Tlomz For Delegate - The Right Blob for the Job!

TlomzKrano

TlomzKrano

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Hello all!

It is truly a great pleasure that I announce my candidacy for delegate and share my vision for the future of TNP with you all today! Before diving in, I would like to share with you some background. Just over three years ago I recall jumping into DMs with then Delegate Pallaith learning my lesson in regards to an argument over a controversial World Assembly proposal. At the time I was nothing more than a brand new staffer in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs under the guidance of the sitting Minister, Sil Dorsett.

Before long, I would be appointed Deputy Minister where my near two and a half year long service to the ministry leadership began. During this time as Deputy Minister, I met a plethora of fantastic people who gave me experiences from all walks of NS. I gained experience in every WA facet under the sun, from IFV writing and mass TG use to more complex lobbying strategies. This eventually culminated in my appointment to Minister of World Assembly Affairs under Delegate Siwale, a position I held for about one and a half years. During my tenure, my staff and I created and distributed hundreds of IFVs (Information for Voters) which helped shape the current landscape of the World Assembly as we see it today. We witnessed some of the first resolutions being passed by WA Ministry leadership, GAR #423 (authored by yours truly) and GAR #426 (authored by then Deputy Minister Stoskavanya). Later into my service as Minister, I authored GAR #460: Astronomical Data Repository, which upon its passage became the most supported World Assembly Resolution in NationStates history. A record that was later broken in the Security Council, however remains unbroken in the General Assembly to this day. In mid-2019, I would see my final term as MoWAA, finishing my service by helping to establish the Senior World Assembly Consultants, a group similar to Foreign Affairs’s “Senior Diplomats”, in which I became one of its first members.

At the end of that term, I moved from the World Assembly desk to the Foreign Affairs desk as I was appointed to Minister of Foreign Affairs under Delegate McMasterdonia. I served two terms in this position where I hosted a total restructuring and updating of the Foreign Affairs Ministry logs, and assisted Delegate McM in launching the World Factbook Project. The World Factbook Project has proven to be a largely successful and intelligent approach to documenting NationStates history and providing a significant amount of information about regions we have relations with and regions of interest. During my second term, I worked on behalf of Delegate McMasterdonia to negotiate with representatives from Lazarus to broker a Non-Aggression Pact, formally known as The Incorporated Rum Pact. My service as Minister of Foreign Affairs provided me with invaluable experience to further cement my lobbying skillset, introduce me to nuances within gameplay, and knowledge on how to lead negotiations with prospective allies and partners throughout the NationStates community. To bring this introduction to a close, I would like to thank all those who have helped me along my journey. From my Deputy Ministers and staffers who assisted me up to this point over the years, to those who have advised and taught me, I would not be half the minister and player I am without you all.

To begin, I am pleased to present the policy and goals I have constructed drawing from my own experience and utilizing the assistance of other major players for the External Affairs Ministries - Defense, Foreign Affairs, and World Assembly Affairs.

Defense:
  • A general updating of documents and catching up of records that have fallen out of date over the past terms.
    • I have recently been part of an updating effort which is a great first step. The following steps from this are to ensure all documentation now and going into the future will be routinely checked and updated so as to keep training documentation current.
  • The creation of active recruiting techniques in order to increase the amount of active soldiers and draw additional activity into the Army
    • Home Affairs will be instrumental in the employment of various advertising techniques to attract potential soldiers.
    • This will be followed up with hosting joint operations and additional tagging to help attract attention and publicize the NPA. This will require an active MoD and involved WAD, a role I will take up by learning and picking up additional R&D skills, assisting with training, and leading additional Ops as needed.
  • Additional training and raising the bar for officers and experienced soldiers
    • Reworking the structure of admittance to our officer core and requiring a higher standard of knowledge of advanced tactics will go a long way for ensuring the quality of officers and knowledge of soldiers moving through the ranks.

World Assembly Affairs:
  • Continue efficiency on the procurement and steady execution of IFVs and evaluations of upcoming WA proposals
    • Over the last term, the ministry has done a great job at getting IFVs out in a timely manner, however more diversity in authorship and contribution will help improve the already great quality and provide different perspectives into the WA.
  • Focus on proactive lobbying and working with UCRs in order to secure votes
    • UCRs are very receptive to lobbying, especially when given a chance to voice their concerns and feel respected. We must communicate with these UCRs, and look for additional stacking or stomping ability where possible.
    • This will function by integrating with FA to work together towards targeting regions who share a passion for the WA and wish to grow in their understanding and involvement in the World Assembly
  • We have an increasing amount of authors now within our very own Executive staff, and as such we must work to further accommodate these rising WA players.
    • Create Proposal drafting and brainstorming/idea sharing sections within our exec discord and on the forums as well as utilize those already established.
    • Encourage more work with WALL authors and the knowledge base we support there, especially for authors and aspiring staffers who wish to gain additional experience

