Aggie for DelAgate!

[Aggie]

Hey all!

I’m Aga, and I’ve been involved for around a tad shy of two years - I’ve spent almost one consecutive year in leadership posts and have served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Rejected Realms Media Corporation from May last year to January this year and more recently as Outreach Officer from the end of January to the present moment.

It’s been a privilege and pleasure to be part of The Rejected Realms’ incredible Community - it’s been very enjoyable and the collection of people here are like no other on the internet. I really like all of the individuals and the Realms is like my home on the internet.

The Delegacy is something I thought long and hard about during the previous election - I eventually decided not to run as I felt that there were other areas of the region I could try to make a positive contribution in, however, this time around I feel like I can make a positive contribution in the position of the Delegate as well.

This campaign will consist of a plan for all offices, which include a “plans in brief” section which summarizes my ideas for the offices, as well as a longer explanation which explains the idea in greater detail and how I’ll go about completing the idea.

The Offices

Culture

Plans in Brief for Culture

• Continuing regular events on culture calendars such as popmasters and puzzles.
• Promoting events on and off-site through telegrams, messages and pings to increase engagement.
• Creating collaborative events in which everyone can participate in regardless of which communication platform they use.
• Organising a large plot-based choose your own adventure themed event to build relationships with existing allies..
• Bringing back rewards for participating in certain events.

The office of Culture under both Grea and Nakari has been doing well in organising events such as the Birthday Bash, the Harry Potter and the Festival of Friends Event and Earth Day, as well as regular events scheduled on the culture calendar.

I will ensure that culture continues to use the culture calendar to organise and plan events. I also really support what the incumbent has done with increasing the number of RMB events on the culture calendar so that the entire region can remain engaged - I will continue to promote these both off and on-site through posts and pings to increase participation.

Possible new events to run include chess tournaments, Go! tournaments and Nomic, which are events several reigon-mates have displayed interest in.

I will organise events in which people from all areas of the region can participate in regardless of their preferred communication method - these would consist of collaborative events which involve compiling something, like a short story or a regional menu! Such events would require promotion on both off-site and on-site platforms and will help people from the different areas of the Rejected Realms interact with each other while creating items we can be proud of as a region!

There is still room for Culture and Foreign Affairs to work together - one of the things that could be done is organising festivals similar to Paradoxical or the Harry Potter event. These events help both individuals in regions and governments get to know each other and possibly develop a basis for collaboration. Therefore, I will organise a plot-based “choose your own adventure” type event with regional allies, possibly with the South Pacific or 10000 Islands.

Lastly, returning the awards scheme for participating in events created by former Culture Officer Deadeye Jack is something that will be re-implemented. This is a good way to keep track of which events were less popular than others as well as rewarding people to ensure that everyone leaves with something and comes back for more.

Outreach

Plans in Brief for Outreach

• Continuing to run Open Planning, which is when non-staff members help plan an event;
• Rolling out a badge program.
• Running Issues contests which rank people based on a bunch of stats selected by Outreach Staff.
• Running endorsement events which consist of changing regional branding to encourage people to endorse the Delegate to a certain number.
• Continuing regular projects such as cards awards.

There are several things in the pipelines for Outreach, and ideally I’ll help to continue these in collaboration with a new Outreach Office. One of these include Open Planning, which is set up and ready to go. Open Planning is basically allowing people who are not members of certain departments to plan an event through the RMB or the forums. This increases engagement with the region while producing an event for people to enjoy. Outreach has also been working on a badge program which would signify events and areas of the Rejected Realms that people participate or have participated in. Currently badges will initially be given out for becoming a citizen and participating in an event (probably popmaster). This would be the same system we would use the award badges for participating in cultural events as outlined in the culture section.

I’ve been in communication with several coders (primarily Borm) would could help the RR with its technological needs, and I think that this could be a great asset - I’ve communicated several ideas with coders, one of those being issue contests which rank people based on certain chosen statistics to form a certain category (for example, most hostile could be nations that have a high level of a, authoritarianism low level of tourism and a low level of public transport) and ranks people from top to bottom based on those statistics. Communication between myself and Borm is still open, so other ideas, primarily an RMB awards script and automating the badge system so that it’ll just take data from a spreadsheet and format it as a table, are being discussed.

