General Assembly Q&A

[Frisbeeteria]

A flaw in the new code that is being written for the General Assembly.

...so very nice of everyone involved to keep the rest of us in the loop of there being changes afoot that can obviously affect the functioning of this part of the game...

The GA Council wasn't even involved, apart from reporting problems as they occured. It was a coding problem, not a procedures problem. Did you want [violet] to stop fixing the code problem long enough to write you a nice note, or would you prefer she fix the problem?

Knock off the petty crap, wouldja?

[Wallenburg]

...so very nice of everyone involved to keep the rest of us in the loop of there being changes afoot that can obviously affect the functioning of this part of the game...

Right. In the future, we'll keep you apprised of all the changes we make before we're done working them all out. Its best for us to share things with the public before they're ready. Or procedure is hammered out.

Site staff could at least bother to let us know that changes are being made at all to the code, instead of leaving us to find out this way.

[Frisbeeteria]

Site staff could at least bother to let us know that changes are being made at all to the code

Fair enough. Here's your notification.

Changes are being made to the code pretty much every day. Sometimes they don't work as intended, and admins either fix the problems or back them out.

Repeat as needed.

[Wallenburg]

Site staff could at least bother to let us know that changes are being made at all to the code

Fair enough. Here's your notification.

Changes are being made to the code pretty much every day. Sometimes they don't work as intended, and admins either fix the problems or back them out.

Repeat as needed.

Whoever is testing code may want to consider using something other than the live game to experiment.

[Tzorsland]

Whoever is testing code may want to consider using something other than the live game to experiment.

As someone who has to has to be the development point man for production problems where I work, not all bugs can be detected in PPE because of the dynamic and complex nature of events on the production system. As far as I know there is no significant QA staff and at best the level of testing only reaches that of unit testing.

Did the game crash? Was this a SEV 1 problem? NO.

Now if you want first level support to write up a client notification on the SEV 3 bad resolution up for vote ... wait we don't have a first level support either.

[Wallenburg]

Whoever is testing code may want to consider using something other than the live game to experiment.

As someone who has to has to be the development point man for production problems where I work, not all bugs can be detected in PPE because of the dynamic and complex nature of events on the production system. As far as I know there is no significant QA staff and at best the level of testing only reaches that of unit testing.

Did the game crash? Was this a SEV 1 problem? NO.

Now if you want first level support to write up a client notification on the SEV 3 bad resolution up for vote ... wait we don't have a first level support either.

Believe me, I understand that not everything can be worked out before full implementation. However, a proposal being sent to vote instead of being removed from the proposal queue seems, at least from the outside, like something that would have shown up earlier.

Furthermore, the entire website doesn't have to burst into flames for an error to become concerning. I never even implied that the game as a whole or the data corresponding to different players was in jeopardy. I simply offered a common sense suggestion to avoid such events as these, as SP's wording seemed to suggest that NationStates's developers prematurely tested new code on the real game.

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Even with rigorous beta testing, "finished" final-version programs ship with bugs. And that's where the developers are getting paid to write the code! Here, the code passed every test that could be made on it without going live, but there was still a problem that was quickly corrected once it did go live.

Since the resolution in question was never going to come to vote or pass, I'm really not sure what all the fuss is about. It's not like we waited until Day Three of voting on a massively campaigned, polished resolution that had been in drafting for months on end. An illegal, sub-quorate proposal was mistakenly sent to the floor and then yanked as soon as it was discovered. If that's the worst thing that happens to us today, that makes it a pretty good day.

[Skymoot]

It's a ever present danger to be a newly admired player to NS, and recently for me being in the GA, to ask questions. But how else am I going to learn where the lines are drawn if I don't read the notices and poke the border with a stick every now and then? Asking in advance, please forgive my stench of "all-natural-noob" here.

That being said, I was curious about the value of voting in the GA. Some nations get to cast thousands of individual votes for or against something, while other nations only get a dozen votes (or even less, if the "World Endoursements" nation average is a good indicator of anything.).

So, what decides how many votes a nation receives when a proposal goes to voting for all GA members?

Thank you in advance for answering this!

[Sierra Lyricalia]

It's a ever present danger to be a newly admired player to NS, and recently for me being in the GA, to ask questions. But how else am I going to learn where the lines are drawn if I don't read the notices and poke the border with a stick every now and then? Asking in advance, please forgive my stench of "all-natural-noob" here.

That being said, I was curious about the value of voting in the GA. Some nations get to cast thousands of individual votes for or against something, while other nations only get a dozen votes (or even less, if the "World Endoursements" nation average is a good indicator of anything.).

So, what decides how many votes a nation receives when a proposal goes to voting for all GA members?

Thank you in advance for answering this!

Every individual nation gets its single vote; regional delegates gain an additional vote for every endorsement they have. Endorsements by WA nations determine who the regional delegate is; delegates of regions with lots of WA members have lots of votes. No non-delegate nation gets any extra votes, only the delegate. This has been the subject of a certain amount of heated discussion (Democracy! but, regional power! but, one nation one vote! but, WA engagement! but, etc. etc. etc), though it looks unlikely to change any time soon.

[Welskerland]

If I join the WA, do all passed resolutions apply once I am accepted, or am I only required to follow future legislation? How strictly is such enforced?

