COE for Speaker
- Thread starter Crushing Our Enemies
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- COE#7110
I don't think our laws are too terribly difficult to get. We've got a full panel of judges who understand it, plus a corps of pretty solid legislators who have a good handle on it. And I'd like to think I've got a pretty solid understanding of it too.Mall:
Also, we are revising them pretty constantly these days. Whether that makes them harder or easier to understand is a matter of some debate
So to answer your question, no I won't be pressuring the assembly to pass more legislation than it currently is.
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- Zemnaya Svoboda
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- Eluvatar#8517
Mall, I did deliberately try to think of the hardest possible procedural question >_>
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- Eluvatar#8517
Yes.... let's go with that...
I would like to ask you some of the same questions I asked the Right Honorable Leekem, if you do not mind. 
1) What principles do you see as forming the foundation for TNP? When has TNP failed to live up to those principles?
2) How important do you believe it is to connect with the general public of TNP in the course of your duties as speaker? Are there any subsets of the community (forum, region, IRC) which you privilege over the others in relevance? Are there any ways in which you feel you are lacking, or in which you excel, in this area?
3) Can you please enumerate the powers that the office of Speaker holds? What do you consider to be responsible use of the powers of the Speaker? Are there any ways in which you have failed to use these powers responsibly?
4) How would you rate TNP in comparison to other major regions, and on what criteria?
5) Can you explain, from your perspective, the issue that has occurred between yourself and Leekem? Can you think of any ways you could have better addressed this to avoid the blowup that has occurred?
6) When you have concerns about the legal code, or whether your actions align with it, from whom do you seek advice?
7) What is your outlook on life?
8) What responsibilities, if any, does the Speaker have to the region and to TNP citizens outside of bureaucratic tidying?
9) In what ways have you fallen short of your expectations during this term? How will you do better if you are reelected?
10) Can you describe a scenario where you might feel (or have felt) temptation to use the powers of the Speaker for personal gain? How would (did) you handle this temptation? Is there anything that you would (did) do preemptively to lessen the possibility of abuse of power?
11) What is your favorite article of the Constitution, and why? What is your favorite law, and why? Who is your favorite RA member, and why?
12) What is the weirdest thing about turtles?
Thanks for your time!
1) What principles do you see as forming the foundation for TNP? When has TNP failed to live up to those principles?
2) How important do you believe it is to connect with the general public of TNP in the course of your duties as speaker? Are there any subsets of the community (forum, region, IRC) which you privilege over the others in relevance? Are there any ways in which you feel you are lacking, or in which you excel, in this area?
3) Can you please enumerate the powers that the office of Speaker holds? What do you consider to be responsible use of the powers of the Speaker? Are there any ways in which you have failed to use these powers responsibly?
4) How would you rate TNP in comparison to other major regions, and on what criteria?
5) Can you explain, from your perspective, the issue that has occurred between yourself and Leekem? Can you think of any ways you could have better addressed this to avoid the blowup that has occurred?
6) When you have concerns about the legal code, or whether your actions align with it, from whom do you seek advice?
7) What is your outlook on life?
8) What responsibilities, if any, does the Speaker have to the region and to TNP citizens outside of bureaucratic tidying?
9) In what ways have you fallen short of your expectations during this term? How will you do better if you are reelected?
10) Can you describe a scenario where you might feel (or have felt) temptation to use the powers of the Speaker for personal gain? How would (did) you handle this temptation? Is there anything that you would (did) do preemptively to lessen the possibility of abuse of power?
11) What is your favorite article of the Constitution, and why? What is your favorite law, and why? Who is your favorite RA member, and why?
12) What is the weirdest thing about turtles?
Thanks for your time!
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- COE#7110
Edit: FINE FINE. I'll answer them all. Stop shaming me over IRC.
Answers forthcoming
Edit 2: Screw it. ALL AT ONCE.
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- COE#7110
Not at all. Why would I mind? I don't mind.SillyString:I would like to ask you some of the same questions I asked the Right Honorable Leekem, if you do not mind.
