Constitution

[Drogue]

Here is the Constitution I have written. Please reply with any changes you would like to make, whether you think it is good, general comments, etc.

Hope you like:

The Constitution of the Cybernetic Consciousness

Article 1: Government Structure

Be it hereby acknowledged that this structure has been duly authorised by poll, and was unanimously accepted (by a 5 to 0 vote), but the details have still to be polled.


Turn Player

The Turn Player is the Function who plays the turn, usually the Prime Function, but when he is absent, it falls to the Second Function, The Internal Affairs Function, The External Affairs Function, and then any other Function in turn.

The Turn Player has the right to:

• Approve orders given by an Official that have not been ratified by popular poll or by the Prime Function: Every unpolled order has to be approved by the Turn player, unless the official in question and the Prime Function have ordered something to be done in his absence.
• Act in the absence of orders: If an action must be taken, and it is a choice between 2 actions, with no poll or orders being present, the Turn Player may decide.
• Act in an emergency in the best interests of the faction. If the situation changes unexpectedly and action is needed, the Turn Player is authorised to take any action he deems to be necessary. He should try to discuss with another Function, but should this not prove possible, he may take action alone.

The Turn Player has the responsibility to:

• Post a turn report: The turn report should include screenshots and a presend* save file link, unless an explanation posted is to why it does not. Turn Reports should be posted in the Turn Report Thread
• Read the Orders and Prime Functions Office thread before playing the turn.
• Explain any unauthorised actions: The Turn Player must explain in the Turn Report any unpolled actions (that he did not have the authorisation to make), or actions that go against orders, including, but not limited to, those resulting from emergencies.

Prime Function

The Prime Function is the nominal leader of the faction.

The Prime Function has the right to:

• Be, or designate, the Turn Player: The Prime Function plays the turn unless either he has authorised someone else to do so, or unless at least 24 hours have passed since the save file was posted without an explanation for the delay. After 24 hours, the Second Function is authorised to play. At 36 hours, any Function is authorised to play. The Function playing the turn is the Turn Player, and gains all rights and responsibilities that goes with that title. To designate a Turn Player other than the Second Function needs the Second Functions approval, or for the Second Function to be absent.
• Act in the absence of orders: If an action must be taken, and it is a choice between 2 actions, with no poll or orders being present, the Prime Function may decide.
• Act in an emergency in the best interests of the faction. If the situation changes unexpectedly and action is needed, the Prime Function is authorised to take any action he deems to be necessary. He should try to discuss with another Function, but should this not prove possible, he may take action alone.
• Discuss diplomacy with other factions: Although this falls to the External Affairs Function too, the Prime Function can debate and discuss foreign affairs with other factions representatives. All deals have to be ratified by poll too (see Article 100: What Must be Polled for details).
• Overrule an official's order: The Prime Function can overrule an unpolled order given by an official, however if the Prime Function acts in opposition to an official order, then he must explain his actions, and the matter should be settled finally with a poll.
• Post the government for that term on the 1st of every month.
• Advise, and on occasions act for, any other part of the government, where it is deemed necessary: Such actions must be explained.

The Prime Function has the responsibility to:

• Play the turn, or designate another Function to do so: The Prime Function must either play the turn, or explain why he was unable to. He should preferably give forewarning so that another Turn Player can be found, however post-event excuses will be acceptable where needed. In the event of a Turn Player not being designated, the Second Function assumes this role, and can play or designate, with the consent of the designating Function.
• Discuss with and delegate to officials: The Prime Function should discuss his actions with the respective official wherever possible, and should not overrule said official without good cause and reason (which must be explained). The Prime Function should respect the wishes of officials.
• Obey the will of the people: If the people have voted, their wishes must be respected and used, unless the Prime Function argues that the situation has changed sufficiently for the poll to be declared out-of-date.

