Help us fix old issues

[Trotterdam]

Jutsa clearly made a typo and meant #1254.

[Pogaria]

Late to the meeting, and with a messy stack of disorganized papers in his arms, your Minister of Finance shows up. “We must acknowledge that a sizeable portion of some citizens’ incomes comes from these entrepreneurial activities, but equally, we should have some level of regulation by selling official retail licenses, which in turn will boost the national treasury. After all, we deserve our share. These are free samples, yes?” She helps herself to a bag of crackers, and walks out.

Something doesn't seem quite right here...

Jutsa clearly made a typo and meant #1254.

Yes, this is #1254. Thanks for the report. I fixed it.

[TalAkMaChen]

Right, briefs are prepared, not prepared for.

Indeed, my misconception. I thought they were (spending time) preparing their make-up and [themselves, i.e. by gathering notes, consulting clients etc.] for the briefs. But sure, as the briefs are concerned, those are prepared.

[Sanctaria]

Jutsa clearly made a typo and meant #1254.

There are 1297 issues. Unlike you, I'm not going to remember every option in all the issues. Typos can happen, but snide "clearly a typo" remarks are unhelpful.

[Trotterdam]

Unlike you, I'm not going to remember every option in all the issues.

Neither do I. I found it in about ten seconds of searching the spoiler thread.

[Jutsa]

Jutsa clearly made a typo and meant #1254.

Dangit. Knew I'd do that at some point

Thanks for the report. I fixed it.

My pleasure. Thanks for the fix

Gonna really have to go through here and take a close look at everything that happened since 2018.

[SherpDaWerp]

trying to burn his bra

This paints an amusing picture, but was it intended for the speaker to be male here?

[The Free Joy State]

trying to burn his bra

This paints an amusing picture, but was it intended for the speaker to be male here?

The name can be either gender.

There are male feminists, and I am informed that bras for men do exist.

[SherpDaWerp]

bras for men do exist.

Huh. Thanks!

[Candlewhisper Archive]

This was specifically raised during the edit, with one editor asking if this was an error, as you did, because of the bra-burning.

My reply during the edit was this:

The author seemed very clear that they didn't want that from the fact they used the @@HIS@@ macro and I totally agree. Could be a cross-dresser, or a porn star. This is the option advocating openness with sexuality after all, so I thought I'd take it the other way and up the ante by making it a latex bra. Anyway, google "men's latex bras" if you don't believe such things exist.

[SherpDaWerp]

The author seemed very clear that they didn't want that from the fact they used the @@HIS@@ macro and I totally agree. Could be a cross-dresser, or a porn star. This is the option advocating openness with sexuality after all, so I thought I'd take it the other way and up the ante by making it a latex bra. Anyway, google "men's latex bras" if you don't believe such things exist.

I can imagine there would be plenty of reasons for that decision, and it seems very in-line with NS style too. I was just wondering if it was intentional or not.

[Dabarastan]

Hello, I'd like to report an option in issue #1178 - "No Need to Beat Yourself Up About It".

This account received the issue today, and I'll be processing it shortly, however the fourth of my options reads:

“That’s not a bad idea,” muses Alina Cho, the principal of your niece’s school, who came to your office to discuss the best way to discipline your wayward niece. “Because we don’t allow the use of corporal punishment, our kids are out of control! Since teachers aren’t allowed to physically caution the children, we should make a law that forces kids to punish themselves: ‘Timmy, you didn’t do your homework — whip yourself for ten minutes’. It’s perfect!”

However, as you can see in my policies, my nation does permit corporal punishment. I'll be choosing a different option anyway but I thought it would be worth reporting.

[The Free Joy State]

Hello, I'd like to report an option in issue #1178 - "No Need to Beat Yourself Up About It".

This account received the issue today, and I'll be processing it shortly, however the fourth of my options reads:

“That’s not a bad idea,” muses Alina Cho, the principal of your niece’s school, who came to your office to discuss the best way to discipline your wayward niece. “Because we don’t allow the use of corporal punishment, our kids are out of control! Since teachers aren’t allowed to physically caution the children, we should make a law that forces kids to punish themselves: ‘Timmy, you didn’t do your homework — whip yourself for ten minutes’. It’s perfect!”

However, as you can see in my policies, my nation does permit corporal punishment. I'll be choosing a different option anyway but I thought it would be worth reporting.

Ah, I see what that is. This option is about corporal punishment of children, which is separate to corporal punishment ordered by the state (to which the policy refers). I see the wording is somewhat unclear. I will amend it.

[Jutsa]

Got 527 again and can confirm that even though alcohol is banned in my nation, I got "Momma! Git the whiskey! No! The gud kind!”

Like... I get it could be illegal, which'd make this guy becoming ruler of Ubalin even funnier actually,
but I just wanted to confirm for certain that this wasn't an oversight.

ed: link to issue I'm talking about here

[The Free Joy State]

Got 527 again and can confirm that even though alcohol is banned in my nation, I got "Momma! Git the whiskey! No! The gud kind!”

Like... I get it could be illegal, which'd make this guy becoming ruler of Ubalin even funnier actually,
but I just wanted to confirm for certain that this wasn't an oversight.

ed: link to issue I'm talking about here

I think the "whiskey, the gud kind" can stay.

There are two ways of looking at it, if alcohol is illegal:

1. He's drinking illegal moonshine.
2. He just became the absolute ruler of Ubalin in that option -- which is now an independent province, may not have an alcohol ban and where he can do what he likes.