The oldest public document in The North Pacific is the Bill of Rights. The mere fact that we HAVE a Bill of Rights, and that it has survived relatively unchanged for so long speaks to the high value we place on the individual nation - even the nation that never logs into our forum, and CTE's a month after it is founded, never to return. Even that nation has rights. That is the foundation of TNP.SillyString:
When have we failed to live up to that foundation? Every time we tried someone under the old Sedition law, later stricken from the criminal code for violating the right to free speech. The Sedition law, which prohibited deliberate attempts to incite revolt against the government, was a seemingly innocuous way to infringe on the right to free speech, and it stood for far too long before we realized that it was unconstitutional.
The general public? As in, the 5000+ nations of The North Pacific? Not important at all, and I'll tell you why. I'm fond of saying that the job of Speaker is to turn the will of the Regional Assembly into reality. Key words: the Regional Assembly. It's not the Speaker's job to go out and socialize on the RMB. He can if he wants to, of course, but it doesn't really have anything to do with his responsibilities. His duties are to the RA, and the law.SillyString:
As far as subsets of the community go, I don't see those as subsets, simply different methods of communication. My primary methods of communication in TNP are the forum and IRC, although I'm not above sending the odd telegram. RMB communication for RA matters is very ineffective, because the RMB only displays 10 posts at a time, and it'll get pushed off quickly by regular conversation. Telegram is good if someone needs to be notified of something on the forum, and they haven't logged onto it recently. The forum is the best place for RA announcements, because RA members are required to be on the forum regularly anyway as part of their activity requirements. I use IRC to talk over my decisions with whoever happens to be around before I post something on the forum. It's useful just to have a few sets of ears and eyes as a kind of focus group before I put something in front of everyone.
Now we turn to my excellence and/or deficiency in the communication area. Some would probably say that I'm lacking in communicating with members who are about to be removed for inactivity, or notifying members who have just been removed, but I say it's an individual member's responsibility to keep track of their own membership. Next term, however, I do plan to start promulgating new laws more effectively. So far, I've just been posting in the voting thread that the appropriate document was edited to effect the changes made by the bill. Next term, I intend to send a message to the whole RA that communicates what changes have been made, and what effect that will have in daily events. I may event attempt to spread that message wider than the RA itself, but I'll need to look into options first.
SillyString:
- Add/remove members from the RA as appropriate
- Open and close voting threads, tally votes
- Notify the delegate of new legislation
- Update legal documents when required
- Moderate debates on the floor of the RA
- Moderate the Citizens' Lobby
- Appoint a Registrar and a Deputy Speaker
- Maintain a public list of RA members
- Act as a special election commissioner in the event that the Delegate is not available
Honestly, I'm not familiar enough with the inner workings of other major regions to have an informed opinion. Plus, it really has nothing to do with the Speaker.SillyString:
Leekem contacted me on March 21 to ask me about the vacancy he saw on the government chart for the Deputy Minister of Communcations position. He was interested in the job, and wanted to know the criteria for the position, and how he could obtain it. I responded 10 minutes later to inform him that Ministers appointed their own deputies with the approval of the delegate, and recommended that he contact the Minister of Communications for more information about the position. I received a reply that day thanking me for the information and informing me that he had PM'd the Minister.SillyString:
I received another message from Leekem several hours later entitled "a formal complaint." Apparently, the Minister of Communications had already appointed a deputy (although his deputy had not yet taken the oath of office.) Leekum was upset that the Minister would not appoint him, and wanted me to look into the matter before he "issued a civil complaint." I responded first by explaining that the Minister was not obligated to appoint him, and then explaining that he didn't really have any grounds for a civil complaint. I expressed my condolences that he didn't get the job. He replied thanking me and inquiring whose job it was to update the government chart. I explained that an admin volunteered to do it, but it wasn't exactly his "job". I received no further communication from Leekum.
Honestly, I'm not sure how I could have handled the situation better. Throughout the entire matter I was courteous, helpful, and good-spirited. I'm not sure if Leekem really holds anything against me, or whether he was just trying to distort the facts to get ahead in the election. Either way, I hope he learns something from this, and doesn't get turned off of TNP politics forever.
