Big Bad Badger

I am still ytying to use this forum for multiquotes so I will not quote:

For Dispatchs: 
- I dislike that Red to be honest, it is so bright and cause me serious headache, and I am sure that there is a few people that sadly will provoke them an issue by the bright.
- However, if it is true that I do not do so much for dispatches, I use the basic Wikipedia Format: https://www.nationstates.net/nation=khanterwinters/detail=factbook/id=main
that allows me to play with it, without causing sting in my eyes for abuse of colour (I am not saying that Darkipedia is bad, it is just that for some sadly reason hurts my eyes).
 
Flag: 
- If it is true that we need to update, I suggest a slight update, I do like the actual to be honest. I do like @Mediobogdum type of colours of his forum signature: http://prntscr.com/koh4zy (screencap)
Comic-Sans:
- I Vouch @Davelands  to Hunt you if you want to try to remove it.
Parliment System:
- No No No and NO. Have not you heard the Coup in Lazarus? and Others Coups? Do not put ideas of Democracy, even Real life, Democracy is a Failed system.
 
Vote of no Confidence:
- Erm, just remember this quote "Do laws thinking in the worst of cases", Making a Vote of no confidence, in worst of cases, will cause Coup talkings. So, erm.. Nope (?)
Hall of Nations-ect-stuff:
- if you can make that Residents become Hall of Nations, and HoN be so active to nominate Deputies or Ministers, then you have a win-win. Remember that is a game, and the people who is in the ministery is because is the active people at all, and the people with experience. 

However, I could suggest a Civil Service or Education Service, to help new HoN to know how to work in each Ministery, to know the job of a Deputy, ect.

 

I love the spirit of this thread, and with that being said, here goes nothing!
Government reforms - parliamentary system
The delegate is elected by the Hall of Nations. This encourages participation in forum government, and keeps the delegate responsive to the people. The Hall would probably function as it does, although the Delegate could assume the Speaker's function. I don't have much thought on that at the moment. Ministers would continue to be elected or appointed as normal. Guardians would either stay as normal, or would have their positions assumed by the Ministers. Alternatively, a Minister of Security could be created that heads the Guardians.  A vote of no confidence by the Hall can trigger a special election, with the victor serving until the end of the next term. No confidence votes can be used to either replace a single Minister or Delegate, or to remove and replace the whole Government. A better judicial system where people can appeal ejections and the like, where the people doing the ejecting don't sit on the jury. Have a functioning intelligence division. I've never seen or heard of any real activity in there, though perhaps they just do their jobs really well. Brainstorm ways to make the Hall actually matter outside of elections. Other assorted gripes
The TWP flag could use an update. Since the last change, it's bothered me that the rays aren't symmetrical. Also gradients just aren't good for flags. An update should be something simple and instantly recognizable as TWP's flag. I have some variations that I've made over time here. Official dispatches should have a cohesive aesthetic. Everything looks so much better when there's a contiguous theme between dispatches. Think of us as an RL university. You would want the websites for the colleges and departments to follow the theme of the main university page so that people know they're on a university website. TWP colors would need to be solidified. I recommend #CC0000 for the red, #481C5E for the purple, and white. In dispatch terms, there should be a single header style, with a graphic and title that makes it obvious it's an official TWP dispatch. One menu below that would be for the main pages that should always be a click away. A second menu could be located either below that or to the side, that lists a table of contents or quick links specific to that dispatches needs. Here is an example of what I'm thinking of. A single body style would control the font and size used, as well as the way headings and subsections look and are divided. The footer style would be mainly aesthetic, containing a small section of quick links that includes the umbrella dispatch. @Neenee, how do you feel about these flag and theme ideas? We're really missing out on a vibrant part of a community by neglecting RP. We've kind of just accepted the fact that it isn't going to be popular in TWP, but it feels like we just need to collectively give it a shot. This can be in a ton of ways, there can be a lot more than just story RP and the like. It seems to me that there's a good possibility of using our nations for this, what with the map and factbook success we've had in the past. Edit: What I mean by "using our nations" is by encouraging things like the Teikei and the LoEA On that note, I'd be willing to put together a new map and keep it updated and try revamping Darkipedia, there's a whole lot of potential there. Here is a mockup for Darkipedia's main page. @Mediobogdum and @Davelands, I'm curious as to what you think of these. There are too many banjections for minor infractions. It'll take more effort to explain our rules to people, but it's certainly worth a shot. People don't like to read on the internet. Just tossing our rules at people and ejecting them when they don't read them isn't doing us any favors. That information should be offered in multiple places and different depths. There should be a very condensed form on the WFE, a more in depth form explained when people ignore what is on the WFE, and finally a dispatch with the whole list and explanations for after an RMB/telegram explanation. Newbies might be smelly at first but they tend to get better with age if we just give them a shot in the beginning, metaphorical or otherwise. Edit: Comic Sans and Papyrus should be outlawed in this region for crimes against humanity.

