[Passed] Reflections on 2021

[Andusre]

I've never been good at RP language so, apologies, but I did enjoy reading that very much

"We would raise the question of whether the "joyful" tone of the resolution with regards to the creation of the Pact of Sovereignty may trouble the alliance's competitors. Although we here in the Unibotian delegation maintain our full support for the pact, we would caution the authors of this resolution to 'focus group' that clause with W.A.L.L dignitaries and test its support, if you have not already have done so in private," Percy said, adding, "I would also add that I found the resolution was overlooking the controversary regarding queue raiding that erupted in January of this year. It was as major a diplomatic event as anything already noted in this resolution."

Fair, we will look into this.

Percy continued in a long, rambling diatribe:

• "Kindly suggesting that links to placeholder regions for URA, Force, would help navigate readers..."

This is somewhat tricky because the URA & Force don't really have one unified region which contains their full name - I think I have an idea on how this can be fixed though involving fiddling with the formatting.

"The term "burst of activity" might be more accurately conveyed as a population boom, spike in population growth, immigration, or migration event..."

Though I agree the term "burst of activity" could be swapped out, I can't put my finger on why exactly which makes it a bit difficult to decide on/think of a replacement. Could you elaborate on why you think the other phrases would work better?

"The use of "overawed" as a preamblatory verb may given readers the impression that the WA is endorsing, or is impressed with The West Pacific forcefully ejecting thousands of nations..."

A common qualm which we're still not 100% sure on how to resolve - will keep the thread updated on this if/when it gets changed.

"It may be worth including that the Trovons liberation was a historically large effort..."

If I remember right it broke the previous record of updaters? Will need to do some reading on that.

"The authors of this resolution may also find that sporting events conveniently fall into annual cycles, and therefore can be neatly included without much background. This year, for instance, three World Cups took place (87, 88, & 89). Among the winners, Nephara, Turori, and Ko-oren: Nephara is a two-time WC winner, Turori and Ko-oren are first time WC winners. There was also the Cup of Harmony, of course, and the Baptism of Fire. I would remember this, as I lost a considerable amount of money on Turori's victory. Bastards," said Percy, shaking his fist. "All in all, I would suggest that if the authors reached out to mentors or other community leaders, they may have an idea as to what events were consuming 'international incidents' this year. In the past, for instance, I am aware that the slave trade and economic meltdowns have monopolized the attention of the international community."

Ooh, excellent, more NS Sports content, thanks!

[Unibot III]

[*] "The term "burst of activity" might be more accurately conveyed as a population boom, spike in population growth, immigration, or migration event..."

Though I agree the term "burst of activity" could be swapped out, I can't put my finger on why exactly which makes it a bit difficult to decide on/think of a replacement. Could you elaborate on why you think the other phrases would work better?

“When dealing with Rule IV, or whatever it is the rule is called now, there is a risk that the vague language used to secure a passage’s legality inadvertently clouds its original meaning,” said Percy. “In this case, the resolution is trying to refer to an influx, but it refers only to increased activity instead. If readers (perhaps far in the future) are unfamiliar with these influxes, they will be left wondering what the source was behind these bursts of activity.”

[*] "The use of "overawed" as a preamblatory verb may given readers the impression that the WA is endorsing, or is impressed with The West Pacific forcefully ejecting thousands of nations..."

A common qualm which we're still not 100% sure on how to resolve - will keep the thread updated on this if/when it gets changed.

“One possibility is to use a neutral term like Recalling or Acknowledging. When in doubt ‘Cognizant’ scores well in Scrabble,” counselled Percy.

[Porde]

I don't support this proposal, because this is gameplay-centered.

[Guess and Check]

Upon further thought I can't say I support this - primarily because personally I don't think this is a fitting idea for an SC Declaration from a personal standpoint. However it is a creative idea and one that is well written, so I'm not against it. That being said, I'm also completely opposed to the positive language of the TWP clause, for reasons I stated when I posted here earlier.

I also agree that, although there is an effort to avoid this that I really heavily appreciate, the resolution still comes off as heavily GP/R/D focused. I don't think it's possible to fix this well in the 10 remaining days of the year, but I think the whomever authors of the future iterations of this tradition, should it become one, should keep in mind to avoid bias towards those two communities starting from the researching point of the next draft.

But to give feedback:

Frowning at the destruction of The Embassy by a group of invaders in February, and appreciative of the successful efforts to restore it, allowing the region and the world at large to recover from much of the damage inflicted by the raiders;

I think it would do well to elaborate a bit more on why the avoidance of this matters. The Embassy serves as a hub for many small regions, and I think that should be directly mentioned somewhere in this proposal.

