Bob the Builder for Vice Delegate: Building Bridges in Our Community

Hi, I’m Bobberino. Better known here as Bob. But you most likely already know that, so I’ll cut to the chase here - I’m running for Vice Delegate. But you most likely already knew that as well, so… yeah I’ll stop with that. There are several immediate questions that a run for Vice Delegate may raise in your mind, so I’ll try and address them here.

First off, why? I have a vision for this region, of some of the issues that plague her and hold her back from even higher heights. Over my roughly 2 and a half years in this region - my first region in this game - serving in all aspects of the Executive Staff, been Deputy in Home Affairs, WA Affairs (incumbent), Deputy of Communications, Deputy of Defense, Minister of Communications and Minister of Defense, I have both served and observed many of the things that this region does exceptionally and that this region can do better. I would like to now take this opportunity, through the office of Vice Delegate, to both improve what we do well and what we can improve on.

What does this entail? Foremost, the office of Vice Delegate calls for an active endotarter to maintain their second place position in endorsements in The North Pacific. I can promise that I will be proactive and forthcoming with exchanging endorsements, and utilizing the resources this region has in place to ensure my endorsements will increase - essentially, a grind session of endorsing the WA list in zen mode with some music on to really get the zen drilled into your skull. Not a bad time in all honesty, certainly better than some of the 2 and a half hour updates we’ve had over the past few months. While I cannot promise anything specific and lofty - there is plenty of precedent to show how that is problematic - I can promise active endotarting, both from myself and from my colleagues in the Security Council. As a player and in real life, I try to brand myself as an energetic person - and my hope is that new blood will assist the Security Council in this campaign to allow them to both increase their numbers and help their image improve to all aspects of the community, which I will now address.

I’d like to build bridges. Thus the campaign name. The blueprints? Foremost, the Security Council to the Community at Large. This is a big one. Progress has already been started on this - there is legislation worming its way through the Regional Assembly regarding disclosing Security Council logs to the public. I would like to encourage this process of declassification to assert that the Security Council is, indeed, not simply a geezer’s club of old names who just happen to sit on a pile of influence and endorsements. The SC waits, the SC watches, and the SC assesses threats - a process that not only takes time, but takes the emergence of a threat to require the assertion of. However, with that said, I would like to expand the role of the Security Council in TNP to be more active within the community. Some remarks are often made - and they quite often hit the mark - about the SC not being an active group of players, and I would like to remedy this.

As a note to security, the Vice Delegate Check. I believe Artemis, the incumbent Vice Delegate, has set a terrific precedent with regards to this in both being speedy but thorough with regards to his completing the checks. It takes time to analyze a nation’s history, the forum account associated with that nation, and where that player (should they be a returning player) may have influences from. Similarly to my blurb about not promising anything specific with endorsements, I will not promise anything specific with regards to this check; however, I will be thorough and will promise that my checks will be done accurately, succinctly, and with confidence the player is not a security threat - should they pass.

With that slight tangent aside, my next target is building a bridge between the Forum community to the RMB community - I would like to work closely with our next Delegate and their Ministers of Communications, Radio and Home Affairs, as well as the Security Council, to actively participate in the RMB and encourage participation from primarily forum players to mix and mingle on the other platform, and/or on Discord - thus allowing for some of the rivalries that may exist between the two to be shaken out. Building this bridge will, again, take time and dedicated participation from all of the above Ministers and the Security Council, both as senior respected members of The North Pacific’s Government and as individual players with their own interests, talents and experiences to bring to the table. I would also like to discuss an event for this specific purpose with the Minister of Culture and the Delegate, but that is an idea in its infancy.

Now for some miscellaneous remarks - I do not see any changes to the WADP that are necessary. The program has been running smoothly for a long time now, and I do not see a reason to interfere with or modify it. For weekly reports, I’d like to continue that tradition - another great job by Artemis.

