(08-22-2021, 09:35 AM)HumanSanity Wrote: Luca's departure from the Discord server has made this question slightly more urgent, I believe.

My pre-existing issues with depression are regrettably part of the nature of living.

(08-22-2021, 08:20 PM)HumanSanity Wrote: I am re-reading Luca's post about the position, and I am increasingly understanding of their perspective that if Viet is the only candidate for the position, this may be a structural part of the Ministry of Engagement that the Assembly must address via legislation rather than something we should try to alter via this temporary appointment. It's probably not the role of this appointment process to reshape MoE's role, rather it's the role of the Assembly if such a change is necessary.

It's also entirely possible/likely we have a positive impression of the idea of Ero/Oshiega but that putting them in the position would be a level of responsibility they're not ready for, or that MoE is not the ideal place to put them. We should definitely look into mentoring newer players, but who knows if this is the right way to do it.

Somy just announced an LOA from the Assembly, so it'll probably be hard to reach him, plus I doubt he's in an RL position to take on the position. 

So maybe Viet? As I think it over, I get Luca's argument more.

I believe that you do as well.

I do not think that MoE is a viable electable position where a candidate may win an uncontested election (as was the case with my arrival), nor where an unqualified candidate may win in a wave of populism. When I debated this topic with Somyrion, about how the position was a service one rather than a social/integration one, he invited me to destroy the ministry if I felt like it and rebuild it into the image I desired, as was my right as minister.

This is irresponsible. We provide the infrastructure for the bulk of TSP, we cannot afford to start from square one even once, let alone every time. Even in smaller cases like dismantling the dispatch project and replacing it with something else is absolutely unacceptable because of how much the region itself relies on our informational dispatches (which can be destroyed at will).

The reason that I feel MoE is an issue is because it currently *is* an elected political office that is supposed to be campaigned for, made promises for, supposed to be sensationalised as the activities of Culture and MoD need to be sensationalised in order to build up inspiration. That's not really how long term development and infrastructure projects work, and every time in the future that we have an election, we run the risk of all existing progress being destroyed if it is the whim of whoever gets into the program. I feel like this is different than how it would be in culture (where we could not have events) or MoD (where we could not have military activity or support an embarrassing party in military gameplayer). This issue is more existential.

Our goals should be to support the existing infrastructure and ensure that it is improved upon and continues to function, and in this regard Viet is most suitable as he is the most experienced, having built a great deal of it. But the position itself should likely be transferred to something more stable like apolitical OOC admin to keep the expectations reasonable, burnout low, and guarantee that the services will continue to exist tomorrow.

In this regard, a solution in the Assembly ought to be reached where the interactivity, the engagement, the integration aspect is picked up by Media or Culture, and the technical aspect is treated just like the forum administration. I do not think that it is wise or fair to the office or candidate to toss the office at Oshiega, we are setting ourselves up for failure or expectations that are too high.