Next up for the Outreach Office will be endorsement events - this is where the government sets a goal of increasing the endorsement count on the delegate and then advocate for people to do it by changing the regional branding temporarily so that it prominently features “endorse to X number” on the flag and World Factbook Entry. I believe that this will lead to an increase in endorsements, and will work as long as the government sets tangible endorsement goals.

Regular projects such as cards draws, and awards programs will continue.

Foreign Affairs

Plans in Brief for Foreign Affairs

• Continuing Foreign updates but supplementing them with brief, single sentence updates to ensure that all information allied regions have is current.
• Running cultural exchanges between us and other regions to continue to bond with regions and maintain relations and develop new ones with “up and coming” and slightly more established regions.
• Asking diplomats to compile information about the regions they are assigned to so that the Office can access information easily if needed.

Foreign Updates will continue, but to supplement this, ambassadors to regions will also post brief sentences and a link to further information every time a major event such as an election or a treaty passing occurs. This means that partners will always have the latest information and won’t have to wait a month to receive crucial information about happenings.

As for new relations, there are several up-and-coming defender regions such as The League and several more prominent ones like the Union of Democratic States and the Free Nations Region, and although we aren’t quite ready for further relations yet, we could easily be continuing to look at them and organising small cultural exchanges between us and the aforementioned regions.

I will ensure that regions continue to collaborate with us through cultural exchanges as partially mentioned in culture, and I commend the current Officers for doing some of these already. Most cultural exchanges will be small-scale occasional events held between ourselves and partner regions, such as the South Pacific. This helps maintain current relations and develop new ones by helping the citizens bond and builds up a level of familiarity between governments.

Of course, Foreign Affairs should also be able to efficiently collect information as well as distribute it. Therefore, I will ensure that the Office of Foreign Affairs compiles “fact files” on our partner regions which includes key information like military alignment, head of state, head of government and more. This will see that ambassadors play a proactive role in finding out more about the region they’re assigned to while ensuring the Office can easily access key information about other regions if it needs to.

World Assembly

Plans in Brief for World Assembly Affairs

• Promote RMB voting on main RMB to increase voters and interest in World Assembly.
• Create Group Drafting programs which pulls together TRR’s existing and potential authors to draft resolutions.
• Setting up a program like the original Bill Writing Guild where people post ideas or desired outcomes and receive help in reaching their goals.

The World Assembly Office under Chip is doing incredibly well, and I'm very pleased to see it post IFVs and engage voters. In the future, we should focus on promoting RMB Voting, a system for voting introduced by Jamie, announcing whenever a new vote in the World Assembly opens on TRR’s RMB. This will ensure that there is more uptake on voting in general and increases interest in the World Assembly.

Group drafting for World Assembly resolutions is something that has also historically worked well - basically, the WA Officer and their staff brainstorm an idea and then research and compile in a large team, with everyone writing, researching, or editing until it is posted onto the forums. I have seen this done a few times and this has historically worked well. I will ensure that we try to run one of these events as this helps new people get involved in the World Assembly while gaining experience and more seasoned authors to flex their muscles and produce a joint, high quality resolution.

Setting up a drafting program for people to receive help with progressing their ideas is also something I’d seek to do. Similar to the original Bill Writing Guild set up by Dyl, the program would ask people for their ideas or desired outcomes, and then an author would help them to workshop their idea and produce a draft. All this “invests” in the future of the Rejected Realms as a major World Assembly influencer and will greatly contribute towards the future of authorship in the Rejected Realms and possibly in the entirety of NationStates.

Other Things

The Rejected Realms University

The Rejected Realms University is an idea floated by Nequedum in his recent delegacy campaign. However, slightly differently from Neq’s original vision I’d view the university as a forum for discussions and talks on NationStates that would then be archived. This will get people interested in a variety of NationStates related topics if we find speakers, like writing, the World Assembly, Issues, and history to name a few. Having people who are knowledgeable about certain parts of history or a particular skill talk about it ensures that information isn’t lost to time. Setting up the Rejected Realms University would be something I will work on during the term. It would be also interesting to see if other regions have similar institutions and whether they would be open to collaboration to host discussions about certain NationStates related topics as a cultural and historical exchange.

The Cabinet

I’ll seek to proactively work with Officers to ensure that projects are getting done effectively and will help them workshop ideas while working on several “odd-jobs” in the various offices. I’ll also ensure that all cabinet members feel comfortable sharing their opinions on governmental projects. I like the work done by our Officers and will ensure that they have the best possible term. I'll encourage residents and citizens to actively ask government members questions on forum threads and game-side - this will help to secure accountability and provide clarity for the region.

