Gorundu for Delegate

Gorundu

I finished my Chinese homework
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Pronouns
he/him
TNP Nation
Gorundu
Discord
an_dr_ew
gorundu.png

Foreword

When I was elected Vice Delegate four months ago, I certainly wasn’t expecting to be in this position come May. But it’s the job that I’ve been given, and over the last three weeks I’ve put in many hours and my best effort. There were many people, both within TNP and outside, who helped me navigate the complex situations internally and abroad. Looking back over these weeks, there was much that we have managed to accomplish. We quickly responded to the crisis, filling the vacuum of leadership and reasserting our Independence when we were dismissed as puppets and proxies for the defenders, while resetting our relationship with defenders so that we can still work with them in the future; we assumed control of the first active Frontier (and as of now, still the largest Frontier); and we have begun comprehensively reviewing the tech issues we face and work with our coders on new scripts. But more importantly, I’ve seen the view from the Delegate’s seat, and I believe I know what we need to do as a region to adapt and improve in these challenging times. I believe I have a plan for our future.

The government has faced no shortage of challenges these past few months - whether it’s most of our technological tools being rendered unusable, the crisis that triggered the resignation of the Delegate, the arrival of the Frontiers update, or just the general shortage of staff we are still facing. In the coming term, we will need to confront our challenges proactively. We need to engage the region and deliver robust, sustainable solutions. We need a plan that creates the momentum we need to drive us into a brighter future. Ultimately, my goal is to build a stronger community and stronger region - that means an active, engaged and knowledgeable group of people. My plan, I believe, will help set us in that direction over the next four months.

About this platform

The generally accepted way of presenting a platform in Delegate elections is to make some summaries about Executive management before splitting the platform into sections on each ministry. This platform won’t be like that. It is my belief that almost everything a ministry does is in some way connected to another ministry’s work, or towards a greater goal for the government. To communicate my vision for TNP effectively, I will be splitting the platform into two broad areas on Domestic Affairs and Foreign Affairs, and discuss each of the goals I have in these areas. Some of these goals will have many moving parts and involve multiple ministries, while some will be more focused. But all of these goals serve the purpose of extracting more potential from our region and from the advantageous position we are in as the largest region.

Domestic Affairs

Turning around Executive Staff stagnation
Through the years, we have developed a suite of tools to bolster our recruitment. Our task at hand is to use them effectively - beginning with telegrams and Lists. Currently, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ telegram Lists can be split into two rough categories - general ones, like for joining the forum or applying for citizenship, or more specific, such as for a certain ministry. The specific ones are the ones we need more. Our automated telegrams already convey lots of the general information, and while some reminding is always good, it doesn’t need to be the focus of Lists. This will involve writing new telegrams and creating new templates, and maintaining awareness on which ministries are most in need of new staffers. As it stands, writing and updating telegram templates hasn’t been a strong suit for the Ministry of Home Affairs, and most of that comes down to a lack of encouragement. Sometimes, the Minister or Deputy Ministers have to take charge of the effort and lead by example. Home Affairs should never just be about sending Lists, it’s about recruitment and integration, and right now, the Executive Staff needs that.

Mentoring is also a function that can use some refinements. Firstly, it would be ideal to notify mentors of new joiners on a more consistent basis, perhaps daily or once every two or three days depending on the volume of new joiners. This would allow us to reach newcomers more quickly and raise the likelihood of retaining them before they lose interest. A spreadsheet could be very useful to keep track of those who responded to mentor messages and remind mentors to respond to them, follow up with their progress, and push them to try out new things in the region, so that mentees get the fullest extent of support available to them.

Coordinating the effort to replace defunct technology
With the tech guild now up and running to begin replacing our scripts and tools that had been rendered unusable recently, the government has an important role to play. By coordinating the efforts of our talented coders and admins, communicating the government's needs, and setting priorities for the tools we need the most, the government can help the tech guild work more efficiently. This will no doubt also help the government get a better understanding of the new scripts when they are implemented, especially their vulnerabilities, so that the government can respond appropriately to minimise damage if a situation arises.

Accountability and Transparency
The Northern Notes were introduced by Pallaith in his last term as essentially a new form of press releases. I would like to build and expand on that foundation this term. I believe it’s the perfect avenue to start with the revival of a communications/media ministry (more on that in a different section). These press releases will focus on activity in the Executive government, and if requested, updates from other branches of government, with a focus on compiling comprehensive information and directing readers as to where they can find more details on a particular event. This will keep TNPers consistently informed about what’s going on in the government. More detailed press releases would also be released on an as-needed basis for major events such as a large North Pacific Army operation or an interregional event.

On a further note, ministerial reports have slipped into oblivion over the last few terms. While at once we had as many as one report every month, we now barely even see any end-of-term reports. I would like to bring them back to a frequency of at least a midterm and end-of-term report. In addition, I believe regular reports from the Delegate personally would better inform the region of the big picture. These reports are a vital part of maintaining accountability and informing TNPers what we have achieved (and just as importantly, not achieved) each term.

Putting the spotlight on recruitment
With our receiving share of newly spawned nations being slashed by half due to the Frontiers/Strongholds update, we will need to take steps to ensure that our population doesn’t decline dramatically. This is why telegram recruitment will be crucial to this term’s agenda. Consistent with best practice, we will attempt to implement all three forms of telegram recruitment currently available - stamps, API and manual. For stamps, this will be underway shortly, as we already have a good amount of stamps in deposit and a new regional nation dedicated for this use. For API, this will need to be scripted with help from the tech guild and hopefully implemented some time during the term. Manual recruitment is where most of our efforts will be focused, as it is the only method that isn’t automated, but therefore generates the highest returns.

Manual recruitment is, as the name suggests, manual, but it can be made more efficient with the help of a tool. I have discussed with various people over the last few weeks about how we should go about acquiring one. Some have suggested Dot, a bot used already by several other regions such as The League, but its code is closed source and it only allows one person to recruit at once. We are currently in discussions with Europeia to use a copy of their tool, as our own tech guild has yet to sort out the hosting of any new tools, and it is imperative that we can start recruiting as soon as possible. Once a tool is up and running, we will begin recruiting recruiters as part of the Home Affairs staff, and a program will be designed with incentives for sending telegrams - this will likely include trading cards, with cards given away per number of telegrams sent. Other contests and rewards would also be designed to ensure fresh incentives are always provided and people do not lose interest in what can be a repetitive task.

This emphasis on recruitment will also mean a re-examination of our telegram templates to build a new recruitment telegram. In fact, there will likely be several new recruitment telegrams that can be tested out for their effectiveness so that we maximise our return.

Rebuilding government media
The slowly declining interest in article-writing over the last few years had been a death knell for the former Ministry of Communication/Media. The merger of Media into Culture was intended to remove an inactive ministry and lower the burden on ministry leadership to produce articles given the circumstances, but it was unfortunately mostly neglected by successive Ministers of Culture. This is why I believe we need to make a proper, not half-hearted attempt to revive government media - and I will be officially re-constituting the Ministry of Communications with a dedicated Minister, should I be elected.

