Exposing the World Assembly Elite

[FNU]

Greetings NationStates,

I'm ShrewLlamaLand, WA Delegate of the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators. The Confederation is, and by extension, I am, by all accounts a nation wielding significant influence within the voting block of the World Assembly. At the present moment I have 121 WA endorsements, which as WA Delegate of the Confederation gives me 122 votes for any proposal that reaches quorum. This means that my vote alone, is worth 122x that of any other WA nation within the Confederation, and indeed 122x that of the vast majority of nations within the world who are not WA Delegates. Even among other WA Delegates, as a relatively large region by population, we exert far too much power over the voting process; yet we aren't even close to influence of many other nations, Delegates of large and powerful regions comprising the so-called WA elite, members of which individually hold voting power equivalent to thousands of nations.

And yes, before you bring it up, I am acutely aware of the reputation the Confederation has developed among NationStates, and yes, we deserve some of that reputation. But some things are bigger than stalking the forums to bring up what some could argue is a "shady past", and today I speak not to look back at this past, but to protest the present, to protest the enormous influence that a few influental magnates serving as WA Delegates of sinker, feeder and the largest user created regions exert over the World Assembly voting process. Almost all voting power within the World Assembly goes directly to the top one percent of powerful WA Delegates. There is something profoundly wrong when, in any given vote within the World Assembly Security Council or General Assembly, the top two-tenths of one percent, not one percent, top two-tenths of one percent, of voting nations control up to 50% of all votes cast. This is immoral, wrong, and represents a grotesque level of inequality between nations, and indeed regions, of the World Assembly, allowing such a powerful few to exert their excessive, unjust influence over the relatively powerless many.

Today, I ask you to join with me in protesting the current system of governance within the World Assembly. When so few nations hold so much power, we are no longer talking about democracy, we're talking about an oligarchy and this has got to end.

The Confederation has a long history of rallying against the current voting system within the WA, and we have a little something planned. Please telegram my nation, ShrewLlamaLand, if you want to help bring this unjust system to an end.

In solidarity,

ShrewLlamaLand
Confederation of Corrupt Dictators

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1328927

Thought you guys LIKED corruption. Hell, I've seen entire regions dedicated to warring against you. One, Prusmia, even wrote a declaration of war.

[The New California Republic]

Thought you guys LIKED corruption

This entire thing is just a self-serving exercise,
it is intended as advertising for the region, just like their self-commend attempts were. There is a clear pattern of behaviour, so I really don't expect this to be any different.

[Confederation State Broadcasting]

Thought you guys LIKED corruption

This entire thing is just a self-serving exercise,
it is intended as advertising for the region, just like their self-commend attempts were. There is a clear pattern of behaviour, so I really don't expect this to be any different.

If this were purely a CCD advert, the moderators would have moved this conversation into the preexisting CCD gameplay thread. The fact of the matter is that the WA is a broken system.

It's been great to receive so many telegrams from delegates and WA nations who feel their voice isn't being heard by the WA. A difference is in the making, and we invite everyone to jump on this bandwagon of change.

[The New California Republic]

This entire thing is just a self-serving exercise,
it is intended as advertising for the region, just like their self-commend attempts were. There is a clear pattern of behaviour, so I really don't expect this to be any different.

If this were purely a CCD advert, the moderators would have moved this conversation into the preexisting CCD gameplay thread.

That doesn't follow. It has been admitted on previous occasions that the CCD's self-commend attempts were just for advertising, but said threads for those did not get moved.

It's been great to receive so many telegrams from delegates and WA nations who feel their voice isn't being heard by the WA. A difference is in the making, and we invite everyone to jump on this bandwagon of change.

You can't change gameplay mechanics without the admins being on board, so whatever you are proposing is doomed to fail unless it involves them as well.

[Bowzin]

I'm still confused on what is getting exposed...the way the game works? Hard to expose something already known to everyone...pretty sure this title just clickbaited me smh...

[The Church of Satan]

If this were purely a CCD advert, the moderators would have moved this conversation into the preexisting CCD gameplay thread. The fact of the matter is that the WA is a broken system.

It's been great to receive so many telegrams from delegates and WA nations who feel their voice isn't being heard by the WA. A difference is in the making, and we invite everyone to jump on this bandwagon of change.

Any other way wouldn't work. If you try to devalue the vote of a GCR delegate then you're literally taking away the votes of thousands of players. That's not very democratic at all. Unless you have a feasible solution in mind (and I don't see any possible way) to what is a non-issue then you are wasting your own time as well as the time of those who might be in support of your poor notion that the WA is broken. Larger regions have larger populations to represent. In NS that is the most democratic approach to the WA that you can get.

[Yokiria]

<snip>

Actually, fighting the person seems like a great tactic when these are the people. There's a lot I can bring up to remind NSGP of why your interests against the WA align with the CCD, for example, and none of the reasons why would be particularly friendly to Enadia's slowly recovering image. Sit this one out, Sir Harry.

