- Pronouns
- He/Him, They/Them
Hello, it’s me, sorry for the lack of shiny graphics.
The start of this platform will be fairly downbeat for someone who wants to lead The North Pacific going forward into a bright new future, but one theme running through my platforms during my time here has been realism. I am, at the fundamental level, a realist, in terms of what can be achieved and what should be expected. I’ve also stood for delegate before, and you can see those platforms here and here, along with my more recent (and more successful!) Speaker platforms here and here.
The North Pacific is no longer the largest game created region on Nationstates. Whether it becomes so again is really neither here nor there. There are changes coming in Nationstates and we are in line to receive 50% less nations than before, when the admins Frontier/Stronghold idea is implemented. This, coupled with other changes designed to make user created regions more viable and the gcrs more dynamic, likely mean we are headed into a period of admin-induced decline. At least, in terms of numbers.
That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It will mean we have to be more outgoing, more co-operative in how we conduct ourselves in Nationstates gameplay in order to compete, both with new game mechanics and with a hopefully prospering group of UCRs. These are opportunities much more than they are obstacles.
I have been, in some form of another, in a position of authority and power in The North Pacific for most of the last 6 years. Whether serving as the Lead Roleplay Moderator or as a member of the Cabinet - either as a minister or advisor - or as the Speaker of the Regional Assembly, I have always sought to be three things: honest, reforming and decisive, even to the detriment of my own status or projects.
In that time, I have served with and under some of the greatest figures The North Pacific has ever had. Whether I agreed with them or not, liked them or not, I learnt something from all of them and I believe that experience would be invaluable as delegate. I have made mistakes, as we all do, and some of mine have been larger than others will ever make. But I learn from my mistakes, and don’t repeat them.
It’s tempting to exaggerate the problems the North Pacific has and paint a picture of myself as the only person who can solve them, but that wouldn’t be honest. TNP is a community that boasts any number of people who can, could and do propose solutions for problems and the community as a whole then decides the best way forward. Any number of people could have different solutions to the problems I see facing us and some of you will likely not see some of them as problems in need of a solution.
These are some of the problems that I see facing us, based on what I’ve experienced in the region over the past term and many terms before it:
And so that’s what we’ll do.
On the first problem:
On the second problem:
On the third problem:
As well these three problems, that will be the work of the whole government to come together and help address, I think that I should out what it is you could expect from a MadJack delegacy in terms of each department:
Foreign Affairs
Defence
World Assembly Affairs
Cards
Communications
Home Affairs
Radio
Culture
Everything Else
Conclusions
I have tried, throughout the last 6 years or so that I’ve been part of The North Pacific, to contribute to the region, to help improve it and sustain it, in my own way. I think at this point I’ve shown myself to be dedicated to TNP above all other regions, ambitions or distractions.
And I very much hope that, should I be elected, I will do the job in such a way that I repay the faith you put in me. Thank you.
The start of this platform will be fairly downbeat for someone who wants to lead The North Pacific going forward into a bright new future, but one theme running through my platforms during my time here has been realism. I am, at the fundamental level, a realist, in terms of what can be achieved and what should be expected. I’ve also stood for delegate before, and you can see those platforms here and here, along with my more recent (and more successful!) Speaker platforms here and here.
The North Pacific is no longer the largest game created region on Nationstates. Whether it becomes so again is really neither here nor there. There are changes coming in Nationstates and we are in line to receive 50% less nations than before, when the admins Frontier/Stronghold idea is implemented. This, coupled with other changes designed to make user created regions more viable and the gcrs more dynamic, likely mean we are headed into a period of admin-induced decline. At least, in terms of numbers.
That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It will mean we have to be more outgoing, more co-operative in how we conduct ourselves in Nationstates gameplay in order to compete, both with new game mechanics and with a hopefully prospering group of UCRs. These are opportunities much more than they are obstacles.
