Newcomers Guide, FAQ, Constitution & Other Good Stuff

[RobWorham]

Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to the Civlization IV Single Player Democracy Game! If you're new to Democracy Games, this thread should tell you all you need to know to be able to play. Read this FAQ, read the extract of the Constitution below, or even the entire Constitution below that if you have the time and patience, join the CivGroup and start playing!


1. What is a Democracy Game?
A Democracy Game (DG) is a game is played by the entire community, either as an SP game with the whole community controlling the a single civ, or as an MP game with the community splitting up in teams which each control one civ. In this forum we're playing a Single Player Civilization IV Democracy game, or either Civ4 SPDG or C4DG SP for intimi.

The way it works is that the community elects a President from their midst, who actually physically plays the game, and a cabinet of Ministers, who are each responsible for making the decisions in their area (the Minister of the Interior controls cities, the Minister of Defence units, the Minister of Finances is responsible for the treasury, the Minster of State for diplomacy, religion and civics).

These ministers consult the community to make their decisions: they organise debates and start polls, though typically any member can start a discussion or poll on their own as well if they want. Using the British Parliamentary system as analogy, the community equates Parliament and community members are MPs.

Once enough instructions have been gathered the Ministers pass their orders to the President who then plays a few turns, usually while holding a chat session in the IRC room so people can provide live feedback on issues that come up during play. There's also a Court of Judges which maintains the Constitution (rules of how the government is organised, how decisions are made, etc), resolves conflicts and periodically organises elections.

There's often a some roleplaying involved in Democracy Games, though this is not required to participate. The exact rules of how this particular Democracy Game works, i.e. our Constitution, is listed below.


2. Who plays the game?
Technically, this is a single player game. Only one player gets to play the game physically: the President (elected every four weeks). Everyone can access his savegame but noone is allowed to "play ahead" on this savegame, meaning acting before the President actually does it on his own computer.

But the President will listen to the Ministers (also elected every four weeks) who give detailed orders for each turn. The Ministers will often consult the community via discusison and polls, but they are not necessarily required to follow the advise they get. If as a member of the Democracy Game you want to force the Ministers and President to follow certain guidelines, you can do so by starting a special Resolution poll. A Resolution poll has to have the word RESOLUTION in capital letters in the title of the thread, so everyone can recognize it easily, and has to expire in 3 days. If a resolution is passed, that is if within those 3 days more people vote in favour of it than against it, everyone in the game has to follow the rules set forth in the Resolution. The exact rules of Resolutions and other rules of the Democracy Game are set forth in the Constitution below.


3. What are the rules?
A Democracy Game is a game, and all games have rules. In case of a DG, these rules are called "the Constitution". The Constitution can be changed through Amendments, that is special polls that require a 2/3rd majority to pass. The rules of the Constitution are enforced by the Court, a group of Judges who have been elected for this purpose for a period of 3 months. If the rules are broken, the Court can punish offenders as it sees fit (but within the bounds set forth by the Constitution).


4. Can I form political parties?
In a Democracy, you can't hinder people who think the same to unite. So if you want to, you can start your own policial party, or join existing ones. If you want to start a new party, just post the new party's goals and policies, and (hopefully) people will join. It's not necessary to be part of a party though, you can remain independent as well.


5. How do I join this Democracy Game?
You must register yourself in the CivGroup for this Democracy Game. At the top of every page in this forum you see a section "CivGroups Civ4 SP Democracy Game ([some number]): Not a Member - Join". Click on Join and you're registered. It's also advised that you sign up in this thread. If you don't join officially, you won't be able to vote and other rights may also be restricted. If you do, you become a Citizen of our Democracy Game and can start voting, participating in our discussions or even nominate yourself for a government position. Welcome to the game!


6. What is involved in participating in this Democracy Game, what do I have to do for it?
You don't have to do anything. The least you can do is just vote in polls and express your views in the various discussions whenever you feel like it. If you want to, you can join a party, run for Judge or President, volunteer to write a news paper, or do all sorts of other things you might be interested in. But none of this is compulsory, you can spend as little or as much time on this Democracy Game as you want.


7. Do I have to own a copy of Civ4 to be able to play?
No, you don't. As long as you don't run for the office of President you can probably join without owning the game. You may not have the necessary knowledge to vote in some of the polls but you'll probably manage just fine hanging around as a Citizen and you may even be able to serve as Judge.


