(07-21-2022, 11:27 AM)The Lile Ulie Islands Wrote: I love democracy.

I love the Republic Coalition.

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More generally speaking, I'm not sure I understand the notion that the RMB is its own unique community that should function as its own unique electorate.

For a long time now, RMB 'governance' has been framed around moderation. We establish rules to prevent the discussion there from getting out of hand. And those rules are often necessary! At the end of the day, however, a government framed around moderation is aimed at protecting the status quo. Unlike our government ministries — which are established with ministries specifically focused on engaging with new and existing South Pacificans — the Local Council has ended up with a focus on welcoming newcomers by informing them of our rules. How many new South Pacificans discover the RMB and promptly have a post suppressed for double posting? How many of them might feel intimidated by a message informing them that they have received a DEPUTY COUNCILLOR WARNING: LEVEL 1?

Rules for RMB moderation are undoubtedly well-intentioned and necessary. That doesn't mean they must be enforced by an elected, in-character government entity. I'm grateful to our administration and moderation team that, while I can have fun participating in our ministries, they work behind the scenes to enforce the ground rules that keep our community safe and allow us to play this game with each other. That's why, to be honest, I'm confused why this seems like such a sticking point. Would you rather spend your time on telling people not to double post, or would you rather spend it on an event like SwanVision?

Unless we just find it really fun to tell people they're breaking our rules, the RMB doesn't need its own government. There's nothing unique to the RMB that doesn't relate to our government functions elsewhere. The 'forumside' community doesn't need its own government either, before anyone brings that up. But our region does need a government. The region should elect their government, and the government should work for the region. And that gives us much more flexibility. It's much easier for a truly regional government — not a regional government with an asterisk for 'gameside' home rule — to actually serve the region. For instance, it would be much easier for a part of our government focused on culture and events to announce off-site that it will be hosting an event by, say, regional poll. And it would be much easier for that government entity to announce on-site that it will be hosting an event, say, on Discord.

We all love democracy here, even if we're not all Palpatine. But when we think about democracy, we ought to frame our mindset around building a democracy that represents our regional community, not one particular aspect of it.