I have been, in some form of another, in a position of authority and power in The North Pacific for most of the last 6 years. Whether serving as the Lead Roleplay Moderator or as a member of the Cabinet - either as a minister or advisor - or as the Speaker of the Regional Assembly, I have always sought to be three things: honest, reforming and decisive, even to the detriment of my own status or projects.
In that time, I have served with and under some of the greatest figures The North Pacific has ever had. Whether I agreed with them or not, liked them or not, I learnt something from all of them and I believe that experience would be invaluable as delegate. I have made mistakes, as we all do, and some of mine have been larger than others will ever make. But I learn from my mistakes, and don’t repeat them.
It’s tempting to exaggerate the problems the North Pacific has and paint a picture of myself as the only person who can solve them, but that wouldn’t be honest. TNP is a community that boasts any number of people who can, could and do propose solutions for problems and the community as a whole then decides the best way forward. Any number of people could have different solutions to the problems I see facing us and some of you will likely not see some of them as problems in need of a solution.
These are some of the problems that I see facing us, based on what I’ve experienced in the region over the past term and many terms before it:
- Over-reliance on tools and tech without adequate backups or alternatives.
- Resurgent political defenderism growing in Nationstates and causing potential rifts with our allies.
- Ministries largely reliant on one or two staffers, leaving activity to dry up when those staffers move upwards to leadership roles or onwards to other places.
And so that’s what we’ll do.
On the first problem:
Let me be clear here, our tech is great. We have one of the greatest assemblies of tools and sheets and tech ever created in NationStates, from the scripts that help the Speaker’s Office check activity, to our retaliatory recruitment stuff, and everything in-between.
But to be equally clear, the decline of our tech infrastructure this term has been obvious to see to anyone involved in our government. The absence of people able to give access to sheets and tools at the start of the term meant we were running behind from the off, coupled with a card gifting system that had been announced and ‘implemented’ despite the tech infrastructure existing only in theoretical terms.
It wasn’t acceptable and must never happen again.
To that end, I’m proposing that my administration would undertake a wholescale review of all the tech involved in the government of TNP, identifying areas of vulnerability, ensuring proper access is sought and given and being very public about what we don’t have or can’t use. We must be loud about these issues.
As well, this review would have a secondary goal in mind - to find areas where manual, duplicate or backup systems could be implemented in order to ensure that, should we lose access to tech or should it break, we could still operate as close to as effectively as we were before. This wouldn’t be a refocusing on manual work, but it would not discount it.
Without putting a hard date on when this review would report, I would hope that we could have something to present to the Regional Assembly before the midway point of the term.
But to be equally clear, the decline of our tech infrastructure this term has been obvious to see to anyone involved in our government. The absence of people able to give access to sheets and tools at the start of the term meant we were running behind from the off, coupled with a card gifting system that had been announced and ‘implemented’ despite the tech infrastructure existing only in theoretical terms.
It wasn’t acceptable and must never happen again.
To that end, I’m proposing that my administration would undertake a wholescale review of all the tech involved in the government of TNP, identifying areas of vulnerability, ensuring proper access is sought and given and being very public about what we don’t have or can’t use. We must be loud about these issues.
As well, this review would have a secondary goal in mind - to find areas where manual, duplicate or backup systems could be implemented in order to ensure that, should we lose access to tech or should it break, we could still operate as close to as effectively as we were before. This wouldn’t be a refocusing on manual work, but it would not discount it.
Without putting a hard date on when this review would report, I would hope that we could have something to present to the Regional Assembly before the midway point of the term.
It’s no secret that we began this term with relations between ourselves and our oldest allies The South Pacific at a low ebb, but we approached the issue between our two regions maturely and openly, coming to an agreement that was amenable to both parties. Such an agreement would’ve been amenable also to my predecessor in this role, but the distance in time between January and June clearly was needed in order to fix the issue.
Issues between ourselves and TSP were partially created by a resurgence in political defenderism elsewhere, an ideology we’ve historically had a poor relationship with. Whilst we should and do respect TSP’s choice to be a defender region and to align themselves further with political defender regions, that does not mean a parting of ways between our two regions - there’s more things we have in common than we don’t and our long partnership shows that.
