Venicea for Speaker: Staying on top of Things

[Venicea]

Venicea for Speaker​

Staying on top of Things​

-~-​

Salutations, prosperous nations!

Some of you may already know me but for those of you who don't: I am Venicea, and like many of you I am a citizen of the North Pacific. I am also a Deputy Speaker, having served in this capacity under @East Isles, whom I thank for the great opportunity he has given me, and a Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, under @New Celoveniortan.

I think that, during my time in the Speaker's Office, I have shown myself to be capable and professional, performing my duties, from citizenship and residency checks to counting RA votes, with consistency and dedication, maintaining an active and constant presence, to the point of going far beyond what was required of me and working almost every day of the week, instead of just the one I was assigned.
Whenever a task needed to be done, another deputy needed someone to cover for them, there was a backlog of citizenship applications or the Speaker needed someone to count votes, I was there.

I believe in what the Speaker's Office does and represents, I have passion for this job and it is with this very same passion that I am here today before you, my fellow TNPers, asking for your support as I am running for Speaker of the Regional Assembly.

I'm a very practical person and for this reason, and in continuity with those of many previous Speaker candidates, my campaign is not built on impossible goals or grand promises. I intend instead to continue a tradition that, from @St George, who restored the office after Deropia's term, passing through @Robespierre and @East Isles, the incumbent Speaker and my mentor, has come down to me. I am satisfied with the current structure of the Speaker's Office, thus I don't see any need for a substantial change to it or the way it operates nor do I see a compelling enough reason to bring back the obsolete Speaker's Staff.

As done in recent terms, I plan to appoint at least 5 Deputy Speakers to assist me in all of my duties and while I do hope to retain a few deputies with prior experience in the Office, I would also endeavour to train anyone who shows the willingness to serve and contribute to our region. Cultivating new talent to potentially serve as future Speakers is of paramount importance and one of my main goals. After all I wouldn't be here today if East hadn't taught and prepared me, and for this I will always be grateful.

That said, while I like the way the office currently works I believe that there is room for improvement, especially in term of activity and engagement and it can't be denied that, during last term, we've fallen off the horse in some areas: for example, some good projects like the "State of the Regional Assembly" or the "Speakership Performance Review Poll" (both introduced by Robespierre) were discontinued, the Speaker's Desk thread hasn't been updated in two months and the office hasn't performed enough internal audits to remedy all the discrepancies that unfortunately have arisen on the Citizen/Resident registry spreadsheet.

As a Deputy I have distinguished myself by my ability to work hard. If elected, I would continue to commit my time and energy to make the Speaker's Office a well-oiled, active and responsive machine capable of meeting the needs of the region without making drastic changes or distorting its structure.

Without further ado, I propose below the main points of my campaign, organized, for clarity's sake, in macro-areas:

• Citizenship applications and checks: Theoretically, citizenship applications should be processed as fast as possible, with the Speaker's check being the first one to be completed. This is important mainly for two reasons: firstly, the speed and readiness with which applications are processed plays a key role in player retention and whether or not an applicant will stay or be active in TNP. Secondly, both the Admins and Vice Delegate can use the Pending Citizenship Applications tab as a reference, thus increasing the speed and accuracy of their respective checks. Checks on residency and RMB and forum activity should occur as frequently as possible, and be performed on a daily basis, at the very least, if not twice per day after major and minor updates. Throughout my entire term as a Deputy I have worked hard and done everything in my power to ensure that residency and activity checks were performed on a daily basis and that applications were processed swiftly for the entire term. As Speaker I would demand the same level of commitment and readiness from my deputies. For the sake of order and structure I would keep the weekly schedule, which I'd promptly publish in the Speaker's Desk thread, but I'd also give my deputies more autonomy: if applications are not processed within 12 hours or if an applicant has passed all three checks and is just waiting to be granted citizenship, then any member of my office would be allowed to process such application, even if it's not their scheduled day.