8. What settings is the game played on?

Game: Civilization 4 vanilla (no mods)

Leader: Catherine

Nation: Russia

Difficulty: Monarch

Barbarians: Raging Hordes

Number of Opponents: 9

Game Speed: Epic

Map Type: Ice Age Continents

Map Size: Large

Special Rules: None, standard Civ4 rules

Moderators: Metaliturtle, Paddy the Scot

[RobWorham]

NEWCOMER'S READ THIS FIRST

Welcome to Concordia from the President and all his happy citizens

First things first, please DO NOT post in this thread. If you would like to comment please use the following thread instead.

Newcomer's, FAQ and Constitution chat thread

If you have just arrived at the main Civ4-Single Player Democracy Game forum page it might all look a bit confusing. The aim of this article is to help you find your feet as soon as possible and point you in the right direction.

First things first, a brief note on terminology. You will find in this forum a number of threads (group discussions) each with a number of posts (individuals comments)

1. No doubt you'll have a few questions so the first place you should read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) below (post #4):

I would suggest reading the FAQ (post #4) and the Extract of the Constitution (post #5). If you found the extract interesting then you can go on to read the full constitution (post #6) or return to read it at a later date.

2. If you found the FAQ to your liking and would like to join in the fun please follow the instructions in remark #5 of the FAQ. This explains how to become a member of this forum and sign up to be a citizen.

3. For an excellent central area which you may well like to keep returning to please visit :

Term I Directory
Term II Directory
Term III Directory
Term IV Directory
Term V Directory
Term VI Directory in construction (Current Term)

These threads have a helpful directory style which have numerous links to the various things you can do in the game. They will point you in the right direction should you need to look at something quickly and will save you from having to search through the main forum page.

4.To see (in a very condensed form) what we have been up to since starting this game visit :

Historia Concordia (Work in progress)

5. You may also want to visit our (irregular) newspaper, 'The Apolytonian' for an alternative view of what has been going on in Concordia.

The Apolytonian

or if you would like a newsletter delivered to your email inbox then sign up at

Concordia Newsletter

6. If you want to find out when the next live game session is please read the topmost thread of the main forum page with a title similar to :

3160BC 4th Turn Chat Thread

It will not necessarily look exactly the same ( it will change after each live session we have ), but will look something like the above. You can also find the latest save in that thread. If you have Civ4 you can download this save and have a look at the current situation. Please remember NOT to play ahead of the save. You will also find a list of who is in what position in the government, so you know who to address if you would like to talk about a particular aspect of our nation.

7. Well that should be enough to get you going. Remember the C4DG SP Term Directories ( see #3 above ) are a very good central base from which to branch out to various aspects of the game.

Everyone at Concordia hopes you have a fun and rewarding experience, whether you are just a passive observer (lurker), or whether you rise to become the President of Concordia and take Concordia to new heights!

[RobWorham]

THE BASICS.....

OK, so you've registered, become a citizen, and had a look around, what now?

Well assuming you don't want to just lurk around and watch other people have all the fun, this post will show you how to exercise your various options on the forum e.g. Post replies, send a private message, join up for a live chat session.......

1.POSTING REPLIES – If you want to make a public reply to a thread you need to 'post' your reply. You have two options here, either :

A. click the 'POST REPLY' button just under the bottom right hand corner of the last post in the thread or at the bottom of the screen. You my have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen if it is a popular thread. This will take you to a new screen where you can type your reply in the 'YOUR REPLY' window. Feel free to add 'smilies' if you feel the desire or to set the tone for you reply. Once you are happy with your reply click the 'SUBMIT REPLY' button a bit below your text entry, to post your reply and return to the last entry of this thread, or, click the 'SUBMIT REPLY (RETURN TO FORUM) to post your reply and return to main forum page. Or

B. enter your text in the 'POST QUICK REPLY' window at the bottom of the screen. You may have to scroll down to get the bottom of the screen if it is a popular thread. Once you are happy with your reply click the 'SUBMIT REPLY' button just below your text entry to post your reply and return to the last entry of this thread, or, click the 'SUBMIT REPLY (RETURN TO FORUM) to post your reply and return to main forum page.


2.SEND A PRIVATE MESSAGE – If you want to make a private reply to one person in particular you need to send a private message. Easiest way to do this is :

Click on the 'PM' or PM icon which is located at the top of each post. This will open up a new screen similar to the post reply screen discussed earlier. Once again, type in your message in the 'YOUR MESSAGE' window and when happy click the 'SEND MESSAGE' button just below your text. This will send your message to that person only and return you to your private messages inbox. To get back to main forum page, go to the bottom of the screen, to the left hand side of which is a FORUM JUMP box. Click on the down arrow to the right of the box and select (you may need to scroll down) Civ4-Single Player Democracy Game. You will now go back to the main forum page.


