[SUBMITTED - 6/14/2020] This Spells Trouble

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Title subject to change, funny suggestions welcome.

Also, many thanks to Australian rePublic for inspiring this issue by writing about the game "cannon."

Draft 2

[description]@@RANDOMNAME1@@, one of your aides, started a diplomatic crisis between @@NAME@@ and Marche Noir when @@HE1@@ wrote in an official press release that you would like to complement Otto Kratt's leadership of Marche Noir. While @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ diplomats are trying to convince their Marche Noirian counterparts that this was not a subtle hint at a plan to meddle in their domestic affairs, a group of your advisors have gathered in your room to discuss how the dangers of poor spelling can be averted in the future.

[validity]all

1. [option]"Frankly, this is the fifth international humiliation this @@MAN1@@ caused with @@HIS1@@ freaking spelling errors!" snorts @@RANDOMNAME2@@, your secretary, taking off @@HIS2@@ glasses and rubbing @@HIS2@@ eyes. "Remember @@HIM1@@ telling the whole world that @@NAME@@ and Skandilund were grate allies? That you had no thyme to discuss spice trade with Maxtopia? That you went to a hare salon to get your hare cut? That you had unforgettable memories of a lovely knight you had in East Calypso when you went there for vacation? And now this! People who cannot even be bothered to consult a dictionary should not be appointed to critical government positions. We should administer a stringent spelling test to all @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ bureaucrats before they are allowed to write anything of significance."

[effect]most @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ ambassadors are former spelling bee champions

2. [option]"Let us not blame @@HIM1@@ so fast. Spelling errors that do not result in syntactic abnormalities are often missed even by many spellcheckers," interjects @@RANDOMNAME3@@, an eccentric computer programmer, showing you @@HIS@@ laptop. "But this need not be the case with Spellbound 2.0. It is an advanced spellchecking technology created by your humble servant, which predicts the next word in the discourse based on cloze probability with an accuracy rate of 96.7% and marks unlikely words as potential errors. If you just subsidized my work and required all government employees to type their written statements on computers where Spellbound 2.0. is installed, 'rabbit murders in the hare salon' would be a thing of the past."

[effect]officials communicate exclusively in run-on sentences

[option validity]nation has computers

2. [option]"Let us not blame @@HIM1@@ so fast. Spelling errors that do not result in syntactic abnormalities are often missed even by many spellcheckers," interjects @@RANDOMNAME3@@, an eccentric computer programmer from Brancaland, showing you @@HIS@@ laptop. "But this need not be the case with Spellbound 2.0. It is an advanced spellchecking technology created by your humble servant, which predicts the next word in the discourse based on cloze probability with an accuracy rate of 96.7% and marks unlikely words as potential errors. If you just subsidized my work and required all government employees to type their written statements on computers where Spellbound 2.0. is installed, 'rabbit murders in the hare salon' would be a thing of the past."

[effect]officials communicate exclusively in run-on sentences

[option validity]nation has no computers

[policy change]No Computers policy is cancelled

3.[option]These suggestions do not get at the heart of the problem," interjects @@RANDOMNAME@@, a dyslexia researcher from Maxford University, waving a highlighter at you. "Dyslexia is a way more common condition than people think, and I suspect there is a good chance @@RANDOMNAME1@@ is suffering from it. If you gave us some funding, we could screen our entire population for dyslexia and save ourselves from much trouble with timely intervention."

[effect]all official documents are printed in large font sizes and important words are highlighted

4. [option]"To be fair, our spelling system isn't the most transparent," grumbles @@RANDOMNAME4@@, a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics from Cambarry University, pursing @@HIS4@@ lips. "These are homophonous words, so no wonder their discrepant spelling creates problems. If we instead replaced our writing system with the International Phonetic Alphabet, however, every word would be spelled according to how it sounded, and these issues would not arise. For example, both complement and compliment would be spelled as /ˈkɑːm.plə.mənt/. See? Problem solved."

[effect]diplomats abroad don’t bother encrypting sensitive messages

[description]@@RANDOMNAME1@@, one of your aides, started a diplomatic crisis between @@NAME@@ and Marche Noir when @@HE1@@ wrote in an official press release that you would like to complement Otto Kratt's leadership of Marche Noir. While @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ diplomats are trying to convince their Marche Noirian counterparts that this was not a subtle hint at a plan to meddle in their domestic affairs, a group of your advisors have gathered in your room to discuss how the dangers of poor spelling can be averted in the future.

[validity]all

1. [option]"Frankly, this is the fifth international humiliation this @@MAN1@@ caused with @@HIS1@@ freaking spelling errors!" snorts @@RANDOMNAME2@@, your secretary, taking off @@HIS2@@ glasses and rubbing @@HIS2@@ eyes. "Remember @@HIM1@@ telling the whole world that @@NAME@@ and Skandilund were grate allies? That you had no thyme to discuss spice trade with Maxtopia? That you went to a hare salon to get your hare cut? That you had unforgettable memories of a lovely knight you had in East Calypso when you went there for vacation? And now this! People who cannot even be bothered to consult a dictionary should not be appointed to critical government positions. We should administer a stringent spelling test to all @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ bureaucrats before they are allowed to write anything of significance."

