Wanted to get a robust discussion going on this to see what everyone's thoughts are on these issue as it has been prevalent in the past and has resulted in ****play.
(1) Dibs: claiming the exclusive right to fight someone without having established hostilities with kingdom in question
-typically used when 2 kds have a cf or notice expiring in future and the aggressor wants to establish first priority claim to target kd
-also used when kd siting conflict, war. Eowcf and has options/open relations with other kds but one kd wants to establish claim to fight this kd.
Dibs is the biggest bull**** I have seen that has been used in the last few ages. There is no such thing as a pre-notice or pre-hostile.
If you want to fight someone at end of your cf or after they exit from eow/fort you need to go and wave them and you need to be the first one to do it and establish hostile by giving button. You CANT tell another kingdom 'we are coming, dont make any other plans' or 'dont run because we will hit you regardless.' A kingdom who has cfs ending at same date or has no-cfs has the right to fight anyone they want regardless of what another kingdom wants.
Please don't give me crap about setting up cfs ending on the same date because many a time this has been used strategically or notice simply has not been given. Dibs has only become a problem in recent ages, prior to that there have been no problems although cfs have been ending on the same date for 50+ ages.
If you want to fight someone when cfs end and want to make sure its your kingdom, one thing you can try is talking to your target and potential kds they may fight and see if they can work something out. However, there is no legitimate way to "claim" someone without hitting them first.
(2) Definition of hostile
To me this one is pretty straight forward, hostile = presence of a button however there are some additional issues that apply here.
Lately i have seen stupid stuff such as dragon sent = hostile! dragon started = hostile! making a thread in forums = hostile. None of these are hostile and have never been considered.
The proper way to claim hostile is to give button. The only other time you can have hostile is when cows are having a fight, in cow fights preserving meter is important due to presence of ops. Cow fight to kick off hostile is usually a drawn out hostile and when ops are given waves will ensue. This does not mean that cows have their 'own' hostile where if a kingdom with a cow waves a kd without a cow, the cow can be hit by other cows because it has no target in said kd. This stupid excuse was brought up last age and the dumbest thing i have ever heard.
If you want to fight someone and claim them, again GIVE THEM BUTTON. Making a thread is never a hostile neither is starting/sending a dragon, that is stupid. Man up, grow a pair, after all if you want to fight someone and are pushing the initiative YOU need to be the one to hit them, so go and do it otherwise you need to stfu and not claim hostile.