Transparency and Accountability

I’m aware that this isn’t usually a feature in delegacy campaigns, however, I chose to include this as it is important.

Providing regular regional updates to fellow citizens is important, and therefore I will ensure that updates are published monthly. The additional update would supplement the required regional update. Besides this, I will ensure that regionmates are informed about ideas for major policy changes and developments before they happen. This is so that we can continue to ensure that the general opinion of the citizens are listened to, the citizenry shapes the policy of the government and that respectful dialogue is built.

Conclusion

So, that’s it! Thank you so much for reading this - I hope that it has helped you to make an informed choice about the elections.

As usual, I am more than happy to answer questions. A dispatch version of this campaign will be posted shortly.

[Cove]

I notice you didn't mention PfS - as delegate you would have to be involved in that, how would you do so?

Would you make any changes to the current delegation, or who would you appoint - not including yourself?

[Minskiev]

What do you and Borm plan to code?

Edit: I've read ahead

Looks good so far.

[Tinhampton]

If elected, will you replace the bolding on the word "NationStates'" at the top of our WFE with italicisation?

[Aggie]

I notice you didn't mention PfS - as delegate you would have to be involved in that, how would you do so?

Hey, thanks for the questions!

Currently the PfS is doing relatively well, so I wouldn't seek any major changes to anything at the moment. I'd ensure that the region is regularly updated about happenings in the PfS, including membership changes, TRR's regional delegation changes and recommendations. I'd also gladly help with writing recommendations for the PfS if needed, and will vote as a representative when needed.

Would you make any changes to the current delegation, or who would you appoint - not including yourself?

I think that the Officer of Foreign Affairs and the Officer of World Assembly Affairs should be in the delegation as their portfolios are linked to what the PfS does.

I'd ask the current delegation if they want to stay in the delegation, and if they do, then keep them provided that they're active in the PfS overall. Otherwise I'd put out an open call for people who are interested into joining the delegation to come forward and then make further additions based on that.

What do you and Borm plan to code?

Edit: I've read ahead

Looks good so far.

Currently we've discussed the things listed on the campaign - the badges system, automating the RMB Awards and the issues contest!

If elected, will you replace the bolding on the word "NationStates'" at the top of our WFE with italicisation?

If there is a reason for it I'm not against such a minor change, but I can't really see a reason at the present moment.

[Deadeye Jack]

What do you see as the greatest avenue for activity growth in the region and what are some concrete steps you'd take to guide us towards that path?

How do you rank the GCRs (non warzones) ? Please provide criteria that you used to come up with your ranking

What do you believe are the values of the Rejected Realms?

What are you most proud of achieving in TRR and how does that show you will make a good delegate?

What would your ideal cabinet be of any TRR citizens in all its history. What would your ideal cabinet be of current citizens who have never been Officer?

In general, what would be your decision making process for Foreign Affairs or any other portfolio?

[Grea Kriopia]

Lots of ideas to think about here!

These events help both individuals in regions and governments get to know each other and possibly develop a basis for collaboration. Therefore, I will organise a plot-based “choose your own adventure” type event with regional allies, possibly with the South Pacific or 10000 Islands.

Out of curiosity, are the other regions besides TSP and XKI you would be willing to host similar events with?

As for new relations, there are several up-and-coming defender regions such as The League and several more prominent ones like the Union of Democratic States and the Free Nations Region, and although we aren’t quite ready for further relations yet, we could easily be continuing to look at them and organising small cultural exchanges between us and the aforementioned regions.

Is this something you would be willing to elaborate more on? I'm all for cultural exchanges, but I find it difficult to place The League and UDS under a similar umbrella when we're arguably much closer to one region than the other. We've only just opened forum embassies with The League whereas we're pushing 4 years of onsite embassies with UDS. How would you approach that difference in depth of relations, if at all, in these events?

I’ll seek to proactively work with Officers to ensure that projects are getting done effectively and will help them workshop ideas while working on several “odd-jobs” in the various offices.

Your campaign did come across as very managerial, so do you have a strategy or plan on how to accomplish all of these projects in addition to being delegate? How will you handle instances where an officer disagrees with one of your project ideas?

