r3naissanc3r for Delegate

It may come as a surprise to a few of you that I am running for Delegate. Throughout my NationStates career, with the exception of the first two years perhaps, I rarely sought high office, not just in The North Pacific but also in the various other regions I have been involved in. The reason has always been the same, time. I have a demanding RL, and I am extremely wary of making mid- to long-term time commitments to things outside my work, and especially towards a hobby such as NationStates. So why am I doing it now? Because of a unique set of RL circumstances, occurring for the first time in five years. I am wrapping up in my current place of employment, starting an exciting new job in September, and during this transition I am confident I can commit the time necessary.

This explains why I can be Delegate. But why do I actually want the job? I want to be Delegate because I know I can do a damn good job. I have the skills, I have the experience, I have the connections, as I said I have the time; and I want to put these to good use towards The North Pacific, a region I care about. You do not need to take my word for any of the items in this list. You can instead look at the empirical evidence from the one and half year I have been a Regional Assembly member. As a legislator, I made more contributions to our statute book than any other member during that period, bringing far-reaching reform and uniformly improving our laws. As a judge, I wrote elaborate and rational decisions, offering quality additions to the regional jurisprudence. As a minister, I ran my department competently, carefully drawing out and effecting the regional foreign policy, and organizing an efficient diplomatic service to represent us abroad.

The same quality and innovation will characterize my work as Delegate. I will appoint six Ministers: Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, World Assembly Affairs, Communications, Defense, and Culture. With this team, we will carry out the following plans. (Most of the following thematic sections pertain to more than one of the Ministries.)


Home Affairs

The North Pacific, does not need recruitment to bring nations to the region: we have 5,000 of them, and new ones keep coming without effort. Effort is required, however, to tap the potential present in this enormous pool of talent and workforce. During my delegacy, my team and I will emphasize this effort through a two-fold plan: 1) game-side recruitment; and 2) forum-side naturalization.

On the first front, we will engage the nations that are present in the region though all the means the game makes available to us: welcoming telegram, region-wide or other mass telegrams, world factbook entry, dispatches, and regional messaging board. We already make use of most of these communication avenues, but the content will be redesigned with a heavy focus towards advertising the forum government. Nations will be telegrammed a biweekly bulletin of government activity, monthly Ministry-specific recruitment campaigns, as well as more personal and targeted invites by myself and my Ministers.

On the second front, we will take measures to make the forum experience friendlier for newcomers and encourage their involvement in the government. We will rewrite the welcoming material and revisit the organization of the entry forums. We will create a welcoming team, to act as mentors for new members while they are still learning the ropes of the forum and government.

We will also expand the Executive Government with the creation of the Executive Staff. The goal is to address the current situation, where the Executive Government is relatively opaque to new members, and the opportunities to get involved are relatively limited. The Executive Staff will be a civil service of sorts, open to all members. Those who join will be assigned to specific Ministries, and assist the Ministers in implementing the agenda of their department. The Executive Staff mimics and expands upon existing services within Ministries, such as the Diplomatic Corps, that have proven successful in the past; those will be integrated in this new structure


Foreign affairs and World Assembly

The previous term has been a term of expansion with regards to foreign affairs. We have established new alliances with Albion and The East Pacific, rekindled our amicable relations with our erstwhile allies in Osiris, and on occasion worked together with groups outside our traditional sphere of allies. This has strengthened our position within the interregional diplomatic context.

Under my delegacy, the next term is going to be one of consolidation and capitalization upon this expanded network of friends. My team and I will seek to establish closer collaboration with our already existing allies, both in the traditional form of military cooperation but also in areas beyond that. While new alliances cannot be ruled out should an extraordinary opportunity emerge, it will not be a top priority.

One particular area of focus will be closer, cooperation with our allies in the World Assembly. The North Pacific is the most powerful voter in the World Assembly, which already gives us considerable influence. We will reinforce this position of power by seeking to formally coordinate voting and campaigning among allies, while of course remaining respectful of the sovereign right of each region to determine their own vote. By making The North Pacific a leading member of a powerful World Assembly voting bloc, we will increase our influence in that institution, attract World Assembly talent to our region, and foster that of our existing members.


Military affairs

I am largely in agreement with the goals and directions for the North Pacific Army outlined by the manifesto published by Tyr’s Hand. Indeed, as Blue Wolf can confirm, I assisted him in authoring that manifesto. Like Kiwi, eventually I refrained from joining the party itself, because of my dislike for formal partisan institutions in general.

Those who ask whether the North Pacific Army is raider or defender, or ask for it to become one, are missing the bigger picture. The terms raider and defender are irrelevant for a political region with a pragmatic foreign policy, such as ours. We do not determine how we engage in the interregional community based on inflexible commandments to only raid or only defend. Instead, we make these determinations rationally, to best serve our interests and those of our allies. It follows, then, that we should maintain a military that is capable of operating under all conditions, offensive or defensive, and ready to do so whenever the diplomatic circumstances call. I like to think of it in terms of football (soccer for Americans): A team that plays only offense or only defense is doomed to fail. A team that excels in both and adapts to the circumstances of each game is a lot more likely to succeed.