In summation, I’d like to build bridges in our community. I’d like to defend our community. I’d like to improve the Security Council, both internally and externally, and allow for it to function better as a body as a whole. I’d like to work with the incoming Delegate and their Executive Council to improve their body of work with regards to both their current jobs and interacting with other players. But foremost? I would like to be your Vice Delegate. All I ask in exchange is that you vote me, Bobberino, for Vice Delegate. Thank you. *cue thunderous applause as a short man with luscious locks steps down from the podium*

As of writing, your endorsement count is 52. Your influence level is 7500. Do you see this as substantially hindering your ability to assume the office and perform the duties of the Vice Delegate, especially considering your primary competitor's status in these areas?

Bobberino:

the Security Council is, indeed, not simply a geezer’s club of old names who just happen to sit on a pile of influence and endorsements.

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Blasphemy.

Cretox State:

As of writing, your endorsement count is 52. Your influence level is 7500. Do you see this as substantially hindering your ability to assume the office and perform the duties of the Vice Delegate, especially considering your primary competitor's status in these areas?

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I'll be frank - it's not ideal. However, with that said, I would argue it's not an inhibition of my ability to perform my duties as Vice Delegate - I have done plenty an op in my 280 missions in the NPA where I've had to manage meager endorsements and/or from lazy pilers. Again, with a few sessions of grinding out the list of TNP WAs, I can balloon those numbers up to where they should be.

More often than not, we forget that Vice-Delegate is not just the frontline of ensuring regional security, they are also the person to turn to as replacement in the event that anything happens to the Delegate. How do you ensure that you keep up with things in the Executive after taking on your job as a VD?

Fregerson:

More often than not, we forget that Vice-Delegate is not just the frontline of ensuring regional security, they are also the person to turn to as replacement in the event that anything happens to the Delegate. How do you ensure that you keep up with things in the Executive after taking on your job as a VD?

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Excellent question! As I alluded to in my campaign, I stated I would work very closely with the incoming Cabinet on various aspects of my goals. I believe can carry that, and my extensive experience in the Executive (also documented above), into a potential Delegacy should something amiss happen with the Delegacy.

Bob, it is great to see you demonstrating how seriously you can take this. The SC can be a very serious, sometimes stuffy place. Tradition, decorum, and consensus are all key features of SC work. You are sometimes impulsive and a bit of a risk taker, and many times have a hard time taking things seriously. Vice Delegate is a commitment locking down your WA for the duration of the office and requires you to adapt to a slower pace and an environment here you will absolutely be playing by other people's rules (the SC's) unless you manage to take them with you for whatever changes you try to implement. The disclosure matter is on a whole different level at this point, but there will be others that are far more mundane and minor in comparison. I don't really know if I can articulate this in a question, but I'm worried you might get bored or impatient with some of the elements of this job. You can't just decree changes and make the SC go, you have to work with them, even when they are not inclined to go the way you suggest. I want to make sure you are prepared for that reality.

Having said all that, I was a bit impressed with what you put out for a platform, though that's mostly in a rhetorical sense. I have no idea where it will lead. How will you make the SC more present in the RMB? Will this involve mandated posts or quotas (all of which have been discussed in the past and ultimately withdrawn)? And when it comes to those initiatives more broadly, what role do you think the SC will have in them? Traditionally the SC woks with the executives on programs and efforts that enhance the very specific job they have to do. Ensuring the SC is more present to all facets of our community enhances their work, but the SC more broadly working on ways to get different parts of the community connected to each other definitely sees more like an executive thing, and I worry that spending a lot of time and effort on that will step into the Delegate's territory and some SC members may not be inclined to do that.

And then there's the endorsements aspect. We had a newcomer to the Vice Delegate's office who struggled to get endorsements to the point he never got into the second place position roughly 3/4 into his term. You currently have 63 endorsements and voting will start soon. I am not sure when you started or what methods you utilized, but your opponent has much less of a mountain to climb. Will we see any of this turbo effort during the election period or are you saving that for when you actually win?

