The Writers' Block

[USS Monitor]

You're not a bad person. You're just clumsy in your interactions sometimes.

I'm sure that that can describe many people- myself included.

After all, it is rather difficult to convey our true emotions through mere text, is it not?

Yeah, it applies to a lot of NSers, especially our younger players, autistic folks, and people whose cultural background is much different from the rest of NS.

[Fauxia]

I'm sure that that can describe many people- myself included.

After all, it is rather difficult to convey our true emotions through mere text, is it not?

Yeah, it applies to a lot of NSers, especially our younger players, autistic folks, and people whose cultural background is much different from the rest of NS.

Also the moderators

This is a joke.., I think

[USS Monitor]

Yeah, it applies to a lot of NSers, especially our younger players, autistic folks, and people whose cultural background is much different from the rest of NS.

Also the moderators

This is a joke.., I think

Occasionally moderators. We're only human (or goats or Civil War ironclads). Sometimes we have bad days, same as anyone else.

[Australian rePublic]

Also the moderators

This is a joke.., I think

Occasionally moderators. We're only human (or goats or Civil War ironclads). Sometimes we have bad days, same as anyone else.

You used to also have a sheep in there

[Australian rePublic]

I have an issue about betrayal (657) where the traitor's random name is Judas Benedict, or in other words, a traitor named after two traitors. What a coinicidence!

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Hello, pretty much a newcomer to the issue-writin' sector of Nationstates. Do you guys think my method of suggesting changes is too direct or has an arrogant sort of vibe to it, or do you think it's just fine?

Bold words are my suggested changes.
[the issue]Satirists have begun to take advantage of @@NAME@@'s easygoing ballot access rules. This became particularly obvious when the Society of Internationalist Liberal Localist Yuppies (SILLY) nearly won a seat in Parliament on the platform of "growing money on trees" and "popcorn for all" among other tomfoolery. Political scientists predict that this may result in multiple seats for SILLY as soon as the next election.

[option 3]"I have a better idea!" exclaims comedian Jon Warden, while painting a smile on your face. "You can learn a thing or two from this, @@LEADER@@! You should spice up your press conferences with a little humor! Dress up as a clown every now and then, crack a few jokes. Don’t take politics or life so seriously — it isn’t eternal, after all!"
[fallout]most members of parliament fail to understand @@LEADER@@‘s jokes about obscure nations

[option 4]"Everyone seems to be ignoring the obvious solution," remarks founder of the Church Of @@LEADER@@, @@RANDOMNAME@@, while removing the microphone that @@HE@@ had apparently installed. "You could get rid of this problem by doing away with elections and just installing yourself as supreme leader of @@NAME@@. That seems much more simple to me, and there will be less disagreement about it. Or if there is, you can just send in the military to silence the protesters."
[fallout]late-night satires frequently star military generals as guests

[Jutsa]

Hello!

Naeh, suggesting changes is rarely a bad thing - only if you purposefully act arrogant and stubborn about it.

(at least, I presume)

By that, I mean like saying "this MUST be changed to THIS" or "You didn't change this, please change this" even if your recommendation's not actually that useful.

If you don't do that, I think you should be fine.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Hello, pretty much a newcomer to the issue-writin' sector of Nationstates. Do you guys think my method of suggesting changes is too direct or has an arrogant sort of vibe to it, or do you think it's just fine?

Bold words are my suggested changes.
[the issue]Satirists have begun to take advantage of @@NAME@@'s easygoing ballot access rules. This became particularly obvious when the Society of Internationalist Liberal Localist Yuppies (SILLY) nearly won a seat in Parliament on the platform of "growing money on trees" and "popcorn for all" among other tomfoolery. Political scientists predict that this may result in multiple seats for SILLY as soon as the next election.

[option 3]"I have a better idea!" exclaims comedian Jon Warden, while painting a smile on your face. "You can learn a thing or two from this, @@LEADER@@! You should spice up your press conferences with a little humor! Dress up as a clown every now and then, crack a few jokes. Don’t take politics or life so seriously — it isn’t eternal, after all!"
[fallout]most members of parliament fail to understand @@LEADER@@‘s jokes about obscure nations

[option 4]"Everyone seems to be ignoring the obvious solution," remarks founder of the Church Of @@LEADER@@, @@RANDOMNAME@@, while removing the microphone that @@HE@@ had apparently installed. "You could get rid of this problem by doing away with elections and just installing yourself as supreme leader of @@NAME@@. That seems much more simple to me, and there will be less disagreement about it. Or if there is, you can just send in the military to silence the protesters."
[fallout]late-night satires frequently star military generals as guests

Uh... What are you suggesting changes to? I can't see any issue that resembles what you're discussing. Seems familiar though. Is this an extant draft?

