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New ladavia wrote:Just a question how would you change the influence minimum to 2000 then like mount Seymour proposed

I believe 2000 is what NS defines as "influential".

Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 5 othersPalos heights, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, and New ladavia

Sorry then to Mount Seymour
My misunderstanding

Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 6 othersPalos heights, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Cosona, Bagiona, and Syllabun

Uan aa Boa wrote:<snip>

I am for the Influence restriction, despite only being halfway meeting the requirements. I can wait another year to reach the proper levels.

I don't get to vote in this poll, because I'm not a WA member, and have very recently joined this region, but IMHO, since environmental protection seems to be Forest's main concern, it would be wise to establish embassies only with regions that are tagged as eco-friendly and actually rank well on indicators such as weather, environmental beauty, etc.

Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Love and Nature, Lord Dominator, and 8 othersUan aa Boa, Palos heights, Dwardossa, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Cosona, Bagiona, and Catterland

Motukairangi wrote:I don't get to vote in this poll, because I'm not a WA member, and have very recently joined this region, but IMHO, since environmental protection seems to be Forest's main concern, it would be wise to establish embassies only with regions that are tagged as eco-friendly and actually rank well on indicators such as weather, environmental beauty, etc.

That's a very valid point, but to my understanding, that makes Forest's embassies very niche and makes it difficult for us to expand our footprint, since there aren't too many regions with that tag that meet our requirements (compared to the entirety of NS). Having the tag is a major plus when looking for embassies, but not a mandatory requirement. The other indicators are also pretty telling when looking for an embassy, but once again, not mandatory.

The new bluestocking homeland, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, and 10 othersAeterno tranquillitas, Uan aa Boa, Palos heights, Dwardossa, Turbeaux, Seagull, Cosona, New ladavia, Bagiona, and Syllabun

To be clear, were we to go through with the influence requirement, I wouldn’t push for a tiered system or anything on the embassies themselves.

2000 is just the number coded into the game to define “influential” in polls, yes.

Requiring influentialness might also help to encourage endorsing and increased WA presence, because the more endorsements you gain, the faster you can vote.

I’m not sure I’d actually want to see it in practice (or that it would ever actually happen), but theoretically the influentialness requirement means that if there was someone you, for whatever reason, disapproved of, you could withhold your endorsement of them to make them take that much longer to be able to vote. A sort of “peer approval”.

EDIT: Another thing to consider is if we would want to use the influence requirement for FK voting as well.

Alanis Star, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 7 othersPalos heights, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, Syllabun, and Rivienland

Mount Seymour wrote:I’m not sure I’d actually want to see it in practice (or that it would ever actually happen), but theoretically the influentialness requirement means that if there was someone you, for whatever reason, disapproved of, you could withhold your endorsement of them to make them take that much longer to be able to vote. A sort of “peer approval”.

As a nation relatively new in the region, I wouldn't mind this system, even though my influence is /very/ low (though I plan on joining the WA soon regardless). If anything, this system could encourage more nations to speak up regarding how they feel about certain policies. Just because some nations can't vote doesn't mean we can't post well formatted arguments for, or against certain policies. I think the RMB and forum have shown that Forest is open to fair discussion, and that many members will take note of what other nations think.

The niceties of normal moral constraints

Re: poll/election procedures

Y'all are making this way the hell to complicated. All you really need to do is 1) ask a yes/no question; 2) throw an even-sided die #-of-nations-in-Forest times; 3) tally each odd roll as yes, even as no.

Over the long run, this random procedure and "true" voting are indistinguishable. I say keep it simple.

Sacara, Alanis Star, Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, and 6 othersAeterno tranquillitas, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, and Rivienland

Caracasus wrote:Well I tell you what, we'll let you start on the Jubilee line, that way you'll likely have completed a set or two before us more experienced players have gotten past Hammersmith.

Edit: It is such a shame the game never really took off outside the UK. I mean it is easy enough once you've got the basics under your belt. I think they did a New York based one back in the 70's but I don't know what happened to it or if anyone still plays it.

Eh, I still have zero idea what it's about. Been trying to find the rules but apparently you can't really find it? shock and horror

New ladavia wrote:Does anyone do MUN because this is good practice for writing resolutions in MUN and vice versa

Conversely, it is pretty horrible for MUN. I had a friend here (who is attending Oxford now) who played NS and said that the GA resolutions weren't up to par and henceforth he didn't see a need to participate in them; additionally, I've seen more intricate things from my MUN friends as well and at the only two MUN conferences I attended so I think that's a sign?