3.VOTE IN A POLL – From time to time a special type of thread called a poll will be submitted. This is where you get to influence the destiny of Concordia, even if you can't attend the live chat sessions. You don't have to vote, but if you don't you shouldn't complain if things happen that you don't like. Polls will always be marked in the main forum page something like :

'Poll : What shall we vote on today? (or some such title)'

Enter the thread in the normal way and you will find at the top of the thread a list of possible options for you to enter as your vote. Below this may be a series of posts from other people discussing the voting options or giving their opinions. After you have read the posts (if you want) and thought carefully about your vote (advisable), click on the option you wish to choose ( some polls allow you to select multiple options, others just one ) and click 'VOTE' . The screen will refresh showing you the results of the vote so far. Once you have voted you can't vote on this poll again so choose carefully! You can also submit a post either before you vote to seek clarification on an issue or state an opinion, and/or after your vote to declare your vote choice or to make a comment.....


4. JOIN AN IRC LIVE CHAT SESSION – If you want to join in a live chat session when the game is being played you need to meet up in our IRC chatroom. First make sure you check what time the chat is scheduled for. This is usually posted in a thread called something like this :

3160bc 4th Turn Chat Thread - time announced in post #28

All times for chats will be posted in GMT/Zulu Time, as well as from various other time zones around the world. You can always check out what time it will be for you at The World Clock - Time Zones at:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Then you need to download the small piece of software to enable you to get to the chatroom. This is called mIRC ( IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a virtual meeting place where people from all over the world can meet and talk, and in our case discuss various aspects of the game while it is being played by the President, vote for actions, and generally have a good time! ) To get the software and set it up please follow the following brief instructions.

1) Go to http://www.mirc.com and download mIRC if you dont have it, and install it
2) click on the options button (second from left)
3) click on "Add" button
4) enter the following in the fields
Description: Apolyton
IRC Server: apolyton.net
Port: 6667

and then click on "Add"
4) Fill in the fields: Real Name, E-mail, Nickname, Alternate(in case the first nick is taken) and press "Connect!"
5) mIRC will connect you to the server and the Channels Folder will appear. Type #Apolyton, press "Add" to store it, and then press "Join".
You're in!

we meet in room: #C4DG

If you would like more detailed instructions then please visit :

http://www.mirc.com/install.html

and enter the criteria detailed above!

Well that about shows you how to do the basics of this forum and game. You should now be able to do all the things necessary to participate in the game at it's most basic level. Have fun and further the greater glory of Concordia!

[RobWorham]

..... AND ALL THAT JAZZ!

Right then, you should now have a working knowledge of how to get around the forum and do the basics; so what's next? Well, in this post I'm going to attempt to point you in the right direction to allow you to customise your online presence. There's lots you can tweak so I'm only going to show you which areas to visit to do the various things, after that it will be a case of trial and error. Don't worry though, you can't do that much damage (famous last words) !

CONTROL PANEL
OK, this is the front door to your own little bit of Apolyton. From here you can fine tune things to your hearts content. You can find the control panel by clicking on it near the top of every forum page, just under the big Apolyton sign. Clicking on this will take you to -

My vB Home
This is, for all intents and purposes, your Apolyton home page. In this page you can see -
- which of your buddies are online or offline.
- if you have any new private messages (pm).
- which forums you are subscribed to.
- which threads you have subscribed to and whether they have new posts.
- any notes you have in your notepad

At the top, just above your buddy list are nine tabs running across the page. In order, from left to right, they are -

My vB Home - You're there right now!
Edit Profile - This is where you can change various things about yourself.
Edit Options - This is where you can change the way the forum looks.
Edit Photo - This is where you can upload a photo of yourself so everyone can see who they're talking to.
Change Password - Guess what !
Edit Buddy List - This is where you can add (or delete) people to/from your buddy list.
Edit Ignore List - This is where you can add (or delete) people to/from your ignore list.
Private Messaging - This is where you can view your private messages.
My Notepad - This is where you can leave yourself messages so you need never forget anything again!

For all the following pages please remember to click Submit Modifications when you are happy with your changes.

