RPI for Speaker!!

RPI

RPI

TNPer
RPI for Speaker of the Regional Assembly​

Hello my fellow citizens!
I am [me], and I am running to become your Speaker of the Regional Assembly. I am sure some of you know me as a Deputy Speaker, and also a Director of Home Affairs. Hopefully, with your support, I can achieve such a prestigious position as Speaker.

Onward to the campaign:

Why am I running for Speaker?​
When I first arrived in the North Pacific, I was utterly overwhelmed. There was so much opportunity, and so many ways to get involved. I didn't know where to start. I happened to join the forums in February, when there was quite a bit of turmoil in the Speaker's Office following Lord Nwahs' disappearance, and a special election for Speaker was held, which current Speaker Bootsie won. Applying to become Bootsie's Deputy Speaker was the best thing I have done so far in TNP. Now, more to the reason why I am running: I absolutely love being a Deputy Speaker, and if I could become the Speaker, that would be amazing. My love for the Speaker's Office and the Regional Assembly would keep me working hard as Speaker.

Why should you vote for me?​
When I first became a Deputy Speaker, I wasn't entirely sure how everything worked. Now, I firmly believe that I am capable of all the responsibilities of the Speaker. When the rolls fell apart and became extremely out of date, I worked long and hard to remedy that, and I will always put that same great amount of effort into my endeavors as Speaker. I am very active in the Regional Assembly, and I understand the voting procedure, proposal procedure, and all other aspects of the legislative process. The Speaker is also charged with the duty of updating the laws of the North Pacific; I can guarantee that I will update the laws in a timely manner after a bill's passage/signing. During Bootsie's last leave of absence, even though Elegarth was the Acting Speaker, I took on much of the Speaker's responsibilities and worked hard to keep the RA intact and running how it should.
You can be sure that during my term I will devote my time to the Regional Assembly and to guaranteeing its smooth operation, and that I will constantly be updating the rolls and keeping them up to date. You can also be sure that I will work hard to keep the laws of the North Pacific up to date at all times.

Other information:​
  • Deputy Speakers: If elected, I will be accepting applications to fill the position(s) of Deputy Speaker. I am not entirely sure how many I will have this term, but time will tell. Also, if Alta wants, I would love to have him as a deputy.
  • I plan to work on ways to increase the RA activity and encourage the citizenry to propose and discuss legislation.
  • There is the issue of votes in the Regional Assembly being discounted for not following the OP of the vote. I would love input as to how the public wants this to be dealt with, if, at all, they feel there needs to be a change. Please feel free to offer your opinion on this in this thread.
Final words:​
I wish to extend my thanks to Bootsie for introducing me to the Speaker's Office. Without you, I wouldn't be here.
I also wish to thank the citizens of the North Pacific for considering me as a candidate to become their Speaker.
I would be extremely grateful if, below, you all could give me feedback on how you think the Speaker's Office and the Regional Assembly can be improved. The input of my fellow TNPers is of extreme importance to me, and is greatly appreciated.


I thank you all for your time and consideration in this election, and hopefully together we can make the Regional Assembly a great and active legislature. Please do ask me any questions below.

Thank you,
[me]

P.S. Join the IRC channel #RPI_for_Speaker and talk with me about my campaign or just drop in to say hello!

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Much thanks to Syrixia for designing these! :D
 
Hello, all. I'm Alta, a fellow Deputy Speaker of RPI. I have absolutely no doubt that the Speaker's Office would be great hands if RPI won the election. From Day 1, I was impressed with his drive, dedication, and determination. For some stretches of time, mostly while Bootsie had to take an emergency LoA, RPI basically ran the whole show. (I've been a terrible Deputy Speaker, so he's had to. :P ) There's no question that RPI knows his way around the rolls. He's done a fantastic job as Deputy Speaker already, and I know he will do a fantastic job if elected Speaker. I wish the best of luck to Bootsie, and know that the Speaker's Office would be in good hands with him. I don't want to appear like I like one of my colleagues and don't another, because I know both Bootsie & RPI are great. However, as much as I like Bootsie, I think RPI would be an even better choice for Speaker. Vote RPI for Speaker!
 
Thank you both Tomb and Alta.

