We trialed the council idea for a few years, and while we certainly agree on
promoting better communication between players and wizards/admins, there were
some issues with the council mandate that did not work very well in an all-
volunteer environment like BatMUD where the motivation of many developers is
their freedom to create things they want.

While we do have an element of quality control in that new content is reviewed
by more senior developers (and arches can veto what gets into the game), the
council was turning into a second round of approvals. Ofcourse this is
something we could fix by changing the mandate of the council if there truly
is a demand for such a group. Otherwise we can certainly debate game-related
topics on our public channels also instead of limiting it to a smaller group.


With regards to the topic of information disclosure / privacy, I guess it is
time to update our privacy policy (even if it involves talking with lawyers -
what a bore!)

In short - Balanced Alternative Techniques Ry is registered as an association
in Finland, and is thereby subject to the laws of that country. If we receive
a request for information from authorities, we will comply if required to do
so by a relevant Finnish law (e.g. Poliisilaki or similar).

It is impossible do to an exhaustive list, but we do not volunteer information
about individuals unless required to do so by law, or if we believe it helps
prevent/solve a serious crime or is otherwise in the best interest of the
individual.

We have in the past resisted giving information to third parties due to
privacy concerns.

We will not tell your identity to the North Korean government just because you
made fun of Kim Jong-Un on a public channel. We may well tell the Finnish
police if we notice you selling cocaine on your society channels.

If you have any specific use-cases that you are concerned about, do let me
know and I will try to formulate a reply.

++ Gore