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[Federationalism]

Got #589 To Boldly Go?, chose option 2

“They call it a space race, but being first at any cost is not always the point,” suggests reformist politician Patrick Picard, looking suspiciously at five lightbulbs illuminating the room. “Attend to the small details at the Lakan Space Agency. Are they assimilating all the men and women needed, in an equal and fair fashion? Sometimes a counsellor can be of as much value as a pilot.” He takes a sip of hot Earl Violet tea. “I may be accused of being overly methodical, but these things matter. Suspend launches for now, and attend to infrastructure. Make it so.”

which for whatever reason outright cancelled my space program altogether. Where in it it states that it will cancel the program? Sure- the launches are suspended, not cancelled- IRL a major part of many space programs budgets are spent on infrastructure. Might need a bit more rewording for it to actually state that the space program is cancelled

Makes sense, but it depends on the implication of the suspending of launches. When you suspend launches for a while after more frequent launches, I believe it implies that the space program has been cancelled, like that of the Apollo for NASA.

[Federationalism]

Well, more of a mistyped bit of code in Option 3;




Also, 'the' should be 'that'. That is all

Make it "whom", not "that"

Ballotonia

Very, very old scenario, longer than I have been on NS, but would it be whom, or who?

[Federationalism]

Also, not sure if this is intentional, but in Issue 539, All My Bits Are Belong to You, is the title supposed to have the "Are"? I'm not quite sure if this is a reference or an error.

[Verdant Haven]

Got #589 To Boldly Go?, chose option 2

“They call it a space race, but being first at any cost is not always the point,” suggests reformist politician Patrick Picard, looking suspiciously at five lightbulbs illuminating the room. “Attend to the small details at the Lakan Space Agency. Are they assimilating all the men and women needed, in an equal and fair fashion? Sometimes a counsellor can be of as much value as a pilot.” He takes a sip of hot Earl Violet tea. “I may be accused of being overly methodical, but these things matter. Suspend launches for now, and attend to infrastructure. Make it so.”

which for whatever reason outright cancelled my space program altogether. Where in it it states that it will cancel the program? Sure- the launches are suspended, not cancelled- IRL a major part of many space programs budgets are spent on infrastructure. Might need a bit more rewording for it to actually state that the space program is cancelled

That's a valid concern. I'll bring it up backstage.

Also, not sure if this is intentional, but in Issue 539, All My Bits Are Belong to You, is the title supposed to have the "Are"? I'm not quite sure if this is a reference or an error.

Yes. "All your base are belong to us" is one of the first widespread internet memes.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

Got #589 To Boldly Go?, chose option 2

“They call it a space race, but being first at any cost is not always the point,” suggests reformist politician Patrick Picard, looking suspiciously at five lightbulbs illuminating the room. “Attend to the small details at the Lakan Space Agency. Are they assimilating all the men and women needed, in an equal and fair fashion? Sometimes a counsellor can be of as much value as a pilot.” He takes a sip of hot Earl Violet tea. “I may be accused of being overly methodical, but these things matter. Suspend launches for now, and attend to infrastructure. Make it so.”

which for whatever reason outright cancelled my space program altogether. Where in it it states that it will cancel the program? Sure- the launches are suspended, not cancelled- IRL a major part of many space programs budgets are spent on infrastructure. Might need a bit more rewording for it to actually state that the space program is cancelled

Makes sense, but it depends on the implication of the suspending of launches. When you suspend launches for a while after more frequent launches, I believe it implies that the space program has been cancelled, like that of the Apollo for NASA.

After Apollo NASA did not stop the space program- sure Apollo Applications Program got canned alongside a lot of other projects (some of which got canned to make way for AAP but that’s a different story), although there was a gap in crewed mission NASA did launch a sizeable number of unmanned missions during the 70’s so I don’t think that I can agree with your point here.