Thank you, Alta! :D That means so much to me. Thank you so much for your support and kind words. :tb2:
 
We are repeatedly seeing the situation where people are joining the forum or becoming citizens, making one or two posts, one of which is their oath, doing nothing for a period of time then being removed from the RA list or citizenship. This causes a lot of unnecessary work for the admins at both ends of the process, especially at the start when security checks need to be done, and arguably it cheapens and devalues membership to have so many inactive members on our lists.
I count about 66 such removals in the month of April 2015 alone. It is reaching the point of silliness.
As a candidate for Speaker, does this worry you? What would you see done about it?
 
flemingovia:
We are repeatedly seeing the situation where people are joining the forum or becoming citizens, making one or two posts, one of which is their oath, doing nothing for a period of time then being removed from the RA list or citizenship. This causes a lot of unnecessary work for the admins at both ends of the process, especially at the start when security checks need to be done, and arguably it cheapens and devalues membership to have so many inactive members on our lists.
I count about 66 such removals in the month of April 2015 alone. It is reaching the point of silliness.
As a candidate for Speaker, does this worry you? What would you see done about it?
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Thank you for bringing this up, flem. Yes, this does worry me. Not only does it add to the workload of the administrators, it also adds to my own workload when updating the citizenship rolls. To add someone, only to remove them thirty days later, is excessive and a bit annoying. As for what I would see done about it: I would like to make citizenship actually require more activity, as thirty days is, in my opinion, a rather long time to not post. Most active citizens currently post at least a couple times in a few days as I see it. Of course, I'd like to hear others' input before I, myself, do anything about it. I've only heard the opinions of a couple people on this, and I'd prefer to hear more, as this would affect all current citizens as well as new applicants.

Funkadelia:
If elected, will you be needlessly pedantic about the "official" words used in voting for legislation?
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No, Funk, in fact, I plan to discontinue the use of the "Acceptable Words List" and just count votes which I can clearly understand. Or, I may use the Acceptable Words List as a list of common ways to vote for the citizens to use as reference when casting their own votes; however, either way, I wouldn't limit the votes that will be counted to those on the Acceptable Words List.


Thank you all for your questions. Please do ask more if you have any. :D
 
RPI:
Funkadelia:
If elected, will you be needlessly pedantic about the "official" words used in voting for legislation?
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No, Funk, in fact, I plan to discontinue the use of the "Acceptable Words List" and just count votes which I can clearly understand. Or, I may use the Acceptable Words List as a list of common ways to vote for the citizens to use as reference when casting their own votes; however, either way, I wouldn't limit the votes that will be counted to those on the Acceptable Words List.
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How will you determine what words you "can clearly understand"? How can citizens of TNP determine which votes will be valid and which will be invalid without a written list of what words you can clearly understand? How would such a list be functionally different from the current "Acceptable Words List" other than, perhaps, specifically what is listed on it?

How would you deal with votes in other languages? Does it make sense to treat languages other than English differently depending on whether the Speaker or a Deputy Speaker at the time speaks that language? Does it make sense to privilege English above all others?

I think it can't be disputed that "aye/nay/abstain" is the simplest option to implement, for a few reasons - it requires zero interpretation on the part of a Speaker or a voter, there can be no perception of bias in terms of discounting votes that don't conform, and they are sufficiently formal and brief that there is no argumentative presence in them (unlike, for example, voting "OH MY GOD YES THIS IS AMAZING YES YES YES BEST LEGISLATION EVER", which is clear, but terrible. Why do you believe that votes other than aye/nay/abstain should be counted - or in other words, what do you believe is tangibly wrong with an "aye/nay/abstain" system? "It sometimes discounts peoples' votes" isn't a sufficient answer here - all systems sometimes discount votes - so please opine somewhat in depth.

I would like to make citizenship actually require more activity, as thirty days is, in my opinion, a rather long time to not post.
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Disregarding the opinions of other citizens for the moment and imagining a Constitution According to RPI, what kind of restrictions would you implement? Minimum posting requirement prior to gaining citizenship? Shorten the inactivity allowance from thirty days? Something else? Other than merely reducing the bureaucratic overhead, what benefits would your ideal restrictions grant to TNP, to other citizens, and to the removed/ineligible members?
 