What the resurgence of political defenderism means is that we must be more vigilant in how we approach that sphere. The actions of Ten Thousand Islands, both public and private, over the years has proven that despite what they might claim about having changed and being less extreme than in the past, they haven’t changed all that much and still consider Independent regions to be raiders in all but name.
Our response to that should be clear - no rapprochement with XKI, even when they complete their cycle of outward hostility towards us and seek to reopen relations as they have done in the past, and we should also seek to reinforce the Independent sphere. In this piece for the recent Independence Summit in Europeia, I argue that TNP and the other signatories of the Independent Manifesto have been left behind by the new generation of Independent regions. As delegate, I would seek to catch up and help lead the sphere once again.
Issues between ourselves and TSP were partially created by a resurgence in political defenderism elsewhere, an ideology we’ve historically had a poor relationship with. Whilst we should and do respect TSP’s choice to be a defender region and to align themselves further with political defender regions, that does not mean a parting of ways between our two regions - there’s more things we have in common than we don’t and our long partnership shows that.
What the resurgence of political defenderism means is that we must be more vigilant in how we approach that sphere. The actions of Ten Thousand Islands, both public and private, over the years has proven that despite what they might claim about having changed and being less extreme than in the past, they haven’t changed all that much and still consider Independent regions to be raiders in all but name.
Our response to that should be clear - no rapprochement with XKI, even when they complete their cycle of outward hostility towards us and seek to reopen relations as they have done in the past, and we should also seek to reinforce the Independent sphere. In this piece for the recent Independence Summit in Europeia, I argue that TNP and the other signatories of the Independent Manifesto have been left behind by the new generation of Independent regions. As delegate, I would seek to catch up and help lead the sphere once again.
Kasto’s great, isn’t he? Greater Cesnica, also fantastic. Sarah in culture, Skaraborg in Home Affairs. There’s a number of talented and effective staffers in each of the ministries (and some in multiple!) who form the backbone of our executive staff and have done so for many years. This is one of our many strengths as a region.
And this system of relying on one or two staffers has largely worked, thanks to those names and faces being replaced by people who are equally talented or enthusiastic for the role they’re in, and that has helped keep ministries ticking over, even when the Ministers themselves might not be effective or active.
Sometimes it doesn’t, however, and I feel like this is a problem that we could increasingly see, as our player base falls and we see fewer people coming into the region. The problem facing us isn’t easily addressed, because it’s difficult to increase that flow of personnel when our pool of talent is shrinking, but it is one I think we can manage and mitigate.
TNP’s government relationship with its own RMB community is… complicated. We periodically go through moments in time where it’s viewed as a tool for promotion and engagement and then we switch things up, and you have people who should know better actively getting involved in belittling the RMB and the people who use it as their primary form of engagement in NS.
That’s a two way street as well, as there are those on the RMB who would much prefer to get rid of the forum and discord government and just do everything on NS, but still ask for the TNP government’s help for their projects and seek to be promoted by our programs.
It’s a relationship that I think we can change. We should use the RMB for engagement and promotion, yes, but that should come naturally. It should come by just being active and engaged on the RMB. It’s a fast moving place, yes, but with notifications it’s no more difficult to follow than a discord channel. It’s possible and we should do it.
As well as this low level (as in passive, rather than infrequent) activity, what I think could help out here is bringing back Q&As to the RMB, with the Gameside Advocates helping to publicise this program. I think regular weekly or fortnightly Q&As with the delegate would be an excellent idea, as well as Q&As with each Minister - ideally I’d see these as each minister doing these twice a term, once in the first half, and again in the last month of the term.
This kind of activity - both at the low and high level - brings the RMB further into the community and hopefully can be used as a new pool of recruitment for the executive government.
