Democracy Day 2018 Planning

Crushing Our Enemies

Crushing Our Enemies

TNPer
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COE#7110
OK, so last year for Democracy Day (July 7) we mailed free pocket constitutions to everyone who was willing to fill out an anonymous form giving me their address. To fund the printing and mailing, we did a kickstarter, and offered some other printed rewards, including a customized copy of the pocket constitution, a bound copy of the entire constibillocode, and a bound copy of what we called the "compendium of law" which included court rules, RA and SC procedures, as well as treaties.

Here are the relevant links from last year: Planning | Kickstarter announcement | Event announcement | Post-mortem

This year, I'm thinking instead of sending out the Constibillocode for free, instead of just the constitution and bill of rights. To be clear, last year we sent out a 32 page stapled 3.5x5" booklet for free, and this year, I am suggesting sending out a 3.5x5" paperback book with about 90 pages. It'll be about twice as expensive to ship, but with the money we have left over from last year, and the expected funds from this year's kickstarter (which I'm hoping we can get going in May) I think it's quite possible to cover the costs.

Here is what I'm thinking for backer rewards this year:
  • $2 ~ Flemingovian Constitution Bookmark: A 2.5"x7" bookmark with the flemingovian constitution printed on the front and back.
  • $12 ~ TNP Government Coasters: A set of 3.5" round pasteboard coasters with TNP governmental seals on them, plus the bookmark. 7 coasters: Delegate, VD, Speaker, AG, Court, SC, and EC. (Yeah I know I'm leaving out the ministries, but there's just too many.)
  • $12 ~ TNP Compendium of Law: A larger book, about 4.25"x7", with everything from the constibillocode plus the rules/procedures for the RA, SC, EC, and Court, and all our treaties, plus the bookmark.
  • $12 ~ TNP Shot Glass: A metal or maybe glass shot glass with the TNP arms laser etched or possibly color printed. Younger TNPers can use it to hold toothpicks. Plus the bookmark.
  • $22 ~ Double Reward: The bookmark, plus two of the above things.
  • $32 ~ All the things: You heard me.

The kickstarter would hopefully run for two weeks in the latter half of May. I'll order everything in early July, and hopefully have it ship by late July. Last year, we ran into some production delays, mostly because of the personalized covers for the backers, and my inexperience with publishing things. This year, it should go more smoothly. I've strongly considered going with a local print shop instead of online, but the disparity in cost is just too large.

Let's talk about it. Do you think people will get excited about this again? Do the rewards look good? Any suggestions, comments, complaints, etc?

EDIT: I'm thinking about increasing the cost of the shot glass, since it'll have to ship as a parcel instead of a flat envelope like everything else, and adjust the cost of higher rewards accordingly.
 
I'm certainly excited by the shot glass. This all looks good to me. Maybe push the shot glass to $16 and the double reward to $25?
 
I think all of these ideas are great. I'd personally prefer a glass shotglass to a metal one, but depending on cost and quality I'd be fine with metal too.

I love the idea of changing up the rewards every year. In future years we could look at stickers, pins, decks of cards, greeting cards, mini flags... :w00t:

As for pricing... last year the Compendium was $25, and this year it'll be $12. I know we raised some extra funds last time, but especially with offering the Constibillocode for free instead of the Pocket Constitution, I'd be concerned about coming up short.
 
The shot glass presents a unique problem, because shipping non-flat things internationally is expensive, like $10-$15 to ship from me to the backer, after I pay to have the glasses made and sent to me. I'm not really sure how to address this except by charging international backers for shipping. St George, do you think you and other folks in not-America would still be excited about the shot glass if there were an extra $10 shipping charge on top of the reward tier?
 
Wonderful! So... charging for international shipping for the shot glass seems like the only option that will cover the costs without raising the price for everyone. Will not-Americans stand for that, or would it be better to just find a different reward that fits in a flat envelope like everything else?
 
This sounds great!

Although...I was kind of thinking it may be a good idea to expand this beyond just law and to include other things like the years' TNL Editions or maybe just one special recap of the whome year, etc
 
Crushing Our Enemies:
The shot glass presents a unique problem, because shipping non-flat things internationally is expensive, like $10-$15 to ship from me to the backer, after I pay to have the glasses made and sent to me. I'm not really sure how to address this except by charging international backers for shipping. St George, do you think you and other folks in not-America would still be excited about the shot glass if there were an extra $10 shipping charge on top of the reward tier?
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I would certainly pay it, not sure about others though.
 
abc:
This sounds great!

Although...I was kind of thinking it may be a good idea to expand this beyond just law and to include other things like the years' TNL Editions or maybe just one special recap of the whome year, etc
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I could see doing a TNL-related backer reward, but reformatting it into a publishable hard copy would be a lot of work. I'm also reluctant to publish the work of specific individuals (such as reporters, interview subjects, etc) without obtaining permission from every single one, which could be cumbersome, especially if some of them don't play anymore. This may be something to think about for next year, if we can put together a plan that works.
 
As a not-American, I can say an extra $10-$15 for shipping would be reasonable, I'd pay it :D
 
I think we should give a shipping estimation for international shipping that is appropriately higher, and charge international members that shipping. We could waive that shipping if the kickstarter collects sufficient funds to do so however.

What would the timeline be for making an up to date Legal Manual that could be printed?

Edit: NB: The draft Manual (drafted against the laws as of May 2016) comes to 102 pages counting the cover page and is missing dozens of paragraphs of content for it to be considered complete.
 