[Goobergunchia]

Of course, Foreign Affairs should also be able to efficiently collect information as well as distribute it. Therefore, I will ensure that the Office of Foreign Affairs compiles “fact files” on our partner regions which includes key information like military alignment, head of state, head of government and more. This will see that ambassadors play a proactive role in finding out more about the region they’re assigned to while ensuring the Office can easily access key information about other regions if it needs to.

Any reason why this would be limited to just our partner regions?

The Rejected Realms University is an idea floated by Nequedum in his recent delegacy campaign. However, slightly differently from Neq’s original vision I’d view the university as a forum for discussions and talks on NationStates that would then be archived. This will get people interested in a variety of NationStates related topics if we find speakers, like writing, the World Assembly, Issues, and history to name a few. Having people who are knowledgeable about certain parts of history or a particular skill talk about it ensures that information isn’t lost to time. Setting up the Rejected Realms University would be something I will work on during the term. It would be also interesting to see if other regions have similar institutions and whether they would be open to collaboration to host discussions about certain NationStates related topics as a cultural and historical exchange.

I'd be happy to lecture about old fart things, at least the ones I can remember. That being said, how would this overlap/differ from the existing TRRHS? (And I know I've seen University of @@REGION@@ on at least one other GCR forum at some point in time but couldn't tell you if it's active today or not.)

Some other questions:

1. What are your broader views on the Rejected Realms's role in the greater NationStates world? How should our in-game embassy policies tie into this?
2. What would you include in your policy regarding the general circumstances in which RMB posts may be suppressed?
3. What would you do differently to the current administration, and why?
4. One day you wake up and see that TRR has been couped. What do you do?
5. What is your favorite work of fiction that you recently read/watched/listened to?

[Sarah]

What does being a Reject mean to you?

[Catalyse]

Would you celebrate monkey monday? How would you celebrate it? What activities would you have on monkey mondays? How often would you have monkey mondays occur?

[Sarah]

Do you feel that NSGP is important / valuable to TRR FA? Why or why not?

Will you attempt to shift TRR towards greater engagement with the NSGP server? Why or why not?

What should the goal of TRR FA be?

What tools that TRR is currently not using do you believe should be a part of that?

Does the general international perception of TRR matter more to you, or the ability of TRR to achieve its FA goals matter more?

[Deadeye Jack]

How do you gather information about what's going on around NationStates' relevant regions and communities? How regularly do you go through that information gathering routine?

[Cove]

I notice you didn't mention PfS - as delegate you would have to be involved in that, how would you do so?

Hey, thanks for the questions!

Currently the PfS is doing relatively well, so I wouldn't seek any major changes to anything at the moment. I'd ensure that the region is regularly updated about happenings in the PfS, including membership changes, TRR's regional delegation changes and recommendations. I'd also gladly help with writing recommendations for the PfS if needed, and will vote as a representative when needed.

Thanks for your answer. How would you yourself be involved in the PfS - would you be taking the lead in involvement or would you be delegating it to an officer?

[Aggie]

Hey! Thanks for all the questions, peeps! I've answered questions I have a full response for - I'll answer the rest over the next two days, and I hope to have answered most of them by tomorrow.

(EDIT: just realized it's 1 am, so technically later today).

Out of curiosity, are the other regions besides TSP and XKI you would be willing to host similar events with?

Any reason why this would be limited to just our partner regions?

I'll start off with these two, as they're similar. I would be open to running events with any region we're partnered with, and only intended to cite TSP and XKI as examples - mea culpa.

I mentioned partner regions as an usually regions we have forum embassy, gameside embassy or other form of relation with are the ones we run events with, usually to help us bond with other governments and members in other regions while helping developing relations, but as delegate, I will absolutely be open to look into organising small-scale cultural events such as movie nights, small puzzles etc. with regions we aren't as familiar with if it's a preamble (is that the correct word?) for developing potential future relations.

Is this something you would be willing to elaborate more on? I'm all for cultural exchanges, but I find it difficult to place The League and UDS under a similar umbrella when we're arguably much closer to one region than the other. We've only just opened forum embassies with The League whereas we're pushing 4 years of onsite embassies with UDS. How would you approach that difference in depth of relations, if at all, in these events?

