Something we can agree on is there is no written diplomatic communication in a gunboat game. That is forbidden. We also all know that communication can be made via piece movements, votes and even things like amount of time to input orders.

I would like to speak to the second of those three points - communication via votes.

Draws: Draws form a diplomatic conclusion to the game. Nobody feels like they can gain any more by playing on. or they feel the risk is too great of losing all. It is clear that the draw vote, therefore, is a diplomatic tool. So we cannot talk about it on the forum since that will be a form of written diplomatic communication

Cancels/Pauses: The rules are clear about pauses NOT being a diplomatic feature. They make no mention of cancels. However, I personally believe that a cancel is not a diplomatic tool either. I believe so because the game doesn't end - it instead reverts back to a pre-game position, as if it never existed. There are many reasons to cancel and I will not go into detail about them. They all represent aborting games as opposed to diplomatically concluding them.

Therefore, since pauses and cancels are not diplomatic tools I see no reason they cannot be requested on the forum. I believe discussing their merits is another matter since a discussion will often lead to other things. However, requesting a pause or a cancel on the forum should be OK because no diplomatic discussion is occurring. Nobody is negotiating, signalling upcoming moves, or discussing past moves.

The rules do refer to common sense. If people use their sense about their cancel/pause requests on the forum, I believe it is well within the rules.

I am sure others feel differently. Would love to hear why.