Where there seems to be some overlap between the Turn player and the Prime Function, this is due to practicalities. If the Prime Function is not the Turn Player for some reason, but is active and available, he has the right to decide, and anything undecided falls to the Turn Player during turnplay. If the Prime Function is absent it falls to the Turn Player (usually the Second Function. If not, the same thing applies again).


Second Function

The Second Function is the nominal second in command of the faction.

The Second Function has the right to:

• Assume the rights and responsibilities of the Prime Function, or any other official that is absent: However the Second Function must be authorised by the Prime Function, or wait 24 hours after the save file has been posted before becoming the Turn Player.
• Act in an emergency in the best interests of the faction. If the situation changes unexpectedly and action is needed, the Second Function is authorised to take any action he deems to be necessary. He should try to discuss with another Function, but should this not prove possible, he may take action alone.
• Ask an official to reconsider: Although he does not have as much rights with this as the Prime Function, and cannot directly overrule, he can ask an official to rethink, and can officially ask the Prime Function to overrule. He has a similar, but somewhat less powerful right than the Prime Function.
• Advise the Prime Function.
• Order Social Engineering Changes: All SE changes must be polled and ratified by the people.

The Second Function has the responsibility to:

• Poll for Social Engineering Changes
• Start Nominations and Elections: Nominations should be posted on the 20th of every month, and elections, where needed, on the 27th of every month, lasting for 3 days (for details see Article 10: Government Policy).
• Be the Turn Player when the Prime Function is unavailable, or designate a replacement.
• Be, or designate, a replacement for any elected official

Internal Affairs Function

The Internal Affairs Function is the Function in charge of all home affairs.

The Internal Affairs Function has the right to:

• Order the movement and actions of all formers, crawlers and colony pods: Certain actions will need to be polled, such as the use of certain terraforming techniques, and base locations.
• Order the spending of energy credits.
• Order the renaming of bases.
• Order build queues

The Internal Affairs Function has the responsibility to:

• Poll for base names, base locations, rushing, selling, and any other major internal action, including polling build queues where necessary.
• Give orders to the Turn Player

External Affairs Function

The External Affairs Function is the Function in charge of all foreign affairs.

The External Affairs Function has the right to:

• Discuss diplomacy with other factions: The External Affairs Function is responsible for debating and discussing foreign affairs with other factions representatives. All deals have to be ratified by poll (see Article 11: What Needs to be Polled for details).
• Order the movement and actions of all military units, including covert-ops units: Certain actions will need to be polled.
• Order the prototyping, disbanding and upgrading of military units.
• Request that the Internal Affairs Function, or the Prime Function if needs be, builds a military unit.

The External Affairs Function has the responsibility to:

• Poll for any major activities (See Article 100: What Must be Polled for details).
• Give orders to the Turn Player

Article 10: Government Policy

Amendments
Amendments to the Constitution can be submitted by any Function. An amendment is passed and made official by a 2/3 or greater vote on the amendment's inclusion.

Elections and Office Terms
All office terms shall last one month, starting on the 1st of every month. Nominations will start on the 20th of every month, and be up for one week. If any positions are uncontested, that nominee is automatically elected. If any positions are contested, elections will be posted on the 27th of each month, and will last for 3 days. The new government will be sworn in on the 1st of each month, and the government thread will be posted by the incoming Prime Function, to show that he has accepted his role as leader of the faction.

Playing Ahead and Retro-Playing
No person is allowed to play ahead for any reason, nor to re-open an old turn and move units in a different direction than originally moved in the turn.

Impeachment and Resignations
Every Function has the right to bring foreword the issue of impeachment of any government official at any time. The constitutional court will look at the demand and determine if an impeachment progress has to be started within 48 hours of the impeachment demand.

In the event of a successful impeachment or resignation the Second Function takes his place until a new election can be held.

Base Names
All base names are polled. There is a base name thread that is updated with all suggested names. The base name poll will be multiple choice, with a maximum of 5 choices per candidate. At each poll, up to 3 options are chosen. All names chosen must be in the top 3 and have more than 3 votes each, or be the top choice if none have more than 3 votes. All names that get 2 or more votes but are not chosen will be used in the next poll. If there is a tie for the top 3, the Internal Affairs Function may pick the 3.