For the most part, in Hall elections, the most capable candidate has been chosen. In many cases that candidate happened to also be the most popular. I feel like it would increase participation and interest, and it would be a fairly simple change overall, the most jarring part of it would be ideological. We already have a strong meritocracy, and there's no reason that electing the Delegate would change that.
I agree that it isn't much used, but it also isn't much advertised. My real gripe with it is that one of the people your appeal is heard by is the one who ejected you. Selecting jurors ad hoc would limit the bias of potential appeals and trials.
I'd argue that ones in the dispatch are in a similar design, but a different style. The design is good, it's the execution that I feel is problematic and counter to accepted flag design, mainly with the gradient. A lot of flags on NS aren't so much flags for a nation or region as banners for a personality, which isn't bad, but perhaps not appropriate for a region.
I can get a map made up this weekend, I think. I like the style Bran did it in, but a larger scale would be better. I can make a thread for it over in RP if you're into it and make an announcement on the RMB and Discord to start taking requests. Medio is the caretaker for Darkipedia right now, so it'd be up to him, but I'm glad you're into a redesign!
You're right that it's not too much to ask, but in some cases it's just too much for people to do. At that point I don't think there's much to do apart from making it as accessible as possible. The RMB Etiquette dispatch might be one page, but there's just a lot of information there and it's not very user friendly. A little formatting could go a long way on that one in particular, though you're right that we're doing better than a couple years ago.
I didn't know that the WFE had a size limit, is that determined by the amount of code or the amount of text displayed?
Those numbers sound right, and if so that's a lot of progress. The most prevalent loss of population is probably less on banjections and more on people just leaving for their multitude of reasons.
Comic Sans is overused and badly designed. Far be it from me to outlaw your fun, but there are plenty of fonts out there that can be upbeat and warm while keeping good design standards. I suggest looking at Google Fonts for others that may be better designed.

*bottom lip quivers*  
I just had this suit dry cleaned. I don't want to get newbie blood all over it!  *bursts into tears*

Greetings!  Nice to have you here!  Make yourself at home and if you have any questions ask @Kawaii!

Greetings!  Nice to have you here!  Make yourself at home and if you have any questions ask @Kawaii!

I recruited Eli to TWP, so technically i am responsible for this post.

I was 16 years old when I found Nationstates in 2004 (hence the name 'the poo dynasty'... erm, yeah).  
 
I'm 30 now.  
 
Along the way, I think I was a dick to most everyone here at some point in my career, particularly in my late teenage years (sorry about that).  My first three years in the game were spent spinning tires as a younger and dumber version of Cormac, first as a rigidly hardcore Francoist, then as an ADN hardliner, then back to a more antagonistic gameplayer, etc.  I matured just a bit in my early 20s and stopped taking the game so damned seriously, which in turn enabled me to become a somewhat better player and coup a bunch of places.  Afterwards, I spent a year or two boasting endlessly about it on the NS GP forums and elsewhere.  Eventually, I lost interest in this and "retired" about 5 years ago, which brings me to the present.    
 
Some of my best memories of the game were from the old s8 TWP forum.  TWP had a completely unrealistic government structure at the time -- loosely based on the US Constitution as far as I could tell, and with a figurehead delegate.  But the player base at the time was so great that it didn't matter.  I even miss F&P; in fact he's one of the few I miss the most.  The kid could always be counted on to spice up a debate lol.  Back then, we fought over lofty ideals, like offsite forum democracy vs Francoism or whatever, and that made the game stimulating.  Now, it's just boring and endless R/D drivel, as it's been for the last 5-10 years.