• Transparency and accountability: The Speaker's office, despite its general efficiency, is far from perfect and mistakes are made. During this term we performed, on my request, one audit which led to the discovery of an issue in the way we were editing the sheet and the removal of 35 citizens that should have lost citizenship. While this specific issue has been correctly identified and definitively resolved it wasn't enough: just a couple days agoI found out that two members of this forum were still masked as citizens despite their nations having ceased to exist (39 and 72 days ago respectively) and their names having been removed from the sheet, yet there was no trace of their loss of citizenship in the relevant thread or on the Citizens Stats tab, before my post. It goes without saying that these types of errors are very serious and inadmissible in an office that aspires to the highest standards of excellence and that, if elected, I would undertake to perform monthly audits whose results would be posted in the Speaker's Desk thread, just like during Robespierre's term. Transparency and accountability are two concepts that are very dear to me and it is precisely in the name of these two concepts that I'd like to bring back two projects, both introduced by Robespierre that were abandoned during this term: the "State of the Regional Assembly" reports and the "Speakership Performance Review Poll", both on a bi-monthly basis. The former is, in my opinion, an excellent tool for assessing the health status of our legislative body and increase the visibility of all data we collect and record daily in the Citizen Stat tab, while the latter is needed to receive the necessary feedback so that we can carry out our work in a way that suits our region.

• Legislation: The Speaker is first of all a government official whose most important duty is protecting the interests of the Regional Assembly and its members, the citizens. I would serve the citizenry primarily by being an active presence in our legislative body, able to respond to motions and count votes in a timely manner, so as not to delay our legislative process in any way. At the same time I believe in a parliamentary approach and that the Speaker should encourage debate on both legislative and non-legislative motions, regardless of who the author or what the subject of such motion is. I would ensure that no motion is put to the vote too quickly and that there is always sufficient time for any objections or questions. This is particularly important for non-legislative motions (especially appointments) for which there is no formal debate and therefore could be rushed to vote without proper scrutiny. For these motions the role of the Speaker, who is guaranteed wide discretion on the timing of the vote, is fundamental. That being said, I do not have, at the moment, any concrete plan to review the Standing Procedures on the matter, as I believe greater flexibility is necessary with regard to non-legislative motions as opposed to legislative ones and treaty ratifications. Finally, I would like to say that I am a firm supporter of the idea that the Speaker must be a neutral figure, and as such I would commit myself to always vote "abstain" on all legislative and non-legislative motions.

• Housekeeping: This is perhaps a less exciting topic but still one of vital importance for an office that wants to be efficient. Like Robespierre in his Speaker campaign, I too would undertake, if elected, to update the templates used by our office, which are still those provided by MadJack, in order to adapt them to any normative changes. In addition, I would like to expand the range of templates available to us, in order to be ready for any situation, for example in the case of assorted motions (we don't really have a template for those). As part of this this housekeeping work I also intend to do a thorough cleaning of the Regional Assembly forum, archiving inactive discussion threads that have not been posted in for a very long time or whose motions have been put to a vote and passed, as well as voting floor topics that were closed more than 6 months ago. Considering that a cleaning operation of this magnitude has not been carried out since Madjack's term (December 2020) I think it's time for someone to take care of it.

To conclude: I know what this job entails and what the region expects from me and the Office. I do realism: I know what I can offer and that's what I'm offering you, nothing more and nothing less. I am aware that, especially in the beginning, I will have to face complex challenges but I'm also confident that I and the team I'll build will be able to prove ourselves up to the task and give you all what you deserve: a Speakership able to stay on top of things.

I thank you for your kind attention and, of course, I remain at your disposal for any questions, concerns, comments etc.

 

[Tim Kasto]

seems cool

 

[New Celoveniortan]

I like your plans, do you have an approximate amount of time to achieve everything you say here?

 

[Skaraborg]

• Citizenship applications and checks: Theoretically, citizenship applications should be processed as fast as possible, with the Speaker's check being the first one to be completed. This is important mainly for two reasons: firstly, the speed and readiness with which applications are processed plays a key role in player retention and whether or not an applicant will stay or be active in TNP. Secondly, both the Admins and Vice Delegate can use the Pending Citizenship Applications tab as a reference, thus increasing the speed and accuracy of their respective checks. Checks on residency and RMB and forum activity should occur as frequently as possible, and be performed on a daily basis, at the very least, if not twice per day after major and minor updates. Throughout my entire term as a Deputy I have worked hard and done everything in my power to ensure that residency and activity checks were performed on a daily basis and that applications were processed swiftly for the entire term. As Speaker I would demand the same level of commitment and readiness from my deputies. For the sake of order and structure I would keep the weekly schedule, which I'd promptly publish in the Speaker's Desk thread, but I'd also give my deputies more autonomy: if applications are not processed within 12 hours or if an applicant has passed all three checks and is just waiting to be granted citizenship, then any member of my office would be allowed to process such application, even if it's not their scheduled day.

