gulliver contact Amy, and get her consent to refounding the region. In preparation, I make a script to allow the emptying of the region at the last second, so as to avoid the risk of [region]Taijitu[/region] being hawked (refounded) by outsiders. Gulliver observes several nightly updates and comes to the conclusion that the update hits Taijitu
after 1:10 AM EDT by his clock (1:07 AM EDT by an absolute clock). From the mountains via phone I assent (it was Memorial weekend and I was hiking, so sue me
) The day he attempts to refound, the update happens right as he clears the region at 1:07 AM.
Amy... overreacts. Accusing us of trying to ruin her reputation again (as she saw the Rejected Realms adventure as having reflected on her), she revokes access to the founder and says she will clear the region herself, well before update. I send her a message explaining how I can make sure the earlier failure will not be repeated and asking for access to [nation]The Crazy Monkeymen[/nation] to perform the refounding safely. Over the weekend, as Amy complains that the Delegate election between myself and Sovereign Dixie is a joke, Gulliver contacts her again, asking her to hurry. Enraged, Amy clears the region seven hours before update and leaves a WFE stating the region will be refounded.
I am appalled. I had told Amy many times, after all, that there are region-hawkers. And now she not only does it early, long before the update, she also announces our intentions. In an hour and a bit, I observe and take part in the below exchange in the Rejected Realms IRC channel:
[19:21:50] <@Codger> you just outed a refounding to the world? Watch out for 100's of region hawkers
[19:22:22] <@sedge> Taijitu?
[19:22:47] <@Codger> yep lol
[19:23:06] <@sedge> they did it far too soon before update...
[19:23:12] <@sedge> they're gonna have people watching anyway
[19:27:03] * ChanServ gives voice to Carta
[19:27:46] <@Earth> Yeah.
[19:28:19] <@Earth> The more interesting bit here won't be whether they get it or not, it'll be -who- gets it.
[19:30:17] <+Biyah> heh
[19:31:49] * Nai|Dinner is now known as Nai|Around
[19:33:26] <@Codger> yay around!
[19:33:29] <@Earth> Whoo!
[19:49:46] <+Eluvatar> Codger, I am full of fucking rage
[19:49:52] <+Eluvatar> about that
Many of you know what came next. I organized what Taijituans I could into ##taijitu, where a password to [nation]Taijitu Founder[/nation] was shared, and #+taijitu, where I shared out various alternative Taijitu-founder puppets.
I got a number of Taijituans to help, both in ##taijitu and #+taijitu. In no particular order:
- Limi
- Gulliver
- St Oz (was not involved during the actual refounding but participated in the preparations)
- Gallipoli-China
- Myroria
- Sovereign Dixie
- Inglo-Scotia
- Wast
- Of the US
- Towlie
I frantically sought advice from various corners. Thankfully, we were assisted by:
- [nation]Unibot[/nation] of [region]Dharma[/region], formerly of FRA
- [nation]Earth22[/nation] the MoD of [region]the West Pacific[/region]
- Earth's friend, Zardeenah.
- [nation]Todd McCloud[/nation], Delegate of [region]the East Pacific[/region]
- [nation]Naivetry[/nation] controlling [nation]Kandarin[/nation], Delegate of [region]the Rejected Realms[/region]
Unibot and Earth helped us prepare better for the update, both by confirming that it would be happening in and around 1:07 AM EDT and by helping me to execute a method to obtain some minutes warning from the game.
The square bullets represent persons in #+taijitu, the round bullets represent persons in ##taijitu
Given this background information, I call upon you, the citizens of Taijitu reading this, to come together and decide how [nation]Taijitu Founder[/nation] should be controlled.
I would propose we split this into 3 decisions:
1. What are the basic rules that the Founders shall function by?
2. How many Founders shall we have?
3. Who shall those Founders be?
I would propose that for all 3 questions we get the unanimous consent of the 6 original founders excluding the founder that we did, in 2008, decide to [attempt to] expel; and the consent of a majority of the citizens of Taijitu.
To organize this, I shall be starting 3 separate threads where we shall:
1. Draft and revise the bylaws of the Taijitu Founder Committee, and then in a new thread vote on approving them.
2. Vote by a Condorcet method on the number, 1-10, of Founders we should have. (If someone wants more than 10, we can change the ballot).
3. First nominate and then elect by a Condorcet method a preferential list of Founders.
I suggest a Condorcet method because, while somewhat complex, this is a major decision. I do not recommend having terms or term limits for Founders. Given that in this region we expect the Founders not to exercise authority, but to protect the region in the unlikely case of invasion and occasionally enforce decisions of the government, I would prefer that we keep the Founders we select until they resign or are expelled. Since these are selections for the foreseeable future, it is important that we choose well. We should not simply choose several persons preferred by a majority, we want to select the most preferred, those that the entire region considers stable and trustworthy. Gulliver and I should be available to answer any and all questions about this.
Feel free to seek a different way of resolving this. I only care that we carefully but efficiently come to a conclusion we can all accept.