Edit Profile
In this page you can -
- add entries for the various ways other people can get in touch with you.
- add a signature to the bottom of all your posts. A signature can be many things. It can be a witty comment, a thoughful one, a quote, a title you have gained while playing Civilization, or anything else you want.
- add your birthday so people can see when to wish you happy birthday.
- select which country you are from so people can see where in the world you are hunched over your keyboard.
- add some background information about yourself so people can get to know a bit about you.

Edit Options
In this page you can -
- change the colour scheme of the forum pages to suite your tastes and eyes.
- do a variety of things relateing to your privacy at Apolyton.
- do a range of things which change the way you are notified of posts and private messages.
- do a variety of things which change the way the threads and posts are displayed.
- do a range of things which change the way the time and date are displayed including changing your current time zone.
- select your own Avatar (A small image which you think best represents you)

Edit Photo
In this page you can -
- upload a photo of yourself. To do this click the browse button and search your hard drive for a suitable image.
- add a comment to accompany the photo.

Change Password
If remembering your password is proving to be too difficult you can change it right here to something more memorable.

Edit Buddy List
Once you have been participating in the forum for a while you will no doubt make some friends. You can either add them to your list by typing their username in the space provided or searching for them from the list of Apolyton users.

Edit Ignore List
Hopefully you will never need to use this page, but if there is somebody you would rather not read posts from then you can add their name to your ignore list.

Private Messaging
In this page you can -
- view you private message Inbox
- view your private message Sent items
- view a message tracking page which shows the status of your private massages, which have been read, and which haven't.

My Notepad
In this page you can write yourself up to ten notes, long or short, about whatever you want. If you've hung around the forums one long night too many this is where you can help your failing memory!

Right then, you should now be able to tweak all sorts of options to tailor the Apolyton forums to your every need and desire! Have fun!

[RobWorham]

OK, you now know how to take an active roll in this, and other forums, so this post will point you in the right direction should you wish to learn about what we, the citizens of Concordia, have done so far.

Term I

Term I Directory. A thread with links to all aspects relating to Term I.
Term I Turn Reports (Posts 1-8). A thread with highly condensed information regarding each turn played in Term I.

Term II

Term II Directory
Term II Turn Reports (Posts 9-44)

Term III

Term III Directory
Term III Turn Reports (Posts 45-150)

Term IV

Term IV Directory
Term IV Turn Reports (Posts 151-211)

Term V

Term V Directory
Term V Turn Reports (Posts 212-255)

Term VI ( Current Term )

Term VI Directory under construction........
Term VI Turn Reports (Posts 256-???)


If you have any comments or suggestions please post them at

Newcomer's, FAQ and Constitution chat thread

I hope you found these posts useful.

Cheers,

Rob

[Locutus]

Extract of the Constitution
No rights can be derived from this extract, check the full Constitution for that. But this should be accurate enough for daily use.

Article I: Bill of Rights
- Anyone can join the DG.
- Anyone can vote and join discussions; votes are private.
- The Court may punish rule breakers, but they may not permanently ban people from playing.
- The savegame is available to all, but playing ahead or cheating is forbidden.

Article II: Executive Branch
- There is a 1 Month term for all Ministers and President.
- The President phyically plays the game and is in charge of naming stuff.
- Vice President is appointed by President, may be replaced mid-term (anyone but a Judge can be Vice President, including other Ministers).
- Minister of State is responsible for Diplomacy, Religion, Civics, Great People
- Minister of Finances is responsible for Finances and Science.
- Minister of the Interior is responsible for all city management, Settlers and Workers.
- Minister of Defense is responsible for all military units, Spies and war strategy.

Article III: Judicial Branch
- There is a Court of 3 Judges.
- Judges serve for 3 months, the Judge in his final month is Senior Justice.
- The Court organises elections, enforces the Constitution, solves disputes.
- The Court may rule on cases immediately if the decision is unanimous. A hearing is held if the Court is not uninanimous or if anyone objects to the Court's decision.
- Court decisions cannot be appealed after a hearing has been held.
- The Court can hand out punishments. The Court has the power to force ministers to step down.