As a fellow Deputy Speaker who has a weekday to do checks I can already state that I would have difficulty processing checks 12 hours after applications if they’re made early in the morning since I am only available during evenings. Whilst I understand your intentions, I think it could be quite harsh on deputies that might not have the ability to keep themselves to process applications within 12 hours due to irl constraints. Does such deputies not meet the demands you set out even though they have a passion for the job?

I have a few more questions:
1. Will you be doing checks yourself or will you, like East Isles, let the deputies mostly handle it?
2. How did you think last term went? What was the thing that went best and where do we need most improvement? You highlighted quite a lot of plans but I would like to know what is no.1 on your agenda.

3. What is your thoughts on the citizen stats? Do you think it needs perhaps monthly audits too? I personally find it quite messy with different deputies adding the same nation twice (especially at the beginning of the term). Will any tweaks be done to it or are you happy with it?

4. What is your opinion on hamsters?

 

[Nubt II of Mortipal]

Sounds good. I don't know why I wouldn't give you my vote. Best of luck!

 

[Comfed]

Checks being done twice per day sounds very frequent.

 

[Yuno]

GOOD LUCK VENICEA WITH YOUR ELECTION FOR TNP DELEGATE!

 

[Robespierre]

GOOD LUCK VENICEA WITH YOUR ELECTION FOR TNP DELEGATE!

Uhm… Yun? They’re running for Speaker, not Delegate

 

[Tim Kasto]

Uhm… Yun? They’re running for Speaker, not Delegate

Same thing

 

[Pallaith]

I think East was a fine Speaker but your critiques are fair. It is nice to see how you have some specific ideas for how to address the problems you highlighted. I think it would have been helpful if you had pointed some of these out during the term (to be fair, I don't know you haven't done that, but I never saw it mentioned until this campaign). I hope that if you win you will have communication such that your deputies can cover this kind of ground with you if they feel they need to. You have been a very impressive deputy and your work ethic is undeniable. I am very impressed with your platform and how you present yourself, and as far as I am concerned I think you are the one to beat (you know, assuming you get an opponent).

 

[Venicea]

seems cool

Thanks Kasto, you seem cool too!

I like your plans, do you have an approximate amount of time to achieve everything you say here?

Thanks NC, glad to see you like my platform!

You ask if I have an approximate amount of time to achieve everything. Answering your question is actually more complex than it seems as there are several factors that would play an important role, especially in the first few weeks. First of all my team. Although my hope is to have 5 fully trained deputies right from the start, I have not contacted anyone at the moment. Obviously if I have to train a group of new deputies from scratch times may lengthen a bit. However, the first effects of my work would be visible immediately, since I intend to publish the schedule in the Speaker's Desk as soon as it is available. My intention is to carry out the first of the monthly audits as soon as possible, in order to correct any discrepancies immediately, so let's say 1 or 2 weeks after the start of my term. As regards the "State of the Regional Assembly" reports and the "Speakership Performance Review Poll", these are bimonthly projects, so the first State of the Regional Assembly and the first Performance Review Poll will be published simultaneously in November. The work of archiving the old threads will begin immediately (this is something quite simple) and will continue throughout the term.

As a fellow Deputy Speaker who has a weekday to do checks I can already state that I would have difficulty processing checks 12 hours after applications if they’re made early in the morning since I am only available during evenings. Whilst I understand your intentions, I think it could be quite harsh on deputies that might not have the ability to keep themselves to process applications within 12 hours due to irl constraints. Does such deputies not meet the demands you set out even though they have a passion for the job?

I have a few more questions:
1. Will you be doing checks yourself or will you, like East Isles, let the deputies mostly handle it?
2. How did you think last term went? What was the thing that went best and where do we need most improvement? You highlighted quite a lot of plans but I would like to know what is no.1 on your agenda.

3. What is your thoughts on the citizen stats? Do you think it needs perhaps monthly audits too? I personally find it quite messy with different deputies adding the same nation twice (especially at the beginning of the term). Will any tweaks be done to it or are you happy with it?

4. What is your opinion on hamsters?

Hey Skaraborg, it's nice to hear the opinions of another deputy!

