A GUIDE TO THE MINISTRY OF PUBLISHING
INTRODUCTION
I took over as Minister of Publishing on the 24th of November in 2020 from the previous Minister, Turtle. The shift from Turtle to me was difficult as I didn’t understand what we do or how we do it. Since then, I have managed the Ministry and understood more about it. I create this guide to make the Ministry easier for new people to understand.
As a prerequisite, create a Google account specifically for NationStates. Do not use any real life information and do not use it for anything else other than NS related stuff.
WHAT WE DO
Publishing handles information. This is in a broad sense and includes just about everything except for EPNS.
Publishing directly controls the Government section of the Wiki, TEP Information Center, and the Support The East Pacific (STEP) nation.
The Government Wiki:
TEP Information Center:
https://www.nationstates.net/nation=tep_information_center
Support The East Pacific:
https://www.nationstates.net/nation=support_the_east_pacific
By handling information, I mean that through TEP Information Center, STEP, and the Wiki, we make information readily available. We make things easily understandable through guides or we publish historical articles in a Wiki page, dispatch, Google Drive document, or all three. We are not, however, limited to just guides and history. Publishing can do anything information related with the aforementioned exception of EPNS.
Podcasts were something we did but this is now a task for the Ministry of Broadcasting.
ORGANIZATION
A Ministry organizes like this:
-Minister
–Deputy Minister
—Staffer
The Minister oversees the entire Ministry. A Deputy Minister works on their behalf and is delegated as much power as the Minister wishes. Ministers can appoint or remove Deputy Ministers as they wish. Staffers work in the Ministry. They can apply to join through the Executive application thread. When an application is made, it is up to the Minister to approve or deny them.
The Ministry of Publishing organizes itself on the planning sheet found here:
Please use a computer or the Google Sheets phone app to access the sheet otherwise it won’t work as intended.
The planning sheet has several tabs in the bottom left. Please click the one for Publishing.
The planning sheet is divided into two segments. One for current projects and one for dispatches and their statuses.
Current projects display what we’re currently doing alongside an overview and who’s leading it. Ministers normally decide what projects to begin and what projects to cancel. Staffers can begin projects of their own.
The dispatch section displays all dispatches we have published from TEP Information Center and the STEP nation. It lists their names, links, statuses, and if they are automated. New dispatches have to be listed here. Only the Minister and Delegate should have access to TEP Information Center and STEP. No-one else must be given access without permission from the Delegate.
Everything organized by the Government tag in the wiki also falls under our Ministry. It can be found here:
It is up to Publishing to make sure pages here are up to date. I tried my best to check the pages monthly when I was Minister.
We also have a subforum where Publishing can post finished projects if they’re appropriate to be posted on the forum. An example of an appropriate project being the Fedele Coup Brief. An example of a project not appropriate for the forum is the RMB Etiquette dispatch. The subforum can be found here:
DISPATCHES
Our dispatches can be found on the planning sheet as said above. The dispatches are mostly guides.
Examples are the Foreign Affairs guide and the RMB etiquette dispatches:
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1496355
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1075639
When publishing a dispatch, we use the style guide found here:
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1658606
STEP dispatches use the STEP style which does not have a style guide for it as of yet.
If someone wants to make changes to the style guide, then copy the raw BBCode and edit it as wanted. Then they should post the edited style guide as a dispatch under their nation. It will be up to the Minister to accept or deny this new style guide.
If you need help learning BBCode then you can look over these dispatches to understand it better:
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=330837
https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=256878
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=744890
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=164381
I encourage people to experiment with BBCode as it’s the best way learning it. I did some experimentation here:
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1496441
You can copy anything you like from there or look at the raw code to get an understanding of BBCode.
WIKI
The Wiki contains a lot of different government related pages. All of them can be found in the Government wiki section as said above.