Foreign Affairs:
  • The creation of oversight committees who deal with either UCR or GCR focus and exist to assist current diplomats and solve staffing issues as turnover ensues.
    • These committees will be staffed with experienced players and Senior Diplomats to act as an advising body to diplomats as well as a physical reminder for diplomats to ensure their work gets done
    • In the case active diplomats resigning or otherwise going inactive, these committees will work as pools to be able to rapidly fill vacancies or stand in as needed to make sure we dont let any regions fall through the cracks
  • A two pronged UCR Outreach program that addresses both FA and WA
    • The World Assembly is TNP’s most public strength where we address the entire NS community multiple times a week. Using the WA as a driving force here will allow for us to unite UCRs interested in the WA and willing to work to better their programs and influence us to better ours
    • Combine efforts of the world factbook project to help the UCR outreach program to bring more unique UCRs to light
    • I intend to keep this fairly open ended due to the experience I have gained heading the program over the last term and a half, items like UCR stability and apathy have become a recurring issue we must learn to deal with
  • Continuing to update and post World Factbook Project pages as we finish off all of our currently embassies regions

External affairs is the lifeblood of our public image as a region. The actions of our World Assembly Affairs team and Army are witnessed throughout all of NationStates, and our Foreign Affairs team facilitates our relations and communications with not only those regions we hold close, but the entirety of NationStates. Behind all of this however, is the Internal Affairs (Home Affairs, Culture, Communications, and Radio), whose functions are so integral to the success of this region, their absence would result in the demise of not only the External Affairs team but near all functions this region performs. Therefore without further delay, I proudly present my Internal Affairs policy and goals for the upcoming term.

Home Affairs:
  • Continue the rotational scheduling that Minister Nimarya employed to ensure operations continue running smoothly and burn out of any staffers or deputies is avoided.
  • Conduct an update of materials that have become outdated on the forums and gameside for the sake of new players and upcoming citizens within TNP
  • Increase recruitment efforts across the board for ministries in need of additional hands. This will be particularly effective in Defense and other Internal Affairs programs where proper staffing is so crucial
    • Telegrams have already been created for the WA and FA, however we need to do much more work for ministries who need additional recruitment as well.
  • Finish the implementation of the cards program that has freshly been introduced and finish some card budgeting tweaks (Scroll down to see a full breakdown on how I intend to implement cards on a grand scale)

Culture:
  • The RolePlay Reel is a great opportunity to showcase the RP happenings in TNP and gives RPers a chance to express themselves and introduce others to RP here in TNP
    • This is a great opportunity to recruit new people to RP from locally and abroad in the greater NationStates community
  • Joint events, such as the upcoming 2020 RP Symposium with Greater Dienstad are great opportunities to not only get closer to allies but also introduce our RP to other regions as well as see how other regions do their RP
    • These events allow mutual improvement and a chance for us as a region to diversify our outlook on RP
  • The Winter Odinspyl is upcoming and a major RP event for Eras that must receive proper planning support to be a success
    • This being said, I have no intention to step on RP’s feet or try to influence them, I wish to provide assistance as needed and appoint people who will ensure the RP/MoC relationship is a healthy and mutually beneficial one

Communications:
  • Ensuring consistent releases that are on schedule is very important to the stability of the ministry and quality of the releases we distribute
    • This can be achieved by bringing on additional staff and taking advantage of the cards program I will be describing below to benefit those hard workers already present and to incentivize new staffers to come aboard
  • Reschedule releases to allow for more flexibility within staff meetings and collaborations
    • At Ministry discretion however weekends are a target as of right now
  • The WA Symposium is a great example of how we can bring in foreign authors to create intelligent and knowledgeable articles that can contribute to a growing local knowledge base
    • This can be a foundation for creating a collection of articles that the Ministry can tap to create collections and TNPU content
  • Following the previous point, The TNP University can begin to host essays that have been collected as we host symposiums and then released in anthologies by the ministry team to provide content similar to TNL

Radio:
  • Establishing a consistent and achievable production schedule with approximately one show per every two weeks.
    • Quality over quantity needs to be a major factor here and while I am not against adding additional shows, I want to ensure we can meet production goals and not overburden the staffers
  • Officially ceasing show summaries, which currently is already occurring, however is not official policy yet.
    • While these are used to increase the accessibility of the shows, these summaries are time sinks that require a large amount of effort on top of the important work the ministry already faces. For the moment, this is for the best.
  • Increase the promotion and advertising of the NBS shows on our local platforms
    • By utilizing Discord, forums, and gameside via announcements, telegrams, and RMB use, we can not only show our citizenry that these shows exist, we can get them excited and motivated to become involved in them!
  • Recruit new staff and train them to be able to expand and achieve our goals
    • Radio suffers from maintaining a staff of less than five active staffers, minister included. This general lack of staffing can prevent this ministry from achieving its goals and chasing down more ambitious ones
    • This will work hand in hand with Home Affairs expanding recruitment and telegrams for ministries, which will help remedy this staffing issue over this term.

As you might have noticed, some recurring themes of the Internal Affairs platform are recruitment, sustainability, the utilization of cards. However you might have also noticed I did not specifically go into depth about how the Cards Guild will be employed to benefit the Executive Council in the coming term. Below, I will answer that question and provide you with a general plan that will be executed as my first major project in office. It is my priority to achieve full implementation of the cards reward program across the entire Executive by the end of this upcoming term.

