Issue XVI

Post by **frattastan** » 15 Apr 2023, 12:22

Issue XVI, March 08, 2014 UNIBOSS's Note

I see some of our competitors have joined twitter -- 140 characters. Yeah that's not happening with us -- sorry about that.

>> OPINION

A Careful Balance: Defenderism in The Rejected Realms
OPINION | THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE

Thought Transference, beloved veteran, explains why the time was right for The Rejected Realms to become a “defender region”.

I imagine certain members of our residents and even of our citizens will object; some may argue that labeling ourselves "defender" after so long will be a betrayal of them as neutral or invader nations, and a betrayal of our stance as welcoming to all. After all, we have invaders of one kind or another as citizens now, and if I'm not mistaken we've even had citizens with invader sympathies in government.

But personally, I believe the time was right for The Rejected Realms to become a defender region.

I know we redefined ourselves to be a neutral place and all that, and as far as our attitude to the people who come here to live that's fine with me, but I moved here way back when because I liked that we were associated with a defender army. I have now learned to feel comfortable enough knowing that some of my fellow-citizens are people I'd regard as enemies if I lived elsewhere, and I've been glad for the opportunity to meet invaders on a level other than as adversaries. I consider that a positive thing. I also consider it a boon to our region that we are in some sense "bigger" than the conflict between invaders and defenders, although that's only partially true and will always be so.

Nevertheless, I haven't shaken off the feeling that we achieved that “neutral” position by sidelining the RRA slightly, as if they were an embarrassment, and I'm was never comfortable with that. So I welcome anything that could redress that.

Frankly, I think that part of selling defenderism to the region overall is about how we define it and present it to the region. It should be a topic for conversation rather than simply an open-and-shut petition, although a petition can be an opening stage of such a conversation.

After all, we were sold on neutrality only after discussions that allowed us to explore how to make it all fit together. This was the time to open a discussion about how we were doing so far, to observe the ways in which we've fallen short of the original plan, and to make the necessary adjustments needed to maintain a careful balance between our noble heritage and our more recent open-door policy.

The Rejected Realms became a “defender” region officially on Jan 10 2014.

Kazmr Speaks!
An Exclusive Interview with Lazarus's New Chairman
INTERVIEW | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

Libetarian Republics sits down with Kazmr, shortly after his election...

Congratulations on becoming the Third Chairman of the People's Republic of Lazarus! How are you feeling?

A bit in shock, to be honest! Milograd's retirement caught everyone off guard, but he certainly had good reasons. Now, three days later, and only about six months after becoming active on NS, I'm a GCR delegate!

That's pretty impressive! Six months is a pretty short tenure before becoming a GCR Delegate! You do, however, have some huge shoes to fill in since Milograd has stepped down. May I ask, what are you goals and objectives for the PRL under your leadership?

You're right that'll it'll be a challenge to live up to my predecessor. Despite what some may think of him, its hard to imagine a delegate doing more to help his region than Milograd has. As for my own goals, I'm looking to focus on some of the things that haven't been as high a priority recently, and also build on a lot of what made Milograd's term great. For instance, I really want to keep pushing forward with activity, since that's been our lifeblood.

So I really want to put a lot of focus into culture and bringing new people into our region. I also want to do work gameside, like utilizing polls and staying active on the RMB. My hope is that this will both help our region as a whole feel more active, and perhaps also help find new people who might be interested in the forum community.

Another big one for me is our military. While I have very little military experience (read: a few updates as non-wa fodder), I want to give Hobbes whatever support he needs. I believe that he will do a fantastic job as DYP's successor, as he is already starting to show, and continue to make the LLA a major player on the battlefield.

You are certainly ambitious and I admire that. I would like to move on towards perhaps to any Foreign Affairs plans we may see from Lazarus under your leadership? What are your objectives abroad, such as relationships you wish to seek or wish to maintain?

I'm still working out precisely where I want to focus, but there are some good places to start. For instance, I'd like to keep building ties with our fellow defender regions. Being one of the largest out there, and the largest defender GCR at the moment, we're in a unique position to act on the great moves that Milograd made with things like the XYZ treaty.

I'd also like to strengthen our ties with some of the other GCRs. I was pleasantly surprised to see Osiris providing a couple of WAs to push me into the delegacy my first night, and perhaps that could be the start of something.

The same for The East Pacific, who are one of Lazarus' older allies. We have several of our active members who are also in TEP, and I think there is a lot to be had from our friendship. I would also like to perhaps look into doing some outreach to regions that may not be as well known in the gameplay echo chamber. While there are some who aren't too involved with good reason, I think there are some great regions out there that get overlooked just because their members may not post in Gameplay.