And this system of relying on one or two staffers has largely worked, thanks to those names and faces being replaced by people who are equally talented or enthusiastic for the role they’re in, and that has helped keep ministries ticking over, even when the Ministers themselves might not be effective or active.
Sometimes it doesn’t, however, and I feel like this is a problem that we could increasingly see, as our player base falls and we see fewer people coming into the region. The problem facing us isn’t easily addressed, because it’s difficult to increase that flow of personnel when our pool of talent is shrinking, but it is one I think we can manage and mitigate.
TNP’s government relationship with its own RMB community is… complicated. We periodically go through moments in time where it’s viewed as a tool for promotion and engagement and then we switch things up, and you have people who should know better actively getting involved in belittling the RMB and the people who use it as their primary form of engagement in NS.
That’s a two way street as well, as there are those on the RMB who would much prefer to get rid of the forum and discord government and just do everything on NS, but still ask for the TNP government’s help for their projects and seek to be promoted by our programs.
It’s a relationship that I think we can change. We should use the RMB for engagement and promotion, yes, but that should come naturally. It should come by just being active and engaged on the RMB. It’s a fast moving place, yes, but with notifications it’s no more difficult to follow than a discord channel. It’s possible and we should do it.
As well as this low level (as in passive, rather than infrequent) activity, what I think could help out here is bringing back Q&As to the RMB, with the Gameside Advocates helping to publicise this program. I think regular weekly or fortnightly Q&As with the delegate would be an excellent idea, as well as Q&As with each Minister - ideally I’d see these as each minister doing these twice a term, once in the first half, and again in the last month of the term.
This kind of activity - both at the low and high level - brings the RMB further into the community and hopefully can be used as a new pool of recruitment for the executive government.
Foreign Affairs
Part of my remit for the past term was to update the World Factbook Project, a job that we’ve worked on throughout the term and is nearing completion. This will occur, either in the last days of this administration or the first days of the next one.
Over my time as Minister, I’ve sought to act as a consensus builder when I’ve thought that TNP must act - many voices saying the same thing is often more effective than a lone voice in the wind - as can be seen in the Joint Statement on Force, made with the United Regions Alliance, The West Pacific and the New Pacific Order, and in how we’ve approached the Civil Defence Siren, with updates only made after consultation with and agreement from the other Pacifics.
With that in mind, I’d be appointing a minister who would be willing to continue to work with that style in mind. Being visibly active both here and abroad (and yes, that means NSGP), is a requirement in this role. You don’t need to be making hundreds or even dozens of posts a day or anything, but you must be aware of what’s going on in the wider NS world.
That kind of awareness is something that we should be asking of our ambassadors as well. In the last few days - much too late, if I’m being honest with myself, I should’ve realised this much much sooner - I’ve realised that as well as reporting on government changes and significant events in the regions we have relations with, our ambassadors should be reporting significant administrative bans to us as well, just to help us ensure problematic OOC people aren’t allowed to be freely part of our government and systems also. This kind of thing can help us avoid some of the situations we’ve seen over the last few months.
With the above in mind, we’d be adding an admin side to our ambassador reports, generally asking for the ambassadors to tell us about the bans, and then we could follow up as needed. Some might see this as an unneeded government step into a realm forum administration should be in, but I think it’s necessary, to avoid situations where we have long standing staffers in TNP who are better known under aliases elsewhere who may have engaged in some reprehensible actions. I removed one such staffer from the Ministry during this term.
Over my time as Minister, I’ve sought to act as a consensus builder when I’ve thought that TNP must act - many voices saying the same thing is often more effective than a lone voice in the wind - as can be seen in the Joint Statement on Force, made with the United Regions Alliance, The West Pacific and the New Pacific Order, and in how we’ve approached the Civil Defence Siren, with updates only made after consultation with and agreement from the other Pacifics.
With that in mind, I’d be appointing a minister who would be willing to continue to work with that style in mind. Being visibly active both here and abroad (and yes, that means NSGP), is a requirement in this role. You don’t need to be making hundreds or even dozens of posts a day or anything, but you must be aware of what’s going on in the wider NS world.
