Presidential Campaign thread.

[ThePlagueRat]

I'm getting sick of this beuraucratic nonsense.


Is there one candidate who wants to improve
and extend democracy , through strategic polling etc.?
Like being the loyal servant of your loyal people?

[Ninot]

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
I'm getting sick of this beuraucratic nonsense.


Is there one candidate who wants to improve
and extend democracy , through strategic polling etc.?
Like being the loyal servant of your loyal people?

I've always been of the opinion that if we have come to make a democracy game, we should make it the most democractic possible.

By this, i think that we should turn to the public for their opinion as often as conceivably convenient. So polls, threads, chat discussions, anything that seems democratically sound. And, i think a Governor system would aid this as well.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Both:

What do you expect out of your VP, and how do you plan to aid them in accomplishing those tasks?

I can only DREAM my VP would organize things as well as you did Unortho . But I hope my VP would help organize things, be able to step up if at any time i should become handicapped or unavailable, and take care of business to aid me in my general business (playing turns occasionally)

Ninot:

During your campaign for your last run, you promised a website to be made that would incorperate pages and infomation of all the DemoGame. Plans with SnOOpy and others fell through in completing that website, but are there any possibilities of such a creation?

not getting the website done was one of the things that i was most dissapointed about in my last term. The mess with Snoopy never got fixed, and it was just generally unfortunate.

Now, as my own time will not be expansive for the next month, I can't make any promises. But should anyone be able to help build a site, I would help them to my uttmost to finally get this thing done. Should i ever find myself with a weekend and nothing to do, maybe i'll create something basic. who knows. But should a website have the possibility of creation, i will be on it faster than a buzzard on roadkill!

Both:

Barring the creation of a website, would you be willing to assist in the creation and maintanence of the Directory, up to and including charging Executives and Ministers with hanling relative sections?

Most definately yes! Back when i was foreign minister, i believed heavily in making very detailed reports for anyone to see. Honestly, i would wish all ministers would take the same time, care and effort to do likewise, but i know not everyone can. But I would definately show an unhappy face if ministers dont look to be pulling their weight for whatever they might should be doing, and if the Directory becomes a standard, than I will definately expect a standard ammount of info being fed into it. Of course, I will help out the ministers any ways i can, as it isn't like they are privied to the reports they might make.

[WhiteBandit]

Originally posted by ThePlagueRat
I'm getting sick of this beuraucratic nonsense.


Is there one candidate who wants to improve
and extend democracy , through strategic polling etc.?
Like being the loyal servant of your loyal people?

I can preach about extending democracy as much as I want, but that ultimately won't mean much in the scheme of things. The only way to have our democracy become more effective is if more people participate. We poll quite a bit on all sorts of matters relating to our government, some polls have quite a few people participating in them, while others have 10 - 20 people voting at max.

We are in a sort of precarious balance at the moment with our democracy game. People want to offer more positions in government so that there is more "participation" but at the same time we technically don't have that many people who can devote the time to participate, or are willing to even run for anything. Many of our elections are still with 1 candidate only. We have something like 400+ members signed up in the game, but 50 - 75 actively participate. Of those, we can just barely get enough to fill the 13 or so positions required.

I have always listened to opinions while in the service of the people. I remember that I was voted into office by the people. I don't think I have ever turned down a request (and if they are reasonable requests, I can't see why I would?). Just because I am head of a certain position, I do not think I am the smartest person. I actively seek the advice of others and have always listened to the citizens of our nation. I think this is definitely something I can do should I be elected as President, and my track record should show it. I am a loyal servant of the people.

My non-turn chats could also possibly fall in this category. While not giving the citizens more power, it does make the government more readily available, and it is easier to chat in "real time." I think this is something we can DEFINITELY benefit from. Many positive ideas have come from turn chats. During a turn chat under MWIA's administration, I worked up a plan with Aggie and MWIA to save Napoleton from Germany. It was a slight risk since it might not work, but at least we attempted something. I heavily pushed for it. Notice today that we still have Napoleton. If not for a chat, this would have never happened.

I think the non-turn chats give the average citizen more power to propose ideas about the course of the game that the government can take advantage of. These (hopefully) greater participation opportunities should foster increased citizen support and give the citizens a more active role in their government.