To give media its much-needed rejuvenation, I believe we need to look towards reporting and analysing news as the foundation of the ministry’s work, since they provide newcomers with opportunities for entry-level writing with lower stakes. Government publications will focus on creating and delivering intriguing content that generate discussions both internal and external. In addition to producing press releases (as mentioned previously), the ministry should deliver news, but more importantly, *analysis* on current events within and affecting TNP. This may not always be beneficial for the government, but I believe it is necessary for a functioning media scene in the region. It may well be that at first we have to heavily rely on a few writers, but once established, this has the potential of generating interest and creating sustainable activity within the ministry.

Radio is a trickier beast, requiring a degree of technical knowledge and a number of people not only willing to speak, but also available at the same time. I believe the smart thing to do at this point is to explore new varieties of show ideas that could generate interest and encourage people to sign up and partake, but not to exert pressure on staffers to produce shows which could lead to frustration and burnout.

Building connections with Gameside
I believe that the Delegate has a personal responsibility to build a relationship with the gameside players. Although Gameside Advocates play useful roles, the Delegate can and should build a more personal relationship with this somewhat neglected constituency. Simple chats or impromptu question times would go a long way to letting gameside players, many of who are relatively new, feel connected to the leadership of the region.

Gameside Advocates still play an important role, of course. Much of the goals I have presented so far require some amount of active promotion and engagement, from press releases to news articles to projects and events, and the gameside community too needs to be kept informed. Gameside Advocates would also play a large role whenever RMB-based events, large or small, are organised, advertising the opportunity heavily and reaching out to potential participants.

Diversifying cultural activities
I believe the key improvement we can make to the Ministry of Culture is to make smaller activities and events a more regular occurrence and more diverse in options, so that there’s always something interesting to do. To that end, I hope to implement a formal Culture schedule with a multitude akin to what’s been run in the past. Because repeated events can quickly lead to interest waning, it’s important to maintain a fresh arsenal of ideas. There should be activities for all three of our most used platforms - RMB, Forum and Discord - and this will be a major focus for Culture. Discord events can include those we have done in the past, such as Music Mondays and Theme Thursdays, as well as lesser-tried ones such as jackbox games or even Discord’s own games feature. Forum and RMB events could include games such as continue the story or small creative contests that don’t have to require great effort from the participants. One potential type of forum thread which I think could be popular is where you're asked to do something and share it, like taking a quiz or sharing your best ChatGPT response for a particular type of prompt. We could also encourage people to post about their hobbies, like Marcus has been doing consistently with his trains and planes.

Explore the opportunities from Season 3 of Cards
TNP’s card guild has survived its toughest challenge in the wait between season 2 and season 3. It has continued to perform and recently managed another highly successful symposium. Enthusiasm for cards is still strong and I intend to keep the momentum going, but the biggest factor in its continued success will be resolving our work on improvements to our coding and our scripts. The guild needs a reliable, long term card pool for giveaways and lotteries, and we need to be able to rely on the infrastructure we have to make our programs a reality. That must be the priority in the term ahead, so that the guild will continue to do what it does best. With regular rewards and working tech, we should be able to keep interest in the program in the long term and from there we can continue attracting top talent and be a leading part of the cards community.

Cards will continue to have an important role in our regional culture and be a ministry in its own right. As we rebuild our executive staff, I believe we can continue to innovate what the cards guild does and take the lessons we learned from the symposium and expand our programs to keep up with the expectations and norms of the larger cards community. To continue to be a leader in this area we have to adapt to all the changes season 3 of cards brought to the game, and how cards are being used in the wider game. We built something important and innovative in the beginning, and now we have to find the next innovative approach with the way cards work now and how it worked 3 years ago.

Building a secure and vibrant Frontier
There have been many questions asked about our plans for The Wellspring since we first took over the region. As some of you may know, I have been skeptical of the idea that putting the time and effort into building a Frontier would be worth it for the new members we will gain. In that case, what was I doing with The Wellspring? Simply put, I realised that in the first days after the update, there would be very few Frontiers eligible for spawns and those that are would be accumulating a huge advantage in nations - this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. So we quickly organised for the NPA to move into the only Frontier that seemed on track to receive new spawns, and next thing we knew half of all nations were spawning in a region we control.

What does the future hold for The Wellspring? Although I am not a fan of having our own Frontier, the existing advantage of The Wellspring makes it an attractive proposition to incorporate it as a territory of TNP to be our one and only Frontier. There are a number of TNPers who are dedicating some of their time to build a government and a community in The Wellspring, and I believe it would be best to give them some independence so that The Wellspring can develop a community organically and its own identity, which will make it more attractive as a region for new nations to stay in. However, I do intend to speak to those dedicating their time to The Wellspring regularly, so that I can be in touch with the progress and offer any opinions from a more TNP-centric perspective.

Foreign Affairs

Continuing proactive action towards foreign policy goals
In times ahead, we will be facing serious challenges as a region, whether it is continued aggression from raiders against us and our allies, which include Independents and Defenders, or instability in the gameplay landscape that might result from the F/S update. I understand that some of you are still hesitant about continuing relations with some defender regions, but the reality is that we share many common goals with them in this new era - countering destructive practices from raiders, protecting regional sovereignty, and supporting our many shared allies, just to name a few. I believe all of these regions, including TSP, can be a productive partner for this future state of gameplay, and with the lessons learnt from this disaster of their own making, I believe they will be extra careful to maintain respectful communication with us and not to overstep their bounds again. Our talks so far have allowed us to take the first steps towards healing our lingering differences. I can see a future for our relationship with these regions. It’ll require serious commitment and careful steps on their part, but I’m willing to give it a try.

Rethinking record-keeping and information access within the ministry
In light of recent events, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begun taking steps to ensure that ministry leadership, staff and our general population are all informed to the appropriate extent on our diplomatic undertakings. A key issue that we discovered while dealing with the recent diplomatic fallout was the poor transparency and record-keeping practices in the past administration. For example, negotiations are sometimes conducted over voice chats, with no written record of what was said during these chats. Furthermore, we will be looking to produce a Code of Conduct for foreign affairs leadership and diplomats, which will include best practices on what platforms to use for certain discussions, where to maintain records and how to document decisions. Internally, Pallaith began compiling records of past diplomatic conversations from Discord into a secure subforum during his previous term, and that will continue should I be elected.

I also believe we should begin more regularly including Deputy Ministers in diplomatic conversations. As well as being a form of training to develop future leaders, this would improve the number of people with knowledge of certain information and further guarantee that information is not lost. We also recognise that there should be a formal support structure within the ministry to support the Delegate and the Minister’s decision-making, and we will attempt to create a body that satisfies that need.

Engaging Foreign Affairs staff
The Foreign Affairs section of the Executive Discord Server has been buzzing with activity the last few weeks, most of it of course due to the massive controversy we were embroiled in. However, Madjack, as the Minister, has also done his part to generate more conversations by inviting discussions and sharing occasional updates on our talks with various regions while they were ongoing. I intend for this approach to continue next term. For staffers, this is an opportunity to learn more about what is going on in the wider world, the norms and expectations of diplomacy, and the repercussions that certain actions can cause. For ministry leadership, this is a chance to gauge the foreign affairs understanding of individual staffers and observe any changes over time, so they can select staffers to further develop and advance to higher roles.

