It took me a long time, but, as promised, here is my reply:
mcmasterdonia:
Alta Italia:
I don't think myself fit for a Cabinet position, and would be shocked if I got a Deputy gig, but I'd like to suggest that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs open more embassies with more new nations. I also would like to suggest basically FAQs for each Ministry; if a new nation needs help, or is confused, it could be able to get it in a jiffy. Finally, I think we need to give more attention to the Ministry of WA Affairs. Many nations might not read the actual debate that takes place in-game, which makes them more prone to voting yay on bad proposals, as those proposals always say the good side of what it would do, and neglect to tell about the bad side. I say that we invite all nations on the forum - not just those with a WA membership - to participate in a "formal debate," similar to what we have in RA legislation. Now, that isn't to say that we should let all nations vote; obviously, if the bill isn't going to impact you, but is going to impact many others, you should leave voting on it to those it will impact (namely, TNP WA nations). However, I do believe they may add discussion of great value and inform us of many things that we may otherwise overlook. We have nearly nobody actually post why they vote yay or nay on WA proposals, and even then it is usually a small bit. If we have a separate debate section, we can more easily analyze pros and cons, and make informed decisions and votes. Finally, my fourth and final suggestion for improvement is that we should expand the section of discussion of issues. Would that go under Culture? In some cases, I feel some nations would benefit from discussing (or witnessing previous discussion on) daily issues. We already have an Issues folder, and I believe there is a lot of merit and promise to it, but it only has one post within the entire folder. So, obviously, something needs to be fixed there. If you think any of my proposals have merit, and you wish for me to elaborate, I might be able to do that, but at a later date; I am way, way behind in my work, primarily because I spent a ton of time on this post. :-)
That is quite a post. Can I suggest that you break them up a little bit in future?
1) I'll note it down that you are interested in a Deputy position.
2) I assume you mean new embassies with regions - that is part of every Minister's term. But at the same time, there is no point opening embassies with every region possible, as most of the time those embassies will just go inactive. We will spend too much time trying to staff them and keep them informed with little received in return.
3)There is a FAQ for each Ministry. It requires updating, I think Home Affairs needs to be included.
4) Information for Voters telegrams will continued to be sent out to all WA nations in the region. It would be too much of a strain on our resources and take too long for us to wire these telegrams to non WA nations. We definitely will send out region wide telegrams promoting that area of the forum, but I am not really inclined to spam every nation (whether WA or not) about debates on WA resolutions.
5) I fully believe that WA votes should be determined by WA nations in TNP and members of the NPA on active service. I will continue to use that policy.
6) The issues forum is available to all, but historically, I don't think it received much interest. It isn't under the purview of Culture at this point, but rather up to individual members to post their issues that they might need help with.
Thanks.
0) I thought about doing that, but the WA bit would dwarf the other points that I was trying to make.
1) OK. I'd understand if I am not selected, but I would be honored to selected to serve in any capacity.
2) I can't really say much more on this without knowing and being able to analyze the standards that we have currently set for opening embassies. I'm trying to find them on these forums, but I haven't seen any. May I ask what the current policy is for opening an embassy? However, though I'm not yet armed with specific statistics, I do think that most active regions should be provided an active ambassador. Now, some regions will fizzle out, of course, but if a region is active, and has proven that its activity is not just due to a two-day fad for three people who like NS and then leave forever, then we should open embassies. I'd have to know our current policy on embassies in order to be able to pinpoint what I'd like to change, but I do believe that more embassies are (generally) better. (Now, that isn't by any means to say that more is always better, but lots of the time, it is good.)
3) I looked through the Foreign Affairs folder. I looked through the Diplomatic Corps subfolder. I even went into the Diplomatic Corps Archives and the big, huge Delegate's Government folder. All I could find for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that might be considered a FAQ was
McMasterdonia's Ask Me Anything thread, which has not been posted in in well over a month. Plus, it doesn't answer FAQs about the Ministry; it only addresses questions about yourself, many of which are completely silly. If there is a FAQ thread that I am missing, I think we should make it more visible, or else more clear that it is a FAQ thread. If there is not a FAQ thread, I believe we should establish one.
4) My WA platform - and especially this number - is where we got on different pages. If a nation can't vote in the WA, I don't think we should send it information about how it should vote. I agree with you there. I think it's a great service to the region, but it's being sent to all the people who should get it. My proposal was that we should have two threads assigned for each WA proposal that reaches quorum: one for voting on how the Delegate should vote, as is already customary, and another on debating the proposal. This would be similar to the way we handle RA proposals, and I think would work well. Firstly, the voting thread would determine how the Delegate votes on WA resolutions (unless you wish to change this policy, of course), but would be open only to WA members. Secondly, the debate thread would be dedicated to debate on the proposal, and that would be open to discussion from any member. I believe that many nations - whether or not they have a WA nation, or if they have one, whether or not it is in TNP - have very good insight on proposals. The number of people voting on how the Delegate should vote in the WA Ministry thread is pretty sad. Take the last proposal to be voted on as an example. Only eight people, including the Delegate himself, voted on how the Delegate should spend over 500 votes. However, the debate on it was even sadder. Over half the nations that did vote only posted one word, and I was the only one to write over two lines' worth of reasoning behind my vote. Debate on WA proposals on our forum seems to be virtually dead. Now, I know that debate does happen in the NS Forums, but how many nations really look there? Especially the newer ones; I doubt many of them read the debate. I think they simply make a decision, solely based on the text of the proposal. This isn't a great way to go about it, as that means that the only thing they read is an argument in favor of the proposal passing. I think that making voters more educated will overall make votes & voting better.
5) This is another area in which you interpreted my post differently than I wished. I agree with your statement. The voting post should only be for NPA members and people with a WA nation in TNP. However, I think a debate thread should be created, and that it should be open to everyone.
6) I think that many nations - especially the newer ones - might wish to discuss issues, but not know that we have this thread. A few days ago, we witnessed a perfect example. Three days ago on the RMB,
Hidden Village of Iron asked for help with "the nudist issue in my country." One day ago, the same nation went so far as to copy & paste the debate and resolutions to the issue on adding the national animal to the menu. Iron clearly wants help, and if the Issues folder was relatively active, we could point Iron to it, and Iron could get help. However, we don't, so we can't, and Iron got very few responses to his pleas on the RMB. We have an Issues folder, sure. But the problem is, it has exactly one thread, which was started last year in November and has no replies. That's about as good as having no folder. Activity on that end, I believe, could benefit many nations, but most especially the newest ones, who are the ones who may leave if they decide they aren't having a good time, or, if they decide that NS if fun, may stay, and become a citizen, and join the Executive Staff, and submit a huge post to the Delegate about being a Deputy Minister. Besides, the more new nations we can get to the forums, the better, I say.
I hope you can brave that long post, and tell me what you think. If you need any more clarification, let me know. Hopefully you know what I actually do mean this time.
