ASCII King

The USVJ Diplomacy Variant Judge

Name and Purpose

In order to ensure greater stability for the USAK judge and greater participation in standard games on that judge, we are implementing the USVJ Diplomacy judge dedicated to variant play. This is especially important since some of the supported variants will be imported from USTR and are not currently available on the latest version of the judge code.

Contact Information

Judge Addresses
usvj -at- asciiking -dot- com
usvj.judge -at- asciiking -dot- com
Judge Keeper Address
usvj-judgekeeper -at- asciiking -dot- com
Status
Status of the judge willbe manually updated at www.asciiking.com/usvj/status.html once the judge comes into popular use. A text copy of this documents will be available at www.asciiking.com/usvj/status and (if the judge is operational) by sending "get status" to the judge address. This is manually updated information.

News

2008 May 12
An email filter that strips out HTML and collapses multipart mail has been implemented on the usvj.judge address. A player who uses that address for mail can avoid broadcasting his password and several other hazards of using MIME mail with the judge. 

Distinctive Characteristics

Monitoring
Registrations are strictly monitored in order to provide the best possible assurance of fair games. It is the policy of the judge keeper to provide game masters with any log data required to investigate game situations at his earliest convenience, often within 24 hours.
Game Availability
The judge keeper, himself, runs a number of special games on USVJ. In addition to the most popular variants, the JK is dedicated to testing new variants, particularly those that have been tested on old versions of the judge code.

Privacy Policy

There is no privacy.

Information from your registration is freely available using the "whois" command on the judge. Never-the-less, a valid and complete registration is necessary to play. This is important because the game master and other players need to be able to verify the integrity of the games played - and because it is not possible with the judge software at this time to limit this information to these users.

Additionally, Diplomacy helper sites such as www.floc.net archive registrations of the players along with other game information. Registration information is also used by the JDPR and DRR statistics and by various Diplomacy clubs for qualifying information. Other uses are discouraged. Uses by other parties cannot be prevented, but objectional use by other registered users may result in the loss of privileges to use the judge for play and illegal use will be reported.

It is the policy of the judge keeper not to use registration information for any other purpose than maintaining the quality of play on this server. Towards that end, the JK may contact any registered player by email at any time about conduct on the server or about other Diplomacy related topics with a reasonable frequency. This does not include direct fundraising requests or advertising for any paid service, but it may include promoting tournaments and other free events within the hobby, some of which may accept contributions.

If, at any time, you want to be removed from the registration database then you must provide the judge keeper with a list of all email addresses registered with the judge in order to be manually removed. In order to keep removal requests to a minimum, it is the policy of the judge keeper to make all removals permanent. If you abandon any games due to the removal then other judge keepers will be notified as well. Moreover, removal from the registration database will not remove archived information from other sites.

Warnings

The judge hardware is the private property of the judge keeper. The judge keeper can prohibit anyone from playing for any reason. While the most common reasons are those defined by the E. P. House Rules, the judge keeper reserves the right to be completely arbitrary. There is no individual or body with higher authority on a judge than the judge keeper - not the Dip Pouch, any Pouch Council member, the judge maintenance mailing list nor any other person or group. The judge keeper is the final arbiter of all activity on the judge server. Like any other private property, if you are asked to move then you must move peacefully or you will be forcibly removed.

The judge keeper functions as the game master in a number of the games on this judge. While players normally have the option of appealing to the JK if there is a dispute, there is no appeal in such cases. Games moderated by the judge keeper are identified by Cbabcock on the Pouch openings list or cbabcock at this domain in the judge listings.