Cards Guild:
  • Continue the implementation of the cards rewards system that began last term
    • Each Minister will outline specific actions/work that can be rewarded via cards. This is very much going to be an open ended project for this entire administration to tackle and I intend to take point on this
  • The creation of assisting channels in the Executive Discord Server that will open communication between ministry leadership and Cards Guild leadership to ensure this project is implemented quickly and in a sustainable manner for the cards budget of the Guild.
    • The role the Guild will possess here is one of a fulfillment entity where they will field requests and work with Ministers to ensure the rewards structure are sustainable and healthy for the Cards Guild
    • The Guild will not have any impact in directing policy within the ministries, as that is not their place to do so. This is not meant to restrict the cards guild, but rather free them from the influence of any external political forces while assisting in getting this program off the ground.
  • This cards rewards program should not be seen as an attempt to monetize government involvement, but rather reward our already hard working and involved staff.
    • The cards rewards program will provide additional incentive to our already very hard working staffers and attracts new players not only to the Executive Staff, but also introduces them to Cards
    • The current program in place with the NPA is a great example of the potential this program has and how it will be healthy to the Executive as a whole.

In moving on from Executive Council policy, I must address another growing issue that will be promptly dealt with over my term. Declassification has become an issue that has not been directly dealt with for some time. This involves a general shift in government activity from previous instant messaging platforms and the forums to a more modern Discord. In an effort to understand the challenges declassifications and discord presents, we must understand that the Discord platform and the nature of instant messaging in this more modern form creates an environment where an excess of messages are present. Not only are we facing a much larger load of messages to declassify than previously, but Discord also allows for people to stray between multiple different topics at a very high speed, requiring extra evaluation to ensure non-declassifiable items are not declassified. In order to effectively handle these new challenges, I plan to appoint one to two assistants who will assist me in declassifying old Executive Server channels and ensure that only the proper information is declassified. This will be a term-long project that will require a lot of time and investment however I believe it is a reasonable goal to have completed come the new year.

While I could go on for much longer about the many ideas and goals I have as I aspire to be your Delegate, I will bring this announcement and subsequent platform to a close. If you have made it this far, I sincerely thank you for your time and I hope we share some commonality in our vision for TNP. I thank you in advance for your support and I wish you all the best.

I invite any and all questions you might have! I will be around during normal EST hours to respond and also respond to discord pings/dms and telegrams!
 
I would quickly like to take a moment to thank everyone who assisted me in creating the policy goals and advising me over this process so far. In no particular order I would like to thank @El Fiji Grande , @9003 , @Prydania , @Cretox State , @Nimarya , @BMWSurfer , @Sanjurika , @Highton , and many others I am very grateful for!

( I will keep this post reserved for other updates/edits I post to make sure they are noted)
 
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What is your opinion on "Approval Raiding" within the World Assembly, where people go into regions and endorse a native in order to disrupt the delegacy and influence the approvals on a proposal in order to prevent it from going to vote?
 
Two hypothetical questions. Feel free to answer one or both.
  1. Let's say you want to remain as delegate indefinitely. How would you orchestrate this?
  2. Let's say your overarching goal is to weaken and destabilize the region. How would you go about achieving this goal?
Yes yes, this is a variant of "how would you coup the region?"
 
Artemis:
Who would your ideal cabinet consist of?
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Thank you for your question! I do want to preface my response being Ive only been in TNP for three years now so my choices will likely reflect such as Im going to list people I have experience with.
Defense - Darcania
Foreign Affairs - Ghost
World Assembly Affairs - Sil Dorsett or Deropia
Home Affairs - Siwale
Culture - Prydania
Communications - Kasch or Brendog
Radio - El Fiji Grande

Morover:
What is your opinion on "Approval Raiding" within the World Assembly, where people go into regions and endorse a native in order to disrupt the delegacy and influence the approvals on a proposal in order to prevent it from going to vote?
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Thank you for your question! This is certainly an interesting topic that has come to the forefront over the past year or so from when I last served as MoWAA. I believe that this can be an effective way to push a proposal off of its queue threshold, but only in very limited situations. Two big situations must collide for this to be viable; firstly being the approvals are floating right around 64 approvals (or the current approval threshold if changed) and secondly being a significant amount of approving delegates must have a relatively small amount of endorsements and be in a region that is diplomatically viable to temporarily knock off. So, as Im sure you can understand, this becomes a somewhat rare situation. That being said, I personally have no qualms as long as we exercise this ability within reason and be cognizant to the potential Foreign Affairs impact it might have. At the end of the day, this is an intended feature and a legitimate way to play the game.

Cretox State:
Two hypothetical questions. Feel free to answer one or both.
  1. Let's say you want to remain as delegate indefinitely. How would you orchestrate this?
  2. Let's say your overarching goal is to weaken and destabilize the region. How would you go about achieving this goal?
Yes yes, this is a variant of "how would you coup the region?"
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Thank you for your question...? :P
1. By being so awesome that the region will want me there forever!
2. I would begin by sowing distrust between new comers and the major figures already here. I would follow that up by painting the more experienced and longer term players as working against whats best for the region. That would most easily be achievable by finding minor recurring issues that have nagged on for some time, blowing them out of proportion, and painting them as a scapegoat for it. People naturally gravitate towards groups that seem counter culture and underrated, so my hope would be to poach some experienced players who feel wronged and use them to create a base of supporters who will mindlessly follow along with blaming the powers that be. Ideally, I could bait my opposition into lashing out at me to provide free fuel for confirmation bias for my new supporters. From this point it would hopefully snowball into a movement I could control, or one that would inevitably eat me alive. Who knows :shrug:
 
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Cretox State:
What do you see your biggest obstacle as delegate being?
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Thank you for this question! I would have to say the ambitions I have for this upcoming term. I intend to accomplish a lot and with that requires a high time commitment and a lot of dedication. I am confident in my abilities to able to achieve the goals I have set out in my platform, however it will certainly be a new challenge for me!