Article 11: Polls

There will be 4 types of polls:

• Elections
• Amendments
• Impeachment
• Decision making

Elections

May only be started by the Second Function. Must have election
in the subject line.

Poll:

• Only names office in question and candidates, plus
• Abstain and write-in options
• Lasts 3 days

First post:

• Names candidates
• Expire date

Amendments

May be started by anyone. Must have amendment in the subject line. Needs 2/3 Yea vote to pass.

Poll:

• Yea, Nay, and Abstain options
• Lasts 3 days

First post:

• Quotes amendment to be ratified
• Link to discussion thread
• Expire date

Impeachment

May only be started by elected officials. Needs 2/3 Yea vote to pass.

Poll: [*]Yea, Nay and Abstain options[*]Lasts 3 days[/list]
First post:

• The unbiased reason why the person in question could be impeached
• The job of the person in question
• Expire date

Decision Making

May only be started by elected officials, preferably the official who’s department it is, if not the Prime or Second Function. Must be used to decide certain major decisions.

Poll:

• Choices plus Abstain and write-in options.
• Lasts between 2 and 7 days

First post:

• Further explanation of the questions and answers
• Link to discussion thread
• Expire date

Instead of Abstain, the words Banana, Cybobanana, Cyberbanana and any obvious permutation of these may be used. This represents a ‘split’ vote between the options on offer.

Article 100: What Must be Polled?

Decisions are to be split into 3 distinct categories: major, minor and every-day. All major decisions mush to be polled directly, in a decision making poll, unless it is an emergency. Directly means it has to be polled for each and every time it is needed. For example a Pact with another faction. All blanket decisions must be polled, but can be polled indirectly. Indirectly means there can be one poll to decide if the faction thinks it is a good idea. For example a poll to determine if the Internal Affairs Function can borehole an area, but not needing to poll for each and every one, or poll for every new base to have a set build queue to start with. Every-day decisions do not need to be polled, such as general terraforming and troop movements. If an order has been ratified by the Prime Function, the Turn Player, and the director in question, and needs to be taken quickly, then a poll is not necessary, but a plebiscite can be used after the event. Instead of a poll, if people have made their opinions known in threads that can count pari pasu as an opinion gathering exercise.

These 3 categories are defined here:

Major Decisions

• Pact, Treaty, Truce or Vendetta and any other diplomatic agreements that have not been covered under an indirect poll
• Base names and locations
• Research discovery
• Social Engineering changes
• Constitutional changes
• All specific changes to blanket polls.

Blanket Decisions

• Standard tech trades, if we agree which techs we are willing to trade with each faction
• Build queues
• Advanced terraforming (Boreholes, condensers, echelon mirrors, raising, levelling and lowering terrain and destroying enhancements that are already there)
• Crawler use
• Military strategies, such as general ones about troop destinations.

Minor Decisions

• All other decisions, such as normal terraforming, troop movements and crawler placements.

We want to keep everyone involved indecisions, but we also need to go with our factional advantage of efficiency. Therefore as long as the official ordering the action has many people agreeing, so that he is quite sure of a majority, the action may be ordered. This is at the Turn Player’s discretion, and he may be needed to answer to the court in the event of a complaint about action without authorisation. We want to keep everyone involved, but we elect our officials, and must give them some powers. They are accountable, but have freedom to do their jobs. That is the most logical and efficient way.

Article 101: Constitutional Affairs

Constitutional affairs are referred to the Court. The Court is made up of the four elected officials, at least 3 of which must preside over any case. The Court is constituted to rule upon: contested disputes involving legal interpretation, validity of polls, violations of the Constitution, or any other legal dispute involving the game.