Firstly: developing relations with these regions would both entail different things - with the League the next step would be a construction of gameside embassies and with the Union of Democractic States we could look into a potential treaty. However, as I mentioned in the campaign, I don’t think that we’re quite ready to take these next steps with either region quite yet, and that’s because we aren’t quite familiar enough with either region to be able to develop our relations to a further degree. That being said, your statement is correct, we are much more familiar with the UDS, as we have had embassies for a long time, and also have cross citizens and several people who aren’t citizens but are from the UDS and post in our discord server semi-regularly, which is why the next development in our relations with it could be a treaty.

Having different types of event is appropriate: with the League, I’d propose small scale exchanges such as playlist listening sessions, board games etc. - this can help us get to know the citizens and government, and would help us look into further relations (gameside embassy) with the region if we find it’s a good fit.

Although there’s no reason why we couldn’t organise small scale cultural exchanges with the UDS (or any other region in general), I'd propose larger events with them such as a weekend long event which could include large events that span over the few days. This would encourage bonding and increase the level of familiarity between the citizens and governments of both the UDS and ourselves, but would also be appropriately scaled.

Your campaign did come across as very managerial, so do you have a strategy or plan on how to accomplish all of these projects in addition to being delegate?

Usually I implement a variety of personal project management strategies whenever I take on a new position (primarily create mini-agendas for personal use with timescales and next actions detailed for everything that I want to do on NS), and that won’t change. As a result of that, I generally can keep track of the tasks I’m meant to do and I complete them, allowing for a high level of personal productivity in the game. As mentioned, I’ll also help lead projects in offices if the officer wants my help, and generally try to be involved in all Offices as a staffer as well.

I’ll be in constant communication with Officers to ensure that there is a general understanding as to which stage projects are in, and if the executive is looking like it’s losing momentum, I’ll look into creating a cabinet agenda collaboratively written by and agreed on by Officers which outlines plans and timescales for a certain period of time - this should help boost the number of projects being completed.

How will you handle instances where an officer disagrees with one of your project ideas?

If an Officer disagrees with a project idea or doesn’t want one I’m about to lead to go ahead I’ll ask them for their perspectives as to why they don’t think that the project idea is a good one. If it’s because they think it’s risky I’ll take steps in collaboration with the cabinet to eliminate any risk that they find entirely. If it’s another concern then the delegate and the officer should engage in open and respectful dialogue to ensure that we fully understand each other’s point of view before developing a way forward with all parties involved.

I'd be happy to lecture about old fart things, at least the ones I can remember. That being said, how would this overlap/differ from the existing TRRHS?

There will be multiple differences. Firstly, a potential TRRU won’t just be focused on history, but will also be focused on other topics in the present, such as the World Assembly, Issues, etc. I also envision the TRRU as a center for discussion as well, with motions for discussions and talks being put up regularly and people from all across the region participating in interesting debate and discussion about the motion or the talk - think of this like a panel for a symposium but it’s done regularly, is open to anyone and is on a variety of different subjects. When something does overlap, I’ll ensure that TRRHS is aware and supports the university running a talk or discussion on history - it would be incredibly cool to see the two organisations working together! Such overlap however shouldn't occur too often if all topics used in discussions are rotated regularly.

What are your broader views on the Rejected Realms's role in the greater NationStates world? How should our in-game embassy policies tie into this?

The Rejected Realms is an incredibly inclusive place - we have a diverse citizenry and we are one of the largest democracies on NationStates. We’re also a large defender region, and we have rich history - after all, we are the proud home of organisations which are amongst some of the oldest in the entire game - the RRA and TRT.

This all plays into TRR’s niche in the greater NationStates world - a democratic, defender region with a rich history which is also simultaneously inclusive to a reasonable degree. Therefore, our policy should continue to establish relations with defenders and people who do not have an R/D alignment, but we should also continue establishing embassies with non-defenders as well like we have in the past, with regions such as Caer Sidi. With regards to respecting our rich history, we shouldn't be getting rid of any embassies with regions that are now less active than they were previously unless there is a pressing reason to do so. Conserving these embassies does no harm and helps preserve certain elements of our history.

What would you do differently to the current administration, and why?

There is one major thing I’d do differently from the current administration: increasing transparency from the government by posting updates more regularly and by ensuring that citizens are informed of key policy ideas before they are implemented (see the transparency section in my campaign).

One day you wake up and see that TRR has been couped. What do you do?

I'd take the next few days off from RL if I can and help return the legitimate government to the Delegacy.

What is your favorite work of fiction that you recently read/watched/listened to?