In turn, I believe I will also be giving the Ministries new challenges to live up to as we raise the bar and set new goals. I will do everything in my power to assist them in achieving these goals, and together I believe we will have a successful term.

If you have any specific questions regarding any one of my goals/policy initiatives I invite you to inquire further!
 
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is anyone seriously not considering voting for tlomz. i'm voting for tlomz you should too.
 
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Tlomz, if I could be honest a moment, until you posted this platform I honestly couldn't say what policies would define a hypothetical Tlomz delegacy. This didn't seem like something you really wanted to do, it maybe was something I didn't think you could do. You were the WA guy, and then briefly the FA guy. I would have told anyone who asked that you were probably just doing this because you figured it was time and you might as well. All that is to say, I really appreciated what you had to offer with this platform, and I am glad that my initial expectations were subverted. What impressed me the most was your perspective on RP and cards. I didn't think you would have much to say on either, let alone with that level of detail, I am legitimately impressed.

Your take on Comms was interesting. Like most of the others, I am not sure where it leaves TNS though. You appear to have a new vision for TNL, if I understand correctly, you want to host different kinds of symposiums, and then as with the WA symposium we just completed, you want to collect essays from it in the university that can be turned into TNL releases? This could work really well, but it runs into potential problems with consistent author contributions and scheduling, as well as the general disinterest in the university. Assuming I understood this correctly, did you have any strategies in mind for how to handle that?

Would the change in the bar for officers only apply to new officers? Bloated officer ranks was cited in 9003's campaign, is this something you plan to correct long-term, or would ranks be adjusted for currently existing officers? That is, if some current officers don't meet the new criteria of expertise in the role, would they be removed?

I appreciate how detailed your radio section is, but if quality over quantity is the goal, how can you meet the goal of such a consistent generation of shows? Especially if the staffing isn't there? The generation of content is meant to bring people to the ministry, but it seems like a chicken vs. the egg problem to me. I like the synergy present in many of these ideas, like the aforementioned Comms production being related to the university, the role HA plays in recruiting for the various ministries, and of course the cards program. I think the mingling of WA and FA are the most obvious and the best example of that in you platform, but it may be the one area in most need of manpower. Figuring out the balance of creating incentives to bring in more people to staff all of these things will be a huge challenge. That includes the committee thing, which...well that alone makes me nervous, given recent history, but then you add in asking senior diplomats to sit at a table and...how will you make that stuff work?

Can you explain the UCR Outreach Program any better than my attempts to do so in the past? This was always your brainchild and if it weren't for you there wouldn't be any progress with it this previous term, but i don't think anyone gets it as well as you do, and if you're going to take it into a Tlomz delegacy, you got to illustrate it. I think it always made more sense to connect it to the WA initiatives to offer our tools and assistance to interested regions, so I'm glad to see the joint effort with WA is happening.

I think we saw diplomat training was an area we fell behind in this past term. Praetor makes a new diplomatic handbook a key part of his FA program. What do you have in mind, if anything, to address the gap in knowledge for our ambassadors, especially as so many of them are newer these days?

You were the WA guy for...ever. You have more insight into how this ministry has changed over recent years, and seen what worked and what didn't. This isn't the first time we had authors around to work with, we've had a program for developing resolutions for a long time (you were a big part in developing it), and we have struggled to come up with a more cohesive process of collaborating and coordinating with WALL. Approaching all of this from the new role you would have now, how would you do it differently? What new approaches would you take, how can Tlomz 2020 improve on what Tlomz 2018 or even Tlomz 2019 did as the WA or FA guy? I also didn't see any mention of the Heroes of the North program, did you have any plans for that?

You were the FA guy for less time. You have engaged in NSGP on occasion but don't do it much and don't have much stated interest in engaging with NSGP (Praetor and Gorundu covered this ground). What's your take on TNP's role in NSGP and the approach we should take with them? How would that fit into your overall plans for the region?

Got any thoughts on N-Day or Z-Day, assuming we still have them this year? Both would happen on your watch.

You've really been involved in a lot of areas, but you also addressed the ones you haven't been involved in before. Again, I'm surprised and really impressed, this is what I live for in these elections. Great job with the platform. I'm really looking forward to your responses.
 
Suppose your plan was to coup The North Pacific. How would you go about executing that plan?
 
Pallaith:
Tlomz, if I could be honest a moment, until you posted this platform I honestly couldn't say what policies would define a hypothetical Tlomz delegacy. This didn't seem like something you really wanted to do, it maybe was something I didn't think you could do. You were the WA guy, and then briefly the FA guy. I would have told anyone who asked that you were probably just doing this because you figured it was time and you might as well. All that is to say, I really appreciated what you had to offer with this platform, and I am glad that my initial expectations were subverted. What impressed me the most was your perspective on RP and cards. I didn't think you would have much to say on either, let alone with that level of detail, I am legitimately impressed.
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I really appreciate the sentiment. Perhaps you should have had more faith :P

Your take on Comms was interesting. Like most of the others, I am not sure where it leaves TNS though. You appear to have a new vision for TNL, if I understand correctly, you want to host different kinds of symposiums, and then as with the WA symposium we just completed, you want to collect essays from it in the university that can be turned into TNL releases? This could work really well, but it runs into potential problems with consistent author contributions and scheduling, as well as the general disinterest in the university. Assuming I understood this correctly, did you have any strategies in mind for how to handle that?
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Regarding TNS, I am reluctant to get rid of it purely due to the role it serves. Not only is it an internal update, but it also provides less specialized work that is more easily completed by new comers to the ministry. Outright axing this program would create a void between those who know how to work on TNL and can complete high level work and those who are brand new never having done anything in Comms before, which will create a very unfriendly environment for expansion. I am considering the concept of opinion articles being introduced to TNS, however that could quickly become an ethical issue if not addressed correctly, therefore a lot of consideration will have to go into how we handle this. Bottom line, if I, in conjunction with Comms leadership and advisors, decide to scrap TNS, it would be replaced with something to ensure activity of new-comers is kept high and their ability to get experience by working on projects is maintained.

