The Writers' Block

[Trotterdam]

I don't think reusable spacecraft would get rid of space junk. Even if the launch vehicles are reusable, satellites are still left around in orbit. And any kind of accident would still cause debris.

[Caracasus]

I don't think reusable spacecraft would get rid of space junk. Even if the launch vehicles are reusable, satellites are still left around in orbit. And any kind of accident would still cause debris.

Oh yeah, the proponents of the re-usable spacecraft would claim that it would cut down on space junk.

[Frisbeeteria]

I don't think reusable spacecraft would get rid of space junk. Even if the launch vehicles are reusable, satellites are still left around in orbit. And any kind of accident would still cause debris.

Oh yeah, the proponents of the re-usable spacecraft would claim that it would cut down on space junk.

Which is all fine and good, but not part of THIS thread. Go write a draft and talk about it there, or take it to General if you want to talk about RL impact.

[Caracasus]

Oh yeah, the proponents of the re-usable spacecraft would claim that it would cut down on space junk.

Which is all fine and good, but not part of THIS thread. Go write a draft and talk about it there, or take it to General if you want to talk about RL impact.

Apologies. I thought this was an area where people put together basic ideas - my mistake. I'll put a draft together at some point then.

[Annihilators of Chan Island]

I was just thinking of an issue idea, but I'm not sure how viable it is so I'll ask here first (and also wait for the 3 issues I currently have going fall off the front page so that they can be submitted).

Basically, a citizen of the country with an absurdly rare name tries to come home without his passport and insists pretty much ''look me up, that's me, now let me in.'' The options being the guy trying to enter the country and someone with an ''extremely common'' @@RANDOMNAME@@ concerned about the extraordinary privilege this might give to a, by definition, select few people.

What do you think?

[Frisbeeteria]

absurdly rare name

Hard to see how this would be a national issue, more of a one-off annoyance at Customs.

[Golgothastan]

I was just thinking of an issue idea, but I'm not sure how viable it is so I'll ask here first (and also wait for the 3 issues I currently have going fall off the front page so that they can be submitted).

Basically, a citizen of the country with an absurdly rare name tries to come home without his passport and insists pretty much ''look me up, that's me, now let me in.'' The options being the guy trying to enter the country and someone with an ''extremely common'' @@RANDOMNAME@@ concerned about the extraordinary privilege this might give to a, by definition, select few people.

What do you think?

That doesn't really seem like an issue for @@LEADER@@ to decide, unless they happen to be moonlighting as a customs official.

It would also have validity issues with the existing issue about allowing people to choose their own names or assigning them numbers.

[Sedgistan]

So, this was rather overdue:

Got Issues Update no.3

• Issues added since last update: 62. We've now seen over 400 issues added to the game since the original Max-written ones.
• Issues fixed since the last update: loads, including all the capitalisation in titles (thanks, Sanc).
• On a related note, we're now able to analyse existing issues for dismissal rates and the popularity of each option. Lenyo has taken charge of improving some of the older ones that are dismissed too frequently.
• Queue of submitted issues: 0. Yep, actually 0. We've got 112 in our "Pool" of ones that we may work on in the future.
• The Chain happened, and it was awesome.
• The game saw a new Easter Egg for the first time in ages. Or was it two...?
• We've done lots of behind the scenes stats thingies, to help the game more accurately represent your crazed imaginations. There may be a new world census report coming soon.
• Industry reform has stalled. It's still something we intend to do, but don't expect it any time soon. The same applies to potential new government departments.
• The notorious Issue #221 (Outdated Tax Code Crushing @@NAME@@?) has attracted controversy of late for its potential to implode your nation's economy (despite the fact it's been doing that for a good 5+ years). It was out of circulation for a while, as we make tweaks to the text; it's now live again.
• The team may soon be taking over the World Assembly! Well not quite, but we could be coding stats for GA proposals at some point in the future. Or maybe not, but it's an idea.
• The issues team expanded following a successful Issues Contest with Raurosia and Golgothastan, who have both seen issues added to the game.
• Luna got abducted by the mod team, who view his pool-clearing skills as easily transferrable to cleaning up after spammers. He's not getting away that easily though - Sanc is planning on chaining him (*drum roll*) to the Issues Control Panel.

