Pestarzt
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Posts posted by Pestarzt
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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.
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To be perfectly frank, the government should involve everyone in a positive manner. Currently, not everyone is as involved as they might like to be, and some of us feel underrepresented. This can be anyone's fault, everyone's fault, or no one's fault. That doesn't matter. We can point fingers all day and it will get us nowhere. Some say that the current leadership should be more accommodating, open, and active. Others say that everyone else should have been doing more. In reality, it was probably a bit of both, plus some other assorted reasons. We should get to the meat and potatoes of what was fundamentally wrong with the last government, and try to fix it.
These are some of the things I believe the government should incorporate:
- Having no requirements to be in the legislature (or to be a citizen).
- Having few appointments, and as many elections as possible, which can help get new people in leadership.
- Having a more transparent government.
- Having as few grey areas as possible with explanations of how things work so there is as little confusion as possible.
- Utilizing a massive recruitment operation to bring in more members.
- Being friendly towards everyone, and answering all questions without condescension.
- A completely independent forum government.
- Having a government formed by the people, not forced upon them by a select few.
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.
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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.
¢¢
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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.
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We could engage in some lovely corporate takeovers too.
Advocate Carl Icahn is pleased to announce that your region's entire assembly has been layed off.
Plot twist: the corporation is a pyramid scheme
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.
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Oh god, and I thought cookie-cutter democracies were boring... o_o
What's not to love about publishing reports for the shareholders on a quarterly basis?
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3,921 - WA Votes: 420
- 1-year Delegatorial Bond Notes: .0348%
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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".
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Bump, because Nephmir just "declared war" on TWP.
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Creepily so
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Clap
in The Lounge
Hey, Pes!
Long time no talk.
Honestly, I've missed you a bit. Your determination, no matter what your goal, helped the community pick itself up, dust itself off, and get going again. That's the way it works- no matter who adds determination to a community, the community benefits.
You contributed to our community a lot. Even after you had mostly left, you continued to help, if slightly unpleasantly, through llamas, even though he hated you and hates us now too.
Anyhow, I will accept your goodwill and run with it proudly.
To any players who weren't here for this person's time with us- he truly was influential here in a lot of ways. He will be remembered for a good long time.
Good luck in life, Pes.
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.
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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.
*wonders if Unibot will write a follow-up article to “Oh the Places You'll Go, TWP”*
I wonder if someone would read it past the first paragraph.
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Clap
in The Lounge
[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.
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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.
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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.
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It's terrifying that Llamas is receiving votes.
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I am faced with a dillemma and need some input.
I sent a message to the previous Delegate asking for some action on the nation Aslan, which is the forum destroyer. I received no response. I sent another message to the current delegate and asked for action. I have not received an answer, despite the fact that the nation has been checked.
The course of action I am thinking of taking is to respond in kind.
Meaning we close both embassies without making an announcement. Treat them with the same respect they have shown us.
My question is: Am I being too much of a B!t@h?
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.
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Your snark really doesn't serve you well.You do realize that you can do it automatically by selecting from the polls? ...Dammit, how long has it been since you've been a delegate? It seems that you're falling behind the times, Milo. You should probably start paying actual attention to new developments.
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.
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I think everyone has their mind made up, the openness of their consideration exited.
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I'm curious.
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just don't count any votes that aren't from WA nations.
You'll be hard-pressed to find a competent delegate willing to strain themselves with checking the WA status of voters in a feeder.
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lol, thanks for the idea Fish.
But I also see that there's been a mistake. What I listed here is not going to be the only authority the delegate will have, it's just a list of changes to the Delegate's authority. Essentially, the Delegate and guardians will still be able to do exactly the same things they do right now, but everything that Fish just listed is new additions to the Delegate's power. Darkesia will still have executive authority, the ability to eject, etc., just as she does right now.
...as though you or anyone can expand or reduce the Delegate's authority.
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Polls don't have that functionality...a WA-only vote is WA-only.First of all, please chill a little. He said it was a WIP, so it is.
Obviously, if we recognize them, they get a vote. If we don't, and they're not in the WA, tough luck.
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- The Assembly would be handled using regional polls. Assembly polls will remain open to all WA members in the region, making sure that each person only gets one vote; however, votes cast by those who have been in the WA or region for less than a week would be discarded and not counted in the official tally, in order to prevent manipulation by switchers or people moving into the region just to vote before leaving.
- The Delegate will be head of the Assembly, organizing debates and voting to keep it from getting out of hand.
- The Assembly's main powers will be reserve powers. Rather than handle the day-to-day running of the region, the Assembly will be expected to serve as a check on the Senate's authority and to represent the will of the region as a whole, rather than just the forums. As most members of the region are not highly interested in the niceties of legislation, bills passed by the Assembly will not require their approval to become law.
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.
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What is TWP'a culture to you?
Genuinely wondering, because you've used the phrase a few times.
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Please do explain, oh wise and mighty Milo. I doubt you will, however. That seems to be a thing with you; you seem to assume that, after you decree something, everyone will automatically agree with you.
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?
You have the idea that somehow, there are people who are innately leaders who should always be glorified and bowed down to, but this is not true in the slightest. I have news for you: this isn't Lazarus anymore, and you're not Chairman here. Here, we choose our own leaders, and none of us owes any loyalty to you unless you win an election, which you haven't yet....is this how you plan to speak as Prime Minister?
Congratulations! You managed to notice the single failure in a relatively successful career! I list Nesapo and Khora, and I'll tell you that in both, I successfully led activity booms that resulted in almost wholy recreated regions.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?
I'll admit that I didn't do well in Lazarus. To some extent, that was my fault; I set goals that proved too ambitious and proved to be unrealistic.Deja vu, then? You never had a plan and never even tried to implement it.
But much more than that, Milo, I failed because of your inability to create a proper regional atmosphere. When I arrived, do you remember what my first action was? I proposed various ways to boost activity in the region. All were immediately shot down by various Lazarenes, including yourself.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...
Because when you created the PRL, you indoctrinated a whole community to be unthinking, resistent to change, and to avoid any innovations outside those proposed by the Chairman. You failed to create a welcoming environment for free speech or thought, one that was activeky hostile to innovation and opposed to new ideas.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
Luckily, that's not what TWP is. TWP is made up of those who are willing to be different, act different, and accelt new things. Don't think that's true? I sent out a single TG to five people, asking if they were interested in opening a RP. All five replies came in the affirmative. This may be difficult for you to accept, but change is very much possible, Milo — but only if the people are open to it.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.
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Welcome! I'm Pest, nice to meet you.
In what ways do you think you want to get involved?
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lol, thanks for noting that. Meant to say "While Prime Minister."
Really? You're accusing my campaign of lacking substance? I outlined very specific steps we could take to improve things. For example, I offered the creation of the ambassador corps as a way to combat our decreasing interregional influence, and I argued for the promotion of RP to increase forum activity. I am very much proposing specific measures for solving problems. What have you done?
The ambassador corps thing is a terrible idea.
While in charge of culture in Lazarus, you did an abysmal job at raising forum activity through RP. It never took off. What would you do to make it work this time.
I proposed a very explicit modification to the legislature, outlined an entire military doctrine, and laid forth a vision on the community's use of this forum.
Exit Poll
in The Lounge
Posted
It's because he's a member of the NPO.