Better be... Gryffindor! (For Delegate)

Elections Archive
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“Welcome, Welcome, to another Delegate Election! Before we begin our election, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Endos! Mods! Telegrams! Cake! Thank you!” - Professor Griffindore :mage: - from Max Barry and the Nation Simulator :magic_wand:

Greetings, my fellow South Pacifians!

As Professor Griffindore so eloquently alluded to, those four words are the focal point of my campaign. It is a pleasure to finally come before the members of the Assembly and accept my nomination to be the next Delegate. I look forward to answering your questions about my plans for the upcoming term as they come. But for now:

Endos:

I currently have (at posting) 583 endorsements. Our current Delegate has 638 endorsements. I am confident that the gap between those numbers can be closed in relatively short order!

While on the topic of endorsements, my goal for the term is to get my endorsements and that of the Coral Guard’s endorsements as high as they can possibly go! Our region has collectively lost thousands of endorsements since the Frontiers and Strongholds update went live, and our level of nation spawns was halved. By utilizing our SWAN system, as well as continuing the endorsement challenges, I think some significant progress could be made. I also intend to, throughout the term, educate the members of the RMB on the value of endorsing everyone!

Mods:

As the Delegate is an ex officio member of the RMB moderation, I intend to assist them with the moderation of the Regional Message Board. I will also, as the ultimate in-game Regional Officer, carry out all lawful orders given to me by the Prime Minister, High Court, Council on Regional Security, and RMB Moderation and ensure there is as little of a delay as possible between orders and execution. To that effect, I already check NS, Discord, and the Forums several times a day and will continue to check them regularly. I am also available at majors and minors in the unlikely event that the region has any shenanigans attempted against it.

Telegrams:

Telegrams are going to be a major focal piece of my tenure as Delegate. I will ensure that the Welcome Telegram and other mass Telegrams have accurate information and effectively communicate what the message is trying to deliver. On an individual level, I also intend to be open and accessible to all nations within the South Pacific. To that end, my Telegram inbox (and Discord PMs and Forum PMs) are open to all members of the region that would like help, clarification, explanation, or just a person to talk to when they need it. I also intend to Telegram all World Assembly Members in the South Pacific that are not endorsing the Delegate and attempt to get them to do so by answering their questions or remedying their reservations against doing so; this will, hopefully, in due time, also happen with non-World Assembly nations in an effort to get them to join.

While we are on the communication front, I will also keep the World Factbook Entry clean, updated, and as the law mandates, in coordination with the Prime Minister. Open communication between relevant stakeholders within the region is an important step to keeping this region active and secure.

Cake:

Last but most certainly not least, we have cake! “Cake” is my catch-all category to briefly summarize the other points of my campaign speech. At the World Assembly, I will vote according to the Prime Minister’s direction when available. I will also strive to lodge the South Pacific’s vote on a World Assembly resolution within the first hour or two of voting. It’s no surprise that World Assembly nations within the region tend to follow the Delegate’s vote, or in the absence of such a vote, the way the majority of the region is voting. By voting early, I will be able to actively help shape the South Pacific’s World Assembly goals as they evolve.

Last but most certainly not least, you have my solemn promise that the South Pacific will, as it was under our current Delegate, remain a Cakeitalist region, embodying the best qualities of Cakeitalism. I would rather be couped by fascists TNP than submit to a Pietatorship. We will allow biscuit eaters - side eyes Professor Mcgonagall - to remain within our region but under the watchful eye of our security apparatus.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure:

My forum/Discord name is Griffindor, and my nation name is Ebonhand.
I have been in TSP on and off for just over ten years.
I was a Local Council member ~six years ago.
I was the Chair and Vice-Chair of the APC (did I trigger anyone? :wink: )
I have been an Associate Justice on the High Court for the last three years.
I have been a member of the Coral Guard for the last two years.
I was elected as Minister of Engagement twice over the last year, most recently in February.
The nations Griffindor13, Ebonhand 2, Ebonhand 3, Ebonhand 4, and Ebonhand 5 are/were under my control.

Other regions:
I was a citizen of Balder from 2018-2020 and was the Lawspeaker/Talman of the Storting/Odelsting (their Chair of their Assembly).

