The South Pacific

Everybody in this community knows who I am and has their own opinion on my career in The South Pacific. I won't spend too much time writing an autobiography for you guys. But here are the highlights: 

• 4th longest-serving Chair of the Assembly (204 days)
  
• 2nd longest-serving Minister of Foreign Affairs (548 days)
  
• Member of the Council on Regional Security and its predecessor
  

I've served, for better and worse, as a hands-on tech administrator of our forums, writing our existing forum and moderation rules. My ideas and writing are woven into much of our law books.

In other words, I've dedicated a long time to our community, through thick and thin. Today marks 4 years and 272 days. Of course, I'm hardly the most senior member of our community, nor am I responsible for many of our achievements. It's been a group project for all of us. While some have taken leadership roles, nobody rules  TSP.

It's in that spirit that I run for Delegate. I don't want to run TSP, but I do want to be one of our leaders. Leadership of our government rests with the Prime Minister, but leadership of the whole community is what we've envisioned in the Delegate since the Coalition was first formed in 2003.

As Delegate, I want to provide the safety of my security experience, the no-bullshit attitude of my foreign affairs tenure, and the dedication and loyalty that I've shown to TSP over nearly 5 years. Here are some ideas of what that would look like: 

• Working with the Local Council to maintain a healthy RMB community, and a flourishing local government. I collaborated with PS2 on passing the Local Council federalization amendment to the Charter. Having an on-site local government is something I'm invested in, and I want to see the LC increase its own investment and involvement in governing the RMB.
  
• Taking no shit from shit-talkers. Even with glorious shit-posters like Roavin in our ranks, I'm still probably the most active and present TSPer in the Gameplay forums. I've never shied away from calling out the ridiculousness of our enemies, or protecting the good names of our own and of TSP as a whole. While some think it's best to just sit back and ignore it, I believe that communicating our strength actually requires communication. I wouldn't be a silent reserved Queen Elizabeth II. I would stand up for TSP whenever the likes of Balder, Osiris, or others in that gang try to tarnish us.
  
• Exercise our clout in the World Assembly. We have a large chunk of voting power in the World Assembly. We should use it to our own advantage. I want to work with our Cabinet to create a competitor to the World Assembly Legislative League (WALL), and use what the game mechanics give us to make TSP a place where WA authors lobby for our votes. Unlike any of my competitors, I have significant name recognition in the General Assembly.
  
• Ensure quick responses to security situations. The Delegate is the point-person for banning and ejecting, as they get a "discount" on using those tools. I'm a highly-responsive player and a member of the Council on Regional Security, two things that make a perfect combination in a Delegate.
  

Any questions?

You are notably dismissive of the importance and role of TSPers who do not use the off-site forum; how would reconcile this with the role and duties of the Delegate?

(01-04-2018, 05:53 PM)Belschaft Wrote: [ -> ]You are notably dismissive of the importance and role of TSPers who do not use the off-site forum; how would reconcile this with the role and duties of the Delegate?

The forum is one venue, the RMB is another. You can be on one or both. There's really nothing anybody needs to reconcile. I've never been "dismissive" of the importance/roles of people who don't use the forums. That's a misrepresentation of my beliefs, based on your own belief that there's only one community and the forum must cater to the wishes and desires of the RMB. What I've actually said and believe is that they're two communities, both important in their own ways and both doing different things.

The Delegate is both an on-site and forum position in our system of government. But the Delegate doesn't rule over either. The LC is responsible for the RMB; the Cabinet for the forums. I would work with both to keep TSP a fun place to play NS, and to keep us growing in all senses of the word. How that happens is largely up to what functions the Delegate will play in the LC and Cabinet's own agendas. I wouldn't be able to force myself into their plans, but I would certainly share my opinions and offer myself whenever I can.

Your last RMB post was half a year ago and your last substantive RMB posts were fully a year ago during - no shocker - the delegate election. As you said in your campaign, "the Delegate is both an on-site and forum position"; and delegate is clearly the most gameside-related office after the Local Council. How are we to believe that you will at least notice the RMB community given this apparent dismissal of it? In what way do you believe TSP will benefit from another term of a delegate who seems to be never present to to the RMB half of our community?

(01-04-2018, 08:33 PM)Somyrion Wrote: [ -> ]Your last RMB post was half a year ago and your last substantive RMB posts were fully a year ago during - no shocker - the delegate election. As you said in your campaign, "the Delegate is both an on-site and forum position"; and delegate is clearly the most gameside-related office after the Local Council. How are we to believe that you will at least notice the RMB community given this apparent dismissal of it? In what way do you believe TSP will benefit from another term of a delegate who seems to be never present to to the RMB half of our community?

If I was running for the LC, this would be valid criticism. But I'm not. It's not the Delegate's role to moderate the RMB. Nor is it acceptable or fair for you to impose upon the position that somebody must be an RMBer to hold it. Tsu only posted sporadically as Delegate, and he's our most celebrated one to date.

The fact is, the vast majority of TSPers with the government experience necessary for us to believe they're capable and fit for the job don't post on the RMB. If that's your one criterion, vote for Seraph. The TSP forums are my home, and this is a perfectly valid community here. The RMB is no better, no lesser. The forum community produces & nourishes incredibly talented, loyal, and active players. We aren't all RMBers-- it's not our community. And that's 100% okay.

