Hobbes² | Dead Memes and New Dreams

Judicial Archive Conclave: Delegate Elections Archive
,
1


Waddup.

That was the dead meme, so here’s the dreams.

I have work tomorrow but I wanted to get a post in before polls open tuesday night - so here goes.

Conclave
It needs re-evaluated. Everyone has addressed over the last few years that it isn’t working as intended - it’s inactive and can’t hold a active membership. That said, we need to address the root issue - The conclave isn’t fun.

It’s not fun to be in, there’s too little cases and the cases that pop up usually have little meaning or are a dramafest. It’s not worth it to most people to sit on it for months at a time and be barred from otherwise participating in the government when you’d be lucky if you use your office once a year. There hasn’t been a single Conclave case of significance in my entire first term.

Perhaps we need to evaluate our options, and I won’t claim to have a grand plan in this thread - but I do find the idea of a ‘roll’ of potential qualified judges, without a constant commitment to it, more appeasing than committing several community members to the pits of inactivity during however long the Conclave’s current lull it.

RP
Some people want stronger government involvement in RP. I don’t - which is fine. Call me a traditionalist, but I don’t see it as my job to regulate roleplay as Delegate. If anything, I find the lack of regulation and involvement by the regional government in RP as a positive thing and part of why we have such a engaged and free-flowing RP base.

Weekly TG’s

I started these up, and (real life permitting) have been trying to push them out as close to every week as I can work with. These have been, in my opinion, a great addition to TEP and I will keep them.

Activity
Without being a buzzkill, this is anotherone I don’t have a answer to. Everyone comes into this office gaurenteeing some efforts to improve RP, me included. Some have worked, most haven’t. NS in itself and TEP by proxy experiences a up-down motion yearly in terms of activity. There is absolutely a documented summer lull as people are out and about that should partly right itself come Fall as the majority of the playerbase is back in school/college and thus on their computers more.

What I can do about this is continue my weekly telegrams, and what we can do about this is continue to engage the people on our message board. Give them the push they need to register and join our awesome community.

Complacency
Ben kinda touched on this, but we have a issue in TEP. We’re complacent. Think about it - We have a very stable government, have had one for going on a decade now. We aren’t trying as many new things as we need to, We aren’t open to new things, and we aren’t looking at things from a different point of view.

Perhaps some would consider me a card carrying member of the ‘old guard’ (how time flies - I honestly considered myself relatively new up to recently), but that doesn’t mean I’m not afraid to try things. I may not have the ideas of a fresh mind, but I absolutely invite the fresh minds among us to share those ideas with me. We need to try new things, break the mold, and see where it takes us. Because I have a obligation not just to myself and the “old guard”, but the new generation of TEPers that very soon will be taking the reigns of this region (Depending on the results of this election we’ll see how very soon very soon is :P). And without them and those that come after them, we’ll be nothing.

I’ll answer any questions here as always, of course.

2

Alright, a few questions:

How (including the Weekly TGs) do you plan to get more residents in TEP to engage more in the forums?
When those residents become citizens, what will you do to get them into groups like TEP’s government or EPSA?

3

I will attempt to find substantive questions to ask all candidates a number of questions. You have piqued my interest particularly in relation to the Conclave and would like to ask questions on it and some other policies. I will be snipping out some of the related parts for reference.

[hr]Conclave
— Begin quote from ____

It needs re-evaluated. Everyone has addressed over the last few years that it isn’t working as intended - it’s inactive and can’t hold a active membership. snip I do find the idea of a ‘roll’ of potential qualified judges, without a constant commitment to it, more appeasing than committing several community members to the pits of inactivity during however long the Conclave’s current lull it.

— End quote

I entirely agree that this issue should be brought up, but disagree it is a special circumstance of the Conclave. The Executive (as far as I am aware) is entirely vacant save for Grey and the Delegate; and the Magisterium has recently not done much legislating.

Activity aside, you seem to be supportive of changing some part of the nature of Conclave. A major aspect of what you are bringing up seems to be the separation of the membership of Conclave and the Magsiterium.

— Begin quote from ____

the root issue - The conclave isn’t fun. It’s not fun to be in, there’s too little cases and the cases that pop up usually have little meaning or are a dramafest. It’s not worth it to most people to sit on it for months at a time and be barred from otherwise participating in the government when you’d be lucky if you use your office once a year. There hasn’t been a single Conclave case of significance in my entire first term.

— End quote

I see what you mean here, and will agree but offer this point: if a court is doing its job, it should be boring. By not inciting legal tensions or traversing too far into political decisions, an effective court renders itself boring.

