Administration: Updating the Cultural Protocol Index

[jamescfm]

Just to confirm what Auditorii has already said, players in those countries that have not had their cultural protocols approved were messaged this afternoon informing them of the procedure moving forward.

In terms of the concerns that you raise, it is partly my fault for invoking the language of the "Cultural Era" system but that was not my intention. The purpose of the process that we're undertaking here is to ensure that every cultural protocol on the Index has received Moderation approval. At the time that the concerns were originally raised and for a variety of reasons, there were several cultural protocols that did not make clear if or when they had been approved by Moderation.

For obvious reasons, it is not possible for me to tell you how the process was originally envisioned but it may well be the case that since my appointment the details have changed slightly. Either way though the proposal that I laid out in my previous post- in our view- represents the best approach to balancing the various concerns at play. In terms of the risk to players of cultural protocols being "in danger", the best that we can say is that it would be a matter of last resort for us to repeal a cultural protocol entirely and we would not do so if players (either those in the country or from the community at large) express a view that it should be maintained.

The "Moderation approval" note on the Index indicates that Moderation is confident that the current cultural protocol linked to has been approved. For most countries it is the version that was passed in response to the request for affirmations however for a small number (seven by my count), the affirmation and approval happened prior to this public request.

In these cases though there was no confusion surrounding the process since it was the current Moderation team that were involved. For this reason it was not deemed necessary to require another approval. All of these cultural protocols were approved within the three weeks prior to the public request for affirmation. In the Keymon case, the cultural protocol was approved by Auditorii. For whatever reason it seems the Index was not updated but the mistake has now been rectified, thanks for spotting that.

Under the "Cultural Era" system, players could just affirm their cultural protocol by passing a simple affirmation bill. The difference with the process that is ongoing here is that we have less clarity on the position of the cultural protocols that are being "affirmed". For the purpose of avoiding any doubt therefore, we are asking that players present the document in full as part of the approval process.

On extending the deadline by an additional couple of weeks, this is something that we will discuss between us. In the past players had to have been active in the country for a certain period of time to affirm or update their cultural protocol. As this is no longer the case, there is a less compelling need to give players a lengthy period of time to seek approval for them because any player willing to do so is able to pass an affirmation or update bill immediately. For the moment the deadline will remain 11 July but we will be sure to let players know if this is extended. Let me know if you have other questions and I will do my best to offer further guidance.

[Aquinas]

In the Keymon case, the cultural protocol was approved by Auditorii. For whatever reason it seems the Index was not updated but the mistake has now been rectified, thanks for spotting that.

That was not clear to me. Auditorii's response appears to be to Augustus. Also note that at the time of Auditorii's response, Keymon's CP had not yet finished its 48 hour wait.

The purpose of the process that we're undertaking here is to ensure that every cultural protocol on the Index has received Moderation approval. At the time that the concerns were originally raised and for a variety of reasons, there were several cultural protocols that did not make clear if or when they had been approved by Moderation.

If all you are looking for is to certify whether or not each CP has been officially approved on the forum, then all that takes is for a Moderator to sit down and do a little research. You can easily search bill references on the forum through their bill numbers, by the way. There is really, surely no need to create work for yourselves and players by chasing everyone to pass CP updates!

To try and help out here, I have spent a little bit of time researching the Cultural Protocols in the Cultural Protocols Index that do not say "Moderation Approval" next to them.

In these cases, I was able to establish that the CP bill referenced in the Index had been approved on the forum (see the approvals in the links):

Hobrazia

Luthori

Rutania

Kafuristan

Kalopia

Selucia

Vanuku

Zardugal

Egelion

Mordusia

Tukarali

Valruzia

Lourenne

Talmoria

Aldegar

Alduria

*

In the case of Beiteynu, the Index links to a bill in debate. However, a CP bill has recently been passed there, although not submitted. I suggest Moderation consider implementing it, in the circumstances, especially as it appears to be identical to the one in the bill in debate.

*

In the case of Baltusia, the Index links to a bill in debate. The actual bill that was passed can be seen here, and was approved here.

*

The Cildania entry in the Index links to a bill in debate. The actual bill that was passed can be seen here. The bill was not presented and approved on the Cultural Protocols thread due to the circumstances described here. Moderator ignoring the rules...