At the beginning of each case, the Court is to select a 'Senior Justice', who will be responsible for ensuring that a report is published for each decision made by the court, showing the rationale behind the decision. If the report is not provided, this may be grounds for an appeal. The Senior Justice will also preside over any hearings before The Court. An Appeal may be granted if there are grounds to believe that the constitution has not been applied properly. Any citizen directly involved in the case may make an application for an appeal. If 3 of the 5 judges decide to grant the appeal, a new trial will be created to examine the case. In that case, the current verdict is placed on hold until after the appeal process.

The Court cannot act on any issue until a citizen of the nation brings forth an Issue to The Court. Issues to The Court should be posted publicly and must involve a dispute that the court is empowered to rule upon. All rulings are immediately official and final except where appeals are granted.

*Presend save file’s are files saved just before “turn complete” is pressed, to show how the turn ends.

[Googlie]

D:

I've e-mailed you some minor changes (mainly consistency in wording), but have queried the Alpha Talent reference and added a Retroplay prohibition to the Playing Ahead one

G.

[Drogue]

Thanks Googlie, that took out the mistakes Alpha Talent was the Second Function from the old ACDG, and I'm to used to it being the Alpha Talent that posts elections, it just came to hand Thanks very much, now looks better.

Anyone has anything to discuss about it, please do. In a day or 2, I will poll for you to accept or reject it.

[Whaleboy]

Looks good! Must have taken ages!

Looks very concise, however I would add a reference system, like sections and subsections, as well as articles; just to make it look more consistent should it grow, or even if not.

Other than that, grand job!

[Drogue]

elijah: It is based on the old ACDG UN Constitution, though it may be changed with amendments, it rarely grows by much. It's not that big, and I think the subheadings are enough subsections. Indeed, there are many subheadings of varying degrees, almost too many I thought. Can you give me an example of what you mean?

[Maniac]

Great document, Drogue I appreciate the work. But in our tradition of detaillist and unimportant disagreements , I have some nitpicks though I'd like to discuss:

Approve orders given by an Official that have not been ratified by popular poll or by the Prime Function: Every unpolled order has to be approved by the Turn player, unless the official in question and the Prime Function have ordered something to be done in his absence.

Overrule an official's order: The Prime Function can overrule an unpolled order given by an official, however if the Prime Function acts in opposition to an official order, then he must explain his actions, and the matter should be settled finally with a poll.

Hmm... I find that the Int & Ext Affairs Functions should almost always have the last word in their field of responsibility, and not the Prime Function. Therefore I would refine it to saying that the Turn Player (so not the Prime Function) can:

• always veto unpolled "major" orders
• only veto "blanket" orders if the responsible Function had enough time to poll the decision but didn't. So no veto possible if the order was made by the responible Function in an "emergency".
• never veto "minor" orders and decisions.

Discuss diplomacy with other factions: Although this falls to the External Affairs Function too, the Prime Function can debate and discuss foreign affairs with other factions representatives. All deals have to be ratified by poll too (see Article 100: What Must be Polled for details).

Personally I would scrap this part, again in the spirit of leaving the responsibilities of the Int&Ext Aff Function where they belong, and not moving them to the Prime Function. Foreign Affairs is the External Affairs Function's job. Period. IMO only in a case of emergency or in the absence of the EAF, other functions may take over the job, as mentioned in the constitution.

Post the government for that term on the 1st of every month.

Wasn't that the Alpha Talent's job in the previous ACDG?
(I'm sorry I didn't post it myself this term, but I wasn't quite sure if the new government had been accepted or not.)

Poll for base names, base locations, rushing, selling and any other major internal action.

Though it is technically included in "any other major internal action", what an internal action is, may not be clear to people who haven't participated in the previous ACDG. So for all clarity "polling and/or determining build queues" could be mentioned in the IAF's duties.

Order the movement and actions of all military units: Certain actions will need to be polled.

Again a nitpick of course, but perhaps "covert ops units" could be mentioned as well for all clarity.

