opportunity to freely discuss ongoing games clk here plz

[Psyche]

Hi, guys.

As there is no rule against it except for the uninformed discretion of the moderators of whatever games I join, I am looking to turn one of my several accounts into a mostly secret hydra account of every possible interested player. Players in the hydra besides myself will neither post on the hydra account nor even access the hydra account, except under rare occasions, as hydras are not required to do. However, we will casually discuss by pm, quicktopic, skype or casual chat whatever games the hydra account is playing as it is going on, as hydras are generally free to do.

As part of the hydra, you will be obliged to do nothing less than privately and otherwise freely discuss whatever games I am playing whenever you feel like it. I will also post by proxy from my hydra any comments you have about the game, signing them with either an alias or your main's username or not at all depending on your preference.

In return for joining my hydra, I will join whatever secret hydra you want for any well-delineated set of your own games. That way, we can discuss and even openly contribute by proxy to each other's games by pm or other means whenever we want, without restriction.

I will be able to pm you whenever I feel like it about whatever games I am playing (as long as you aren't also playing them and mods do not have any rules against secret hydras), and you will be able to freely pm each other about these games as long as these same conditions apply.

Thanks for reading, I am hoping to get many players into this. Post ITT to join.

[Psyche]

I think that this thread is, at minimum, an argument that

secret

hydras are already or should be against site rules. But if that's not the case, then I hope many people will join my network of secret hydras.

[Chevre]

am I or am I not part of this hydra? one shall never know

[Psyche]

maybe i will implicitly draft into my hydra the set of all players not in a game that i am or have ever been in

[Psyche]

man this is alarming
i am alarming myself

[Who]

Ooh. I want to join.

And how exactly do you propose to ban secret hydras without banning secret alts?
I mean, let's say we ban secret hydras. What stops anyone who wants to make a secret hydra from making "SecretAlt1" and "SecretAlt2" and then making a hydra which is "A hydra of SecretAlt1 and SecretAlt2"?

[Oversoul]

Playing in a secret hydra is a thing?
Like Copper or playing as an account that isn't even listed as a hydra?

[Cheery Dog]

Ooh. I want to join.

And how exactly do you propose to ban secret hydras without banning secret alts?
I mean, let's say we ban secret hydras. What stops anyone who wants to make a secret hydra from making "SecretAlt1" and "SecretAlt2" and then making a hydra which is "A hydra of SecretAlt1 and SecretAlt2"?

That still gives us names to accuse of doing stuff.
If neither account has been used, then they're just putting too much effort in and should be punished with a day 1 lynch.

[zoraster]

I'm not really sure what purpose this thread serves. Obviously we aren't going to allow ongoing games discussion through some weird loophole, but I don't expect you thought we would.

If the question is whether secret hydras are allowed the answer is likely no as to moderators and yes as to other players in the game. Hydras shouldn't hide their identities from game moderators.

[reinoe]

So how the idea works is that the hydra joins a whole bunch of games. Then all the players in the hydra, as long as they don't have their main's in the game, are free to discuss the games with each other?

[Titus]

Every moderator requires anonymous hydra heads to disclose their identities. I have attempted (at least) an anonymous hydra or two. All were required to have heads disclosed.

[Who]

More on the mod thing, it's very hard to find mods who allow hydras with a large amount of heads, and they'd probably be even less likely to allow your intentional exploit hydra.

[Psyche]

is there any site rule that says i must disclose my hydra to anyone?

[Psyche]

because i cannot remember ever joining a game that said i needed to
this is why my secret network of hydras may or may not have been active for months already

[Who]

is there any site rule that says i must disclose my hydra to anyone?

That depends on the queue.
In micros and mini themes, the list mod must know who is in the hydra. Also I think the game mod needs to know, but the list mod definitely needs to know.
In normals, hydras with more than 4 heads are explicitly banned.
In large themes, the game mod "should know everyone who is in the hydra".
In opens I do not currently know, but explicit permission from the list mod is required before joining a game with a large hydra.

[Psyche]

this is all important
clearly the use of secret alts to vindicate secret hydras is a very viable enterprise

[quadz08]

Do not talk outside the game thread about an ongoing game except where explicitly allowed to do so by your role/moderator.

This rule (in the site rules) outlaws secret hydras, as not informing the moderator of the fact that you are playing as a hydra means that the mod is not explicitly allowing you speak to anyone else about the game.

[Psyche]

Right, that was mentioned earlier.

And what would you say motivates the rule you mentioned, quadz?

[quadz08]

The fact that discussing gameplay with people not in the game is cheating. Hydras, by definition, have multiple people all in the game filling one slot.

[Psyche]

Well, people in a hydra, secret or otherwise, are all in the same game - even if one of those people decides not to make posts from the hydra. You mean something else, right?

[quadz08]

They are not in the game, because the mod didn't not send them role PM or otherwise indicate that they were in the game.

[Psyche]

so you don't think a secret hydra getting a role pm is the same as the members of the secret hydra each individually getting a role pm?

[SleepyKrew]

Someone in a secret hydra getting a role PM when the mod was unaware multiple people would be receiving it would be like someone forwarding their role PM to someone not in the game.

This is asinine.

[Psyche]

Except the role pm is not being forwarded "to someone not in the game". It would be more accurate to say that the role pm is forwarded to someone who shares the same slot as that person in the game. So that seems like a false analogy.

[SleepyKrew]

If the mod isn't aware you're receiving the PM, then obviously they don't intend you to be in or have any impact on the game.