Excellent. While the PRL has been praised for its revitalization of the region, Lazarus, it has been criticized for the "lack" of democracy. May I ask for your opinion about this?

I personally don't think that Lazarus actually needs democracy, nor that it is the best system for all regions. I think it works in some cases, but Lazarus had a democracy in various forms for well over a decade and what did it get? A year or two of activity? A divided camp that got nothing done? It's not as if we have a complete lack of say for individual citizens.There is a congress elected by the people that can remove the Chairman, for instance. But we believe that the best way to foster activity in the region is to have a very strong executive who has the power to do what's necessary to make the community great

Well enough of the serious stuff. Let's have some fun. What's your favorite Lazarene Gazette Article that you have written?

That's a hard one. Since the Lazarene Gazette was my baby while I was running it. As much as I loved my satire, though, I'm going to have to go with my piece on Drop Your Pants. It was an interview, yes, but I took a lot of really interesting creative liberties to make it much more like a story.

Still had a bit of my favorite 'satirical' language leaking in, but it was a great piece. As for satire, I'm going to have to say iron production. Everyone thought I was absolutely nuts after that, but Lazarus and some insightful others got the truth buried deep within.

Sweet! Now to wrap things up, iron or coal?

Iron, clearly. Its production is the standard by which all regions should be measuring themselves.

Of course! Thank you for having the time to participate in this interview. For our readers, any last minute words you wish to express?

I want to thank Lazarus for putting their faith in me, and the members of my government for continuing to do what they do best. #fishmonga4lyfe

NationStates: Stuck in the Past
OPINION | AFFORESS

NationStates is a game stuck in the 1990s. Max Barry released the game in 2002^[1], but despite its modern origins, the culture seems desperate to the ancient past.

A secretive culture has evolved in NationStates. Regions pride themselves on the number of tools and secret forums they hide. Defenders and Invaders alike create tools to give themselves an edge in their battle. These tools are never shared with others, with an existence only whispered about^[2]. Information about game mechanics is intentionally kept secret^[3]. Players wishing to share achievements or advances are discouraged. Change becomes feared, as all sides proclaim with fear that any changes will give their opponents an edge. Minor redesigns in game mechanics^[4] are impossible due to staunch resistance from an entrenched playerbase.

History goes in reverse at NationStates. As the educated, skilled players in NationStates leave the game, as they do inevitably, for one reason or another, the total knowledge surrounding the game recedes. Ideas are lost, never shared. Tools atrophy and rust away, by neglect and their secretive use. Libraries burn^[5][6], and no one lifts a hand.

This trend goes even further than tolerance of decay. Outsiders and players not familiar with gameplay mechanics and advanced raider & defender tactics are heavily discouraged from participating. New groups of players are mocked when they make basic efforts towards gameplay independance. Tutorials are bashed for every minor inaccuracy^[7]; there is no interest in improving them, only in tearing them down. Efforts to reduce the difficulty or complexity of the game are met with hostility, or suspicion. Anyone not “in-the-know” is criticized harshly.

In a healthy community, sharing ideas and technology leads to advancement. The more we know, the more we become capable of. Shared understanding of the game lead to new ideas, new innovations. The games themselves are secondary to their communities. Many games success and popularity are a direct result of their community. One does not need to look far to find numerous examples of places where open and free access to information, ideas, and tools lead to an explosion of growth, advancement, and technology. Yet, so far, NationStates survives despite its community, not because of it.

_{1: See http://www.nationstates.net/HISTORY

2: See “Telescope” tool used by the UDL.

3: There was a strong effort by raiders to conceal influence formulas. They were eventually leaked by Milograd, against the wishes of his raider affiliates.

4: See debate over R/D changes http://forum.nationstates.net/viewforum.php?f=32

5: The Jolt Archive, containing several years of NS history and forum discussion has been lost, and no one has put serious effort into recovering it.

6: NSWiki.net, a repository of tens of thousands of histories, went offline in November 2013, with no attempts at recovery.

7: See reaction at tutorial: http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=283999}

Prudish or Fair?
OPINION | THE CHURCH OF SATAN

Reading the introduction thread of, one, Crowley Hell, took me back to my own introduction thread. As in my case, he felt offended, hurt even, to log on only to find himself in The Rejected Realms for reasons unknown to him. I know how you feel Crowley, I've been there. That's why I have such a soft spot for Crowley's case. I can't help but feel sympathetic in this instance. After all, somebody should.

On 01 March 2014, Crowley Hell, founded in The Pacific on 02 November 2013, was banned from The Pacific because of his motto. His motto read "You poor bitches". The decision to ban him was made, because according to The Pacific's Civil Code, "objectionable nation names, flags or mottos" are a violation of law. However the question that this poses is: Does the punishment fit the crime? Reportedly, Crowley Hell was given no warning or asked to change his motto. Suffice to say he was blindsided.