I helped create the Local Council to address this exact issue. The Delegate isn't the ruler of the RMB. It doesn't make any decisions for the RMB community at all, in fact. A Delegate who comes from the forum community can work with the LC. That doesn't take spending a lot of time on the RMB, as if post counts and RMB name recognition are the most important aspects of the job.

However, the Delegate cannot completely ignore the RMB alltogether. The RMB is home for, in my opinion, about 75% of the activity on TSP, and is, IMO, more convienient, considering it is directly in the game.

(01-04-2018, 09:12 PM)sandaoguo Wrote: [ -> ]If I was running for the LC, this would be valid criticism. But I'm not. It's not the Delegate's role to moderate the RMB. Nor is it acceptable or fair for you to impose upon the position that somebody must be an RMBer to hold it. Tsu only posted sporadically as Delegate, and he's our most celebrated one to date.

 Worth noting that according to the Charter it is the Delegate's role, to an extent:

Quote:VII. THE DELEGATE
2. The Delegate will work with the Local Council in moderating the Regional Message Board, [...]

Convince me you can tart at the baller levels needed of a Delegate, please.

(01-04-2018, 09:12 PM)sandaoguo Wrote: [ -> ]If I was running for the LC, this would be valid criticism. But I'm not. It's not the Delegate's role to moderate the RMB.

...

The Delegate isn't the ruler of the RMB. It doesn't make any decisions for the RMB community at all, in fact. A Delegate who comes from the forum community can work with the LC. That doesn't take spending a lot of time on the RMB, as if post counts and RMB name recognition are the most important aspects of the job.

I really don't think that's a valid thing to say, Glenn, and it definitely doesn't make you look good. "I won't post on the RMB because I don't feel like it and I don't have to" is the epitome of a cop-out and, as a frequent poster on the RMB myself, really turns me off to your campaign. In addition, Tsunamy might have been a good delegate in other fields, but not posting much on the RMB was a flaw of his, as it has been a flaw of at least one delegate since him. Delegates, as the figurehead of our region, should be as involved with the community as is possible, and I really would hate to see another uninvolved and distant delegate.

(01-04-2018, 10:47 PM)Farengeto Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-04-2018, 09:12 PM)sandaoguo Wrote: [ -> ]If I was running for the LC, this would be valid criticism. But I'm not. It's not the Delegate's role to moderate the RMB. Nor is it acceptable or fair for you to impose upon the position that somebody must be an RMBer to hold it. Tsu only posted sporadically as Delegate, and he's our most celebrated one to date.

 Worth noting that according to the Charter it is the Delegate's role, to an extent:

Quote:VII. THE DELEGATE
2. The Delegate will work with the Local Council in moderating the Regional Message Board, [...]

I know the wording, I wrote it The Delegate works with the Local Council to do these things. Those aren't the Delegate's responsibilities-- they're the LC's, and the Delegate is there to help. As I've highlighted in my last posts, the Delegate's role isn't to rule anything. Governing is the realm of the Cabinet and the Local Council, and much of what people have been asking candidates in this cycle to do falls under governing.

I don't think the Delegate is or should be a "first among equals" with the Local Council, for example. Nor do I think the Ministry of Regional Affairs should be abdicating its role in promoting activity. The Delegate can't be a jack-of-all-trades job. Despite good intentions, I think we'll end up seeing a lot of things never quite come too fruition, because people are over-promising what they can (or should) do as Delegate (and as a single person).

A lot of lofty language gets used in these elections. But when you have to get down into it, what the Delegate can actually do is limited. For example, "communication" is a great buzzword, but it really just means re-jiggering the Welcome Telegram to emphasize the parts of TSP we want more people to pay attention to. It just means answering TGs from random newbies and making sure you get a line in about the LC or joining the forums.

(01-04-2018, 09:50 PM)North Prarie Wrote: [ -> ]However, the Delegate cannot completely ignore the RMB alltogether. The RMB is home for, in my opinion, about 75% of the activity on TSP, and is, IMO, more convienient, considering it is directly in the game.

The RMB is an off-topic chat room 99% of the time. Just today, people talked about Star Wars, prehistoric farming, and the Greek language. The Delegate election is a popular topic, after which the RMB will return to being its fun random self.

In other words, being an active poster on the RMB isn't a good measure of how much somebody pays attention to the in-game community, or how well they can divine the political wishes of the community that are relevant to TSP's government. As Delegate, I can talk to the Local Council-- they're all on Discord-- and relay relevant information back and forth. I can help brainstorm ideas for LC projects. I can be there to approve/send mass TGs, and help write them too. I can even set up polls, which often provide a topic for discussion on the RMB.

There isn't actually a whole lot the Delegate needs to do in order to be a good conduit. The LC has to take the lead on making the RMB a better place to be. The Cabinet does the same with the rest of the government. We're all on Discord chatting with each other every day, so there isn't any lack of communication. If the Delegate doesn't want to spend every day chatting about random things on a single-thread message board, they don't have to. It wouldn't make them any less of a good, responsive Delegate.

(01-04-2018, 11:31 PM)Tim Wrote: [ -> ]Convince me you can tart at the baller levels needed of a Delegate, please.

Well, I made the tarter everyone on the CRS uses. I tart a couple time per month. Pretty much every CRS member that hasn't had the benefits of being Delegate, is clustered around the ~270-290 range. That pattern has held steady for a while now, with regular tarting and mass TGs. I'm all ears if you have any better ideas!

Ideally, we figure out how to do the same thing as TNP. Scripting stuff usually falls to me, though, and it's not as quick and easy as some people think