Regarding TNL and TNPU, hosting symposiums that could serve not only as a presentation of knowledge in various subjects but also as a method to collect (with consent of course) essays and articles from authors abroad would be a great way to reinvigorate TNPU. They would be utilized to help recruit authors, facilitate symposiums, and upkeep a knowledge base that we can pull from to create anthologies that can run alongside TNL. There would be a more loose scheduling requirement for this as it would rely on the use of symposiums which are certainly a lot to put on, as well ensuring this does not interfere with TNS or TNL. I also want to make this concept somewhat approachable to new players so if in the event TNS must be changed, this program could help fill that aforementioned void above.

Would the change in the bar for officers only apply to new officers? Bloated officer ranks was cited in 9003's campaign, is this something you plan to correct long-term, or would ranks be adjusted for currently existing officers? That is, if some current officers don't meet the new criteria of expertise in the role, would they be removed?
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So, as you are aware, the rank of Warrant Officer currently exists in the NPA. One of the large reasons this rank was created is because it allows standards to be shifted as needs and policy change for the NPA. I would like this to be utilized in such a way to ensure incoming officers have a much higher standard of knowledge and experience than previously. I in no way intend for this to be gatekeeping officers, or otherwise restricting promotions, but rather as a method to make sure our officer staff in the NPA are competent and sufficiently able to not only lead, but teach new players without breaking a sweat.

I am not for removing officers at this time for a couple reasons. Currently we are nearing the end of the annual summer lull in activity where we will begin to see people returning as winter approaches. Moreso, a delegate promising to set a line that all officers must get past to keep their current rank is simply not ideal. The decision of removing officers based on their knowledge and ability is extremely subjective and must be something that is done while consulting NPA leadership and the MoD.

I appreciate how detailed your radio section is, but if quality over quantity is the goal, how can you meet the goal of such a consistent generation of shows? Especially if the staffing isn't there? The generation of content is meant to bring people to the ministry, but it seems like a chicken vs. the egg problem to me. I like the synergy present in many of these ideas, like the aforementioned Comms production being related to the university, the role HA plays in recruiting for the various ministries, and of course the cards program. I think the mingling of WA and FA are the most obvious and the best example of that in you platform, but it may be the one area in most need of manpower. Figuring out the balance of creating incentives to bring in more people to staff all of these things will be a huge challenge. That includes the committee thing, which...well that alone makes me nervous, given recent history, but then you add in asking senior diplomats to sit at a table and...how will you make that stuff work?
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Regarding Radio, I would argue that setting a consistent schedule is one of the grounds that a ‘quality over quantity’ mindset requires. It gives the ministry a time based goal that doesn’t rush the production but rather provides the framework to create a schedule on. If a show per every two weeks proves to be too fast, I am more than willing to adjust it upon consultation with the minister and ministry leadership to ensure our shows stay at a very high quality.

A recruitment boost is something a lot of ministries need right now. While I am aware that Radio relies on the generation of content to bring in new members, my idea is to have HA provide additional recruitment support to create an upswing in staffing. We then can use that uptick in new members to ensure our high quality content will be published on consistent schedules so we can not only take advantage of HA recruiting methods but also the fruits of the attention Radio’s own content provides.

I am well aware of the issues that may come from attempting to include the Senior Diplomats in work assisting the FA, however I believe it is achievable by using the cards rewards program framework described in my platform. In Foreign Affairs, we have a large issue in turnover and staffing. During my time as Minister it felt like I would appoint one person and then two more would all the sudden CTE. In short, it would be ideal that the committees can be staffed by people who are experienced enough to provide mentorship as well as diplomats who can assist each other. I am comfortable adding Senior Diplomats to this pool to advise, answer questions, and ensure our diplomats stay on task. Should this turn out not to be the case even with incentives provided, this concept will be reevaluated.

Can you explain the UCR Outreach Program any better than my attempts to do so in the past? This was always your brainchild and if it weren't for you there wouldn't be any progress with it this previous term, but i don't think anyone gets it as well as you do, and if you're going to take it into a Tlomz delegacy, you got to illustrate it. I think it always made more sense to connect it to the WA initiatives to offer our tools and assistance to interested regions, so I'm glad to see the joint effort with WA is happening.
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That joint effort that I have outlined with the WA is exactly my goal. Over the past term I have learned quite a lot about what complications can occur when attempting to evaluate and recruit UCRs to commit to a program. The largest issues by far have been UCR apathy, government instability, and transfers in government which have drastically changed policy and decreased interest in our program. I suspect many of these issues have been spurred by a mix of summer lull and people having real life commitments outside of NS.