I'm currently reading the Game of Thrones and I love it! I was also gifted The Fellowship of the Ring by one of my disgruntled acquaintances who decided that the only way to inject any sort of culture into me was to spoon-feed me the series, so I can't wait to start reading it!

Hope this answers all of your questions!

[Aggie]

What would you include in your policy regarding the general circumstances in which RMB posts may be suppressed?

The current rules are fine and I’ll maintain them going into the term and will not seek to make any major changes to it.

What do you see as the greatest avenue for activity growth in the region and what are some concrete steps you'd take to guide us towards that path?

I think that one of the greatest avenues for activity growth is ensuring that the executive is accessible and executive leaders are active. I think that any region is hard to get involved in executives if the people running the executive lack activity, as that means that everything usually stagnates if there aren’t already active established co-ordinators to run projects and help projects to run, however, the Officers are currently active, so this won’t be a problem, and if the cabinet starts to lose momentum I’ll create an agenda to ensure that projects are being completed at a steady level.

Executive accessibility is also something else that is an avenue for activity growth. I don’t only mean being able to join executive departments - which is easy enough to do - but being able to participate in the departments easily once you’re in them. Having staffers do something and being able to participate in the departments is something that increases engagement and retention amongst staff by ensuring that they aren’t bored and have reason to keep checking back, but also in the entire region - if we have an executive staff that contributes to projects and runs or helps run projects regularly will help increase overall activity in the region as there would be higher quality or increased quantity of projects and more people who see activity and decide to stick about as a result.

I usually try to engage staffers by bringing up potential opportunities for things to do and asking people for their input into various projects I’m about to run and decisions I’m about to make - I have a history of doing this both in my position as EiC and Outreach Officer, where I both had a system of assigning tasks that staffers selected and collecting opinions from staff, and I’ll try to ensure that this is done when more often when appropriate.

How do you rank the GCRs (non warzones) ? Please provide criteria that you used to come up with your ranking

The Rejected Realms would come first. I’m here because I love the commitment to democracy, the openness and the community here. It’s basically home - it’s the community I’ve become most familiar with over a two year period. I’ve had (and am currently having) a lot of fun here. That being said, there are several areas in which I feel like I could make positive contributions like the ones listed in my campaign, and that’s why I’m running for delegate!

I think the joint second would be the East Pacific and the South Pacific. I think that these regions are similar-ish in terms of size and activity. They both have a longstanding commitment to democracy, they both have active militaries and they both have amazing WA programs. The two regions are also amazing allies to the Rejected Realms.

I think in third place would be the North Pacific - again, massively active, with a successful WA program, military, strong judicial culture and a longstanding commitment to democracy. The quorum raiding issue irked me slightly for a variety of reasons, but I think it was dealt with professionally from our end, and I wouldn’t change how we handled it.

Next up would be Osiris - we have a history of relations and of collaboration - we’ve run multiple cultural events together and have signed the Lost and Found Accords with them. Although they aren’t a democracy and we don’t share alignments, they have still proved to be good allies in recent memory. I also secretly love their theme.

After this would be Lazarus - they’re a democracy and are now stable due to their split between the head of state, the appointed Delegate, and the head of government, the Prime Minister.

Next up would be the West Pacific - I think that they have an amazing brand identity, although they aren’t a democracy and have a system of appointing the delegate.

After this would be the Pacific and then Balder - they have stable systems which work for them, however, I don’t think that this really goes with my personal values or, furthermore, with the values of the Rejected Realms. This neatly links into the next question:

What do you believe are the values of the Rejected Realms?

I think that the values of the Rejected Realms are democracy, inclusivity and defenderism. We have democractic systems of passing legislation, electing people to serve for us and for deciding our vote in the World Assembly - this reflects on our values as a democracy. We also have a diverse citizenry and a diverse set of relations, which should reflect on our inclusivity and we are, of course, defender-leaning.

What are you most proud of achieving in TRR and how does that show you will make a good delegate?

I’m immensely proud of my time as Editor-in-Chief, where I managed to publish monthly editions, reform the badges system and introduce Brief News amongst other things. I think that this reflects on my ability to get things done regularly, while introducing new concepts and reforming outdated ones.

What would your ideal cabinet be of any TRR citizens in all its history.

I’d have Fratt in a cabinet as FA Officer. Fratt is consistently cool-headed, has an amazing level of experience in managing relations and has an immense depth of historical knowledge, coupled with knowledge about the current climate of Gameplay. This is why I think that he’d be an amazing Foreign Affairs Officer!