[Ostrovskiy]

Option 4 Issue 136: “Abortion has to be legal if we’re going to last as a nation,” says Jessica vandeBerg, President of the Society of Bitter Old People. “Have you ever thought that with our nation’s growing population of 7.502 billion, we soon aren’t going to be able to squeeze any more people into Ostrovskiy? If we use abortion to control the population, we’ll make great savings and can spend the money elsewhere. One child per family should just about do it I think. Extraneous ones can be sold to other countries.”

Grammar error in the second-to-last sentence. Should be, "Once child per family should just about do it, I think."

[Federationalism]

In issue number 431, "Gone A Stray!", the beginning says, "A group of distraught high school girls has brought the problem of stray dogs and cats around @@NAME@@ to your attention." I noticed that it says "distraught high school girls", however, couldn't boys also be in that bucket. I believe it should be "distraught high schoolers," or something of that sort, inclusive of both genders.

[Trotterdam]

In issue number 431, "Gone A Stray!", the beginning says, "A group of distraught high school girls has brought the problem of stray dogs and cats around @@NAME@@ to your attention." I noticed that it says "distraught high school girls", however, couldn't boys also be in that bucket. I believe it should be "distraught high schoolers," or something of that sort, inclusive of both genders.

Why? Even if boys can also care about this subject, there's no reason why it couldn't happen to be girls who brought it up this time. Presumably, some people outside of high school age also care about strays. Most importantly, having a high-profile government issue triggered by a relatively narrow demographic is funnier.

[Gonswanza]

Option 4 Issue 136: “Abortion has to be legal if we’re going to last as a nation,” says Jessica vandeBerg, President of the Society of Bitter Old People. “Have you ever thought that with our nation’s growing population of 7.502 billion, we soon aren’t going to be able to squeeze any more people into Ostrovskiy? If we use abortion to control the population, we’ll make great savings and can spend the money elsewhere. One child per family should just about do it I think. Extraneous ones can be sold to other countries.”

Grammar error in the second-to-last sentence. Should be, "Once child per family should just about do it, I think."

"One child per family [sic]" is grammatically correct, though. Once would be incorrect. One refers to amount, once refers to how many times. But in this case, "once a family has a child" suits the proposed edit.

edit: Im not getting in trouble for this, am I?

[Pogaria]

Option 4 Issue 136: “Abortion has to be legal if we’re going to last as a nation,” says Jessica vandeBerg, President of the Society of Bitter Old People. “Have you ever thought that with our nation’s growing population of 7.502 billion, we soon aren’t going to be able to squeeze any more people into Ostrovskiy? If we use abortion to control the population, we’ll make great savings and can spend the money elsewhere. One child per family should just about do it I think. Extraneous ones can be sold to other countries.”

Grammar error in the second-to-last sentence. Should be, "Once child per family should just about do it, I think."

"One child per family [sic]" is grammatically correct, though. Once would be incorrect. One refers to amount, once refers to how many times. But in this case, "once a family has a child" suits the proposed edit.

edit: Im not getting in trouble for this, am I?

The comma (or lack thereof) is stylistic. The typo in the proposed suggestion does not appear in the issue. I don't see anything that needs to be changed.

[Azov steel 2022]

"One child per family [sic]" is grammatically correct, though. Once would be incorrect. One refers to amount, once refers to how many times. But in this case, "once a family has a child" suits the proposed edit.

edit: Im not getting in trouble for this, am I?

The comma (or lack thereof) is stylistic. The typo in the proposed suggestion does not appear in the issue. I don't see anything that needs to be changed.

Мe too

[Federationalism]

In issue number 431, "Gone A Stray!", the beginning says, "A group of distraught high school girls has brought the problem of stray dogs and cats around @@NAME@@ to your attention." I noticed that it says "distraught high school girls", however, couldn't boys also be in that bucket. I believe it should be "distraught high schoolers," or something of that sort, inclusive of both genders.

Why? Even if boys can also care about this subject, there's no reason why it couldn't happen to be girls who brought it up this time. Presumably, some people outside of high school age also care about strays. Most importantly, having a high-profile government issue triggered by a relatively narrow demographic is funnier.