SS:
How will you determine what words you "can clearly understand"? How can citizens of TNP determine which votes will be valid and which will be invalid without a written list of what words you can clearly understand? How would such a list be functionally different from the current "Acceptable Words List" other than, perhaps, specifically what is listed on it?
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I see your concern. I would make it known in the OP of a vote that any single English word equivalent to "aye," "nay," or "abstain" would be counted. Only a single word in order to prevent people from casting votes like your example of "OH MY GOD YES THIS IS AMAZING YES YES YES BEST LEGISLATION EVER." There always has to be some restriction, or people will get carried away, but broadening the votes that will be counted ultimately allows for more options, and decreases the amount of votes that will be discounted.

Yes, I did say "English equivalent." The laws of TNP are written in English, and so is just about every post on these forums. I have yet to see any posts on here that are not in English. I'm not discriminating, so don't anyone accuse me of that, I am just trying to keep it simple so that no translating is needed.

SS:
I think it can't be disputed that "aye/nay/abstain" is the simplest option to implement, for a few reasons - it requires zero interpretation on the part of a Speaker or a voter, there can be no perception of bias in terms of discounting votes that don't conform, and they are sufficiently formal and brief that there is no argumentative presence in them (unlike, for example, voting "OH MY GOD YES THIS IS AMAZING YES YES YES BEST LEGISLATION EVER", which is clear, but terrible. Why do you believe that votes other than aye/nay/abstain should be counted - or in other words, what do you believe is tangibly wrong with an "aye/nay/abstain" system? "It sometimes discounts peoples' votes" isn't a sufficient answer here - all systems sometimes discount votes - so please opine somewhat in depth.
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I can't help but agree with you that the "aye/nay/abstain" is the simplest system; however, I'm trying to avoid a situation where a vote is completely obvious in its meaning, but yet is discounted for not being one of the three options. For example, someone might want to vote "aye," but they said "yes;" it is clear that they were voting for that proposal, but it would be discounted if I was to follow the "aye/nay/abstain" system. By expanding the words that will be accepted, that vote would be counted, and another vote counted means that the democracy is stronger.
I might start a poll on how to go about decreasing the amount of discounted votes in the Regional Assembly. If the citizenry is not in favor of my plan, then I would plan to extend the current list of acceptable words exponentially.

Maybe there's a better way to go about this; perhaps if I was to state what votes I will count, and if votes are pretty close in meaning to those I'll accept those, too, that would be better? My goal is to avoid being overly concerned with formalisms. I hope to hear others' thoughts on this as well.

SS:
Disregarding the opinions of other citizens for the moment and imagining a Constitution According to RPI, what kind of restrictions would you implement? Minimum posting requirement prior to gaining citizenship? Shorten the inactivity allowance from thirty days? Something else? Other than merely reducing the bureaucratic overhead, what benefits would your ideal restrictions grant to TNP, to other citizens, and to the removed/ineligible members?
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I do like the idea of a minimum posting requirement prior to gaining citizenship. I don't know what numbers I would like as of current, but I think a good number to start with would be 5 posts, so then new members' accounts are validated and they have some posts after that, too. I would also probably like to shorten the activity requirement from thirty days to around fifteen to twenty days. This would make citizenship more valuable to those who have it, and would spark more interest from new active members.

I hope I answered your concerns, if not please let me know, I'm in a bit of a hurry now :P
 
I support your intention to simplify voting procedures and avoid formalisms. However, I have some remarks on your propositions.

The Standing Procedure for voting says: "Citizens may vote "aye", "nay" or "abstain" or similar." This, in my opinion, already allows for "yes" and "no", "I support this", etc. I think that if you go more specific than this, you will always come to a point where you have to discount votes that are essentially equivalents for aye/nay/abstain. I find that if a nation makes its vote unequivocally clear, it should be counted.

Further, I wouldn't like any express limitation on the languages to be used. Although being a non-native English speaker, I don't have a problem with English being the lingua franca in this forum and the broader NS World. There's no point in communicating or being part of a community if no one understands you. However, I wouldn't like to see other languages than English expressly excluded, especially since there is no need for that. As you rightly state, already no one posts in anything other than English.
 
karrak:
I support your intention to simplify voting procedures and avoid formalisms. However, I have some remarks on your propositions.