To answer your first question: If elected, one of my main goals would be to increase the efficiency of checks, which is closely related to our ability to retain players. I am not going to abolish the weekly schedule but make it more flexible. The 12-hour threshold has been set to allow my deputies to act, if the situation requires it, independently by disengaging from the schedule in order to reduce the application backlog. This does not mean that I expect all applications to be processed in 12 hours, I hope this is clear, but only that whoever wants to can do it, once this interval has elapsed. In the same way any deputy can, at their discretion, act outside the schedule to grant citizenship to those who have already passed the three checks, because in all honesty I don't feel like further delaying the process of acquiring citizenship when we can easily speed it up. Please note that what I said is only valid for applications: activity/residency checks would still be the responsibility of the lead of that day or, in their absence, of the backup.
Secondly, I would like to focus on a word you used: passion, the same word I used in the introduction of my platform. I have passion and I know that you too have it. What you said is true but only in part: yes my standards are perhaps higher than the norm and yes I would expect commitment and seriousness from my deputies, the same ones that I put every day but I realize that not everyone can dedicate the same time and that everyone makes it as best they can. What I can guarantee is that there would always be room, in my office, for those who have passion. Certainly checks are a top priority but they are not the only one. There are monthly audits, The "State of the Regional Assembly" reports (I could do them myself, but help would be appreciated), and all the housekeeping tasks. Plus I'd like to have one or two deputies who can potentially assist me in acknowledging motions and counting votes. In my campaign I preferred to keep my feet on the ground and I did not make great promises, but if I had a good team at my disposal I'd expand my horizons towards new and more ambitious projects. I can't promise anything but in that case I would need talented people, perhaps with experience in mentoring to be able to help me manage these projects. So you can rest assured: during my term deputies would get plenty of opportunities to get involved.

I'm now going to address the remaining questions:

1. Even as Speaker I would continue to do checks, as I don't think it's right to sit idle while my deputies work for me. As a deputy I have conducted checks 5-6 days a week in some cases and therefore it would not be a problem to continue to be active and lead by example. That said, I'd leave room for my deputies to show their worth and, eventually, I would like most of the checks to be handled by them. But I would still be available every day and, if necessary, I could do checks myself on any day.

2. Probably the best result we achieved during this term is that of having managed to maintain a good pace in the processing of citizenship applications and in carrying out the checks. The problem is how this has been achieved: it is evident that the work was not distributed adequately and that some deputies worked much harder than others and still others practically did not work at all. Alongside a reduced general activity of our deputies, I also observed a reduction in the accuracy of our work. The result is that discrepancies have arisen on the Citizen/Resident registry and between it and the joinable group and that the Citizen stat tab, from being a useful tool has become "quite messy", as you yourself wrote below.
The first aspect on which, as an office, we need to improve: we must be less complacent. We must remember that we are government officials and that we are accountable to the North Pacific and her citizens. Therefore we are required to comply with the highest quality standards and our work must be constantly visible and documented, in transparency. So to answer your question, my first goal will be to carry out an audit to see if there are any errors or discrepancies and, if these do emerge, we will have to take responsibility for them. This is the first goal, the rest will follow suit.

3. I believe that the maintenance of the Citizen Stats tab should have absolute priority in a Speaker's Office which, like the one I would like to build, aims for maximum transparency. All our activities are publicly recorded and documented there and without it we would have a hard time finding and cataloging those data. However, statistics alone have little value for the general public: they must be valorised and commented on and that is why I intend to integrate them, as it's been done in the past, in the "State of the Regional Assembly" reports. For these statistics to be presented to the public it is necessary to verify their accuracy, so yes, they will be subject to a specific audit, to be carried out immediately before the publication of the reports. in the future that duplicate problem you allude to could simply be avoided with some communication between the Speaker and his team. In fact, it would have been enough to clearly and unequivocally set a common standard to which everyone had to abide. It's then up to the Speaker to verify that his deputies comply with it.

4. I like them. They are cute, small and furry.

Sounds good. I don't know why I wouldn't give you my vote. Best of luck!

Thank you for your support!

Checks being done twice per day sounds very frequent.

NationStates updates twice a day. If we want to keep the sheet updated as much as possible then it would be advisable to perform residency checks (only these, since the activity checks would not produce different results on the same day) twice a day, after each update.

GOOD LUCK VENICEA WITH YOUR ELECTION FOR TNP DELEGATE!

Thank you for your support to my Speaker Delegate campaign!

Uhm… Yun? They’re running for Speaker, not Delegate

Thank you for clarifying!