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Both:

What do you expect out of your VP, and how do you plan to aid them in accomplishing those tasks?

Ninot:

During your campaign for your last run, you promised a website to be made that would incorperate pages and infomation of all the DemoGame. Plans with SnOOpy and others fell through in completing that website, but are there any possibilities of such a creation?

Both:

Barring the creation of a website, would you be willing to assist in the creation and maintanence of the Directory, up to and including charging Executives and Ministers with hanling relative sections?

I expect my VP to work hard and stay up to date with the game. I would definitely let my VP handle any thing he would want, I think of the VP as my equal. UnOrtho set a standard with having the VP update the directory (which is a very time consuming process), and so far AdaMada has taken over the job.

I think the VP can also act as a great conduit between the people and officials. Since the President plays the game and has a great broad overview of our country, he may not necessarily be thinking of the views of our citizens. I think since the VP doesn't have to generally be concerned with the "big picture," he has a better understanding of what the citizens want. Working together, the President and VP can mold the "big picture" into something that correlates to what the people of our nation want.

Regarding the creation of a website, it would be quite easy to throw something together. I could even request reports from ministers and update them with no problem. Giving ministers responsibility would be a great idea. While it does involve more work, it would force them to provide a report on matters of their ministry. Many have complained that the government does not provide enough information, but I think a web site combining all the ministries and even demographic information from BFM and Aro would be an invaluable asset to our country. It would go hand in hand with the directory, but would have a cleaner setup.

If elected, this is something I could easily design, as many have seen the Public Works website I threw together for my term as a PW minister (though it sadly hasn't been updated in a few weeks). As long as ministers PM me with the current information they would like, this would be quite easy to do. It would be a very effective tool.

[Aggie]

To me turnchats are necessary, yes the strategy and planning is fun, but the best part of the game is playing along and the playing the game with everybody helping and giving advice. Would you consider, as OPD has mentioned in the latest orders thread letting a minister run a chat so that we can keep the chats. Perhaps I could do one, the FAM do one and so on. what is your view on this idea. To me playing turnchats and managing them are the key thing the president does. Of course the President does try to lead the discussion when possible(see the opd discussion on arbela for an example). However, considering how wonderfully qualified both(so far) candidates are the chat views will determine my vote.
Aggie

[WhiteBandit]

Ministers...

I don't think it would be a bad idea. I would like to stick to the schedule though as much as possible. If elected, I would post my schedule and perhaps we could deem who could control the turn chat at a specific date. I don't believe there is anything in the CoL that specifically prohibits this.

But if turn chats are actually deemed that important, I would be more than willing to let a minister preside over the chat should it be necessary.

[Donegeal]

Ninot: could you please explain "governers"? Is it like MoCP RA but on a city by city basis?

[MrWhereItsAt]

Wow. Looks like my worthy opponenets have a big lead on me in discussion and promises. I can't hope to catch up right now, but I will say a few things, and then reply to any specfic questions here or via PM (time to clean that inbox out!)

Turnchats will happen as normal if I were to be elected this term. I like them (despite the time they take up), and they help keep ppl in the know. Even if you just lurk during them, it is sooo much easier to know what has happened than reading the reports afterwards.

I have free time from Friday 11 Oct - a lot of it. All I must do for the next month is pack up my room in my flat and study for exams. No strict time commitments as of yet. This would mean that I should be available far more than I was when I was last President.

I the idea of discussion chats. I missed the last one during my term , but this sounds like a truly excellent idea.

Two turnchats of 5 turns a week? Sure - no problem. One more chat than my term, but that's alright. I would be concerned with any more than 5 turns/chat during wartime as things get unpredictable pretty quickly. During eace, where there are far fewer units to move around, we could extend the number of turns... but we have some way to go before we stop moving the military around!

As a general statement of why you should vote for me ^_^ - I like being President, and my last term (like all terms, not quite perfect), turned out pretty successful. I enjoy working with the Ministers we have had to date, and I am feeling quite excited with the prospect of some hotly contested elections, which will result in some truly excellent Ministers once again. I very much look forward to working with the familiar pillars of the game such as Aggie and also feel I will enjoy the first-time Executives such as Arnelos in his campaign for VP.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by donegeal
Ninot: could you please explain "governers"? Is it like MoCP RA but on a city by city basis?