I will now take any questions that y’all might have! Thank you! And remember to vote for me!

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Huh. I’ve been a pretty fierce critic of your’s in the past, in part because I hold very high standards for Cabinet jobs that I know others don’t always share, but reading through this campaign I find myself appreciative of its simplicity and and I also feel like I can actually see you being successful in the job. Not to mention, the proof is in your endorsement count. You’re consistently the #2 or #3 endos in the region ever since the Coral Guard was made the primary endorsement holding body, and a lot of that seems to be due to strong fundamentals (e.g. endotarting, telegrams, etc.) rather than any elaborate schemes. Something you do works, and I’m inclined to let it work.

I’m also curious about how a Griff delegacy might go because I think our contemporary and successful delegates have had absurd levels of technical skills that have made the position extremely intimidating. Thinking of Delegates like Amerion, anjo, and Somy … all just churned out incredibly pretty and graphics heavy Dispatch/promotional content, and lots of it, and I think mystified the role of Delegate a bit to where people feel you need to have super sophisticated graphics talent to do the job effectively. Were those Delegates effective because of those things or were those things an added boon to a core set of skills and activities that aren’t as technical and which other people could also do. I somewhat feel the results of a Griffin delegacy could elucidate that answer for us somewhat.

I had a few brief questions, but overall, you’re likely to have my approval vote in the first round. Challengers dependent, maybe my vote in the second as well.

You’re currently manger of the Mentorship program. You may not remain such under the new Prime Minister, but since you worked on the program probably more than anyone else, do you have any ideas for how mentorship could apply to bringing in RMBers once your job includes a portfolio of activity there?

Are you generally available to vote early at minor and major updates?

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First of all, I would like to thank you for your vote of confidence on this. Much of the reason for the continual decline of my nominations over the years was the increasing professional standards of the Delegates and Ministers over time. I literally have no skill with fancy graphics or coding, or elaborate spreadsheets. Do I want to learn those in due time? Sure, but I just don’t have the time to dedicate to learning that at this point in time (nor do my RL actions require that of me).

Your criticisms against me used to drive me insane, but I quickly realized that they weren’t some sort of character assassination. Right…? Right…? (insert padme meme here) Rather, they were your way of ensuring that the government is competent, and at least for me, caused me to work harder at the job I was given.

Over the next several months, should I be elected, I will try and prove that it doesn’t take a tech-savvy Delegate to interact with the region. It is my hope that a new generation of South Pacifians is ready to take up the mantle of regional governance under my tenure and after it.

Now to get to your questions…

No matter which way the election goes, you are correct in that I am the manager of the Mentorship program. It is also entirely possible that the next PM decides to do away with the program as an arm of the executive branch. If that is or isn’t the case, I still intend to serve as a mentor to anyone that will have me. Should I become Delegate, it will make the mentor position all the more valuable since the most visible nation in the region is helping new nations out. Further, no matter what happens in either election, the mentor program is going to be massively decentralized and less bureaucratic. That thread within the ministry area? Gone.

I also hope that a culture of introducing ourselves to new members continues to take hold. We already have seen an uptick in people welcoming new nations onto the forums, and I would love to see that continue and even see them offer their assistance should they want to. I would like to claim credit and say that it was the mentorship program causing this, but I think it was actually kind of a natural occurrence, so that is even better in my book!

As for integrating RMBers into the program, I think it will greatly have to do with the initial welcome message that a new nation would receive upon spawning. Letting the new nation know that I, their Delegate, have an open Telegram inbox to answer any questions, comments, concerns, or just plain be there to talk to them is an important role that I can play. That naturally opens up the avenue of getting them to get onto our forums and Discord in due time. The biggest obstacle any new nation has is the sheer amount of information that they need to process in order to begin playing our part of the game. Giving them time to digest it, dip their toe in the water, and ask questions along the way will, in my opinion, be far better than any guide (though those will still be needed).

As for your second question:

I am generally available for any major or minor updates. If I know in advance (via the PM or delegated minister) that my vote would be needed quickly to set the tone for the vote, then you can be all but guaranteed that I will be there to cast the vote the moment it becomes available.