I think East was a fine Speaker but your critiques are fair. It is nice to see how you have some specific ideas for how to address the problems you highlighted. I think it would have been helpful if you had pointed some of these out during the term (to be fair, I don't know you haven't done that, but I never saw it mentioned until this campaign). I hope that if you win you will have communication such that your deputies can cover this kind of ground with you if they feel they need to. You have been a very impressive deputy and your work ethic is undeniable. I am very impressed with your platform and how you present yourself, and as far as I am concerned I think you are the one to beat (you know, assuming you get an opponent).

Thank you for your kind words, Ghost, I'm happy to see that you enjoy my platform!

Yes, you are absolutely right. Communication is essential for a successful office. If I am elected, it will be my concern to establish immediately with my deputies a relationship of trust and mutual respect that facilitates dialogue and to keep in regular contact with them in order to provide and receive feedback.

 

[Comfed]

NationStates updates twice a day. If we want to keep the sheet updated as much as possible then it would be advisable to perform residency checks (only these, since the activity checks would not produce different results on the same day) twice a day, after each update.

Is it necessary to be updated as frequently as possible? Do you think this will cause difficulties?

 

[Skaraborg]

Thanks for your answers and your explanation of your thoughts on the 12 hour application idea. You’ve got my full support and I believe you will be an excellent Speaker if elected!

May the hamsters be with you in this election.

 

[Venicea]

Is it necessary to be updated as frequently as possible? Do you think this will cause difficulties?

According to Chapter 6.1, Section 1, Clauses 12-14 of the Legal Code:

12. The Speaker will maintain a publicly viewable roster of citizens and their registered nations.
13. The Speaker will promptly remove any citizens whose removal is ordered by the Court, or whose registered nations in The North Pacific leave or ceases to exist.
14. The Speaker will promptly remove any citizens who, for over 30 consecutive days, neither post on the regional forum, nor post on the regional message board with their registered nations.

Now, the meaning of the word "promptly", which has also been the subject of a court ruling (On Promptness and the Time at which Regional Assembly Membership Begins and Ends), is undoubtedly ambiguous and difficult to define. Personally, I believe that in this context acting "promptly" means that the Speaker must keep a list of citizens as updated as possible, within the limits of reason. I do not consider it unreasonable to carry out two checks within 24 hours at a distance of several hours from each other, indeed I believe it desirable if you want to provide citizens with a service that is as efficient and compliant with the law as possible.

Thanks for your answers and your explanation of your thoughts on the 12 hour application idea. You’ve got my full support and I believe you will be an excellent Speaker if elected!

May the hamsters be with you in this election.

Thank you for your support Skaraborg!

 

[Ayuzh]

Only one nominee for speaker..

 

[Fregerson]

Only one nominee for speaker..

If you aren't happy, the RON is there for you.

Anyways, back to the real question. Over the past few months, with r3n being on hiatus and all, TNP has been suffering lots of tech blackouts, with apis not working, broken sheets and all. Do you see the Speaker's Office playing a role in fixing this issue?

 

[Venicea]

Anyways, back to the real question. Over the past few months, with r3n being on hiatus and all, TNP has been suffering lots of tech blackouts, with apis not working, broken sheets and all. Do you see the Speaker's Office playing a role in fixing this issue?

I thank you for your question which gives me the opportunity to talk about a hot topic, related to the importance of our technological infrastructure, which is both our strength and our weakness. It's a wide-ranging issue which can certainly be discussed from multiple angles. However, I will try to answer your question by presenting the topic from my perspective as a member of the Speaker's Office.