The Standing Procedure for voting says: "Citizens may vote "aye", "nay" or "abstain" or similar." This, in my opinion, already allows for "yes" and "no", "I support this", etc. I think that if you go more specific than this, you will always come to a point where you have to discount votes that are essentially equivalents for aye/nay/abstain. I find that if a nation makes its vote unequivocally clear, it should be counted.

Further, I wouldn't like any express limitation on the languages to be used. Although being a non-native English speaker, I don't have a problem with English being the lingua franca in this forum and the broader NS World. There's no point in communicating or being part of a community if no one understands you. However, I wouldn't like to see other languages than English expressly excluded, especially since there is no need for that. As you rightly state, already no one posts in anything other than English.
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Thank you, and yes, I see what you mean. Perhaps I overlooked that, and the Speaker's Office should start recognizing that.

Funkadelia:
When Gulliver was speaker, the policy was "aye, nay, abstain, or a functional equivalent." Would you be amenable to a similar policy?
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Yes, my plan might be a bit much. Essentially, that is what I'm trying to accomplish.
 
RPI:
I might start a poll on how to go about decreasing the amount of discounted votes in the Regional Assembly. If the citizenry is not in favor of my plan, then I would plan to extend the current list of acceptable words exponentially.
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You've answered my thought questions, so now a research one. :w00t:

Since the time that the "aye, nay, abstain, or functional equivalent" policy was implemented (and to help you out, it was during COE's term as Speaker in 2013), how many votes have been discounted? How many of these were discounted for voting with a different, but understandable, word, as opposed to including commentary with their vote, voting with an emoticon, fancy colors and fonts, and other things that I think you agree should be discounted?

(I don't actually know the answer to this question, so I'm kind of curious myself. :P )
 
SillyString:
RPI:
I might start a poll on how to go about decreasing the amount of discounted votes in the Regional Assembly. If the citizenry is not in favor of my plan, then I would plan to extend the current list of acceptable words exponentially.
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You've answered my thought questions, so now a research one. :w00t:

Since the time that the "aye, nay, abstain, or functional equivalent" policy was implemented (and to help you out, it was during COE's term as Speaker in 2013), how many votes have been discounted? How many of these were discounted for voting with a different, but understandable, word, as opposed to including commentary with their vote, voting with an emoticon, fancy colors and fonts, and other things that I think you agree should be discounted?

(I don't actually know the answer to this question, so I'm kind of curious myself. :P )
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From the time that that policy was put in place, there have been 104 invalid votes according to my count; about eleven of which were clear, understandable votes such as "for" and "against." The vast majority of the invalid votes were discounted because the voter was not a citizen when the voting began or did not maintain citizenship for the entire voting period.

Eleven votes discounted that were clear, understandable votes may seem small, but that is still about 10.5% of all of the invalid votes.

I also noticed that the obvious votes began to be discounted when Lord Nwahs assumed the office of Speaker, while the prior Speakers were more lenient, so an official policy on this might be helpful. Even a vote of "aye!" was discounted because the "!" was seen as an embellishment. :headbang:
 
You have definitely proved yourself as a capable Speaker and your campaign is strong. You have my vote :)
 
Such a hard choice between you and Bootsie...but I think I'll go RPI this time. :D
 
Funkadelia:
Ivo:
You'll have my support, Arpeyi. ;)
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Omg I finally understand that nick now. When I first saw it, I thought of Aperi D:
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:lol:



COE has joined the race! This is going to be a good election! Though, hopefully you all will support a new face as Speaker. (My face :tb2: )
 
RPI, what's the one thing that differentiates or will differentiate you from the other candidates for Speaker (Bootsie, Mr. Insanity, and COE as I write this)?
 