Foreign Affairs education for the wider population
As mentioned in my domestic agenda, I plan on producing regular press releases. Although the primary goal of these releases, as previously stated, is transparency, they can also be a useful tool for education. This is why I plan on including updates on foreign regions in these releases, to offer our general population easy access to information about what’s going on outside our region. These would be akin to the Foreign Affairs Reports produced a few terms ago, but more publicised to reach a wider audience in TNP. We will draw on Foreign Affairs staff to produce these, as they will be expected to keep an eye on foreign happenings and raise these items for discussion and inclusion in the updates. With FA being one of the most popular ministries in terms of staff applications, we can make use of FA staff who are not assigned to ambassador roles to contribute to these reports, thus serving to develop their own foreign affairs understanding while informing others.

Activating the Inter-Regional Chat
The IRC has had some ups and downs through its existence, and is currently in a rather inactive state. But I believe it only takes one region and a couple of people to take interest in it to drum up some serious activity, and there are some easy first steps we can take to help revive the IRC. I am hoping to collaborate with the other IRC member regions to introduce weekly topics of discussion on either recent gameplay events or important gameplay issues. If there is sufficient interest and available topics, the frequency can even be increased. As a gathering ground that is purpose-built to increase communication between people from different regions, the IRC has much potential in helping promote TNP’s image and foreign policy abroad.

Reinvigorating the North Pacific Army
With the region’s size (and crucially, WA numbers) poised to shrink due to the upcoming game changes, it’s more important than ever to utilise our other ways of projecting power and influence. One of these is our military, which has seen struggles in activity in recent terms, even if it is showing signs of being on the way up under Rom’s leadership. Here is how I plan to reinvigorate and reinforce the NPA.

One idea that has always been floated, sometimes executed, but never really implemented wholeheartedly is the idea of publicly reporting and celebrating large and successful military operations. The reason I am bringing this idea back to the forefront is that I believe it has the ability to kill two birds with one stone - firstly, it increases visibility for the NPA and consequently TNP in the wider world; secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it brings NPA activity out in the open for TNPers to see, and can be used to encourage more TNPers to join the NPA.

Another way to improve NPA recruitment is to change our messaging on the NPA. The current messaging revolves around touting the strength of the NPA, but I believe it should focus on the benefits it offers the individual - for example, easy way to meet players across the NS world, opportunity for political advancement to become Minister of Defence and even Delegate (as many of our Delegates did come from the NPA). Furthermore, telegrams can play a bigger role in NPA recruitment. Many prominent military organisations send out automated telegrams to new WA members, and I don’t see why we can’t try the same for new WA members in TNP.

Lastly, I believe it is time to start better organising the induction of new recruits. It has been tradition to train our new recruits on the go, but that’s not always the most efficient, especially if it happens to be on joint operations. I believe a channel in the NPA server to specifically organise times to train new recruits would go a long way in making sure our recruits are battle-ready when it comes time for their first operation.

Protecting the sovereignty of our WA vote
There has been much attention paid to our vote in the WA because, well, it was at the centre of the crisis that transpired and led to Hulldom’s resignation. The way to prevent a similar sort of thing from happening again is simple - we cannot make promises about how we will vote to a foreign region before a proposal is even submitted. That doesn’t mean we can’t discuss with other regions about our vote, but it must be clear to everyone that our vote is decided by our WA residents. It is the government’s right to form an official position on a vote before the start of the vote and convince residents to vote the same way, but we should be transparent about the reason we’re doing so.

Beyond that, the next term will see a new form of gameside voting being tested, which will hopefully allow more of our WA residents to have a voice in the regional vote and expand interest in the WA across the region. I will also continue to vote early on WA resolutions to maximise the impact of our vote. As a former Minister of WA Affairs, I am well acquainted with the workings of the ministry and will gladly offer any guidance or assistance if needed.

Conclusion

As you have seen in my platform, there is no shortage of initiatives we can take in the coming term to help secure the future for our region. We must dedicate our efforts towards building a stronger community, and that starts from plugging in our gaps and confronting our current and future challenges head-on. This will not only be necessary to maintain our status as the largest and greatest region in the game, but grant us the resilience so we can be confident that no matter what happens, we are ready to respond to it.

I hope my past three weeks as Acting Delegate and the new vision I have presented for the region highlights why I should be the person to lead our region for the next four months. As always in our elections, questions and comments from you will be an integral part of our democratic process and shed further light on how I will perform as Delegate. Therefore, I invite all of you to ask any questions you might have, and I will respond to them to the best of my ability.

Thanks to @Kastonvia for the banner
 
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Could you give a more elaborate explanation on your plans regarding this new "revival" of the Ministry of Communications?
How would you solve the potential repeat of the problems such as lack of activity?
 
Did you use ChatGPT for this, Gorundu?
No, I used Bing AI.

Could you give a more elaborate explanation on your plans regarding this new "revival" of the Ministry of Communications?
How would you solve the potential repeat of the problems such as lack of activity?
I believe I have explained the main points of my plan on reviving the ministry in the platform already. One thing I will note though, as it's split across two sections of the platform, is that I intend for the ministry to produce two publications, press releases (akin to The Northern Notes) and news publications (akin to The North Star) - I haven't really settled on the names yet. This sets up a gradient in terms of effort needed, and writers can choose what they are comfortable with, which will hopefully encourage them to take part. Some of you might be concerned that two publications would be too much of a stretch for a newly revived ministry, but I believe there is sufficient interest among the Executive Staff to start writing again, and the different varieties would make it less likely for writers to lose interest. I also believe a steady stream release of news articles, rather than concentrating them into monthly editions, would allow writers to see the impact of their work more immediately, and keep them motivated to keep on writing. In any case, press releases can be sustained with a minimal number of writers because they don't require much research or editing - The Northern Notes, for example, were largely written by Kasto.

I think the paragraph above has somewhat touched on the issue of activity already, but the final thing I want to say about that is you cannot "solve" something like inactivity. You can only work with the circumstances you have and investigate why people aren't writing. Sometimes it's burnout or lack of time, which you can't really do anything about. Other times it might be lack of ideas or lack of interesting news to write about, in which case a discussion with the Minister (or someone else) could be the boost they need to find interest in a topic and write about it. Lack of activity could be a fatal blow to any project, but there are definitely ways to soften the blow and get back on your feet.
 
I noticed your lack of plans for the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. You mentioned our new gameside engagement program, but that's about it. Can you please expand on your vision for the ministry?
 
Nice campaign, and good luck! Here are my questions,
1) Do you intend to make any efforts to promote active World Assembly authorship and activity in the region, and if so what efforts? Alternatively, would you defer to the Minister (and deputies thereof) to manage such aspects? This is something which is explicitly mentioned in Oracle's campaign, although it does not seem to be addressed here.
2) Can you summarise how you would intend to approach and manage the regional roleplay communities, both on the forum and gameside? In addition, would you take a hands-on approach regarding such communities, or instead defer to individual Ministers or other government officials regarding roleplay?
 
You mention changing the messaging around the NPA to focus around opportunities for the individual. Have you considered the additional possibility of appealing to people's "patriotism" and service to the community? I feel like such an appeal could be highly effective.
 
Hey, saw your post about Frontiers and The Wellspring. I have some really strong feelings to see new regions grow and flourish with strong backing my regional builders of regions who have the passion to do that. I am going to ask all D and VD candidates about this because it is relevant to the D and VD's tasks, outreach, and part of the new protocol for them in the F/S world!


