The Future of the RMB Guardians

[Kaschovia]

The Future of the RMB Guardians
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Discussion Thread​

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It has been some time now since the RMB Guardians were brought to our attention, and I hope to keep them there for some while until something gets sorted out. Recently, one of the RMB Guardian members, Sasten, handed in his resignation. This meant that our team of guardians had been dwindled down to just one member - New Haven America. Personally, I believe a conclusion should be reached as early on in the term as possible, and that is why this thread exists, so that we can find a solution and put it into effect. We have to make a decision quickly.

I need some opinions, so if you have any ideas for what the RMB Guardians should become or what their fate is, please post it here. If you believe we should recruit more RMB Guardians through a different process etc. nomination, voting... then please say so. If you believe that we should scrap the RMB Guardians and go back to the drawing board and develop something even better, make that opinion heard! We will not make any progress if nobody is willing to do something about it.

Over the next few days, I will be in contact with several people over the selection of the new RMB Guardians team. In total, I am looking to set up a team of four people. I have already recieved suggestions for some people and will be speaking with them as well. I believe that it is crucial for such a team's existence due to the situations we can find ourselves in on the RMB. These people must be level-headed, active RMB posters and relatively experienced.

Along with those who have been suggested, I hope that some of you can post some suggestions in this thread and direct me towards some potential RMB Guardians. I ask the rest of the cabinet and anyone interested to state their opinions on this matter, just so that I can get a grasp of what the community wants to see from the RMB Guardians. I am hoping to get a team up and running before the end of September at the very latest.

 

[Tomb]

You know, Kasch, I think not only is the RMB Guardian concept a key part of what this Ministry does, but the RMB Guardians themselves serve as an important link between the off-site and on-site TNP communities. And so I would not necessarily recommend scraping the system altogether. I would recommend just simply appoint ing 3 new people as RMB Guardians. As far as the selection method goes, I think ministerial appointments would be the most efficient way. A piece of advice though, I would assign the role to newer members of the region. It would be a good way of getting them involved. Or if you like, you could get in touch with someone whose been contributing to the RMB regularly and try and approach them and see if they would like to serve in the role.

 

[Kaschovia]

You know, Kasch, I think not only is the RMB Guardian concept a key part of what this Ministry does, but the RMB Guardians themselves serve as an important link between the off-site and on-site TNP communities. And so I would not necessarily recommend scraping the system altogether. I would recommend just simply appoint ing 3 new people as RMB Guardians. As far as the selection method goes, I think ministerial appointments would be the most efficient way. A piece of advice though, I would assign the role to newer members of the region. It would be a good way of getting them involved. Or if you like, you could get in touch with someone whose been contributing to the RMB regularly and try and approach them and see if they would like to serve in the role.

Thank you for the feedback, Tomb.

I'm not ever going to completely cancel the idea of an RMB Guardians team, but the creation of something even better would make more sense in that context. If the time comes, I'll change some things around. But for now, I agree that we must search for a new team.

 

[Fip]

Hi Kasch. What are you looking for in an RMB Guardian? How do you measure their success and determine whether they've done a good job?

 

[Yalkan]

Agree with tomb. Appointing newer members would encourage involvement on the forums and thus maybe help them recruit more effectively.

 

[Kaschovia]

Hi Kasch. What are you looking for in an RMB Guardian? How do you measure their success and determine whether they've done a good job?

I am hoping to get RMB Guardians post suppression powers so that they can moderate the RMB in accordance with widely accepted rules and laws. If we see a spammer and know for sure that they are posting maliciously, someone within the new team of RMB Guardians should be active enough to watch it happen. They should be level headed and should know when to act. I will be in contact with some people over the next few days, new members and relatively older members, but regardless, the team should come together very shortly.

 

[mcmasterdonia]

Hi Kasch,

My view originally was to allow them to run games and to help us as moderators on the regional message board. For this reason, we need them to be active and sensible, without being overzealous. That is why I selected Sasten and New Haven America originally.

Ultimately, the goal was for candidates to be able to declare themselves and for the Delegate to approve them to run (basically in order to prevent spammers). You could also limit this by requiring 4 months of being a resident or WA Member in TNP. Once the Delegate has approved a number of candidates, we could vote via in-game poll. Nations could campaign on the RMB, by telegram, or through any other medium to win. Essentially this will bring democracy back to the grass roots and in-game, and hopefully generate some interest from that end.

Previously I thought it was best to appoint them and let them run their course before holding elections. I now think that if this idea is to continue, we should aim to hold elections earlier rather than later. Start with an in-game telegram informing everyone of the position and responsibilities. Encourage them to apply to run. Plembobria can then wittle it down to ten or so candidates, and we vote.

