Endorsement Cap Decrease

Library of Gnidrah The East Pacific Archive Kelssek Legislative Records
1

Magisters:

As you know, I’ve not altered the endorsement cap since I took office. It’s at the original 75 that my predecessor set, after the Endorsement Restriction Act was passed. I’ve had now a year to review the effects of our region’s endorsement cap, and have concluded that it’s time to change it.

I have it in mind to lower the endorsement cap to the minimum, which is 50 according to the Revised Endorsement Restriction Act, 2007. Currently, such a decrease would only affect three nations; two of which are just a few endorsements above 50. Every other nation in the region, with the obvious exception of the Grand Vizier and the Delegate, is maintaining an endorsement cap below 50.

So why the call for a decrease, you might ask? It’s simple, according to the result of my review. It would be better for the region, in some ways, namely rate of influence increase, and a better chance of stopping an endo-scaler before he or she gets too close. The more pressing concern is the former, so allow me to elaborate on that point.

We have several nations in the region with a good level of regional influence. When I eject a nation with such a level of influence, my regional influence takes a hit. If they become an increasing problem, then there is an obvious concern. As you know, the more endorsements a nation has and the longer it is in the region, the faster the nation’s influence gains.

If we could slow the rate of increase, violators will not make such a negative impact on my nation’s regional influence, which puts me in a better position to protect the region. After all, a lot of the security of a region hinges on its Delegate. We’ve been fortunate to have minimal threats, up to this point. But I would like to further minimize such potential threats, before they become an overwhelming threat.

For this reason, I would like to ask you to seriously consider allowing me to lower the endorsement cap to 50. I know I have the lawful right to lower the endorsement cap at any time, with such an act being reviewed by the Magisterial Assembly in order to either uphold it or reverse it. But rather than surprise you with a new cap, sending you into a voting frenzy, I would first like to calmly and collectively discuss it with you.

If any of you have a question or concern raised with this request, I welcome the opportunity to further explain my thoughts on the matter. I would very much like the support of all magisters on this, but I would be satisfied with a majority of you to be in favor of my proposal. Thank you for your time and consideration. Magisters, you have the floor.

Sincerely,
Nicholas C. Richardson
Delegate of the East Pacific

2

just a preliminary question. Shouldn’t we move this discussion to some kind of restricted area? I mean… I suppose relevant topics will be examined and so…

Whoa. Can’t believe I myself am proposing this…

3

I do not see any reason why we should move this to a restricted area. I want everyone to see that my intent is genuine and pure, not secretive and corrupt. My concern is with the well-being, strength, security, and stability of the region, first and foremost; but it also with the position I maintain within the region, being Delegate, because in part, those concerns I mentioned go hand-in-hand with and hinge on the delegacy.

You see, the most important aspect of my position is to see the well-being of the region. Yes, that is even more important than voting in matters before the United Nations, which I still do, by the way. And I am in no way attempting to become some authoritarian dictator, and limit the rights and freedoms of individual nations. If I were doing that, I would probably limit each UN Member nation to like one endorsement…mine. That’s ridiculous and I’m not like that. Instead, I’m looking to continue to uphold the law, and stay within the law while ensuring better security for our region.

As I mentioned before, such a change in our regional cap would only affect three of the region’s UN Member nations. They would, of course, have a window of time, to be determined by the Assembly, in which they would be able to lower their endorsement counts to be in compliance with the new cap. Likewise, the new cap would be posted on the region’s world factbook entry, and members would have ample opportunity to become aware of the new cap.

But back to the question, again, no I do not feel that this thread needs to be hidden. I do not feel I should hide this policy from public view, because it in no way will compromise regional security, as it’s going to be publicized anyhow. On that note, however, if there is something that needs to be said that, for whatever reason might jeopardize regional security, I would ask that you send it to me in a PM. You can carbon copy it to all members of the Magisterial Assembly, if you prefer, and we can go from there. But I really don’t see such a point in the discussion occurring.

4

Have any of the nations ejected and banned to date had a regional influence above that of “minnow”? If so, how many, and how many minnows have been ejected and banned?

While I know that every time a nation is ejected and banned it has an effect on your regional influence, if only minnows are, and have been ejected, how will changing the endo-cap have any effect?

Edit: My concerns are not with your arguments, which I know you believe to be valid, but with how they will be perceived, and whether or not lowering the cap will have the desired effect. I don’t believe it will.

Until I became Minister of Immigration in Hyrule, I had no idea that RMB’s were places to be visited or places where info was posted. Oh sure, I knew that when my nations were “birthed” they landed on this funny page that allowed me to find a forum address, but that seriously was all I read. I only read that because I wanted to join the forum. I had no other reason to visit the RMB, ever.

Having said that, there are over 4000 nations in TEP, and I know, judging from the number of nations I’ve contacted, that huge numbers of them don’t know what the RMB is and are not members of the forum. They may have read the RMB at the moment their nation was born, but if so, the term “endorsement-cap” would have meant nothing, and likely made no impact. I know it didn’t with me.