When we publish something on the Wiki, we make sure that it is properly segmented. Other than that, we have no style guide to follow. However, Magisterium pages have to use the Magisterium pages format which I have taken the effort to standardize here:
{{government}}
{{Infobox legislative term
| name = 999th Magisterium
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| body = Magisterium of the East Pacific
| meeting_place = East Pacific Regional Forums
| election =
| government =
| opposition =
| term_start = {{Start date|2099|12|01|}}
| term_end = {{End date|2099|12|31|}}
| before = [Government: 998th Magisterium| 998th Magisterium]]
| after = [Government: 1000th Magisterium| 1000th Magisterium]]
| website =
| chamber1 =
| chamber1_image =
| chamber1_image_size =
| chamber1_alt =
| membership1 = 1000 Magisters
| control1 =
| chamber1_leader1_type = Provost
| chamber1_leader1 = THE PROVOST
| chamber1_leader2_type = Deputy Provost
| chamber1_leader2 = DEPUTY 1
| chamber1_leader3_type = Deputy Provost
| chamber1_leader3 = DEPUTY 2
| chamber1_leader4_type = Deputy Provost
| chamber1_leader4 = DEPUTY 3
| chamber2 =
| chamber2_image =
| chamber2_image_size =
| chamber2_alt =
| membership2 =
| control2 =
| chamber2_leader1_type =
| chamber2_leader1 =
| chamber2_leader2_type =
| chamber2_leader2 =
| chamber2_leader3_type =
| chamber2_leader3 =
| chamber2_leader4_type =
| chamber2_leader4 =
| session1_start =
| session1_end =
}}
The 999th Magisterium was a meeting of the legislative branch of the East Pacific. It met from 1 December, 2099 to 31 December, 2099.
The Provost, THE PROVOST, was elected on December 1, 2099. ([linktoelectionthread.com Link])
=Session Passed/Completed Items=
===Enacted Legislation===
* The [ACT NAME] was enacted. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* The [ACT NAME] was enacted. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Amendments===
* The [ACT NAME] was amended. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Treaty Ratification===
* Treaty with REGION NAME ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Treaty Withdrawals===
* The East Pacific withdrew from the TREATY NAME. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Repealed Legislation===
* The ACT NAME was repealed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
** Enacted 998th Magisterium
===War Declaration===
* The Magisterium declared war against NAME OF OPPONENT. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Nominations===
* Delegate DELEGATE's Arbiter nomination of NOMINEE was confirmed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* Delegate DELEGATE's Vizier nomination of NOMINEE was confirmed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* Delegate DELEGATE's POSITION nomination of NOMINEE was confirmed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* Delegate DELEGATE's EPPS Commissioner nomination of NOMINEE was confirmed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Honorary Citizenship===
* NAME was granted Honorary Citizenship. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Removals===
* Magister MAGISTER was removed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* Magister MAGISTER was removed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* Magister MAGISTER was removed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Magisterium Admissions===
* APPLICANT was admitted into the Magisterium. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Suspensions===
* Magister MAGISTER was suspended. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Standing Orders Amendments===
* Rewrite of the Standing Orders. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* General Rewrite/Reform Amendment. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
===Resolutions===
* RESOLUTION NAME Resolution. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
* Resolution on RESOLUTION NAME was repealed. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
** Enacted 998th Magisterium
===Holidays===
* HOLIDAY NAME was declared a holiday. ([discussionlink.com Discussion] | [votelink.com Vote])
You should look through the many Magisterium pages to get an idea of how to use this. The 18th Magisterium for example:
As a note, we use the record of votes (Record of Votes - The East Pacific - Tapatalk) and record of Magisters (Record of Magisters - The East Pacific - Tapatalk) to fill out the sections.
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
Historical documents is a task I’ve taken under the wing of Publishing during my Ministership. The precedent was set when Turtle added the Fedele Coup Brief as a WIP project to the Publishing Planning sheet. I took it a step further and decided to make it official by starting the project to document the entirety of TEP’s history.
When we publish a historical document we make sure that it is written properly with clear sections and no factual mistakes. It can be published in a Google Drive document, or a Wiki page, or a dispatch, or in the subforum, or all four. Please consider posting it in TEP’s University, UTEP. You can contact the Minister of Education for information about this.
An example of a historical document is the Fedele Coup Brief found here:
Finding historical information can be difficult so I’ve taken the liberty of neatly organizing the important archives in TEP’s forums. Organized by start date here:
— Begin quote from ____
Announcements Archive - From 31 May 2003 to 3 October 2010
Unsorted Archive - From 1 June 2003 to 25 November 2014
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/archive-unsorted-f35/
(Please note, this archive contains many different topics that haven’t been sorted by the forum staff so you may find topics unrelated to what you want)
Embassy Archive - From 27 July 2003 to Present
(Please note, this archive gets updated as embassies are closed)
Archive of the House of Representatives and Senate - From 12 November 2003 to 29 December 2008
Alternative Roleplaying - From 29 October 2003 to 13 June 2005
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/pre-2009-alternate-roleplaying-f117/
(Please note, despite being called roleplay, this archive contains many TEP government threads)
Judiciary Archive - From 3 December 2003 to 17 September 2008
Archive of the Magisterial Assembly - From 8 February 2004 to 13 September 2008
Executive Archive - From 3 March 2004 - Present
(Please note, this archive is neatly segmented into years and eras (eg. everything before 2007, everything in 2009, etc.))