On one hand it does seem pretty harsh to ban someone for a motto that has profanity in it. At the very least, he could have been asked to change his motto. On the other hand, it is entirely at the discretion of the government to ban someone for violating law, as stated in the civil code:

"These offenses are punishable by sanctions up to and including a permanent ban from the region, at the sole discretion of the presiding Justices, or in emergencies, the Emperor". [Civil Code for Uniform Justice and Order in The Pacific  ]

The Pacific's law concerning this seems rather restrictive. More than that, it infringes on Crowley Hell's right to do with his nation as he pleases. Does The NPO really retain the right to regulate the content of residential nations? Perhaps that is better left to NS moderators. Is it really just for a region to determine what we ought to place in our nation's mottos? What right does The Pacific really have? Maybe it was indeed prudish of Krulltopia to ban him. Of course, I mean that with all due respect to Krulltopia. Regardless, this isn't just a simple case of wrongful ban. This is a major infringement of Crowley's rights. I could see if his motto contained material that was hateful or offensive, but that was not the case.

Prudish? Fair? You decide. As for me, I feel The NPO was wrong in their decision.

Why the Gameplay Summit Failed
EDITIORAL | UNIBOT

Unibot discusses the ill-fated “Gameplay Summit”

I’ve got something that I’ve been hiding for a long time: in November 4 2012, when The NationStates World found 85% of respondents were confident about the new Gameplay Summit, I was the lone “very unconfident” voice. There, said it. I’m glad I got that off my chest! Phew. Now given this, please take this article with a grain of salt (as I’m sure you always do when it is written by me), because there’s a possibility that my negativity towards the Gameplay Summit from “Day One” is influencing my opinion of it even now – overall however, I believe it was inevitable that the Gameplay Summit was going to fail because of its timing, structure and a number of different factors.

There’s a history to the “Gameplay Summit” of course. Back in, eh, sometime in 2006, the site administrators held a secret and closed conference with various stakeholders – one of them was Free4All, who shared his experiences about the conference to me during an interview for Paradise Found. During the interview, Free4All explained how the final proposal was rejected and substituted by Max for the “Regional Influence” system – the discussion ended there. Regional Influence, of course, was enormously unpopular – possibly, the most controversial decision made by the site administrators in NationStates’s storied history.

I, myself, was not around in 2006 when Regional Influence was first implemented. Nonetheless, when I joined two years later, Regional Influence was still as unpopular and illegitimate as a game development as Rule IV was the day it was implemented. Players were livid about the game change: for some it legitimized griefing, for others it overstabilized Game-Created Regions and it took years for the game staff to address so-called “password-raiding”, an unintended consequence of Regional Influence. Many gameplayers blame the decline of organized gameplay between 2006 to 2009 on Influence’s invasive, unsolicited introduction.

The Gameplay Summit between 2012 and 2013 was an attempt to invite public opinion on game changes with a more constructive approach – it failed, however, on a number of different issues to deliver a productive dialogue.

Agendas

Players were actually encouraged by the summit’s organizers to engage in “politicking” – allowing various players to push and hobnob to see their interests and views represented in the summit. While I can certainly understand encouraging “politicking” in the game, I cannot understand why the summit would want our ideas and innovation warped through politicking.

Representatives held “agenda” threads in the summit, while allowing them to interact and solicit opinions, this hobnobbing and political gamesmanship acted as a creative filtration process. Ideas were put through a political funnel – what was presented during the summit were not necessarily the best ideas, but the ones that gained political traction for whatever reason: if it be the ebb and flow of public opinion or the political capital of the agenda-setters involved.

Focus and Direction

One of the major problems with the Gameplay Summit was its lack of focus – it was not clear from the onslaught what was the major topic of discussion (e.g., Piling? Tagging? “Clock Raiding”? Influence?). This meant that most of the discussion was exhausted solely on the topic of what was the Summit’s agenda supposed to be about – this lack of focus was then exasperated by an unnecessary exposition of these representatives’ “nirvana” for Military Gameplay. Instead of specific reform, we were entertaining vague and often radical dreamscapes from representatives.

Not only was there a lack of focus and direction in the Gameplay Summit, but Defenderdom was giving mixed signals to the Site Administration – this is because different defense groups have different priorities.

The United Defenders League were mostly concerned with effectively staging liberations, while The Founderless Regions Alliance and TITO were more concerned with the issue of tagging. This is a clash of priorities, since the latter group sees tagging as affecting more players and defending as economical, whereas the former group sees occupations as affecting natives more substantially and liberating as an urgent necessity. When it comes to technical improvements, these views predictably clash because ideas to counter tagging often come at a cost of restricting the (already stressed) capacity of liberators to free occupied regions.

