NationStates

As long threatened, we're going to open up old nation names for re-use.

For a sneak preview, use this page to see if/when a particular nation name would become available:

http://www.nationstates.net/page=boneyard

Under the proposed rules, a name would be available for re-use unless the former owner:

1. is active
2. ceased to exist less than 5 years ago
3. accumulated a population of 500 million or more ^{(changed from 250 million in Spring 2013)}
4. founded an existing region
5. is mentioned in the History of an existing region
6. authored or was the subject of a WA resolution (incl. Historical ones)
7. authored an Issue
8. was a moderator or admin
9. was deleted by a mod
10. is marked by a Game Mod as reserved blocked from being reused

There are a very large number of nation names that were used only briefly, and whose former owner is highly unlikely to ever return, so the feeling is that we should make those available for people who want them. Nations that hung around for a reasonable length of time, however, or ceased to exist relatively recently, or did something of particular note, should remain reserved in case the former owner one day wants to revive them.

If an old nation has its name re-used, it cannot be resurrected, even if the newer nation ceases to exist.

Please let me know your thoughts! There is some time before this will go live, and we can tweak in the meantime.

To anticipate a couple of questions:

Q: "250M population is too low." / "Five years is too long."
A: If the release goes well, we might look at loosening the restrictions in the future¹ to make nations with slightly larger populations or more recent CTE dates available. But that's something to consider later.

Q: "Why does the Boneyard say different names will become available on different days?"
A: Just to spread things out, so we don't get hammered by everyone trying to reclaim an old name at once.

Q: "I really, really want this one name. Can't you make a special exemption and let me have it?"
A: No.

¹Limit raised to 500M in Spring 2013
²Limit gradually raised to 1000M in summer 2020 https://www.nationstates.net/page=news/ ... index.html

[violet] wrote:is marked as reserved by a Game Mod

What does this mean?

Zwangzug wrote:

[violet] wrote:is marked as reserved by a Game Mod

What does this mean?

I'd imagine a GM can "mark" a nation that people associate with something special.

Though I doubt special nations fail to fit any of the above criteria.

Sweet

This has been on my mind way before 2009. A lot of players are going to be very happy about this.

Do. Not. Want.

From a Raider aspect, now every single time a raid gets busted by a returning founder we're going to have to challenge it to make sure its really the original owner of the founding nation and not an imposter and that's a pain. Unless, of course, there are some sort of automatic controls in place.

Evil Wolf wrote:Do. Not. Want.

From a Raider aspect, now every single time a raid gets busted by a returning founder we're going to have to challenge it to make sure its really the original owner of the founding nation and not an imposter and that's a pain. Unless, of course, there are some sort of automatic controls in place.

Either I don't understand what you're saying or you missed point #4 in the original post... not sure which.

Yeah, upon further review, I really didn't fully understand what I was talking about and should have experimented more with the Boneyard page rather than post immediately. Never mind, my fears have been put to rest.

this is awesome. I am totally going to nab platypus when it is available.

Deleted nation Unibot
Founded: Sun May 25 2008
Ceased to exist: Mon Jan 10 2011
Population: 5.733 billion
Reserved: This name was used by a former Issues Author.

Can't blame a man for trying.

Although it's nice to see I'm immortalized for something better than I could have been.

Very neat system, this looks great.

This is awesome. So many times I've had to spend 30-40 minutes trying to come up with an actually usable name while making puppets. There are just so many names taken, and it's pretty much come to the point where you have to make up your own words if you want to actually start a new nation. I'm sure this is going to make things so much better.

Awesome.

It says 20 days, what time and date are we expecting the names to be removed? May I ask?

EDIT:

Q: "Why does the Boneyard say different names will become available on different days?"
A: Just to spread things out, so we don't get hammered by everyone trying to reclaim an old name at once.

Ah, I see.

And So it was said, perster thou mods long enough and experience joy or fist of deaths.

Thanks Violet!

Deleted nation Unibot IV
Founded: Thu Mar 31 2011
Ceased to exist: Sat Apr 2 2011
Population: 7 million
Disgraced: This name was soiled by a former nation.

By any chance is it a possibility these 'impersonation' nations that are (thankfully) deleted, could be put back on the market?

This is a good idea. There are probably thousands of invader disposables that will become available again at some point. Perhaps they will recycle.

@ Unibot
eww but it is soiled and may have cooties. Also if it is available again wont that mean it could be used for sex acts naughty things again?

please do.

Unibot II wrote:

Deleted nation Unibot IV
Founded: Thu Mar 31 2011
Ceased to exist: Sat Apr 2 2011
Population: 7 million
Disgraced: This name was soiled by a former nation.

By any chance is it a possibility these 'impersonation' nations that are (thankfully) deleted, could be put back on the market?

Yes, that's actually something the mods suggested. From a code point of view, it is simple to let a Game Mod un-disgrace a name. But I am wary of creating more work for mods, so it kinda depends on how many requests there would be.

Is there a way to go about making sure that your name can never be recycled?

This sounds selfish, I know.

Milograd wrote:Is there a way to go about making sure that your name can never be recycled?

This sounds selfish, I know.

I would guess the fact that you're a Roleplay Mentor would be significant enough that yours will never be recycled.

Milograd wrote:Is there a way to go about making sure that your name can never be recycled?

This sounds selfish, I know.

I'd imagine the fact that you're a mentor would probably be enough to get your name reserved... that may just me being selfish to though .

Oh, and what would happen if I were to try and take Violet, haha.

Edit: Damn, ninjad.

[violet] wrote:

Unibot II wrote:
By any chance is it a possibility these 'impersonation' nations that are (thankfully) deleted, could be put back on the market?

Yes, that's actually something the mods suggested. From a code point of view, it is simple to let a Game Mod un-disgrace a name. But I am wary of creating more work for mods, so it kinda depends on how many requests there would be.

Well I did ask if I could just have the password, since it would be illegal for anyone else to have the nation in normal circumstances anyway, but policy speaks against that.

Improving Wordiness wrote:@ Unibot
Also if it is available again wont that mean it could be used for sex acts naughty things again?

Well if I get the nation, yes. There's no telling what I would do with four of me.

Deleted nation Carta
Founded: Antiquity
Last activity: Thu Nov 13 2003
Population: 159 million

^ I want this; badly.

Seriously this feature is suddenly rly cool.

Milograd wrote:

Deleted nation Carta
Founded: Antiquity
Last activity: Thu Nov 13 2003
Population: 159 million

^ I want this; badly.

Seriously this feature is suddenly rly cool.

I hope you get it! If I get it, I'll give you the password.

United Gordonopia wrote:
Oh, and what would happen if I were to try and take Violet, haha.

mm interesting,

Deleted nation Violet
Founded: Antiquity
Last activity: Tue Jan 21 2003
Population: 69 million