I would say that if the text were 100% complete, I should probably need to allow 2-3 weeks to get it ready for the print shop order, which would be placed in early July. However, to be comfortable offering it as a backer reward, I would want the text complete by the time the Kickstarter kicks off in late May or early June. I think that would make a cool full-size hard back if there's enough demand for it, or possibly a binder that we could issue replacement pages for each year as the information is updated... I am still in support of this idea as a reward, but I don't think we can make it happen this year.
 
I've had an idea, I'm not sure how good of an idea it is. We could make small books which are kind of like these factbooks you get as a child where each page is a different country and it has information about the country such as flag, map, national animal, motto, leader, etc.

We could have people fill out a form to get all this information and then have the option to buy them. Tell me what you think.

EDIT: perhaps pages could look something like this:
ooFkH7C.png
 
Highton:
I've had an idea, I'm not sure how good of an idea it is. We could make small books which are kind of like these factbooks you get as a child where each page is a different country and it has information about the country such as flag, map, national animal, motto, leader, etc.

We could have people fill out a form to get all this information and then have the option to buy them. Tell me what you think.

EDIT: perhaps pages could look something like this:
ooFkH7C.png
Click to expand...
Not a terrible idea actually. Although I’m not too sure if people would buy them tbh, And they’d be pretty hard to implement in bulk.
 
It’s definitey a cool idea. I’d be concerned we might be on too tight a schedule though. It’s possible it could be done if RPers in TNP we’re keen and quick enough to get the information together.
 
Oh dear god the formatting. If we wanted to do something cool with RP nations, I would much rather do a nice poster of the map or something. However, I'm not sure there's much crossover interest between people interested in RP and people interested in TNP law.
 
I agree with COE. I also worry about the costs involved with something like that.
 
Yeah i think we could offer it as a separate product for a separate event, especially if there is an RP promo event we wanted to do
 
Honestly the cost wouldn't be much of a factor. But preparing something for print is time consuming and labor intensive. Taking information from however many dozen Nations wanted to be featured in the book and editing for consistency and length would be too much to do just for a backer reward. We have to consider here that the backer rewards are probably going to reach, at most, a couple dozen people. Last year, we got 17. It doesn't make much sense to put in that much time to make something that not many people will see, especially when there are other easier ways of raising the money.

I'm gonna do some math today and work out reward tiers that make sense. Stay tuned to this thread.
 
I like it! I don't really see anything wrong with it except maybe tweak the shot glass price a bit
 
After crunching some numbers, I actually increased all the pledge levels a bit, with the goal of having at least 40% of the money raised going towards the actual project, as opposed to producing and shipping rewards or paying kickstarter fees.

DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK OUTSIDE OF THIS AREA. It is a preview of what the actual kickstarter will look like. It's not set in stone yet, so if anyone has ideas for improvement, let me know.

Some good news is that I found a vendor for the shot glasses who charges a flat rate to ship anywhere in the world. For all other reward levels, I will charge international shipping for everyone outside the US. The shipping charges won't display in the preview, but I calculated them basically by estimating what it would actually cost to ship internationally, and then subtracting the cost to ship within the US, cause that seems fair.

The idea is to go live on June 1, run the kickstarter until June 15, and then be ready to order all the constibillocodes and backer rewards on July 7.
 
Here's the post I'm planning to make on Democracy Day:
HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY!!!​

:tnp: :tnp: :tnp:​
10. The seventh of July, the day the constitution was ratified, shall be known as Democracy Day, and shall commemorate the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Legal Code of the North Pacific.
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Our beloved documents have made it another year! We have not rid ourselves of their shackles and plunged into merry anarchy! Hip, hip, hooray!

It is certainly true that our path has not always been an easy one. We have had our setbacks and our struggles, our trials and tribulations. But the commitment of this region and her people to the ideals of democracy - the ideals that make us great - has never been in doubt. This day is not just about celebrating our documents, or the rule of law, but also about celebrating ourselves, our friends, and our comrades.

I am very proud to have served in TNP's government over the past several years, and to have had a chance to contribute to the never-ending evolution of TNP law and jurisprudence. I am also very honored to have had the chance to get to know the citizenry and nationry of TNP - none of this would mean a damn thing without you! Whether your favorite part of TNP is our roleplay, our military, our legislature, our executive staff, our on-site community, or anything else, you - we - are all key contributors to this project we call democracy. I hope you will all take a moment today to appreciate how you yourself have made TNP better than before.

It is extraordinary to think that we have an unbroken legal tradition dating back all the way to 2007 - eleven years! Even though the constitution and legal code were largely rewritten in 2012, those new documents were adopted using existing amendment procedures, not through a new convention. That sort of stability is unmatched throughout NationStates.

In honor of Democracy Day, the Ministry of Culture is proud to present the TNP Pocket Constibillocode! Long story short, we will mail, free of charge, an index-card-sized book containing the TNP Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Legal Code to anybody who requests one, anywhere in the world.

The book will be roughly 3.5 inches x 7 inches, and nearly 100 pages. The order process is 100% anonymous. Want one?

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Any suggestions for improvement? Most of it is copied wholesale from SillyString's post from last year, but hey, it was a good post.

To advertise the constibillocode, I'm thinking an @everyone ping on Discord, as well as a mass-PM to all citizens and residents on the forum. We can't advertise this on site, but we can repeat what we did last year: put a huge link in the forum newsbox directly to the google form, and then in a region-wide PM, advertise "a unique celebration taking place on the regional forum, which you can participate in even if you don't have an account" and give them a link to the forum.
 
I like it, I think it's great. I'd assume mass-PMing is better since not everyone uses discord and there are hundreds of posts on the forum anyway, more people come on.
 
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