Pestarzt

It's because he's a member of the NPO.

I'll just repost this, for those who may've missed it: http://www.westpacific.org/forums/index.php?/topic/1557-rebellion/page-3#entry34701 TWP's difficulties come from a combination of a lack of a defined goal and some inefficient resource allocation.

Good input, thanks for taking the time to think that out. I won't address your points specifically, but I think the current crowd of regulars will. I will offer one piece of feedback to your post, though. When it comes to fixing (recurrent) inactivity, I think you need to start with yourself. Every citizen should ask, "What do I want to do in TWP's government?" TWP's scenery has changed entirely this year - there are new Guardians, and even more new leaders - but fundamental issues such as productivity haven't changed as drastically. There have been ups and downs. In order to have success in that realm consistently, I still think the region needs to: Figure out its goal: What is the end-goal for TWP? I don't mean "transparent government" or "elections", but rather, what constitutes a successful government? What is the goal of TWP's government? Is it to provide a service for the community? To achieve international power? If your goal is left ambigious, you'll never achieve it, because you won't know what you're trying to accomplish. And if your goal doesn't naturally energize people, you'll get no momentum. Take inventory of its resources: Round up people in this community and pose them these questions. What do you enjoy doing in NationStates? In TWP? What skills do you possess? Are you willing to take ownership of an aspect of TWP and lead it with vision? What direction would you ideally like to see TWP go? What are the things about TWP you would not want to see changed? Apply the information to a gameplan for pursuing its goal: Numbers 1-3 all work together in helping develop an efficient civil service. Number 1, 4, and 5 help you figure out what the interests you're dealing with are. If your goal is vibrant regional culture and bountiful activity, you need to make your decisions in an economic matter. Knowing interests is a part of that. Look at the cost each choice you make moving forward will have on your resources. The most important resources in NS are people's energy, people's skills, people's loyalties (not just to TWP, but to concepts, e.g. supremacy of the in-game mechanics, open citizenship, anything), and headcounts. Try something and remember that your goal doesn't need to be 100% achievable, so as long as it is 100% pursuable. ¢¢

This issue seems old hat: there is no elegant solution to a poorly defined problem. What do you guys think the goal of government in TWP is, at a most basic level? What will change now? Just food for thought.

Advocate Carl Icahn is pleased to announce that your region's entire assembly has been layed off. A pyramid scheme works wonderfully until it's exposed. Only an incompetent manager would allow that to happen before he was prepared to make a getaway.

What's not to love about publishing reports for the shareholders on a quarterly basis? Posts: 3,921 WA Votes: 420 1-year Delegatorial Bond Notes: .0348%

TWP should become the headquarters of an interregional corporation with board members, shareholders, subsidies, foreign offices, trade agreements, and a menacingly loose definition of "resources".

Bump, because Nephmir just "declared war" on TWP.

That guardian symbol turned out to be a remarkably fit logo for URAP, looking back...

Thank you, and again, good luck to you to. I really do think you'll do excellently. Also, I'll probably visit here whenever I get a hint of NStalgia, so I don't think this is the last we'll speak. * RE Llamas: Sometimes unpleasantry is a necessary vehicle for moving conversation forward, or starting one entirely. I didn't plan on that, but I thought it might happen. All I knew is that something would happen, which was my goal. His politics are the complete antithesis of mine: I like honest top-down control, whereas he likes Santa Claus and the democracy fairy. He's very naive about NS GP and I basically exploited him for labor for the duration of our NS relationship. Great guy OOCly, atrocious player ICly. I wonder if someone would read it past the first paragraph.