However, it can be both, it doesn't have to be just girls, but what you're saying is more important.

[The Grand Fifth Imperium]

I think there might be a (small) spelling error in issue #493, option 3

3. “I don’t really understand what issue is,” muses Chiri Dixon, a burly Smalltopian diplomat, from a couch in the executive lounge. “I watch sports to see best compete against best. Who cares if they take drug or drinking chemical to be stronger and faster? Give all athlete drug!” As he speaks, he is rapidly switching between three different sporting events on TV. “Stronger, faster, BETTER, if you ask me!”

*bolded for emphasis

I can't tell if this is an error or if it's intentional for humorous effect, but I thought I'd put here just in case it is the latter.

[Trotterdam]

It's intentional. There's definitely more grammar errors than just the ones you highlighted. The intent is that the speaker, as a native Smalltopian (and probably also a musclehead), isn't fluent in @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ language.

[Inclusive Conservatives 1]

Option #2 on Issue #1439 ("Philately Will Get You Nowhere") bans gambling, but it only specifies that it's banning casino chips. Gambling doesn't require casino chips. Electronic gambling can be run using direct money wagers. Scratch cards and lottery tickets are 100% actual money exchanges. In-person gambling could revert to digital currency as well under this circumstance. The stock market has always been direct money wagers. Banning casino chips absolutely should not ban gambling.

[Verdant Haven]

Option #2 on Issue #1439 ("Philately Will Get You Nowhere") bans gambling, but it only specifies that it's banning casino chips. Gambling doesn't require casino chips. Electronic gambling can be run using direct money wagers. Scratch cards and lottery tickets are 100% actual money exchanges. In-person gambling could revert to digital currency as well under this circumstance. The stock market has always been direct money wagers. Banning casino chips absolutely should not ban gambling.

We agree, and that issue/option doesn't inherently do that. Rather, you saw that effect because you already had gambling so tightly restricted that this action eliminated the last outlet for gambling in your nation, and functionally outlawed the practice. It was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

As described in the "Unusual Issue Effects" thread section about unexpected policy flips, "No Gambling" is what we call a "pseudo-policy." It isn't a hard flag that gets flipped on or off by a single decision, like "Socialism" or "No Cars." Rather, it is a policy that activates when you cross certain thresholds of restriction or freedom. These policies exist to help ensure that nations that have consistently legislated to outlaw or permit certain practices can reach a point where they stop getting things that contradict the laws they have repeatedly put in place. In other words... it helps ensure that your decisions matter! If you want to see gambling return, look for issues where people are complaining about its absence, or are trying to hint that maybe you should permit a little bit here and there. It usually only takes a small nudge the disable a policy of this nature.

[Zinertia]

Issue No. 677, Dial L for Loan, the text of option 1 doesn't seem appropriate for NationStates with a Socialism policy:

your Finance Minister. “Start by removing their spendthrift leadership, and install a stooge, er... someone who understands the gravity of their international obligations. Next, forcibly privatize some of the most easily monetized state services. Why, I bet some of Zinertia’s businesses might even be interested in buying them.”

The bold phrases demonstrate what sits uneasy with me. Why would a finance minister of a socialist nation and government, be advocating for privatisation of state services? And then suggesting that some of Zinertia’s businesses would find them attractive?

Seems to me that a bad choice of finance minister has been made here when they're advocating for non-state funded services to come about, not very inline with the socialist philosophy.

Furthermore, It doesn't seem feasible that any of Zinertia’s few businesses would have the funds for such an arrangement let alone the permission for an expansion beyond the state's control.

[Simone Republic]

Issue 312, question 2:

"Diplomatic bureaucrat @@RANDOMNAME@@ remarks calmly, "There's no need to go off half-cocked. It would be much better if we used some international body—the World Assembly, say, or a @@REGION@@ tribunal—to investigate these rumours objectively for us."