I’d have Jack in cabinet as the Officer of Culture: I think that his work in culture has been amazing - introducing things like culture calendars and culture awards are not only innovative, but pretty much helped set standards for the entirety of NationStates - I think that the rise in popularity of culture calendars can be associated to his work here. His unique ideas such as the nation where people voted on issues options and cinemaster are also very creative, and I think that his creativity and general organisational competence would make him a great culture Officer.

For the World Assembly Officer, I think that Borm would be a cool person to have back. He’s done a lot of work in the WA, a lot of it controversial, but he has done a lot of work in setting up the WA Office so that it is in its current form, and his general passion about the WA is amazingly cool.

For Outreach Officer, I’d pick Sarah - Sarah has served as Outreach Officer before, is a very approachable figure and has amazing ideas for any office. She’s run theme days for culture, introduced and wrote welcome DMs for culture and is generally a nice person to work with.

Otherwise, having people like Kogvuron in the cabinet would also be interesting: if I am not mistaken, Kog was instrumental in founding the Rejected Times, and it would be interesting to work with them.

What would your ideal cabinet be of current citizens who have never been Officer?

I think that for culture, Vis would be a nice pick. Vis has spoken about ideas for culture, and having worked with him in Outreach, I think that he has the ability to be an Officer - he’s helped run several things including regular outreach cycles and regularly contributed ideas.

For Outreach, having Goob in the position would be incredible. Goob has done a lot of work in the Office, and has helped run Outreach cycles and has generally contributed with his perspectives in the Outreach channel. He’d definitely be a good pick.

For the World Assembly, Hya would be a cool pick. Hya has a lot of administrative competence, and she has demonstrated this through her work as deputy WA Officer, helping put things to vote. She’s also indicated an interest in the WA and it would be cool to see her as an Officer!

For Foreign Affairs, Fauxia would be a cool pick. Although he may not have considered it, I think that he possesses the knowledge about wider NationStates to be able to serve in the position effectively.

That being said, in generalI'd encourage anyone who is interested to run!

In general, what would be your decision making process for Foreign Affairs or any other portfolio?

If it is a Foreign Affairs idea, I’d bring up my rough idea with the cabinet and ask for opinions. If there is a general consensus leaning against the idea, I’d scrap it entirely, however, if there has been no negative response, I’d bring the idea up with any relevant parties. If the other region or regions are also for the idea, I’d bring it up with the citizenry and ask for opinions. If the citizenry is against it, I’d scrap the idea and notify the other regions that our citizenry were against the idea and that we have to scrap the idea, however, if the citizenry is for it, I’d go about trying to implement the idea however possible.

For other portfolios, it’d depend on the size of the project that the idea would result in. If it is a mid-large sized project, I’d bring it up with the relevant Officers publicly in a cabinet channel or forums - if there are no opinions against from the Officer with the portfolio or from anyone in the cabinet, I’d then bring it up with staffers or ask the officer to bring it up with staffers. Staffers would help develop and implement the idea. If the project resulting from the idea would be small and largely inconsequential, I’d bring it up with the Officer with the relevant portfolio in #cabinet. If the officer or anyone else in the cabinet isn’t for, I’d go about trialling the idea or helping the officer to trial it. This the system people default to to a certain extent.

What does being a Reject mean to you?

I’ve been in the RR for around two years, and it’s the community that I’ve grown familiar with and love the most. It’s where I feel most comfortable on the internet, and probably also where I have the most fun. Being a Reject, for me, simply means being at "home" in a place where I’m generally surrounded by friendly people and a nice environment.

Do you feel that NSGP is important / valuable to TRR FA? Why or why not?

In general, I think that Gameplay is valuable to the Rejected Realm’s FA, as it helps us to receive information about the state of regions in the world, make new relations and give us a place to promote the region.

Receiving information about the state of regions is generally incredibly important as it helps us make good decisions regarding our FA. By paying attention to Gameplay, we can actively recognise new regions which are making a splash, regions that are slowly turning inactive, regions whose climates are changing etc. Almost all major regions interact with Gameplay to some degree, which is why paying attention to NationStates Gameplay helps us to recognise regions and how they’re changing. It’s also this way we can make new relations - by paying attention to GP, we can recognise promising new regions and keep an eye on them, building a meaningful relationship along the way.