That kind of awareness is something that we should be asking of our ambassadors as well. In the last few days - much too late, if I’m being honest with myself, I should’ve realised this much much sooner - I’ve realised that as well as reporting on government changes and significant events in the regions we have relations with, our ambassadors should be reporting significant administrative bans to us as well, just to help us ensure problematic OOC people aren’t allowed to be freely part of our government and systems also. This kind of thing can help us avoid some of the situations we’ve seen over the last few months.
With the above in mind, we’d be adding an admin side to our ambassador reports, generally asking for the ambassadors to tell us about the bans, and then we could follow up as needed. Some might see this as an unneeded government step into a realm forum administration should be in, but I think it’s necessary, to avoid situations where we have long standing staffers in TNP who are better known under aliases elsewhere who may have engaged in some reprehensible actions. I removed one such staffer from the Ministry during this term.
Despite what I can only describe as the worst summer lull in NS history, over the last four months, I’ve been personally impressed by how the NPA has operated. Whilst, yes, we’d love to do lots more operations, both individually and with friends, I’ve not found too many reasons to complain, given the circumstances the NPA has found itself in.
When we’ve gone toe-to-toe with Libcord, the NPA has acquitted itself admirably, pulling off some remarkable winning runs, and implementing impressive tactical gambits. We get better every update, no matter the result.
With numbers recovering over the next four months, I’d be expecting the NPA to up the frequency of operations, working with friends and alone if need be. I don’t see any particular need to pivot towards one faction or another (despite what some say, we’re not raiders and we have no responsibility to prop up that faction), but I’d be looking for the NPA to work in much the same way it’s operated this term, just more frequently.
Although one thing I’d certainly discuss with my Minister of Defence and the NPA High Command is a return of the Daily Pile operations that took place last year, after seeing a few people advocating their return in the last few weeks, I think it’s definitely something the NPA can look at.
The NPA functions as a part of our foreign affairs, as well as a space for fun and competition, and balancing that will be a goal this term. With that in mind, we’ll be looking at what we can do to keep things fun, and I think that one area to explore is a more liberal use of Clause 33 exemptions.
When we’ve gone toe-to-toe with Libcord, the NPA has acquitted itself admirably, pulling off some remarkable winning runs, and implementing impressive tactical gambits. We get better every update, no matter the result.
With numbers recovering over the next four months, I’d be expecting the NPA to up the frequency of operations, working with friends and alone if need be. I don’t see any particular need to pivot towards one faction or another (despite what some say, we’re not raiders and we have no responsibility to prop up that faction), but I’d be looking for the NPA to work in much the same way it’s operated this term, just more frequently.
Although one thing I’d certainly discuss with my Minister of Defence and the NPA High Command is a return of the Daily Pile operations that took place last year, after seeing a few people advocating their return in the last few weeks, I think it’s definitely something the NPA can look at.
The NPA functions as a part of our foreign affairs, as well as a space for fun and competition, and balancing that will be a goal this term. With that in mind, we’ll be looking at what we can do to keep things fun, and I think that one area to explore is a more liberal use of Clause 33 exemptions.
WAA was one of our best performing ministries over the last four months, despite some upheaval at the leadership end of the spectrum. We should seek to continue this excellent work over the next term.
I’m not sure this is a ministry that really needs all that much in terms of shiny new programs or grand revamps of anything. The Accelerator Program, when used, works well and our work within WALL has been effective this term. We also are host to a large number of successful authors and co-authors, which just speaks to the long term success of this ministry. Whoever is the next minister would do well to maintain this current success.
Speaking of WALL, over the last term there’s been effective efforts to revitalise WALL’s presence on the main NS site. We’ve updated the WALL topic op finally, and we will hopefully have the ability to make regular updates to that topic as well. We also recently put out a joint, WA-wide WALL response to the Partnership for Sovereignty’s own WA-wide telegram. I wouldn’t expect more WA-wide responses from my delegacy, but it was the right choice to do one, and we would seek to make WALL a more proactive, and potentially larger, organisation than it currently is.
