NationStates issue results

[Trotterdam]

Thanks! Edits to old issues can often be some of the most annoying things to track down. That's one-third of the entire issue corpus ago!

Could just be something the editors noticed and decided to do something about without any players prompting them.

[TalAkMaChen]

Speaking of uncaught changes:
1415 has four options - options 3 and 4 have the same effect line.

[TalAkMaChen]

On war_dogs_cxxix I recently answered issue 1504 with option 2 and got the effect line that is listed as option 1, i.e.
job security isn't great for professional roulette players

while on war_dogs_cdxxxv I got for option 1 the effect line "card players are calling the government's bluff on anti-gambling legislation".

There was nothing weird with the issue so I didn't track the option text (again).
I didn't find the report of the effect lines associated to individual options, so likely you mixed them up? Both remove the ban on gambling, so it's harder to track by the effect.

Similar, on war_dogs_ccci it was issue 1408 with option 3 got the listed effect line of option 2, i.e.
surprising numbers of poor people are protesting against taxing the rich

[Trotterdam]

On war_dogs_cxxix I recently answered issue 1504 with option 2 and got the effect line that is listed as option 1, i.e.
job security isn't great for professional roulette players

while on war_dogs_cdxxxv I got for option 1 the effect line "card players are calling the government's bluff on anti-gambling legislation".

Huh. That... makes no sense.

Option 1 is the one that talks about professional players, but still continues to ban most forms of gambling. Option 2 is the one where you reverse the gambling ban entirely.

But I guess the editors paid more attention to the distintion of card games vs roulette than to professional vs casual gambling?

Anyway, doesn't matter. The editors have rarely cared about what I think make sense and my site aims to record things as they are, not as they should be. Fixed.

Similar, on war_dogs_ccci it was issue 1408 with option 3 got the listed effect line of option 2, i.e.
surprising numbers of poor people are protesting against taxing the rich

And here I see even less explanation for how that could make sense, given the texts of the options. Option 2 is letting unlimited paid protesting, which would indeed lead to poor people protesting what rich people want them to. Option 3 limits paid protestors enough that there couldn't possibly be "surprising numbers" of them, unless you find low numbers surprising, whereas the effect line about "few people" would make perfect sense there (and if it's wrong, then which option does have few people?).

While you're experienced enough that I really would expect you to have proper attention for detail without my prompting, I still have to ask you if you're certain that you picked the option you thought you did and didn't get confused by hidden options.

[TalAkMaChen]

Agreed, often the association of effects to the option text feels off. I'll go check where the drafts are, usually they give a good hint at what the authors intended - sure enough the mods can still change it in their processes.

The way I do it is, to get the choice-ID from the one I select and add 1 so they start with 1, not 0. Then I can compare my effect line with the leading number to your issues.html list and that is how I found these mismatches. The effect lines are found, but not with the same number.

While CWA's draft of issue 1504 shows the order of effect lines 1+2 as I found them, the same cannot be said about the draft of Fauxia's version of issue 1408. The options look similar enough to the final version that made it into the game, the effect lines are totally different from the draft. I shall monitor this one further to get more clarity on what is going on here.

[Trotterdam]

Agreed, often the association of effects to the option text feels off. I'll go check where the drafts are, usually they give a good hint at what the authors intended - sure enough the mods can still change it in their processes.

While it's common for the editors to completely change an effect line from the one suggested in the draft, I don't recall any case where the editors kept an effect line that is practically identical in wording to one that was submitted, but moved it to a different option. So if the lines are similar enough to the ones in the draft, then it should be a reliable source of information.

[TalAkMaChen]

At war_dogs_xcii I got with issue 460 option 4 the following line:
the nation's solution to the ongoing famine is to silence anyone who mentions the famine

The listed version seems to be option 3, i.e. "..to lock up anyone... " for nations with prisons. In war_dogs_xcii there are no prisons (currently).

[TalAkMaChen]

I managed to track all four options of 1408 once more. The result was:

1408:1 out-of-work actors say they can't complain
1408:2 a few people seem to spend their whole time complaining
1408:3 surprising numbers of poor people are protesting against taxing the rich
1408:4 chanting protestors ask "WHAT DO WE WANT?" and reply "MORE OF THE SAME"

I would find it very odd to mix up the numbers only there but at no other issue where I do that comparison against your issues.html list. I agree that the effect lines would make some more sense when exchanged, so better suggest that to the editors to have a look?

[Trotterdam]

You'll have to do it, as the editors have an irrational policy of ignoring reports that don't mention which nation they were sighted on, regardless of how well-sourced the information is otherwise.

[TalAkMaChen]

Okay, I will check which nations saw that set of results last.