After that, it will be up to you to follow them up and make sure things happen.

 

[Praetor]

 

[Kaschovia]

Hi Kasch,

My view originally was to allow them to run games and to help us as moderators on the regional message board. For this reason, we need them to be active and sensible, without being overzealous. That is why I selected Sasten and New Haven America originally.

Ultimately, the goal was for candidates to be able to declare themselves and for the Delegate to approve them to run (basically in order to prevent spammers). You could also limit this by requiring 4 months of being a resident or WA Member in TNP. Once the Delegate has approved a number of candidates, we could vote via in-game poll. Nations could campaign on the RMB, by telegram, or through any other medium to win. Essentially this will bring democracy back to the grass roots and in-game, and hopefully generate some interest from that end.

Previously I thought it was best to appoint them and let them run their course before holding elections. I now think that if this idea is to continue, we should aim to hold elections earlier rather than later. Start with an in-game telegram informing everyone of the position and responsibilities. Encourage them to apply to run. Plembobria can then wittle it down to ten or so candidates, and we vote.

After that, it will be up to you to follow them up and make sure things happen.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have already been in contact with several people, and although an election for the position would be fine and dandy, I want to get a new team ready before this term can fully get under way.

The RMB Guardian position really does not require campaigning or voting at all, just a group of knowledgable and responsible people offering their suggestions. I've already acted upon a few suggestions by now, and I am certain that a new team will be established before the end of this week. I don't see RMB Guardian as a huge election-worthy position, we just need a few people who know how to manage a message board and interact with people. I know doing this democratically would be nice, but I just don't see why that would be needed. It seems far too drawn out and would probably just result in the same situation.

As for RMB Guardians running games, I don't quite understand what is meant by this. It isn't an exclusive role for RMB Guardians to run games. I'd understand if they were RMB type games, but again, the RMB is a place for discussion between members of the North Pacific. The RMB right now is active enough and we have a suitable number of available positions in the new team to deal with that. Along with the moderators, Delegate, Vice-Delegate and many other positions with Communication privileges, going through an election style selection process just seems like a waste of time.

 

[Kondratev]

I'd like to help out as an RMB Guardian. I have a very extensive history of moderating online forums and chat and am active ingame. I'm very liberal in moderation policies and I think there's only been two or three times I've seen something that I'd think warrants deletion. A few days back I remember seeing something like that but couldn't do anything about it. I brought it up in Discord, but it'd be nice to have a more efficient system.

 

[mcmasterdonia]

Hi Kasch,

My view originally was to allow them to run games and to help us as moderators on the regional message board. For this reason, we need them to be active and sensible, without being overzealous. That is why I selected Sasten and New Haven America originally.

Ultimately, the goal was for candidates to be able to declare themselves and for the Delegate to approve them to run (basically in order to prevent spammers). You could also limit this by requiring 4 months of being a resident or WA Member in TNP. Once the Delegate has approved a number of candidates, we could vote via in-game poll. Nations could campaign on the RMB, by telegram, or through any other medium to win. Essentially this will bring democracy back to the grass roots and in-game, and hopefully generate some interest from that end.

Previously I thought it was best to appoint them and let them run their course before holding elections. I now think that if this idea is to continue, we should aim to hold elections earlier rather than later. Start with an in-game telegram informing everyone of the position and responsibilities. Encourage them to apply to run. Plembobria can then wittle it down to ten or so candidates, and we vote.

After that, it will be up to you to follow them up and make sure things happen.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have already been in contact with several people, and although an election for the position would be fine and dandy, I want to get a new team ready before this term can fully get under way.

The RMB Guardian position really does not require campaigning or voting at all, just a group of knowledgable and responsible people offering their suggestions. I've already acted upon a few suggestions by now, and I am certain that a new team will be established before the end of this week. I don't see RMB Guardian as a huge election-worthy position, we just need a few people who know how to manage a message board and interact with people. I know doing this democratically would be nice, but I just don't see why that would be needed. It seems far too drawn out and would probably just result in the same situation.

As for RMB Guardians running games, I don't quite understand what is meant by this. It isn't an exclusive role for RMB Guardians to run games. I'd understand if they were RMB type games, but again, the RMB is a place for discussion between members of the North Pacific. The RMB right now is active enough and we have a suitable number of available positions in the new team to deal with that. Along with the moderators, Delegate, Vice-Delegate and many other positions with Communication privileges, going through an election style selection process just seems like a waste of time.