Representation

With the exception of Mallorea and Riva, I would divide the representatives into three broad categories: (1) Quiet, “reasonable” and “moderate” voices, (2) People with not much stake in Military Gameplay, (3) Grossly misinformed of how Military Gameplay operates.

What’s wrong with quiet, reasonable and moderate, you ask? Absolutely nothing if you’re running in an election in NationStates. People love quiet, reasonable and most of all, “moderate” candidates. The problem is that quiet, reasonable and moderate, basically never translates into critical thinking, innovation or substance. I’ve got a rule of thumb for elections, call it Unibot’s Second Law of NationStates: the candidate who presents the fewest ideas is most likely to win, while the leader who does the least while still managing to maintain public confidence is most likely to garner public adulation and praise. Democratic politics in NationStates has this odd way of promoting inaction, prosaicism and passiveness, instead of substance or vision, despite almost every election being about “change”.

Out of the representatives, (I believe) only Mallorea and Riva had previous experience with suggesting ideas that were later implemented in the game. In comparison, half of them had served as elected public officials in Game-Created Regions. The filtering process for candidate selection, largely built a list of non-offensive voices.

For many of these representatives, this was a political opportunity to display their leadership qualities, instead of a much-needed platform for fresh ideas and innovation.

Structure

The structure of the Gameplay Summit was notably static – representatives were very limited in their ability to reply to other representatives, while outsiders were very limited in their ability to reply to other non-representatives.

This meant that most of the dialogue was artificial and contrived – the attempt to “control” Gameplay came at a heavy cost for the insightfulness and depth of the discussion.

Inactivity

Obviously, inactivity of the Organizers and the Representatives played a large role in the Gameplay Summit’s unsuccessfulness – it’s difficult to run an event when things are not promptly moving along with fresh discussion and participation.

Necessity

Arguably the most important factor of the Gameplay Summit’s demise was that it was not player-driven or player-initiated – its discussion was artificial in its origin.

When I look back at successful platforms for negotiating and developing new ideas to implement technical changes and improvements to NationStates, the reoccurring pattern suggests grassroots, horizontal, player-driven and player-initiated discussions have been the driving force of constructive input for the Site Administration. Generally, there is a crisis – and once most people are aware that this crisis exists, they come together over a proposal or a set of proposals to counter this crisis. It’s a matter of public opinion and perception shifting towards the acknowledgement of a problem and a constructive, open discussion on how to resolve this widespread problem. Take for example, the “NS World Adjustment” thread in 2008 – the Great Decline was threatening the game and commentators like The Bruce, Kandarin, Naivetry, Todd McCloud and myself, stepped up to discuss new brave new ideas, many of which would later be implemented in NationStates.

A more recent example is “Safe-Switching”, which became an open topic for discussion when it became clear that puppet-switching was extremely risky (after myself and Halcones were banned from the World Assembly), yet the problem was easily resolvable (to the point that detractors almost seemed to fancy a prohibitively dicey system). The final proposal made by Mallorea and Riva was extremely popular after some hard debate – overall, I would consider it one of the best improvements to Military Gameplay in the past decade.

An ongoing example would be the open dialogue taking place on Recruitment (as initiated by Cormac). It is nearly universally recognized that there is a serious crisis regarding the ineffectiveness of contemporary recruitment and its prohibitive cost, while a return to manual recruitment would be a return to a more unequal NationStates and a perpetuation of the status quo. This is a crisis everyone acknowledges exists and eventually solutions will develop through an open dialogue once compromises are struck and alternative approaches are devised.

Conclusion

Overall, the problem with the Gameplay Summit was that it reflected another attempt by the Site Administration to shift technical discussion and innovation from a horizontal forum to a vertical forum, which encouraged political gamesmanship and grandstanding, intellectual dishonesty and obfuscation. The Site Administration may not find it pretty to watch, but the most effective method for driving innovation and improving the game is through horizontal forums of discussion that are player-initiated and player-driven with full access to voice one’s opinion to a dynamic, as opposed to static, dialogue with their colleagues.

Despite one moderator’s (probably valid) complaints regarding the circularity and incivility of these horizontal forums, most of the accepted proposals came from open discussions, either before or parallel to the Gameplay Summit – this includes the Reformation WA Proposal (proposed by myself), Custodian WA Proposal (proposed by Mousebumbles), Mitigating influence in GCRs (proposed by Sedgistan), Regional Officers proposal which was first proposed by Frisbeeteria in 2008 during the “NS World Adjustments” discussion, and the Delegate Elect proposal, which was a trifurcation of proposals from Riemstagrad, Halcones and Guy that sought to address the widespread backlash against tagging and piling.