I think we, the TNP should go out of our way to start forming treaties with these new frontiers and The Wellspring, and ambassadorships going in Foreign Affairs Ministry, and start working with them like any other normal region before the F/S update. That means I believe the D, VD, and Government should start making new policies, implementations, and addendums to policy of Foreign Affairs to get ahead of others to benefit from the new wave of regions and supplanting of spawns in The Wellspring coming to The North Pacific. With that in mind, would you want to take on further things on with Frontiers and possibly Strongholds beyond the things you mentioned above in your platform?


With a new territory we have and new possibilities with the region, we should probably create a team of people to head how we should let The Wellspring develop without us bearing down on them for everything with Laws, personnel, and Government officials and also creating a policy and guideline for expeditionIng people back and forth through diplomatic channels for both regions. Do you have any ideas if you would want to implement something like this or even take on something like this? Any alternatives?


That is all from me and good luck on your campaign!
 
Gorundu, I can honestly say that I gorundidn’t think I would ever see this day. I still don’t know how I feel about it. This game takes us to very strange places sometimes. But here we are, you running the most serious delegate campaign you ever have, and from the delegate’s chair. The entire thing has been historic and I don’t lose sight of that at all, but we are here to finally apply the test that all sitting delegates are meant to have before they ever take the oath.

This is a very comprehensive platform and I can’t really think of too much that it leaves out. I may pick through it at greater length and have a few thoughts, but I want to get the obvious ones at the top of my head done first.

You obviously have served as Vice Delegate (in a sense, technically you still are), but you were also Speaker, Minister of World Assembly Affairs, and, although most people, including yourself, seem to have forgotten this, you were also Minister of Communications. More recently, you were the FA officer for The Rejected Realms, and you’ve also been involved in smaller capacities in The East Pacific and Europeia (perhaps you could clarify what those were as well). What did those experiences provide for you as far as experience that can be applied to the role of delegate? And how might those roles, especially the ones you had in other regions, inform your approach to dealing with these regions and resolving the FA puzzles we have ahead of us?

Because FA is a hot topic right now, and important to how we adapt to the current environment and move beyond recent events with TSP and the defenders. What are you thoughts on how the world has responded to our response to what happened and to TSP’s statement? Did we hit the mark? Are you surprised in any way? Were you satisfied with the other defender regions’ statements, explanations, and subsequent action following the fallout? Many expect us to be keeping a close eye on this - are they meeting your expectations so far? Anything you might be keen to see moving forward to keep you assured we can continue down the path you identified in our response to them and in this platform?

Related, you and I faced each other across the diplomatic table last year when you were TRR’s FA person, so I have some idea about how you might feel about the MGC sanctions that were put forward late last year. Many have claimed these are just another aspect of the “neo moralist” aggression that the defenders deployed in their threats to TNP last month. Is there a meaningful difference between those and the aim the defenders had in this latest drama? As someone who fought to reduce the reach of the sanctions, do you believe that was the right approach, which saw fruit when Boston updated them? As the person who can eliminate our involvement in the sanctions with the stroke of a pen, is that something you would look at doing moving forward?

The previous delegate and yourself have both made clear you feel further collaboration with defender regions is still important, and in line with the On Alignment statement from over a year ago, consistent with our own values and democratic tradition. But in your view, is there any room to collaborate or work with raider organizations? Is this a remote possibility or something you see yourself having an interest in doing in the future?

Much has been said about our partners and our options in the game at this tricky time, and for a time we looked caught between two opposing sides and possibly on the verge of going it alone. What would you be looking for in potential new partners, and what form of cooperation do you think we would see if we forged these relationships? Are the relationships we have in place now strong enough to keep us on solid footing as F/S chips away at our strength?

It’s fallen by the wayside as of late but there has been talk about our new community guidelines and admin practices. Your insight into this is limited to Discord moderation, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the criticism from (wow, already?) almost two years ago, and the work we’ve done to update our guidelines. Was the criticism fair following the debate of the Reject Fascism Act? Have the guidelines solved the issue? Do you feel the team is solid and the practices are sound?

Concerns about tech are a major part of your plans, do you see us successfully avoiding another singular savior abandoning us scenario based on how talks are going so far? Is it feasible for us instead to rely on individuals with their own tech contributions and kind of spread it to several people, or is there a more reliable permanent solution like what we had before but with more long-term stability?

There has been some change in how the RMB is managed, and a lot of emphasis on the community guidelines and broader principles as opposed to the traditional strict standards. It was said that it was almost impossible to get banned from TNP’s region but that’s certainly not true anymore. Is this a good trend? Do you feel border control has the right balance? Any questionable bans or strategies for handling them in your view? Do you have any thoughts in particular on ban evasion, or on enhanced OOC justification for in-game banjection action following the Court’s ruling on suppression? I have noticed that you haven’t had to ban as much so far, which may be a result of your discretion leaning away from bans your predecessor may have made. Have you stayed your hand intentionally in some cases or this more of a coincidence?

With all that said…I am aware this isn’t a re-election campaign but we can’t ignore the fact that you’ve already been doing this job for almost a month already, and I have been in service to that work. This does give me a bit more insight into what you have done and what you are capable of. I feel I must remark candidly on that experience given how useful it would be for the people making this important decision.

I still can’t say I entirely know what you believe or what motivates you, I find it hard to get a feel for your thought process or what you’re passionate about in particular, I still know next to nothing about you as a person and what makes you tick. But you’re not malicious, manipulative, or mean, you are sincere when you say something and you do the work you do for a good cause, and for what you genuinely believe is the good of the region. I know how deliberate you have been in making these tough calls, how receptive you are to advice and to as many opinions as you can digest, and that you’re capable of setting aside your grudges and biases to make the best decision for TNP and for the bigger picture. You can write your own stuff, and write it well with minimal proofreading or notes. And while I can’t always get a good read on you, I think this also is proof of how humble you are given the sudden weight thrown onto your shoulders, with no panic distracting you. So you have all that going for you. Can you keep it up?
 
Gorundu,

This is a pretty comprehensive platform that covers a wide array of subjects and speaks on them rather candidly. I'm generally impressed by what I'm seeing here. As you even said yourself, you didn't expect to be in this position. So I find it especially notable how you've made such an effort in light of that, nonetheless.

As far as your blurb about recruitment is concerned, I wholeheartedly agree. In a post-F&S landscape, the region can no longer afford to simply coast by on its feeder status alone. I'm glad to see that thought and attention to detail are being put into this, as we'll certainly need a Delegate who can juggle various competing demands of how to best bring in new blood and sustain ourselves even after our share of new nation spawns has been diminished.

On the subject of foreign affairs, I especially like how you've expressed an explicit commitment to ensuring the sovereignty of our vote in the WA. As you are a former Minister of World Assembly Affairs, I trust in your ability in this area. Making sure that we're not pressured, bullied, or otherwise coerced into voting a certain way to serve another region's interests is a big voting issue, I suspect. I'm glad that you're recognizing it and are telling people exactly how you intend to handle it if elected.

Additionally, I'm pleased to see you bringing some ideas to the table for how to reinvigorate the NPA. Though I'm retired from our region's military, I still believe in its mission and I'd like to see it succeed to the fullest extent possible. I think that switching the messaging over to how it benefits the individual themselves is more so a reflection of the reality of how players may think. Sure, some enjoy contributing to the region for the sake of it. But there are also benefits and opportunities that are available to those who do serve and I think that making those features more pronounced may help entice new recruits.

