NationStates Issues **SPOILER ALERT**

[Paffnia]

#1471: @@LEADER@@ and the Lost Chamber of Vetoes

The Issue

The hall that once hosted the legislature’s now-defunct upper house sits forlornly in the parliamentary building in Xirroni, collecting dust, attracting vermin, and sheltering angsty aides seeking to evade their boss’ supervision. Given the importance the chamber once held, competing interests have been trying to claim it for their own purposes.

The Debate

1. “A museum is the most logical choice,” notes your advisor Ellie Tarkin, standing before the door to the hall, while slurping a little too loudly on an iced coffee. “It could become a place where we’d celebrate and share our nation’s history of democracy. Early drafts of our constitution on display, a big statue of yourself of course, and you can have the former members give tours to the public!”

2. “A museum is for old farts who dwell in the bog of history, darling!” tuts passing parliamentarian Jude Chan. “It’s time we introduced some haute cuisine into this tasteless den of stale sandwiches and withered salads to woo foreign ambassadors! Imagine fountains spraying caviar, langoustines waiting to pop out of their shells into our salivating mouths, delectable truffles sprinkled on top of the finest dishes. Make this hall splendid again!”

3. “Uh, hey, uhm... c-could we think about the l-little folk for once?” stammers an overworked aide, emerging from a silent corner of the hall. “W-we really could use a moment to ourselves at times. S-some peace and quiet. M-maybe we could put a break room in here, with a little Zen garden? You know, f-for us to meditate and de-stress? That would be nice...”

4. “I’ll tell you what to do with this chamber!” rages former chair of the upper house Nyota Hunt, gesticulating wildly from the hallway where she is camped with a number of her former colleagues. “Re-open it! This joke has run its course. @@NAME@@ needs the calm and level-headed guidance of upper house members like myself! Give us back our jobs, or else there will be trouble.”

Issue by The Royal State of Daarwyrth

Edited by Verdant Haven

This needs more options. Probably got the numbering completely wrong.

These are options with internal numbers 0, 1, 3, and 4, so there's a missing one in the middle.

[Pogaria]

The double quotation mark after the word "podium" was present in the text received from the API.

Thank you. I fixed that.

[Eshialand]

Finally, my first time reporting! Got this on my puppet Oppression69.

#1473: A Pretty Pass [Frieden-und Freudenland; ed. Pogaria]

The Issue

The World Travel Foundation has just released their annual Passport Index, where nations are ranked according to how many countries their citizens can visit without a visa. Much to the dismay of your globetrotting compatriots, @@NAME@@ is placed near the bottom of this list, as many countries are wary of @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ tourists for security reasons.

The Debate

1. “I can’t believe I need a visa to visit a stupid whippersnapper country like East Calypso!” exclaims Finn Murdoch, a retired schoolteacher wearing a floral print shirt, angrily tossing his luggage on the floor. “This is all because of your regressive policies, @@LEADER@@. Maybe if we reached out to other nations instead of being so stubbornly insular, @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ wouldn’t be seen as potential spies, terrorists, or illegal immigrants. How about you send some conciliatory fruit baskets to foreign leaders and ask them to ease travel restrictions for us?”

2. “Nah, I can assure you those fruit baskets don’t work; I speak from experience,” says Kristy Taylor, the ambassador from Ausblic, another country your citizens cannot visit without a visa. “After all, you can’t trade apples for oranges... er, I mean apples for visa-free travel. You should offer us something more substantial. For example, maybe you could open your @@MAJORINDUSTRY@@ market to Ausblickese companies, and we could abolish all travel restrictions for your citizens, and lobby for other countries to follow suit.” She hefts a voluminous contract onto your desk. “If you agree, just sign here, here, and here.”

3. “Noooooo!” yells Rand Chandra, a very patriotic secretary of yours, tumbling into the room and grabbing the pen from your hand. “An eye for an eye! As per the principle of reciprocity, we should grant visa-free travel only to people from countries that do the same for us. Sure, this might have a slightly negative effect on our tourism industry, but our reputation is much more important. Don’t let us be seen as weaklings, @@LEADER@@. Show them our power!”

Names in red are suspected confirmed to be random. And yes, that is a @@DEMONYMADJECTIVEPLURAL@@ in Option 1 and not a @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@. Why? I dunno. This has since been fixed.