The above considerations should inform how my team and I will utilize the North Pacific Army in formal military engagements called for by diplomatic circumstances. With a mind towards the objectives of operational capability and readiness, we will focus on military recruitment and training. Military recruitment will benefit from the efforts outlined in the Home Affairs section. With regards to training, we will focus on frequent training exercises organized jointly with our formal allies.


Communications

I use the term communications to refer to both communication of the Executive Government with the region at large (government accountability), and communication of the region with the NationStates community (propaganda).

Relating to the former, my team and I will provide the region with biweekly bulletins describing governmental activity, akin to the reports provided by the Speaker. We will change the policy for the #tnp-cabinet channel, which will now be closed for those outside the Cabinet unless they have received an invitation. However, the channel will host Q&A sessions open to everyone on a biweekly basis. Finally, we will provide midterm reports on progress made in each department.

Relating to communication with the NationStates community, we will work to replicate the success of region-owned media in other regions. The North Pacific already has an excellent network of reporters and distributors, in the form of the Diplomatic Corps, and we will utilize these to turn TNP Wire into a newspaper with broad readership. The emphasis will be on timely and effective coverage of regional and international events, with lengthy op-eds and interviews being of secondary priority.


Culture

Culture is an area where I lack any expertise. I will have to rely on others in my team to set the agenda under my oversight. My team and I will work towards two overarching goals: first increasing activity in the cultural sections of the forum, and second making them more attractive for new members who join the region. Having a vibrant roleplay section in particular will be a desired objective, with a mind towards attracting the large volume of players who join NationStates to roleplay their nations.


Concluding remarks

Instead of a more traditional conclusion, I have reserved for the closing two matters that I felt did not fit well under any of the above thematic sections. The first is regional security. While the in-game Delegacy is under my control, I will continue to be an active endotarter, and make sure that we remain or even exceed the excellent endorsement levels maintained during mcmasterdonia’s delegacy. I will also make make effective and responsible use of the Delegate’s in-game powers, in coordination with the Security Council.

The second relates to my time availability, the matter which I started this campaign with. It would be remiss of me to not mention that I will be away on vacation for a period of two to three weeks in July. While I do not expect to disappear completely, and likely I will continue to be online at least every second day, I believe it would be irresponsible and dishonest not to bring this up.

EDIT: In the interests of full disclosure, I include below a list of all my current positions in other regions. Thanks to Punk D for raising this.

Albion: forum administrator.
Balder: forum administrator.
Equilism: Senator.
Europeia: Chief of Staff, forum administrator.
Great Britain and Ireland: Prince of Wales (Crown Prince and Heir Apparent), forum administrator.
Osiris: Elder (judge), forum administrator.
The Land of Kings and Emperors: Lord (peerage).
The New Inquisition: Lord (peerage).

Thank you for your attention, and I will gladly answer any questions you may have.

Can you discuss regions you are presently affiliated with in some form, be it as a citizen or more or regions where you may not hold citizenship but assist in the administration of that region's offsite forums.

Having answered the above question, should you find yourself forced to choose between TNP and your affiliated regions, would TNP come first and why or why not?

Because I have known you for a number of years, I would be remiss to ask this question. Your signature affixed to the petition seeking to remove me as admin was the most surprising. I have assisted you in your duties on a number occasions over the past several months. I have been a member of TNP for ages. The particulars of the petition questioned my loyalties to the region. Why did you affix your name to the petition? Was it based on the actual content of the petition, is there something about me they you dislike, or is there a reason not identified by the petition or your like/dislike of me that resulted in you signing the petition? A further point, why did you not come to me yourself with your reservations about me being an admin? I ask this because your answer speaks to how you handle situations and will speak to how you may handle situations in the future as delegate.

What has been your greatest failure and what did you learn from it?

I'd like to ask you a question I asked Kiwi:
2. What is your nightmare cabinet team? List those who you think would lead TNP in the wrong direction. Not that they would necessarily be bad, but people who would shift TNP politically/culturally away from where you would like to see TNP go. I understand the difficulty in this, but as delegate you will find yourself in difficult situations.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

r3n, what is your current position in the IRCabal? How much authority do you wield? What has been your favorite IRConzpirazsy to date?

Man, now I am conflicted on who to vote for/endorse. I really like your home affairs platform.

If someone was mulling between you and another candidate what would you say to them to sway them to you? What do you offer that stands you out from Romanoffia, Kiwi, and Mall?

r3naissanc3r:

With a mind towards the objectives of operational capability and readiness, we will focus on military recruitment and training. Military recruitment will benefit from the efforts outlined in the Home Affairs section. With regards to training, we will focus on frequent training exercises organized jointly with our formal allies.

Click to expand...

Will training exercises be conducted among TNP and it's allies, or will it involve random raiding/defending of non-allied regions?

r3naissanc3r:

we will take measures to make the forum experience friendlier for newcomers and encourage their involvement in the government. We will rewrite the welcoming material and revisit the organization of the entry forums. We will create a welcoming team, to act as mentors for new members while they are still learning the ropes of the forum and government.

Click to expand...

I do like this idea. Would this initiative also include a more proactive approach to monitoring the RMB? It can get spammy and downright disrespectful on there. I have seen some nations leave as a result of consistent flamebaiting/trolling. NS game mods have become involved in some instances.

