[boricuastan]

OK, so long story short: the UN used to have a very good Reference Guide back during the Dark Ages--er, "Jolt era"--written by HotRodia and including a lot of very detailed info about WA roleplaying, compliance, sovereigntism and the forum in general. It has since become vastly outdated. Ard posted the old guide on the new forums, but it got little rave reviews, mostly because it has not been updated in quite some time, and for some odd reason has not been reformatted so that it reads correctly on the new forums. (It's stickied there if you want to review it.)

So Ard commissioned a new guide. Five years later, it still hasn't been done. So I was figuring, since the summer doldrums have hit me hard, I could ask around for some input and help writing a new NS WA Forum Reference Guide. I've come to you guys first, since you appear to have a lot of regulars still active -- who are still involved with debating/drafting/legislating, etc.


What I was thinking of doing is, a WA Forum Advice Column! Anonymous readers write in with problems they've been having on the forums, and I dispense helpful advice to make their lives easier.

So the way this is gonna work is, I get a bunch of players to think up questions for my columnist, containing short summations of a problem newbs often have when first starting out, and I endeavor to help them. That's where you guys come in: toss out some brief letter excerpts (formatted the way they commonly appear in Dear Abby or Ann Landers, etc.: "Dear Miss WA: I'm having a serious problem getting support for my proposal. I can't seem to convince people that slaughtering the homeless to appease [violet] is a good idea for a WA resolution. How do I brainwash them into agreeing with me? Signed, Helpless in Hermitstan") You can include some tips to what you think the response should include. I'll write up the responses, and once I have enough, I'll post the column to get general feedback.

So, if you think you have some good questions to ask my advice columnist, post them here and I'll try my best to come with good replies. (I reserve the right to edit your submissions for content, space, and general humor.)


As to what to name our columnist, failing to come up with anything better, I've decided simply to call her "Miss World Assembly," a hot former beauty pageant title-holder who just happens to be an expert on WA diplomacy and legislation. If you have a more clever idea for an advice-guru persona, I'm all ears.


Yours in helping newbs be less newbish,

~Kenny

[The Dark Star Republic]

At the risk of being a humourless pisskidney, that format for a reference guide doesn't really interest me, but good luck anyway. I'm sure whatever you produce will be an entertaining read.

[Sciongrad]

Sounds good to me! I don't have time to contribute anything worthwhile now, but I'll probably have something in the next few days.

[Sciongrad]

Dear Miss WA,

My, err... my, uh, wife has been staying out later and later every night. She claims that she's been at the "Strangers' Bar," but I know how these gypsies work. Should I burn her at the stake, or do you think there's truth to the siren's claims?

- A Concerned Parisian Archdeacon

Perhaps a way to explain the Strangers' Bar and its role in the GA.

Dear Miss WA,

I'm at that stage in my life where I'm on the precipice of adulthood, so I've been trying to use up my youth while I've got it. Unfortunately, this had led to some pretty embarrassing and unwise decisions. For example, a couple of months ago, a friend and I were volunteering at a library, and instead of placing computer reference guide books in the 000 section, we... we put them in the 600 section with technology books. Long story short, we were caught, arrested, and then sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service. So, now I'm a coffee courier for some dude who just drinks and argues with other people all day. I guess what I'm trying to ask is... where am I?

- A Remorseful Hooligan

A way to explain what the World Assembly actually is and what's done here.

Dear Miss WA,

Recently, we've been involved in some less than scrupulous activity in the General Assembly. We were under the assumption that defenestration was okay, so we've been throwing out any ambassador that disagrees with us. Although it seems like this has just annoyed everyone. Where's the line between joking around and bad behavior?

- A Crowd of Angry Bohemians, circa 1618

A way of explaining decorum, godmodding, and the distinction between roleplay and being annoying.

It almost might be a good idea to include what the question/answer is actually about in bolded parentheses to clarify for newbies?