Meaning to express its admiration for the NationStates General Exhibition, which included a diverse array of events on topics such as international artwork collecting, leadership of military organisations, the Security Council and more Question and Answer sessions with assorted prominent nations;

Should state why, explicitly, this festival matters.

Jittery over the occupation of Nasunia in July, where The East Pacific (TEP) accidentally broke the terms agreed upon in its treaty with 10000 Islands (XKI) by supporting the operation which - unbeknownst to TEP - utilised the infiltration of XKI, though relieved by the region's subsequent liberation and the diplomatic resolution reached between TEP and XKI;

This reads a bit run-on and I think could benefit from a rewording.

Nauseated by the conduct of a coalition led by The Black Hawks in their occupation of the unsullied region Trovons, whose founder was banned from the region in a morally abhorrent effort to resist the efforts of defenders’ siege;

Could use a word besides "effort" to replace one effort and therefore avoid repetition.

[Giovanniland]

My thoughts on R/D mentions:

I'd say The Embassy is memorable due to the liberation resolution and the community's willingness to rebuild thousands of embassies after they were destroyed, since they were the region with most embassies at the time I believe.

As for Coalition of Fascist Nations and Genua, I think there should be absolutely a praise of anti-fascist operations, but given concerns about too much R/D in the proposal I'm not sure if two of them are needed; the most notable can stay in my opinion.

I'm not really sure if Nasunia is notable among all others listed here, and I would initially be for a mention of Trovons due to the record number of defenders, but now that this has been topped by China a few days ago perhaps a mention of China would be more optimal.

That would leave us with 3 mentions of R/D proper, but when we add them to the other GP ones I think we have 6, which may or may not be a lot (and my opinion may also be biased regarding some of them since my region is mentioned). Perhaps the solution is to recognize we'll still have significant amounts of GP since it is a large community, but add other events meanwhile. Some suggestions in the thread (april fools, issues contest, NS sports...) are worth looking into.

[StrayaRoos]

The september thing was Drewpocalypse II

[Andusre]

Hoping to update the draft later today.

Wym suggested adding the Charity Fundraiser for the events of December, which I think would be a great inclusion but am wary of a rule 2b violation - some advice from mods on if that would be a problem/how that could be avoided would be appreciated if possible?

[Sedgistan]

It should be possible to write something legal that references it. Mentioning the recipient charity itself would likely not be allowed.

EDIT: I should add, any proposal referencing it should come after the fundraiser has finished. We wouldn't allow a proposal to be used to promote an ongoing fundraiser.

[Unibot III]

.. wary of a rule 2b violation - ...

OOC: Because of the reference to Christmas?

Shouldn't be a problem as there is so much precedent on the books for referencing the Christmas holidays, spirit, season etc., even without considering references to Christmas, the region.

SC Resolution #347 "Commend Roavin" references the 'Christmas holidays.' ; SC Resolution 260 "Commend Greater Dienstad" references 'saving Christmas and the fostering of international unity in making sure that everyone had presents under their trees without fear or delay.' SC Resolution 186 "Commend Travelling Region" references "Christmas time .... spreads Christmas joy throughout regions."

Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure why Christmas is exempt from Rule 4/2.b. It's referencing a real person, Jesus Christ. But it has an established presence in-game through Issue #471 'Easter Egg: Red Sleigh Down' and the use of "Christmas" is established as a common randomized last name in NS Issues.

Christmas would almost surely be a RL-World violation in the General Assembly. (They're scrooges though!!)

[Andusre]

Third draft is up.

Notable changes:

• Minor tweaking of wording in the Frowning clause
• Minor editing of the Fascinated and Meaning clauses to express "leaders of nations" giving QnAs rather than "nations" giving QnAs.
• Addition of the Acclaiming clause
• Substition of "burst of activity" for "population spike" in the Showing and Needing clauses
• Minor edit of the formerly-Overawed/TWP clause
• Addition of the Offering clause
• Addition of the Delighted clause
• Removal of the mentions of the CoFN, Nasunia and Trovons occupations

The organisers of the charity fundraisers expressed an unwillingness to be mentioned, so we have not gone ahead with that. Let us know what you think. Hopefully the proposal is more balanced now.

Also, time's-a ticking, folks, so have moved it to Last Call even though I typically do not do that in SC resolutions. Any more feedback is appreciated. Currently sitting at 4,276 characters.

Tinhampton raised a good question: are colons allowed in resolution titles?

[Minskiev]

Offering its congratulations to Ko-Oren for winning the World Cup 89 - the nation's first ever victory in such an international sporting event;

When did they do this?

