Guidelines for Scripts (Now Binding)

[SalusaSecondus]

Please realize that no formal rulings have been made yet. But, as that would be explicitly opt-in, that would be fine, just don't hammer us too hard, the messages don't have to go out fast.

[MrNonchalant]

Salusa: Excellent. Then these guidelines I'm fully in support of.

In fact I think I'll go put a unique User-Agent on my bots so it's easier to track them if necessary.

[SalusaSecondus]

Salusa: Excellent. Then these guidelines I'm fully in support of.

In fact I think I'll go put a unique User-Agent on my bots so it's easier to track them if necessary.

That would be appreciated.

[Dettibok]

Guidelines are appreciated, thanks!

Any script that accesses the forums is illegal.

I can see the need for this restriction. I'll go back to archiving threads I'm afraid of disappearing out of sight manually.

My current thoughts.

...
I'm thinking about allowing scripts to access the server much faster (as in 1 request every 5 seconds).

This would be good for me. I use scripts to archive regional happenings during invasions, and when they really heat up 5 minutes are too long. (during the Corinthe invasion, even 1 minute would have been too long, yikes!) When things slow down, I throttle back (so as not to hammer the server), and I don't run them all that often. (Unfortunately, when I do run them is probably when the server is under the most stress, with invasions). I've also, every couple of months, run scripts to survey nations in the south pacific; I'll go and insert delays into those.
Perhaps a weekly limit on script downloads in addition to a rate limit would be appropriate?

I can easily change the user-agent, perhaps we can all put 'nsscript' into our user-agents to make scripts easier to track?

Oh, and for survey type scripts, if legal at all, what would be a good time of day/week to run them?

---P.S.---
Looking back at the archives of the Corinthe invasion, I was downloading the regional page every 11 seconds after 4:00 AM. That proved to be adequate for capturing the posts.

[NuMetal]

looks good....






PS
I'm not dead yet(just in case anyone noticed my absence)

[MrNonchalant]

Salusa: Excellent. Then these guidelines I'm fully in support of.

In fact I think I'll go put a unique User-Agent on my bots so it's easier to track them if necessary.

That would be appreciated.

My latest creation's user-agent is:
[code:1:779abdcc09]
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0;Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; MrNonchalant)
[/code:1:779abdcc09]
And it queried one page every 30 seconds until certain conditions had been met, at which point it accessed another directly after the final 30 second query. It did not telegram, post region messages, access the forums, or eject.

[Qaaolchoura]

What about using a script to gather data from the XML datafeed?

Techincally if somebody had their site set up to gahter data from the feed for various regions or nations and allowed a search, and then somebody exceded the number of server hits using a search, potentially with a script, would either the site or the user of the site be held accountable (assuming that either was an NS user)?

[MrNonchalant]

With XML data feeds generally the best option is to have it's data update periodically to a local database.

[SalusaSecondus]

MrNonchalant is correct. The best way to do this is to cache the data, however, if you script only grabs once per load, it would be legal.

I'm contemplating throwing out the throttling and just requiring that people be reasonable. If they are unsure, they ask me, and I withhold the right to judge a script to be illegal.

[Qaaolchoura]

MrNonchalant is correct. The best way to do this is to cache the data, however,

if you script only grabs once per load, it would be legal.

I'm contemplating throwing out the throttling and just requiring that people be reasonable. If they are unsure, they ask me, and I withhold the right to judge a script to be illegal.

But wat if (I'm not sure why one might do this, but it seems to be a possibility) somebody has a search function to find say, the most recent government activity of all ations in a search.

Since I am not particarly fluent in technical lingo, I'm not quite clear what you said for the second half of this sentence. :?

Throttling? :?

[Naleth]

I'm pretty sure "throttling" is in refrence to guideline #5, Qaa.

[Myrth]

I think the telegram rule should be reworded to say 'unsolicited telegrams.'
That would be useful for regions such as the Pacific Army where often a telegram must be sent out to all nations informing them of something important.

[Qaaolchoura]

I think the telegram rule should be reworded to say 'unsolicited telegrams.'
That would be useful for regions such as the Pacific Army where often a telegram must be sent out to all nations informing them of something important.

I just hope that this rule gets implimented soon. It looks like Joser is making a last desperate recruitment campaign, so I really can not wait until it is banned.

I think that I may contact Vanquez(who I think is Joser's puppet-master) about it in the mean time though.

[SalusaSecondus]

Ok, these are now binding (though still up for discussion)

1. No script may send unsolicited telegrams. (1 reply message is permitted to a received telegram)
2. No script may post regional messages without permission of founder (or delegate if no founder exists). Edited
3. No script may access the forums (ie, any page with a URL starting with http://forums.jolt.co.uk/)
4. No script may kick or ban nations (unless controlled by the region's founder).
5. Scripts may not be used to endorse or unendorse other nations.
6. Scripts may not access the server excessively.
7. No script may create a nation. Edited
8. No script may create a region. Edited
9. Any Game Moderator, Admin, or Tech Modling may judge a script to be legal or illegal, separate from the above guidelines.

[Myrth]

Have you had a word with Jennivier, Sal? This nation is breaking at least two of those rules.