Vetoed Ask Misuse Penalization Act

[HatManMC]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT​

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A BILL TO
PENALIZE MISUSE OF /ASK PER REQUEST OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION



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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

PART I: PRELIMINARIES
1. Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the "Ask Misuse Penalization Act" or "AMPA".
(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.
(3) This Act has been authored by Speaker HatManMC, based on the petition "DOE able to fine for Misuse of /ask" by DoE Deputy Secretary StrawberrySara and with review and revision by StrawberrySara.
(4) This Act has been cosponsored by Deputy Speaker EmeraldGuuy.
(5) This Act amends the following Acts:
(a) Criminal Code Act

2. Reasons and Intent
(1) Misuse of /ask is a big problem on the server. I've seen it many a time in my own playthroughs - people will just chat it up in a channel meant for Department of Education people to assist queries of newer players.
(2) The Department of Education themselves have asked for this bill, and I also believe in the cause.
(3) Therefore, this bill penalizes the misuse of /ask.

PART II: PROVISIONS
3. Definitions
(1) /ask Abuse. Use of the command /ask while not either asking a question relevant to the server in a reasonable way or answering a question posed with /ask.

4. Criminal Code Act
(1) The following shall be amended to the Criminal Code Act directly following Part X, section 19:

20 - Misuse of the /ask Command
Offense Type: Summary
Penalty:
(a) First offense: 1 Penalty Unit
(b) Second offense: 2 Penalty Units
(c) Third offense: 4 Penalty Units, 2 minutes imprisonment
(d) Subsequent offenses: 6 Penalty Units, 5 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offense if the person:
(a) Uses the command /ask while not directly asking a question relevant to the server in a reasonable way or while not answering a question previously posed with /ask.

PART III: IMPLEMENTATION
5. Implementation
(1) The Office of Congressional Affairs is authorized to make any changes involving renumbering of sections as a result of edits made in this Act.

 

[unalign]

- Grey told senators to amend to fix it a bit, but no one did and voting closed without a reminder soo :/ idk, presidential veto?

 

[antonfr]

Veto

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The Ask Misuse Penalization Act adds a new summary offence to Part X of the Criminal Code for misusing the /ask command, with fines that rise for repeat offences.

I want to be clear that I support this. /ask exists so newer players can get help from the Department of Education, and the Department asked for this bill. But as written, the offence doesn’t work.

It applies to anyone using /ask “while not directly asking a question… or while not answering a question”. Someone asking isn’t answering, and someone answering isn’t asking, so both would be guilty. Read literally, every use of /ask becomes a crime. The bill’s own definition of “/ask Abuse” gets this right, but the offence never uses it.

Overall, I believe this bill tackles a real problem, but it needs one fix: the offence should cover use of /ask “for any purpose other than asking a question relevant to the server in a reasonable way, or answering a question previously posed with /ask”. I would happily sign that version, and I warmly welcome Congress to bring it forward.

Thank you to Speaker HatManMC for authoring this bill, to Deputy Speaker EmeraldGuuy for cosponsoring it, to DoE Deputy Secretary StrawberrySara for the petition and review, and to Congress for its work on it.

This bill has been vetoed.