Article IV: Polling Rules
- There are 3 types of official polls: Election, Resolution, Amendment.
- Most official polls may be multiple-choice but not multiple-selection (called multiple-choice in vBB).
- Elections elect government officials. 50% majority required to win. See Article V for details. Only Judges can start election polls.
- Amendments amend the Constitution. 2/3rd majority required to pass. Anyone can start Amendment polls, they must be open for 5 days and include AMENDMENT in capital letters in the title. They have to be Yes/No polls, multiple choice polls are not allowed.
- Resolutions must be obeyed by all, Ministers/Presidents/Judges may not ignore them. 50% majority required to pass. Anyone can start Resolution polls, they have to be open for 3 days and include RESOLUTION in capital letters in the title.
- Any poll not labeled Resolution may be ignored by Ministers/President, it can be used for information gathering but if they deem the outcome undesirable they may ignore it. Resolutions may NOT be ignored.
- The Court may close polls it deems unconstitutional (i.e. not a valid Election, Amendment or Resolution) if it wants.

Article V: Government Changes
- The Court starts elections in time for the start of the new term.
- Nominations open for 5 days, followed by elections, also open for 5 days.
- People can only run for 1 office at a time. There are no term limits on any office.
- If there are no candidates for an office, nominations are extended until there is one. Meanwhile the previous officer in that office stays in power to keep the game going.
- If there are more than 2 candidates and noone gets more than 50% of the vote, a run-off poll will be held between the two most popular candidates.
- When there's a tie in an election with 2 participants (whether regular or run-off), the new President has the deciding vote. When there's a tie for the office of President, the Court has the deciding vote.
- When there's only a single candidate and (s)he's rejected, the new President appoints someone to the position in question. When the only Presidential candidate is rejected, the Court appoints a new President.
- Any government official can be forced to resign through a special Resolution poll that requires a 2/3rd majority. If passed, the President appoints a replacement. If the President is impeached, the Court appoints a new President.
- Anyone can always resign voluntarily. The President appoints a replacement. If the President steps down, the Vice President takes over.

[Locutus]

Constitution



Article I: Bill of Rights

1. Any person who has registered to participate in this Democracy Game in the Civ4 Democracy Game CivGroup is considered a Citizen. No person shall be denied the right to become a Citizen.

2. No Citizen shall ever be in any poll denied the right to vote and to keep this vote private. No Citizen shall ever be forced to vote in any poll.

3. Freedom of speech and the right to associate into any form of organization shall not be denied, unless it violates Apolyton rules.

4. No citizen may be punished in any way without the consent of the Court. No one shall be banned permanently from participating in the Democracy Game, excluding those who are permanently banned from Apolyton. Citizens may still be banned for any amount of time, as long as it is not permanent.

5. The government may not knowingly hide information or give false information to the people. All citizens shall have access to the saved games. However, no Citizen shall ever 'play ahead' or otherwise 'cheat'.


Article II: Executive Branch

1. General Contents

(a) The members of the Executive Branch are called Ministers and the positions in the Exective Branch are called ministerial offices or executive offices.
(b) Any Citizen can become a candidate for an executive office by expressing his/her desire to in the thread started by the Court as described in Article V, section 1.
(c) An elected Minister is charged with the duties explained in this Section 2 of this Article until the end of his/her term, which lasts 1 month, or until (s)he resigns.
(d) The length of a term in paragrah 1(c) only applies to regular terms. The replacement for a resigned Minister shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor served.

2. Government Positions

I. The President
(a) The President shall physically play the game on a regular and scheduled basis whenever possible and post the save and a complete report of the game events to the forum. (S)he is encouraged to use turnchats, turnthreads, or any other similar method while playing the game.
(b) The President must follow the instructions of the Court and all passed Resolutions while playing the game and is encouraged but not required to follow the advice of the Ministers.
(c) The President is responsible for the (re)naming of all nameable items (cities, units, map locations) in the game. A name may be changed by the Citizens through a Resolution (Article IV, Subsection 3-II), after which it may no longer be renamed by any President without support from another Resolution.

II The Vice President
(a) The Vice President may replace the President and perform any or all of his/her duties at any time.
(b) The Vice President is subordinate to the President and the President may overrule any decision by the Vice President.
(b) The President shall appoint a Vice President at the start of his term and the Vice President may be replaced by the President at any point during his/her term, which should be announced pubically. Any Citizen except members of the Court may become Vice President.

III. The Minister of State
(a) The Minister of State is responsible for all diplomatic contact with other civilizations, including treaties, trades, gifts and tribute. The decision to go to war has to be evaluated by the Citizens through a Resolution (Article IV, Subsection 3-II).
(b) The Minister of State is responsible for choosing state religion, what civics to adopt and how to use great people.