I’m not sure this is a ministry that really needs all that much in terms of shiny new programs or grand revamps of anything. The Accelerator Program, when used, works well and our work within WALL has been effective this term. We also are host to a large number of successful authors and co-authors, which just speaks to the long term success of this ministry. Whoever is the next minister would do well to maintain this current success.
Speaking of WALL, over the last term there’s been effective efforts to revitalise WALL’s presence on the main NS site. We’ve updated the WALL topic op finally, and we will hopefully have the ability to make regular updates to that topic as well. We also recently put out a joint, WA-wide WALL response to the Partnership for Sovereignty’s own WA-wide telegram. I wouldn’t expect more WA-wide responses from my delegacy, but it was the right choice to do one, and we would seek to make WALL a more proactive, and potentially larger, organisation than it currently is.
The Ministry of Cards has been our most troubled ministry over the last term, which is unfortunate, as the establishment of the Ministry was widely praised both in TNP and elsewhere around the world. It has been a major struggle to work around tech breakages and a lack of activity.
Despite this, there is some potential in the ministry still. Current minister Morover has an interesting project exploring the history of notable cards that I think would be a good program for the Ministry as it seeks to recover from its malaise.
This section may seem a bit depressing to those currently in the Ministry and I just want to reassure them that your efforts to correct the situation over this term have been seen and appreciated. After taking over Morover has done good work, supported by DGES and 9003.
But it must be more. I see no value in keeping around a ministry that just doesn’t work, so over the next four months a lot of emphasis will be put on getting the Ministry back to an acceptable level. It doesn’t even have to be a high level, but it has to be viable, especially as Season 3 appears to actually be happening this year.
For this to happen, the Ministry will need an effective tech backing, either through the finished development of the card gifting system, or by seeking access to the TNL nation itself in order to gift cards manually. That means either ensuring those who currently have access to it are active and helping, rather than hindering us, or seeking to add another person to have access to the account, because the current status quo isn’t sustainable.
It must change.
Despite this, there is some potential in the ministry still. Current minister Morover has an interesting project exploring the history of notable cards that I think would be a good program for the Ministry as it seeks to recover from its malaise.
This section may seem a bit depressing to those currently in the Ministry and I just want to reassure them that your efforts to correct the situation over this term have been seen and appreciated. After taking over Morover has done good work, supported by DGES and 9003.
But it must be more. I see no value in keeping around a ministry that just doesn’t work, so over the next four months a lot of emphasis will be put on getting the Ministry back to an acceptable level. It doesn’t even have to be a high level, but it has to be viable, especially as Season 3 appears to actually be happening this year.
For this to happen, the Ministry will need an effective tech backing, either through the finished development of the card gifting system, or by seeking access to the TNL nation itself in order to gift cards manually. That means either ensuring those who currently have access to it are active and helping, rather than hindering us, or seeking to add another person to have access to the account, because the current status quo isn’t sustainable.
It must change.
Communications operated at a steady rate of releases over the last term, with five Polaris articles in total being written and released. The desired foreign authorship content to make up The Northern Lights did not appear, however, and the future of this publication needs to be addressed.
Polaris is excellent for getting content out when it pops up, and we should continue its work. The Northern Lights is a more difficult publication to organise around, and hoping for foreign authorship content to make up for a lack of homegrown TNL authorship isn’t going to fulfil the gap, that much is clear.
The Northern Lights can be one of our greatest assets in showcasing our community, and I think we have to seek to maintain that reputation. This means, I think, taking it in a newer direction. Instead of looking for foreign authorship or to focus on special issues, TNL should be a general issue, twice or thrice termly published magazine showcasing the best of our creative talents and specially produced articles. This is an ambitious goal, but one I think that’s possible to achieve with enough support from the rest of the government.