All office terms shall last one month, starting on the 1st of every month. Nominations will start on the 20th of every month, and be up for one week. If any positions are uncontested, that nominee is automatically elected. If any positions are contested, elections will be posted on the 27th of each month, and will last for 3 days.

That only works perfectly in months of 31 days, and not at all in February for example. Perhaps it could be loosened to "Nominations will start between the 16th and the 20th of every month" and "elections will be posted between the 23th [February] and the 27th of each month". That should give some more elbow room.

Constitutional affairs are referred to the Court. The Court is made up of the four elected officials, at least 3 of which must preside over any case.

If 3 of the 5 judges decide to grant the appeal, a new trial will be created to examine the case.

A "copy and paste" of the old constitution I guess. You say the court consists of the four elected officials. However, if the case is an impeachment, it's obvious the official to be possible impeached would not be part of the court, leaving only the other three over. Also later you mention "3 of the 5 judges". Perhaps "2 of the 3" instead?

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Maniac
Hmm... I find that the Int & Ext Affairs Functions should almost always have the last word in their field of responsibility, and not the Prime Function. Therefore I would refine it to saying that the Turn Player (so not the Prime Function) can:

• always veto unpolled "major" orders
• only veto "blanket" orders if the responsible Function had enough time to poll the decision but didn't. So no veto possible if the order was made by the responible Function in an "emergency".
• never veto "minor" orders and decisions.

I disagree. I was trying to get the Prime Function (or Turn Player) to be more than just the Commish from the last ACDG, since all they did was follow orders, and more to a style of a President or Prime Minister. Moreover, I went by what was said in the Official Orders thread, where Corellion argued for more Prime Function power, and I proposed the compromise:

However I am against that strong a power in the hands of one individual. Therefore I propose a compromise. If an order is not officially polled (in which case the people's opinions count) then any order has to be agreed by both the director in question and the Prime Function (or Second if the Prime is away). Therefore a director cannot order an action without approval from either the people or the Prime Function, yet the Prime Function cannot act alone. Does that sound ok?

Basically I wanted to have more checks on power than Corellion's suggestion, but not the burocracy from the last one, to model that in our faction. The quote was my aim, however it may need some rewording to get to that.

A never veto for minor orders means that the IAF can do whatever they want in it. I would like some checks on everyone's powers. Also, ATM, I am not getting orders for minor things. While I don't mind at all, as I am happy to fulfil minor orders, I think on present precedent the PF should have some say. It is most efficient having a ruler who can act when needs be. I am also slightly wary of having a constitution. Although it gives us what the positions do in the case of a dispute, and would be useful later on, our faction is built on efficiency, and this could be overly burocratic.

Originally posted by Maniac
Personally I would scrap this part, again in the spirit of leaving the responsibilities of the Int&Ext Aff Function where they belong, and not moving them to the Prime Function. Foreign Affairs is the External Affairs Function's job. Period. IMO only in a case of emergency or in the absence of the EAF, other functions may take over the job, as mentioned in the constitution.

I disagree. Although Straw would debate for the UK, Blair would also when needed. I expect the EAF to do most of it, but especially with DBTS, who is not active as much as he used to be, and his English, though good, is not great, it might be easier. More importantly, I wanted it to be that both could. I figured that it is more efficient and quick to have 2 people able to do a job, thus there should always be one available to do it. Possibly put it to only the EAF debating and discussing, but it having to pass the Turn Player, when they carry out the action? What do others think?

Originally posted by Maniac
Wasn't that the Alpha Talent's job in the previous ACDG?
(I'm sorry I didn't post it myself this term, but I wasn't quite sure if the new government had been accepted or not.)

It was, but that is not a reason to keep it IMHO. I thought that it could be a way for the PF to signal that he accepted responsibility and leadership for that term, since it could be 11 days between when he nominated himself, and the time he takes power. I can put it back if people wish?

