I need a NAP

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Alright, folks, listen up. I'm going to keep this short. There's a big problem on these forums, absolutely huge issue, and no work is being done to fix it.

Simply put, the issue is that regions and organizations like to hide all the good information inside big whopping walls of text that no one wants to read!

We feel obligated to at least skim at least some of these, becuase they're, like, allies, and like, we should know what's going on there, right? And even if they're not allies, we should probably have some idea what's going on? But ugh. It's so draining. By the time you reach the bottom, if you reach the bottom, you feel like you need a nap...

So what can be done? Well folks, that's the idea behind this project. I hereby propose that the regions of NationStates, regardless of alignment, unite to in giving the readers of this forum a NAP!

Nonbinding Agreement to Paraphrase

Really, it's simple. At the bottom of every wall of text, you provide what's known as a "TL;DR" (Too Long; Didn't Read) for the pedestrian viewer to get the gist of what's to be said without reading the whole block of finely crafted flowery prose.

Let me provide a few examples:
"These regions are establishing consequences for anyone who campaign TG's their members without asking."
"We left Singapore without losing, and also shuffled leadership."
"We got new judges, had an election (conservatives won a majority), and raided some stuff."

Is that so hard to do? Didn't think so, and it guarantees that sooooo many more people will actually know what's going on in your region. Then like, if they're interested, they can go back and read the details!

Oh, and as the name says, it's completely voluntary and nonbinding, so no need to vote it in or anything, and no consequences if you forget. Just like, it'd be cool if a bunch of the people in charge of publishing this crap (like me) agreed to do this.

...At least, I obviously think it would be.

So what do y'all think? Yes? No? "The Parliamentary Authority of RegionX takes offence at you characterization of it's official formal foreign updates as perhaps a wee bit longer than what is considered an absolutely necessary minimum, and thus suggesting that some of the fellow denizens of this forum might not deign to take the time to peruse our vital announcements?"

If you're on board, or would appreciate various regions doing this, please chip in below and say so!

---

(TL;DR, I'm suggesting anyone who publishes blocks of text consider putting a tl;dr at the bottom)

[Tom Vasentius HYDRA]

Yes. I support this wholeheartedly.

[Sygian II]

Nice save, putting the TL;DR at the bottom. That would have been hilariously ironic if you had not.

I like the idea!

[Tim-Opolis]

Full support for this humanitarian measure.

[The Democratic Nation of Unovia]

I support the idea.
Too many dang unwieldy behemoths of text...
How do you do a tl,dr?

[Reventus Koth]

Anyone else see the irony in Souls being the one to champion this?

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Anyone else see the irony in Souls being the one to champion this?

As a prime writer of walls, I can also appreciate how easy it is to give the two sentence version when asked

[Roavin]

This forum needs a "thumbs up" smiley, because I'd like to use it now.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Glad to see appreciation so far! Hope it catches on!

I'd also like to address a concern from Alexandria - namely, why write fancy things anymore if you're giving a tl;dr? Simply put, the idea is that while yes, a few folks who used to read your posts might just read the tl;dr now, many more who skipped you entirely will now read the tl;dr, and some might even read the whole thing if they find it interesting!

Another way of saying that is that we've all got two audiences - those who want to know all the details and like reading them in a fun format, and those who just want the facts. Some folks want the fun of finding Waldo (and the wizard, and Wenda's camera, and Woof) and some just want to know what Waldo looks like and move on with their life! By putting NAP into action in your next release, you can satisfy both parties!

(also, if you're coming up with "Where's Waldo" as an fair metaphor for the facts in your own releases, I really hope you understand why some of us would really appreciate this )

tl;dr tl;dr's get you more total readers and make everyone happy!

[LollerLand]

Support.

[Somyrion]

Solidarity now has one

[Queen Yuno]

♡♡


I think reading a 2 sentence version would let ppl know what to look for when reading the main foreign update ^.^

[Libetarian Republics]

tl;dr

okay i just noticed the bottom portion.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

tl;dr

okay i just noticed the bottom portion.