As you well know, the Speaker's Office makes use of some tools to carry out its routine tasks. And it could not be otherwise: we have 181 citizens (and 215 registered residents), of whom we must constantly monitor a large amount of information, from username changes, to login times, movements of nations, posting activity and so on. Our tech is a great resource but it's undeniable that during this term we have had several problems with it, more than in the previous ones, from the aforementioned issue that led to the removal of 35 citizens up to the surreal situation of the telegrams that made some citizens believe their citizenship had lapsed. The keen observers among you may have also noticed that until the other day the sheet had not been updated correctly. This was due to a series of errors in the scripts we use for the execution of posting activity checks, which created quite an inconvenience by forcing us to perform such checks manually for a few days. I want to reassure you by saying that the problem has been solved by the admins and that yesterday I myself was able to conduct all the checks normally. However, I think being too reliant on our tools, believing that they will always work without seeking alternative solutions, to be a rather short-sighted view. In fact, what will happen when the (few) individuals who have access to these tools and who are responsible for their maintenance will no longer be here to assist us? There is a real risk that continuing at this rate our technological infrastructure will collapse, forcing us to start from scratch. So what is the role of the Speaker's Office in all of this? Our role is to speak out publicly for our citizens and raise public awareness on this issue, highlighting its risks and the disservice to which it can lead. At the same time we must promote dialogue with the administration and the other government branches to move towards a common goal: redefine the way our tech is conceived and managed. Solutions to this problem may come from the use of open source tools, that can be run locally. What matters most is that there must be redundancy in our technological systems, that is, we must equip ourselves with backup tools that can allow us to continue doing our work even when we no longer have access to our first choice tools and that access to these tools is guaranteed to as many people as possible.
Ultimately what I can say is that under my leadership the Speaker's Office would be aware and attentive to this problem and would take action to prevent its worst outcomes, dialoguing with all the parties involved in the search for alternative solutions.

 

[Siwale]

I would like to set the record straight on these “tech issues” being overdramatized as a plague on the Speaker’s Office this term. There was only one script issue this term with the citizens spreadsheet. This was due to a new citizen’s nation name starting with a hyphen which broke the script for RMB activity checking. It was fixed within a week of reporting.

The issue with the TG service is caused by a delayed daily update by NS. This occurs occasionally and is out of our control as we do not represent gameside admin.

from the aforementioned issue that led to the removal of 35 citizens

This was an issue with data entry from the Speaker’s Office and NOT an issue with the script. I’m surprised to see you mention this as a tech concern even after I walked the Speaker and their deputies (including you) through how to use the sheet and the Speaker publicly admitted to the error.

 

[Venicea]

I would like to set the record straight on these “tech issues” being overdramatized as a plague on the Speaker’s Office this term. There was only one script issue this term with the citizens spreadsheet. This was due to a new citizen’s nation name starting with a hyphen which broke the script for RMB activity checking. It was fixed within a week of reporting.

The issue I was referring to was a DNS error that prevented me from doing all checks not just the RMB activity, which I believe is a different issue than the one you are referring to. I don't know what was the cause of it but it happened more than once during this term. In any case I appreciate the work you have put into promptly addressing it.

This was an issue with data entry from the Speaker’s Office and NOT an issue with the script. I’m surprised to see you mention this as a tech concern even after I walked the Speaker and their deputies (including you) through how to use the sheet and the Speaker publicly admitted to the error.

I apologize for the misunderstanding. As I wrote in my opening post:

During this term we performed, on my request, one audit which led to the discovery of an issue in the way we were editing the sheet and the removal of 35 citizens that should have lost citizenship.

From this post it's quite clear that the issue was caused by the way we (The Speaker's Office) were inserting the data on the spreadsheet. The reason for this error was that members of the Speaker's Office were using Google's "insert link" function instead of manually editing the formula, which created problems with the script. However it should be noted that no member of the Administration team told us that using this function would mess up the script, until I brought up the issue in the Speaker's Office channel. Anyway, I thank you for your help in identifying its cause.

 

[Pallaith]

The issue I was referring to was a DNS error that prevented me from doing all checks not just the RMB activity, which I believe is a different issue than the one you are referring to. I don't know what was the cause of it but it happened more than once during this term. In any case I appreciate the work you have put into promptly addressing it.



I apologize for the misunderstanding. As I wrote in my opening post:


From this post it's quite clear that the issue was caused by the way we (The Speaker's Office) were inserting the data on the spreadsheet. The reason for this error was that members of the Speaker's Office were using Google's "insert link" function instead of manually editing the formula, which created problems with the script. However it should be noted that no member of the Administration team told us that using this function would mess up the script, until I brought up the issue in the Speaker's Office channel. Anyway, I thank you for your help in identifying its cause.

I'm not a script guy, but my understanding is that DNS is a serious error, and something we would see across all platforms, not just the Speaker's spreadsheet. I don't know how persistent an issue it could have been without other people noticing the same issue with their scripts. Not saying it didn't happen, just that it may have been limited in duration and rare, so as to not really be a constant plague of an issue.