R3n, I really like your home affairs idea and that alone may get you my vote. Please elaborate, on the idea. How would you go about this welcoming team? How would you regualate the department and get its members? I know I am interested, how would memebers like me, relatively new, fit in your goverment during your tenure as delegate?
Thank you in advance for your answers, Leekem

Some questions I asked the other candidates:

Ideal cabinet

- Made up of present TNPers

- Made up of all NS players (past and present)

How involved would you want the Vice Delegate to be in your executive? Would you offer them a Ministry or would you prefer that they focus on SC related duties?

Hmm...response time for these questions is not all that quick. It makes me think of two things that aren't good

1 - r3n doesn't have time to answer the questions. That's bad in the delegate chair

2 - r3n is spending a significant amount of time crafting his answers. Not so good either as delegate's face a number of times where quick decisions are needed.

3 - r3n has prioritized other things over responding to campaign question. Not so good to me as the delegate should be accountable to his/her RA members.

If r3n hadn't made posts elsewhere yesterday I'd be less concerned, but I do hope that we get some responses to the questions today.

punk d:

Can you discuss regions you are presently affiliated with in some form, be it as a citizen or more or regions where you may not hold citizenship but assist in the administration of that region's offsite forums.

Having answered the above question, should you find yourself forced to choose between TNP and your affiliated regions, would TNP come first and why or why not?

Click to expand...

Good question. Here is the list, which I have also edited into the OP.

Albion: forum administrator.
Balder: forum administrator.
Equilism: Senator.
Europeia: Chief of Staff, forum administrator.
Great Britain and Ireland: Prince of Wales (Crown Prince and Heir Apparent), forum administrator.
Osiris: Elder (judge), forum administrator.
The Land of Kings and Emperors: Lord (peerage).
The New Inquisition: Lord (peerage).

I am a citizen in all of the above regions, including those where otherwise I am only a forum administrator.

Your other question is a trivial one. I would not be running for Delegate were I not prepared to put TNP first.

punk d:

Because I have known you for a number of years, I would be remiss to ask this question. Your signature affixed to the petition seeking to remove me as admin was the most surprising. I have assisted you in your duties on a number occasions over the past several months. I have been a member of TNP for ages. The particulars of the petition questioned my loyalties to the region. Why did you affix your name to the petition? Was it based on the actual content of the petition, is there something about me they you dislike, or is there a reason not identified by the petition or your like/dislike of me that resulted in you signing the petition? A further point, why did you not come to me yourself with your reservations about me being an admin? I ask this because your answer speaks to how you handle situations and will speak to how you may handle situations in the future as delegate.

Click to expand...

I did not subscribe to all of the contents of the petition. For instance, becoming again a citizen of the region (note, I am not even saying RA member) would be sufficient for me. Also, I did not consider you a security liability.

There were two reasons why I signed the petition. The first was that I subscribe to the simple principle that was the core of the petition: administrators should maintain at least a minimal formal membership in the region. Doing so helps tremendously towards inspiring trust, respect, and familiriaty to those that are subject to the administrators' decisions. This is especially true for new members of the region, who are not aware of the administrators' past, and all of a sudden see someone who is not even a citizen edit their post or issue them a warning. I myself administer plenty of forums in NationStates, and while I am not an active contributor in all of those regions, I try to remain at least a citizen, and most of the time also participate in non-political forum areas.

The second reason was that I have seen you in the past misuse your access to various offices. For example, I recall an incident when as AG you used your office for grandstanding on an issue unrelated to your position as AG. Concerns that similar incidents would occur were expressed by many when you were appointed administrator---and in fact, the administrative team's response at the time was that you could be trusted not to misuse your access in this way because you were an active political contributor to the region and trustworthy member. When you were no longer a citizen, the potential for such incidents was even larger. At times you did actually post in areas where the participation of regular non-RA members (even though technically possible) would be viewed as highly inappropriate.

Both of these were issues that I believed ought to be publicly discussed. And the petition offered exactly that, an opportunity for open and public discourse on the subject. This was the main reason why I did not bring up the subject with you personally.

punk d:

What has been your greatest failure and what did you learn from it?

Click to expand...

My greatest failure in NS is being unable to quit the game after close to a decade. But I am sure this is not the kind of answer you are looking for .

Overall in my NS career, my greatest failure has been in GB&I, and namely not realizing how detrimental the expansion of the unelected upper legislative chamber would be to new member influx. I believe it was one of the key reasons for the death of the region. It taught me to be cautious about entrenching the position of the old guard, in any region.

In TNP, my greatest failure has been the Election Streamlining Bill. The submission of that bill was severely ill-timed, and I subsequently let the bill run completely out of steam. At least four bills we passed since then on electoral law, including two comprehensive ones by SillyString and myself, were subsumed by that bill. Had it passed back then, it would have saved us about a year's worth of electoral troubles. And, of course, there was the major change the bill introduced, the abolition of special elections, which in the current RA I would say is unlikely to pass. This failure taught me that I need to schedule my bills better, and when I do submit them that I need to stick to campaigning at all costs.

punk d:

I'd like to ask you a question I asked Kiwi:
2. What is your nightmare cabinet team? List those who you think would lead TNP in the wrong direction. Not that they would necessarily be bad, but people who would shift TNP politically/culturally away from where you would like to see TNP go. I understand the difficulty in this, but as delegate you will find yourself in difficult situations.