[USS Monitor]

And yes, that is a @@DEMONYMADJECTIVEPLURAL@@ in Option 1 and not a @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@. Why? I dunno.

Thanks for pointing that out.

[Trotterdam]

Having gotten #1472 on another nation, I was able to confirm the macros, which I edited into my last post.

EDIT: I can also confirm that all names in #1471 are random... at least, for the options we know of. Still haven't found option 3, although I suspect it requires Vegetarianism.

[Eshialand]

And yes, that is a @@DEMONYMADJECTIVEPLURAL@@ in Option 1 and not a @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@. Why? I dunno.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I left this issue in my inbox just in case, and it has been changed to a @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@. I am editing my report accordingly.

[Trotterdam]

Names in #1473 now confirmed random, too. Furthermore, "arms manufacturing" in Eshialand's report should be "@@MAJORINDUSTRY@@", which has recently stopped being capitalized, presumably in response to this thread. (They're still capitalized on the nation page.)

[Eshialand]

Names in #1473 now confirmed random, too. Furthermore, "arms manufacturing" in Eshialand's report should be "@@MAJORINDUSTRY@@", which has recently stopped being capitalized, presumably in response to this thread. (They're still capitalized on the nation page.)

How did I not even think of @@MAJORINDUSTRY@@ when I got "arms manufacturing" in a communist jingoistic dictatorship? I'll edit my report to fix it.

[The Python]

#1469 News Flash!

The Issue

While reporting an incident where no less than seven cats got stuck in the same tree at once, broadcasts on major news networks featured blaring noises and rapidly flashing colors, causing many discomfort, migraines, and in a few cases, full-blown epileptic seizures.

The Debate

1. "The last thing I expect in the morning is to be attacked by my television, and there's no doubt that this stinking migraine I have is from that news report," sighs beleaguered mum Nyota Pelosi, whose five-year-old has loudly sung sixty-seven consecutive repetitions of the Baby Shark song since coming into your office. "The jabbering nonsense news anchors regurgitate is painful enough. News and other TV shows must be barred from broadcasting these sorts of noises and graphics."

2. "What if we made shows put epilepsy warnings before each instance and program?" suggests children's show editor Miley Warner, showing you a happy face with a warning in colorful, flashy letters. "Then people will know when to switch channels, and networks will favor writers who are more conscientious. It's a nice compromise that can be applied to all media. Hey, I know a song about compromise we can all sing! Just to warn you, there's some moderately loud clapping in the middle."

3. "Why should my show be compromised?" refutes popular TV show host Théoden Dahl, entering your office with blinding rainbow strobe lights. "Which would you rather watch? A boring old guy in a suit, or a cinematic extravaganza featuring epic explosions and fast-paced drama? If some people are too sensitive to watch the news, then they can always listen to it on radio or something. You know, you should give your official political broadcasts more pizzaz too. I'll give you the number of the SFX guys I use. I guarantee people will sit up and take notice!"

Issue by Jutsa
Edited by Candlewhisper Archive

"Warner", at least, seems unlikely to be a random name.

Got this issue on my main nation, I got "Bajrakitiyabha vandeBerg" instead of "Nyota Pelosi" (lol), "Homer Collins" instead of "Miley Warner" and "May Keating" instead of "Théoden Dahl". So, yeah.

[Rocain Founder]

The spoiler for issue #1309 shows options 3 and 4 as alternatives to each other: 3 for meat-eating nations, and 4 for vegetarian nations. This is incorrect. Puppet Cain A R-E El v1 received this issue with both 3 and 4 as possible choices. Further, while it makes a lot of sense that option 3 is conditional on the absence of vegetarianism, nothing in the text of option 4 seems to have anything to do with meat-eating or the lack thereof. Further, the nation which received option 4 along with option 3 is not vegetarian.

I suggest that option 3 is clearly conditional on meat-eating, but that option 4 is either unconditional, or conditional on some other policy or national attribute not related to meat-eating.

[Eshialand]

Found this on my puppet New Moriona.