[Separatist Peoples]

If I join the WA, do all passed resolutions apply once I am accepted, or am I only required to follow future legislation? How strictly is such enforced?

Old laws apply, but only new statistical changes apply. You have to ICly obey all old laws.

[Welskerland]

If I join the WA, do all passed resolutions apply once I am accepted, or am I only required to follow future legislation? How strictly is such enforced?

Old laws apply, but only new statistical changes apply. You have to ICly obey all old laws.

Okay. Well, how do statistical changes work, is it like what happens when you answer issue on the gameside?

[Separatist Peoples]

Old laws apply, but only new statistical changes apply. You have to ICly obey all old laws.

Okay. Well, how do statistical changes work, is it like what happens when you answer issue on the gameside?

Yes! A passed resolution has a change just like an issue. That is a much easier explanation than I was going to use.

[Tinhampton]

"All Social Justice resolutions affect Economic Freedom negatively." To what extent can it be confidently said that this statement is true?
Conversation starter based on this.

[Bananaistan]

The statement is entirely correct. From the section of the category rules regarding Free Trade and Social Justice (emphasis mine):

These are almost exactly opposed types of resolutions. Both affect Economic freedoms. "Free Trade" increases Economic freedoms while "Social Justice" reduces Economic freedoms. "Social Justice" increases government spending on welfare and targets living standards. Economic freedoms primarily discuss how much regulation there is on business/industry or how much government spending goes to helping poor/sick people. Total Economic freedom is Laissez-faire Capitalism. Zero Economic freedom is a completely government-controlled economy. Creating a Food and Drug Administration in all WA member nations, or creating a Securities and Exchange Commission in all WA member nations is imposing a mild form of Economic control, and therefore a mild reduction of Economic freedoms; you're imposing restrictions on what businesses and industries may do and you're moving away from a completely-uncontrolled Laissez-faire system.

[Frisbeeteria]

"All Social Justice resolutions affect Economic Freedom negatively." To what extent can it be confidently said that this statement is true?

The statement is entirely correct.

The statement is only mostly correct. There are doubtless cases where Economic freedoms are so low that even a Strong SJ proposal can't take them any lower.

[Merni]

The GA Proposal Compendium thread needs to link to viewtopic.php?f=9&t=308264 for the committee list, since the author has stated that this is the latest version.

[Araraukar]

The GA Proposal Compendium thread needs to link to viewtopic.php?f=9&t=308264 for the committee list, since the author has stated that this is the latest version.

Best not to, I'd say, considering how that's a player-maintained non-sticky thread. Also, committees aren't that hard to find in the passed resolutions list, and if you draft on the forum, you're very likely to have the right committee pointed out to you if you try to make a new one.

[Merni]

The GA Proposal Compendium thread needs to link to viewtopic.php?f=9&t=308264 for the committee list, since the author has stated that this is the latest version.

Best not to, I'd say, considering how that's a player-maintained non-sticky thread. Also, committees aren't that hard to find in the passed resolutions list, and if you draft on the forum, you're very likely to have the right committee pointed out to you if you try to make a new one.

1. Stickied threads shouldn't be linked there, since they're already stickied. Ergo, either only non-stickied threads or no threads should be linked.
2. The old one is already linked there, so the mods must have had a reason for doing that. What I'm suggesting is just to update the link so that it has more (potentially) useful information.
3. We're all lazy, and searching for committees in the Passed Resolutions thread means you have to search for "Board", "Commission" and many other such terms as well, and you'd still miss some.
4. There aren't many moderator-maintained threads in this forum, and even fewer that aren't stickied.

[Frisbeeteria]

The GA Proposal Compendium thread needs to link to viewtopic.php?f=9&t=308264 for the committee list, since the author has stated that this is the latest version.

We're in the process of transitioning roles from moderator management to GenSec management. The lines between the two are still somewhat fluid.

The thread in question is maintained by a GenSec member, and the sticky is still mod-managed. If GenSec decides that the edit is necessary, we'd probably make that change for them.

[United Socialist Ecuador]

How can I spread notice about my submitted proposal?

[Araraukar]

How can I spread notice about my submitted proposal?

It has so many errors and is probably illegal (details in the drafting thread) that you should write a GHR to have it removed and continue editing it.

[Frisbeeteria]

you should write a GHR to have it removed and continue editing it.

I am delighted to announce that the preceding just became unnecessary advice:

Annnd I added a "Withdraw Proposal" button for proposal authors.

It is no longer necessary to ask the mods to withdraw a proposal, illegal or otherwise. The Author Nation can take it down themselves.

[Imperium Anglorum]

Annnd I added a "Withdraw Proposal" button for proposal authors.

It is no longer necessary to ask the mods to withdraw a proposal, illegal or otherwise. The Author Nation can take it down themselves.

To quote El Presidente in Tropico, Dis eez prahgrehess!

[Wallenburg]

you should write a GHR to have it removed and continue editing it.

I am delighted to announce that the preceding just became unnecessary advice:

Annnd I added a "Withdraw Proposal" button for proposal authors.

It is no longer necessary to ask the mods to withdraw a proposal, illegal or otherwise. The Author Nation can take it down themselves.

Wow. That's actually an amazing addition. I hadn't even thought of that.