[PASSED] Commend The NationStates Community

[Azerzia]

First, thank you Todd for the constructive comments =). Next, on to the break down:

Lemme take a look at this:

OBSERVING that on 1 April 2012, [s]and the hours immediately before and after[/s], [s]the communication company used by all the nations of the world to contact one another offered[/s] shares [s]of itself[/s] in proportion to the national population of every nation was temporarily made available,

I'd get rid of the communication company idea and the hours immediately before and after since this varied by time zone, but yeah.

I had the company in there because of concerns I had with just leaving it at shares implies the game. "...shares were given...", "shares in what?", "NationStates" "Rule violation". With the company its "...shares were given...", "shares in what?", "A communication company we all use *wink, nudge*", "Not a rule violation but still kind of silly".
I had the date in there plus the hours before and after since it ran for about a day and a half. Just trying to be specific, but I see your point.

FURTHER OBSERVING that an international organization, OMG INC, was created to allow for the largest share holder, [s]and thus controller of power,[/s] to be a single nation representative of the entire world which would be answerable to the desires of the world,

The stricken phrase is kind of redundant.

I just felt it clarified, but again I see your point.

NOTING that the nation of The NationStates Community was the chosen representative of OMG INC by democratic election due to the belief the name represented the community of nation states OMG INC hoped to achieve,

FURTHER NOTING that many of the most influential states of the world backed The NationStates Community (which ultimately succeeded in its goal) including Lyanna Stark, Zemnaya Svoboda, Ballotonia, Darkesia, Parhe and countless others,

With this being a community thing, is it a good idea to name specific nations here? I'm asking this as a literal 'I don't know', not a 'well let me tell you why it's not a good idea'. But let me argue in the against, cause it'll prolly be a little less popular. Every nation helped here - thousands probably. It was a monumental effort undertaken by so many individuals, individuals who did whatever part they did (big or small) to bring this together. Truly it was one of the rare occassions where I can say I've witnessed nations from all walks of life unite - raider or defender, WA folk or gameplayer, vet or newbie, and do something that's pretty dang sweet. Like I said, I don't know if it's a good idea to specifically name anyone in this, as it was an effort undertaken by all.

See below for my Mallorea and Riva response

BELIEVING that the goal of a democratic organization representing the nations of the world in business affairs is a commendable goal,

HEREBY commends The NationStates Community

What about a clause explaining their victory? ^_____^

I'll try to think of a way to word it and maybe include it in the next draft; stay tuned.

If you're naming any nation other than "The NationStates Community" in the proposal itself, you've really lost sight of the whole point. Yes, Elu and Ballo contributed huge shares. Into the Community. You don't commend individuals for creating a community, every single donation was important. A person who had only 1,000 shares but gave them all to your group was just as Commendable as those who gave tens or hundreds of thousands (or even millions).

To go into greater detail on the name dropping thing: As the ringleaders I felt they deserved a spot on, what is essentially, the OMG INC commendation by proxy. I figured the more minor players in it would be included in the "countless others", but I do see what you are saying. I will take it out if it is a significant issue towards people being in favor of this proposal

[Azerzia]

The NSC, and OMG INC, were just commended by Max:

As nations pooled shares in order to reach the higher rungs of the share leaderboard, another unexpected thing happened. The leading nation—second on the list, after me—stopped being a faction-based effort, collecting shares primarily from deals and alliances, and instead started representing practically everybody. It was represented by The NationStates Community, and was genuine a community-wide movement as I've seen.

For a long time, it looked like they'd make it, but in the last hour, it tapped out at a little under 20,000,000 shares, five million short of the goal. The rest of the leaderboard was full of people who had decided to hold on to their own shares, or had gone to bed. (Because for anyone in North America, it was really late. It was meant to finish an hour earlier, but I coded in the wrong time zone. Sorry about that.)

At this point, the organizers of The NationStates Community reluctantly decided (via a vote) to transfer shares to the next-placed nation, in order that it, at least, would beat the target. This would be NewTexas.

Obviously, I should have just let that happen, and we all could have learned a somewhat sour yet useful lesson about the power of holding a non-negotiable swing vote in a high-stakes negotiation. But that seemed like a shame, to me, given the nature of the community effort, and how ridiculously hard the organizers had been working. So I decided to transfer my 25M shares to the community. But only at the last minute, as trading closed, so I also secretly disabled the ability of "The NationStates Community" to trade away its own shares in the meantime. This was cheating, of course. But very fun.

NSC has Max's personal support and he believes in the hard work the organizers of OMG INC put in. he thinks this is something unique, and if a direct commendation from Max doesn't count towards a commendation, I don't know what does.

