IDS 2: Stop PMing Me Act

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I once thought about the rules on voting in regional elections (around the time of Cottonfield and Rimjob), and it really does boil down to being registered in the region. I would like to propose an amendment to Section 9:

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     The stricken portion refers to the regional elections. I added a few words making it clear that we are talking about regional office in this region. Otherwise, one might interpret this as attempting to ban violators from being Pacific Governor or some such (no implication intended).

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Hagrid, it's about being respectful. It's about respecting someone's wishes to engage with the game how they want to engage with it. If somebody asks me to stop PMing them then I do oblige.

     I would be perfectly fine with making this list voluntary, so people can see who does not want to be messaged. If politicians can't be bothered to respect their wishes, then with any luck we can find out who those politicians are and use our voices as citizens to express disapproval. My ultimate concern is that a voluntary list will not work.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     As I said before, I would be willing to make the list voluntary and simply ask people to behave. No matter what we do, we're left with the fact that we cannot punish people from outside of the region who violate the list. If people cannot follow it without threat of punishment then it is finished from the start.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Eh, do it at your own risk. I remember when Jake went and joined the JCP because he was tired of being pestered by Hamilton PMing him.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I mean, you can make a voluntary list if you want, but passing this bill would be foolish. As I said, it has been tried and repealed and it's difficult to limit speech like this. If someone asks you to stop PMing, listen to them, but punishing someone for sending a PM might not be legal.

     That's what I am getting at. One person I know pondered putting it in his sig, but that wouldn't help me since I have had sigs turned off for years. I think that having a voluntary list would be helpful for the sake of providing an easy reference of who doesn't want to receive PMs. If anyone is unscrupulous about it and messages people on the list, we can all take that into account in terms of supporting their future political endeavors.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I mean, you can make a voluntary list if you want, but passing this bill would be foolish. As I said, it has been tried and repealed and it's difficult to limit speech like this. If someone asks you to stop PMing, listen to them, but punishing someone for sending a PM might not be legal.

     That's what I am getting at. One person I know pondered putting it in his sig, but that wouldn't help me since I have had sigs turned off for years. I think that having a voluntary list would be helpful for the sake of providing an easy reference of who doesn't want to receive PMs. If anyone is unscrupulous about it and messages people on the list, we can all take that into account in terms of supporting their future political endeavors.

The problem is that people who get elected due to strategic registration campaigns and zombie hordes or who aren't on the ballot in a given election won't respect the list without an enforcement mechanism.

     But anyone who wants to circumvent it can enlist a buddy in another region to do so. It is a good idea, but I fear that legal enforcement is logistically impossible.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Wow, I leave for a day and a half and this place implodes.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Forget my previous amendment, here is a new one. It should take care of any legality issues and tighten up wording in a few places.

The Stop PMing Me Act

1. Effective immediately upon the passage of this bill, the government of the South shall establish a Do Not PM list. 

2. Any voters living in the IDS who does not wish to receive campaign PMs may add themselves to the Do Not PM List by signing their username in the list's thread. 

3. Any voters whose names have been added to the list may should not be sent a sample ballot, encouraged to vote for a specific candidate by either a candidate or a candidate's supporters via PM, or sent a PM reminding them to vote in any Gubernatorial, regional legislative, or regional Senate election.

4. The one exception to section three is if the individual who sent the campaign PM or sample ballot can prove with PMs that he did so purely at the direct request of the specific voter who filed a complaint against him and limited his campaign-related PM to the subject the voter PMed him about.  For example, a candidate responding to a voter's unprompted request for information about his position on abortion would not be in violation of section three if he send a PM in response that laid out his views on abortion.  However, said candidate would be violating section three if he sent an unprompted abortion-related pitch to a voter on the Do Not PM list or if he sent a sample ballot in addition to answering the voter's question about his abortion views. 

5. No voters on the Do Not PM List may send campaign-related PMs, sample ballots, etc while on the list.

6. 4. Anyone wishing to be removed from the Do Not PM List may have their name removed by making a post in the list thread requesting that their name be taken of the Do Not PM List.  However, no voter may add or remove himself from the Do Not PM List at any point during either last 48 hours before the voting booth opens in a Southern Gubernatorial, regional legislative, or regional Senate election or while the actual voting in one of the aforementioned types of elections is underway in this region.

7. 5. Any voter adding his name during the period described in section six four shall not be recognized as having added his name to the Do Not PM List until the officially designated close of the election. 

8. Any voter who is convicted of removing his name from the Do Not PM List during the aforementioned period shall receive a minimum sentence a ban on voting in the following regional election.

9. Anyone convicted of violating section three of this law once shall receive a minimum sentence of a six month ban on voting in regional elections or holding regional office (including, but not limited to regional Senate).  A second conviction will lead to the same penalty, as well as a year-long ban on appearing on any ballot in the region in any election for any office.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     My mistake on what I had earlier. Since the sponsor of the bill has assented to the amendment, I'll allow 24 hours for objections. Otherwise the amendment is adopted.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     The amendment is incorporated into the text.

[Associate Justice PiT]

    This is the bill:

1. Effective immediately upon the passage of this bill, the government of the South shall establish a Do Not PM list. 

2. Any voters living in the IDS who does not wish to receive campaign PMs may add themselves to the Do Not PM List by signing their username in the list's thread. 

3. Any voters whose names have been added to the list should not be sent a sample ballot, encouraged to vote for a specific candidate by either a candidate or a candidate's supporters via PM, or sent a PM reminding them to vote in any Gubernatorial, regional legislative, or regional Senate election.

4. Anyone wishing to be removed from the Do Not PM List may have their name removed by making a post in the list thread requesting that their name be taken of the Do Not PM List.  However, no voter may add or remove himself from the Do Not PM List at any point during either last 48 hours before the voting booth opens in a Southern Gubernatorial, regional legislative, or regional Senate election or while the actual voting in one of the aforementioned types of elections is underway in this region.

5. Any voter adding his name during the period described in section four shall not be recognized as having added his name to the Do Not PM List until the officially designated close of the election.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Probably the Governor. I think something like this would fit nicely into the regional Almanac.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It is useful to have a list somewhere, voluntary or not. One concern that comes to mind is that if someone has to tell a half-dozen political operatives not to PM them (and more new ones as time goes on), they might give up and just deregister instead.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I feel you're probably right, Duke. Regardless I think this bill has run its course, really. There's not much more to be said on the issue. If there are no objections then I will be opening the final vote on it late tomorrow and we can get on to other stuff.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Alright, a final vote on the bill is open.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm really ambivalent over this. I think I'll vote aye, because it would be convenient for me and hopefully for other party operatives. I also hope it would be convenient for voters who do not want to be PM'd. The bill will be presented to the Governor for his signature.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I'm really ambivalent over this. I think I'll vote aye, because it would be convenient for me and hopefully for other party operatives. I also hope it would be convenient for voters who do not want to be PM'd. The bill will be presented to the Governor for his signature.

I would hope you'd vote aye, given that the I agreed to water down the bill as you proposed under the impression that if that happened then you would vote for it

     I would have abstained all things being equal, but the discussion that went into remaking this bill was what pushed me to vote aye.