*

The Solentia entry in the Index links to a bill in debate. The actual bill that was passed can be seen here. There is no record of the CP being approved on the forum. Another case involving a Moderator ignoring the rules, this time installing a CP with an unauthorised second account and without getting the CP approved on the forum. Details described here.

*

I have been unable to find any record of the Hutori CP linked in the Index being approved on the forum

*

The most bizarre case of all involves Vorona. There is no evidence whatsoever of the Vorona CP being accepted on the forum, although there is evidence of it having been rejected more than 5 years ago (!!!). I would be fascinated to know how this CP bill ended up being put in the Cultural Protocols Index.


Summary

* The majority of Cultural Protocols linked to in the Index have been approved by Moderation on the forum.

* In the cases of Cildania and Solentia, I recommend simply accepting the current Cultural Protocols as they are, although I hope, going forward, Moderators will please learn the lessons from those incidents.

* In the case of Beiteynu, I recommend implementing the CP which was passed not long ago.

* In the case of Hutori, I understand the players there are currently talking about doing an updated Cultural Protocol. Perhaps it is best to let them get on with doing that. Failing that, more research may be needed to find out what went on there. (I could do it myself but don't have the time/interest right at this moment!).

* Vorona, as I say, is the really odd one. To the best of my recollection, Vorona had been Cultural Open. Perhaps it should be returned to that status.

[Auditorii]

Thanks for your reply Aquinas, we'll review the information provided and we'll make a determination on how we want to approach it.

[jamescfm]

I appreciate that you have taken the time to research the cultural protocols of these countries. If and when the point arrives that we have to make a determination about the cultural protocols in each of these countries, the information that has been provided here will be very useful in making a decision. To be quite frank though, the process of searching for older cultural protocols retroactively is part of the reason that the Index is in the position that it currently is. Moderators in the past have "sought out" cultural protocols rather than simply approving those submitted by players and this is part of the problem.

For this reason we want to ensure that every cultural protocol on the Index is approved by Moderation either through players re-submitting the bill for approval or by making a unilateral decision after the deadline (in consultation with players). Obviously it is true that this creates a bit of extra work in the short run but in the longer term it means that we can confidently say that any Cultural Protocol being enforced has our explicit approval. It may have been easier to use the process that you describe of searching for approval after-the-fact but as far as I am personally concerned, it would not actually have removed the doubts about the Index that I had.

[Kubrick]

Can anyone tell me why exactly I have to re-submit the CP? It's good as it is so all I will be doing is voting yes on the same bill I voted yes on before, where's the logic in that? Or is this thought of by someone with a bureaucracy fetish? If yes to the latter I'm happy to indulge for a certain price but I don't do that stuff for free.

[jamescfm]

The short answer is that previous Moderators did not properly maintain the Cultural Protocol Index. To be honest, I think this happened when I was not playing the game so I don't actually know who is responsible but that is immaterial at this point. I appreciate that it may seem unnecessary to players and that is why we will be generous with approving cultural protocols that are not affirmed by the deadline. My personal hope is that when the exercise is complete we will have better systems in place that mean we don't have a repeat of this situation again.

[Kubrick]

After having received a substantial amount through Paypal from James I will indulge his fetish. I'll even edit the CP.

[Zanz]

I'll send my Paypal along, I shouldn't be punished just because my CP was up to date already.

[jamescfm]

Following on from the points that Aquinas raised, I have updated the Cultural Protocols Index to include the passed versions of the Cultural Protocol bills for Baltusia, Beiteynu, Cildania, Cobura and Solentia. All countries on the Index now link to a "passed" bill, meaning that there is no way in which a player might cheat the system by changing the contents of a bill in the debate section. Let us know if there are any further concerns.

[jamescfm]

Providing another update on the process of updating the Cultural Protocol Index. A total of thirty-two countries have now received Moderation approval for their cultural protocols under the current system, leaving twenty countries still needing to do so if they want to guarantee their culturally protected status. Players in each of these latter group of countries have received a final reminder before the deadline, which is the end of the day on 11 July (this coming Saturday). As ever please let us know if there are questions or concerns.