Click to expand...

I am picking people who would be not "bad" as in inactive, but "bad" as in detrimental.

Home Affairs: Hmm, hard one. I am inclined to say Durkadurkiranistan. Durk and I get along very well, and I consider him a very skilled player. But, in this department he would get bored, start trolling, and end up actively working to make new players go away.
Foreign Affairs: Posul. I would trust you know the man and understand the reasons. He is self-centered, reckless, insubordinate, and overestimates his personal skills. He is also way out of date these days.
World Assembly Affairs: Christian Democrats. His ultra-conservative agenda and his insistence on certain issues mean we would clash all the time. He would also ruin TNP's image in WA affairs.
Communications: Govindia. Probably not much need for explanation.
Defense: Unibot. He could possibly do a good job generating activity and recruiting members. However you asked for my nightmare Cabinet, and Unibot and I disagree on close to (?) all NS warfare issues. He would also be disastrous for our FA.
Culture: Milograd. Milograd could do an amazing job in this area. But he could also turn the region into another poor immitation of a Communist state.

SillyString:

r3n, what is your current position in the IRCabal? How much authority do you wield? What has been your favorite IRConzpirazsy to date?

Click to expand...

I currently hold the rank of IRCabal Acolyte. I kowtow to the wishes of the IRCabal Overlords, and execute all of their commands without question. I wield no authority. My favorite IRConzpirazsy was when we tried to remove nominations from the electoral process, a plan that was sadly foiled.

Parts of this response are fictional.

PaulWallLibertarian42:

Man, now I am conflicted on who to vote for/endorse. I really like your home affairs platform.

If someone was mulling between you and another candidate what would you say to them to sway them to you? What do you offer that stands you out from Romanoffia, Kiwi, and Mall?

Click to expand...

Well, Mall is easy: I am not campaigning to destroy the region, he is .

Compared to Romanoffia and Kiwi, I offer an electoral platform with a wealth of ideas and initiatives, as well as a track record of effectiveness and innovation in TNP. I would invite said voter to compare us on those grounds.

falapatorius:

Will training exercises be conducted among TNP and it's allies, or will it involve random raiding/defending of non-allied regions?

Click to expand...

The latter. What I meant in my campaign was training exercises analogous to those the NPA has been undertaking during this past term. The emphasis though will be on training operations that are organised jointly with other allied militaries, for example like the one we did in Scotland with the UIAF.

falapatorious:

I do like this idea. Would this initiative also include a more proactive approach to monitoring the RMB? It can get spammy and downright disrespectful on there. I have seen some nations leave as a result of consistent flamebaiting/trolling. NS game mods have become involved in some instances.

Click to expand...

I admit that I have not been watching the RMB very much in the past, obviously something that will need to change if I become Delegate; and therefore I am not very familiar with the incidents you refer to. However, yes, I would prefer if the conversation in the RMB remained pleasant, and motivated people to stay in the region and get involved in the forum.

Leekem:

R3n, I really like your home affairs idea and that alone may get you my vote. Please elaborate, on the idea. How would you go about this welcoming team? How would you regualate the department and get its members? I know I am interested, how would memebers like me, relatively new, fit in your goverment during your tenure as delegate?
Thank you in advance for your answers, Leekem

Click to expand...

The welcoming team would consist of RA members joining the Executive Staff and being assigned to the Ministry of Home Affairs. I will call them "welcomers" for the rest of this answer, for lack of a better term. When a new member joined the forum and introduced themselves, a welcomer would be assigned to them by the Minister. Then, the welcomer would PM the new member to personally welcome to the region, offer to answer any questions, and recommend ways to get involved. From thereon, hopefully a conversation among the two would ensue, until the new member became involved.

New members would of course be encouraged to get involved in RA legislative activity. With regards to the Executive Government, they would be encouraged to join the Executive Staff, and indicate which Ministry/ies they would like to be assigned to. For example, someone joining the Home Affairs Ministry could assist, as I already said, in the welcoming team, writing material, or sending personal invitations to join the region. Someone joining the Foreign Affairs Ministry would assist in producing the update, or by becoming an Ambassador. In the World Assembly Affairs, staffers would assist in putting new resolutions to vote, and writing and distributing voting recommendations. In Communications, they would act as journalists. In Culture, they would contribute to RPs, or help with the organization of festivals and other events that the Ministry is running. The Ministry of Defense would be excluded from the Executive Staff organization, for reasons probably obvious.

I believe that having a formal structure which we actively promote and encourage people to join, will do wonders in getting talented people interested in contributing to actually sign up and do so. Kiwi said in his thread this is nothing more than a "fancy label". It absolutely is a fancy label, and it is important that we have fancy labels like that. People want fancy labels and recognition for their contributions.

Furthermore, most people want to be shown how to get involved. New players are understandably intimitated by the prospect of jumping into the government. They see a group of old players labeled "Ministers", none of whom do they know personally, and are unlikely to contact them on their own initiative about getting involved in TNPU or submit to TNP-Wire. Having the Executive Staff is like having a conspicuous standing invitation for them to do so, and providing them with the guidance on how to go about it.