[Trotterdam]

I have an issue about betrayal (657) where the traitor's random name is Judas Benedict, or in other words, a traitor named after two traitors. What a coinicidence!

I'm pretty sure that's not a coincidence.

[Shwe Tu Colony]

Hello, pretty much a newcomer to the issue-writin' sector of Nationstates. Do you guys think my method of suggesting changes is too direct or has an arrogant sort of vibe to it, or do you think it's just fine?

Bold words are my suggested changes.
[the issue]Satirists have begun to take advantage of @@NAME@@'s easygoing ballot access rules. This became particularly obvious when the Society of Internationalist Liberal Localist Yuppies (SILLY) nearly won a seat in Parliament on the platform of "growing money on trees" and "popcorn for all" among other tomfoolery. Political scientists predict that this may result in multiple seats for SILLY as soon as the next election.

[option 3]"I have a better idea!" exclaims comedian Jon Warden, while painting a smile on your face. "You can learn a thing or two from this, @@LEADER@@! You should spice up your press conferences with a little humor! Dress up as a clown every now and then, crack a few jokes. Don’t take politics or life so seriously — it isn’t eternal, after all!"
[fallout]most members of parliament fail to understand @@LEADER@@‘s jokes about obscure nations

[option 4]"Everyone seems to be ignoring the obvious solution," remarks founder of the Church Of @@LEADER@@, @@RANDOMNAME@@, while removing the microphone that @@HE@@ had apparently installed. "You could get rid of this problem by doing away with elections and just installing yourself as supreme leader of @@NAME@@. That seems much more simple to me, and there will be less disagreement about it. Or if there is, you can just send in the military to silence the protesters."
[fallout]late-night satires frequently star military generals as guests

Uh... What are you suggesting changes to? I can't see any issue that resembles what you're discussing. Seems familiar though. Is this an extant draft?

It was this issue

[Fauxia]

Uh... What are you suggesting changes to? I can't see any issue that resembles what you're discussing. Seems familiar though. Is this an extant draft?

It was this issue

I’m the author, and I’m not offended.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Ah cool.

Don't worry, all, you can't possibly be more offensive than I am in my draft feedbacks. I think as long as there is an earnest intention to collaborate to produce great issues for the game, there's a lot of forgiveness in this community.

[Australian rePublic]

Go for it

EDIT: The big how-to-proofread-if-you-aren't-that-great-at-it post.

The most important thing to remember.

Basically, you're gonna want to look for 3 types of errors in your work. Spelling errors, punctuation errors and grammatical errors. The mistake a lot of people make when proofreading is that they try to look for all three types at once. Don't do that. Follow this method and break down the task into more manageable chunks.

If you are dyslexic then I would recommend using something like a ruler and holding it under each line of text as you read. Often people with dyslexia will struggle to focus on one line of text at a time. Using a ruler helps with this. There are also colour overlay programs you can get - plugins for Chrome. Search for nOverlay - it's the best I've found.

---

1) Start by looking for grammatical errors.

Read every sentence clearly and carefully - out loud if you have to. Does it make sense?

Most grammar errors are with verbs (the doing words or state of being words) or plurals. Here is a short youtube video on verb identification if you have trouble with this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWPIu8hpYQs

Plurals are when you should, or should not, refer to one or more of something.

Verb/subject agreement is another area where people have problems. They will write things like "We was going out" or "I were busy that evening." Here, the verb (was or were) is the wrong form to use with the subject (we or I). Here is a worksheet that explains this very well if you are struggling. https://www.skillsworkshop.org/resources/subject-verb-agreement

If you require more assistance with grammar, this website is a very good place to start: https://esol.britishcouncil.org/

---

2) Move on to look for punctuation errors.

Full list of resources for learning how to use punctuation marks:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/

The biggest mistake made by people when it comes to punctuation is usually not punctuating their sentences properly. Put basically, there are three types of sentences. Simple, complex and compound. More on this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWmKnrtlTHU

People often create very long sentences with far too much going on in them. As a rule of thumb, if you've got more than 3 clauses (complete thoughts) in a sentence, it's far too long. These are called run-on sentences and there is an excellent resource on them here: https://www.gcflearnfree.org/grammar/runon-sentences/1/

---

2) Finally - spelling.