For now, I have no further questions beyond this: If you could go back to any of your experiences as a part of TNP's community, which one(s) would you say had the most impact on leading you to where you stand today? What did you learn? What mistakes did you make, and how do these communal experiences amount to you being a capable, attractive option for our next Delegate?

Thank you in advance for your time.
 
Looks better then some campaign programs of irl elections in my country. Very well done.

My questions are:
As of now, the endorsement count on the Delegate is around 1040, and is not rising. With 1500 WA-nations this means that almost 1/3 of TNP's WA nations doesn't endorse the Delegate. How do you plan to promote endorsing the Delegate to get the endorsement number to the level of former Delegates (around 1300)?

I believe your program says that you want to engage in better recruitment for the executive staff. Getting people to join is one thing, how do you intend to keep new executive staff members and encourage them to really engage in the ministry they are working in?
 
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Wow, there sure are a lot of questions! I won't be able to answer them all in one go, they'll be answered in order and hopefully I'll get through all of them in a day or two.
I noticed your lack of plans for the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. You mentioned our new gameside engagement program, but that's about it. Can you please expand on your vision for the ministry?
My vision for the ministry is to exercise our power and influence more visibly as the largest vote in the WA and the most active region in terms of authorship. With an ever-expanding proposal queue in the General Assembly, we could be doing more, along with our allies in WALL, to cull proposals we don't like from the voting floor by doing more counter-campaigning, and in doing so speed up proposals that we do like. This was something I did from time to time while I was WA Minister (three years ago), and I think it certainly helped with our reputation as the region you don't want to mess with.

Other than that, I think the ministry has been running smoothly recently, and I don't intend to make any changes unless unexpected issues arise.
1) Do you intend to make any efforts to promote active World Assembly authorship and activity in the region, and if so what efforts? Alternatively, would you defer to the Minister (and deputies thereof) to manage such aspects? This is something which is explicitly mentioned in Oracle's campaign, although it does not seem to be addressed here.
Efforts to promote authorship have been tried many times and they have universally not yielded the results that we wanted. Trying those again would be a waste of time and I won't do that to the ministry. The Accelerator Program exists, and I think that's sufficient as far as encouraging authorship goes - new people wanting to try out authoring have a place to go to for help, but we don't need try and rope people in to write, because experience tells me that you can only become a WA author if you're truly passionate about it, and it won't be enough for others to convince you, you'll have to convince yourself first.

As for promoting WA activity in general, one thing to always look out for is people who are active in our voting threads, especially those who often express their reasons. Simone Republic was a longtime voter in these threads before joining the ministry officially. In fact, an idea I'm interested in trying (and to be clear I'm just putting it out there and haven't discussed this with anyone) is to move the voting threads to their own first-level subforum, so that they are more visible and potentially attract more voters. Another point is gameside engagement, which I know is currently being brainstormed within the ministry, and trialing of gameside voting look to be commencing shortly, which would give us a better idea of how we want to go about this.

The ministry has also, to a degree, relied on ministry leadership reaching out directly to people, either within the region as I've described above, or those active in World Assembly areas outside of the region. That has produced some great staffers and leaders for us, and I believe continuing this practice will be useful in the future.
2) Can you summarise how you would intend to approach and manage the regional roleplay communities, both on the forum and gameside? In addition, would you take a hands-on approach regarding such communities, or instead defer to individual Ministers or other government officials regarding roleplay?
I think the RP community has been content with left alone by the government, and like my recent predecessors I don't have any particular plans for them. However, I do understand there are some tensions between government-appointed Gameside Advocates and non-government RP Moderators regarding the moderation of the RMB, and I want to attempt to resolve this. I believe the inclusion of some RP Moderators on the Gameside Advocates team would open an avenue for better communication and ensure that those who help keep our RMB running smoothly, whether RPers or not, can all be on the same page. The Lead Gameside Advocate would obviously have an important role to play in this effort. Otherwise, I don't believe either myself or my Ministers need to directly involve ourselves in the management of RP communities, although we would always be willing to help should they approach us with any needs.
You mention changing the messaging around the NPA to focus around opportunities for the individual. Have you considered the additional possibility of appealing to people's "patriotism" and service to the community? I feel like such an appeal could be highly effective.
I'm certainly not set in stone as to what I want the messaging to be exactly, so thank you for this suggestion. The NPA could be emphasised as an important option for people who want to be of service to the region, which is certainly not a stretch.
I think we, the TNP should go out of our way to start forming treaties with these new frontiers and The Wellspring, and ambassadorships going in Foreign Affairs Ministry, and start working with them like any other normal region before the F/S update. That means I believe the D, VD, and Government should start making new policies, implementations, and addendums to policy of Foreign Affairs to get ahead of others to benefit from the new wave of regions and supplanting of spawns in The Wellspring coming to The North Pacific. With that in mind, would you want to take on further things on with Frontiers and possibly Strongholds beyond the things you mentioned above in your platform?
Aside from any Frontiers that might become our territories, there are two types of Frontiers - ones that are essentially an outpost of another region and community, like Concord being part of The League, or ones which exist independently as their own region and community. We won't be having diplomatic relations with the former, because they don't have independent foreign policy. As for the latter, we will treat them like any other regions - if they are sufficiently sized (and that's of course in terms of WA members, as Frontiers have already become quite bloated with non-WA nations), and there is potential for us to collaborate on shared interests, then we would move to begin diplomatic relations with them - embassies first, then treaties if appropriate. Oracle raised the idea of offering these regions help in developing their infrastructure, but unfortunately I do not think that would be feasible for two major reasons - firstly, we have recently lost our own tools and are still in the early stages of replacing them, so we are hardly in a position to help others; secondly, the leadership of these regions are unknown to us, so until we can establish that they are reliable people to work with, we would be playing quite a big gamble with the limited time and resources we have.

All this doesn't mean we won't defend them if they come under attack, in fact there are many reasons for us to do so - it would align with our regional beliefs on sovereignty, as we would not want to see innocent regions being destroyed by malicious actors, and many of our allies would likely move to defend them, which would give us an opportunity to support our allies.

I'm not sure exactly what policies, implementations and addendums you are thinking of that would apply specifically to Frontiers, but I will mention one thing that might be relevant. We have been talking to several allies and friends regarding recruitment practices in the future, as we will begin recruitment telegrams in the near future, and there may be official announcements and policies coming on this topic.
With a new territory we have and new possibilities with the region, we should probably create a team of people to head how we should let The Wellspring develop without us bearing down on them for everything with Laws, personnel, and Government officials and also creating a policy and guideline for expeditionIng people back and forth through diplomatic channels for both regions. Do you have any ideas if you would want to implement something like this or even take on something like this? Any alternatives?
As I said in my platform, I intend to give The Wellspring some space to develop a community and a regional identity independent of TNP, but I will see to it that the government, including myself, are informed on the development of the region and can offer advice and suggestions to those who have focused their efforts on it. I don't see any need for diplomatic channels because this is not a diplomatic matter, and actually I think having formal policies would create the impression of us "bearing down on them", which I think we both agree is undesirable.
 