An election in-game would not be a waste of time, because it would engage nations in the democratic process of our region in a different way to what is how we traditionally do things. That is, sign up on our regional forum early enough and then vote. It was also a major reason why RMB guardians were trialled in the first place. We only added Delegate approval to add some oversight and to limit the pool of candidates so that it would not be drawn out.

Campaigning will bring more attention and activity to the regional message board, and actually make use of the poll feature for a change! Whenever candidates take the time to actually campaign in-game, we see larger turn out and engagement on the regional message board about the election. Even if the RMB is already active, that does not mean we cannot make it more active We should not be afraid of engaging our community in a way like that, even as a trial, especially as it is unlikely to cause us any harm whatsoever.

I never said give the RMB Guardians the exclusive right to run games, that would be ridiculous. But rather that providing entertainment on the RMB whether that be by games, competitions, trivia, themed days, etc, could be part of their responsibility. Take a look at other major regions where the RMB is the center point of their gameside strategy, and you'll see what I mean. The RMB can be much more than simply a discussion point.

I have no idea why you raise positions with communication privileges. That is entirely irrelevant to running an in-game election designed to mobilise in-game nations. Also, the Delegate and Ministers are supposed to delegate, they should not be micromanaging everything.

 

[Kaschovia]

Hi Kasch,

My view originally was to allow them to run games and to help us as moderators on the regional message board. For this reason, we need them to be active and sensible, without being overzealous. That is why I selected Sasten and New Haven America originally.

Ultimately, the goal was for candidates to be able to declare themselves and for the Delegate to approve them to run (basically in order to prevent spammers). You could also limit this by requiring 4 months of being a resident or WA Member in TNP. Once the Delegate has approved a number of candidates, we could vote via in-game poll. Nations could campaign on the RMB, by telegram, or through any other medium to win. Essentially this will bring democracy back to the grass roots and in-game, and hopefully generate some interest from that end.

Previously I thought it was best to appoint them and let them run their course before holding elections. I now think that if this idea is to continue, we should aim to hold elections earlier rather than later. Start with an in-game telegram informing everyone of the position and responsibilities. Encourage them to apply to run. Plembobria can then wittle it down to ten or so candidates, and we vote.

After that, it will be up to you to follow them up and make sure things happen.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have already been in contact with several people, and although an election for the position would be fine and dandy, I want to get a new team ready before this term can fully get under way.

The RMB Guardian position really does not require campaigning or voting at all, just a group of knowledgable and responsible people offering their suggestions. I've already acted upon a few suggestions by now, and I am certain that a new team will be established before the end of this week. I don't see RMB Guardian as a huge election-worthy position, we just need a few people who know how to manage a message board and interact with people. I know doing this democratically would be nice, but I just don't see why that would be needed. It seems far too drawn out and would probably just result in the same situation.

As for RMB Guardians running games, I don't quite understand what is meant by this. It isn't an exclusive role for RMB Guardians to run games. I'd understand if they were RMB type games, but again, the RMB is a place for discussion between members of the North Pacific. The RMB right now is active enough and we have a suitable number of available positions in the new team to deal with that. Along with the moderators, Delegate, Vice-Delegate and many other positions with Communication privileges, going through an election style selection process just seems like a waste of time.

An election in-game would not be a waste of time, because it would engage nations in the democratic process of our region in a different way to what is how we traditionally do things. That is, sign up on our regional forum early enough and then vote. It was also a major reason why RMB guardians were trialled in the first place. We only added Delegate approval to add some oversight and to limit the pool of candidates so that it would not be drawn out.

Campaigning will bring more attention and activity to the regional message board, and actually make use of the poll feature for a change! Whenever candidates take the time to actually campaign in-game, we see larger turn out and engagement on the regional message board about the election. Even if the RMB is already active, that does not mean we cannot make it more active We should not be afraid of engaging our community in a way like that, even as a trial, especially as it is unlikely to cause us any harm whatsoever.

I never said give the RMB Guardians the exclusive right to run games, that would be ridiculous. But rather that providing entertainment on the RMB whether that be by games, competitions, trivia, themed days, etc, could be part of their responsibility. Take a look at other major regions where the RMB is the center point of their gameside strategy, and you'll see what I mean. The RMB can be much more than simply a discussion point.

I have no idea why you raise positions with communication privileges. That is entirely irrelevant to running an in-game election designed to mobilise in-game nations. Also, the Delegate and Ministers are supposed to delegate, they should not be micromanaging everything.

With the guidance of a few other people, I am going to select a new team of RMB Guardians very soon. If over this term, that team does not make a substantial difference on the RMB, then a new system of RMB Moderation will be devised. Your feedback has been helpful in making me understand how a democratic way of selection might have been more effective, but we'll soon see if it is needed at the beginning of next term.