Alta Italia:
RPI, what's the one thing that differentiates or will differentiate you from the other candidates for Speaker (Bootsie, Mr. Insanity, and COE as I write this)?
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I can think of a few. First of all, my dedication; now I know Bootsie, and COE definitely have dedication, but I strongly believe that mine tops theirs. I have been a Deputy Speaker for about two months now, and during those short two months, I have given so much of my time in order to learn how to be Speaker and what the responsibilities are. I was a huge part of keeping the RA running smoothly. I spent some real long hard hours on fixing and maintaining the citizenship rolls. Still today am I constantly checking the rolls, and if you were to head to the rolls right now, you'd find it to be completely up to date. From the day I was appointed, I went straight to work in the Speaker's Office counting votes, working on the rolls, accepting citizenship applications, et cetera; no breaks for me. :D

Another thing that differentiates me is that I will bring a new face to the position of Speaker! COE of course has experience, and has done a great job as Speaker before, and that's a good reason to vote for him. But, I can do just as well as, if not better than, him and the other candidates. Sure, vote for COE because of his experience, but then you deny me the chance to become as experienced as him. There has to be someone new sometimes.

COE:
There is no other candidate in the race with as long and successful a history of service in the speaker's office as I have. This is what sets me apart from the others.
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Agreed, but I've only been in the region for four months, compared to your two and a half (or so) years here, and yet I, too, have been rather successful in the Speaker's Office.

Give [me] a chance, he won't disappoint! Vote [me] Speaker of the Regional Assembly! :w00t:

Thanks for the question, Alta! :)
 
Campaign buttons are here! Check the OP for the code and display your support! :w00t:

Thank you, guys! :D
[me]
 
plembobria:
Will you do anything noticeably different from Bootsie during your term? (If you are elected.)
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One thing is that I will be constantly making sure all of my duties are done, and done correctly, and I am online often, every day. Bootsie is great, but there were times when some things like the laws weren't updated for a time; I tried to help out and remind him, too. I also plan to be more lenient when counting votes, and I will encourage my deputies to do so as well.

I plan to introduce some sort of program for new legislators, and encourage more people to become legislators and participate in the RA, as well, so that will be new. Possibly in cooperation with the Communications Ministry. There's nothing definite yet, but you can expect something like this to begin during my term if elected. :D

Hopefully I answered your question, and thank you!
[me]
 
Eluvatar:
To what extent do you think people should base their vote on your performance as Deputy Speaker, and why?
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I think that voters should base their vote quite a bit on my performance as Deputy Speaker when deciding whom they will vote for. The position of Deputy Speaker is a position in which the ultimate goal is to learn how to do all of the jobs of the Speaker and do them right. A Deputy Speaker is essentially a Speaker in training. So, if a Deputy Speaker performs well, it means that they have learned a lot about how to do the jobs of the Speaker, and that they are able to do these jobs well; therefore, my performance as Deputy Speaker can show voters how I will perform as Speaker.

Performance is not, of course, the only thing that should be considered. Another thing that voters should keep in mind is my dedication and willingness to keep performing well and also to perform better. As I explained in earlier posts, my devotion to the Speaker's Office is enormous, and I always try, and will always continue to try, to perform as well as possible.

Thank you for the question, Elu! :)
[me]
 
Eluvatar:
What criteria would you use to appoint or recruit people to join the Speaker's Office as Deputies?
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My most important requirement would be that they have to be willing to participate and learn how to do better; I want them to learn from me and be able to use their knowledge to perform well. They would also have to be quite active, as nothing gets done if you don't have people getting it done. I, of course, would be extremely active as well, as I have to be an a guiding example to the deputies, and, also, I would have to do my work as Speaker, too; the deputies' work would be my work. :D

Those are my two most important requirements.

Thank you for the question! :P
[me]
 
Your answer expresses a clear presupposition that you would be selecting newer members of the region.

What of old hands?
 
Eluvatar:
Your answer expresses a clear presupposition that you would be selecting newer members of the region.

What of old hands?
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I do hope COE does not mind me announcing this, but we have come to the agreement that if I win, I will appoint him as one of my deputies. So, yes, there will be another experienced member of the Office helping out.
 
RPI:
Eluvatar:
Your answer expresses a clear presupposition that you would be selecting newer members of the region.

What of old hands?
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I do hope COE does not mind me announcing this, but we have come to the agreement that if I win, I will appoint him as one of my deputies. So, yes, there will be another experienced member of the Office helping out.
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You saw where I was heading. :tb2:
 
You have convinced me to VOTE for you RPI :D I think you are the Best choice who can maintain the position of The Speaker of Reg Assembly :) I hope you win and Influence others to work hard in TNP :D
 
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