The Second Function does a lot more than the old (underused) Alpha Talent, in that it includes Social Engineering, and the ability to poll for anythng, and assume the roles of other directors. I was actually slightly worried about overworking the SF, since if the PF is unavailable, there is a hell of a lot for the SF to do.

Originally posted by Maniac
Though it is technically included in "any other major internal action", what an internal action is, may not be clear to people who haven't participated in the previous ACDG. So for all clarity "polling and/or determining build queues" could be mentioned in the IAF's duties.

That sounds good, will edit.

Originally posted by Maniac
Again a nitpick of course, but perhaps "covert ops units" could be mentioned as well for all clarity.

Another great idea, will edit.

Originally posted by Maniac
That only works perfectly in months of 31 days, and not at all in February for example. Perhaps it could be loosened to "Nominations will start between the 16th and the 20th of every month" and "elections will be posted between the 23th [February] and the 27th of each month". That should give some more elbow room.

It works when there is 30 days (27th to 30th poll, 1st sworn in), so it doesn't work only in February. If this game lasts to next February, I will be very surprised. I expect it to be over by 2200, 2250 at the latest, and we are already at 2120, after under a month. I doubt this will alst longer than 7 or 8 months. However it is possible, but I would favour an exeption for February, as I think the faction needs to know what date they will be posted, and to have a routine for it. We could either start on the 25th, or we could start on the 27th but the 23rd/25th for February? I would not really want to have a variable start date, but it depends what others think?

Originally posted by Maniac
A "copy and paste" of the old constitution I guess. You say the court consists of the four elected officials. However, if the case is an impeachment, it's obvious the official to be possible impeached would not be part of the court, leaving only the other three over. Also later you mention "3 of the 5 judges". Perhaps "2 of the 3" instead?

2 of 3 of course It was copy/pasted with some updating, but is basically the same. Thanks for spotting the mistake.

Corellion (or anyone else, but he was active in discussing it before): Can you give me your opinion? I hope to post a poll on it in about 24 hours or so.

The PF may seem powerful, but he is less powerful than a Prime Minister, and much less than a President, but I did not want the overly burocratic position of the Commissioner from ACDG 1. I tried to do it as close to the presidents already set, as in what we have been doing up until now, to some extent too.

[Maniac]

I disagree. I was trying to get the Prime Function (or Turn Player) to be more than just the Commish from the last ACDG, since all they did was follow orders, and more to a style of a President or Prime Minister. Moreover, I went by what was said in the Official Orders thread, where Corellion argued for more Prime Function power,

Well personally I quite liked the system of the previous ACDG. But of course, if there's a majority for your idea, I will drop the protest. In the meanwhile:

If an order is not officially polled (in which case the people's opinions count) then any order has to be agreed by both the director in question and the Prime Function (or Second if the Prime is away). Therefore a director cannot order an action without approval from either the people or the Prime Function, yet the Prime Function cannot act alone. Does that sound ok?

If the Prime Function has to approve every unpolled order to be valid, he actually has a veto-right over any unpolled order from the three other Functions, giving him the combined power of all four officials. In my proposal, there may not be strong checks on the power of the three other functions (SF, IAF & EAF), but in your proposals there seem almost no checks at all on the power of the Prime Function. And four upper functions who are difficult to veto (my proposal) and have "absolute power" seems more checked and balanced to me than just one function difficult to veto (your proposal) and having "absolute power". I don't think you or any other Prime Function would ever go this far, but if we're going to make a constitution (which I don't consider as necessary as in the previous ACDG btw because here we are small enough to have a direct democracy), I think we should exclude this theoretical possibility from ever happening.

Basically I wanted to have more checks on power than Corellion's suggestion, but not the burocracy from the last one, to model that in our faction.

I fail to see how two persons having to approve an order is less bureaucratic than only one person having to approve.

A never veto for minor orders means that the IAF can do whatever they want in it.