If we want nations to become aware of the laws of TEP, posting messages that are rarely read on the RMB or read by only regular forum members here on the forum are of little use.

Loop suggested a membership drive. Unless someone is interested in RP, there isn’t a great deal to encourage participation amongst new members. From experience, it’s hard to break into the RP, at least it was for me. Had it not been for Kand and the Angel of Death thread, I’d have given up and moved elsewhere. And as those of you who know me well are aware, I’m not a quitter. I’m a stubborn witch.

In many ways, IMHO, EP has become a sort of closed club. There are the “old boys”, those of us who have been around a while and the newcomers. Take a look at the last 15 - 20 introductory threads. How many of those nations are still on the forum?

I don’t pretend to have the answers, but I think lack of a variety of things to do on the forum is one of the underlying problems. It’s the reason people are unaware of TEP’s laws and that so many nations are being charged with breaking the endo-cap. Most don’t seem to stick around long enough to do much other than introduce themselves.

If the cap is lowered, I suspect we’ll see more ejections and bannings, not fewer.

Those of us active on the forums know full well that we only need two endorsements. That’s all that’s required to submit a UN resolution. Period. But then, we’re active on the forums …

5

On the contrary, I believe the decrease will have the desired affect. I’m not sure of the specific count, but a good deal of those nations I have ejected and banned have had higher regional influences in the region. And that’s due to them maintaining a relatively high endorsement count (while under the current cap) for a good lenght of time in the region. Sure, there have been a few that have just been minnows. But those that have higher influence really take a bite out of my regional influence, which weakens my ability to protect this region.

Example: Morcarth was a Truckler, I believe. He knocked me down from an Enforcer to a Dealmaker. It has taken three weeks to gain that level back. This is why I said that too many of these in a row could be a bad thing. And this is, in part, why I’m calling for a lower endorsement cap. I’m looking to slow the rate of increase in regional influence. In that case, it would take them a longer amount of time to have the same affect on my regional influence if they were to break the 50 cap than the time it takes for them now if they break the 75 cap.

And we don’t know for sure how many nations do or don’t look at our World Factbook Entry. It’s a guessing game that I’d rather not play. But as I stated, we only have three nations that are above 50 endorsements; that’s out of 550. So what would lowering the cap hurt? You said it yourself, UN Member nations only need two endorsements. But we are not limiting them to those two endorsements. Likewise, I’m not looking to limit their freedoms. 50 is a high count in and of itself for endorsements. One could say it’s generous, but it all depends on one’s point of view.

Regardless of what our cap is, someone is going to be displeased with it; make it too low, someone complains; make it too high, at least I know I will complain; make it “just right,” and someone will call it wrong. It’s inevitable. And you may be right in that we might see more frequent and numerous ejections due to the lower cap. But it goes back again to regional influence: minnows have little to no affect on my regional influence. I would much rather have to eject a minnow for not backing down from its endorsement count of 52 than having to eject the same nation as a Vassal for not backing down from its endorsement count of 77.

6

Mr. Delegate, I have a few concerns or questions that I would like answered before I make my decision.

  1. May a list of all nations above the number of fifty endorsements be shown to the Assembly?

  2. May a list of all nations with influence above ‘Minnow’ be shown to the Assembly?

  3. Do you use scanning methods in assisting you with your endotarting? Of if you do not want to answer that question, do you make sure that you endorse every UN nation in The East Pacific and how often do you check?

7

— Begin quote from ____

Mr. Delegate, I have a few concerns or questions that I would like answered before I make my decision.

  1. May a list of all nations above the number of fifty endorsements be shown to the Assembly?

  2. May a list of all nations with influence above ‘Minnow’ be shown to the Assembly?

  3. Do you use scanning methods in assisting you with your endotarting? Of if you do not want to answer that question, do you make sure that you endorse every UN nation in The East Pacific and how often do you check?

— End quote

Sure.

  1. Voxtutela, The Cosmopolitan, and 3d Cad are currently above 50 endorsements.

  2. 1 Infinite Loop, Morhams, The Cosmopolitan, Evilutions Reign, Salonikum, Shelleys, Goodnamesarerare, Kaigi, Chicca, Throbistan, A Slanted Black Stripe, and Atlantis Capitol currently have a regional influence above “Minnow.”

  3. Yes, I use the regional scanning mechanism to determine which nation’s I’ve yet to endorse. I ensure I endorse every UN Member nation in the East Pacific. This process is a daily task.

8

Thank you for your answers Gnidrah.

Considering the relatively low endorsement count that Gnidrah has and the outside threats posed by some regions that would love to take a Feeder, I would support a lowering of the endorsement cap. However, I will not support any further lowering of the cap.