Now, to acknowledge the facts- the Conclave is boring to many people. Among active citizens, I am among the longest serving Arbiters and Viceroys and I have seen both sides of the court in action. It requires a dedication to law, and thereby a dedication to things a lot of people see as boring; if you look at some of the longer serving judges in TEP, they are often related to the field in their real lives or are dedicated jurists throughout nationstates. It takes a specific kind of person to enjoy being in Conclave, to be actively barred from joining the more active legislature, and lay in wait to weather the region through unforeseen circumstances.

To get to the questions
1.1- Would you support a Concordat amendment to change the nature of Arbiter-ship?
1.2- Do you believe any issues could be remedied by removing the mutually exclusive membership requirements between the Magisterium and Conclave?
1.3- If not, how best could we look to change any possible issues?

[hr]Complacency

— Begin quote from ____

…We’re complacent. Think about it - We have a very stable government, have had one for going on a decade now. We aren’t trying as many new things as we need to, We aren’t open to new things, and we aren’t looking at things from a different point of view…Perhaps some would consider me a card carrying member of the ‘old guard’ (how time flies - I honestly considered myself relatively new up to recently), but that doesn’t mean I’m not afraid to try things. I may not have the ideas of a fresh mind, but I absolutely invite the fresh minds among us to share those ideas with me. We need to try new things, break the mold, and see where it takes us.

— End quote

I too sometimes think of myself as a newcomer, as I still distinctly remember my impressions of the (then seemingly) time-weathered citizens back from when I started, and I too have been realizing I am most certainly not considered a newcomer.

But, back when I was a fresh newb I came in with a lot of ideas and wanting to do many things… and people listened. The energetic new kid was welcomed to the Magisterium, where people entertained his fancies of rewriting the Standing Orders of the Magisterium and embracing a different kind of legislating. They helped him fine tune these ideas, and eventually that newb had spun his way through the law books and the courts; (hopefully) leaving them better than how he found them. It was all made possible by just doing the work, and people listening.

What I am saying here is that new voices and ideas are always great- but people (new AND old) need to be willing to put in work. If someone has ideas, thats great and you can talk about them all day, but ultimately the best way to move things forward or get people on board is to just do it. Get the work done, and people see its worth. This can be applied to governance, roleplay, AND anything else in life.

Questions:
2.1- How do we, as a region, promote new people to go forth with their ideas and give them the confidence to ‘just do the work’?
2.2- How do you, as the current delegate, see the balance between tradition and reform? What is more important?

4

Typing on laptop in the back of the rig on a long distance trip with a 300lb psych patient (I’m 155lbs), so if I stop typing assume the worst /s

I’ll try to answer root questions without creating a wall of text.

— Begin quote from ____

1.1- Would you support a Concordat amendment to change the nature of Arbiter-ship?

— End quote

Depending on specific language of course, but broadly yes. You do present good points about the executive’s and Magisterium’s activities as well, but I think we both can agree much of that comes to the summer lull. This time last year it was just as bad but things spurr back up in the fall - that said, the Conclave’s activity is moreso self-induced (like you mentioned) than cyclical.

— Begin quote from ____

1.2- Do you believe any issues could be remedied by removing the mutually exclusive membership requirements between the Magisterium and Conclave?
1.3- If not, how best could we look to change any possible issues?

— End quote

1.2- I’m not sure, I think it needs evaluated as a potential option. Perhaps with a much larger list of potential judges we could reasonably expect to find a number of ones without interest in any case, but this needs more closely evaluated.

— Begin quote from ____

2.1- How do we, as a region, promote new people to go forth with their ideas and give them the confidence to ‘just do the work’?
2.2- How do you, as the current delegate, see the balance between tradition and reform? What is more important?

— End quote

2.1- The problem isn’t so much getting people to come forward with new ideas as getting people with ideas in the right places, and then giving them the guidance to go forward. People need mentored, not lectured, on how to be the change in the system and how to be amazing at “TEPing”.
2.2- The balance needs to be found in that we need to be willing to evaluate ourselves, irregardless of how much of a tradition any particular thing is. We shouldn’t be afraid to try new things, and if they don’t work, try something else. Traditionalism is a fine way of going about most things, but it shouldn’t force us to look through our way of governing with nostalgia goggles.

— Begin quote from ____

How (including the Weekly TGs) do you plan to get more residents in TEP to engage more in the forums?
When those residents become citizens, what will you do to get them into groups like TEP’s government or EPSA?

— End quote

A ) We need to, as a community, not just me, engage people individually. If you see someone roleplaying on the RMB, contact them individually to let them know who we are and what’s going on. That is so much more powerful than me spamming the region on a weekly basis.
B ) The above still applies. Talking to individual people and seeing what they’re interested in and getting them going from there is much better than blanket messages. This should be the duty of every Citizen, not just me as Delegate.