Everyone else has been talking about this, even the delegate candidates, but it seems to be missing from your own platform. Given the matter of transparency and the bills floating around, I am curious where you stand on the main opposing viewpoint from many on the SC, which is that FOIA retroactively applied was unfair to members no longer serving. Is that privacy concern worthy of consideration, and is it key to your personal vision or preference for disclosure? If you could evaluate both Praetor's and Artemis's bills, and give me a sense of what you think their respective strengths/weaknesses are and which you believe is the better approach, I would appreciate it.

The weekly report has changed a lot since I started doing them. We have this neat spreadsheet now but a common criticism is that while it looks nice, it can be difficult to set up and teach to newcomers to the office, especially if they lack natural skill at using Excel. Would you give any thought to changing the way the report is done or are you comfortable maintaining the standard that seems to have been established over successive terms?

Talk to me about cards, your understanding of how they work, how the SC uses them in its programs, and how we can take it a step further.

Thank you for stepping up and doing this. Vice Delegate can be a very dense and hard-to-navigate role for a newcomer, and it's really hard to address many of its complexities in a Q&A, so very few people mount a campaign that is actually considering what the role truly is and not some misunderstanding of it. I appreciate the competition have now, but I would appreciate it even more if I got more specificity out of you to really demonstrate how you can be distinguished from Dreadton outside of style points. I look forward to seeing how this unfolds.

Bobberino:

my next target is building a bridge between the Forum community to the RMB community

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But the RMB is made up of weird nerds. Do you plan to make them not nerds before we try to mingle with them.

Pallaith:

Bob, it is great to see you demonstrating how seriously you can take this. The SC can be a very serious, sometimes stuffy place. Tradition, decorum, and consensus are all key features of SC work. You are sometimes impulsive and a bit of a risk taker, and many times have a hard time taking things seriously. Vice Delegate is a commitment locking down your WA for the duration of the office and requires you to adapt to a slower pace and an environment here you will absolutely be playing by other people's rules (the SC's) unless you manage to take them with you for whatever changes you try to implement. The disclosure matter is on a whole different level at this point, but there will be others that are far more mundane and minor in comparison. I don't really know if I can articulate this in a question, but I'm worried you might get bored or impatient with some of the elements of this job. You can't just decree changes and make the SC go, you have to work with them, even when they are not inclined to go the way you suggest. I want to make sure you are prepared for that reality.

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First off, apologies for not getting to this earlier. Stuff's been going down IRL that I've had to address, so that's taken down a chunk of my time. But I now have time to sit and write this, so... here goes nothing. As to your first concern / issue with regards to my patience, your analysis of my character there is apt. I am known for being spontaneous, sometimes non-serious and tend to be a risk-taker. All of this is true. I can't really address something that's not necessarily a question, but I can and will assure that if elected I will do my best to be patient with the SC - the retired folks need some encouragement, too.

Pallaith:

Having said all that, I was a bit impressed with what you put out for a platform, though that's mostly in a rhetorical sense. I have no idea where it will lead. How will you make the SC more present in the RMB? Will this involve mandated posts or quotas (all of which have been discussed in the past and ultimately withdrawn)? And when it comes to those initiatives more broadly, what role do you think the SC will have in them? Traditionally the SC woks with the executives on programs and efforts that enhance the very specific job they have to do. Ensuring the SC is more present to all facets of our community enhances their work, but the SC more broadly working on ways to get different parts of the community connected to each other definitely sees more like an executive thing, and I worry that spending a lot of time and effort on that will step into the Delegate's territory and some SC members may not be inclined to do that.

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Excellent question! I don't plan to make a mandate for posts - that seems arbitrary and I get the feeling that they will end up fruitless in the long run. Rather, the best move is to see where this can be best implemented and establishing and heavily encouraging a precedent moving forward of active participation. Eventually, the goal is to make RMB participation on part of the Security Council as much of an ingrained tradition as endotarting. This comes with some obvious caveats which I will attempt to answer here as well. With regards to your second concern here, I intend to apply my close cooperation with the Delegate and their Executive Council to ensure I'm not stepping on any toes in my endeavors on the RMB - I can offer the SC my assurance that I will apply some restraint with regards to this before starting certain projects.