[Kaboomlandia]

Queue of submitted issues: 0. Yep, actually 0. We've got 112 in our "Pool" of ones that we may work on in the future.

What I make of this is that my two or three submissions are actually getting looked at.

We've done lots of behind the scenes stats thingies, to help the game more accurately represent your crazed imaginations. There may be a new world census report coming soon.

This isn't that Beekeeping industry, is it?

[Sanctaria]

Queue of submitted issues: 0. Yep, actually 0. We've got 112 in our "Pool" of ones that we may work on in the future.

What I make of this is that my two or three submissions are actually getting looked at.

Or have been deleted.

[Annihilators of Chan Island]

I was just thinking of an issue idea, but I'm not sure how viable it is so I'll ask here first (and also wait for the 3 issues I currently have going fall off the front page so that they can be submitted).

Basically, a citizen of the country with an absurdly rare name tries to come home without his passport and insists pretty much ''look me up, that's me, now let me in.'' The options being the guy trying to enter the country and someone with an ''extremely common'' @@RANDOMNAME@@ concerned about the extraordinary privilege this might give to a, by definition, select few people.

What do you think?

That doesn't really seem like an issue for @@LEADER@@ to decide, unless they happen to be moonlighting as a customs official.

It would also have validity issues with the existing issue about allowing people to choose their own names or assigning them numbers.

Personally I had been thinking the guards didn't quite know what the protocol was so they asked @@LEADER@@ just to be sure.

But accepted. No issue will be written about it.

What I make of this is that my two or three submissions are actually getting looked at.

Or have been deleted.

Well... that put a dampener on everything.

So, this was rather overdue:


[*]On a related note, we're now able to analyse existing issues for dismissal rates and the popularity of each option. Lenyo has taken charge of improving some of the older ones that are dismissed too frequently.

This'll be interesting. But doesn't this mean that very specialized issues are going to end up being re-made, as will ones that present a genuinely difficult moral dilemma? Also some options (the explicitly ebul dictator ones for example) aren't going to be popular of course, but does that merit a re-write?

In short, how are the editors going to know the difference between one which people dismiss because it was badly written, and one which is genuinely difficult and specialized, hence leading people to dismiss them?

Sorry, just a bit concerned.

[Sanctaria]

This'll be interesting. But doesn't this mean that very specialized issues are going to end up being re-made, as will ones that present a genuinely difficult moral dilemma? Also some options (the explicitly ebul dictator ones for example) aren't going to be popular of course, but does that merit a re-write?

In short, how are the editors going to know the difference between one which people dismiss because it was badly written, and one which is genuinely difficult and specialized, hence leading people to dismiss them?

Sorry, just a bit concerned.

No need to be concerned. There's six of us, and we're pretty intelligent people. We've already identified a few issues that have higher than average dismissal rates, but we're going to leave them alone, because these issues deal with polarising issues, or because they are, as you say, specialised.

[Trotterdam]

Also some options (the explicitly ebul dictator ones for example) aren't going to be popular of course,

I think you underestimate the player base.

[Outer Sparta]

Is there an issue about a college rape case where a media source screwed up everything, even the most basic editorial fixes? (Inspiration from UVA's rape case, covered by Rolling Stone)

[Trotterdam]

Is there an issue about a college rape case where a media source screwed up everything, even the most basic editorial fixes?

Err... that seems like a kind of specific situation.

What would th issue even be about, rape or media? We have issues about media accuracy (Free Press Too Free?), but I don't see how a version where the inaccurate article is specifically about rape would make that more interesting. Meanwhile, misinformed public opinion isn't really your biggest concern in a rape case.