Speaking of new/changed things, on war_dogs_ccxcvi with issue 358 option 3
I got a completely different/new effect line:
children play Capture the Flag and Capture the Bigtopian General Staff at summer camps

[TalAkMaChen]

1610.1 every diamond ring sold is accompanied by a twenty-five page analysis and a waiver
1610.2 pieces of iron pyrite are believed to be worth their weight in gold
1610.3 the government has put a kid glove on the invisible hand of the free market
1610.4 claims adjusters are uselessly vague

1611.1 parents giddily refuse to pay their toddlers' medical bills
1611.2 citizens are bankrupted by injuries to cousins they've never met
1611.3 the possibility of gain causes universal pain

[Trotterdam]

Wait, there are new issues?

...And that's how I learned my program stalled again.

On the plus side, I finally implemented a visual cue that will make it easier to notice when this happens.

[TalAkMaChen]

I sure hope it's working again!

If not, trigger an update, we got another new issue

1612.1 the question "please would you...?" is usually laden with passive aggression
1612.2 diplomacy is a foreign concept to @@DEMONYM_PLURAL@@
1612.3 vehicular manslaughter is apparently a victimless crime

[TalAkMaChen]

1613.1 the easiest method of escaping from prison is to take singing lessons
1613.2 a popular saying is "don't do the crime if you can't smash the lime(stone)"
1613.3 murder comes with a cash prize if the victim was previously incarcerated

---

Wed Jan 17, 2024 6:49 am

Another one.

1614.1 foreigners write "made in @@NAME@@" on shoddy merchandise in hope of receiving a buy-out
1614.2 @@DEMONYM_ADJECTIVE@@ diplomacy is by the book
1614.3 and 4 visiting the best @@DEMONYM_ADJECTIVE@@ restaurants requires keeping a visa on file
1614:5 restaurants have added Molotov cocktails to the menu

[TalAkMaChen]

I merged the two previous posts into one, now continuing with 1615.

1615.1 the immigration office has an express line for people bringing cash in briefcases
1615.2 a passport is literally priceless
1615.3 forgetting to pay your annual passport bill is a leading cause of deportations
1615.4 the passport doubles as a birth certificate

[TalAkMaChen]

Issue 1616:
1616,1 talking during class is a gateway to lifelong drug addiction
1616,2 physics lessons mostly involve talking about emotional management techniques
1616,3 talkative students are escorted from schools in second-hand prison buses
1616,4 ADHD now stands for Attention Distracted by Hardware Devices
1616,5 playground injuries are considered academic progress

[TalAkMaChen]

1617,1 local officials love to claim the protection of their Big Brother
1617,2 the government is washing its hands of alleged corruption
1617,3 the central government is trying to keep things flowing

and after Verdant's edit I could finally find #910, 3:
the most ambitious parents buy a dozen lottery scratch-cards each week for their kids

[TalAkMaChen]

1618.1 @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ suffer not the eggplant emoji to live
1618.2 as reported by Thorn1000
1618.3 @@LEADER@@ is quite hard to get a hold of

[Thorn1000]

1618.1 @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ suffer not the eggplant emoji to live

1618.2 @@LEADER@@'s reputation is hard as nails.

[FourCats]

To make sure I'm understanding right, issue #1507 Busting to Go option 4 results in continuing to get the same issue? I got it, then got a different one, then got it again the next two times after choosing option 4 every time. If I don't choose a different option, will I just get the same issue again and again and again? Sorry if this is the wrong place.

[Trotterdam]

To make sure I'm understanding right, issue #1507 Busting to Go option 4 results in continuing to get the same issue?

Yes. But note that this means you'll get the same issue again as your next issue after you answer that option. Since it's possible (and quite likely, unless you never sleep for longer than six hours) to keep issues in your inbox for a while without answering them, it's possible to get other issues in the meantime.

[TalAkMaChen]

1619.1 stranded mountaineers can watch livestreamed footage of their rescues
1619.2 mountain rescuers refer to their new gear as the 'watchamacallits' and 'thingymabobs'
1619.3 mountain rescue missions can end with more people lost than found
1619.4 molehills are the only mountains deemed safe enough for the public

[TalAkMaChen]

1620.1 escaped birthday balloons are torpedoed out of the sky
1620.2 the nation's counterintelligence budget is all up in the air
1620.3 spies caught red-handed are served cocktails on their first-class flights home

[Trotterdam]

I've been doing a vanity search, and discovered that, apparently based on how my site typically updates according to GMT, some roleplayers in the Teremara region have taken to using MWQ as the in-universe name for the international standard that time zones get defined relative to (well, I suppose it makes sense since Greenwich doesn't necessarily exist in the NationStates universe...). According to them, it stands for "Middle Waters / Qrono", and they have lore about Qrono being a tiny island inhabited by an order of monks dedicated entirely to clockkeeping (although, from what I can tell, nothing to do specifically with issue results).

Not really important at all, but it amused me Have a look.

[TalAkMaChen]

Fascinating, the level of depth some players develop for their regions and nations.

But, then again, human imagination knows few limits. Time, for one, always is a limiting factor to my dwellings and ramblings. I'm just to busy with all else, even in NationStates.