#Ready4Silliary

[SillyString]

Hi all! I apologize for the late nature of this.. I honestly didn't ever expect myself to be in this position, so I needed to work some things out from scratch.

As I've announced, I will be running for Delegate in this election. I think most of you know my credentials, but to briefly recap - I have been Vice Delegate since January, serving as Acting Delegate twice during that time for a total of three months. I did have some fun with flags and WFE themes and whatnot, but I like to think I handed it back to the proper delegate each time in reasonably good condition. Prior to that, I served as Justice for two terms and Deputy Speaker for almost three. I've written a lot of laws and procedures and have generally had an impact on most areas of TNP's government.

If elected, I would have two main priorities this term:

1) Resolve the crisis with Europeia. I believe that this is one of our most important treaties, and indeed, one of our most important relationships, and I do still believe that it is salvageable. I had hoped that it would be resolved by now, one way or the other, and I would begin actively pursuing this immediately upon being elected.

2) Bolster activity in the ministries. To be frank, I have not paid a great deal of attention to the ministries and their ministers this term - as the Vice Delegate, that has not been part of my role, and as I did not anticipate running in this election I did not involve myself overmuch in executive affairs. However, even I have noticed an activity problem with many of them. No issue of The Northern Lights has been published, interregional events have gone unplanned or unremarked, the NPA has had little to stretch its legs... and so on. My focus would be on finding ministers who will bring consistent activity and a solid plan to their areas in order to revitalize them - and if that means changing ministers a few times, so that people can implement their idea without burning out in the spot, I'm fine with that too.

I have specific ideas for some of the ministries, but rather than lay out a Plan, I would rather work with whoever I do appoint to come up with a proposal for their term.

I welcome your questions.

 

[plembobria]

What is your policy on the mumbly-grumblies?

 

[SillyString]

What is your policy on the mumbly-grumblies?

Add more rum!

 

[The Spokesman of Eumenor]

What is your policy on the mumbly-grumblies?

Add more rum!

How I wish there was a like button. Silly, you have my support.

 

[Lennart]

I'm ready!

I share your concerns and also think changing inactive Ministers would be a good idea.

Question:

Would you keep the current Ministries (eight: Foreign Affairs, WA Affairs, Home Affairs, Culture, Defence, Communications, Education, Entertainment)? Would you get rid of, transform, rename, add or merge any of them (if so which ones)?

 

[Tomb]

What does your ideal cabinet look like if you can compose it of any NSer from the present or past? (Yea, I stole McM's question )

~ Tomb

P.S. You have my full support.

 

[Deleted User (Guest)]

Looking at each of the current ministers, can you talk about their various successes and failures this term? What could they do better?

 

[Syrixia]

What do you think about the TNP Map? Do you think it should become a government-protected, public domain resource with the Cartography Team as a part of the Ministry of Entertainment? Or, should it stay privately owned?

 

[SillyString]

How I wish there was a like button. Silly, you have my support.

I'm ready!

P.S. You have my full support.

Thank you all very much! On to questions:

Would you keep the current Ministries (eight: Foreign Affairs, WA Affairs, Home Affairs, Culture, Defence, Communications, Education, Entertainment)? Would you get rid of, transform, rename, add or merge any of them (if so which ones)?

To some extent, the answer to this depends on who is interested in serving. For example, although I love TNL and want to see it succeed, if I can't find anybody who wants to keep running it, I think it would make more sense to suspend it for the time being and retask FA with writing foreign updates on a regular basis.

I do think I would like to remerge Culture and Entertainment. I didn't really agree with separating them to start with, and I think they can do more, and more cohesively, as one ministry.

I have considered combining Communications and Education. I don't know for a fact that they'd succeed together, and if that were distasteful to the minister in question then it would be avoided, but I think we might see more papers published if we tie it to the university and such. I dunno. It's an idea.

I would definitely keep FA, WA, HA, and Defense, though. They are all very important and work well as they are now.

What does your ideal cabinet look like if you can compose it of any NSer from the present or past?

This is a tough question! Let me see...

Foreign Affairs: Naivetry
Defense: Gladio
Culture: Kandarin
Communications: r3naissanc3r
WA Affairs: Mousebumples
Education: Chaucerin
Home Affairs: Tomb

Looking at each of the current ministers, can you talk about their various successes and failures this term? What could they do better?

I can try. These are my perceptions, anyway, so remember that I haven't paid all that much attention to the cabinet during this past term.

Foreign Affairs: I think the biggest success was in immediately de-escalating the situations with Albion and TSP, so that we did not face a prolonged three-part crisis among our allies. Most notable failure, though, might be that this thing ever blew up at all rather than being resolved quietly? This is a hard one to pin down, really, because it's difficult to quantify how much was due to our actions or inactions and how much is due to those of the other regions involved. But those are the two that stand out to me.