To give a summary and address the upcoming term, the UCR outreach program is similar to the concept of WALL in that we maintain WA and FA relations and help develop each other and share perspectives, however it would be applied exclusively to UCRs and not be nearly as formal. As time progresses, we can begin to expand and adopt more ambitious ideas, however to begin I want to focus on recruiting 2-3 regions interested in not only the WA but also FA relations with TNP. This will provide a great base that we can build upon however keeping the pool small will allow for quick communications and close collaboration with the members to set some of the base principles.

I think we saw diplomat training was an area we fell behind in this past term. Praetor makes a new diplomatic handbook a key part of his FA program. What do you have in mind, if anything, to address the gap in knowledge for our ambassadors, especially as so many of them are newer these days?
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A handbook is an interesting concept and I applaud Praetor for that idea. That being said, I would like to stick with the committee idea that I described above as I believe it can work and spur increased interactions between new diplomats and more experienced diplomats and Senior Diplomats. In my experience with external affairs, it's easiest to learn with direct hands on experience while being given a guiding hand. Ghost, as I'm sure you remember, my mentor that took on my first region with me was Plembobria and that was a very beneficial experience to have someone able to answer my questions and be there for me when I wasn’t familiar with how to handle a situation. Instead of attempting to assign everyone to a buddy system, I want to bring everyone in a large experience sharing pool where they can learn from each other and answer questions while having more experienced diplomats there to ensure they fulfill their duties and get the valuable experience they need to mature.

You were the WA guy for...ever. You have more insight into how this ministry has changed over recent years, and seen what worked and what didn't. This isn't the first time we had authors around to work with, we've had a program for developing resolutions for a long time (you were a big part in developing it), and we have struggled to come up with a more cohesive process of collaborating and coordinating with WALL. Approaching all of this from the new role you would have now, how would you do it differently? What new approaches would you take, how can Tlomz 2020 improve on what Tlomz 2018 or even Tlomz 2019 did as the WA or FA guy? I also didn't see any mention of the Heroes of the North program, did you have any plans for that?
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Admittedly, the World Assembly Sponsorship Program is a fantastic concept that suffers from passable proposals being so well developed that they don't need the program, and proposals that aren't viable stalling out and never making it through the program. My idea to help supplement local drafting channels and proposal channels in the WA discord and subforum will provide our authors we now house in this region. Our WA ministry as a whole has come a very long way very quickly in authorship as not even 2 years ago we had effectively no local authors in the ministry.

In regards to WALL, a large issue with engagement is not so much us not reaching out, but there being very little response when we do. Europe and Europeia are interacting with us as we discuss proposals and drafting, however the same simply cannot be said for IDU and Balder. While those regions are very important to WALL and provide a plethora of experience when they contribute, it could be beneficial to add an additional region to WALL to help spur activity. Unfortunately, this issue has been present for a very long time and decreasing WALL activity has been an issue since my terms as MoWAA. The addition of Europe has provided a significant boost in activity which has lasted until this day, therefore attempting to add another region who can have a similar effect as Europe would be ideal.

The Heroes of the North is a great program that I would like to continue and possibly expand into the future by applying its same concept to WALL and other allied regions. WALL has an absolutely star studded cast of WA players who all could be commendations recipients if they haven't been commended already. This would also be another great opportunity to increase activity in WALL and let our ministry interact with some of the WA greats.

You were the FA guy for less time. You have engaged in NSGP on occasion but don't do it much and don't have much stated interest in engaging with NSGP (Praetor and Gorundu covered this ground). What's your take on TNP's role in NSGP and the approach we should take with them? How would that fit into your overall plans for the region?
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Engagement with NSGP is essential and must be done carefully. Being the world leader we are, every single action we take receives more scrutiny than nearly any other region in NS. When a TNP government member speaks publicly, people take note, and while this is a blessing, it also can be a curse. The best way we can increase activity throughout NSGP on behalf of TNP is to be active on the GP discord and forum. This is something that I will commit to doing more as Delegate and push my WA, FA, and MoD ministers to do primarily. The GP community is fairly apathetic to the General Assembly therefore the FA minister and I will be taking the lead while the WA minister will be heading participation in regards to the security council discussion that occurs. In regards to the Minister of Defense, R&D is a great opportunity to connect with the GP community and increase relations as well as expand our military influence. The NPA has already been doing a great job with this, however by hosting more joint ops and doing increased tagging, we can synergize the recruitment effort for the NPA with international engagement to tackle both policy goals at once.

Got any thoughts on N-Day or Z-Day, assuming we still have them this year? Both would happen on your watch.
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My main priority for these events is for TNPers to have an enjoyable experience with their regionmates and have some mindless zombie/nuclear apocalypse fun! That being said, I have always wanted to be a zombie spreader instead of a cleanser for Z-Day, and while I would love to see that happen here in TNP, I do not intend to remove the vote that allows us to choose each year. N-Day alliance ideas will be in the works as the term begins as well.

I say all the above with a tiny grain of salt as we are still not sure if these days are happening this year or if they might have a fun twist on them.

You've really been involved in a lot of areas, but you also addressed the ones you haven't been involved in before. Again, I'm surprised and really impressed, this is what I live for in these elections. Great job with the platform. I'm really looking forward to your responses.
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Lady Raven Wing:
What are your thoughts on WALL?
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I feel like I really hit the question hard in the book I just wrote in response to Ghost :P however I will repost here for easier digestion.