My above statements are supported by existing empirical evidence. I have seen civil services work in several regions, both GCRs and UCRs. In TNP, departments that have a civil-service-like body, such as the Diplomatic Corps in Foreign Affairs, and actively advertise it succeed in attracting talent. Departments that rely on people to jump in on their own initiative do worse. With the Executive Staff, we will be expanding the succefull FA model to all departments of government.

mcmasterdonia:

Ideal cabinet

- Made up of present TNPers

- Made up of all NS players (past and present)

Click to expand...

Both lists are obviously biased by my NS experiences and the subset of players I have had exposure to.

-Present TNPers would be:
Home Affairs: SillyString. She is unlikely to give up her Justice position. But she has excellent "people" skills, and is great at motivating members to get involved.
Foreign Affairs: mcmasterdonia. See next section.
World Assembly Affairs: Abacathea. He is well-respected in the WA and among the top NSers in expertise. He has brought activity to the department and overall reinforced our position in the WA.
Communications: Crushing Our Enemies. He effectively communicated the work done both by the Speaker's Office and the Court during his tenures there. He is a good writer, and has a great work ethic.
Defense: Gladio. He has done an excellent job in recruitment, training, and maintaining the NPA active.
Culture: Kiwi. I believe Kiwi would do well in revitalizing the cultural areas of the forum.

-NS players would be:
Home Affairs: Vinage. In such a diverse department, he has the bandwidth to see all the agenda items to completion. He is an effective boss, excellent at motivating his collaborators and subordinates, and generating engagement and activity.
Foreign Affairs: mcmasterdonia. He is the expert on TNP Foreign Affairs. He has an excellent list of contacts, and is confidant to many influential NS players. He is very trustworthy, and able to negotiate a situation towards the desired outcome.
World Assembly Affairs: Mousebumples. She is among the top World Assembly experts. She is an effective campaigner and excellent author, and her word on WA matters carries a lot of influence in NationStates. She also has excellent work ethic and organizational skills.
Communications: Cormac. He is a very effective writer, and I have seen him produce some great propaganda. He is also a productive writer. Quality and quantity.
Defense: OnderKelkia. He is incredibly effective in recruitment, training, organization, building trust with, and asserting respect from his troops. He is also fluent in warfare strategies. Not much more you can ask for in a Commander.
Culture: TheGrimReaper. He is very imaginative and creative. He is a skilled RPer, and I think he would do wonders in revitalizing that section of our forum.

How involved would you want the Vice Delegate to be in your executive? Would you offer them a Ministry or would you prefer that they focus on SC related duties?

Click to expand...

In theory, I like the idea of having the Vice Delegate involved in the Executive Government. In practice, whether they will be and to what extent really depends on who wins the position. If it is someone I can work with well, they will likely be given a Ministry. For example, either World Assembly Affairs or Home Affairs would be a good Ministry for the Vice Delegate, given that the exposure of their nation to the region through the WFE etc. will help them do their job in those Ministries better. Otherwise, I would probably limit their role to simply attending the Cabinet meetings, and perhaps having a vote.

punk d:

Hmm...response time for these questions is not all that quick. It makes me think of two things that aren't good

1 - r3n doesn't have time to answer the questions. That's bad in the delegate chair

2 - r3n is spending a significant amount of time crafting his answers. Not so good either as delegate's face a number of times where quick decisions are needed.

3 - r3n has prioritized other things over responding to campaign question. Not so good to me as the delegate should be accountable to his/her RA members.

If r3n hadn't made posts elsewhere yesterday I'd be less concerned, but I do hope that we get some responses to the questions today.

Click to expand...

I did spend a significant amount of time crafting my answers, as well as my campaign of course. This is hardly a situation were a rapid decision is needed, so your conclusion to point 2 is irrelevant. I can assure you that when quick decisions are really needed, I make them fast and good.

As for posting elsewhere, my only significant other post was the introduction of the North-East Pacific Security Treaty. I am still the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and I need to continue attending to my duties in that office during the election . Besides that, my only posts were one-liners, and I am sure you can appreciate the different time commitment those posts and this one entail.

People seem to know what types of answers I am allegedly looking for. Pro-tip for those who care: whenever someone says they believe to know the answer I am looking for, rest assured they know nothing of the kind.

I am a person of principle. I hate, really hate, hypocrisy. r3n, you criticism of me as a forum admin focused on a number of areas, specifically:

The first was that I subscribe to the simple principle that was the core of the petition: administrators should maintain at least a minimal formal membership in the region.

Click to expand...

You listed a few regions where "forum administrator" is your only role. Do you maintain citizenship in those regions at this time? If you currently do not have citizenship in those reasons but administrate the forums, how is that different than myself administrating these forums when I was not a citizens? I sincerely hope one of the reasons you signed the petition against me would not be undermined by you not holding yourself to the same standard.

Your other question is a trivial one. I would not be running for Delegate were I not prepared to put TNP first.

Click to expand...

I see not how this is trivial given your numerous positions elsewhere. Are we to "assume" that you will put TNP first unless you say so? Heck, I wasn't even asked if I would put TNP first and others "assumed" I wouldn't. No, I would not consider the question trivial given your many non-TNP entanglements. But thank you for saying that you will put TNP first. That's good.