[effect]most @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ ambassadors are former spelling bee champions

2. [option]"Let us not blame @@HIM1@@ so fast. Spelling errors that do not result in syntactic abnormalities are often missed even by many spellcheckers," interjects @@RANDOMNAME3@@, an eccentric computer programmer, putting a flash disc on your desk. "But this need not be the case with Spellbound 2.0. It is an advanced spellchecking technology created by your humble servant, which predicts the next word in the discourse based on cloze probability with an accuracy rate of 96.7% and marks unlikely words as potential errors. If you just subsidized my work and required all government employees to type their written statements on computers where Spellbound 2.0. is installed, 'rabbit murders in the hare salon' would be a thing of the past."

[effect]officials communicate exclusively in run-on sentences
[effect]@@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ diplomats cannot write anything nice about Blackacre without getting flagged for a spelling error

[policy change]if nation has banned computers, choosing this option brings them back

3.[option]These suggestions do not get at the heart of the problem," interjects @@RANDOMNAME@@, a dyslexia researcher from Maxford University, waving a highlighter at you. "Dyslexia is a way more common condition than people think, and I suspect there is a good chance @@RANDOMNAME1@@ is suffering from it. If you gave us some funding, we could screen our entire population for dyslexia and save ourselves from much trouble with timely intervention."

[effect]all official documents are printed in large font sizes and important words are highlighted

4. [option]"To be fair, our spelling system isn't the most transparent," grumbles @@RANDOMNAME4@@, a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics from Cambarry University, pursing @@HIS4@@ lips. "These are homophonous words, so no wonder their discrepant spelling creates problems. If we instead replaced our writing system with the International Phonetic Alphabet, however, every word would be spelled according to how it sounded, and these issues would not arise. For example, both complement and compliment would be spelled as /ˈkɑːm.plə.mənt/. See? Problem solved."

[effect]diplomats abroad don’t bother encrypting sensitive messages
[effect]there has never been more wiggle room for puns and insults

[Cretox State]

Some effect line ideas:

• Option 1: the nation’s diplomatic insults are praised for flawless writing
• Option 2: @@LEADER@@‘s rambling speeches keep opponents on their toes
• Option 2: officials communicate exclusively in run-on sentences
• Option 2: “Praise @@LEADER@@“ is considered grammatically incorrect
• Option 3: nobody understands the nation’s veiled threats
• Option 3: diplomats abroad don’t bother encrypting sensitive messages

[Australian rePublic]

Option 4- Teach him/her how to spell better

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Some effect line ideas:

• Option 1: the nation’s diplomatic insults are praised for flawless writing
• Option 2: @@LEADER@@‘s rambling speeches keep opponents on their toes
• Option 2: officials communicate exclusively in run-on sentences
• Option 2: “Praise @@LEADER@@“ is considered grammatically incorrect
• Option 3: nobody understands the nation’s veiled threats
• Option 3: diplomats abroad don’t bother encrypting sensitive messages

Thanks, I used 2 of those, but I think the original effect line for Option 1 is better.

Option 4- Teach him/her how to spell better

I didn't quite implement this but did something similar - offering more funding for dyslexia research.

[Jutsa]

I love the issue description and option 1. So many quality puns here.
Also appreciate how option 4 basically fixes spelling mistakes by making more ambiguity.

Only tiny touch I'd change is that option 2 be restricted from nations without computers.
I mean, I'm all four a policy reversal for that one, but I'd find it somewhat hard to believe there'd be a computer programmer
who's making a spellcheck, for computers, in a nation without computers.

That said, a variant option somehow addressing this would be kinda nifty.

That's all I've got. GL, FuF; nice to see you drafting again.

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

I love the issue description and option 1. So many quality puns here.
Also appreciate how option 4 basically fixes spelling mistakes by making more ambiguity.

Only tiny touch I'd change is that option 2 be restricted from nations without computers.
I mean, I'm all four a policy reversal for that one, but I'd find it somewhat hard to believe there'd be a computer programmer
who's making a spellcheck, for computers, in a nation without computers.

That said, a variant option somehow addressing this would be kinda nifty.

That's all I've got. GL, FuF; nice to see you drafting again.

Very good point on Option 2. I was also a little queasy about that one, but I thought it wouldn't be too disturbing to the reader. Sounds like I was wrong!

Anyways, I created doppelganger options for that one, and the only difference in the option for nations without computers is that the computer programmer is from Brancaland.

Still, I hope this takes care of the problem?

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Bmup

[Australian rePublic]

Some effect line ideas:

• Option 1: the nation’s diplomatic insults are praised for flawless writing
• Option 2: @@LEADER@@‘s rambling speeches keep opponents on their toes
• Option 2: officials communicate exclusively in run-on sentences
• Option 2: “Praise @@LEADER@@“ is considered grammatically incorrect
• Option 3: nobody understands the nation’s veiled threats
• Option 3: diplomats abroad don’t bother encrypting sensitive messages

Thanks, I used 2 of those, but I think the original effect line for Option 1 is better.

Option 4- Teach him/her how to spell better

I didn't quite implement this but did something similar - offering more funding for dyslexia research.

I didn't mean from now on, I meant him, specifically

[Frieden-und Freudenland]

Thanks, I used 2 of those, but I think the original effect line for Option 1 is better.



I didn't quite implement this but did something similar - offering more funding for dyslexia research.

I didn't mean from now on, I meant him, specifically

It would be easier to fire him.

A decision made for one person only is not a policy. I am not sure it would make sense to make this an option, unless the person in question has some importance. (e.g., a decision that concerns the monarch of the country is also about one person, but it cannot be dismissed as "not a policy".)