Same goes for the rest of the clauses with unspecified months - perhaps (early|mid|late <month>) would work?

[Tinhampton]

Offering its congratulations to Ko-Oren for winning the World Cup 89 - the nation's first ever victory in such an international sporting event;

When did they do this?

27th October (and it's Ko-oren with one capital letter)

[Unibot III]

Third draft is up.

Notable changes:

• Minor tweaking of wording in the Frowning clause
• Minor editing of the Fascinated and Meaning clauses to express "leaders of nations" giving QnAs rather than "nations" giving QnAs.
• Addition of the Acclaiming clause
• Substition of "burst of activity" for "population spike" in the Showing and Needing clauses
• Minor edit of the formerly-Overawed/TWP clause
• Addition of the Offering clause
• Addition of the Delighted clause
• Removal of the mentions of the CoFN, Nasunia and Trovons occupations

The organisers of the charity fundraisers expressed an unwillingness to be mentioned, so we have not gone ahead with that. Let us know what you think. Hopefully the proposal is more balanced now.

Also, time's-a ticking, folks, so have moved it to Last Call even though I typically do not do that in SC resolutions. Any more feedback is appreciated. Currently sitting at 4,276 characters.

Tinhampton raised a good question: are colons allowed in resolution titles?

OOC: A quick suggestion would be to pop into a RP Discord rooms, whatever is in use these days, to speak directly with community members and pick their brains about anything obvious that should be included before you submit. Doing this offline via Discord will accelerate your research.

[StrayaRoos]

china wasn't liberated! i found this on their RMB

on repelling that raid and on your liberation.

[Quebecshire]

china wasn't liberated! i found this on their RMB

on repelling that raid and on your liberation.

China was liberated by over 120 people

[Great Algerstonia]

I stand vehemently against the idea of including nations for passing a few resolutions this year. That is absurd ego-stroking. Now, if the resolutions were rather important, then that's more of a case.

Fair Treatment of Prisoners, Right to Assemble, Reducing Microplastics, Equal Justice Under Law, and Homelessness Mitigation and Protections Act were all the GA resolutions passed under the Strong category.

Military Death Penalty Ban had double-digit pages of debate.

Was this missed or ignored?

[Apatosaurus]

Full support, good luck! :)

[StrayaRoos]

china wasn't liberated! i found this on their RMB

China was liberated by over 120 people

but they Fought it off

[Grea Kriopia]

I should have circled back to this thread sooner but a small nitpick on the Joyful clause:

…to include 9 defender-aligned regions by the end of the year;

A few PfS regions would prefer not to label themselves as defender-aligned, which is well and good since the bloc is about regional sovereignty and not all things defending. “9 like-minded regions” might better capture all the members dedication to regional sovereignty even if more broad in meaning

And a last minute suggestion that I put on myself for not bringing up sooner:
One Small Island became the longest serving Warzone delegate ever on Dec 2 after surpassing the reign of Apulita in WZEU. That’s a fairly notable achievement, in my opinion, and would add more diversity to the proposal that some are requesting. Also I realize there’s an aim to do one event each month but just another thing to consider

[Electrum]

Ko-Oren should be spelled Ko-oren. Also Nephara and Turori won World Cups this year too. Although they've both been commended already so.

[Goolistan]

You can't tell us Delegates what to do!

[Minskiev]

Maybe list some of the nations from the Cards Symposium that gave their speeches if character count allows? Like Farra, Mike, etc.

[Quebecshire]

Seconding GK's note about including One Small Island's record if possible. A worthy inclusion and one that would cover an otherwise overlooked community (the Warzones).

[Andusre]

Draft has been updated to reflect the suggestions above. Thanks for the Warzone suggestion in particular, I really like that a mention of the WZs is included.

I don't think we're going to include the GA to be honest. I can appreciate that some high-profile resolutions were passed this year, but the GA community seems somewhat divided both on what should be mentioned, and on whether or not the GA should be mentioned at all. This close to submission, I don't think there will be time. Feel free to prove me wrong, though, GAers.

Submission is planned to time quorum for the major update after next, which should mean with 4 days of voting it will end on the major update of New Year's Eve/Day (depending on your timezone).

Also, thank you very much to Makasta for pulling Condemn Varanius thus allowing this time for vote before New Year. Much appreciated.

[Honeydewistania]

Jubilated by the invention of Declarations, giving this body the ability to express opinions and detail events in a non-binding fashion and introducing the newest Security Council resolution category since the advent of Liberations in 2009;

Delete this pls. Or change 'Jubilated' to something like 'Jdisappointed'

Serious request