Pre-2009 OOC Archive - From 3 May 2004 to 24 March 2015
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/archive-pre-2009-out-of-character-exhibit-f96/
(Please note, despite being called a roleplay archive, it contains many TEP government threads)
Empire Interim Period Archive - From 29 September 2008 to 12 January 2009
Citizen Archive - From 21 December 2008 to 14 December 2019
(An assorted archive of social and Governmental topics)
Delegate Elections Archive - From 11 January 2009 to Present
(Please note, this archive is neatly segmented into years (eg. 2010, 2011, 2012, etc.) and will be updated every year)
Magisterium Elections Archive - From 22 January 2009 to 15 August 2011
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/archive-magisterium-past-election-f508/
Magisterium Archive - From 30 January 2009 to 26 October 2010
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/archive-magisterium-f510/
Conclave Archive - From 11 February 2009 to 12 June 2014
Concordat Reform Archive - From 24 January 2012 to 2 August 2014
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/the_east_pacific/2014-constitutional-convention-f143/
Public Affairs Archive - From to 19 October 2019 to 16 February 2021
(Please note, this archive has been kept seperate from the other archives, therefore it has been specifically mentioned here)
— End quote
These are the important archives. I have omitted the roleplay archives since I don’t have any knowledge on TEP’s RP history to determine the important RP archives.
You should also search through the current active subfoums which I have listed here alongside the oldest post in the forum as of writing:
— Begin quote from ____
Newcomers Start Here - From 20 November 2006
(Please note, there are a few useful historical posts here mixed between welcome threads)
The Lounge - From 1 April 2007
(Please note, there are a few useful historical posts mixed between casual conversation)
Announcements - From 16 April 2008
The Magisterium - From 1 March 2009
Embassy Row - From 18 May 2009
The Conclave - From 5 December 2010
The Plaza - From 11 December 2012
The Praesidium - From 8 April 2014
The Executive - From 31 May 2019
— End quote
As part of historical research, you’ll need to chase up leads and investigate things on more than the forum. The NS forums can contain useful information. Other than that, you’ll have to chase leads to wherever they may lead you.
To begin writing, first find out if anyone else has written a history of the topic. You can find out if someone has by asking people or doing some searching on the NS forums or TEP’s forums. Bachtendekuppen’s memorial library has many history articles and the UTEP NS studies subforum does as well:
If they have, you can use their history as an outline. Do not plagarise and clearly state that you used their work. If no-one else has written about the topic, then you should create an outline of events first. For example, when I was writing a history on Loop’s Delegacy, I began with outlining his 3 year Delegacy which looked like this:
–Began 25 May 2003
–TRR raid in June 2003
–Articles of Confederation adopted 31 October 2003
–Charter adopted 2005
–Ended 25 May 2006
From here, I followed the activities of the Executive, Senate, Judiciary, and Magisterial Assembly to create an overall history.
REGULAR TASKS
A Minister has the normal tasks of a Minister such as reporting progress to the Chief Minister of Regional Affairs or the Delegate when asked and ensuring activity.
The Minister of Publishing has several specific tasks. These are:
-Reviewing published dispatches and updating them as needed
-Reviewing Wiki pages and updating them as needed
-Updating the planning sheet as needed
-Creating new projects and either leading them or guiding them
-Finishing old projects
Some of these tasks can and should be delegated to staffers otherwise the Minister will risk burning themselves out.
Most regularly updated dispatches have been automated with the help of a script that Atlae has given to me. The Minister of Publishing will be sent this script by the previous Minister upon appointment. This script will contain a guide on its usage and maintenance.
CHALLENGES
Publishing is a boring Ministry. It appeals to few people. As such, the biggest challenge is getting new people to join. When we do get new people, getting them to stay is an even bigger challenge.
Besides that, I don’t believe there are many other challenges to Publishing. If you need help then you can contact previous Ministers or the Chief Minister of Regional Affairs for help.