For that matter, is rape in college more of an issue than rape somewhere else?

Taking inspiration from current events for an issue is okay, but if you can't explain it in a manner that's understandable to someone who hasn't been keeping up with current events, it's probably too specialized.

[Unsuspecting User]

I've got an issue idea called "Battle of the brands" but it might be a bit exaggerated.

Before I post it, I just need to know: is it acceptable for the issue to include competitive marketing where things get out of hand to the point of CEOs attacking each other? And if it is, is there already an issue like that?

[Trotterdam]

#202 option 4: "Following new legislation, corporate 'hostile takeovers' now involve ICBMs and main battle tanks.". So it's probably not too silly for NationStates, at least.

[Too Hot]

This'll be interesting. But doesn't this mean that very specialized issues are going to end up being re-made, as will ones that present a genuinely difficult moral dilemma? Also some options (the explicitly ebul dictator ones for example) aren't going to be popular of course, but does that merit a re-write?

In short, how are the editors going to know the difference between one which people dismiss because it was badly written, and one which is genuinely difficult and specialized, hence leading people to dismiss them?

Sorry, just a bit concerned.

No need to be concerned. There's six of us, and we're pretty intelligent people. We've already identified a few issues that have higher than average dismissal rates, but we're going to leave them alone, because these issues deal with polarising issues, or because they are, as you say, specialised.

Also, it seems to me that older issues would have a higher dismiss rate, just because people have seen them before.

[Sanctaria]

No need to be concerned. There's six of us, and we're pretty intelligent people. We've already identified a few issues that have higher than average dismissal rates, but we're going to leave them alone, because these issues deal with polarising issues, or because they are, as you say, specialised.

Also, it seems to me that older issues would have a higher dismiss rate, just because people have seen them before.

We do take these things into consideration.

[Annihilators of Chan Island]

Also, it seems to me that older issues would have a higher dismiss rate, just because people have seen them before.

We do take these things into consideration.

Fair enough. My concerns are satisfactorily answered. Good luck! Make the good edits!

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Is there an issue about a college rape case where a media source screwed up everything, even the most basic editorial fixes?

Err... that seems like a kind of specific situation.

What would th issue even be about, rape or media? We have issues about media accuracy (Free Press Too Free?), but I don't see how a version where the inaccurate article is specifically about rape would make that more interesting. Meanwhile, misinformed public opinion isn't really your biggest concern in a rape case.

For that matter, is rape in college more of an issue than rape somewhere else?

Taking inspiration from current events for an issue is okay, but if you can't explain it in a manner that's understandable to someone who hasn't been keeping up with current events, it's probably too specialized.

You could make it dependent on having chosen Option 1 in #434 (i.e. fraternities continue to have free reign), and make it less about media than about the much bigger (at least right now IRL) issue of campus safety, consent-among-alcohol-users, and rape.

[Outer Sparta]

I wonder if there's an issue besides #324 (is that right) that even mentions sharks and shark attacks. Besides, what does issue 324 actually talk about? Is it on the oil refinery that a shark attacked?

[Trotterdam]

Most animal attack issues use @@ANIMAL@@s rather than any specific critter.

Your question could be pretty easily answered by going to the spoiler thread and using your browser's search key to look for "shark".

[Outer Sparta]

Most animal attack issues use @@ANIMAL@@s rather than any specific critter.

Your question could be pretty easily answered by going to the spoiler thread and using your browser's search key to look for "shark".

I searched the query "shark" and issue 342 was the only one. There aren't any issues specifically concerning sharks. I know about the @@ANIMAL@@ attack, but is it an appropriate idea for an issue? I think there's another issue specifically mentioning an animal: A Whale of a Problem, which concerns hunting.

[Trotterdam]

Sure, if you think you can come up with enough details that would be specifically relevant to shark attacks to distinguish them from other dangerous animals.

Considering that sharks would mostly be attacking vacationers at sea, and that nobody is considering taming them, there's probably an opportunity here.