Suggest to change to "the World Assembly, say, or a tribunal of @@Region@@".

Otherwise it's grammatically incorrect if the region name starts with "The" and the word "The" is capitalized (such as the feeders e.g., my region The North Pacific).

In my version of the issue, the second line becomes:

"There's no need to go off half-cocked. It would be much better if we used some international body—the World Assembly, say, or a The North Pacific tribunal—to investigate these rumours objectively for us."

[Trotterdam]

Ideally we'd bug the coders for a macro that removes "a", "an", and "the" from the beginning of a field...

[Steelfeather Rapture 2]

Issue #487 ("Masks of Shame") is about re-educating conservatives who are enacting uncompassionate traditions. There should probably be some threshold of liberalism where the issue doesn't happen for lack of uncompassionate conservatives to trigger it. I don't know enough about how the back-end models civil rights to know where that should be set.

While I'm here... It also really doesn't seem to me like mandatory boarding schools would respect the civil rights of the ruralites! Again, I don't know how civil rights are modeled in the back-end.

[Omnicontrol]

Issue #332's description has a typo:

Last week, a jaywalking man was hit by a truck in a busy intersection. He lay there for seventeen hours before a policeman tripped over him and brought him to jail for loitering.

[Verdant Haven]

While I'm here... It also really doesn't seem to me like mandatory boarding schools would respect the civil rights of the ruralites! Again, I don't know how civil rights are modeled in the back-end.

In the context of this issue, the increased civil rights of women are programmed as being greater than the decreased civil rights from the re-education of those who oppress them. "Boarding Schools" specifically are found only in the effect line, and effect lines are heavy on the satire. They frequently don't precisely reflect the actual effects that the issue option describes - especially in historical cases. The option text states "re-education" without any mention of shipping people off to schools, so that's what the stats are based on.

Issue #332's description has a typo:

Last week, a jaywalking man was hit by a truck in a busy intersection. He lay there for seventeen hours before a policeman tripped over him and brought him to jail for loitering.

This is not a typo.

The intransitive verb, needed here, has the present tense form "lie." This uses the past tense form "lay" - Soandso lay on the ground.

For this to use the past tense "laid" it would have to be the transitive verb "lay," and that would require a direct object - Soandso laid the book on the ground.

[Omnicontrol]

While I'm here... It also really doesn't seem to me like mandatory boarding schools would respect the civil rights of the ruralites! Again, I don't know how civil rights are modeled in the back-end.

In the context of this issue, the increased civil rights of women are programmed as being greater than the decreased civil rights from the re-education of those who oppress them. "Boarding Schools" specifically are found only in the effect line, and effect lines are heavy on the satire. They frequently don't precisely reflect the actual effects that the issue option describes - especially in historical cases. The option text states "re-education" without any mention of shipping people off to schools, so that's what the stats are based on.

Issue #332's description has a typo:

Last week, a jaywalking man was hit by a truck in a busy intersection. He lay there for seventeen hours before a policeman tripped over him and brought him to jail for loitering.

This is not a typo.

The intransitive verb, needed here, has the present tense form "lie." This uses the past tense form "lay" - Soandso lay on the ground.

For this to use the past tense "laid" it would have to be the transitive verb "lay," and that would require a direct object - Soandso laid the book on the ground.

Wouldn't "Soandso laid on the ground" be correct too, referring to the person?

[Verdant Haven]

Wouldn't "Soandso laid on the ground" be correct too, referring to the person?

No. Laid is inherently transitive - It requires a direct object in all circumstances. It is an action somebody did to something or someone.

ETA:

Put it in present tense to immediately see the difference.

Transitive: "I lay the book down."

Intransitive: "I lie down."

Lay becomes past tense as Laid. Lie becomes past tense as Lay.

[Trotterdam]

Mixing up "lie" and "lay" is one of those mistakes that's common enough that it's becoming the new normal. Like using "they" for a single person.