 

[Kondratev]

An election in-game would not be a waste of time, because it would engage nations in the democratic process of our region in a different way to what is how we traditionally do things. That is, sign up on our regional forum early enough and then vote. It was also a major reason why RMB guardians were trialled in the first place. We only added Delegate approval to add some oversight and to limit the pool of candidates so that it would not be drawn out.

Campaigning will bring more attention and activity to the regional message board, and actually make use of the poll feature for a change! Whenever candidates take the time to actually campaign in-game, we see larger turn out and engagement on the regional message board about the election. Even if the RMB is already active, that does not mean we cannot make it more active We should not be afraid of engaging our community in a way like that, even as a trial, especially as it is unlikely to cause us any harm whatsoever.

I never said give the RMB Guardians the exclusive right to run games, that would be ridiculous. But rather that providing entertainment on the RMB whether that be by games, competitions, trivia, themed days, etc, could be part of their responsibility. Take a look at other major regions where the RMB is the center point of their gameside strategy, and you'll see what I mean. The RMB can be much more than simply a discussion point.

I have no idea why you raise positions with communication privileges. That is entirely irrelevant to running an in-game election designed to mobilise in-game nations. Also, the Delegate and Ministers are supposed to delegate, they should not be micromanaging everything.

If I'm understanding this conversation correctly, you guys are talking about almost two separate things. Are you advocating the RMB Guardians to be people mostly active on the RMB and elected by the RMB? I like the idea and understand your thinking, but at the same time this sounds like it could alienate the gameside crowd from the 'higher' government. It's a little bit concerning when only 1% of the ingame membership are citizens on the forum.

If I'm understanding Kasch correctly, I thought he was looking for people from the forums to go and manage the signal-to-noise ratio on the RMB. Answering questions, referring people to the forum, and cleaning up stuff that crosses the line.

 

[Kaschovia]

An election in-game would not be a waste of time, because it would engage nations in the democratic process of our region in a different way to what is how we traditionally do things. That is, sign up on our regional forum early enough and then vote. It was also a major reason why RMB guardians were trialled in the first place. We only added Delegate approval to add some oversight and to limit the pool of candidates so that it would not be drawn out.

Campaigning will bring more attention and activity to the regional message board, and actually make use of the poll feature for a change! Whenever candidates take the time to actually campaign in-game, we see larger turn out and engagement on the regional message board about the election. Even if the RMB is already active, that does not mean we cannot make it more active We should not be afraid of engaging our community in a way like that, even as a trial, especially as it is unlikely to cause us any harm whatsoever.

I never said give the RMB Guardians the exclusive right to run games, that would be ridiculous. But rather that providing entertainment on the RMB whether that be by games, competitions, trivia, themed days, etc, could be part of their responsibility. Take a look at other major regions where the RMB is the center point of their gameside strategy, and you'll see what I mean. The RMB can be much more than simply a discussion point.

I have no idea why you raise positions with communication privileges. That is entirely irrelevant to running an in-game election designed to mobilise in-game nations. Also, the Delegate and Ministers are supposed to delegate, they should not be micromanaging everything.

If I'm understanding this conversation correctly, you guys are talking about almost two separate things. Are you advocating the RMB Guardians to be people mostly active on the RMB and elected by the RMB? I like the idea and understand your thinking, but at the same time this sounds like it could alienate the gameside crowd from the 'higher' government. It's a little bit concerning when only 1% of the ingame membership are citizens on the forum.

If I'm understanding Kasch correctly, I thought he was looking for people from the forums to go and manage the signal-to-noise ratio on the RMB. Answering questions, referring people to the forum, and cleaning up stuff that crosses the line.

Well, I'd say my personal ideas for the RMB Guardians differ greatly from McMasterdonia. I believe that instead of running games and asking questions of the day, they should be given the ability to supress posts where it is necessary and encourage joining the forums. Like McM said earlier;

"Also, the Delegate and Ministers are supposed to delegate, they should not be micromanaging everything."

I'm not sure if I am understanding this correctly, but if the Delegate and the Cabinet is too busy to moderate the RMB, then who will keep a watchful eye? I understand the area surrounding free speech to be quite a tricky one, since we cannot definitely define what can or can not be supressed. Until we know exactly what should and shouldn't be moderated, there is no way of us appointing RMB Guardians and giving them Communication privileges - I find this highly problematic.

If we determine something to be worthy of a supression, then so be it. The North Pacific has the right to control its own message board, within reason of course. But just because people have the right to free speech does not mean that they are allowed to ruin everyone elses experience.