Pallaith:

And then there's the endorsements aspect. We had a newcomer to the Vice Delegate's office who struggled to get endorsements to the point he never got into the second place position roughly 3/4 into his term. You currently have 63 endorsements and voting will start soon. I am not sure when you started or what methods you utilized, but your opponent has much less of a mountain to climb. Will we see any of this turbo effort during the election period or are you saving that for when you actually win?

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As I previously mentioned, I've been tied down IRL - thus my inability to get to this post until now. However, I can assure you it will not be as much of an issue as the aforementioned Vice Delegate.

Pallaith:

Everyone else has been talking about this, even the delegate candidates, but it seems to be missing from your own platform. Given the matter of transparency and the bills floating around, I am curious where you stand on the main opposing viewpoint from many on the SC, which is that FOIA retroactively applied was unfair to members no longer serving. Is that privacy concern worthy of consideration, and is it key to your personal vision or preference for disclosure? If you could evaluate both Praetor's and Artemis's bills, and give me a sense of what you think their respective strengths/weaknesses are and which you believe is the better approach, I would appreciate it.

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In answering this question, I am starting off on the assumption you only want me to comment on how it's relevant to the Security Council. Now that that is out of the way, I'll say that retroactively applied FOIA is... a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand? Comments were made with the full expectation of privacy, and as such should be handled in that manner - but it would be problematic if the Security Council in the past - a place you described in this post - as "...a very serious, sometimes stuffy place [where] tradition, decorum and consensus are all key features of [its] work." did not in truth hold itself to those standards in its private halls. With regard to the debate between Praetor and Artemis' bills, I lean toward Artemis' approach. A small, however significant difference is the latter's requirement of Citizenship to request the release of records allows for the Vice Delegate to potentially prune out bad actors who apply for Citizenship specifically for this purpose. Say... Cormac (hyopthetically) wants to apply for Citizenship to look through our logs and see what a good entry point is. It would require Cormac, in this instance, to pass the Vice Delegate's check in order to be able to make one of these requests. As a smaller note, I also like Artemis' addition of a specific time frame - in this case 14 days. Whereas Praetor's lapse of 1 year strategy has been tried, and no government yet (to date) has made significant progress on such. Let me know if you want more clarification in this regard, but I feel this is sufficient to answer the question at hand.

Pallaith:

The weekly report has changed a lot since I started doing them. We have this neat spreadsheet now but a common criticism is that while it looks nice, it can be difficult to set up and teach to newcomers to the office, especially if they lack natural skill at using Excel. Would you give any thought to changing the way the report is done or are you comfortable maintaining the standard that seems to have been established over successive terms?

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I do not anticipate a learning curve with this. Tlomz commented that I was the fastest to ever pick up on how to use the IFV tool, I've been doing Defense stuff for 2 years now, and I've been doing sheet work in the Speaker's Office on and off for quite some time now. I would also be open to suggestions for changing reports, but other than that, I am comfortable with the way things are at the moment. Another commendation to Artemis.

Pallaith:

Talk to me about cards, your understanding of how they work, how the SC uses them in its programs, and how we can take it a step further.

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R3n, in his eternal regional service, has his extensive card farms (visible in a scroll through Birb's residency list) that services the WADP and its various lotteries for fulfilling certain requirements - one of them being maintenance of status as Keeper of the North. These are then weighed based on other factors, including but not limited to how long these conditions were met, or vote early vote often... et cetera. I would consult the Cards Guildmaster and r3n to see if they had any other ideas in mind for boosting general endorsements (and toward the beginning of my term, mine specifically), but other than that, I am satisfied with how the program has functioned thus far.

I'd like to thank you for the difficult, but honest questions and I hope it informs your vote.

Koopa103:

But the RMB is made up of weird nerds. Do you plan to make them not nerds before we try to mingle with them.

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I disagree, the only weird nerd in the region is @Zaz. And he's going to be purged anyway.