5

I’m 'bout to drop some ideas. Be prepared.

— Begin quote from ____

What I am saying here is that new voices and ideas are always great- but people (new AND old) need to be willing to put in work. If someone has ideas, thats great and you can talk about them all day, but ultimately the best way to move things forward or get people on board is to just do it. Get the work done, and people see its worth. This can be applied to governance, roleplay, AND anything else in life.

— End quote

Governance and roleplay in the East Pacific, specifically the latter, have always been important to me as a citizen, Magister, and former Deputy Provost. That being said, I can completely see your logic regarding the workaholic stance. For instance, if you look at the http://forum.theeastpacific.com/topic/7009928/1/#new you’ll find constant links to every major roleplay information source that is not hidden in the archives. That took way longer than it should have, but I did it solely to appease the masses, as in, help out the region. (Keep in mind, I’m not trying to be full of myself.) If workings such as this, even labors that are hardly recognized, were to take place every day, or even every week, the region would end up significantly better. One does not have to make a monumental change, they simply have to show that they are willing to take the risk. Newcomers may not be risktakers. They may be reserved to the confines of the public eye, joining the legislature maybe, roleplay a little, but they rarely contribute to the overall functions of the community. For example, one would not find a newbie proposing a Concordat amendment; only senior and better-versed members would even consider doing something so extravagant. (Heck, I’ve never done it.) I guess what I’m trying to say is that we need to not only guide newcomers, but also push them to do great things in the region. Not only would they be more willing to take chances, it also would, perhaps, widen there horizons. They could learn that what they do here could affect everybody in a very positive way. Tradition is important as ever, but reform is what got the region started in the first place, shaping a new democracy of peace. I say we fire up the peoples’ engines and burn some rubber. Let them known that they are the future, yet the future doesn’t have to begin tomorrow.

6

— Begin quote from ____

It needs re-evaluated. Everyone has addressed over the last few years that it isn’t working as intended - it’s inactive and can’t hold a active membership. That said, we need to address the root issue - The conclave isn’t fun.

— End quote

Regarding the Conclave, I think both you and Aelitia have some good points.

Aelitia is right to point out that the very nature of a court (a good court) renders it quite inactive. This is not helped (thankfully) by the fact that TEP itself is very stable and without much controversy. The people that do enjoy the Conclave are, I presume as well, people that love or appreciate law in a lot of aspects, and often in real live. I speak for myself as well.

Nevertheless, I do see a case for further reform of the Magisterium. Ad-hoc judges, based on how arbitration works, might be something to consider. You’ll probably find the same people applying though.

— Begin quote from ____

Complacency
Ben kinda touched on this, but we have a issue in TEP. We’re complacent. Think about it - We have a very stable government, have had one for going on a decade now. We aren’t trying as many new things as we need to, We aren’t open to new things, and we aren’t looking at things from a different point of view.

Perhaps some would consider me a card carrying member of the ‘old guard’ (how time flies - I honestly considered myself relatively new up to recently), but that doesn’t mean I’m not afraid to try things. I may not have the ideas of a fresh mind, but I absolutely invite the fresh minds among us to share those ideas with me. We need to try new things, break the mold, and see where it takes us. Because I have a obligation not just to myself and the “old guard”, but the new generation of TEPers that very soon will be taking the reigns of this region (Depending on the results of this election we’ll see how very soon very soon is :P). And without them and those that come after them, we’ll be nothing.

— End quote

As I’m not active in RP our culture these days, I’ll limit my answer to the Executive and Magisterium, and governance of TEP as a whole. We haven’t done a whole lot of new things recently, that is correct. Yet I think you can’t chalk up the Executive being completely empty to just “complacency”. Why are so many departments not staffed? It’s not solely a summer lull either: we have lacked decent staffing for quite some time now, apart from the EPSA. Why do you think that is, and how would you solve it?

Lastly, I see you and Aelitia write about not quite being new any more.

Needless to say, I don’t quite feel new either, rather the opposite. I’ve done my best work for TEP (so far) years ago. I’m getting dusty, traditional and at times rather inactive.

Yet I echo yours and Aelitia statements on new people needing to feel welcome, supported and coming forward with ideas. And putting in the work. And I would like to add, for all who might read this and are new or still feel new, or who feel a bit lost or intimidated by everything that is to be found in TEP: don’t be afraid. Every idea counts. We listen to everything. You will not upset an “old guard”. TEP is for everyone who means well. Just do it. We love ideas.