IV. The Minister of Finances
(a) The Minister of Finances is responsible for the treasury and tax sliders. Decisions directly affecting the treasury such as gold rushing, spy actions and diplomactic gifts or tribute should have the Minister of Finances's approval.
(b) The Minister of Finances is responsible for all research.

V. The Minister of the Interior
(a) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is responsible for managing all cities. This includes their distribution of specialists and worked tiles, production queues, rushing production and the disbanding/razing of cities.
(b) The Minister of Domestic Affairs is responsible for managing all Workers and Settlers, for deciding where to found cities and what tiles to improve.
(c) The action of rushing with gold can only be perfomed with the Minister of Finances's approval.

VI. The Minister of Defense
(a) The Minister of Defense is responsible for all military units and their orders, for exploration, war strategy and espionage.
(b) Any action which would result in a declaration of war has to be evaluated by the Citizens through a Resolution (Article IV, Subsection 3-II).


Article III: Judicial Branch

1. Purpose:

The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of Resolutions and Elections, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game. The Court also organises Elections and maintains the Constitution.

2. Construct of the Court

(a) The Court is composed of 3 Judges who each serve a three month term of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a Judge may serve.
(b) Any Citizen can become a candidate for a judicial office by expressing his/her desire to in the thread started by the Court as described in Article V, section 1.
(c) Each Judge is elected by the Citizens in a separate Election poll. Every month one of the Judge positions shall be open for Election. This position shall be the one of the Judge who has reached the end of his term.
(d) When the Election of new a Judge position starts, the Judge who enters the last month of his/her term becomes the Senior Justice.
(e) An elected Judge shall serve in the Court for the duration of her/his term or until (s)he resigns. The length of a term in paragraph 1(a) only applies to regular terms. The replacement for a resigned Judge shall serve for the remainder of the term that their predecessor served.
(f) A Judge may not serve in other governmental posts.

3. Cases

(a) The Court can only rule on cases publicly filed by any Citizen, including Judges. Cases must involve a dispute that the Court is empowered to rule upon.
(b) The Senior Justice will either accept or deny the case. This decision cannot be appealed. If the case is denied, the Senior Justice will inform the filer of the case, explaining the reason for the denial.
(c) The Court may make an immediate ruling without the use of a public hearing if all the Judges unanimously agree with the ruling. If the ruling is not unanimous or if anyone objects to the decision, a public hearing will commence to discuss the case.
(d) When a public hearing is commenced, the Court will open a discussion thread with a description of the case. This thread will be remain open for at least 72 hours (three days). This may be extended by the Court for as long as the Court deems necessary.
(e) When a public hearing is closed, the Senior Justice will organize the Court's ruling. Any ruling is immediately official and final as soon as two Judges have voted in favour of it. This ruling cannot be appealed.

4. Rights and responsibilities

(a) The Court may make its own rules of procedure and enforce them upon Citizens who are before it, so long as such rules are in accordance with the Constitution.
(b) If the Court rules that the actions of certain Citizens are in violation with the Constitution or other rules of the Democracy Game, it may hand out punishments fitting the crime if it deems this appropriate. However, no punishments may permanently affect a Citizen's participation in the Democracy Game and may not alter the Constitution. Active members of government may be dismissed. The President shall appoint a replacement for the office in question for the remainder of the term. If the President is dismissed, the Court shall appoint a replacement.
(c) The Court is empowered to declare Resolutions or Elections void, to close threads or polls or to delete or editing posts or threads.
(d) Any action or ruling by the Court which requires action from a Democracy Game or Apolyton moderator must have the approval of this moderator, who shall offer an explanation to the Court if approval is not given.
(e) The Court is responsible for organizing Elections, as described in Article V.


Article IV: Polling Rules

1. Definition and validity:

(a) Ministers are encouraged to make use polls in their decision making, in which Citizens can express their opinion on issues. A poll is the standard vBB poll feature in which people can anonymously vote for one of a list of options. Any Citizen may start polls to affect the decisions of a minister.
(b) There are 3 types of polls: Elections, Resolutions and Amendments.
(c) The Court has the right to rule over the validity of polls. A Poll that violates any of the rules specified in this Article is considered invalid. Invalid polls may still be used for information gathering and can as such be tolerated, but the Court is empowered to close any invalid poll if it deems this desirable.

