User talk:82.96.100.100
What? Are you asserting rules on an anarchist website? {rotfl} [[User:Xiong|— Xiong熊talk]] 12:01, 19 Apr 2005 (CDT)
You are a member of the caucus by virtue of your participation. Maybe you don't like the political connotations of the word "member", but I just can't think of a more neutral term. You have to understand that everyone in the "room" belongs to a set, in the mathematical sense -- including dead people, people who disagree violently with all the rest, people handcuffed, dragged in with a bag on their heads, and stuffed into a corner -- they are all "members" of the caucus. When the cleaning lady comes in at 8pm and starts vaccuumming, she becomes a member of the caucus, even if she does not speak or understand the language spoken, even if neither she nor any other member thinks she is a member.
The last thing I want to do is get embroiled in some controversy surrounding the "rules" of this caucus. The entire point of having a caucus is that it is small enough to be a social group, where everyone knows everyone and the only rules are implicit. And one of the natural features of a bunch of meat people in a room is that everyone has a face.
A face is not a name; a face may not even be a true face. There are masked faces, disguised faces, open faces and closed. Often the "face" is linked to a name: members of a convention often wear name tags. But most often, members who meet one another know very little about each other, name or no name -- all they have to go by is, "...yeah, I saw this guy before, last night with a lampshade on his head" or "...yeah, this guy's really on the ball. Next time I see his face, I'm going to listen to what he's got to say". This is the foundation of implicit reputation management.
And implicit reputation management is what makes implicit rules work. Without the implicit rep, you need explicit rules.
So: Please do us all a favor and register on this wiki. Pick a handle -- this is not a name, but a face. This is not Meatball; I don't care what your "real name" is -- in fact, I disagree with the Meatballers at the level that I do not believe any person has one true name.
But please present a face to the community, and do not run around with a bag over your head -- especially a generic brown paper bag. I think it is only a courtesy.
And finally, just in case you miss my overall intent, let me say that this is not a rule, because we don't have any rules here. I just value your participation and I want to be able to continue to value it accurately. [[User:Xiong|— Xiong熊talk]] 12:00, 23 Apr 2005 (CDT)
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