Hi All:
I just sent all players an email about this, but I will repeat it here because it makes me feel important.
Here is my proposed policy on stales:
In situations where a player will stale, I will open his/her turn to prevent a reported stale, because otherwise, it would give players clues on who is playing what. However, I will not play the turn. The overall effect will be a stale.
With Turn 5, it seems that there is some confusion with King Lear's substitute, who has not responded to any emails. So, I will play King's turn (but only because the game is young and there is little or no chance that I will run into other players). I can also play Bill Paxton's turn if necessary until we find a sub.
Obviously, I will not be able to act as a substitute later in the game because it would be unfair to other players (due to my omniscient-host-ontological-essence... you can refer to that as OHOE, if you please).
Pasha