[OOC] Not sure if I'm a boogeyman here now, but ... it's not like I've ever entertained that before. I've lurked occassionally since my DoS in April, and I wanted to pop in for a moment and applaud what I see as a very impressive accomplishment by this community. When I came in December, there wasn't anything resemblant of the now-buzzing atmosphere here. It's genuinely refreshing. I've seen some comments that suggested my goal in TWP was to make an NPO 2.0 or a Milotopia. I actually liked it a lot here, however. The idea that I was an NPO satellite is wholly farcical -- Milotopia perhaps not. I think everyone strives to make their region fit to them; the net effort of an entire community to do that for themselves ultimately yields something that generally works for the all. Every time I voted, I voted for my ideals, and every time I spoke, I spoke for what I liked. That's the whole idea of government. I always invited people to "do something about it" if they didn't like what I was pushing, and, in private, I was very pleased by the vocal resistance I faced.. I don't have a hat in the ring anymore, so I can freely admit that. * The ongoing "transition" as a whole represents a positive evolution of TWP, and the thinking that made it possible offers itself as a promising example for the rest of NS to follow. The old Guardians guided the history of TWP for a long stretch, and the willingness to let the next chapter of TWP history - for better or worse - be written by a pen other than theirs is healthy for the region and the game. Hats off to the Guardians, and may TWP not forget that example. When I checked the WP's page and say URAP as the incoming delegate, I honestly felt surprised at first -- if it were my choice, I would hesitate to pick him, not knowing how ready he is. But I thought about it and it occurred to me that nothing truly prepares you to be a GCR delegate or an anything in NS except actually doing it - you become a great X while you are an X. URAP is a great choice and already possesses many of the skills he'll need in the seat. Good luck and congrats to him. I've found that communities thrive when you take a chance putting fresh faces in them, even if they aren't vets or elite players (yet) -- when you are entrusted with a position of responsibility, you don't even realize the many ways you learn in the moment. It naturally happens that people step up and learn when they are presented with stakes in this game. And often, those who are given a chance learn the most it, and leave whatever role they had as qualified as anyone to execute its duties. Even better, they often pay it forward afterwards. Whereas Travellers like Pestarzt the Traveller travel like salesmen - finding suitable places to pitch their camps, play a while, and then move on from - these players stay and build a village. As they should. I think back to my time in the SP; when it comes to staying and playing, Kringalia and Hileville are perfect examples. So yeah, kudos to everyone, and have fun. * FTR: I DOS'd myself to prevent myself from possibly playing more than I should ... and, so far, I'm very happy with the choice. I've made good friends in this game and like keeping in touch, I just don't plan on playing. DOS prevents me from doing so -- but I can still visit off-site when I like. NS isn't addicting, it's just easy to come back to and stay longer than you wanted.

It's terrifying that Llamas is receiving votes.

No. I think this is an entirely appropriate course of action. I encourage our leadership to reach out to, perhaps, Yao with questions. I think he may be able to help.

Your snark really doesn't serve you well. I was referring to the fact that you can't give "people we know" votes or bar people who haven't been in the region for more than a week from voting. You had to manually check them.

I think everyone has their mind made up, the openness of their consideration exited.

I'm curious.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a competent delegate willing to strain themselves with checking the WA status of voters in a feeder.

...as though you or anyone can expand or reduce the Delegate's authority.

Polls don't have that functionality...a WA-only vote is WA-only.

1. What about significant TWP'ers who aren't in the WA? If you're really talking about "real democracy for all", what of them? 2. How is the assembly actually checking any Senate power? What powers does it explicitly have? 3. If the Assembly nations are not checking the forum, what qualifies them to make an educated vote on the recall of a person whose activity is chiefly on the forum? Isn't your proposal essentially giving the region nothing more than rubber-stamp powers on matters that they don't check up on? I strongly encourage new players to ask how this proposal actually strengthens the in-game community. Llamas' proposal makes large promises in populist language, but doesn't actually provide any concrete way of empowering the in-game population. Don't make the n00bish mistake of not questioning what you support just because it sounds nice. Pay attention to the details.

What is TWP'a culture to you? Genuinely wondering, because you've used the phrase a few times.

Our forum community is relatively inactive. Rather than spending our players attentions, which is an invaluable resource, on registering to other forums to post updates, it would be wiser to direct their efforts internally. Ambassadors on NS, save for very experienced players or the one-in-a-hundred well trained diplomat, generally don't do much more than post updates. In the days where forums were less accessible and the game wasn't as easily-navigable, they had more value, but diplomacy is conducted more informally nowadays. The experienced players traditionally serve as diplomats to feeders, and this works. The few major UCR's at a given are usually ambassador'd by no more than two trained diplomats, often covering multiple regions. They develop friendships in a region and participate a bit there. Beyond that, it's just a question of posting updates, which I don't care about. Updates are seldom read anyway. The tone of your post is completely uncalled for and immature. Is this how you plan to lead? ...is this how you plan to speak as Prime Minister? You have no record of success in GCR's, is what I was pointing out. They're quite different. How do we know that your Prime Ministership won't be your second? Deja vu, then? You never had a plan and never even tried to implement it. Because you whined, didn't debate maturely, and were very condescending and self-righteous. You say you take accountability for your shortcomings, but I just see you deflecting all responsibility onto me... Rather, when you realized your ideas were widely unsupported, you whined and got yourself booted. Your ideas are often poorly thought-out and naive. You have said, just within a day's of campaigning, the following: The Prime Minister should be a Guardian The Rejected Realms is an ideal ally for TWP This is what you always say and do. You send TG's. You get responses. Then you don't do anything. The RP dies before it ever starts and you point the finger at everyone else.