The Gameplay Summit was unnecessary and the package of ideas that have been released as the “outcome” of it, overwhelmingly were not the product of the Gameplay Summit.

There is still, however, many problems facing Gameplay– on one hand, the only proposal to majorly respond to piling has been sidelined, while the only proposal that was not robustly discussed by players before its introduction, the “Estimated Times” feature, will likely have no effect in resolving its primary concern of encouraging players to get involved in defending and invading (because timing technology was one of the easier resources for small, ambitious groups to obtain), while the secondary concern of limiting tagging will come at even more devastating costs to the accuracy of liberations (with which accuracy is even more important). I suspect we have several years ahead of discussion over the issues that not fully addressing piling and the difficulty of liberations will cause. Without also simultaneously addressing the speed at which invaders can ban and eject liberators, we are entering a brave new gameplay environment where chance and frequency is more favored than skill, dedicated taggers are still tagging boatloads of regions daily and liberations are even more difficult to perform.

My hope is defender commentators recognize that the “Estimated Times” feature (and the unnecessary randomization of the "Daily Dump") is not the miracle solution that they hoped would curb tagging and will come at great losses for occupied native communities, while the sidelining of the Reformation WA Proposal, marks a serious failure to address the issues that we came to the Gameplay Summit hoping to resolve. While the Feeder community was not initially well represented in the Gameplay Summit, because of their periphery involvement in Military Gameplay, they complained loudly and received substantial representation as of result – the proposal regarding Influence in Game-Created Regions was first to be implemented. Meanwhile, I think it is likely the interests of the wider public in countering a static, “end-game” in Military Gameplay (where hostile occupations are nearly impossible to liberate) are unlikely to be heard until more issues arise and more voices are heard. This will not be pleasant.

As the Dutch say, “out of the frying pan, into the fire”.

Post by **frattastan** » 15 Apr 2023, 12:27

>> NEWS

Article Nine Repealed!
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT

"Guys, how'll about we just... not vote each other off?"

Crowds cheered and threw confetti when it was announced today, outside of The Assembly of The South Pacific, that the contentious “Article Nine” of the Code of Laws had been repealed. Article Nine had granted the power to the Assembly to revoke citizenships en masse to any citizens who were apart of so-called “criminal groups”—these were regions and organizations found “hostile” by the Cabinet or the Committee of State Security and designated as “criminal groups” by the Assembly.

Speculation has surrounded the curious timing of Article Nine, which had left some of its detractors to accuse the proposal’s author, Belschaft of targeting members of The United Defenders League, while Article Nine’s proponents argued that such a motion was unlikely to pass in The Assembly.

Detractors were critical of Article Nine’s nature of collectively targeting citizens, as well as its circumvention of the formal war mechanism to declare various regions and organizations, “criminal groups” and “hostile”. Another common criticism of Article Nine was that its definition of “hostile” was open-ended, allowing for the political exploitation of the mechanism.

This repeal comes with a dramatic political turnaround – with a motion lead by Escade, Hileville and Glen-Rhodes to repeal Article Nine. Escade, especially, cited IRC logs which apparently revealed that Belschaft had intended to use Article Nine as a political weapon against an unspecified group.

The Rejected Times was lucky enough to score a brief interview with Hileville, where he spoke on the subject of Article Nine, explaining why he had supported the repeal.

“It became clear to me that Article Nine had created a rift in the community,” said Hileville, in an exclusive interview with The Rejected Times, “This rift prevented us from being able to concentrate on the most important thing which is making The South Pacific a better place to be. Ultimately I felt we could handle the whole intention of the Article in a fairer and less objectionable way”.

Belschaft was removed from the Admin staff on the same day as the IRC logs came to light that showed he had disreputable intentions for Article Nine – leading some to speculate that these events were related. While, Hileville did say he had seen the logs (which have not be widely shared), he declined to comment at this time on Belschaft’s removal because it involved an ongoing moderation discussion, although Hileville did note that the incidents were not “necessarily linked”.

Replacing Article Nine will be challenge; however Hileville has proposed several amendments to serve as a lighter, more agreeable replacement.

“I have introduced a series of amendments which will allow for the Cabinet to declare nations Persona non grata,” explains Hileville, “as well as prohibiting anyone from holding dual citizenship in a region we are formally at war with”.

The repeal itself was passed narrowly today, 10-9, in the Assembly with a dramatic vote. Discussion on Article Nine’s replacements has already begun.

Invaders Depart St Abbaddon
With WA liberation in place, what's next for Abbaddon?
COMMENTARY | GUY

Following a nineteen-day occupation invader forces are departing St Abbaddon, returning the region to its rightful native administration. The Brotherhood of Malice led occupation was carried out against a backdrop of rumours relating to a potential griefing of the region, which BoM had strongly denied.