2. Poll Organization:

(a) The first post of all polls must contain the following elements:
* A clear and unbiased explanation of the question and the answers, if needed;
* Expiration date, if applicable;
* Links to related threads or other information sources, if any;
* Type (see Section 3) of the poll
(b) Two types of poll organization are allowed: Yes/No polls and multiple choice polls.
(c) Yes/No polls must have three options of which only one can be chosen. The three options must be:
* Yes, meaning that the voter agrees with what was stated in the poll;
* No, meaning that the voter does not agree with what was stated in the poll;
* Abstain or Banana, meaning that the voter does not have a specific opinion on what was stated in the poll or does not wish to express it. Abstain votes may not be considered to say anything about what was stated in the poll.
(d) Alternative terms for 'Yes' and 'No' may be used in a Yes/No poll, as long as their meaning is along the same lines as 'Yes' and 'No' (examples: 'I agree'/'I don't agree' or 'In favour'/'Against'). Terms are along the same lines as 'Yes' and 'No' when the question in the poll can be rephrased so that it can be answered with 'Yes' or 'No'.
(e) Multiple choice polls must have at least three options, including an Abstain option as defined in paragraph 2(c). All other options are open for the poll creator to fill in as (s)he wishes, as long as they are clear and unbiased.
(f) All polls must allow only a single option to be chosen. Multiple selection polls (which are described in the vBB poll system as 'multiple choice') will be considered invalid.

3. Poll Types:

I. Election polls:
(a) These polls may only be started by the Court. They serve to elect the persons who will fulfill the official positions of the executive and judicial branches of the government, as defined in Article II and Article III.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'ELECTION', written in capital letters, and the name of the office for which the Election is held.
(c) They have to be multiple choice polls with only the names of the candidates as options, unless there is only one candidate. See Article V Section I.
(d) Election polls in accordance with Article V Section 1 shall expire in 120 hours (5 days) and the Court must include the expiration time in the first post of the poll.

II. Resolutions:
(a) These polls can be started by any Citizen, including members of the government, and must be used to propose Resolutions. Resolutions, if passed, affect the course of the game or the policy of the executive branch of the government (as defined in Article II). Ministers, Judges and all other Citizens are required to follow the outcome of passed Resolutions.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'RESOLUTION', written in capital letters.
(c) Resolution polls may be either Yes/No or multiple choice polls.
(d) Resolutions may not violate or amend the Constitution. Resolutions may change, amend or overrule any existing Resolutions or judicial decisions regarding Resolutions.
(e) If there are more votes in favour of one option than any other and the Court does not declare the poll invalid, then the Resolution is considered passed. All Citizens must from that time on obey it.
(f) The Court will resolve all conflicts of Resolutions. The Court’s ruling on an interpretation of a Resolution is of the same power and authority as that Resolution.
(g) Resolution polls shall expire in 72 hours (three days) and the Citizen who started the poll must include the expiring day in its first post.

III. Amendments:
(a) These polls can be started by any Citizen, including members of the government, and must be used to propose Amendments to the Constitution.
(b) The subject line must contain the word 'AMENDMENT', written in capital letters.
(c) They have to be Yes/No polls. Multiple choice polls are not allowed as Amendments.
(d) Amendments may change/append/override any existing Laws, judicial decisions regarding Laws or any part of the Constitution.
(e) If more than 2/3 of the votes are in favour of the proposed Amendment and the Court does not declare the poll invalid, then the Amendment is considered passed. All Citizens must from that time on obey it.
(f) Amendment polls shall expire in 120 hours (five days) and the Citizen who started the poll must include the expiring day in its first post.


Article V: Government Changes

1. Elections.

(a) The Court is responsible for overseeing all Elections and is empowered to resolve any Election disputes according to the rules in this Constitution.
(b) The election process must be initiated by the Court before the end of any government position's term. The previous officer will remain in office until the end of the term or until a new candidate is elected, whichever is later.
(c) At the start of the election process, the Court must start a nomination thread. All citizens who wish to be candidates for an office must themselves publicly express their nomination in this thread. For this they have 120 hours (5 days).
(d) Citizens can only nominate themselves, a Citizen cannot be nominated for any position by someone else without their consent.
(e) No citizen may be a candidate for an elected office if such candidacy might cause this citizen to be in more than one elected office simultaneously.
(f) If no candidate is nominated for a position the Court shall extend the nomination for that position for as long as the Court deems necessary.
(g) Once the nomination period has expired, the Court will create an Election poll (see Article IV, Subsection 3-I) for the office, with the names of the candidates as options. If only one candidate is available, a Yes/No poll shall be held to decide if this person may serve in this office. These polls shall expire in 120 hours (five days).
(h) If a candidate has received more than 50% of the votes when the Election expires will be declared the new holder of the office for which he was a candidate.
(i) In case of a tied Election between exactly two candidates (whether a regular Election or a Run Off Election) for any other post than that of President, the President shall have the deciding vote. In case this occurs for the post of President, the Court (including the newly elected Judge if his/her Election was not tied, the outgoing Judge otherwise) shall have the deciding vote instead.
(j) In case there is only a single candidate for any post other than that of President and (s)he is rejected by more than 50% of the voters, the President may appoint someone to the office in question. In case this happens for the office of President, the Court shall reopen nominations and the Election process for that position shall restart.
(m) In the case no candidate gets a majority of voters, the Court shall hold a run off election which shall consist of the top two candidates in the original election poll, this poll shall last for 72 hours (three days), the candidate with the majority of votes in this poll shall be declared the new holder of the office for which he was a candidate.