From a TNP perspective looking at WALL, we face a large issue with engagement and it is not so much us not reaching out, but there being very little response when we do. Europe and Europeia are interacting with us as we discuss proposals and drafting, however the same simply cannot be said for IDU and Balder. While those regions are very important to WALL and provide a plethora of experience when they contribute, it could be beneficial to add an additional region to WALL to help spur activity. Unfortunately, this issue has been present for a very long time and decreasing WALL activity has been an issue since my terms as MoWAA. The addition of Europe has provided a significant boost in activity which has lasted until this day, therefore attempting to add another region who can have a similar effect as Europe would be ideal.

Minister after minister has tried to engage with WALL and I say that Gorundu, Morover, McM, and I all succeeded, however the issue simply isnt solely in our hands, and we cannot force people to engage with us if they dont want to.
 
TlomzKrano:
I feel like I really hit the question hard in the book I just wrote in response to Ghost :P however I will repost here for easier digestion.

From a TNP perspective looking at WALL, we face a large issue with engagement and it is not so much us not reaching out, but there being very little response when we do. Europe and Europeia are interacting with us as we discuss proposals and drafting, however the same simply cannot be said for IDU and Balder. While those regions are very important to WALL and provide a plethora of experience when they contribute, it could be beneficial to add an additional region to WALL to help spur activity. Unfortunately, this issue has been present for a very long time and decreasing WALL activity has been an issue since my terms as MoWAA. The addition of Europe has provided a significant boost in activity which has lasted until this day, therefore attempting to add another region who can have a similar effect as Europe would be ideal.

Minister after minister has tried to engage with WALL and I say that Gorundu, Morover, McM, and I all succeeded, however the issue simply isnt solely in our hands, and we cannot force people to engage with us if they dont want to.
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Since you mention adding a region to WALL, got any thoughts on which region(s)?

(totally not biased & fishing)
 
Lady Raven Wing:
Since you mention adding a region to WALL, got any thoughts on which region(s)?

(totally not biased & fishing)
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I see your unbiased and non fishing question and raise you the fact that Forest would be one of if not the top region given their proximity to WALL as an observer and as a UCR which would play very well into my UCR Outreach Program (should yall be interested of course).
 
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Your endorsement level is around 760. What, if anything, have to done to improve your endorsement level in preparation for your delegate campaign?
 
Dreadton:
Your endorsement level is around 760. What, if anything, have to done to improve your endorsement level in preparation for your delegate campaign?
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I have been endotarting over the last month to raise it. As you can observe last night, I endorsed the better part of two hundred nations during a check to ensure I have endorsed all WA nations within TNP. Beginning either tonight or tomorrow, I intend to send out a mass telegram endorsement campaign to all the nations who have not endorsed me back to further increase that number.
 
Tlomz, I like what I see in your platform and your well thought out and engaging manner in which you responded to questions. I have a few questions of my own.

1. Will you be appointing any advisors to your Cabinet?
2. Will you be selecting a Chief of Staff?
3. Will you continue to employ a Press Secretary as several delegates in the past have done?
4. Will you be inviting the next Vice Delegate to sit in on Cabinet?
5. Are there any major legislative initiatives that you will pursue in the Regional Assembly, and if so, what would those entail?
6. If there was three changes to the structure of the North Pacific Government that you could make, what would those be and why?
 
Do you find NationStates fun to play? What is fun about it?

Do you think being delegate will make it more fun? What do you think will be fun about being Delegate?
 
What region do you believe is our closest ally? Furthermore, what regions do you think TNP should have a closer relationship with?
 
What is your vision for TNP? What do you want to change that other candidates would not do?
 
Artemis:
Tlomz, I like what I see in your platform and your well thought out and engaging manner in which you responded to questions. I have a few questions of my own.

1. Will you be appointing any advisors to your Cabinet?
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Yes, I plan to appoint at least one for Internal and External Affairs, however I prefer not to reveal my preferred choices at this time.

2. Will you be selecting a Chief of Staff?
3. Will you continue to employ a Press Secretary as several delegates in the past have done?
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I currently do not have the need for either so I do not intend to appoint either. My advisors for internal and external affairs can serve as a chief of staff for each division if needed. I am comfortable constructing my own releases, and if needed I can use the support of comms and HA.

4. Will you be inviting the next Vice Delegate to sit in on Cabinet?
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I fully intend to invite the VD to sit on the cabinet for the sake of keeping them in the loop on information flow and promoting cohesion throughout the government.

5. Are there any major legislative initiatives that you will pursue in the Regional Assembly, and if so, what would those entail?
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I believe that the transparency initiative taken in regards to the SC is something that should be seen through. This being said, it is paramount that we ensure sensible disclosure standards that respect the positions of the Security Councilors and their previous conversations that were not subject to the same standards we plan to implement now.

6. If there was three changes to the structure of the North Pacific Government that you could make, what would those be and why?
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Want to mull over my answers for the night but not delay the rest of my answers. Will get back to this in the morning.
 
Zyvetskistaahn:
Do you find NationStates fun to play? What is fun about it?