[Crushing Our Enemies]

If you're naming any nation other than "The NationStates Community" in the proposal itself, you've really lost sight of the whole point. Yes, Elu and Ballo contributed huge shares. Into the Community. You don't commend individuals for creating a community, every single donation was important. A person who had only 1,000 shares but gave them all to your group was just as Commendable as those who gave tens or hundreds of thousands (or even millions).

To go into greater detail on the name dropping thing: As the ringleaders I felt they deserved a spot on, what is essentially, the OMG INC commendation by proxy. I figured the more minor players in it would be included in the "countless others", but I do see what you are saying. I will take it out if it is a significant issue towards people being in favor of this proposal

If names are named, I will not vote for, and if I have time, I will campaign against as strongly as I can. I didn't contribute my 38,890 shares to Elu, Ballo, and Lyanna. I contributed my shares to The Nationstates Community.

[Todd McCloud]

Yeah I think I'm going to have to agree - take any names off. This was done by everyone involved, from those who donated one share to those who organized it and put it all together. Really, even if we took the names of everyone who was in the IRC chatroom late at night - about 40 or so names in total - that wouldn't be enough in my opinion. Plus it takes away the communal aspect of the movement: we worked as one of many united under a common goal and treated each other equally. We even had democratically-driven decisions where each nation received one vote. There was no committee, no backroom talks or council of overseers (to my knowledge). It was an effort taken on by all, and we couldn't have done it without everyone's help (including Max, who we can't mention anyway as I believe that'd be a Rule IV violation).

This shouldn't take away what everyone did - many people were phenomenal here and it'll be something many of us won't soon forget. That's like a commendation in of itself. But I would have a problem if even one name was named in this commendation, because that can be seen as elevating some people above others. I don't think any of us want to come across as that.

[Azerzia]

I have made edits in accordance with your suggestions. Can anyone think of a better initial wording for some of the clauses, since it seems odd to me but I can't come up with better ones

[Cerian Quilor]

What NSC did does not Merit Commendation.

if this makes it to the floor, we shall vote nay.

[Azerzia]

What NSC did does not Merit Commendation.

if this makes it to the floor, we shall vote nay.

I respect your position but want to understand why. What makes this not worth commending? The short time frame the actions took place in? The fact it was "just collecting shares"? Or was it something else?
Since, for the first, if it could have happened over a longer time it would have. However, that was not possible since there was a brief time frame. As for the shares, I think that is only what it looks like not what it was. The collecting of shares and alliance making is what was expected from the exercise. But because this was a truly democratic, community-led organization in a way even Max was surprised at, I think that is worth considering. What OMG INC and NSC did was special, unexpected and unprecedented. For that, I think it is worth commending

[Cerian Quilor]

NSC was at best mob mentality. Calling it democracy is like calling a lynch mob a democratic group, or saying that Publius Clodius Pulcher was a democratic leader.

[Mallorea and Riva]

NSC was at best mob mentality. Calling it democracy is like calling a lynch mob a democratic group, or saying that Publius Clodius Pulcher was a democratic leader.

Being in the IRC channel of OMG Inc. would really have helped you out on this one. Speaking of which, here's the (presumably edited) version of events ta da.

[Azerzia]

NSC was at best mob mentality. Calling it democracy is like calling a lynch mob a democratic group, or saying that Publius Clodius Pulcher was a democratic leader.

I can assure you, it was not a mob. It HAD elections; voting was open and voluntary. It was highly organized and well planned. The organization made votes and decisions for the best of the organization and the community. It was a direct democracy, which may be hard to distinguish from a mob in some respects. However, this had elected leadership and idealistic goals for a democratic system of management for NationStates. That hardly sounds like a lynch mob to me.

Being in the IRC channel of OMG Inc. would really have helped you out on this one. Speaking of which, here's the (presumably edited) version of events ta da.

I am fairly certain there were no edits made to this, although I may be mistaken, based off this little exchange between AMOM, Elu and myself not being censored:

[01 Apr 19:44] <AMOM> Soon we shall brutally violate Max Barry
[01 Apr 19:44] <Eluvatar> ah there it is
[01 Apr 19:45] <Wied> o/
[01 Apr 19:45] <Eluvatar> I see 61780
[01 Apr 19:45] <Azerzia> You can have fun with that o.O
[01 Apr 19:45] <Eluvatar> you had another puppet invovled?
[01 Apr 19:45] <Eluvatar> AMOM: please don't scare people

Thank you for linking that in Mallorea and Riva

[Ethdonia]

I'm all in favor of circle jerks.