I quite like your choice of "bad" ministers. Thank you for not skirting the question.

Overall - I think you would make a good delegate. Your opinion of some of my actions I find a bit perplexing if only you know I do typically say what I mean. The conclusions you draw are in direct opposition of things I have actually stated. I find that odd. I think you have a number of good ideas, I have no fears that you will serve as a good diplomat and if you move TNP towards the same philosophy as some of your extra-regional entanglements, I think that would be all the better.

For me, it does not come down to your ideas but how you have percieved many of my actions.

[pregnant pause]

Very strange, but I find myself unable to support your campaign less because of your ideas - nay despite your ideas - but because of the curious case of you not exhibiting a propensity to take me at my word. I dislike making decisions that aren't empirical, but nonetheless, I apologize but will have to make such a one in this case. Good luck in your campaign, TNP could do far worse than having you as delegate.

punk d:

I am a person of principle. I hate, really hate, hypocrisy. r3n, you criticism of me as a forum admin focused on a number of areas, specifically:

The first was that I subscribe to the simple principle that was the core of the petition: administrators should maintain at least a minimal formal membership in the region.

Click to expand...

You listed a few regions where "forum administrator" is your only role. Do you maintain citizenship in those regions at this time? If you currently do not have citizenship in those reasons but administrate the forums, how is that different than myself administrating these forums when I was not a citizens? I sincerely hope one of the reasons you signed the petition against me would be undermined by you not holding yourself to the same standard.

Click to expand...

You seem to have missed the point at the bottom of my list where I state explicitly:

I am a citizen in all of the above regions, including those where otherwise I am only a forum administrator.

Click to expand...

I also stated the same in the paragraph of my response you partially quoted:

I myself administer plenty of forums in NationStates, and while I am not an active contributor in all of those regions, I try to remain at least a citizen, and most of the time also participate in non-political forum areas.

Click to expand...

So, there is no hypocrisy here. I do hold myself not just to the same standard, but in fact to a higher one, on every single one of the multiple occasions I get to administer forums. You just misread---or only skimmed through looking for the juicy parts ---my responses.

punk d:

Overall - I think you would make a good delegate. Your opinion of some of my actions I find a bit perplexing if only you know I do typically say what I mean. The conclusions you draw are in direct opposition of things I have actually stated. I find that odd. I think you have a number of good ideas, I have no fears that you will serve as a good diplomat and if you move TNP towards the same philosophy as some of your extra-regional entanglements, I think that would be all the better.

For me, it does not come down to your ideas but how you have percieved many of my actions.

[pregnant pause]

Very strange, but I find myself unable to support your campaign less because of your ideas - nay despite your ideas - but because of the curious case of you not exhibiting a propensity to take me at my word. I dislike making decisions that aren't empirical, but nonetheless, I apologize but will have to make such a one in this case. Good luck in your campaign, TNP could do far worse than having you as delegate.

Click to expand...

I am not sure when I have not taken you at your word, or which actions of yours I misinterpreted. Nonetheless, thank you for your questions and comments.

I am in full support of your election. I think you will do a remarkable job.

What was your favorite scientific discovery of 2013?

r3naissanc3r:

[snip]
So, there is no hypocrisy here. I do hold myself not just to the same standard, but in fact to a higher one, on every single one of the multiple occasions I get to administer forums. You just misread---or only skimmed through looking for the juicy parts ---my responses.

Click to expand...

there's that phrase again "looking for" ...and nope, I wasn't just looking for the juicy parts. I simply missed it on the next line.

I'd love to say that this is a rarity but my teachers always chided me "[Insert Punk D's name here], slow down when you read. You get the tough comprehension questions right, but you miss some of the east fact-based questions."

You'll also note, I miss words when I type from time to time. That's the brain thinking faster than the fingers can type. Not your problem, but I had no mal intent or was hoping for a "gotcha" moment. It was a misread.

I'm glad you remained consistent.

One last point about my actions as AG. I believed, if memory serves, McM closed debate too quickly. I saw an injustice -namely not allowing the selection of Govindia to stand. Once debate was closed there, I used my authority as AG to make sure the conversation was not squashed and held it in a place where McM could not close the debate. Funny how you have no problems with what McM did, but found significant fault with my actions. Furthermore, you were a member of the Merit boards where I was an admin from about mid-2006 through today. I can't imagine anything I did there would give you concern over my ability to administrate impartially. I think you are simply wrong on this one, but the reasons for why you are wrong make me distrust that if I take future actions you will see those actions for what they are. Sadly, a lack of trust always kills relationships no matter the intent of the parties involved.

So the executive government, will be different than the regular government and any RA member will be eligible to apply? And when they do apply, what would be the criteria for you to give them a job in this "executive government" and they would have a say in what ministry they would like to work in, right?

If you convince SillyString to join the cabinet I'll be impressed and jealous. I tried on many occasions. Very good answers r3n.

Democratic Donkeys:

I am in full support of your election. I think you will do a remarkable job.

What was your favorite scientific discovery of 2013?

Click to expand...

Thanks for your endorsement DD.