#1476: Known Unknowns [Northern Socialist Council Republics; ed. The Marsupial Illuminati]

The Issue

In the aftermath of a series of high-profile, violent crimes, @@NAME@@ is reeling at the revelation that the identities and plans of the perpetrators had already been discovered well in advance of their crimes. However, the clever analysts who made this discovery work for the Security Intelligence Service of Brancaland, a nation historically allied to yours, who seem quite open on the fact that they’re spying on your citizens.

The Debate

1. “All we want is a little quid pro quo,” insists Olivia Lannister, a visiting agent from the Brancalandian Security Intelligence Service, flipping through papers on your desk. “The laws of our nations prevent us from spying on our own citizens, but they don’t say anything about spying on each other’s citizens. If @@NAME@@ shares what it knows about terrorists in Brancaland, we’ll be happy to return the favour if our investigations discover another big crime ring in your country.”

2. “This goes against the spirit of our laws,” sputters your Minister for Transparency, trying to cover the agent’s eyes. “The purpose of privacy laws is to keep the government from knowing about the private lives of citizens in any way. Don’t try to get around them through foreign loopholes. This silly objective of pre-preventing crimes is not worth it. Do we want to live in a world where the government buys blackmail information about us from foreigners?”

3. “Information wants to be free!” groans the lone bureaucrat of your emaciated Ministry for State Security, emerging from the filing cabinet which is also her office. “Criminals and crime are everywhere in our country, but you wouldn’t know that because we’re not allowed to investigate them. Aren’t you afraid, @@LEADER@@? We fear what we do not know, and that is why we must be allowed to know everything! For our safety, instead of buying information from those smug Brancalanders, repeal these dangerous privacy laws that keep us from getting it ourselves.”

Olivia Lannister is suspected to be a random name.

[The Marsupial Illuminati]

#1476: Known Unknowns [Northern Socialist Council Republics; ed. Pogaria]

This seems to have been incorrectly reported. The editor of the issue is The Marsupial Illuminati.

[Eshialand]

#1476: Known Unknowns [Northern Socialist Council Republics; ed. Pogaria]

This seems to have been incorrectly reported. The editor of the issue is The Marsupial Illuminati.

Thanks for the catch. I guess I just instinctively typed Pogaria because they edited the last 20 or so... oops.

[Valentine Z]

I am in the middle of editing locally on my PC, so expect these changes soonish!

On a side note, quick question especially for the Issue Editors here: Do we use smart quotes or dumb quotes? I have been habitually changing them to dumb quotes because of the days of old, but if the new issue reports are in smart quotes, then I have some tedious work to do. >,<

[Valentine Z]

Valentine’s Changelog 036

---

New idea for next issue contest: Those whose issues didn't make it, will have to write the subsequent drafts for that entry on a PDA from the early 2000s.

- Added 8 issues.
- Added a few TBD or identical options to respective old issues. I have skipped one or two of it because of too much uncertainty involved.
- Future plan: Convert Smart Quotes to Dumb Quotes, or vice versa, depending on which.
- Added the template of my changelog format to the Intro post.
- Notes for #1313 from unidentified contributor: Names are random, but the family shares the last name, as usual. So far I only saw daugthers/sisters as speakers in option 1/2, so I assume it's all female there. Number 3 was male for me, but no need to fix that I'd say. Mar 18: I saw this one again, this time with a male "keeper" and a female arbiter. Genders appear only fixed for the first speaker (another daughter).

Changes made to the threads can be seen here.

[The Free Joy State]

On a side note, quick question especially for the Issue Editors here: Do we use smart quotes or dumb quotes? I have been habitually changing them to dumb quotes because of the days of old, but if the new issue reports are in smart quotes, then I have some tedious work to do. >,<

We use dumb-quotes.

If anyone spots a live issue that has smart-quotes, please raise it in the usual thread.

[Sedgistan]

Smart quotes are the bane of editing. Thankfully, Pogaria has the vision of a hawk, and can spot their curly little tails dancing across the page from an altitude of 10,000 feet.

[Valentine Z]

Ahh, that's good to hear. Converting all of them from smart to dumb is easy. ^^

It's always the other way round that is more troublesome, because you need to know the open and end bits. I'll get to this in the next changelog, thanks!

