[Embolalia]

I have loved this region since I first came here way back however long ago that was. It has been suffering, though, from inactivity. Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I think we can revive it.

I've brought you all here to take part in a few discussions about my - hopefully our - efforts to revive the IDU. Below are some threads on some specific topics. I'd also like if you could contribute some other ideas about how to go about improving our region.

The Future of the Map - What to do, since Dom hasn't been updating in years.
Delegate Election - I want to avoid a repeat of the last one, so sign up!
IDU Council - We had a good idea. How can we bring it back?
I may add more as I think of them.

[Algoriac]

I think a good idea would be to get rid of the inactive people...make a spot on the forum for people to say when they are going on vacation or when they wont have access to the forums or nation states.

Nextly, I think in order to make our voices heard louder in the WA, we should make a large counsel made up of all WA members that are elected to the positions... a quota with an even number (eg. 21 delegates). The Regional Delegate will be the leader of this counsel as the 21st delegate and will cast the deciding vote on all regional and WA matters. Then once the vote is decided, for a WA resolution, all 21 delegates must vote for the resolution in the WA. So all these delegates must have 2 WA endorsements.

As for the map, I have no idea how to select the map or see the open regions that my country could occupy. I think someone with the technical skills should redo the map and we should start from scratch as to national boundaries. I for one think this is an excellent idea and makes the game itself more indepth.

[Jade Tigers]

Mostly good ideas so far (thanks Algoriac!) Though I would be very uncomfortable with getting rid of the inactives as many are founding members and many come back every so often with valuable imput. That said, their should be a more streamlined and proactive method of replacing those in vital positions when they become inactive (mapmaker for instance) even if only temporarilly.

I also think (as has been said before) that we really need to improve the amount of RP that goaes on here, starting with the council which should have more frequent IC meetings. This could also be applied to the proposed regional WA council if enacted.

We also used to have several active "newspapers" that were good for a read if nothing else. Along the same lines, I would propose enacting RP's for both international incidents between regional nations as well as internal incidents (such as a national election where different people play the parts of different candidates, etc.) Also, something I have proposed before that we may want to look at again, is a regional olympics in which each nation provides a different "national sport" in which all teams must participate with the winners being those with the best average scores.

In other words, we need to have as much of our activity be IC as possible and dramatically increase the frequency and volume of that activity.

[Bears Armed]

Sidh OhnJul 26 2010, 05:37 PMMostly good ideas so far (thanks Algoriac!) Though I would be very uncomfortable with getting rid of the inactives as many are founding members and many come back every so often with valuable imput. [/quote]
Agreed.

Quote: That said, their should be a more streamlined and proactive method of replacing those in vital positions when they become inactive (mapmaker for instance) even if only temporarilly.[/quote]
Agreed.


Quote: I also think (as has been said before) that we really need to improve the amount of RP that goes on here, starting with the council which should have more frequent IC meetings. This could also be applied to the proposed regional WA council if enacted.

We also used to have several active "newspapers" that were good for a read if nothing else. Along the same lines, I would propose enacting RP's for both international incidents between regional nations as well as internal incidents (such as a national election where different people play the parts of different candidates, etc.) Also, something I have proposed before that we may want to look at again, is a regional olympics in which each nation provides a different "national sport" in which all teams must participate with the winners being those with the best average scores.

In other words, we need to have as much of our activity be IC as possible and dramatically increase the frequency and volume of that activity.[/quote]
Unfortunately the decline in those activities was a result of people reducing their involvement here, rather than the cause of it as you seem to be implying: Too many of the old regulars found that their RL situations simply didn't leave them with enough time for this, and/or developed time-consuming interests elsewhere in NS (for example, the Bears' own involvement in international Football & other sporting competitions in the game's main forum) that left them with less time for regional activities. I do agree that increasing this side of the region again would be nice, but [obviously] don't see how it could be forced, so just how -- considering how short-lived the last few attempts at starting RPs here were -- are you actually suggesting we get people involved in it again?

One thing that we could usefully do to help revive this region, if somebody can find the time for it, is recruit: The more members we have, the likelier it is that some of them will become active... No?
I'll keep my eyes open for people posting requests for information about regions that they could move to in the game's main forum, and contact any who look suitable (which is how both United Western States and Algoriac learnt about us...) but don't really have the time for regular TG-ing of new nations in the feeders...