That's indeed what I intended. As said before, four people with absolute power in their department seem more balanced to me than one person with absolute power. If I'd get elected as IAF, I'd hope I would be the head of the department. To quote your constitution:

We want to keep everyone involved, but we elect our officials, and must give them some powers. They are accountable, but have freedom to do their jobs. That is the most logical and efficient way.

I would like some checks on everyone's powers.

Who's checking the PF in your proposal?

Also, ATM, I am not getting orders for minor things. While I don't mind at all, as I am happy to fulfil minor orders, I think on present precedent the PF should have some say. It is most efficient having a ruler who can act when needs be.

I don't have any problem at all with you, our Turn Player, acting on minor things when there are no orders, thereby giving you absolute power. That is mentioned in the constitutional proposal as follows under the section "Turn Player":

Act in the absence of orders: If an action must be taken, and it is a choice between 2 actions [I don't get why the "choice between 2 actions" part is included btw], with no poll or orders being present, the Turn Player may decide.

Act in an emergency in the best interests of the faction. If the situation changes unexpectedly and action is needed, the Turn Player is authorised to take any action he deems to be necessary. He should try to discuss with another Function, but should this not prove possible, he may take action alone.

However, when the responsible Function in question is present and doing his job into the detail by giving orders for everything, I think the last word, the absolute power, should stay in his camp.

I am also slightly wary of having a constitution. Although it gives us what the positions do in the case of a dispute, and would be useful later on, our faction is built on efficiency, and this could be overly burocratic.

Though I agree we have no large need for a constitution, I disagree the current constitution proposal would be overly bureaucratic, again because it is specifically mentioned the Turn Player, the Prime Function and the Second Function can act in cases of emergency. Efficiency is inherent in the constitution, as it says rules for polling do not have to be followed no matter what.

I disagree. Although Straw would debate for the UK, Blair would also when needed. I expect the EAF to do most of it, but especially with DBTS, who is not active as much as he used to be, and his English, though good, is not great, it might be easier. More importantly, I wanted it to be that both could. I figured that it is more efficient and quick to have 2 people able to do a job, thus there should always be one available to do it.

I'm not very aware of British politics. Your referrals to it are never very informative for me. However, you hit it right on the head when you say "when needed". That's exactly my position. If the EAF is very active and willing to do his job in the details, he should do most of the talking with other factions. I mean, if I were the EAF, I wouldn't find it very nice if the Prime and Second Function were debating at the same time, while I didn't know beforehand what they were going to write.
Only when the EAF is relatively inactive, or just off-line when an emergency occurs (like the tech trade discussion I had with Flubber), should the Prime and Second Function be able to negotiate. That possibility is already included in the constitution under the duties of the Turn Player, Prime and Second Function, making the paragraph on Foreign Affairs under the PF duties duplicate and unnecessary. So in total, there are three people who can conduct official foreign negotations, but one has absolute precedence over the other two.

It was, but that is not a reason to keep it IMHO. I thought that it could be a way for the PF to signal that he accepted responsibility and leadership for that term, since it could be 11 days between when he nominated himself, and the time he takes power. I can put it back if people wish?

*shrugs* A minor detail. One less thread to post for the Second Function.

The Second Function does a lot more than the old (underused) Alpha Talent, in that it includes Social Engineering, and the ability to poll for anythng

The ability to poll for everything? I thought only when the responsible Function was absent? Anyway, since the Second Function's duties include "Be, or designate, a replacement for any elected official", I would as SF probably post some urgent polls myself, but basically I would designate everyone as replacements for an absent Function, meaning anyone can post an official poll as he sees fit. Also I'd leave all the minor things over to the Turn Players decision, as is happening now.

***

On the election issue, if there really needs to be a fixed date, I'd say the 26th as the official date. That way there is no harm done when the Second Function is a little forgetful and posts the poll a day later or eg an hour after midnight of the 26th-27th-night - the poll will still the be finished before the first of the next month.

[DeathByTheSword]

i not active........well you are right....and my english not that good.......well right again...but i will do everything that needs to be done for the glory of our faction