Finally, I would like to say that further efforts could be made to strengthen our region’s security. For example, following other Feeder’s example of allowing the region’s senior members to increase their endorsement levels, thus increasing their influence over time. Eventually this creates a block of heavyweights under the Delegate so that any of them could then assume the Delegate’s position should they use their influence up ejecting rogue nations. However I do realise that Kang has recently moved up to ninety plus endorsements, however she still has Minnow status and although this will undoubtedly change, perhaps more respected members should be allowed to cross this threshold. One other thing I also understand is that we in The East do not elect our Delegate, thus this is a less of a problem then it is in the North where it is very important.

Sorry for my lack of coherancy but thoughts?

9

— Begin quote from ____

Thank you for your answers Gnidrah.

Considering the relatively low endorsement count that Gnidrah has and the outside threats posed by some regions that would love to take a Feeder, I would support a lowering of the endorsement cap. However, I will not support any further lowering of the cap.

Finally, I would like to say that further efforts could be made to strengthen our region’s security. For example, following other Feeder’s example of allowing the region’s senior members to increase their endorsement levels, thus increasing their influence over time. Eventually this creates a block of heavyweights under the Delegate so that any of them could then assume the Delegate’s position should they use their influence up ejecting rogue nations. However I do realise that Kang has recently moved up to ninety plus endorsements, however she still has Minnow status and although this will undoubtedly change, perhaps more respected members should be allowed to cross this threshold. One other thing I also understand is that we in The East do not elect our Delegate, thus this is a less of a problem then it is in the North where it is very important.

Sorry for my lack of coherancy but thoughts?

— End quote

Thank you, Emperor Matthuis. Obviously I support lowering the endorsement cap to 50. But, like you, I refuse to support any further lowering of the cap. I think 50 is low enough and I will be quite satisfied with maintaining the cap at that level, if the Magisterial Assembly would allow me to do so.

As for the other security measures you mentioned, I won’t address those in this discussion, other than to say I’ve got some other items of interest in development for our regional security. But thank you for your insight. And again, thank you for your response.

10

Heck Im for it, I think I wanted a limit of 45 at one time.

11

While I won’t pretend to completely understand how regional influence works, I feel that this has a positive impact on regional security.

12

If there are no further questions or concerns, I would like to solicit a vote on the matter. Would the Magisterial Consul care to do the honors?

13

Concurrent with the endorsement cap decrease, it would seem that it would make sense to legislate some kind of clemency period in which to allow those nations already above 50 to decrease their endorsements. What kind of period did the delegate have in mind?

14

— Begin quote from ____

Concurrent with the endorsement cap decrease, it would seem that it would make sense to legislate some kind of clemency period in which to allow those nations already above 50 to decrease their endorsements. What kind of period did the delegate have in mind?

— End quote

Indeed. I would leave that to be specified by the Assembly, but I was thinking perhaps between two and four weeks. I believe that would be ample time, so it is up to the Magisters to decide.

15

— Begin quote from ____

Indeed. I would leave that to be specified by the Assembly, but I was thinking perhaps between two and four weeks. I believe that would be ample time, so it is up to the Magisters to decide.

— End quote

I’m not sure this is something which should fail right on the MA’s shoulders: we have the power to either approve or oppose your proposal, but we’re NOT entitled to enforce it.

16

— Begin quote from ____

I’m not sure this is something which should fail right on the MA’s shoulders: we have the power to either approve or oppose your proposal, but we’re NOT entitled to enforce it.

— End quote

I understand I have the authority to set an exact time frame. But I’m open to a recommended time frame, suggested by the Magisterial Assembly. I would still be the one to enforce it, of course, but as part of my working with the Magisters to implement a decrease in the endorsement cap, I’m hopefully showing my flexibility in some of the specifics of this proposal. I’ve given you the time I would like to see, but it is negotiable, you see.

17

Very well. I say two weeks; 14 days. That should be ample time. Now, if there’s nothing else…

18

— Begin quote from ____

  1. (1) The Delegate shall have the power to set an endorsement cap, which shall not at any time be lower than 50.

(2) The Delegate, at any time when lowering the cap, must submit the new cap to Magisterial Assembly within 24 hours of lowering the cap, and the Magisterial Assembly must approve it by a majority of votes cast, failing which the cap will revert to the previous cap.

(3) Until such time as the Magisterial Assembly votes against the new cap as provided for in subsection 2(2), the cap as set by the Delegate will be effective.

— End quote

As of approximately 1919 UTC, Saturday, June 16, 2007, the region’s endorsement cap has been lowered from 75 to 50. I humbly ask for the Magisters’ approval. Thank you.

EDIT: The two-week grace period shall go into effect upon approval by the Magisterial Assembly. Until then, there is an “approval-pending” grace period in effect. I should note that I reserve the right to prosecute any nation breaking the previously-approved endorsement cap of 75, if necessary.

19

Apologies for the lack of vote on this - I’ve been in the middle of finals, and then packing to head home. Am now home, and a vote will be set up.

20

— Begin quote from ____

Apologies for the lack of vote on this - I’ve been in the middle of finals, and then packing to head home. Am now home, and a vote will be set up.

— End quote

I understand. It’s quite alrght. Thank you, Codex.