What makes a country worthy of commendation?

[Volydian]

I was curious, although I'm a delegate and approve countless condemnations and commendations alike, I still don't really understand how a country knows if they are worthy of a commendation.
For example, my nation, Volydian. Would it be worthy of a commendation? Very high pacifism, safety, niceness, compassion, high compliance and low crime rate, etc. But then I also have very high tax rates, and would that be enough to take away from everything else?
Basically, It's a two-pronged question, what makes a country commendable, and as an example, would mine be commendable?
Thanks in advance,
-Volydian

[Crazy girl]

Have a read through the commend resolutions, it lists the reasons why those nations are commended.

[Noahs Second Country]

I was curious, although I'm a delegate and approve countless condemnations and commendations alike, I still don't really understand how a country knows if they are worthy of a commendation.
For example, my nation, Volydian. Would it be worthy of a commendation? Very high pacifism, safety, niceness, compassion, high compliance and low crime rate, etc. But then I also have very high tax rates, and would that be enough to take away from everything else?
Basically, It's a two-pronged question, what makes a country commendable, and as an example, would mine be commendable?
Thanks in advance,
-Volydian

You would not be commendable. Currently, only two nations have been commended for their nation's statistics, and they have been playing the game for well over a decade at this point. The vast majority of commendations and condemnations come from other areas of the site and as a result of a major impact on the communities they participate in. For example, people have been commended after writing dozens of WA proposals or issues, years of high-quality RP, and building highly successful regions over a long period of time. The official "bar" for a shiny badge is determined by the voters of the WA and is often influenced by the quality of writing of the proposal seeking to commend them or their general popularity among the NationStates community. When you receive campaign proposals, I encourage you to consider the points an author lays out, ask yourself "is this impressive?" and approve on that basis.

[Outer Sparta]

Basically a nation that is worthy of a commend/condemn has done a lot of significant things in NS, for better or for worse. For example, raiding regions like TBH are condemned because of their notorious raiding activity, but they have mastered the raiding aspect of the game to deserve a condemnation.

[Jedinsto]

What it is intended for is regions/nations who have done exceptional things such as defending, raiding, or anything really. However, there have been plenty of SC resolutions to pass that are of a much lower standard.