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**Googlie** · August 24, 2003, 10:09

For anyone else who found Voltaire's MSN moniker annoying, here is the transcript again:

John says:
hi
Voltaire says:
hello
John says:
I wanted to propose a method we can get people more involved
Voltaire says:
I'm more than willing to listen to any ideas. Several people have already suggested some.
John says:
well I was hoping you guys would organise it but apparently it looks like I need to give a bit of a nudge.
firstly lets start at the top: as chairman it would be great if you organised our long term goals like say, we want to kill off this faction
Voltaire says:
I have been doing so, only in private... HongHu, the Marshal, and Octavian have been my confidants, as well as Jamski and Tass.
John says:
or make pacts with this faction, yup but if you don't reveal this then people don't sense your presence, so if you like post long term goals for the hive in the public forum. You don't have to reveal everything. Aalso it would be good if you organised tasks
Voltaire says:
I understand, part of my absence has been due to the fact that there has not been much to decide in-game wise in the short run thanks to your abilities.
John says:
there are short term tasks that need to be done
that I'm only half doing or often delaying until the last minute
Voltaire says:
I have been attempting to do precisely that, the problem is that not enough people participate in the relivant discussions.
Voltaire says:
The policy making is dominated by a few.
John says:
well the general feeling people seem to have is that the problem is at my end however I can't get these tasks out to people not effectively that they get done.
Voltaire says:
Yes, HongHu has spoken to me about that opinion.
Voltaire says:
Let me put it this way...we need to do things by the book, by the constitution... the majority of decision making has been done by yourself, with my approval, most often unchanged. The new system I designed was meant to bring forth public discussion, but not enough people are interested in planning the game.

But what people are interested in is having a final say.
Let's try an experiment...More polls, for all decisions.
John says:
hrmm which is stupid giving people the final say for mircomangement issues.
Voltaire says:
From now on instead of planning out every turn in percise detail, we release a 10 turn general plan for approval.

But of course...I'm not suggesting that...

The 10 turn general plan would set the goals for the faction - how they are acheived becomes a matter of the details
John says:
we would be allowed to adjust it as we go right?
Voltaire says:
The problem we face is a lack of participation. We just don't have enough people - or active members at least
with the approval of the people
John says:
we have active members, but people don't want to commit themselves
Voltaire says:
therefore if we need a chance there needs to be a formal vote. You have committed yourself more than anyone asked

i comend you for that
John says:
well can we have someone to handle it.
Voltaire says:
but HongHu has stated that she wishes you would take on a more of a teaching role alongside your normal duties
John says:
someone to handle the polls, compile the ideas
Voltaire says:
discuss the matters in detail, as well as the reasons for our actions in order to educate others of course

i do not expect you to do that. If need be I will do it myself. Your job is the plan
John says:
I can provide most of the details
Voltaire says:
No one wants the responsibilities of planning
John says:
I tired to teach honghu how to organise a poll.
Voltaire says:
that is the problem
John says:
she wiggled out. You can see the thread where I tried.
Voltaire says:
I think the problem lays in the fact that your policies are often the best ones... People feel as though they cannot do any better, and hence do not try... or in effect agree with what you propose. I know that you consult with quite a few people on matters.
John says:
the only reason why they're the best is because I talk to those people first
Voltaire says:
But since more of the Hive decision making has moved off of hte forums it is not in the public eye.
John says:
*nod*
Voltaire says:
The strange thing is that the Hive is far from inactive, just that the activity is on MSN
John says:
oh yeah can you skim the base layout place, and see if you notice anything that might need changes?

LOL, yeah definately
Voltaire says:
I did. As well as the borehole layouts
John says:
any comments, adjustments ideas
Voltaire says:
I must say I'm impressed, all those boreholes...
John says:
borehole layout added an base and adjusted one base to make it sea so we don't get land locked probe ships
Voltaire says:
No, in fact I think a great job was done of putting all those bases on our small continent...
John says:
the problem is the land may change when we do our landraising, but that's too far into the future atm. Jamski did the majority of the base placement
Voltaire says:
several people were invited by our active members -
posted once or twice, or not at all and then we never see them again
John says:
*nod*
Voltaire says:
See, people are activly participating in decision making
John says:
perhaps we better start posting every single MSN conversation
Voltaire says:
lol, I was just about to suggest that - of course just change my nick from the MSN think to Voltaire when the things is posted... or somehow indicate who it is
John says:
okay - so post all of this?
Voltaire says:
indeed in the turnchat transcript thread
John says:
I think we should make them seperate threads with headers on what the conversation is about
Voltaire says:
not a bad idea. In fact I like it. IMO we should also close some of the spam threads. PRAVDA can stay, it adds character to the Hive
John says:
some of the worse ones
Voltaire says:
but we simply have too much spam
John says:
maybe arrange to give Jamski mod powers
Voltaire says:
lol, i'll look into it
Voltaire says:
though the mod functions i have cannot do that much
i cannot for example delete posts or threads - only edit them or close them
John says:
yeah all Jamski needs to do is be able to close them
Voltaire says:
i will speak to the admins. But from now on we will make it Hive policy to post ALL MSN discussions no matter the content. If nothing the forums will serve as an archive of our activity
John says:
okay then
Voltaire says:
a demonstration of the fact that we are indeed active - One other thing that IMO has contributed to the decline of interest in the game... And I've said this on numerous occasions... The lack of politics, that made the initial ACDG interesting (until they got rid of parties) We just need to be patient and wait to encounter the other factions. Then the planitary council discussion will be of much interest.
John says:
okay
Voltaire says:
Given the fact that we need not limit ourselves to the in-game resolutions...
John says:
I wonder if googlie can increase the frequency of disasters?
Hmm, good question... I'm not sure.
John says:
if we have disasters then we can roleplay relief work
Voltaire says:
Very true

**Googlie** · August 24, 2003, 10:26

Re: MSN - Discussion on hive acitivity and work allocation

Originally posted by Kody
I wonder if googlie can increase the frequency of disasters?

No - unfortunately it's not possible to change the alphax.txt once a scenario'ed PBEM game has started.

G.

**Jamski** · August 24, 2003, 11:42

maybe arrange to give Jamski mod powers

:eek!:

-Jam

**Snowflake** · August 25, 2003, 15:50

John says:
I tired to teach honghu how to organise a poll.
she wiggled out

lol. I didn't mean to wiggle out from anything. I thought it was Jamski's place to do the polls but I would do it if you all think I should.

As for giving Jamski mod powers, as far as I know Marshal had also PMed the administors and he was urging me to do the same. I haven't got a chance to speak to Jamksi and Chairman, if you all agree then I will do that too. I guess if Chairman would do the PM maybe it will be more effective.

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MSN - Discussion on hive acitivity and work allocation

MSN - Discussion on hive acitivity and work allocation

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