Some Frequently Asked Questions about Bumping Policy

In recent weeks, the growing number of supporters of the New Order has also brought an increasing number of questions about how people can help our empire of liberation expand. In particular, people want to know about the policies related to other people bumping in my name and in the name of the New Order.

Yesterday, I got a well-articulated version of these questions from shareholder Valdearg Dragonblood, who posted them in one of the IPO threads. You can see his questions and my responses here. I'd like to take this opportunity to address some of those questions here, and add some things.

One of the more common questions is how other bumpers should handle the possibility of people who have already paid me their mining fees. I set people who pay me my mining fee to positive (+5) standings. Should I make the list of those people public, so other bumpers don't risk bumping them? (If so, this might be called the Blue Pen list.)

Thus far, I have resisted posting such a list because it may make people less inclined to pay, or it may invite retaliation against them from enemies of the New Order. By contrast, since the number of people who have paid is but a fraction of the total miners, and since there are few other people who bump, the benefit is small. I have told bumpers to send me any complaints they get if they bump people who have paid; so far there have been no problems. However, in the future, if the number of bumpers/payors becomes large enough, I may revisit the possibility of a public Blue Pen list.

The other common question concerns how mining fees are handled. The current policy is that all bumpers should feel welcome to keep whatever mining fees they collect for themselves. I am not concerned about losing business due to other people bumping and collecting fees, given the large percentage and number of miners who have not paid. I'm of the opinion that bumpers contribute to a bumping culture and a culture of Code compliance which is ultimately to the financial benefit of all bumpers.

As an additional note, I recommend that bumpers link confused miners to this website to aid in answering their questions and educating them about the New Order. In my experience, miner compliance is increased when they have more information.

I hope this post has been helpful. I will make additional FAQ-type posts in the future as needed.