Problems and issues

Get your gripe on - what isn't working, or won't work when we try it?

The number one concern I can think of is security - a corrupt person making it into the system at a high level, or as an Admin, could easily thrash the system. So I propose (and GBM has also mentioned) a redundant system - a separate, non-forum-based accounting system. I am imagining the Grand High Bankguy running a database on his/her comp in order to keep track of the transactions, and reporting balances out to the admins regularly for updates. The transactions should be listed somewhere reviewable - the handling of currency generally necessitates audits, you know. This way, if there is a sudden balance change not accounted for by large transactions, the Admin will know the banker is being fishy, and if the balances change more than the Banker can account for, the Admin has been naughty.

Collusion between and Admin and Banker, though, presents a problem, unless everyone else keeps diligent trecords as well,a nd I don't forsee that happening. So do we include a Governmental oversight, as well? So many questions.

Of course, that's assuming we need another Admin to handle it. This looks pretty easy to do... of course, we'll see how easy once it begins.

If we do need another Admin, they can be put in a group "Banker" that would have access to the Admin CP, as well as special mod functions in the Bank forum. This eliminates many of the major security concerns - The Banker would be unable to remove or even view any records of his activities in the Admin CP, records which Flem and I can easily check. In the event of a catastrophic security breach, the forum is set up so that I can access the forum and the Admin CP no matter what - even if banned and removed from the root admin group. The forum only took a day or two to actually set up... any damage done should be repaired within a few hours.

There is a philosophy to explore as far as what the change means. If we have currency, will everything become a commodity? How much would you pay Erastide for a particular password?

If the money thing is supposed to be $10 a post to date, then the thingy is way off in my case. I;ve had a lot one than one post in the last two days, even if one disregards my total post count.

Grosseschnauzer:

If the money thing is supposed to be $10 a post to date, then the thingy is way off in my case. I;ve had a lot one than one post in the last two days, even if one disregards my total post count.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought Flem had picked your pocket for a moment, but the script didn't show any changes.

There may be a few minor glitches - nothing's perfect, unfortunately - fortunately I think it'll be easy to fix. I added $11,980 to your account, so it should stay at the right amount now.

I think this entire discussion has been productive thus far.

However, I think we have to be prepared for the problems that will arise. And by that I mean every single problem that involves money that is known to man.

Of course, I don't think we need to worry about things like blackmail.


The bigger question is, if we create this economy, we're going to need some sort of Alan Greenspan. And that would ignite a powerful debate -- do we trust the person we put in that position to know what he's doing economically? Or do we trust the populace to act as a check on a "minister of finance" even though many people may not know anything about economics?

Personally I can see a few different options, I think it may be best to have the "banker" seperate from the cabinet (e.g. not a ministerial position) a bit like how the Bank of England is independent from the Chancellory (in the future as things expand we might want a Minister of Finance as well but IMO that can wait), in terms of setting interest rates, etc. With that in mind I see two ways of choosing who will head up the Bank, either elections like the Court Justices, or by submitting applications- with their economic resumes to Hers/Flem to appoint someone to the position (especially if they are to have access to the admin cp).


On another note, has anything further been thought regarding taxes? I have no idea how difficult it would be to code but something like $0.50 in a post ($10) perhaps, then that would give a weekly budget (or monthly however you wanted to do it) for the government for saleries (cabinet members, deputies, justices, maybe g-mods/admins as well) and some left over to pay for anything else. I guess the simplest way of doing the tax is to change (presuming you can) the amount you get per post to $9.50 (or whatever) and simply have a government account which will get $0.50 per post at the end of every week (it shouldn't be too difficult to work out the weekly/daily/monthly/whatever post total (should it? ). The only thing is that seems like creating money out of thin air but its just an idea.