<snip>

There we go. I was wondering why a member of the "interregional axis" that the CCD is manipulating for stamp money hadn't jumped in here and argued in favor of their idea sooner. What kept you?

It's a reasonable concern, shame it had to be brought up again by CCD.

Solutions are simple: Make the extra votes gained some sort of logarithmic number rather than a 1 for 1 ratio. So a region with 1000 endorsements will have more than a region with 20 endorsements, but not 880 more. And also prevent world vote being visible (only region and your delegates vote) for the first day or two of voting.

Those seem like interesting solutions to smaller regions being underrepresented in the WA. Problem is, I don't think the thread OP is interested in seeing those solutions implemented, because it wouldn't give them nearly enough power. I also don't think those solutions would ever be implemented, because of how much of a mess NS's code is to rewrite.

[WayNeacTia]

If this were purely a CCD advert, the moderators would have moved this conversation into the preexisting CCD gameplay thread. The fact of the matter is that the WA is a broken system.

It's been great to receive so many telegrams from delegates and WA nations who feel their voice isn't being heard by the WA. A difference is in the making, and we invite everyone to jump on this bandwagon of change.

Any other way wouldn't work. If you try to devalue the vote of a GCR delegate then you're literally taking away the votes of thousands of players. That's not very democratic at all. Unless you have a feasible solution in mind (and I don't see any possible way) to what is a non-issue then you are wasting your own time as well as the time of those who might be in support of your poor notion that the WA is broken. Larger regions have larger populations to represent. In NS that is the most democratic approach to the WA that you can get.

There are a couple of possibilities. First you can take away the delegate's vote. One vote, one nation. The other possibility, and I am more keen on it, is that the delegates vote is based on the vote of regional members. Just before the vote is to be decided, all of delegate's votes would go to the proposal. Basically the only people losing the right to vote on a proposal would be delegates.

[The Church of Satan]

There are a couple of possibilities. First you can take away the delegate's vote. One vote, one nation. The other possibility, and I am more keen on it, is that the delegates vote is based on the vote of regional members. Just before the vote is to be decided, all of delegate's votes would go to the proposal. Basically the only people losing the right to vote on a proposal would be delegates.

Well, for the former I don't really care much for the prospect of removing the importance of a delegate in relation to the World Assembly itself, but it's not nearly as alarming as the ensuing chaos it would bring to the voting process.

For the latter, it seems to achieve almost nothing. If I'm interpreting it correctly (and feel free to correct me) then each delegate would only get the vote of member nations that voted the same way. It sounds reasonable. Though I'm not intimately familiar with the details of the voting process so I could be misinterpreting this easily.

[WayNeacTia]

For the latter, it seems to achieve almost nothing. If I'm interpreting it correctly (and feel free to correct me) then each delegate would only get the vote of member nations that voted the same way. It sounds reasonable. Though I'm not intimately familiar with the details of the voting process so I could be misinterpreting this easily.

Pretty much the gist of it. Also the delegate vote would only be applied when voting ends, thus making the final vote tally. In this way, the delegates total endorsement vote still matters, but can't dramatically influence the vote from the initial stages (i.e. delegate stomp).

[Xoriet]

They really brought this up again? You do realize you would not have had this much trouble with the community if a) your proposals were even marginally decent, b) you didn't have a region that introduced itself to the SC by promotion of fascism, c) you hadn't made enemies of the bigger delegates, and d) you toned down the entitled demeanor you carry around everywhere you go? If you have trouble with it, you should have listened when you were told all of those points mentioned above were bad ideas and would not get you far.

[Syberis]

They really brought this up again? You do realize you would not have had this much trouble with the community if a) your proposals were even marginally decent, b) you didn't have a region that introduced itself to the SC by promotion of fascism, c) you hadn't made enemies of the bigger delegates, and d) you toned down the entitled demeanor you carry around everywhere you go? If you have trouble with it, you should have listened when you were told all of those points mentioned above were bad ideas and would not get you far.

also if e) You didn't pull this post after attempting to coup TNP, which makes this whole thing reek of petulance.

[Beezytine Anarchic Confederacy]

Greetings NationStates,

I'm ShrewLlamaLand, WA Delegate of the Confederation of Corrupt Dictators. The Confederation is, and by extension, I am, by all accounts a nation wielding significant influence within the voting block of the World Assembly. At the present moment I have 121 WA endorsements, which as WA Delegate of the Confederation gives me 122 votes for any proposal that reaches quorum. This means that my vote alone, is worth 122x that of any other WA nation within the Confederation, and indeed 122x that of the vast majority of nations within the world who are not WA Delegates. Even among other WA Delegates, as a relatively large region by population, we exert far too much power over the voting process; yet we aren't even close to influence of many other nations, Delegates of large and powerful regions comprising the so-called WA elite, members of which individually hold voting power equivalent to thousands of nations.

