well, its bee a long time since i've seen a boycott, last i remember, you pick a country, and every one votes for/against, when their is like 10 more, for, votes, then the boycott kicks in, the more votes for, the more products the boycotted country is unable to buy. votes roll off after a certain time, and can not be revoted for a cooling down period.
direct contracts set up prior to a boycott, bypass the penalties, but new contracts can not be created, until the boycott pass. in the past, every one, pretty much, would set their trade strategies to hold 65 months worth of everything, as boycotts last 60 GM, so if you had everything stocked, they only thing that would really hurt is that your corps would suffer.
boycotts, early on were devastating, until players figured out how to minimize the effects. then the whole process became less popular. as the players that generally earned boycotts, where well prepared to handle them.
All good info mate, don't be sorry. I appreciate players like yourself that go out of their way to explain strategies and issues we come across in SC that you can't find in the documentation.
I've been playing long enough to have experienced this a few times before. I learnt pretty quickly to diversify my corps so when this happens my country is still profitable and my economy can survive until the market returns to normal.
I was originally curious if it was a player or the GM because if its a player there must be something to gain from it. And if thats the case then I want to know about it ;)
I'm not on FB, so it can't be me. Again, Orbiter's advice is good, and understandable. Heed it, forsooth!