As to your question, I would be heavily biased to pick something from within my own research field in RL, but likely nobody else would have heard of it. Among discoveries better know, the various findings by Curiosity on Mars always fascinated me.

punk d:

One last point about my actions as AG. I believed, if memory serves, McM closed debate too quickly. I saw an injustice -namely not allowing the selection of Govindia to stand. Once debate was closed there, I used my authority as AG to make sure the conversation was not squashed and held it in a place where McM could not close the debate. Funny how you have no problems with what McM did, but found significant fault with my actions. Furthermore, you were a member of the Merit boards where I was an admin from about mid-2006 through today. I can't imagine anything I did there would give you concern over my ability to administrate impartially. I think you are simply wrong on this one, but the reasons for why you are wrong make me distrust that if I take future actions you will see those actions for what they are. Sadly, a lack of trust always kills relationships no matter the intent of the parties involved.

Click to expand...

There, I put the salient part in bold. The issue I had was not with you re-opening the debate. I had issue with an office's authority being misused for something that is entirely outside of that office's scope. Being AG gave you as much additional authority, compared to a regular RA member, to reopen the debate as being the Grand Poobah of Gatesville did. Had you not essentially pulled rank by invoking your office while re-opening the debate, I would not have had any trouble with it. As I explained in my second post, my concerns about you being an administrator were analogous, and were unrelated to your ability to administrate impartially.

Leekem:

So the executive government, will be different than the regular government and any RA member will be eligible to apply? And when they do apply, what would be the criteria for you to give them a job in this "executive government" and they would have a say in what ministry they would like to work in, right?

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by "regular government". Any RA member will be elligible to join the Executive Staff. Where they are assigned would depend on both their own preferences and each Ministry's needs.

I meant delegate, vice delegate, minsters; they are the regular government, and the executive staff will be inside that government.

There, I put the salient part in bold. The issue I had was not with you re-opening the debate. I had issue with an office's authority being misused for something that is entirely outside of that office's scope. Being AG gave you as much additional authority, compared to a regular RA member, to reopen the debate as being the Grand Poobah of Gatesville did. Had you not essentially pulled rank by invoking your office while re-opening the debate, I would not have had any trouble with it. As I explained in my second post, my concerns about you being an administrator were analogous, and were unrelated to your ability to administrate impartially.

Click to expand...

I think you may have missed the reason why I used my authority as AG to do so. I was pondering pressing charges against McM for not allowing Govindia his seat on the cabinet. That certainly is within the purview of my office and as such I was not about to allow debate to be stifled on the subject while I investigated the same.

Had I to do it over again, I would not do anything differently. So we will have to agree to disagree on this point.

I was going to simply ignore your comments Punk D, but I've decided I am not going to put up with it. Let's keep in mind that this particular incident occurred when I was first elected Delegate.

It was your obligation as Attorney General to pursue charges against people - including people who you believe have committed an offence. You never did so against me while I was Delegate or after I had left office. It is not your responsibility to conduct these trials by public opinion, or to encourage people to debate the guilt or innocence of a person before they are taken to court.

As Attorney General you're obligated to prosecute if you believe you can prove that someone has committed an offence. It is not appropriate to start a bandwagon campaign to achieve your ends without bringing charges or without even reasonably attempting to do so. You used your office to attempt to bring a trial of public opinion against the elected Delegate instead of pursuing real charges and instead of pursuing the appropriate action in the RA.

That was a gross abuse of your office and well beyond your responsibilities. r3n is completely right in questioning your behaviour on that particular incident, just as others have the right to appropriately question my actions. You did not do that. Even if people have an issue with me closing a thread "early", that does not inherently mean you acted appropriately.

If you believe I have committed an offence, then bring a charge against me. I will gladly have my day in court. I did not break the law and I did not commit an offence.

I apologise to r3n for getting a off topic. I'll remove the post if you request it.

Leekem:

I meant delegate, vice delegate, minsters; they are the regular government, and the executive staff will be inside that government.

Click to expand...

The Executive Staff will be separate from the Cabinet.

McM - I'm glad you decided not to ignore my comments. I believed it was an error to hold an election for your cabinet offices and then not actually put people into those positions who won.

You shut off debate on the topic which I believed was in error. I was exploring the legal ramifications of your actions. No, not the closing of debate but not putting Govindia in the post for which he was elected by a process you initiated.

If we go back to the thread I opened in the AG's office, I believe there were a number of people who agreed with me keeping the conversation. You yourself reopened the conversation because of - it would seem - the heat of public pressure.

I completed my review of your actions and found that while I personally felt them to be unethical, they were not illegal. As I said, if the circumstances were to happen again I would defend the spirit of our laws and ensure that debate was not stifled because a delegate was unhappy with election results. If you wish to consider that a misuse of power, that is your choice.

As to your question, I would be heavily biased to pick something from within my own research field in RL, but likely nobody else would have heard of it. Among discoveries better know, the various findings by Curiosity on Mars always fascinated me.

Click to expand...

Umm... what about the discovery of cosmic inflation as likely direct evidence of the big bang?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/c...-post-big-bang-expansion-discovered-1.2575998

That was in 2014 .

r3naissanc3r:

That was in 2014 .

Click to expand...

Oh whoops. For some reason I thought it was scientific achievement of the past year. What about Voyager finally reaching interstellar space and getting beyond the Suns solar wind?