Before all hell broke loose, Wym posted a thread in the private halls with some FA questions in light of the F/S update. I shared some thoughts on what independence will mean post-F/S. While what happened with the SC vote extortion wasn't tied to F/S as such, I have to highlight that if such a scenario ever happens again our position will be more precarious because of the dilution of new WA nations, thus weakening our WA vote over time. In other words, our resistance to pressure will be less about our numbers and more about our institutions. In that light, and since you have touched on our relationships with the extorting regions and FA in general, have you given any thought to the value of a sort of strategic deterrent?
It looks to me like we need more independence after the incident, but to be credibly more independent we need some formal relations with raider organisations, including the possibility of working together -- that gives us the maneouvre room to step away from some defender organisations if we face anything like the incident again. It also shows that the price of trying to pressure us is higher because -- if it's not impossible that we shift away from certain defender organisations -- the possible cost is no longer just angering us to their detriment, but giving something of value to their strategic enemies. Strategic deterrent in real life erects some limits to the possible actions in the international relations space, such as limiting how threatening or humiliating a posture that even strong alliances can take towards nations with credible nuclear deterrent. No sane leader will force another leader into a position where pushing the button is an option equal to whatever they're offering, after all. This cannot be translated 1:1 to NS, of course, but if we reestablish relations with raider organisations and NPA participates in more raiding operations alongside, we reinforce our independence contra the defender organisations and we could work towards what counts as credible strategic deterrence in NS.
This would require more and better communication as I outlined in the thread I linked, but we are more MoFA staffers than we have been in a long while, and so the load could be shared among more people.
 
It’s been so long since I asked my questions, I now have to add a few more that have kicking around in my head. Don’t worry I won’t go nuts with it.

Recently there was a proposal to change the election times. Typically we would have to worry about the delegate not getting the full period of time to serve as others, but you have the unique position of having received essentially a bonus month in office by virtue of being acting delegate for so long. This means that you could actually serve the “proper” amount of time even with an election date change cutting a term short somewhere. With that in mind, would you being willing to explore a change in our election schedule? Is the argument for doing so sound in your opinion, is it beneficial? Aside from tradition, is there any particular reason why we should keep it as it is?

It was observed by one of your opponents that you have posted way more messages in TRR’s Discord server than TNP’s. While you did not expect to be delegate, you have been acting in that capacity for nearly a month now. Your availability and presence hasn’t seemed to increase a great deal to meet the new demands of your job, at least in a public sense. Do you feel doing this job for a full four months, you will be able to adjust your schedule so that you can be more present and available to the people, not just behind the scenes in government? Will TNP get more of your focus now that you have such an important role in it?
 
Welp, this is an acknowledgement that I've had a busy few days and I'm not going to get all the questions answered in time before voting begins. But they should be answered by around this time tomorrow.
 
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These answers have turned out to be quite long...here are the answers to Pallaith's first set of questions, but the rest will have to wait a little bit.
You obviously have served as Vice Delegate (in a sense, technically you still are), but you were also Speaker, Minister of World Assembly Affairs, and, although most people, including yourself, seem to have forgotten this, you were also Minister of Communications. More recently, you were the FA officer for The Rejected Realms, and you’ve also been involved in smaller capacities in The East Pacific and Europeia (perhaps you could clarify what those were as well). What did those experiences provide for you as far as experience that can be applied to the role of delegate? And how might those roles, especially the ones you had in other regions, inform your approach to dealing with these regions and resolving the FA puzzles we have ahead of us?
My involvement in TEP and Europeia were purely in legislative roles. I was part of the Magisterium (TEP's entry-by-application legislature) for a few months after the 2019 coup was stopped before I started losing interest and left (the Magisterium and eventually TEP as a whole). I served 1.5 terms as a Senator in Europeia last year before RL commitments and waning interest led me to resign halfway through my second term. I would say my tenure as Senator actually helped me re-orient myself and figure out how much work I can take on, because it was the most involved I had been with anything on NS since my last term as Minister here in 2020.

Certainly my stints as Minister gave me a good idea of how the executive operates and what commitment is expected at each level of the government, as well as how each ministry operates differently with different levels of autonomy. My tenure as MoWAA was relatively smooth sailing, with a few committed staffers and Deputy Ministers who helped lessen my burden and run things on time. My term as Minister of Communications was quite different, with declining activity in the ministry, and I did my best to encourage, convince, beg people into writing. There were some hiccups along the way, and I should have scrutinised certain articles more carefully than I did, but all in all I feel like it was the best I could have done. I was fortunate that in both roles I was given a good deal of autonomy, and I picked up lots of lessons on leadership, people management, and decision-making. The need to apply these lessons are undoubtedly amplified in the role of the Delegate, and I will draw on these previous experiences.

As for my foreign roles, they have helped me understand the cultures of these specific regions in detail, the machinations of their government and how power is distributed at different levels, their politics, their feelings about different regions. I held a FA-specific role in TRR, which gave me more of a window into how TRR considers foreign regions and their lines in the sand when it comes to certain subjects. These regions are all allies to us, and we will inevitably be dealing with them in some capacity over the next few months, so personal knowledge and existing relationships with their leaders will go a long way in speeding up talks and getting us to a decision that satisfies all of the parties without going down unnecessary paths.
Because FA is a hot topic right now, and important to how we adapt to the current environment and move beyond recent events with TSP and the defenders. What are you thoughts on how the world has responded to our response to what happened and to TSP’s statement? Did we hit the mark? Are you surprised in any way? Were you satisfied with the other defender regions’ statements, explanations, and subsequent action following the fallout? Many expect us to be keeping a close eye on this - are they meeting your expectations so far? Anything you might be keen to see moving forward to keep you assured we can continue down the path you identified in our response to them and in this platform?
What has transpired is undoubtedly a watershed event for TSP’s foreign policy sphere - it is something that will influence its future decision-making for some time to come. This has been a disaster of the highest proportions for TSP, and they have inflicted huge damage on their reputation. It is not something they want to repeat. We stressed to The South Pacific during our talks that they are on thin ice and that our citizens are demanding action, including the possible repeal of the treaty. I don’t doubt that The South Pacific’s government would like to see this treaty remain intact, and I believe they recognise the danger that it is in. The treaty will be on the chopping block should they commit another transgression against us - even a minor one. They have committed to a re-examination of their foreign policy and leadership - actions which are necessary to re-establish trust between our regions and would allow us to move forward with our shared interests while respecting the differences will always exist between us. I believe in the sincerity of their apology and I believe that their desire to reform is genuine.