Dec 3 2002 I had just got to work, same office I'm in now just three different owners since then. Browsing National Review, Jonah Goldberg's column said check out nationstates.net, I'm still here.
That morning as I was getting out of the car, Eli's Coming; Three Dog Night version was playing, so I'm humming Eli's Coming.
My first nation was born that day, Eli was and is a libertarian leaning plain spoken type...
I had to have been born in the Pacific, since it was the only GCR at the time, I think this actually pre-dated the Rejected Realms *scratches head*
 
Soon I went to the Capitalist Alliance, founded by New Caithness who is still around today as El-Cid, and started building alliances between my nation and others in that UCR. I ran for Delegate, in game only, and got elected. Not too long after this I woke up in some other region, I don't believe there were founders yet, and discovered to my chagrin/pleasure that I'd been ejected from the Capitalist Alliance by some sordid scoundrels going by the name of the Atlantic Alliance. <insert boos and hisses here> It seems that they had discovered they could take over regions with a bit of organization and a bull rush to the endorsement button of their favorite take over figurehead. It was a result that had never crossed my mind.
I did a bit of looking around and found out that there were some in the Meritocracy that would help us recover our region. Some treaty organization that Free4All was in, so we in the CA joined it. This eventually resulted in us overtaking the AA's figurehead (or they got bored and went elsewhere) and in Eli becoming interested in the Meritocracy. https://www.nationstates.net/page=news/2003/12/12/index.html.
 
 
 
 
*I'll add to this later this will become a very postzilla type deal before long*
 
 
 
 

Done

Done

Greetings TWP,
Today I want to make the region aware of a situation that came up earlier this week after I had our treaty with the Kingdom of Great Britain repealed and our embassy withdrawn.  The King and his Curia have threatened TWP and Osiris with war, intend to see our downfall.  Furthermore, they have attempted to undermine Europeia.
Several months ago it was discovered that the King Alexander, who otherwise goes by Don, is a pathological liar IC and OOC and an all around manipulative bastard.  He lied about RL situations in order to gain sympathy and manipulate people in his region.  This caused myself and others to leave the region and disassociate ourselves from KGB.  However, we still had this treaty; which I was ok with provided more lies and deceit didn't surface.  A few weeks ago it was discovered that Don was bringing back into KGB a nation known for harassing and bullying behavior who penned this apology letter:  https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=421555   Knowing first hand what had occurred, I could not in good faith allow TWP to be associated with this individual or any region that harbors him.  So after discussing this with the guardians, I decided to act quickly and dissolve our relationship with KGB.
Earlier this week, one of our operatives sent me a long line of logs.  The relevant ones can be found here:  https://imgur.com/a/MZm7P
After laughing voraciously at their thinking that they could coup TWP, I informed our friends in Europeia, Vice Chancellor Brunhilde and director of intel NES of the potential security breech.  They have made sure that Europeia is secure.  The newly elected President, Cat has decided to step down for her part in this.  
When these logs became public a few hours ago, the king has decided to abdicate the throne and quit NS.  Don being a manipulative liar, I am sure will resurface soon.  When he does, I ask that you remember what he has said about TWP and the intentions of his council.  
None of these people:  Don Mountbatten (former king Alexander), Victor Lancaster (the new king William Victor I), Charles Lancaster, Cephal (Cornelius Tallyrand), and John Mountbatten should be forgotten for their role in attempting to subvert TWP and our allies.  We will not work with KGB or the above individuals in any fashion.  I would ask our allies to do the same.  They are not to be trusted!
When I first began diplomacy with KGB last spring, I was pleasantly surprised by the terrific people in the region.  Many of them have chosen to come to TWP over the past few months to see what we have going on here, even becoming actively involved in our TWP community.  Several were actively involved in getting this information to me as they understood the King was making poor choices.  Those of you who have come here from KGB, I hold no ill will towards any of you and ask TWP to do the same.  However, the individuals with the King in the Curia; I do hold you responsible for your statements and actions.
Hail TWP!
Badger

I'm going to vent.
 