And yes, before you bring it up, I am acutely aware of the reputation the Confederation has developed among NationStates, and yes, we deserve some of that reputation. But some things are bigger than stalking the forums to bring up what some could argue is a "shady past", and today I speak not to look back at this past, but to protest the present, to protest the enormous influence that a few influental magnates serving as WA Delegates of sinker, feeder and the largest user created regions exert over the World Assembly voting process. Almost all voting power within the World Assembly goes directly to the top one percent of powerful WA Delegates. There is something profoundly wrong when, in any given vote within the World Assembly Security Council or General Assembly, the top two-tenths of one percent, not one percent, top two-tenths of one percent, of voting nations control up to 50% of all votes cast. This is immoral, wrong, and represents a grotesque level of inequality between nations, and indeed regions, of the World Assembly, allowing such a powerful few to exert their excessive, unjust influence over the relatively powerless many.

Today, I ask you to join with me in protesting the current system of governance within the World Assembly. When so few nations hold so much power, we are no longer talking about democracy, we're talking about an oligarchy and this has got to end.

The Confederation has a long history of rallying against the current voting system within the WA, and we have a little something planned. Please telegram my nation, ShrewLlamaLand, if you want to help bring this unjust system to an end.

In solidarity,

ShrewLlamaLand
Confederation of Corrupt Dictators

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1328927

Bitley tried this shit and it failed then. You posting a thread isn't going to magically change how the WA works, and even if people did support you, it still isn't going to change. Take a hint: No one gives a shit. If you don't like how the system works, don't play the game.

Wholeheartedly agree.

[Ransium]

If you really want to change things make a thread in technical. There was a fairly convincing thread a few years ago about this, (I in fact, posted in favor of some alternatives) but ultimately nothing came of it. If you have no alternatives to offer then gameplay is the right place for this thread because it is purely a region awareness stunt with no chance of exacting change.

[Great Algerstonia]

This entire thing is just a self-serving exercise,
it is intended as advertising for the region, just like their self-commend attempts were. There is a clear pattern of behaviour, so I really don't expect this to be any different.

If this were purely a CCD advert, the moderators would have moved this conversation into the preexisting CCD gameplay thread. The fact of the matter is that the WA is a broken system.

It's been great to receive so many telegrams from delegates and WA nations who feel their voice isn't being heard by the WA. A difference is in the making, and we invite everyone to jump on this bandwagon of change.

Show us the telegrams.

[The New California Republic]

If you really want to change things make a thread in technical. There was a fairly convincing thread a few years ago about this, (I in fact, posted in favor of some alternatives) but ultimately nothing came of it. If you have no alternatives to offer then gameplay is the right place for this thread because it is purely a region awareness stunt with no chance of exacting change.

And that is all that this is. The premise of this entire thread is insincere and completely in bad faith, as they have no real intent of wanting the WA to be changed; it's just the latest stick that they can use to shake at the rest of NS.

[Lyrical International Brigade]

If you really want to change things make a thread in technical. There was a fairly convincing thread a few years ago about this, (I in fact, posted in favor of some alternatives) but ultimately nothing came of it. If you have no alternatives to offer then gameplay is the right place for this thread because it is purely a region awareness stunt with no chance of exacting change.

If only someone were around to give them an index of previous reform attempts, so that if they were even remotely interested in being serious, they could look at other players' ideas and use them as a baseline for a new set of reform ideas.

[Miporin]

If you try to devalue the vote of a GCR delegate then you're literally taking away the votes of thousands of players.

In fairness, those players still have their individual votes, as they always have. They remain represented by themselves. What's being taken away is the effective multiplier that being in a large region applies to that voting power- which isn't even representative of the entire region, since there'll always be individual WA members voting against.
Not that i'm supporting the CoCD in any of their bad-faith crusade, but defending the current delegate power balance in the name of representation doesn't seem accurate

[The Church of Satan]

In fairness, those players still have their individual votes, as they always have. They remain represented by themselves. What's being taken away is the effective multiplier that being in a large region applies to that voting power- which isn't even representative of the entire region, since there'll always be individual WA members voting against.
Not that i'm supporting the CoCD in any of their bad-faith crusade, but defending the current delegate power balance in the name of representation doesn't seem accurate

Yeah but the sheer magnitude of chaos that would bring to the voting process would be detrimental. At least with the current system, people who can't be bothered to vote at all in the WA despite being in the WA itself, still have a voice by proxy. Gotta admit it does utilize all of a region's WA members rather than allowing inefficiency. "A voice at the table whether you like it or not" sounds preferable to me, heh.

[Blood Wine]

(Image)

bloody genius

This is just pathetically bad, and just reeks of underhanded region advertising.

According to the NS staff, it is not (although it quite clearly is, but hey, i aint staff)

[The New California Republic]

This is just pathetically bad, and just reeks of underhanded region advertising.

According to the NS staff, it is not (although it quite clearly is, but hey, i aint staff)

If you have no alternatives to offer then gameplay is the right place for this thread because it is purely a region awareness stunt with no chance of exacting change.

[Reploid Productions]

If you have no alternatives to offer then gameplay is the right place for this thread because it is purely a region awareness stunt with no chance of exacting change.

Given this, and the fact the thread has clearly run its course, it's about time we lay the dead horse to rest.