Hi everyone,

There has been some talk in the last weeks about a unified application and actually pushing it out this time: This form exists and I spoke with Roavin and we can use it as a starting point for applications for all ministries, SPSF, and Legislatorship. Would solve a lot of issues we're having with applications right now and definitely help out a lot of Luca's projects.

I want to know from everyone what sort of things you'd like to see added/removed/whatever, but keep in mind that the form probably won't be perfect on first release and we can definitely do some tinkering. The goal should be to actually get an application released, not for it to be perfect. I think the hangup was sort of in that ballpark last time and I'd like to avoid that.

So with that, suggestions. How to improve?

 
Witchcraft and Sorcery

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Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Formerly many things in other regions. Defender. Ideologue. he/they.

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We had the Whole India affair last year, so I would recommend a question along the lines of:

Have you been banned in another region? If so, please explain the circumstances of the ban.

4× Cabinet minister /// 1× OWL director /// CRS member /// SPSF

My History

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South Pacific Special Forces (Ministry of Defense) -> Tsunami Force (Ministry of Defense)

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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I'm going to wager that right now this is set up to work something like the new(ish) mod/admin request function on the forum. Hopefully something like this the case and the output is therefore available for all ministries to see. If other ministries need additional eyes to keep an eye out for applications, this is also something MoE can probably help with and get the attention of the right person. Could just be a once daily check for new stuff. Maybe streamlined with a discord bot in the future.

What it looks like right now is one checkbox for every possible sub-department of a ministry. I think that's a bit overkill. So, Media has journalism, statistics, etc. SPSF has tidal force, tsunami force and so on. One possible consideration is that we could have an open-ended box for what areas of involvement an applicant may be interested in. If we can outline the possible involvement areas for each ministry in the OP of the thread this form is linked to, we can probably help the applicant get a better handle on what they're applying for without overloading them with options.

The only thing is that theoretical setup would get pretty messy if an applicant was applying for more than one thing at a time. Actually, the whole thing might already be messy if someone's applying for more than one thing at a time. I see that the application is set for checkboxes, maybe it would be better with radio buttons so applications are 1:1?

Something else to consider, are legislators actually compatible with this type of system? Theoretically, maybe, but I hadn't considered it before.

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I believe Roavin said answers get posted as threads in the Welcoming Center, much like legislator applications. That might answer some of your concerns about messiness - but it would rely on ministers checking the welcome center regularly. I don't think that's an entirely unfair ask but you are certainly the expert when it comes to "engagement" related things.

However i do agree with the open-ended "what are you interested in" box possibly in addition to describing what areas of involvement there are within each ministry.

Edit: and Jay's and HS' suggestions are noted and good ones. Another Whole India affair is not something we want. And wrt legislator checks, speaking as a member of LegComm, they should be if we set it up right. We just need a bit of self-reported information that you see on the current legislator app. Most other stuff happens behind the curtain, if you will.

 
Witchcraft and Sorcery

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Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Formerly many things in other regions. Defender. Ideologue. he/they.

(This post was last modified: 06-22-2021, 01:46 AM by Witchcraft and Sorcery.)

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I have no other concerns that hasn't been brought up by Jay, HS and Luca and I agree with Luca's suggestion of having an open-ended "what are you interested in" box for applicant. I think we can check the Welcoming Centre at least once a day, since it shouldn't take much time.

Although I'm a bit curious about how the answer threads would be formatted; will they be like how admin requests are formatted, with different sections for different things or would it be something else entirely?

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I believe Roavin said answers get posted as threads in the Welcoming Center, much like legislator applications. That might answer some of your concerns about messiness

Specifically, what I was wonder is: If there is an open-ended "what areas of involvement are you applying for" (which might be best), that type of question might get messy if they are applying for many different ministries at the same time. So it might be a good idea to use radio buttons for each ministry, an open ended box for areas of involvement, and therefore one application to each ministry (although they could specify many different involvement areas within that ministry).

- but it would rely on ministers checking the welcome center regularly. I don't think that's an entirely unfair ask but you are certainly the expert when it comes to "engagement" related things.

Certainly, of course, ministries should look at the application thread and try to find their candidates. However, it may not be unreasonable to also have another set of eyes as well, or perhaps an MoE effort to raise the app's attention with a ministry if it's gone a substantial amount of time without being processed.

Up to you all, really.

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Ohhhh I see what you’re saying now Luca. Basically one checkbox per ministry with each having an open-ended answer box for applicants to describe their interests. That might work as long as there’s a description in a very accessible place as to what each ministry does, which it sounds like is MoE’s plan anyway.

 
Witchcraft and Sorcery

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Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. Formerly many things in other regions. Defender. Ideologue. he/they.

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So it might be a good idea to use radio buttons for each ministry, an open ended box for areas of involvement, and therefore one application to each ministry (although they could specify many different involvement areas within that ministry).

To clarify, is your suggestion radio boxes for each Ministry (+Leg and OWL) and each radio box you select gives you access to an opened-ended box to explain what you want to be involved in for that Ministry? Or is it each has a radio box and then one open-ended box to explain at the end of the form?

However, it may not be unreasonable to also have another set of eyes as well, or perhaps an MoE effort to raise the app's attention with a ministry if it's gone a substantial amount of time without being processed.

I agree with this and think it's super reasonable.

Although I'm a bit curious about how the answer threads would be formatted

I am also curious about that

Minister of Foreign Affairs
General of the South Pacific Special Forces
Ambassador to Balder
Former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

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To clarify, is your suggestion radio boxes for each Ministry (+Leg and OWL) and each radio box you select gives you access to an opened-ended box to explain what you want to be involved in for that Ministry? Or is it each has a radio box and then one open-ended box to explain at the end of the form?

No. My suggestion is a radio button option for which ministry the applicant is applying to. Right now, there are checkboxes. Checkboxes mean multiple answers can be submitted at a time, radio buttons means you can only pick one.

My thinking is that if there is an open-ended box for what area of involvement the applicant wants, the responses may be confusing or nonsensical (both to us and the applicant) when they apply to many ministries with the same form. A form that has an application to every single ministry and a two different roles for each would look like rolling your face on the keyboard.

So it may be best to use radio buttons and if the applicant wishes to apply to two ministries, they could fill out a new app for the second ministry. This is what I meant in my original post about a 1:1 system.

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