It's stupid to think that banning AR 15s could have prevented the recent school shooting.
It's stupid to not ban AR 15s, no one can make a coherent argument for a private citizen to own one. But remember it's just symbolism, there are 300,000,000 guns in the USA.
It's ridiculous that the FBI didn't do something about the shooter.
I bet they get 10k of those warnings a month, humans-mistakes are pretty common.
I've never owned a gun legally myself, 35 years ago I illegally owned an Uzi machine pistol with a fully automatic trigger mechanism. I lived in Illinois at the time so they were illegal there. I traded it for a 10 speed bicycle, once I sawed a limb off a sapling with a magazine I couldn't figure out why I'd want to do that again.
Very little if any property crime in my area, everyone owns a gun (except me). You walk in someone's back yard without a compelling reason you're putting your personal safety at risk. More likely from their dog, I doubt Mr and Mrs Average could hit a Suburban with their Glock 17 from further than 10-15 feet. Ricochets on the other hand could be a problem. There is a reason the AT+T guy and the Charter guy where those neon vests and it isn't traffic. It's to make sure Mr/Mrs Suburbia don't light them up.
Cnn is a fucking joke, so is Fox. Chris Cuomo should be flayed, while tied to Shawn Hannity, being flayed at the same time.
Not really but surely neither one is as stupid as the characters they portray on their nightly BS, if they are God help us all.
It's too bad that outright lies and propaganda is peddled as news, Reality TV for ratings rather than facts is all it is.
 
more later, time to go pay for this mess...
 
 
 

Sorry I'm just getting back to this. 
Westie, reading through your post was emotional and I wasn't able to properly respond. I'm still not but thank you for sharing.
Eli, Cormac, and Dark...thank you. I wasn't able to write about my dad they way I wanted until the end of the year. I wrote about my mother too. 
http://donroach.org/blog/2017/12/31/so-long-2017/
 
So far, in 2018 I've been making choices to "live" and it's been really good.

Hey everyone, I'm the new diplomat from Lazarus! Looks like things haven't stirred much lately, hopefully we'll all be able to kick it up a notch or something.

This forum will have two purposes.  It will give the editor of The West Pacifican an place to advertise positions needed and it will allow citizens and residents of TWP to express interest that they may have in working for the paper.  

Done, done, done.  New Citizens is good news to me!

This week marked the launch of TWP's daily news service. This is an important project that seeks to bring the various aspects of the region's community closer together. I am excited to be part of this and I hope you all are enjoying it. I also hope a couple of you would like to join the team.
I'm in need of one or two research assistants to help me parse the RMB, Discord, our forum, and NSGP for tidbits to be featured in the daily publications. Applicants are preferred to be mature players with a sense of NSGP history and proficient in conversational snark.
Contact me on Discord or telegram Coffee of the Day to apply.

Yours!  If you would like to find an underling or two to fill in, feel free.

Glad to have you here!  Welcome!

Greetings West Pacificans,
My main WA nation is Glacikaldr in The Rejected Realms, and I have recently requested and been accepted as TWP's TRR Ambassador in TRR's forum.
That being said, now that I'm here outside of the comfort of a region that I grown attached to, I'd love to make some more friends and build a bigger network around myself in the gameplay world!
That's where you come into this: I'm pleading for friendships!
You can find out more about me, as well as my contact details, here.
I joined the discord server as Nequedum#1716 and will hopefully see a lot of you over there, but feel free to contact me wherever suits you best!
I look forward to getting to know as many of you as possible, but, for now, that's more than enough from me. Thank you very much for reading!

Oh and, before we all start forgetting and get locked up ourselves, remember to lock up your grandparents and celebrate a hairy Rejectmas! 

Atlae, I feel like I can safely say what you are describing has happened to many of us.  You are a quality player and I have enjoyed getting to know you.  Best of luck.  When you shake free, come and say hi! 
Peace!
Badger

Atlae, I feel like I can safely say what you are describing has happened to many of us.  You are a quality player and I have enjoyed getting to know you.  Best of luck.  When you shake free, come and say hi! 
Peace!
Badger

Hey there folks,
Chilling in a new region, thought I'd give a decent effort to actually integrate into a GCR for once and you wonderful bastards were my third first choice. I mostly lurk discords and avoid actual work like it is the plague, but when push comes to shove I give my best when needed. I am looking forward to getting to know you all and to be a part of your community. I am big into art, music and fiction, so hit me up for discussion on anything like that if you wish. (I am told I need to stop imagining other worlds because this is the only life I will have to appreciate this world and I should focus on the natural, but my retort is that this is the only life I will have to appreciate the infinite worlds of human imagination)

This forum will have two purposes.  It will give the editor of The West Pacifican an place to advertise positions needed and it will allow citizens and residents of TWP to express interest that they may have in working for the paper.