In an unprecedented move, the invading forces proposed a WA liberation of the region. Utilising the common anxiety throughout the NS world of region-destruction by invaders, bolstered by the prevalent rumours regarding the planned fate of the region, BoM and her allies sneaked a liberation through the Security Council -- obviously, without consulting any of the natives -- and claimed to have "punk'd" defenders.

While the true impact of the liberation proposal is obviously yet to be seen, it is doubtful that its true brunt will be as extensive as claimed by the invaders. With an established native community, capable of shaping the future course of the region, it is unlikely that St Abbaddon will be turned into a "war zone". A regional poll regarding the imposition of a password has already commenced, allowing the opinion of the region to be gauged.

Should St Abbaddon decide against imposing a password, its decision will not in any way transform it into a war-zone. There are several highly successful founderless regions which have prospered without a password. Given the presence of a strong and visible native community, St Abbaddon's situation is far more akin to that of the region Stargate than Christmas. Even if it is invaded in the future, the liberation resolution will make it harder for any invading force to hold on to the region for very long; and the absence of a password will allow for regional growth.

In the alternative case, if St Abbaddon decides it would like to do away with the liberation, it should be entirely possible to repeal it promptly. The state of affairs in St Abbaddon will largely revert to their previous state, prior to its unwelcome invasion. In this scenario, it is manifestly plain that the invasion did not cause any long-term damage to the region.

Ultimately, this is an issue of regional sovereignty more so than anything else. Whichever route St Abbaddon decides to go down, it is important that the wider NS community facilitates it, especially after imposing on it a liberation which it had not sought.

Anumia set to win Europeian Presidency
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT

A hat-trick for Europeia’s Augustus?

There’s a strong possibility that Anumia could win the upcoming General Elections and become the longest serving president in the history of Europeia. Only one other player, Nlhp, has served as Europeia’s president for three consecutive terms.

On Tuesday, standing outside of Palatium Manor, Supreme Chancellor HEM took to his podium (think March's "Punxsutawney Phil") and formally called for the General Elections for Europeia to begin on March 14th, 2014. HEM also took the time during his speech to celebrate Europeia’s upcoming seventh anniversary, applauding the region’s longstanding commitment to democracy. Since then, the only ticket to have announced their candidacy has been the incumbent, Anumia and his Vice President, Malashaan.

While Anumia is the clear favorite in Europeia, one well respected voice in Europeia, Pope Lexus X, broke from the political script recently to criticize the pace of Anumia’s Great Architecture Project as “glacial”.

“I would hope Europeia is more skeptical of the project this election,” said Chief Justice Lexus, “particularly given that in two terms we have only seen legislation passed and staff gathered for the project (although the ruffling of interregional feathers is always amusing).. I would hope the next President still proceeds with its implementation but it's not a reason why we should elect Anumia over anyone else”.

However, many other citizens have come to the defense of Anumia -- noting that initiatives such as the Great Architecture Project are slow and difficult to implement, others too have expressed their hopes that Anumia is given another term to realize his vision.

So, who will be residing in 34 Goldenblock, come the end of March? Without a major upset, it looks like Anumia is on track to score a rare hat-trick. Most of the potential threats, such as Pope Lexus X, Common-Sense Politics and Drecq, have declared they will not be running. However, Elias Greyjoy still appears to be entertaining another run for President – the famed “Repeal “Liberate Nazi Europe” author dropped suggestions of running for President in his latest news article, while also hinting during a recent interview with The Rejected Times that he may run once more.

Personally, I’m just going to shoot in the dark and say: Anumia wins by a landslide. Power vacuum next election closes with a two-way-race between breakout star and current Interior minister, Mousebumples versus cherished pundit, Elias “Wildcard” Greyjoy.

You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen. *fires his “fact-o-meter” wildly in the air*

Majority of The East Pacific favors “Defender” TEP!
COMMENTARY | TRR STAFF

A regional poll, running between March 3 to 7, found a majority of The East Pacific prefer The East Pacific as a defender region, over various alternatives such as "neutral", "invader" and "imperialist". The poll was limited to “natives” (a Regional Influence quota) whose nations had higher populations than one billion – restrictions to counter manipulation and flooding of the poll.

The poll was suggested by Todd McCloud and Hobbes, a week ago, as a way of settling the debate over The East Pacific’s military alignment and “letting the chips fall where they may”, after a vicious week of political intrigue between the pro-Defender camp that leads the Magisterium and the pro-Neutral camp that dominates the Conclave.

Unibot, author of the Defender Act and the Identity Act, spoke with The Rejected Times and said he was “pleased” with the results of the poll.