Gameplay also gives us a place to promote our region and the things that we’re working on, which helps us put out the things that we’re proud of to the wider NationStates world.

Will you attempt to shift TRR towards greater engagement with the NSGP server? Why or why not?

I will not attempt to shift TRR towards greater engagement with the NSGP server or any of its similar counterparts. I don’t think that pushing for greater engagement with those servers enhances the quality of relations, and I also can’t see any practical way of making this happen unless the government directly advertises the server in some way to the rest of the community.

That being said, I think that it is a good idea to occasionally pay attention to what is occurring in those servers, as it can provide context and information about the events that occur abroad, which can be beneficial information, especially when looking to speak with foreign counterparts or to develop relations. Most government members and quite a few of TRR’s members have found the server and are there by choice, and I think that’s fine as it is.

What should the goal of TRR FA be? What tools that TRR is currently not using do you believe should be a part of that?

I think that the goal of the FA policy should be to ensure that TRR remains secure while it builds mutually beneficial relationships with other regions.

I think that TRR’s FA should be building relations with regions that are able to hold respectful dialogue and are able to collaborate with us on issues and projects. We should be able to communicate with regions cordially and be able to expect support from our allies when we need/want it while providing support to our allies whenever they need support (wherever it is reasonable to do so) so that we can build up or nurture a trusting relationship to ensure that we can continue to receive the assistance of others if needed, although we should avoid becoming reliant on other regions.

TRR’s FA should also be able to collaborate in times of peace so that we can continue to build familiarity and relationships between other regions - tools to achieve this would include posting updates regularly and running events with them to ensure that we are building up familiarity between citizens and governments. This helps with having a mutually beneficial relationship with regions, where we can receive each other's co-operation and support when we need it.

Does the general international perception of TRR matter more to you, or the ability of TRR to achieve its FA goals matter more?

I don't think we'll be able to have positive perceptions in all circles, and that's fine. There will always be people who dislike the region due to differences in ideological alignment, and there's little we can do to change that.

There is a balance between achieving goals and having a positive perception, and I believe the two things are linked. Having a general positive perception of the region amongst our allies and the circles that we build relationships with helps achieve our goals. A negative perception of TRR shared amongst partners and potential partners will make it incredibly difficult to reach our goals, but equally if we try too hard on our perception and that prevents us from reaching goals that will also be a problem. Therefore, perception is important and can help achieve our goals as long as it doesn't hinder us from achieving goals.

How do you gather information about what's going on around NationStates' relevant regions and communities? How regularly do you go through that information gathering routine?

I read newspapers published by regions whenever they are published, read the GP forum every two days or so and read the forums and announcement channels of major regions every month or so to ensure that I am up to date. I also backread the NSGP server every three or four days to see if I've missed anything major that I didn't hear about in forums or announcement channels.

Thanks for your answer. How would you yourself be involved in the PfS - would you be taking the lead in involvement or would you be delegating it to an officer?

I'll ask the FA and WA Officer if they're interested, and if either of them are I'll talk with them about what they want to do and how they envision the relationship between PfS and the region. I'd delegate it to either one unless I completely disagree with their vision in regards to providing regular updates etc., in which case I'll take the lead with the delegation, but I really doubt that will happen. I'll also take the lead with the delegation if no officer is willing to do it.

Would you celebrate monkey monday? How would you celebrate it? What activities would you have on monkey mondays? How often would you have monkey mondays occur?

I'll absolutely be open to celebrating monkey Mondays! Running monkey theme contests, guess the species of monkey games, changing the regional flag of the officers' flags to a monkey theme for a day and running monkey trivia on the RMB would all be a fitting celebration for Monkey Mondays.

Monkey Mondays should occur every two months to maintain the unique nature of the event.

[Deadeye Jack]

Thanks for answering. You got my vote. I think you'd do a wonderful job as Delegate of TRR

[Cove]

What do you think of Trading cards to create activity? If you’re happy for me to do I can also continue as Cards Program Director unless you have other ideas.

[Aggie]

What do you think of Trading cards to create activity? If you’re happy for me to do I can also continue as Cards Program Director unless you have other ideas.

Cards are one of the main ways a large group of players interact with the game - I think that cards are amazing at engaging people in the game. I also really support the initiatives that use cards as an incentive to endorse the delegate or doing something similar - cards are an amazing way to drive activity. I'd love to see you continue as cards program director if you're happy to do so!