You know, I considered that one. But then there is the issue that there have been so many prior announcements about Voyager 1 leaving the solar system, which kind of ruins the excitement.

This campaign has received the endorsement of a major NationStates publication. In their article, they characterize this candidate as a "tax accountant", obviously referring to our methodical approach to handling the affairs of government.

To acknowledge this generous endorsement, we have created the following campaign banner:



Those supporting this campaign are welcome, encouraged in fact, to include this banner in their signatures.

punk D:

I completed my review of your actions and found that while I personally felt them to be unethical, they were not illegal. As I said, if the circumstances were to happen again I would defend the spirit of our laws and ensure that debate was not stifled because a delegate was unhappy with election results. If you wish to consider that a misuse of power, that is your choice.

Click to expand...

Hear, Hear! Glad to see someone tries to swim against the current (risking alienation from the powers that be).

falapatorius:

punk D:

I completed my review of your actions and found that while I personally felt them to be unethical, they were not illegal. As I said, if the circumstances were to happen again I would defend the spirit of our laws and ensure that debate was not stifled because a delegate was unhappy with election results. If you wish to consider that a misuse of power, that is your choice.

Click to expand...

Hear, Hear! Glad to see someone tries to swim against the current (risking alienation from the powers that be).

Click to expand...

You haven't clearly been in TNP long enough to realise this occurs quite a lot... People have often criticized ideas that I have put forward. Find the NPIA thread if you're interested in that. Or anything to do with Haafingar and Hjaalmarch. I've also had a treaty defeated in the Regional Assembly. I don't think there are many people who were too afraid to "swim against the current" or to risk "alienation from the powers that be"

Part of being Delegate is accepting that criticism will happen and that people won't be happy with you. You have to accept that you're Delegate for all TNPers though and do the very best you can to correct the wrongs and keep the region on a good course.

I have no issue with you defending the spirit of the laws PD, merely the way in which you went about it. I don't hold that against you - which is why amongst many other reasons I didn't advocate for your removal from the admin team.

---

Nice banner r3n

McM I think you have done a number of great things as delegate. I disagreed on this point. I've been married to my wife for nearly 13 years. She and I disagree on many things. We do agree on many of the important issues. If someone agrees with you 100 percent of the time, I wonder how much thought they are giving your ideas or if they are just giving you a carte blanche echo. There is something to be said to momentum but...I will never be such a person.

I've taken to much time in r3n's thread on non-r3n candidacy issues, so I'd like to get this thing back towards his delegate candidacy.

R3N, one thing prior administrations have had an issue with is activity of cabinet members. You have a pretty ambitious platform. How do you plan to keep your ministers motivated and accountable for their responsibilities?

Punk youre married? That shatters my image of you as a hip bachelor. Heh.

mcmasterdonia:

falapatorius:

punk D:

I completed my review of your actions and found that while I personally felt them to be unethical, they were not illegal. As I said, if the circumstances were to happen again I would defend the spirit of our laws and ensure that debate was not stifled because a delegate was unhappy with election results. If you wish to consider that a misuse of power, that is your choice.

Click to expand...

Hear, Hear! Glad to see someone tries to swim against the current (risking alienation from the powers that be).

Click to expand...

You haven't clearly been in TNP long enough to realise this occurs quite a lot... People have often criticized ideas that I have put forward. Find the NPIA thread if you're interested in that. Or anything to do with Haafingar and Hjaalmarch. I've also had a treaty defeated in the Regional Assembly. I don't think there are many people who were too afraid to "swim against the current" or to risk "alienation from the powers that be"

Part of being Delegate is accepting that criticism will happen and that people won't be happy with you. You have to accept that you're Delegate for all TNPers though and do the very best you can to correct the wrongs and keep the region on a good course.

Click to expand...

*sigh* Once again you've misinterpreted my post. My point was that PD having the testicular fortitude to openly challenge a popular Delegate such as yourself is a good thing. Noob or not, I'll vote for that kind of moxie anyday. H&H is irrelevant here.

Actually, even from your response it is clear that he did not.

punk d:

I've taken to much time in r3n's thread on non-r3n candidacy issues, so I'd like to get this thing back towards his delegate candidacy.

R3N, one thing prior administrations have had an issue with is activity of cabinet members. You have a pretty ambitious platform. How do you plan to keep your ministers motivated and accountable for their responsibilities?

Click to expand...

Thanks punkd.

One thing I mentioned in my platform is that Ministries will have to produce regular progress reports. Part of the reason for this is to keep Ministers motivated and active throughout the term.

Of course, I am also going to make use of my excellent pestering skills over IRC, skype, PM, and even telegram if necessary, to... engage them to remain active .

At the end of the day though, four months is a long term for someone to commit to a single NS job. Absences lasting 2-3 weeks can be understandable, assuming there is a legitimate RL reason. But any longer absences that put the Ministry's agenda in danger will not be acceptable. In such circumstances, I will just replace the Minister. Based on the evidence from previous terms, I expect I will need to replace at least two Ministers before the end of the term.

I also expect that the Executive Staff for each Ministry will carry out a lot of the work for effecting the Ministry's agenda. So during periods when the Minister is inactive, the Executive Staff will pick up a lot of the slack and the Ministry will continue to function efficiently.