Polaris is excellent for getting content out when it pops up, and we should continue its work. The Northern Lights is a more difficult publication to organise around, and hoping for foreign authorship content to make up for a lack of homegrown TNL authorship isn’t going to fulfil the gap, that much is clear.
The Northern Lights can be one of our greatest assets in showcasing our community, and I think we have to seek to maintain that reputation. This means, I think, taking it in a newer direction. Instead of looking for foreign authorship or to focus on special issues, TNL should be a general issue, twice or thrice termly published magazine showcasing the best of our creative talents and specially produced articles. This is an ambitious goal, but one I think that’s possible to achieve with enough support from the rest of the government.
This is a real easy ministry to set goals for, even if those goals might not seem all too ambitious. Over the past term, and especially the last month, Home Affairs has operated in a really effective fashion, reaching out and contacting almost 6,500 nations. This is excellent.
As for what we’d do next term, it’s very much just about continuing that work, making sure lists are completed, lines are claimed and nations are contacted. The Birthday Taskforce instituted by New Celoveniortan is a really cool idea too that we should definitely continue.
As for what we’d do next term, it’s very much just about continuing that work, making sure lists are completed, lines are claimed and nations are contacted. The Birthday Taskforce instituted by New Celoveniortan is a really cool idea too that we should definitely continue.
After a slow start, the Ministry of Radio is back on track under new Minister GAP, who I think has adapted to executive government very well. It’s a promising beginning to his career here, and I have high hopes for whatever he might do next term or in the future.
The diversification of Radio content needs to continue. It’s wonderful to see the RP Spotlight continue under Pax but it can’t go back to being the only content Radio puts out. A Call to Serve and the recent addition of the TNP Round Table are excellent series that should continue… and we should be open to introducing other content, such as talk shows or improv shows or game shows and that can be used to help the region get involved with our other stuff. I think we can continue to develop the Ministry of Radio, and we should look to do so.
One thing I’ve noticed with Radio, however, is that it’s too focussed on just delivering content via Discord. Once a show goes up, it gets linked on Discord, with a ping and then nothing else. We need to go back to making sure it gets posted on the forum, and it can be posted about on the RMB and just like we have indexes of NSL articles in dispatches, we should seek to make and update one for Radio also.
The diversification of Radio content needs to continue. It’s wonderful to see the RP Spotlight continue under Pax but it can’t go back to being the only content Radio puts out. A Call to Serve and the recent addition of the TNP Round Table are excellent series that should continue… and we should be open to introducing other content, such as talk shows or improv shows or game shows and that can be used to help the region get involved with our other stuff. I think we can continue to develop the Ministry of Radio, and we should look to do so.
One thing I’ve noticed with Radio, however, is that it’s too focussed on just delivering content via Discord. Once a show goes up, it gets linked on Discord, with a ping and then nothing else. We need to go back to making sure it gets posted on the forum, and it can be posted about on the RMB and just like we have indexes of NSL articles in dispatches, we should seek to make and update one for Radio also.
This is my wheelhouse, and indeed, I went into this term expecting to be Culture Minister again, before I was asked to move over to Foreign Affairs. I took the opportunity to step in a different direction happily, but also with a tinge of regret. I was leaving what was, in my opinion, a role I had only just begun to thrive in.
I helped convince Prydania to take the role and I think he’s done an excellent job in the quieter summer months. There is always more we can do however. Theme Thursday has gone well and I liked the introduction of The Masquerade, but they’re similar things, and didn’t really interact all that well. The Masquerade will continue, but as part of a revamped Theme Thursday, with Masquerades taking place on Theme Thursdays that are particularly suited for Masquerades, like movies or specific decades or cities or genres.
As well as this, we have to finally admit that we aren’t going to get enough banners to make a banner contest viable. It’s a specific graphic request that is harder to do than memes or flags or similar. So instead we should find a graphics person, and get them to make one. It’s a minor thing.