Eluvatar, r3naissanc3r, and Gaspo, foremost. I've found those three to be legal experts in TNP, and value their input. I also listen to the opinions of whoever else happens to be around on #tnp. After hearing their opinions, I make my decision and stick to it. I pride myself on not making the court do my job for me, by requesting needless precautionary reviews about my responsibilities.SillyString:
This is, of course, an imperfect representation of my outlook, but it captures it pretty well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4SillyString:
Well, firstly, I wouldn't characterize managing the entire legislative process as "bureaucratic tidying," but I can see how you'd get that impression. To answer your question, I have the same obligation that all government officials commit themselves to when they take the oath of office: to "uphold the ideals of Democracy, Freedom, and Justice of The Region of The North Pacific." I'll cop-out a bit here and leave the specifics of how that manifests to your imagination, cause this questionnaire is taking forever.SillyString:
When I first got into this job, I had no idea what to expect, so I can't really say I've fallen short of any expectations. However, now that I'm all nice and informed and experienced, I do plan to make a few changes next term to improve. For instance, I think it was a mistake to abstain on every vote as Speaker. I'm still an RA member, and my office doesn't make my opinion any less important as an RA member. Next term, I will vote my conscience. Also, I have appointed a more active (and charming!) deputy, who I will be assigning some responsibilities to. Among those responsibilities will be archiving old or completed debate threads, voting threads, etc, something I've been neglecting up until a week or two ago.SillyString:
I also intend to be more active in the introductions forum, welcoming new members to the forum, and encouraging them to join the RA. I think it's important for new forum members to come into contact with government officials early on. A lot of times, the difference between an inactive member and an active member is a simple invitation.
I have never felt tempted to abuse the powers of Speaker for personal gain, nor can I envision a scenario where I would be. Naturally, however, such an opportunity has presented itself, most notably when a motion to override the NPA reinforcement of The Black Hawks (a raider region of which I am a member) in Warhammer 40000. However, I simply treated the motion like any other, and any member of the RA can look over the debate thread in the Private Halls if they doubt that claim. It went to vote in an expedited manner, and the votes were counted promptly. If a situation arose where I legitimately had a conflict of interest, such a motion to recall me, I would hand that matter off to my lovely deputy.SillyString:
Favorite Article of the Constitution: Article 2, of course. It's about the Regional Assembly, which is my favorite governmental body.SillyString:
Favorite law: 7.2 (holidays) cause who doesn't like holidays?! Manumission Day is coming up on the 26th!
Favorite RA member: You know the answer to this one already
Turtles are immune to most poisons, even lava.SillyString:
THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER.SillyString:Thanks for your time!
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- COE#7110
It's with pleasure that I present part three of the ongoing series:
[border=forestgreen,1,solid]COE's One-Minute Campaign Stops![/border]
From the beginning of my term, I had always been bothered by how many new forum members seemed to be confused by the instructions for taking the RA oath. Almost a third of the members admitted during my term had to complete the oath more than once for formatting issues. I identified a few key sticking points. First, the oath required them to use custom bbcodes like [nocode][/nocode] that they may have never seen before. Second, it required them to enter their forum name as the leader of their nation. Third, many members put the full title of their nation, instead of just the nation name, which screwed up the nation links. Late in my term, I decided to do something about it. As an assemblyman, I introduced a bill to simplify the oath and clean up the language a bit, with the intent of making it easier for new members to complete it correctly on their first try. I felt that part of my job as Speaker is to facilitate the act of joining the Assembly. I was happy to see the vote pass. While it is true that introducing a bill was not something I did in my capacity as Speaker (but rather, as an assemblyman) it is not likely that it would have been introduced, had I not taken seriously my duty to admit new members.
[border=forestgreen,1,solid]COE's One-Minute Campaign Stops![/border]
From the beginning of my term, I had always been bothered by how many new forum members seemed to be confused by the instructions for taking the RA oath. Almost a third of the members admitted during my term had to complete the oath more than once for formatting issues. I identified a few key sticking points. First, the oath required them to use custom bbcodes like [nocode][/nocode] that they may have never seen before. Second, it required them to enter their forum name as the leader of their nation. Third, many members put the full title of their nation, instead of just the nation name, which screwed up the nation links. Late in my term, I decided to do something about it. As an assemblyman, I introduced a bill to simplify the oath and clean up the language a bit, with the intent of making it easier for new members to complete it correctly on their first try. I felt that part of my job as Speaker is to facilitate the act of joining the Assembly. I was happy to see the vote pass. While it is true that introducing a bill was not something I did in my capacity as Speaker (but rather, as an assemblyman) it is not likely that it would have been introduced, had I not taken seriously my duty to admit new members.