“It’s satisfying,” says Unibot, “I wouldn’t come out and say this poll or any one poll is perfectly accurate – they all suffer from issues and I was worried we were depending too much on a poll to determine our identity. That having been said, what I think this poll does confirm is that when neutrals say “we represent TEP” and, you know, constantly deride defenderists for going against “the region’s values”, they’re blowing smoke more than anything else: neutrality isn’t as popular and universal as they think”.

“When we get involved in gameplay,” explains Unibot, “we’re fed this narrative about how invaders and defenders are Pepsi versus Coca Cola, brand names, you know, at war with each other pointlessly – this story largely glosses over the native’s ugly perspective of occupations and invasions. What this poll reaffirms for me is that there’s nothing to say that outsiders to gameplay don’t take a more common sense approach to it all: invading people’s homes = bad”.

The delegate, Bachtendekuppen, meanwhile, told The Rejected Times he found the poll informative, although the results were unsurprising. While he had expected defender and neutral to be the most popular categories, he did not know who to expect to win.

“The results are fairly in line with the general feeling I have about The East Pacific's population,” says Bachtendekuppen, nonetheless.

Debate regarding military alignment has largely been focused this week in a rare closed session of the Conclave, where the Viceroy, Todd McCloud challenged the compromise bill, Identity Act for expressing an opinion that The East Pacific “stands for the protection of innocent regions against unjustified invasions” in its preamble, on the grounds that expressing opinions in a law (instead of a resolution) is a violation of the Concordat.

The Viceroy believes the Identity Act, proclaims The East Pacific as “a defender region without labeling it as such”.

Meanwhile, former Magister Nalt was just as critical, when he said that “the core of the Defender Act was shortened into one line, placed into a law about tags, and we called it a compromise. I'm confused as hell as to how it worked, but nonetheless, very well played, Uni”.

Jurisdictions, one of the Conclave’s most vocal arbiters, however, called McCloud’s argument, “very very thin” and not based off of the Concordat.

“An opinion of the Magisterium can't violate free speech,” says Jurisdictions, “because it doesn't enforce those opinions upon the citizenry. An opinion of the Magisterium can't violate the Delegate's competency of Foreign Affairs because it doesn't require the Delegate to subscribe to a viewpoint in his affairs. An opinion of the Magisterium as the unenforceable preamble to a law is not against the Concordat, since the Concordat gives the competency of passing law to the Magisterium, and they may use any template or format of law that they deem appropriate in the execution of their duties”.

With this poll adding fuel to the fire, even corroborating the Identity Act’s expressed opinion, this discussion in the Conclave was bound to be extensive, however Todd McCloud eventually suspended the investigation, noting to the Conclave that Jurisdictions had convinced him his argument was "difficult to defend in a court of law".

8th Annual Defender Awards
COMMENTARY | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

The 2014 Defender Awards hosted by the Founderless Regions Alliance is an event that celebrates the accomplishments, trials, and errors of the defending community. We had various shockers and not-so-shockers awarded, while controversies was stirred before the nomination period began and after the awards ceremony.

The Defender of the Year Award (formerly EuroSoviets Award), it was hotly contested by Benevolent Thomas, tactical officer of TITO, and Karputsk, prominent defender and Arch-Chancellor at the time of the awards of FRA. Despite hosting the awards ceremony, Karputsk won the award with a "more concrete lead".

"I will spare you my self congratulations," says Karputsk modestly.

However, Benevolent Thomas made a come back and defeated Karputsk to take home the coveted Ananke Award.

One of the shockers of the Awards, included Horse being named Updater of the Year (aka Sir Lans Award), who managed to beat various veterans such as Benevolent Thomas and Ravania. Despite being a newcomer to defending this past year, Horse managed to pull it off. Congratulations to him.

The Meltdown of the Year Award has had quite a stir following the announcement of the winners. Cormac tied with the Kemetic Republic of Osiris. Despite seconding his own nomination for the award earlier on, he accused the FRA of "petty personal attacks".

Karputsk responded expressing the opinion that the victory had to do with "his several high profile" switches from the United Defenders League, the Pacific Army, and the Brotherhood of Malice, and the "habit of saying things one minute and then saying the opposite another" and not with any other reason.

Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees of this year's Defender Awards!

Assassins Liberated
COMMENTARY | TRR STAFF

Boom! Like a fiery bolt of lightning, the unified force of defenders overwhelmed the Brotherhood of Malice in Assassins, last night. Of course, the victory was not without its casualties – Venico, the invader delegate, proved excellent as he prevented a liberation attempt at minor update and had ejected and banned four defender soldiers at the latest update, before being overthrown. Certainly, a valiant effort.