If im guessing right, you mean a minister of City Planning for an era, instead of a governor for every city.

When i think of a governor, i think of a post where someone controls the building orders of a handful of cities, or more depending on the cities.
Basically, yes i want to split up the MoCP's duties to several people, each seeing over a province or teritory.

[UnOrthOdOx]

All Three:

Should you lose the election, what role will you play over the next term?

[MrWhereItsAt]

Should I lose, you KNOW I will still be around.

I have a month of nothing but exam leave, so I will be here basically every day, and if the current trend is going to continue, for at least 3-4 hours a day.

it is difficult to specify a role if I am not a Minister, but I will at least continue what I have been doing - pushing for the direction I feel our civilization should be moving in, offering advice to the new President and Ministers and voting in polls. For that month, should any opportunities come up for positions of some kind, I would be more than happy, no, enthusiastic , to get involved in them, provided they were within my ability to do so.

If, at any point, the President/VP/Ministers had any doubts or questions they would like answered privately, they can rest assured I would help them to the best of my ability, without prejudging or flaming. The same goes for any citizen of our great nation. We are here to have fun, and to further the cause of Apolytonia above all else.

[WhiteBandit]

Should I lose?

Well should I lose the election, I should also still be around. It is definitely a fun game to check out and participate in.

Since I wouldn't be a minister, I wouldn't have a direct role in shaping government policy, but I think that I could still be effective in pushing for certain strategies and ideas.

Whether I win or lose, there are still amendments and reforms that need to be worked on (regardless of the Con Con) such as defining regional ministers. Not to steal Ninot's idea of course, but I was thinking about this myself.

I support regional ministers and think they should be granted full authority and made an official position. Eventually we should make it a constitutional ammendment once we decide how to administer positions (keep in mind, we need to make provisions for expansion and new regions coming into play). If we can decide on a procedure on how new regions are created, say something like "each region may have 5 cities" so it would facilitate "automatically" creating a new minister spot for that position, then I would fully support it. This way, our constitution will be able to account for expansion, rather than defining in writing "There are X amount of regional administrators who will be in charge of Mingapulco, Pina Colada..." and having to amend our CoL every time we need a new region. Boy that was a ramble wasn't it. Well this should be one of the priorities, especially since the CP job is becoming an amazing hassle and takes over 2 - 3 hours to compile in some cases. Yes, a new CoL is being written soon, but this could provide them some new ideas to take into account and a pattern to follow.

But something like that can be persued whether I am a President or a regular citizen. I do plan to stick around and offer my suggestions and input on all sorts of government matters. Perhaps I could even consider joining the mini-game!

[Ninot]

Should I lose the election, i will still lurch around the forums, stating opinions, getting involved in anything that catches my interest. But mostly, I'll be doing the same i've been doing for the past few terms. But maybe a little more forcefully.

And if I shouldn't win, or if I should win, I expect to run for something next term, depending on the situation then.

[GodKing]

Regarding regions.... better check out what has gone on in my terms.... lots of threads regarding this, so before any more promices, please read them. Particularly the current CP campaing thread where I just posted.

How would you each make information more readily available to the people?

How would you organize things differently from the previous terms (particularly geared toward Ninot and MWIA, but WB please answer as well as you have been active)? I do not necessarily mean relative to your previous administrations.

What direction do you see our Civ taking? Peace, war, growth, exploration, etc. What is your Vision for our future?

[Ninot]

To answer your questions backwards Godking....

I see peace and growth ahead for Apolyton. It has become obvious that we must grow our culture if we hope to keep pace, and with our current literacy rate, it is invevitable we will lag behind if we don't start building.

Now, as for how things would be organized...
I would still hope to keep a finely tuned ammount of topped threads. Ive always believed the less topped threads, the better things are. Also, as for information, I would keep it much like i did in my last term, in one main report thread, and now that many usefull threads have popped up (map threads for instance), I would hope to submitt any relevant information to those as well. But as for overall organization, I could only dream to make such a usefull index as Unorthodox did during MWIA's term, but I could simulate those efforts to the best of my ability, with the help of the VP of course.


As for the regional stuff, thanks for the heads up.