You thought you'd catch me being hypocritical.

You were wrong.

[Drasnia]

Just to expand on some of the concerns people in Alexandria had that souls talked about, I'm the editor of the newspaper there. The fun of that paper is writing about government events through rp language. I try to make it easier to understand through headlines and the sub headings, but half of the purpose of the paper is to have fun on the language. Posting a tldr would defeat the thing.

NAP is a good idea but I think it doesn't always work well. I will remember to make things even a bit clearer in later issues though, and that's really what this is after, right?

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

Well, more to have a standardized place people can look and get the gist. I'd suggest rather than omitting it entirely you just only say certain stuff in it.

Basically, you can go two ways with this. It's hard to put into words, but basically you can go like, barebones minimum "this is what is covered" or include some facts.

So like, the latter would be more

"We raided region x with regions z,q, and f"
"We had elections, and Nation G won."
"We're hosting a festival with region r on this date, on our forums"

Those give the casual reader more of the info they want, using the earlier analogy, what Waldo looks like.

Alternatively, you can go even more bare-bones.

"We raided stuff."
"We had elections."
"We're planning a cultural event"

This forces anyone who wants the details to then go read the test, but still helps them know if they *want* to do that. Maybe I, as a reader, couldn't give a crap about who got elected to what, but I'm really really interested in attending this cultural event. Now I know that I don't need to read that thing, but I should read that other thing. It's more like the key at the bottom of the page telling you that you're looking for Waldo and the Wizard, but Woof isn't on this page.

I really don't think that giving readers an as clear and concise as possible rundown of the subject by any means "defeats the purpose." Does an abstract on an academic essay defeat the purpose of the paper? No, it just lets the reader know the basic premises, arguments being made, etc and both helps them decide if this is the paper they want to read and gives them an idea of what they're looking for in the content.

The study is to show how even a “sport” video game can incorporate many types of learning, to call attention to what might be overlooked as significant forms of learning, and to understand and take advantage of the opportunities video games afford as more deliberate learning environments. The aspects explored are the skills and techniques required to be successful in the game, the environment that skaters skate in, the personal vs. group identity that is shown through the general appearance of the skater, and the values and icons that the game teaches players. We are finding that sport video games support learning; we hope to find how one learns about oneself as a learner from playing.

I'll note that, as shown in this example I randomly pulled from an abstract example site, even the results are mentioned. It's more like "more detail" option I discussed than the less detail one; it's not like it makes you read the paper to get the basic results.

tl;dr, I think you're wrong, and that this is a baseline helpful measure that overall will increase the number of readers, not decrease it.

[Ghost Queen II]

This is amazing, full support @_@ Especially enjoy your TL;DRs in this thread, Souls xD

[Davelands]

It is a good idea. I too can sometimes be a little long-winded in my reports. Something easy to do that could make life easier for people.

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

I'm very pleased to see that Osiris' new Sub-Vizier of World Assembly Affairs has joined the NAP movement, and included a tl;dr on their WA statements. See it in all it's glory!

[SYG]

As an avid supporter of the NAP/tl;dr revolution, I will be sure to include tl;drs on all of my WA posts. xD

[Trinnien]

Personally, I always postulated it was to be so verbose and have grandiloquence mastery so that the masses depart befuddled and dazed at the conclusion of a discussion point.

[Sygian II]

Personally, I always postulated it was to be so verbose and have grandiloquence mastery so that the masses depart befuddled and dazed at the conclusion of a discussion point.

Please dude where's the tldr? xD

[The Blaatschapen]

I'm in favour!

tl;dr <3

[Pixie Noir]

Every post of more than 3 sentences should have a tl;dr...

[Hispania Aeterna]

I fully support both naps and NAPs! ¡Viva la siesta!