Do you think being delegate will make it more fun? What do you think will be fun about being Delegate?
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I find NationStates incredibly fun to play. Its certainly become an addiction over the years I've committed, back from when I began in 2013 as a userite and spent my time squabbling over power in old WA focused UCRs that no longer exist. I believe this game, specifically the World Assembly, scratches an itch I had to be involved in law and politics that I've had throughout a lot of my life. While it was never actually enough to have me feel the need to dedicate my life to it, I certainly find that this game is a great way to supplement that need in me and on the healthier side of addictions I could have chosen :P

Personally, I've always wanted to be in the drivers seat when it came to the world assembly and having the ultimate stacking or stomping power in all the land. Over my now over three years at TNP, I have generated a great appreciation for all the other unique and wonderful aspects of this game and after being parts of various ministries and seeing what people have been able to create with nothing more than the framework of a political simulator and group of dedicated individuals along for the ride, I have become inspired to lead and perpetuate this sort of community. What NationStates meant to me 7 years ago has been totally and irreparably changed by my experiences in TNP, and I want to be able to help do that for someone else the same way it was done to me just over three years ago. That is what will be fun about being delegate for me.
 
From The Cosmic Times;
Taco Bell UBI Newest Political Play From TlomzKrano Campaign - Cincinnati, Ohio.
On Saturday morning, during a meeting with his advisors, Delegate candidate Mr. TlomzKrano, better known as Tlomz, devised a plan to target the younger demographic in The North Pacific. The Taco Bell UBI.

According to sources close to the candidate, who reached out to The Cosmic Times on the condition of anonymity, Mr. Tlomz was pushed from various angles to attack the key 13-25 demographic in The North Pacific. Mr. Tlomz proposed a monthly $25 Taco Bell Universal Basic Income to his team of advisors, who reportedly reacted very positively to the idea.

With the election fast approaching, Mr. Tlomz will need to unveil this plan quickly, but is expected to do so as voting gets under way.

The Times reached out to Mr. Tlomz's campaign for comment, and have yet to receive a response.
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Does the candidate care to respond to this media story?
 
Jay Coop:
What region do you believe is our closest ally? Furthermore, what regions do you think TNP should have a closer relationship with?
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To be quite frank, I don't believe that is a fair question. Each and every one of our allies are uniquely valuable to us as a community and attempting to quantify value in such a way to try and rank them is a fruitless endeavor.

I would like to look into expanding relations with Lazarus given my work in establishing formal relations in the Incorporated Rum Pact, as well as looking into relations with TSP, given our proximity to them with our World Assembly Program and various shared players we possess between our two regions. Furthermore, I would like to continue seeking out new opportunities not only on WA and FA fronts, but especially on NPA based fronts where we can increase our web of relations militarily and provide our army with additional allies to complete operations with.
 
Comfed:
What is your vision for TNP? What do you want to change that other candidates would not do?
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My vision would be my platform I have posted above. I have also fleshed out various points within my platform in my responses, namely the one to @Pallaith which can be seen above.

As of right now, I believe I have the most fleshed out cards program and plan for implementation compared to anything else either of the candidates has released. I also possess a unique take on the issue of turnover and inactivity among diplomats in Foreign Affairs that has plagued ministers for quite some time. I believe my vision to revive the TNPU to serve as an entity to facilitate symposiums and store articles is not only unique but also an efficient way to increase their activity and provide a system of sustainment that can last full terms at a time. Lastly, my UCR Outreach concept is my own creation and will be utilized to attract additional lobbying and voting power in the world assembly while also providing WA knowledge and experience to UCRs who would like to coordinate with us.

If you have a specific question on any part of my platform, I invite you to ask! Thank you for your question!
 
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Over the last term there hasn't been a lot said publicly about the UCR outreach project, so could you expand a little on the work you have done with it and how it will help with your aims for the project this term.

Also, there is very little in terms of training for anyone joining the Foreign Affairs Ministry. This has led to some new members being unsure of what their role actually is, which can impact of activity and therefore turnover in. Therefore, how would you work with your FA minister to ensure that all ambassadors get the knowledge and understanding that they need to fully get to grips with their role in the FA ministry?

You talk about having two committees in the FA ministry to advise members in their area, what exactly do you see their role being in terms of giving advice and how would this effect the role that the senior diplomats would play?
 
Owenstacey:
Over the last term there hasn't been a lot said publicly about the UCR outreach project, so could you expand a little on the work you have done with it and how it will help with your aims for the project this term.
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Most of my work this term was focused on picking out new regions for the foundations and dealing with a series of rather unfortunate events that has lead me to where the program is now. I am currently underwriting how I want the program to work and a big need here is the ability to find a committed regions who is stable and able to properly dedicated time without becoming disinterested and changing regional policy at the drop of a hat. I do have some great leads that my upcoming FA minister will follow into come next term.

Also, there is very little in terms of training for anyone joining the Foreign Affairs Ministry. This has led to some new members being unsure of what their role actually is, which can impact of activity and therefore turnover in. Therefore, how would you work with your FA minister to ensure that all ambassadors get the knowledge and understanding that they need to fully get to grips with their role in the FA ministry?

You talk about having two committees in the FA ministry to advise members in their area, what exactly do you see their role being in terms of giving advice and how would this effect the role that the senior diplomats would play?
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So the committee program would be staffed by all diplomats and experienced FA members of a particular UCR/GCR focus. New diplomats in UCR regions would participate in the UCR committee and vice versa. This would allow rapid information sharing between diplomats of varying experience levels as well as Senior Diplomats and experienced FA members able to answer questions and be around to help as needed. This could be complimented by a training handbook or series put together by Comms. However my main focus is to make sure there is mentoring infrastructure set up to facilitate a handbook should we wish to create one.
 
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