DCOC BYLAWS  from DCOC Meeting in May 1994.

This is a reprint of some earlier bylaws to remind everyone of House Rules on certain subjects, plus some new rules.  
I'd like to speak to these first.

My own rule of thumb with games is that playability always takes Precedence over Pernickety-ness. 
The flow of play (and the flow of fun) is more important than struggling with the "letter of the law" in a rule book which,
 given any command of English by the interpreter, is capable of adjucing several meanings.  
If, on the day, a ruling does not go your way (and how often do football spectators complain of such decisions by umpires?),
 just remember there is next month and the option to borrow the DCOC axe-grinder.  
Bury the hatchet, I say.

Annotating whether a unit is a fleet or an army is not required in Diplomacy.  
Only one unit can occupy a province, so its designation is immaterial.  
If a fleet was ordered to convoy another fleet from one area to another, it would simply be a misorder.

Where a unit is given an order but incorrectly labelled (i.e. called an Army when it is a fleet),
 the order should be studied as if deleting any such label.  
If the order is then clear and feasible, it goes ahead.  
Doug disagreed saying if it was written wrongly, it was wrong.  
This would be a valid means to misorder, without giving offence to your 'ally'. 

The question of a misorder or deliberate misorder is moot and unprovable.  
In both club or tournament play, a player who has mislabelled a piece and the validity of whose order is now challenged,
 could agree it was a deliberate misorder (when it was not so intended)  or deny it was a misorder based on the benefit of having other orders
  and seen other moves - so having the option to call off an attack that might jeopardise a situation that has only just materialised,
  or profit from the same.  
The player could lie in either situation to his or her advantage.

Mislabelled units can cause great friction, especially in tournament play.  
Don't think it will even get to the point of being adjudicated by a GM, either, because other players may vote/force you to accept a result you hate.  
This is why the best sound move immediately after move resolution and BEFORE negotiation is to write down the current locatin of all of your units.  
This at least HALVES order writing later and eliminates missing a unit in panic.

From experience in tournament play, any orders error is extremely likely to be penalised.  
This includes mislabelling, failure to date orders or specify the country, failure to sign or initial orders, contrary orders admitting two meanings,
 and failure to specify coasts.  (i.e. Fl Con-Bul is a misorder).  
This is, I agree, a breakdown of the Diplomacy Rules injunction that any order, however badly written, which can admit of only one meaning is valid.  
Players are therefore warned that there are some real sticklers for crossed `T's and dotted `I's who will flay your hide for any such errors
 in tournament play.  

For our club:
BYLAW #1	If an order states a coast, another country, or specifies a unit type; then the order shall be read exactly as specified.
               (i.e. F Ser-Gre will be a misorder.)
BYLAW #2	A coast need not be specified unless both coasts are valid, in which case the order will fail.
BYLAW #3	Where it is unclear, or seriously disputed, what a unit is required to do by its orders, a GM or club official shall make a ruling
               on what effect, if any, the disputed order(s) are deemed to have.
BYLAW #4	Where a GM or club official is not available to make a ruling, the surviving players shall take a vote by simple majority on what
               is ruled to happen.
BYLAW #5	In the event that a deadlock occurs, the game shall end, and the previously uncontested season will be used to calculate final scores.

It is more important to keep the game going than haggle over points of law.  
In my view, killing the fun in a game is a serious crime - and I'm not saying that I haven't been guilty of ridiculing someone's play
 at the expense of their longterm participation in the hobby.  
All I'm saying is, DON'T SOUR THE FUN.

Andrew Geraghty (Pres, DCOC)