Democracy Inaction: Forum Guidelines and Rule Change History

[pacers]

Democracy Inaction: Forum Guidelines

The purpose of this forum is to propose changes to the league rules. This forum was blessed by Ashes on our day of the Sim God the 13th of September, 2024, in this post: viewtopic.php?t=2592. h/t to Ashes for the punny forum name.

Please read the below for full details on how to propose a rule change, and what happens after you propose a change!

Proposing a Rule Change:

• To propose a rule change, create a post in this forum. One post for each individual rule change.
• All Proposed Rule Changes must have the format of a poll. One of the options of the poll must be to keep the status quo.
• A Proposed Rule Change can have multiple options (e.g. changing the lottery odds to XYZ or ABC percentages).
• In the body of the post, please include: 1/ a description of the issue the Proposed Rule Change is meant to address, and 2/ a description of each of the poll options.
• Proposed Rule Changes can be posted at any point during a season.

Note that while anyone in the league can post Proposed Rule Changes, the moderators of the board (myself and Ashes) have the right to remove or spike any underbaked or patently ridiculous proposals.

Proposed Rule Change Process:

• After a Proposed Rule Change is posted, it has 2 seasons to be approved by the league (that is, changes that do not reach the approval threshold within 2 seasons are automatically rejected).
• To be enacted, there must be a supermajority of the league (20/29 GMs) voting for a single option in the poll.
• If there is no supermajority voting for a single option in the poll, but multiple non-status-quo options sum up to more votes than the status quo, there will be a runoff of the two options with the most votes. If a runoff option reaches a simple majority, then that change will be enacted; if no runoff option reaches a simple majority, then the change will be rejected.
• Unless specifically otherwise noted in the proposal, in order to give time for the league to adjust, approved changes are enacted two seasons after they are approved.
• Ashes has the right to veto any Proposed Rule Change at any point.

Example:

1. A GM wants to propose that the RP trade cap should be enforced on a net basis instead of a gross basis.
2. In the middle of the 2018-2019 season, the GM posts in the Proposed Rule Changes forum a poll with the proposed change (net basis) and the status quo (gross basis), with an explanation in the post of what each option means.
3. During the 2019-2020 season, this Proposed Rule Change reaches 20 approvals.
4. Ashes does not veto the proposed change, and therefore the Proposed Rule Change is approved.
5. Starting in the 2021-2022 season, the RP trade cap is enforced on a net basis instead of a gross basis.

Accepted Rule Changes

1. League Rules Amendment #1: Modernizing the Lottery. Lottery odds will be flattened starting with the 2022 Draft.
2. League Rules Amendment #2: Creating a GMOTY Selection Committee. GMOTY selection will be done by the committee starting with the 2025-2026 season.

Log of Historical Proposed Rule Changes

1. Modernizing the Lottery. Proposed in 2018-2019 season; PASSED in 2018-2019 season.
2. Moving to a Net RP Trade Cap. Proposed in 2020-2021 season; REJECTED.
3. Encouraging Mid-Career Player Development. Proposed in 2020-2021 season; REJECTED.
4. Outlawing Ghosting. Proposed in 2021-2022 season; REJECTED.
5. Job Term Limits. Proposed in 2022-2023 season; REJECTED.
6. Creating a GMOTY Selection Committee. Proposed in 2022-2023 season; PASSED in 2023-2024 season.
7. Prevent "future" RPs from being traded before the time horizon in which they are allowed to be moved. Proposed in 2022-2023 season; REJECTED as supermajority not reached by end of the 2024-2025 season.
8. Accelerating rule approval. Proposed in the 2023-2024 season; vote ongoing to the end of the 2025-2026 season.
9. Setting a time/date trade deadline. Proposed in the 2025-2026 season season; vote ongoing to the end of the 2027-2028 season.

[Matt]

Just to clarify the timing - it seems like there should be at least 2 full seasons at the minimum for a rule change to be enacted (i personally prefer 3 - do we get to vote on this?), but based on this it looks like it's one full season and then the remainder of whatever season is going on when a rule is proposed

[Joe]

Just to clarify the timing - it seems like there should be at least 2 full seasons at the minimum for a rule change to be enacted (i personally prefer 3 - do we get to vote on this?), but based on this it looks like it's one full season and then the remainder of whatever season is going on when a rule is proposed

Confirmed, RFA changes were 3 seasons before they took effect. For changes impacting macro team building strategy significantly, that feels right to me; for smaller ones less impactful for team building, like the ability to front-load contracts, one or 2 seasons feels fine. But we should set a pretty clear precedent so we're consistent in the future