Culture: It looks like Culture has kept the Stories of TNP award running consistently, and has tried to make sure to regularly update the topic of the week on the RMB. But other than that, the department looks pretty quiet this term - no theme weeks, and only one interregional event - The Nautical Pacific, which most people had no idea was occurring. So I think there's definitely a lot of room for improvement in this area.

Defense: I think the big positive here is implementing a notification system for the NPA's missions! That was definitely a hot-button topic for a while and I'm pleased that it seems to be settled. As for a negative, I think that the NPA has been less active than in the immediately preceding few terms, and I'd like to see it doing more in the months to come.

WA Affairs: It looks like there was a fair amount of activity here earlier on in the term, in terms of bringing resolutions to the forum and getting a vote started. But there was a lull for a while, and more recently it looks like the Delegate has had to take all of this on himself. That's less than ideal.

Communications: The big failure here, of course, is that no issue of TNL has been released for the whole term. That's not great. Some progress was made toward getting one together, and that's a good thing of course, but it never really came to fruition.

Education: idk! Honestly, I don't. From a quick glance, the University appears to be pretty active, with several subforums having posts within the last couple of days, while the department area itself appears pretty quiet. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Home Affairs: From what I can tell, it seems to be doing all right? Ministry is moderately active, but I'd need to dig into it some more to figure out if they're humming along smoothly or just coasting.

Entertainment: Despite the fact that I disagree with this being a separate ministry, I think it's been the most successful this term. Roleplay is active and engaging, with constant new faces coming in to take part. The map looks great and is regularly updated, and help is available for new RPers who need some guidance. Failure? Hmm... I think that, owing partly to the newness of the RP moderators in their role, combined with an unsurety about their place in the admin/mod hierarchy, and a desire to avoid harsh punishments based on personal bias, there has been a reluctance to firmly hold some people to expected standards. This has, at times, caused an unpleasant atmosphere in the RP area and has very nearly driven prospective new RPers away for calmer shores. I'd like to see improvements there, going forward.

What do you think about the TNP Map? Do you think it should become a government-protected, public domain resource with the Cartography Team as a part of the Ministry of Entertainment? Or, should it stay privately owned?

Speaking as to this particular current map, it doesn't matter what I think. Unless Nierr decides to cede his ownership rights to the TNP government, it's his, and he can do what he likes with it.

So if we wanted a map that was the former (government-owned, public domain), we would need to commission a new one from scratch... and almost certainly, from someone else, and then lose Nierr's willingness to contribute and probably lose him as an RPer. That's not an insult I'm prepared to give, unless he does something terribly egregious like turn everyone's nation into a penis.

As for my personal preference? Maybe, down the line, public domain will be possible. Right now, though, I think it would be a bad idea. Leaving it, and all of its rules, in the hand of an individual minister or deputy minister is a recipe for inconsistency and frustration. One minister might be strict about size, another might be lenient. One might hate colonies and never allow them, another might love them and encourage people to claim a ton. One might let only residents have nations on the map, another might allow anybody as long as they RP actively.

If we can keep this map for a while and Nierr can provide a consistent set of rules and regulations and we all grow accustomed to them... maybe then it might make sense to ask that the map be in the public domain, because it's something we could then keep consistent without a guiding hand. But that's not true right now.

I do think it might make sense to ask Nierr to guarantee continuing personal space usage - that is, guarantee that if he ever does take away the map and revoke our right to use it, the people who have RPed on it and fleshed out their nations will be able to continue using the same shape of land that they had on this map, with the same rivers and ocean borders and climate and everything. I don't think he'd have a problem granting that.

 

[Flemingovia]

Crisis? What Crisis?

 

[Syrixia]

I do think I would like to remerge Culture and Entertainment. I didn't really agree with separating them to start with, and I think they can do more, and more cohesively, as one ministry.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[SillyString]

Crisis? What Crisis?

This one.

 

[mcmasterdonia]

I asked the following of bootsie, slightly amended for you given your previous answer(s).

What do you think has been the greatest achievement of the current cabinet?

What do you think has been the greatest strength of each of the assigned Minister's, what about their weaknesses?

Do you think Culture and Entertainment is better apart or together under one Minister? Why?

What role do you envision the Vice Delegate having in your cabinet?

Lastly, could you give us an idea about what your 'ideal' cabinet would look like. If you could select any TNP member, past or present? (Damn you Tomb!)

 

[Flemingovia]

Crisis? What Crisis?

This one.

I would hardly describe that little huff as a crisis.

 

[SillyString]

What do you think has been the greatest achievement of the current cabinet?

I cannot honestly point to anything that the cabinet, as a whole, has achieved. I believe I have detailed some of the various individual achievements this term.

What do you think has been the greatest strength of each of the assigned Minister's, what about their weaknesses?