[Jutsa]

Alrighty.

I think that one had me confused for some time, so I mostly wanted to clear the air. Here's hoping I don't forget and ask again...
sometimes I do that.

[Dabarastan]

This is probably pedantic, however it did slip me up when I read it and I think it wouldn't hurt to be looked over.

Issue #704, It's Not Lying, It's Post-Truth

Option 3 reads "... Fact is, there are only our own personal interpretations, and the world is really only the resulting diversity of particular truths. You shouldn’t get to say what’s right or wrong! There’s your policy, Leader, quit shoving ‘objective’ dogma down our throats and let everyone believe what they want about stuff.”

Following "Leader", there should not be a comma but rather a colon or an exclamation point. This is dependent on whether the subsequent suggestion ("quit shoving [etc]") is expanding and elaborating on the mentioned "policy" (in which case, it should be a colon) or if the subsequent suggestion is its own idea - a semi-independent outburst at Leader (it should then be an exclamation point or period). In the latter instance, the "There's your policy, Leader" statement would have to be referring to the sentence before it.

While this is definitely nitpicking, in its current format it reads as both at once, and is mildly confusing to follow.

[The Free Joy State]

This is probably pedantic, however it did slip me up when I read it and I think it wouldn't hurt to be looked over.

Issue #704, It's Not Lying, It's Post-Truth

Option 3 reads "... Fact is, there are only our own personal interpretations, and the world is really only the resulting diversity of particular truths. You shouldn’t get to say what’s right or wrong! There’s your policy, Leader, quit shoving ‘objective’ dogma down our throats and let everyone believe what they want about stuff.”

Following "Leader", there should not be a comma but rather a colon or an exclamation point. This is dependent on whether the subsequent suggestion ("quit shoving [etc]") is expanding and elaborating on the mentioned "policy" (in which case, it should be a colon) or if the subsequent suggestion is its own idea - a semi-independent outburst at Leader (it should then be an exclamation point or period). In the latter instance, the "There's your policy, Leader" statement would have to be referring to the sentence before it.

While this is definitely nitpicking, in its current format it reads as both at once, and is mildly confusing to follow.

Amended to a colon.

[Verdant Haven]

Ran in to a minor problem with Issue #1236 "Being Honest"

Choice 3 (the fourth option) has the speaker named twice, but gives them different names beyond what I suspect is supposed to change:

“Hey, what if we took this a step further?” says Rick Ryan, one of your party’s more creative campaign strategists and successful parliamentarians. “As we’re listing names on the ballot, why don’t we have all our party’s candidates change their middle names just before the election to emphasise our key policies. We can use that space like a miniature campaign poster. Like my name, for example, would be Yui ‘Voluntatem Habemus’ Ambrose. How could people resist voting for that?”

I realize it's about changing names, of course, but it looks like only that middle name is supposed to change - not the first and last as well!

[The Free Joy State]

Ran in to a minor problem with Issue #1236 "Being Honest"

Choice 3 (the fourth option) has the speaker named twice, but gives them different names beyond what I suspect is supposed to change:

“Hey, what if we took this a step further?” says Rick Ryan, one of your party’s more creative campaign strategists and successful parliamentarians. “As we’re listing names on the ballot, why don’t we have all our party’s candidates change their middle names just before the election to emphasise our key policies. We can use that space like a miniature campaign poster. Like my name, for example, would be Yui ‘Voluntatem Habemus’ Ambrose. How could people resist voting for that?”

I realize it's about changing names, of course, but it looks like only that middle name is supposed to change - not the first and last as well!

I'm flagging this backstage.

EDIT: This issue has been amended. Thank you for raising this, Verdant Haven.

[TalAkMaChen]

Not sure it can still be done as the original editor (Sirocco) is long gone... but in #145, option 2 the speaker adjusts "a hat", not "@@his@@ hat", as the speaker is randomly female or male. In the listed version it seemed to be "his hat", recently I got the "a hat", both seem a little odd for a female speaker.

[The Free Joy State]

Not sure it can still be done as the original editor (Sirocco) is long gone... but in #145, option 2 the speaker adjusts "a hat", not "@@his@@ hat", as the speaker is randomly female or male. In the listed version it seemed to be "his hat", recently I got the "a hat", both seem a little odd for a female speaker.

We can change issues where the original editor is no longer around, but I don't see the need to in this case:

"You can't mean that, surely?" snorts @@RANDOMNAME@@, adjusting a hat made from real @@ANIMAL@@ hide

is grammatically correct.

Compare:

"You can't mean that, surely?" snorts Susie Sample, adjusting a hat made from real rare-random-animal hide

"You can't mean that, surely?" snorts Susie Sample, adjusting her hat made from real rare-random-animal hide

No changes needed.

EDIT: If the version in the Spoiler list is not current, you may wish to raise that there. It has been "a hat" for many years.

[TalAkMaChen]

Yes, it's grammatically correct, I did not doubt that. It was more a question whether it's her/his hat or some unspecified hat. As there are many options that make use of the @@his@@ macro, I just asked if it made sense to change here, too.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

The fact that you suggested a change demonstrates that you recognised the text was referring to her own hat.

I agree this doesn't need to be changed.

[TalAkMaChen]

In #1216, the Opposition Leader meets the [female] Supreme Leader of Blackacre. At Aragesh the leader ( = speaker of option 2) was a Mike, yet option 1 referring to that person as "she". Is this correct, to me Mike is a male name.