If my understanding of the rules were not correct, the [LN] would have been sanctioned long ago. But if you are convinced that they're breaking the rules, you don't need to discuss it with me. You can just file a report, and if the admins agree with your interpretation, the faction will receive a sanction or warning and the [LN] player involved may also receive a sanction.
And, practically speaking, your last part is correct. The issuing of those orders is not a problem - their enforcement is. If they are not enforced, because the person issuing them cannot enforce them by server rules, then the order itself is powerless.
Of course, any official faction can't stop you performing a canon role, such as killing pirates, but they can make your life more difficult if you try to do it. Then again...
Quote:Intent of Rule 4.7:
The intent of this right is to allow official faction leadership to also provide leadership, with discretion, to independent players, to improve server gameplay, fairplay, and roleplay.
This right is NOT intended to provide the official faction leadership the right to exercise power for its own sake.
An example of "good" exercise of these rights is to require an independent player to not utilize a heavy captial ship against a smaller lone fighter or bomber, or to not enter an existing fight where entering the fight would unbalance it greatly, or to require the independent player to take action or not take action in support of good RP. (ie, ordering the escort of a diplomat, or something equally creative)
An example of "bad" exercise of this right would be to require the player to patrol an empty system, for no particular reason. Requiring the independent to investigate a particular suspicious ship, though, would be legitimate.
An offical faction consistently abusing this right, could lose it at the Admins' discretion.
Notice that the example of a "good" exercise of the faction right to issue orders to indies is an example of the leader of the faction preventing the indie from doing what their ID allows them to do. Lets make an example that I dealt with many times in the past.
2 [LN] Guardians vs 2 Pirate Sabres
LN indie battleship comes along, wrote "hostiles on scanner, preparing weapons and engaging" and starts shooting.
At this point, according to the wording of 4.7, he's absolutely doing what he should be doing. He's a Navy guy, Pirates are enemies, he should kill the pirate.
But, in this example - and it's only an example because the exertion of this right is discretionary as well as Cannon stating that his is an example only - the official faction is allowed, even encouraged, to enforce fairness using 4.7 over the canon of that faction.
Confusing, don't you think? That this rule has quite the contradiction means that the lines of what is acceptable and what isn't are blurred. This gives admins the leeway required to sanction actions that they believe to be abusive while allowing those they deem to be acceptable. The other consequence of leaving the lines blurred is that people don't know how far they can push the rules before they get sanctioned, which is very handy for sanctioning certain individuals who like to push boundaries.