The niceties of normal moral constraints wrote:Re: poll/election procedures

Y'all are making this way the hell to complicated. All you really need to do is 1) ask a yes/no question; 2) throw an even-sided die #-of-nations-in-Forest times; 3) tally each odd roll as yes, even as no.

Over the long run, this random procedure and "true" voting are indistinguishable. I say keep it simple.

I know you guys aren't Wysteria, but - would it be possible to just allocate members a set number of "votes" based on influence scores and just count that? so a bit like weighted voting where even newer members can participate. I'm just throwing up ideas, so don't take me seriously!

Alanis Star, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, and 7 othersAeterno tranquillitas, Palos heights, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, and Syllabun

Hello there! Valentine Z here, yet again. Thought I will just drop by and say hello and whatnot. :P

It's been a while, I suppose! Just busy with school life, and other times, I spend my time on F7.

Sacara, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, and 7 othersAeterno tranquillitas, Palos heights, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, and Syllabun

Caracasus, when are the writing contest submissions due by timezone & by specific deadline? By November 22, do you mean it's due the moment the clock hits midnight on November 21 and thereby becomes November 22, or before November 22 is over?

Sacara, Caracasus, Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, and 5 othersPalos heights, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Cosona, and Syllabun

Hansard isles, it is not all that complicated. All you need is a map of the London Underground and some wit. The goal is to be the first to Mornington Crescent, but it is really more about clever banter. I don't know enough about London culture to participate, but it looks like fun!

Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, Palos heights, Canaltia, and 1 otherCosona

Government Post
Does anyone have ideas for photo contest categories besides trees? Last year there were "nature in unexpected places", "weather", and "sunrise/sunset".

I would personally like an "after dark" category.

Sacara, Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 5 othersPalos heights, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, and Syllabun

Turbeaux wrote: Government Post
Does anyone have ideas for photo contest categories besides trees? Last year there were "nature in unexpected places", "weather", and "sunrise/sunset".

I would personally like an "after dark" category.

Maybe something specifically aquatic. Though I did really enjoy the "nature in unexpected places" last year too. I think a category addressing the mix of an urban setting and environment in a purposeful way might make a good category.

Sacara, Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 3 othersTurbeaux, Seagull, and Cosona

Turbeaux wrote:I would personally like an "after dark" category.

Just for clarity... what exactly do you mean by that? The term "after dark" is often used for... "adult themes" shall we say. I'm guessing you might mean it a bit more literally?

Mount Seymour, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, Turbeaux, and 2 othersCanaltia, and Cosona

Verdant Haven wrote:Just for clarity... what exactly do you mean by that? The term "after dark" is often used for... "adult themes" shall we say. I'm guessing you might mean it a bit more literally?

Night photography. I am open to naming suggestions! I like the idea of an aquatic category too, but do not really have any clever ideas for a name.

Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 3 othersCanaltia, Seagull, and Cosona

The new bluestocking homeland

Uan aa Boa wrote:On the question of restricting embassy votes to influential nations - if Mount Seymour is confident that the threshold is a whopping 2000 points of influence then it's a far more radical step then I had envisaged when I set the poll. I'd been imagining a very low quantity of required influence, perhaps tied to the very early stage at which you get the Light the Lamps banner that says "become influential in a region." I therefore didn't personally think it would make a significant difference.

2000 SPDR though... we currently have only 92 nations that have that much influence. At the next update Elvish aressaria will become the 93rd. It reduces the electorate as dramatically as requiring WA membership. Some big names, including Calenmor, Zwangzug and Areulder don't make the cut. Everyone should understand how drastic that restriction is.

I'm kind of coming round to the idea. After all, if you have that much influence you've either been here a long time or you've committed your WA membership to the region for at least a few weeks and taken the time and trouble to gather endorsements. While you were doing that you weren't gaining much influence on any other nation you had. Those nations weren't making a full contribution to any other region (including founderless ones where influence really matters), you weren't involved in any region's military, you couldn't be a citizen of the Pacific etc etc. Meet that threshold and you're invested in Forest. While others might disagree with your embassy votes they have no right to say you don't understand Forest or aren't in a position to judge what's best for the region. It also has the simplicity of requiring a one word amendment to the constitution rather than the introduction of an inelegant tiered set of rules that could never capture the individual flavour of regional cultures.

Hearing it's 2000 gives me pause.

I was in favour of an Influence requirement, but 2000 actually seems quite punitive. I've been going through non-WA nations in the region by Residency. Quite a few of the longest established barely reach the requirement and some don't.

