Hey everyone,

Trying something new: going to leave this open for a specific timeframe (one week) for input before moving forward with it unless there are major objections.

I wanted to open discussion on a topic that I think is important for making our Discord use organized and sustainable and ensuring that we can use our broader pings (i.e. @here, @Citizens, and @everyone) in more limited and constructive ways. The way it works now, basically all major or minor announcements or game events are posted using a "@Citizens" or "@everyone" ping. The risk here is that if we ping people using those tags with too many things that they don't care about, they either leave the server or mute pings and stuff it deep into a folder where they never check it. This becomes a major barrier in reaching out to our Citizens when we need things from them en masse (i.e. help with a Delegate transition) or getting them to make the jump to Legislators (and, in turn, keeping our Legislators active as well).

As a result, I'm making a two part proposal:

First: Expand use of Interest-Role Pings

We have a version of this system already with our "Upvote Squad" and "WA Update Ping" systems, both of which work effectively at ensuring we don't have to ping *all* Citizens or WA Update people whenever we want very small tasks done that only some of our members are going to have actual interest in. I'd like to expand the number of these we have and then become more rigorous about using the correct ones. Here are some of the ones I'd like to add (I've confirmed with Roavin this is possible):

• Games and Events: We should add a role for Games/Events that can be used for our games of scribbl, tetris, Theme Thursday, etc. that we've been hosting via Discord periodically. Right now, we use everyone or here pings for those, which is far too invasive.
  
• News and Information: A "News and Information" role can be a catch all for periodic government updates that we provide that don't require wide outreach but which many TSPers will want to see as they come out. Examples of things this could be used for include updates via the Cabinet Twitter (which get lost right now because we usually don't ping for them), changes by MoFA to embassies/consulates, MoD operations reports, Delegate's briefings (if the Delegate is willing), appointments for different positions (Deputies/Coral Guard/etc.), MoE promotion initiatives, etc.
  
• Voice Chat: This one is a bit more of an odd-ball, but there were times over the summer we had a bit more "bopping" of a VC culture. I think we lost that in part just due to RL schedule changes, but a specific role for "ping me if someone is going to Voice Chat" could be a way to ensure we can sustain a healthy core group of people who are periodically active in VC.
  

Second: Increase Regulation of Ping Usage

In order to make expanding reaction role pings work to gradually decreasing the amount of unnecessary pinging from our server and then (gradually) getting people to unmute our server and/or new people who come in not muting the server due to unnecessary spam, we also need to change our practices as it relates to using pings.

Accordingly, I'd have the Cabinet adopt (and publish) a Cabinet Order which will apply to this Cabinet and then hopefully be followed by future Cabinets regulating the use of pings on Discord by Cabinet members.

Here's a draft of this based on what I said above:

The Cabinet,

Recognizing the problem of excessive numbers of Discord "pings" being directed by Cabinet members to the entire Discord server for smaller business while also acknowledging that in the past this has been necessitated due to the lack of more targeted ping options,

Hereby:
1. Requests that Discord administration create five pingable Discord roles which individual Discord users can opt-in to receiving pings for by reacting to a message in the welcome area of the TSP Discord. Specifically, the Cabinet requests these five roles be for: Upvote Squad (upvoting NationStates Dispatches published by TSP), WA Update Ping (giving information about WA voting recommendations and OWL votes), Games and Events (announcing smaller Discord-based games and social events), News and Information (for being informed about smaller news/updates from the government), and Voice Chat (for users who want to be notified when others are voice chatting in the Discord server). In the future, the Cabinet will endeavor to collaborate with Discord administration should changes to this system be required.
2. Requires that Cabinet members use the least invasive ping(s) required to disseminate their message or information when making announcements on Discord. Additionally, Cabinet members must receive Prime Minister permission to use a ping directed towards all users of the TSP Discord, all online users of the TSP Discord, or all citizens of TSP in the Discord server. Cabinet members will disseminate these guidelines to their Ministry staffs that have ping permissions in the TSP Discord.
3. Respectfully asks other government officials and those with permission to conduct pings to apply these same general principles, although not specific procedures, to their use of pings in the TSP Discord.

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

(This post was last modified: 11-24-2021, 04:07 PM by HumanSanity.)

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On point 2, you mean "require" instead of "receive", right?

Otherwise ... I'd love to textwall you back, but I have nothing to add.

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On point 2, you mean "require" instead of "receive", right?

Wordsmithed.

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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Cabinet Order posted: https://tspforums.xyz/thread-9280-post-2...#pid224378

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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