2. Resignation

(a) Any officer may announce his/her desire to resign at any time.
(b) When this happens for any other position of that of President, the President shall appoint a replacement.
(c) When this happens for the office of President, the Vice President shall become the President and will appoint a new Vice President.
(d) When the President and Vice President both resign simultaneously without appointing a replacement, the Court shall appoint a new President. It is at the Court's discretion what procedure to use for this.

3. Impeachment

(a) Any Citizen may start a Resolution requesting any government official to step down. If 2/3 of the votes are in favour and the Court does not declare it invalid, the official must step down.
(b) When this happens for any position other than that of President, the President shall appoint a replacement.
(c) When this happens for the office of President, the Court shall appoint a new President. It is at the Court's discretion what procedure to use for this.

[Locutus]

Passed Constitutional Amendments


Amendment I
Run-off elections in case there is not a 50% majority for any one candidate in an election with more than two.

Add to Article 5, section 1:

(m) In the case no candidate gets a majority of voters, the Court shall hold a run off election which shall consist of the top two candidates in the original election poll, this poll shall last for 72 hours (three days), the candidate with the majority of votes in this poll shall be declared the new holder of the office for which he was a candidate.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=151384

Amendment II
Complete revision for typos, grammar fixes, stylistic changes, etc, aimed at reduciing ambiguity. See link for exact list of changes (long).

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152182

[Paddy]

if you would like to chat about this thread, please follow this link to the chat thread.

Newcomers, FAQ and Constitution Chat Thread

thank you

[MMC]

Timezone Matching

I'm fed up with arguing with people over what time is GMT and how many hours different they are. Therefore I have decided to provide a simple link. Coming straight from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (the home of GMT) is the following page which will display the time both in GMT and in your local timezone. It will work out your timezone based on your Windoze clock, SO DON'T BLAME ME IF IT GETS YOUR TIMEZONE WRONG!

Ok... now I've got that off my chest, here's the link:

http://ntp.greenwichmeantime.com/time/scripts/clock-6-1/clock.php?tzone_choice=main_large

PS: Mods please sticky

[RobWorham]

Nice link MMC!!!

I think the problem also gets confused by the time settings on Apolyton being innacurate. To get an accurate time for my posts I have to select :

GMT+11 : Magadan, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia

Which would be nice and tropical, but definately isn't good old NZ!!!

[fed1943]

Nice link, thanks.

(If not asking too much, it would also be usefull to know other people'

hours).

Best regards,

[tism]

Will be there for the start but wont be able to hang around long


he he, sorry posted in wrong thread. my bad

[Zoid]

[Zoid]

How to register your nick in mIRC

By request of our Lord Minister Paddy, here´s how you register with NickServ. It´s useful when you want your OP-status to come automatically

Note that ( ) shall not be included in the actual command. Note also that you have to already be an OP for this to work. otherwise it´ll just remember your nick (which might be useful on an open channel, but not here...)

1) In the system window (the first window you get upon opening mIRC, ie not the channel window) Type:

/msg nickserv register (e-mail adress) (password)

f. ex. /msg nickserv register aardvark@banana.com qwerty

2) Wait for the e-mail sent to you by NickServ, it contains an activation code.

3) To authorize your status type the following in the system window

/msg NickServ AUTH (code)

4) mIRC will now say something like "You´re now authorized". Log off and on again. You will now be prompted to enter your password. Type (still in the system window):

/msg nickserv identify (password)

5) That´s it! Note that you have to do this every time you log on to mIRC.