Seeing a card

[joshdvm]

[ QUOTE ]


No, it doesn't change from the issue of being a rule to being an issue of etiquette just because you present a situation where no one else is aware that the rule is being broken. If you commit a crime in private it is still a crime, not just a breach of protocal.

The question of whether one acts honestly when they can get away with acting dishonestly is a matter of personal integrity. Of course your decision there is probably indicative of the other types of decisions you make in your life, and eventually people will catch on and treat you accordingly.

[/ QUOTE ]

You miss my point. I am not saying one isn’t obligated to be honest just because one can get away with it. I am bringing up this dilemma because I have found myself in the original poster’s situation and, while I, in good faith, voluntarily disclosed this information, I felt that others were not as forthright with me when the roles were reversed.

The honest player is doubly punished. First, because unscrupulous others will have an unfair advantage over him; second, because the honest player cannot himself engage in the unfair behavior as retaliation.

So, without being lectured again about the generalities of pursuing honesty in one’s life,

A) How do you specifically propose to enforce a rule which can never be enforced except by virtue of others’ honor?

B) How can something be a “Rule” in the first place if it can never be enforced, and there are barely any consequences for anyone violating it?

Answer: Yes, I agree, it should still be a “rule,” the enforcement of which, however, is ultimately voluntary, and entirely dependent on the mutual agreement of the players involved to honor. But it can never be enforced and, back to my original point, that is the essence of etiquette—a code of acceptable behavior everyone is admonished to follow because it is in the best interest of the game