As for our own statement, I'm happy that it was mostly well-received by people of different alignments and allegiances, and I think it's a testament to the fact that we have managed to communicate a firm stance regarding our sovereignty and the non-negotiables of maintaining a proper relationship with us, while at the same time looking towards the future and reaffirming our strategic goals. The defender regions involved in this have apologised to us both in private and in public, and like with TSP, I believe they are serious about preventing a repeat of something like this. But what we want to see most of all is of course is action that affirms what we have been told by them, though that will take time. Treating us with respect is not a once and done thing, a checklist item that you can tick off. It's something that can only come through with repeated interactions, both in private conversations and in meaningful public actions.
Related, you and I faced each other across the diplomatic table last year when you were TRR’s FA person, so I have some idea about how you might feel about the MGC sanctions that were put forward late last year. Many have claimed these are just another aspect of the “neo moralist” aggression that the defenders deployed in their threats to TNP last month. Is there a meaningful difference between those and the aim the defenders had in this latest drama? As someone who fought to reduce the reach of the sanctions, do you believe that was the right approach, which saw fruit when Boston updated them? As the person who can eliminate our involvement in the sanctions with the stroke of a pen, is that something you would look at doing moving forward?
The sanctions were always going to be a bold step for us to take, because on a surface level it very much seemed like something that fanatic ultra-moralist regions do. But the motivation behind it, which I understood just as well then as I do now, was not some sort of anti-raider sentiment, but a strategic choice to try isolate certain groups that have been deliberately provocative and hostile towards us and our allies and force them into a position where their behaviour would shut them off from mainstream gameplay. I still have every intention of enforcing the sanctions, and the narrow exceptions that were carved out later on have little practical impact on the enforcement in general. But I think we should also recognise that the sanctions have so far fallen short of our ambitious goals set out at the beginning, and at some point there needs to be an evaluation of how we can best move forward and continue applying pressure towards these groups. That will be a conversation to have with our allies in the MGC who implemented these sanctions with us, and collectively we need to arrive at a common course of action.
The previous delegate and yourself have both made clear you feel further collaboration with defender regions is still important, and in line with the On Alignment statement from over a year ago, consistent with our own values and democratic tradition. But in your view, is there any room to collaborate or work with raider organizations? Is this a remote possibility or something you see yourself having an interest in doing in the future?
We have never closed the door to working with raider regions, but raiders have been closing the door on us. We are at a point where all the major raiding groups have burned their bridges with us, and while there are smaller groups that we haven't interacted much with, their dependency on the bigger groups make productive relationships an unlikely prospect. Frankly, I don't know what the future holds, but my hope is that some raider groups will turn away from the excesses of BoM and Co, and we can start a meaningful relationship based on that.
Much has been said about our partners and our options in the game at this tricky time, and for a time we looked caught between two opposing sides and possibly on the verge of going it alone. What would you be looking for in potential new partners, and what form of cooperation do you think we would see if we forged these relationships? Are the relationships we have in place now strong enough to keep us on solid footing as F/S chips away at our strength?
Despite the turbulent events of the past few weeks, I’m confident that we still have a strong network of allies and friends to work with in normal times and rely on in times of need. The MGC has forged closer ties between the signatory regions, and while our relationship with TSP has suffered setbacks, we remain on excellent terms with the rest of our allies, both Independents and defenders.

As for potential future partners, the fundamentals of what we are looking for haven’t changed - shared values and/or shared goals will always be a good starting point. We want partners that are reliable and keep to their promises, we want partners who respect our sovereignty, independence, and our boundaries. And we want partners who prefer using diplomacy to resolve tensions and disagreements, rather than airing dirty laundry. The types of cooperation would obviously depend on the interests of said partner - military cooperation would be ideal given the current state of the game, but there are many regions that do not field militaries. WA (mostly SC) cooperation is also important to us, and talks with the URA are on the agenda with potential to bear fruit in this area. Finally, cultural cooperation is not to be underestimated, and in my opinion it is foundational to building a long-lasting relationship.
It’s fallen by the wayside as of late but there has been talk about our new community guidelines and admin practices. Your insight into this is limited to Discord moderation, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the criticism from (wow, already?) almost two years ago, and the work we’ve done to update our guidelines. Was the criticism fair following the debate of the Reject Fascism Act? Have the guidelines solved the issue? Do you feel the team is solid and the practices are sound?
The administration will inevitably have disagreements with the rest of the community, and what’s most important is how these disagreements are handled. There’s also the fact that the admins are a small group who don’t always have the most time on their hands, while the community is usually quick to react. During the fascism debate, many community members believed the issue and solution was straightforward, while admins believed there was more nuance to it and that implementing such a ban could have repercussions on administration practices in the future. Ultimately, I believe the administration took the community seriously, and proposing a rewrite of the community guidelines in consultation with the community was a good move. They saw it through, and the community seems satisfied with the end result. Overall, the administration is a good team with some very experienced and insightful members who are respected by the community, and they act in what they believe is in the community’s best interests. As long as they are forthcoming with their communications, I believe disagreements can be resolved respectfully and we can learn from each other in the process.
Concerns about tech are a major part of your plans, do you see us successfully avoiding another singular savior abandoning us scenario based on how talks are going so far? Is it feasible for us instead to rely on individuals with their own tech contributions and kind of spread it to several people, or is there a more reliable permanent solution like what we had before but with more long-term stability?
I believe having multiple contributing members to our tech development and keeping codes open-source and accessible will be important to avoiding a similar situation from occurring again. Ideally the contributors would be able to understand each other’s code to a good extent by cooperating during the development phase, which would ensure that we have more than a single person to call on if something inevitably goes wrong. Pursuing this route would probably take more time and need more time and energy spent on coordination, but I think it’s a necessary tradeoff to receive the safety net that we need.
There has been some change in how the RMB is managed, and a lot of emphasis on the community guidelines and broader principles as opposed to the traditional strict standards. It was said that it was almost impossible to get banned from TNP’s region but that’s certainly not true anymore. Is this a good trend? Do you feel border control has the right balance? Any questionable bans or strategies for handling them in your view? Do you have any thoughts in particular on ban evasion, or on enhanced OOC justification for in-game banjection action following the Court’s ruling on suppression? I have noticed that you haven’t had to ban as much so far, which may be a result of your discretion leaning away from bans your predecessor may have made. Have you stayed your hand intentionally in some cases or this more of a coincidence?
I’ve had the dubious privilege of learning during my first days in the Delegacy that one of the things that come with being a new Delegate is that a bunch of banned nations will be in your telegrams asking to be unbanned. So far I’ve refused all of them, and previous bans that I have had to learn about all appear entirely justified to me.

But knowing that banning evaders has been an issue that has dogged past Delegates, I have no particular desire to revisit this issue, which is why I have been more reluctant to ban evaders unless they commit another rule violation. Perhaps the cleanest solution would be to simply amend the Legal Code to explicitly permit banning nations for ban evasion, but I am uncertain about the community support for that. As for extralegal justifications for in-game bans that were seemingly permitted by a court ruling about a year ago, my desire is to use that only when a clear need arises to avoid any controversies as much as possible, because quite frankly we don’t need another one of those.
I still can’t say I entirely know what you believe or what motivates you, I find it hard to get a feel for your thought process or what you’re passionate about in particular, I still know next to nothing about you as a person and what makes you tick. But you’re not malicious, manipulative, or mean, you are sincere when you say something and you do the work you do for a good cause, and for what you genuinely believe is the good of the region. I know how deliberate you have been in making these tough calls, how receptive you are to advice and to as many opinions as you can digest, and that you’re capable of setting aside your grudges and biases to make the best decision for TNP and for the bigger picture. You can write your own stuff, and write it well with minimal proofreading or notes. And while I can’t always get a good read on you, I think this also is proof of how humble you are given the sudden weight thrown onto your shoulders, with no panic distracting you. So you have all that going for you. Can you keep it up?
This feels like a rhetorical question, but I’m going answer it anyway. The answer of course is yes, I believe I can keep it up. Over my past month as Acting Delegate there weren't many expectations placed on me other than cleaning up the mess I inherited, but if I receive an electoral mandate then I will have an agenda of my own to implement. I believe I have much to offer to the region still, and I intend to fully demonstrate that over the next four months, perhaps even eight months. I will continue the level-headed approach I have taken to the Delegacy so far, and I will find space to innovate and improve because that's what I really want to do as Delegate. There are plenty of uncertainties out there, but I feel ready to tackle them, along with a team of ministers and trusted advisors.
 