There's no easy way to say this, but spelling rules are just kind of something you have to learn. Having said that, there is some help out there.

Homophones - words that sound the same but are spelled differently and often hold different
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en21watc-game-paris-word

General spelling assistance: https://howtospell.co.uk/spelling.php

Now, you can often build up your own mnemonics to help with spelling. This is how, for example, I remember the difference between their, there and they're.

Their - I remove the t. What am I left with? heir. Heir as in heir to a throne. Their is all about possession and ownership - so that's how I remember.

There - again I remove the t. I'm left with here. There often refers to place or location, so that's sorted, isn't it?

They're - I work this one out by process of elimination. If it's not the other two, it must be this one.

Fortunately, spelling errors are the easiest errors to correct. Punctuation and grammar mistakes often involve having to re-write or re-do entire sentences. Spelling? That's a matter of just typing in the right letters!

---

So there you go Aussie (and anyone else looking for help on this.) Remember - don't look for all the errors at once, go through systematically. Read once for grammar mistakes, again for punctuation and once more for spelling.

You've got a tonne of resources there to get you going with. So no more excuses for badly-proofread stuff!

Thank You Very Much! This guide is excellent! I wonder if it would help people (especiallyt those who don't speak English well) would benefit fromseeing this as a sticky thread

[Caracasus]

Thank You Very Much! This guide is excellent! I wonder if it would help people (especiallyt those who don't speak English well) would benefit fromseeing this as a sticky thread

Cool. And apologies for snapping.

I don't know if this needs stickying to be honest. It might be an idea to add it to the "how to write issues" thread somewhere - possibly under a spoiler. I guess it'd be handy to be able to point people to a specific place if they're struggling?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I think you're right. Excellent advice though it is, it's for quite a specific problem: difficulty in proofreading with dyslexia. Probably best just to bookmark it and link it if anyone ever has similar problems in future.

[Caracasus]

I think you're right. Excellent advice though it is, it's for quite a specific problem: difficulty in proofreading with dyslexia. Probably best just to bookmark it and link it if anyone ever has similar problems in future.

Good point! I hadn't thought of that. Here we go I guess. I'll stick a link in my signature as well.

https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=900911

[Fauxia]

Ah cool.

Don't worry, all, you can't possibly be more offensive than I am in my draft feedbacks. I think as long as there is an earnest intention to collaborate to produce great issues for the game, there's a lot of forgiveness in this community.

People I think are less offended by you bc you’re an editor and have written 30 Issues. But correct. Quite frankly, if you can’t take constructive criticism, you probably shouldn’t be on this forum, or even in this game

——————————

I notice we have added a choice validity section in the Issue submission, brilliant!

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Ah cool.

Don't worry, all, you can't possibly be more offensive than I am in my draft feedbacks. I think as long as there is an earnest intention to collaborate to produce great issues for the game, there's a lot of forgiveness in this community.

People I think are less offended by you bc you’re an editor and have written 30 Issues. But correct. Quite frankly, if you can’t take constructive criticism, you probably shouldn’t be on this forum, or even in this game

——————————

I notice we have added a choice validity section in the Issue submission, brilliant!

I've written 118 issues. But yes, I have the privilege of having 31 of them published.

[Fauxia]

People I think are less offended by you bc you’re an editor and have written 30 Issues. But correct. Quite frankly, if you can’t take constructive criticism, you probably shouldn’t be on this forum, or even in this game

——————————

I notice we have added a choice validity section in the Issue submission, brilliant!

I've written 118 issues. But yes, I have the privilege of having 31 of them published.

Oh 31 now. One was published only recently.

Holy cow, 118?!

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Yah, I keep a list

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=can ... /id=556265

[Jutsa]

Wow! Nice!

I have a list too, but it's personal (and way less impressive)

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Hello fellow issue writers! Sorry, I have been absent for a while because I am busy IRL, and I will probably only occasionally drop by 'til next summer.

In the meantime, a new issue idea occurred to me, and I thought I'd ask you for counsel before attempting a draft.

The issue I am thinking about will question what @@NAME@@ needs to do if a lot of foreigners have started to "exploit some loopholes in the law" in order to acquire @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ citizenship.

For example, in the past USA used to grant citizenship to all babies born upon its soil (I don't know whether this system still continues), and in the 90s it was very common for many rich Turkish celebrities to travel to the US to give birth to their children to make them American citizens. It was some kind of a status symbol, you see. In addition, as Turkey rapidly slides into a psychotic dictatorship, more and more people are seeking ways to emigrate to another country, and for some people the easiest solution is to marry a foreigner and acquire the citizenship of the country where s/he is from. Some people (particularly men) are purposely looking for European or North American (USA or Canada) partners to be able to live in "better" countries. I believe this can also be exploited at another level, for example some men might even consider paying money to a European woman in order to get married and acquire citizenship, so it could be like a "business transaction" between them.