[Azerzia]

I'm all in favor of circle jerks.

As stated before, somewhere about 20% of NationStates was involved in NSC. If this is a 'circle jerk' the ENTIRE game, not just one small group, is about to be rather messy =P

[Zemnaya Svoboda]

If you're naming any nation other than "The NationStates Community" in the proposal itself, you've really lost sight of the whole point. Yes, Elu and Ballo contributed huge shares. Into the Community. You don't commend individuals for creating a community, every single donation was important. A person who had only 1,000 shares but gave them all to your group was just as Commendable as those who gave tens or hundreds of thousands (or even millions).

Actually I did not contribute very many shares. I contributed 111 thousand + change.

I will be making a table and chart of who contributed how much to the NationStates Community.

[Cerian Quilor]

NSC was at best mob mentality. Calling it democracy is like calling a lynch mob a democratic group, or saying that Publius Clodius Pulcher was a democratic leader.

I can assure you, it was not a mob. It HAD elections; voting was open and voluntary. It was highly organized and well planned. The organization made votes and decisions for the best of the organization and the community. It was a direct democracy, which may be hard to distinguish from a mob in some respects. However, this had elected leadership and idealistic goals for a democratic system of management for NationStates. That hardly sounds like a lynch mob to me.

Being in the IRC channel of OMG Inc. would really have helped you out on this one. Speaking of which, here's the (presumably edited) version of events ta da.

I am fairly certain there were no edits made to this, although I may be mistaken, based off this little exchange between AMOM, Elu and myself not being censored:

[01 Apr 19:44] <AMOM> Soon we shall brutally violate Max Barry
[01 Apr 19:44] <Eluvatar> ah there it is
[01 Apr 19:45] <Wied> o/
[01 Apr 19:45] <Eluvatar> I see 61780
[01 Apr 19:45] <Azerzia> You can have fun with that o.O
[01 Apr 19:45] <Eluvatar> you had another puppet invovled?
[01 Apr 19:45] <Eluvatar> AMOM: please don't scare people

Thank you for linking that in Mallorea and Riva

It took less than two days. People jumped on the bandwagon because it looked good.

[Azerzia]

I would argue that a greater many did it because they believed in the cause. And, again, even if there were bandwagoners that doesn't take away from what the organization did. To strain a comparison slightly, lets take Manchester United or the Green Bay Packers. Lots of bandwagoners because both are very good teams. Does that mean either the real fans or the team itself is just made up of people going with the flow? No, it doesn't and I think we need yo look at this from a not too dissimilar perspective.

[Campinia]

It took less than two days.

I'm not sure I get your point, but in my opinion the ability to organize something like this in such a short period of time is a positive thing....

[Cerian Quilor]

NSC accomplished something, but its not something worthy of commendation.

[Azerzia]

NSC accomplished something, but its not something worthy of commendation.

But why isn't it? You said bandwagon and I argued against that. You said time and others have argued against. You are back to just stating it doesn't deserve it but how exactly does it not deserve it?

[Azerzia]

I think I will submit this tomorrow unless there are additional constructive comments on the proposal

[Sedgistan]

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that said original owner then changed the rules of the share offering and trade his shares to the The NationStates Community in order to give The NationStates community the position of largest shareholder,

Both of those are problems. Use vaguer terms such as rules -> conditions, and his -> their.

[Azerzia]

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that said original owner then changed the rules of the share offering and trade his shares to the The NationStates Community in order to give The NationStates community the position of largest shareholder,

Both of those are problems. Use vaguer terms such as rules -> conditions, and his -> their.

Fair enough, minor edits. Thank you Sedgistan

[Omigodtheykilledkenny]

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that said original owner then changed the rules of the share offering and trade his shares to the The NationStates Community in order to give The NationStates community the position of largest shareholder,

Both of those are problems. Use vaguer terms such as rules -> conditions, and his -> their.

"Rules" is illlegal now, as is "his," even when it's referring to a person, not a nation?

[Frisbeeteria]

"Rules" is illlegal now, as is "his," even when it's referring to a person, not a nation?

Bizarre, yes, but it has to be done that way to avoid fourth wall issues. Max Barry is the only person in the game not identified by a nation name. In this case, we maintain the fourth wall by choosing to accept the belief that "Max Barry" is a nation name just like all the others in the game. "Rules" is an obvious a fourth wall violation in this context, as it refers to the game-as-game.

[Proloteriat]

I'd support such an action.

[A mean old man]

R4: creator of many agitating plurality errors.