The vast majority of work in Culture is the kind of low level activity I’ve mentioned previously. It’s important that everyone contributes to that kind of activity but over the autumn we probably have our biggest high level event activity. With both Z-Day and N-Day, some of our own holidays, Christmas, Halloween and the likely release of Season 3 of Cards, we have a busy, busy term ahead. I know that N-Day plans are already underway and we’ll continue those - and with Z-Day we will put the decision on what we do to the region again. Let’s continue our excellent streak once again!
I helped convince Prydania to take the role and I think he’s done an excellent job in the quieter summer months. There is always more we can do however. Theme Thursday has gone well and I liked the introduction of The Masquerade, but they’re similar things, and didn’t really interact all that well. The Masquerade will continue, but as part of a revamped Theme Thursday, with Masquerades taking place on Theme Thursdays that are particularly suited for Masquerades, like movies or specific decades or cities or genres.
As well as this, we have to finally admit that we aren’t going to get enough banners to make a banner contest viable. It’s a specific graphic request that is harder to do than memes or flags or similar. So instead we should find a graphics person, and get them to make one. It’s a minor thing.
The vast majority of work in Culture is the kind of low level activity I’ve mentioned previously. It’s important that everyone contributes to that kind of activity but over the autumn we probably have our biggest high level event activity. With both Z-Day and N-Day, some of our own holidays, Christmas, Halloween and the likely release of Season 3 of Cards, we have a busy, busy term ahead. I know that N-Day plans are already underway and we’ll continue those - and with Z-Day we will put the decision on what we do to the region again. Let’s continue our excellent streak once again!
As well as all of this, there are certain things that don’t fit to a single ministry or any of the ministries. The Gameside Advocates will obviously continue and I expect to appoint a diverse team that reflects the region and its community. Rocketdog and his team have done a good job this term, dealing with some particularly obnoxious spammers.
We should, I think, review our procedures for dealing with those spammers and the like. With the last few, they were using posting scripts, so that the RMB was getting hit by several messages a second. In that instance, I think we should return to banjecting such nations - there is no significant influence cost and the spammer might find changing their script to target TRR more effort than they can bother to do. Sometimes they give up rather easily.
I think both delegate and ministry reports are an excellent way to inform the region of what we’re doing, and if elected, I’d be requiring my ministers to release longer monthly reports, or shorter weekly/two weekly reports as I have been doing this term.
I’m aware that I’m sometimes something of a divisive figure. I am stubborn in my convictions and I sometimes continue to hammer a point across long after everyone gets it and in many cases, even agrees with me. To apologise for this wouldn’t be honest so I can only be open and transparent about it.
My intention this term is to try to keep the number of legal cases filed against me this term to a minimum. Let’s aim for zero, and if we hit it, great. If we don’t… well I tried.
We should, I think, review our procedures for dealing with those spammers and the like. With the last few, they were using posting scripts, so that the RMB was getting hit by several messages a second. In that instance, I think we should return to banjecting such nations - there is no significant influence cost and the spammer might find changing their script to target TRR more effort than they can bother to do. Sometimes they give up rather easily.
I think both delegate and ministry reports are an excellent way to inform the region of what we’re doing, and if elected, I’d be requiring my ministers to release longer monthly reports, or shorter weekly/two weekly reports as I have been doing this term.
I’m aware that I’m sometimes something of a divisive figure. I am stubborn in my convictions and I sometimes continue to hammer a point across long after everyone gets it and in many cases, even agrees with me. To apologise for this wouldn’t be honest so I can only be open and transparent about it.
My intention this term is to try to keep the number of legal cases filed against me this term to a minimum. Let’s aim for zero, and if we hit it, great. If we don’t… well I tried.
I have tried, throughout the last 6 years or so that I’ve been part of The North Pacific, to contribute to the region, to help improve it and sustain it, in my own way. I think at this point I’ve shown myself to be dedicated to TNP above all other regions, ambitions or distractions.
And I very much hope that, should I be elected, I will do the job in such a way that I repay the faith you put in me. Thank you.
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