[SherpDaWerp]

On a side note, quick question especially for the Issue Editors here: Do we use smart quotes or dumb quotes? I have been habitually changing them to dumb quotes because of the days of old, but if the new issue reports are in smart quotes, then I have some tedious work to do. >,<

We use dumb-quotes.

If anyone spots a live issue that has smart-quotes, please raise it in the usual thread.

Just for clarification, which characters do you mean by this? Because when an issue gets displayed to me, as an average issue-answerer, the quotes in the issue are always curved-quotes (like this: “”) and these are what is always called smart-quotes around here. Presumably this is part of the page display process, and not because your backstage copy is written with curved-quotes. If you want a specific issue to check against the backstage copy, #572 is currently in my inbox displaying curved quotes.

(I also suspect this is the cause of lots of spoiler thread issues being reported with smart quotes, as the reporter just copy-pastes them straight out.)

[USS Monitor]

We use dumb-quotes.

If anyone spots a live issue that has smart-quotes, please raise it in the usual thread.

Just for clarification, which characters do you mean by this? Because when an issue gets displayed to me, as an average issue-answerer, the quotes in the issue are always curved-quotes (like this: “”) and these are what is always called smart-quotes around here. Presumably this is part of the page display process, and not because your backstage copy is written with curved-quotes. If you want a specific issue to check against the backstage copy, #572 is currently in my inbox displaying curved quotes.

(I also suspect this is the cause of lots of spoiler thread issues being reported with smart quotes, as the reporter just copy-pastes them straight out.)

That does appear to be part of the display process.

[SherpDaWerp]

Just for clarification, which characters do you mean by this? Because when an issue gets displayed to me, as an average issue-answerer, the quotes in the issue are always curved-quotes (like this: “”) and these are what is always called smart-quotes around here. Presumably this is part of the page display process, and not because your backstage copy is written with curved-quotes. If you want a specific issue to check against the backstage copy, #572 is currently in my inbox displaying curved quotes.

(I also suspect this is the cause of lots of spoiler thread issues being reported with smart quotes, as the reporter just copy-pastes them straight out.)

That does appear to be part of the display process.

Right, so we probably won't be able to be of any help spotting any curved-quotes that might pass through.

Val, if you're still undecided about which style the spoiler thread should use, I'd like to say that straight quotes (and straight apostrophes) are much nicer for me to deal with when I update the GI rankings. Don't stress about changing it just for my convenience, though.

[Valentine Z]

Thanks for all the answers, I appreciate that. ♥️

Next changelog I'll change all of them from smart to dumb quotes, which is actually easy because all I need to do is to find and replace them. Sublime can do it across multiple files, I'll just need to paste them across multiple posts. ^^;

EDIT: I also received Issue 1477 today, to which I answered without keeping it. Whoops. It has something to do with deaf people, and... that's as far as I could remember. :/

[Terrabod]

EDIT: I also received Issue 1477 today, to which I answered without keeping it. Whoops. It has something to do with deaf people, and... that's as far as I could remember. :/

So did I... given that it's my (first) issue! I didn't think to copy it for here, but I will in future - sorry! If it helps with identification, the draft is here, though the name has changed since I submitted it (some pun on listening or hearing, I think). The text itself hasn't changed a great deal.

[Valentine Z]

EDIT: I also received Issue 1477 today, to which I answered without keeping it. Whoops. It has something to do with deaf people, and... that's as far as I could remember. :/

So did I... given that it's my (first) issue! I didn't think to copy it for here, but I will in future - sorry! If it helps with identification, the draft is here, though the name has changed since I submitted it (some pun on listening or hearing, I think). The text itself hasn't changed a great deal.

Nice, thanks! I will keep an eye out on my other nations. Of note is that on this nation, I chose Option 2 and the effect line must have went through the editing room and changed.

Following new legislation in Valentine Z, increasing inclusiveness is a sign of the times.

Congratulations on your very first issue! ♥

[Terrabod]

Nice, thanks! I will keep an eye out on my other nations. Of note is that on this nation, I chose Option 2 and the effect line must have went through the editing room and changed.

Following new legislation in Valentine Z, increasing inclusiveness is a sign of the times.

Congratulations on your very first issue! ♥

This confused me before I realised Option 2 in the draft was Option 1 in the published version, and vice versa - and good choice (because I chose that one too).

Thanks very much!