I don't know the ministers well enough to opine on this, nor have I followed their actions throughout this past term suffiiciently to deduce traits. Sorry.

Do you think Culture and Entertainment is better apart or together under one Minister? Why?

I answered this question earlier, and I intend to recombine them if elected.

What role do you envision the Vice Delegate having in your cabinet?

That very much depends on who is elected. If they are not interested in serving in the Executive branch, then that would be fine - otherwise, I would hope to work with them to develop a role suited to their talents and interests.

Lastly, could you give us an idea about what your 'ideal' cabinet would look like. If you could select any TNP member, past or present? (Damn you Tomb!)

Ideal TNPer cabinet? Okay...

Foreign Affairs: r3naissanc3r
Defense: Gladio
Culture: Lennart
Communications: idk
WA Affairs: Mall
Education: idk
Home Affairs: Tomb

Crisis? What Crisis?

This one.

I would hardly describe that little huff as a crisis.

You might not describe it as one, but I do. As I said, I think our relationship with Europeia is one of the most important and meaningful ones that we have, and anything that has the potential to sever that is a very serious issue.

 

[Lennart]

Crisis? What Crisis?

This one.

I would hardly describe that little huff as a crisis.

kerfuffle then?

 

[plembobria]

What is your jobs plan.

 

[SillyString]

What is your jobs plan.

Mostly it's to say "MAH JERBS" a lot... also to link people to this:

[flash]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qizNQKzatXA[/flash]

(But on a more serious note: Minister jobs! If I win, I would like for anybody who is interested in serving as a minister to contact me and we will talk about things. Plus I promise to double their previous salaries. )

 

[The Hinterland]

As I'm sure you've seen, The Pacific has requested a new embassy. According to Lord Ravenclaw, the Executive Council has failed to come to a definite conclusion as to whether TNP should accept their request. Do you support accepting their request and opening a new embassy?

 

[plembobria]

^?

 

[The Hinterland]

^?

I was referring to this.

 

[SillyString]

As I'm sure you've seen, The Pacific has requested a new embassy. According to Lord Ravenclaw, the Executive Council has failed to come to a definite conclusion as to whether TNP should accept their request. Do you support accepting their request and opening a new embassy?

I fully admit to having some personal bias against the Pacific, based on their past actions with respect to both TNP and Equilism. This is not a decision that I think I can make objectively, without considering that history, and so I would want to consult with other TNPers I trust in a more in-depth fashion before saying yes or no.

I would also prefer, if at all possible, to have a conversation with the new Pacifican delegate. I think doing so could clarify a few issues and help me (us) make a decision.

 

[The Hinterland]

Very understandable. I'm a person that believes in second chances and I have no clue what the Pacific did so I'm much more objective in my opinions' however, I believe your choice to consult other TNPers to make a final decision is honorable and democratic of you. Best of luck in the election, SillyString.

 

[SillyString]

Thank you!

 

[Felis]

Cries over Bootsie's grave

 

[quak1234]

Cries over Cronaal crying over Bootsie's grave

 

[Francis Green]

Hey Silliary, what is your position on climate change and the economy?

 

[Felis]

Cries over Cronaal crying over Bootsie's grave

Drinks quak's tears

 

[SillyString]

Hey Silliary, what is your position on climate change and the economy?

I do want A, B, C. I attack 1, 2, 3.

I disseminate letters here and there. abcdefgh ABCDEFGH?

I shout and swear.

I declare this barely organised speech to constitute irrefutable evidence!

 

[Flemingovia]

I have no clue what the Pacific did so I'm much more objective in my opinions

There is a difference between objective and Ill-informed.

Sorry for the threadjack.

 

[Francis Green]

Hey Silliary, what is your position on climate change and the economy?

I do want A, B, C. I attack 1, 2, 3.

I disseminate letters here and there. abcdefgh ABCDEFGH?

I shout and swear.

I declare this barely organised speech to constitute irrefutable evidence!

What? Just Answer the question

 

[Francis Green]

You have like 78% of the vote already SillyString.

 

[Gradea]

SillyString, what do you plan to do with the North Pacific Army if elected as Delegate?

 

[SillyString]

What? Just Answer the question

To take a full position on either the economy or climate change (which, without restricting the scope, are both gigantic topics) would require a response of essay-like proportions.

While they are both important RL issues, they are not ones which are relevant to TNP. As such, I am not up for writing those essays at this time.

If you would like to ask much narrower questions to ascertain some of my RL political stances, I might be up for answering them.

SillyString, what do you plan to do with the North Pacific Army if elected as Delegate?

My goal with the NPA is to increase activity while retaining and strengthening our flexibility to respond as any given situation merits.

This means engaging in operations regularly, of different types (staying within the legal restrictions in place), and ensuring a good working relationship between the NPA and the militaries of our various allies and friends.