I'm concerned with the approach you have taken to responding to Siwale's post though. As I learn more about the tech issues we have had, I am quickly concluding we are seeing a great deal of user error, not error with the script itself. Things have to be done deliberately and correctly, and if you deviate from the path even a little, you can risk screwing up the machinery we have in place. Clearly the citizenship issue affecting 35 nations was user error, no other way to read it. I think it is unfair to blame admins for not warning you against a deviation from using the spreadsheet - there's a lot of things you could do that are not currently done, and I don't think admin could write a manual forbidding you from doing all of those things. If you do something differently, you should anticipate there may be unknown consequences. Observe the spreadsheet, see how it behaves and if anything new changes, and if you notice that, ask around, ask other speakers if you're the Speaker, and ask admin. They should be able to determine if the new thing you tried will be a problem or nt. When in doubt, do what works, because the script needs to be used in exact ways.

I hope as Speaker you won't try to pass the buck or blame others when things go wrong. Explain what happened, but ultimately take responsibility for what transpired. The admins have been under a lot of scrutiny lately, and I would rather it be for things that actually are their fault or on their plate, not user error. You're really good at this job and care a lot, which is good, but you need to resist the temptation to elevate yourself by throwing others down or casting mud at them. A critical post, a post correcting something wrong you said, doesn't feel good but you have to be able to respond to it appropriately.

 

[Praetor]

While I like your stance on not rushing non-legislative motions to vote, your attempt to shift blame from the failings of the Speaker's Office to the admins is incredibly unimpressive.

 

[Venicea]

I'm not a script guy, but my understanding is that DNS is a serious error, and something we would see across all platforms, not just the Speaker's spreadsheet. I don't know how persistent an issue it could have been without other people noticing the same issue with their scripts. Not saying it didn't happen, just that it may have been limited in duration and rare, so as to not really be a constant plague of an issue.

I'm concerned with the approach you have taken to responding to Siwale's post though. As I learn more about the tech issues we have had, I am quickly concluding we are seeing a great deal of user error, not error with the script itself. Things have to be done deliberately and correctly, and if you deviate from the path even a little, you can risk screwing up the machinery we have in place. Clearly the citizenship issue affecting 35 nations was user error, no other way to read it. I think it is unfair to blame admins for not warning you against a deviation from using the spreadsheet - there's a lot of things you could do that are not currently done, and I don't think admin could write a manual forbidding you from doing all of those things. If you do something differently, you should anticipate there may be unknown consequences. Observe the spreadsheet, see how it behaves and if anything new changes, and if you notice that, ask around, ask other speakers if you're the Speaker, and ask admin. They should be able to determine if the new thing you tried will be a problem or nt. When in doubt, do what works, because the script needs to be used in exact ways.

I hope as Speaker you won't try to pass the buck or blame others when things go wrong. Explain what happened, but ultimately take responsibility for what transpired. The admins have been under a lot of scrutiny lately, and I would rather it be for things that actually are their fault or on their plate, not user error. You're really good at this job and care a lot, which is good, but you need to resist the temptation to elevate yourself by throwing others down or casting mud at them. A critical post, a post correcting something wrong you said, doesn't feel good but you have to be able to respond to it appropriately.

While I like your stance on not rushing non-legislative motions to vote, your attempt to shift blame from the failings of the Speaker's Office to the admins is incredibly unimpressive.

I would like to rectify my previous words in the hope of being able to definitively clarify the matter. First of all I would like to say that it was in no way my intention to throw mud on anyone and I would like this to be clear. I have great admiration for the work of the admins and in particular of @Siwale ,@r3naissanc3r and @Crushing Our Enemies who have dedicated their time and energy to provide the Speaker's Office with the tools that allow us to do our work in the best possible way, as efficient as possible.

I now realize that my words were harsher than they should have and I apologize for this. But I want to assure you that everything I said was in good faith: I worked in the Speaker's Office for 4 months, during which I did all my duties almost every day, with seriousness and enthusiasm. From my point of view, losing even 2 or 3 days of work due to an error in a script seems like a bigger issue than it should. However I believe that I may have exaggerated the matter and although there have been some rare technical problems, these have not represented overall an obstacle to our work.

I think it is right to start again from here, from work: I want to continue to serve the North Pacific, to give my energy for this region as I have always done, in serenity and transparency, assuming, when necessary, all my responsibilities. I believe this to be the most important thing and the very essence of the Speaker's role.

That said, I wish everyone a happy election!