:Bear:

[Embolalia]

Is there any such thing as a script to send TGs? Or would that be impossible/illegal?

Also, something that just came to mind wandering around the forum here: It's very easy to get lost. There are tons of forums, subforums, and I think even some sub-subforums. I wouldn't want to jump into reorganizing myself, but should we start talking about that? Maybe we ought to restart the whole board from scratch (start a new board with zetaboards, which I know was talked about a long, long time ago, and just migrate to that).

EDIT: Example recruitment TG?
Welcome to NationStates!
The [region]International Democratic Union[/region] is a friendly, democratic region. Our values are democracy, a constructive World Assembly, freedom with sovereignty, stability, cooperation and secular government. We welcome all democratic states to participate in our regional community.
[nation]Embolalia[/nation]
World Assembly Delegate of the IDU.
(can be replaced with "on behalf of the IDU" or "position of the IDU" for non-delegates)

[Bears Armed]

EmbolaliaAug 8 2010, 08:52 PM Is there any such thing as a script to send TGs? Or would that be impossible/illegal?

Also, something that just came to mind wandering around the forum here: It's very easy to get lost. There are tons of forums, subforums, and I think even some sub-subforums. I wouldn't want to jump into reorganizing myself, but should we start talking about that? Maybe we ought to restart the whole board from scratch (start a new board with zetaboards, which I know was talked about a long, long time ago, and just migrate to that).

EDIT: Example recruitment TG?
Welcome to NationStates!
The [region]International Democratic Union[/region] is a friendly, democratic region. Our values are democracy, a constructive World Assembly, freedom with sovereignty, stability, cooperation and secular government. We welcome all democratic states to participate in our regional community.
[nation]Embolalia[/nation]
World Assembly Delegate of the IDU.
(can be replaced with "on behalf of the IDU" or "position of the IDU" for non-delegates) [/quote]
Using scripts to recruit is indeed illegal: Max apparently feels that people should have to put some effort into it themselves.. and that if they were legal then they'd probably be used by so many regions that new nations' inboxes would be getting even more deeply swamped by recuriting messages than is currently the case.

Reorganising or even re-starting the froum might be a good idea, as long as everything of value could be transferred across okay, but that would have to be a project for somebody with considerably better computer-wrangling skills than I have so I'll wait to see what other people have to say on the subject.

I'll think some more about the recruiting TG, and will post an alternative version (if I can design one that I consider potentially worth using) here fairly soon.


:Bear:

[Embolalia]

It seems Dom built this place out of the online equivalent of duct tape and glue. So rebuilding from scratch isn't really an option. There was talk about moving to ZetaBoards, to get that taken care of, but it never happened. And I don't really want to make the move, and then find out that I broke something we'd all gotten used to. So I'm going to shift around the forums a bit, and put a bunch of stuff into a hidden archive category, just to make it easier to navigate.

EDIT: Here are my proposed revised forum categories:
Department of Citizenship
-New to the IDU
Department of Internal Affairs
-The Council (For IDU Council debate/discussion)
-Cartography, Vexillology, and Historiography (Maps, flags, national information, other OOC)
-IDU Newswire (IC news & RP)
Department of External Affairs
-Office of the WA Delegate (WA discussion, proposals, etc.)
--Resolutions at Quorum (As is, to maintain the Portal posting)
-Diplomacy (Regional embassies, alliances)
-Off-Topic
Futility Closet
-Fuse Box (Moderation, administration, technical)
-Filing Cabinet (Archives)

[Bears Armed]

Here's a recrutiing TG that I sent today, when a new nation (by the name of Bramarye that had just posted in the forums looked suitable for us _

Quote: "Hrarroom!"
( = "Greetings!")

I expect that you've already received several messages suggesting that you move to their authors' regions, anyway, but having looked at your nation I really think that you might find the [region]International Democratic Union[/region] a pleasant home for it.
We have all of the "usual" benefits to offer (i.e. an active 'Founder' to prevent invasions & coups, democratic elections for the office of WA Delegate [one is now in progress, so the next should be in 3 months time], our own forum, a regional map [currently under review, to free-up more space for newcomers], and several regulars who are willing to help people with things like flag design, map design, national ecosystem design, WA proposal drafting, and so on...) but we're still small enough for every voice to be heard.

So, why not give us a try?
[/quote]


:Bear: