The Writers' Block

[SherpDaWerp]

Ooh, I know this one. Issue #201 has actually got a special exception in the issues code for its button text. I was unable to trace it back to an original suggestion, but I believe it was done by Scolopendra, hence their co-editing credit on the issue.

Funny you should bring this up, too - we're adding a new special dismiss button to an existing issue very shortly, so keep your eyes peeled!

What do you mean a special dismiss button?

One with custom text

[Socialismia]

Ooh, I know this one. Issue #201 has actually got a special exception in the issues code for its button text. I was unable to trace it back to an original suggestion, but I believe it was done by Scolopendra, hence their co-editing credit on the issue.

Funny you should bring this up, too - we're adding a new special dismiss button to an existing issue very shortly, so keep your eyes peeled!

Woah, what issue? Mind giving a little hint on what it is??

[Tinhampton]

Is there the possibility that requests for special accept or dismiss buttons in issues being drafted or submitted - as opposed to pre-existing issues - (or the removal of the dismissal button entirely, as Issue #568) could be honoured when absolutely relevant to the issue? The few examples of this so far have been added into issues by the editing team and, while it sounds like a neat touch, I have no idea how we the authors would signal this or if the editors are even looking for such things.

[Socialismia]

Is there any issue inspired or based on the Titan submersible implosion? Or is the topic too recent?

[Bears Armed]

Talking of maritime disasters, and recentness_
The sinking of the Titanic inspired the production of a board-game, only around one year later, whose theme was trying to get a ship across the Atlantic without it [fatally] hitting an iceberg! Maybe somebody here could write an issue about something like that happening, perhaps referencing one of the various maritime disasters that already feature in issues, and a public argument about whether it's too far over the line of bad taste to be allowed?
Idea free for anybody who wants to use it.

[Trotterdam]

Is there any issue inspired or based on the Titan submersible implosion? Or is the topic too recent?

There's one joking effect line predating that incident that sounds suspiciously prescient (#1029 3: "the government sends submarines to retrieve bodies from shipwrecked submarines"), but nothing else. We do have a bunch of stuff about generic safety standards that may or may not be similar, though I don't think anything has so much overlap as to completely disqualify a more specific issue.

What I find most interesting about that incident is how similar to the sinking of the original Titanic it seemed. In both cases, the people who designed the ships insisted that they were invincible and that safety precautions were just a paranoid waste of money, and ended up being proven wrong. It's fascinating how someone whose entire business model was about exploring the wreck of the Titanic could have completely failed to learn the main lesson its sinking taught us.

[Socialismia]

The issues "#1277: Outside the Box" and "#925: Ring of Death" are suspiciously similar... oh well, I won't think much of it.

[Outer Sparta]

Is there any issue inspired or based on the Titan submersible implosion? Or is the topic too recent?

There's one joking effect line predating that incident that sounds suspiciously prescient (#1029 3: "the government sends submarines to retrieve bodies from shipwrecked submarines"), but nothing else. We do have a bunch of stuff about generic safety standards that may or may not be similar, though I don't think anything has so much overlap as to completely disqualify a more specific issue.

What I find most interesting about that incident is how similar to the sinking of the original Titanic it seemed. In both cases, the people who designed the ships insisted that they were invincible and that safety precautions were just a paranoid waste of money, and ended up being proven wrong. It's fascinating how someone whose entire business model was about exploring the wreck of the Titanic could have completely failed to learn the main lesson its sinking taught us.

It could be a potentially interesting follow-up if you allow and promote tourism of wrecked ships (418.3), then this fledgling submersible industry emerges, then people pay huge money to see the government-advertised shipwrecks. It's noteworthy how the ship in that issue is called the RMS Gargantic.

[Australian rePublic]

Here's an idea for an issue for whoever wants it. Dwarf tossing:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf-tossing

[Socialismia]

Here's an idea for an issue for whoever wants it. Dwarf tossing:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf-tossing

Isn't that just "#1139: A Little Wrestling, a Lot of Controversy"?
(The issue even mentions a 'midget toss')

[Australian rePublic]

Here's an idea for an issue for whoever wants it. Dwarf tossing:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf-tossing

Isn't that just "#1139: A Little Wrestling, a Lot of Controversy"?
(The issue even mentions a 'midget toss')

Ha, there is too. Okay. Carry on

[Tinhampton]

The second post in this thread has contained, for a number of years, a list of high-priority reversal issues. No Cents has been the only reversal for going on three years now. Meanwhile, the list of banned issues is publicised only midway down Issue Writing for NationStates: Part 1, where - despite the requirement that people read the entire FAQ thread despite submitting an issue - people are not likely to immediately notice. The conventions surrounding duplicate issues also aren't perfectly clear.

So perhaps it would be of use to revamp the second post to prominently outline both high-priority and forbidden topics? Maybe something like the following, under the current state of play. (And please forgive me for my attempted summary of the Editors' chains policy.)

---

Topics we are actively welcoming issues about

If you can write and submit a sufficiently convincing issue about any (permissible) subject, the odds are good that we will like your idea enough to publish it. We are prioritising good-quality issues about these subjects right now, however.

✅ LOW-PRIORITY ISSUE: A broad No Cents reversal. An option in Issue 343 "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" allows you to stop minting cents. While Issue 1478 "Two Sides of a Coin" offers an option to resume the minting of cents, you can only get this issue if you have another rare policy. We are looking for an issue with non-stringent eligibility criteria which allows you to reverse the No Cents policy.

Topics you cannot write issues about

While we are open to issues about a wide range of subjects, there are some types of issues which - due to the site rules or the need for well-written, more retrospective perspectives on real-world topics - we are unable to publish.

❌ PERMANENTLY OFF-LIMITS: Child sexual abuse. It is impossible to write an issue about this topic without violating the moratorium. The consequences of violating the moratorium can be severe; in extreme cases, you could be permanently banned from NationStates and reported to the police. We will therefore not edit or publish any issue about this topic. Please - just don't do this.

❌ PERMANENTLY OFF-LIMITS: Issues we've seen before. Suppose that there's a pre-existing issue about subject A which approaches the matter from angle B. You're welcome to write a new issue about subject A - but please don't approach it from angle B or we'll toss your issue for duplication. Angles C, D, E and so on would all do nicely, however. It's your responsibility to make your issue unique!

❌ PERMANENTLY OFF-LIMITS: AI-written issues about any subject. Issues written using AI tools such as ChatGPT are not only poorly written most of the time; they were also not written by you. Even if you were to generate a superbly-written issue using AI, there is no guarantee that we will not immediately discard it as plagiarism.

⚠️ TEMPORARILY OFF-LIMITS: Disease outbreaks and pandemics. Even though COVID-19 is no longer a major real-world topic, you should hold off on writing about diseases for the time being. This is because we are currently planning out an issue chain which will offer a comprehensive run-through of a disease outbreak in @@NAME@@. It is likely that the specific topic you wish to write about will be covered by the chain.

⚠️ TEMPORARILY OFF-LIMITS: Wars involving your nation. If your issue involves the possibility of taking @@NAME@@ into a war - whether through boots on the ground, supplying weapons, or even offering moral support - don't expect it to be published any time soon. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza are live topics, and we would rather not be flooded with scores of effectively identical "should you go to war?" issues right now.

⛓️ UNLIKELY TO BE ACCEPTED: Issue chains about any subject. Unlike with the other types of issue discussed here, it is entirely possible that you could write an issue chain, get an editor on board with your idea, and see it being published. But this is a very unlikely prospect for a variety of reasons, and we don't encourage that you take on this responsibility. You should read the below heading for further guidance.

Can I write an issue chain?

In theory, yes. In practice, no - you should not expect us to publish your chain or even give it serious consideration, unless it is absolutely extraordinary.

The vast majority of issues are either pure standalone issues or, in rare cases (such as Issue 627 "The Bee-Ginning Of A Catastrophe?", which chains from Option 3/4 of Issue 441 "You've Got A Friend In Bee"), are single issues chained to you answering a particular option in a previous issue. If you submit such an issue, so long as it is of sufficient quality and not about an off-limits topic, we may consider publishing it. However, full issue chains are literally and figuratively a different story.

There are currently four chains in existence: An International Incident (about a possible invasion of an NPC nation called Brasilistan), The Enemy Within (about a terrorist attack in your capital), @@CAPITAL@@gate (about how your government is spying on some of its critics), and MADness (about an international nuclear weapons crisis). All of these chains were written by Issues Editors.

There will be a fifth chain, tentatively entitled The Unseen Killer, about a pandemic in your nation; this project is also being led by Issues Editors. As you can tell, writing a chain requires a lot of writing on the author's behalf and a lot of coding on our behalf; it is generally a stressful, time-consuming activity for everyone involved. It is therefore essential that you approach us with your idea before you go ahead with it.

If you would like to write a chain about a particular subject, you will need to talk to an Editor first. (Please note that some Editors are not interested in working on chains at any given time, and that you will be working with a single Editor on your chain.) You will then need to offer that Editor a detailed outline of the chain's story - including its premise; the potential options of its opening issue; where those options lead in terms of the storyline; and the issues that follow from those options, and then the options in those issues, and then the options in those issues, and so on. You don't need to write the entire chain in proper issue format yet; just a sketch would do.

If the Editor is not interested in working on any chain, your idea will not progress (unless you find an interested Editor). If the Editor is interested in working on chains, but not on your particular chain, your idea will not progress (unless you find an Editor who is enthusiastic about your chain). If you do not already have a solid track record of published issue authorship, potentially including authorship of multiple standalone mini-chain issues, it is highly unlikely that your idea will progress.

All of this is to say that you should stop and seriously think about whether you can successfully write a chain about a single topic, potentially containing dozens of issues and multiple divergent plotlines from the start, and convince an Editor to work on that chain before you go ahead with planning it. Still, there is no shame in successfully writing any amount of high-quality, permissible, single issues.

[Socialismia]

I feel like an issue about bringing back judiciary would be pretty important... This definitely has nothing to do with my accidental recent abolishment on it. Nope.

[The Ice States]

Is there an issue about corporate espionage?

[The Marsupial Illuminati]

Is there an issue about corporate espionage?

I don't think so. Feel free to write one.

[Socialismia]

Is there any issue about geotagging? If not... it's night, I'm not going to make anything about it.

[Outer Sparta]

I had a draft with its premise being on sports betting left abandoned for a while, but I was thinking if having an issue to legalize sports betting would work and then having a follow up where it deals with the consequences of legalization? I was either thinking about that or concentrating on a specific event (such as a referee rigging games by placing bets on his favorite team or something).

[Socialismia]

Oh wow, the draft thread for "Sextual Healing" (wtf is that name) was from 2021 and the issue seems to be accepted only around recently.

[Kakastania]

Are there any issues in existence that cover whether a nation should have statutes of limitations for crimes?

[Pogaria]

Are there any issues in existence that cover whether a nation should have statutes of limitations for crimes?

#1143 "Running From Time"

[Australian rePublic]

Any issues about either of the following
1. Vapes
2. Industries paying off doctors to pretend that something isn't a health threat (like the sugar and tabacoo industries did?)

[All Wild Things]

Hello,

I'm loving this UK news story about an MP who sent compromising photos of themself to someone on Grindr. The photos were then used to extort other information from the MP, including contact numbers of other MPs who were then "spear-phished".

I think this has potential to be an issue - it has links to topics of fidelity, nudity, possible foreign government interference, etc

Has this topic been covered before?

Thanks!

[Banobia]

Do I get notified if an issue I submitted gets published?

[The Marsupial Illuminati]

Hello,

I'm loving this UK news story about an MP who sent compromising photos of themself to someone on Grindr. The photos were then used to extort other information from the MP, including contact numbers of other MPs who were then "spear-phished".

I think this has potential to be an issue - it has links to topics of fidelity, nudity, possible foreign government interference, etc

Has this topic been covered before?

Thanks!

Feel free to write a draft.

Do I get notified if an issue I submitted gets published?

Yes, you get a telegram, and you are also assigned the issue.

[The Vooperian Union]

Hello,

I'm loving this UK news story about an MP who sent compromising photos of themself to someone on Grindr. The photos were then used to extort other information from the MP, including contact numbers of other MPs who were then "spear-phished".

I think this has potential to be an issue - it has links to topics of fidelity, nudity, possible foreign government interference, etc

Has this topic been covered before?

Thanks!

Feel free to write a draft.

Do I get notified if an issue I submitted gets published?

Yes, you get a telegram, and you are also assigned the issue.

Even if you wouldn't normally qualify?