I am planning to problematize one of these issues (Citizenship by birth or citizenship by marriage) in my issue.

I have also noticed that there is already one issue (#491 in which the first "problem" here (citizenship by birth) is proposed as a solution to the problem of who should be considered a citizen of @@NAME@@. Option 2 suggests that people born in @@NAME@@ should be its citizens. So maybe my issue could be a follow-up issue for nations that chose Option 2 for Issue 491?

In that case, the issue would roughly look like this:

Description: Since @@NAME@@ started to grant citizenship to all babies born on its soil, "birth tourism" has boomed, with many wealthy parents-to-be from countries ruled by dictatorial regimes travelling to @@NAME@@ for the birth of their kids.

Option 1: A hard-core nationalist says the system is being abused and should be abolished. Only those with @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ parents should be given citizenship. Also, nationalism may not be a very compelling reason by itself to deny citizenship to these babies, so this person will also remind us of other potential drawbacks of granting citizenship so liberally, for example, when these kids grow up, they might want to live in @@NAME@@ and take he jobs of the "locals," they might be maladjusted people because of cultural differences, the government might have to pay for their college, healthcare, etc., etc.

Option 2: A financial advisor who only cares about money. S/he says @@NAME@@ can actually use this opportunity to create a lucrative business for itself. For example, @@NAME@@ could charge foreign parents for every baby they give birth to in @@NAME@@, like a citizenship tax.

Option 3: An augmented version of Option 2. Why should only babies be able to get @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ citizenship in return for money? How about their parents? If they want @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ citizenship for their kids, chances are, they would want it for themselves as well. Why not "sell" citizenship to all people regardless of age, as long as they agree to pay money to the government or to invest in @@NAME@@? (Some countries like Malta and Cyprus in Europe and Grenada and Dominica in the Caribbean actually have citizenship programs like this.)

-----------------

A similar issue can also be written for marriage. Then it would look like this.

Description: The Bureau of Statistics says that there has been a rise in the number of foreigners (those from Marche Noir, let's say) marrying @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ citizens, and there are rumors that they do this because they want to acquire citizenship. (Maybe there are statistics on divorce rates as well, and it seems most people immediately get divorced after being registered as a citizen, etc.

Option 1: A hard-core nationalist says the system is being abused and should be abolished (again). Why get so many citizens from Marche Noir who do nothing and just live off welfare, just because they married a citizen of @@NAME@@? Don't give citizenship to people who marry a @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ citizen!

Option 2: Option 1 is too harsh, because it will make things very hard for international couples. But we can try to prevent abuse. So maybe allow a foreigner to retain citizenship only as long as s/he is married to the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ citizen? If they get divorced, s/he loses citizenship automatically.

Option 3: Crazy option. A mad racist is speaking here. Why should our citizens marry foreigners in the first place? Why should they end up having kids with foreigners, mingling their blood with the blood of the inferior races? Prohibit people from marrying foreigners, or if they insist on marrying a foreign citizen, they should do so at the cost of losing their own citizenship.

Option 4: Maybe we could again have a financial advisor here who proposes selling citizenship to all foreigners who can pay a lot of money to the government.
---------------------------------

What do you think? Is any of these two issue proposals worth pursuing further? And which one is better or more feasible? Do you like the options?

Thanks!

[Skymoot]

Hi there NS'verse! Hope everyone's having a good week so far!

I found this interesting article from within my local county, and I think it gives a good idea for an issue someone else could work on if they wanted. If I find any other articles while on the internet, I'll let you guys know. Hope the article inspires issues for our awesome issue writers!

The be accurate, how about an issue on the privatization of liquor in countries/countys?
http://www.readingeagle.com/news/articl ... n-solution

[Trotterdam]

Do we have an issue for unbanning poetry (after #056 3)? I know it's tracked as a flag (by #700 4... well, it looks like it assumes poetry is already banned, I havne't actually confirmed anyone not getting it).

I'm thinking of an issue where every speaker accidentally ends his/her speech on a rhyme, is shot, and is replaced by the next speaker.

But what caused the debate to resurface, and options would there be beyond "unban" and "don't unban"?

[Luna Amore]

The game does not keep track of whether or not you ban poetry.