Alright, these are the last ones now. Thanks for your patience and thank you to those who have already voted for me.
For now, I have no further questions beyond this: If you could go back to any of your experiences as a part of TNP's community, which one(s) would you say had the most impact on leading you to where you stand today? What did you learn? What mistakes did you make, and how do these communal experiences amount to you being a capable, attractive option for our next Delegate?
If I want to be cheeky I would say it’s my past month as Acting Delegate that’s had the most impact leading me to where I stand today, and it would be the truth. Others have already said it, but being put into a position like this is not something you can fully prepare for. I’ve learnt a lot on the job, whether it’s how to approach foreign negotiations, when and who to consult on different decisions, or how much supervision is needed for different projects.

But that’s probably not the answer you’re looking for. If I look back further in my career, then I think my time as Minister of Communications was the most impactful. When I first joined TNP, I was in awe of everything about the government, from the endorsement counts, to the executive staff, to the fully fleshed-out body of laws. But of course as I learned more about the region, I realised that a system which seems smooth and efficient from the surface can have struggles underneath it. My term as Minister of Communications was the first time I had to confront these struggles head-on, with declining writer interest being a major issue in the ministry. I did my best to reach out to people, whether it’s to write or to interview, but ultimately the ministry was in need of reform and the efforts I put in only delayed the inevitable. In desperation for articles, I also did not fully consider the implications of the contents in one of the articles, which caused a small headache later on. To wrap it back to your question, this experience taught me two main things. First, that we are in a game and people typically don’t want to commit to big tasks, or just as often, they would break a commitment they made. Second, that it is sometimes necessary to think outside of the box and reform the system rather than trying to continue a broken one, but you need a plan for the obstacles you’ll encounter along the way.
As of now, the endorsement count on the Delegate is around 1040, and is not rising. With 1500 WA-nations this means that almost 1/3 of TNP's WA nations doesn't endorse the Delegate. How do you plan to promote endorsing the Delegate to get the endorsement number to the level of former Delegates (around 1300)?
Maintaining high endorsements for the Delegate is in some parts a job for the Vice Delegate and the Security Council, but I recognise that as the person actually in the seat, I too have to take responsibility for this. The endorsement levels of 1300 that you cited for former Delegates haven’t been seen for at least two years, and in recent years we’ve seen much lower numbers, as little as 910 endorsements on the Delegate about a year and a half ago. On my part, I will continue to endotart daily or even twice daily, and promptly send out individual telegrams to each nation I have endorsed. This is the most effective way to gather endorsements. The Security Council used to have a whole suite of tools that can help further by sending alerts to nations not endorsing me, and automatic telegrams that remind new nations to join the World Assembly, but since these tools broke we’ve been less able to reach these nations regularly. I plan to play a role in overseeing the tech development that will replace these tools, but in the meanwhile if the new Vice Delegate has any plans I would be happy to contribute.
I believe your program says that you want to engage in better recruitment for the executive staff. Getting people to join is one thing, how do you intend to keep new executive staff members and encourage them to really engage in the ministry they are working in?
Retaining executive staff is a matter of teaching them about their jobs quickly, and making sure they have something to do. For the best chance at both, ministry leadership should actively approach new joiners and give them some pointers on what staffers commonly do, and preferably give them some tasks that have recently arisen. A new staffer might also have lots of questions, some of which might seem stupid to someone who’s been there for a while, but it’s nevertheless important to answer them patiently and fully so that they get a proper understanding of what their job is.
Before all hell broke loose, Wym posted a thread in the private halls with some FA questions in light of the F/S update. I shared some thoughts on what independence will mean post-F/S. While what happened with the SC vote extortion wasn't tied to F/S as such, I have to highlight that if such a scenario ever happens again our position will be more precarious because of the dilution of new WA nations, thus weakening our WA vote over time. In other words, our resistance to pressure will be less about our numbers and more about our institutions. In that light, and since you have touched on our relationships with the extorting regions and FA in general, have you given any thought to the value of a sort of strategic deterrent?
I think my answer to this question would be largely similar to my answer to Pallaith’s question on relations with raiders. At this point in time it is very difficult to see us building a stable relationship with any raider group, so while the thought of a strategic deterrent is nice, I don’t see us achieving that by building relationships with raiders at the moment. It is important to remember that defenders are not a homogenous group, and it is highly unlikely that our relations will break down with all defender groups - we have after all maintained some of these relationships for many years even at times when we took more raider-leaning stances. And as I have mentioned in my previous answers, I believe defenders are now well aware of the potential dangers of any more reckless behaviour. We also already have a strong network of Independent, non-defender allies, and the recent ratifications of the MGC and PPO have strengthened the collaboration between our regions. Defenders know that we have options in front of us that can significantly weaken them, and that’s partially why the offending groups were so quick to apologise after they realised the impact of their prior actions.
Recently there was a proposal to change the election times. Typically we would have to worry about the delegate not getting the full period of time to serve as others, but you have the unique position of having received essentially a bonus month in office by virtue of being acting delegate for so long. This means that you could actually serve the “proper” amount of time even with an election date change cutting a term short somewhere. With that in mind, would you being willing to explore a change in our election schedule? Is the argument for doing so sound in your opinion, is it beneficial? Aside from tradition, is there any particular reason why we should keep it as it is?
I’m ambivalent about the proposed change to election times. As far as my personal observation goes, I feel that the general growth trends across TNP and NationStates during the term has a far greater impact on the activity level in government than the time of year. The government is facing a sustained period of relatively low activity compared to previous years, and I don’t think changing the term periods would have any notable impact. If the Regional Assembly wants to give it a go then I certainly wouldn’t try to veto it, but I’m unconvinced it will change much. This coming term is a May-September term, so perhaps I would change my mind after this term, who knows?
It was observed by one of your opponents that you have posted way more messages in TRR’s Discord server than TNP’s. While you did not expect to be delegate, you have been acting in that capacity for nearly a month now. Your availability and presence hasn’t seemed to increase a great deal to meet the new demands of your job, at least in a public sense. Do you feel doing this job for a full four months, you will be able to adjust your schedule so that you can be more present and available to the people, not just behind the scenes in government? Will TNP get more of your focus now that you have such an important role in it?
It is widely known that I live on the other side of the world to most TNPers, and that poses its fair share of challenges in terms of presence and availability. I have been in TRR almost as long as I’ve been in TNP, and their body of active members happen to have schedules that align better with mine than TNP’s members, so that is a major reason why I had been more active in that server. There was also a period of time when I was more active in TRR than in TNP, and another contributing factor was that I have gradually dipped out of the #real-life channel in TNP’s server for various reasons.

But my position now demands a greater presence from me across TNP’s community spaces, and I will do my best to deliver that. The Delegate is not just a head of government, but in many senses the leader of a community, and in that capacity it is important that I get to talk to as many people as possible and people feel like they know me and can talk to me. Being a visible leader will also allow the community to rally around you and inspires individuals to do more for the comunity. I will still inevitably miss a lot of conversations that happen while I’m asleep, but there’s no way around that. Instead, I will make use of the time I have to make myself seen on Discord, on the forums, and on the RMB, available for a chat and to give my insights.
 
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