Yeldan Nature Preserve -- here for 1,751.66 days (10th in our region for Residency) and Land o Birds -- 20th in the region for Residency, with 1,054 days -- don't make the 2000 mark (not to mention the people Uan's already mentioned).

Now that I know how many people would be impacted, I've actually gone the other way on this. I don't think I can support denying a vote to so many long-standing residents.

I'd rather we either went back to looking at new requirements of embassies, or instituted some kind of trial period for new embassies (say six months) after which we vote again to see if we're happy with how the embassy worked out and -- if not -- consider closure.

Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, Turbeaux, Canaltia, and 2 othersCosona, and Syllabun

Elvish aressaria

Uan aa Boa wrote:

2000 SPDR though... we currently have only 92 nations that have that much influence. At the next update Elvish aressaria will become the 93rd. It reduces the electorate as dramatically as requiring WA membership. Some big names, including Calenmor, Zwangzug and Areulder don't make the cut. Everyone should understand how drastic that restriction is.

I'm kind of coming round to the idea. After all, if you have that much influence you've either been here a long time or you've committed your WA membership to the region for at least a few weeks and taken the time and trouble to gather endorsements. While you were doing that you weren't gaining much influence on any other nation you had. Those nations weren't making a full contribution to any other region (including founderless ones where influence really matters), you weren't involved in any region's military, you couldn't be a citizen of the Pacific etc etc. Meet that threshold and you're invested in Forest. While others might disagree with your embassy votes they have no right to say you don't understand Forest or aren't in a position to judge what's best for the region. It also has the simplicity of requiring a one word amendment to the constitution rather than the introduction of an inelegant tiered set of rules that could never capture the individual flavour of regional cultures.

I was mentioned!!!

Imperial spiritus

Hello there, I used to support the Right wing, but not anymore, I can't support this ideology anymore so I choose to join freedom.

Peace

Lord Dominator, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Cosona, and 1 otherElvish aressaria

Shwe Tu Colony wrote:Caracasus, when are the writing contest submissions due by timezone & by specific deadline? By November 22, do you mean it's due the moment the clock hits midnight on November 21 and thereby becomes November 22, or before November 22 is over?

Before the 22nd is over I reckon.

Lord Dominator, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Cosona, and 1 otherSyllabun

Caracasus wrote:Before the 22nd is over I reckon.

But what timezone?

Caracasus, Lord Dominator, Turbeaux, Canaltia, and 1 otherCosona

Shwe Tu Colony wrote:But what timezone?

Wherever you are maybe? As long as it's not past midnight of the 22nd where you live you are OK.

Caracasus wrote:Wherever you are maybe? As long as it's not past midnight of the 22nd where you live you are OK.

Very well then (PST). I'm barely done with mine... might have to submit it half baked but it still functions as a story, just with a different main plotline.

As The niceties of normal moral constraints have pointed out, IMO the ideas that have so far been proposed are too complicated.

I might be a minority here that has an opinion that 'too much' embassies is fine, as long as they are good and active enough. Aren't Forest an inclusive region?

My suggestion, we shouldn't be more restrictive when it comes to new embassy. It has worked for years. But, to keep a quality list of embassied region, we need to review them every three months or so. If some are not meeting our requirements, become inactive, or it has dropped in quality, we should hold a vote whether to keep them or not. I think this wouldn't require constitutional changes.

Also, sorry if i'm not making sense. Writing this in English is harder than i thought it would be.

Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, Aeterno tranquillitas, and 5 othersTurbeaux, Canaltia, Cosona, The void territories, and Syllabun

I'd note that my nation is 8th for Influence and 45th for Residency, primarily by endorsing anyone who endorses me and by being high profile.

Influence is primarily a function of endorsements, so non-WA nations have a hard time accumulating any significant amount, as do nations that don't do the whole auto-reciprocation thing.

I'd also note that Influence can be spent for various things like banjection, but I guess that the threshold is low enough that no delegate is going to drop below that number.

I's also note that any nation that goes on a journey to another region for ambassadorial or social reasons is going to find their residency reset, and their Influence rapidly plummeting.

I'd suggest that if you're looking to identify "citizens" then the best thing to do would be to go with self-identification, and to stipulate that the nation should not self-identify as a citizen of any other region. Policing that beyond that probably isn't worthwhile.

Sacara, Mount Seymour, Ruinenlust, Lord Dominator, and 7 othersAeterno tranquillitas, Turbeaux, Canaltia, Seagull, Cosona, Bagiona, and Syllabun

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