Assassins is one of many liberations to have been run from behind passwords – another notable example of passworded regions being invaded, despite a password having been in place. After the operation, the Rejected Realms Army’s flag flew proud on the lead defender’s nation, while other participating defender forces included the UDL, Wintreath, ESPA, LLA, Madrigal and of course, the FRA.

Karputsk, one of the mission’s organizers, was certainly a happy camper when The Rejected Times spoke with him after the successful liberation.

“Two long-term supports and two liberations all in one update,” says Karputsk, “Good job all around and thank-you to the various militaries that lent a hand”.

Wintermoot from Wintreath, spoke with The Rejected Times regarding his prior concerns for the natives.

"The invasion had the potential to last a long time had it not been stopped early," says Wintermoot, "so I'm glad we were able to put an end to it in 24 hours before it got to that point. In spite of a number of support operations going on as well everything went great, like a well-oiled machine. It was overall very impressive, in my opinion.".

Sovreignry, UDL’s Chief Lieutenant, was also happy to see the region freed. Although he added humorously that he had almost lost track of time while listening to a podcast – having just barely caught the “one minute” warning notice.

When asked whether he was impressed with Venico’s trigger finger, Sovreignry grinned.

“Didn't get me,” he said, cheekily.

Liberty Riders Ride into Town...
COMMENTARY | FRATTASTAN

"There's a new Sherr-- wait a second... Punk Daddy!?"

Punk Daddy, of The West Pacific and Meritocracy fame, announced last week the birth of his new "defender" organisation, Liberty Riders International.

While the event itself comes as somewhat of a surprise given the founder's long-time criticism of the "R/D paradigm", which he considered too limiting, there a few aspects of Punk Daddy's vision which set the Liberty Raiders apart from your usual defender group.

Recalling his early interactions with the Alliance Defense Network which led him to become disillusioned with the "moralist" mindset prevalent among defenders and to see them as hypocrites more concerned with complaining about unbalanced rules or pondering philosophical questions than fighting invaders (more of an unfair stereotype than reality, if you ask the author of this article), Punk D explained the anti-moralist and "for fun" approach which will characterise the LRI, with a view of invasions and defences as nothing more than a red vs. blue conflict.

Much more noticeable than this, however, is the decision "not to defend any random founderless region out there that gets attacked". The Liberty Riders, instead, will be concerned only with those regions which sign security agreements ("contracts") with them, offering them military defence and giving tips how to protect themselves. This choice is clearly atypical for defenders; some would even go as far to say that the essence of "defending" in NationStates is the protection of arbitrary regions, be it for reasons of fun, common interests and solidarity, or a sense of moral justice.

Given these restrictions it is questionable, especially in the first weeks of its existence, whether there will be enough opportunities for action for the fledgling group.

Punk Daddy, overall, doesn't seem worried and believes that the contracts will make the LRI focus better its efforts, and hopefully become a propaganda tool which, if the organisation proves to be effective, will encourage more people to join its ranks.
It seems also possible that, along with their usual activities, the Liberty Riders will continue TAO's "transitioning program", where very small founderless regions – the most common targets of tag raids and practice invasions – are "closed down" to foreign military activity through passwording, refounding or, simply, by letting them cease to exist.

Reactions among major gameplayers have been mixed, with criticism directed towards the 'contractor' nature of the group and how it may only make signatory regions more vulnerable to attack. Of those who expressed appreciation for Punk D's effort, Belschaft praised LRI's decision to take a "let's have fun" approach to defending, seeing it as an ideal continuation of the Bigameplay movement he helped found in 2012.

NSG provides resources for Suicide and Depression
COMMENTARY | TRR STAFF

NationStates General (NSG) has a new “sticky” thread – posted by Transnapastain, the thread provides resources regarding suicide and depression for players. The thread presents links and phone-numbers for numerous helplines in various countries.

Players have proposed help threads and resources for suicide and depression for NationStates General, given concerns in the community for the well-being of its members, especially after a series of attempted suicides online in NationStates General and a growing awareness among all players about the gravity of depression as a mental health issue.

Nonetheless, the thread serves as a compromise between those who wanted a more active “positive space” thread for players to discuss overcoming depression and suicide and those who believed that NationStates General was not a forum for receiving help on mental health issues.

We here at The Rejected Times would like to give a “shout out” to Transnapastain, the moderation staff and the players involved with the decision. Good on you!

Commend Anime Daisuki illegal
COMMENTARY | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

Moments after the Commendation of Anime Daisuki was passed...

The commendation of Anime Daisuki was declared "illegal" after it was passed by the World Assembly. The illegal insertion of the phrase "in the game" found in several different drafts caught many prominent Security Council authors off guard:

"acknowledging the ongoing positive influence to the world by one of the largest regions in the game"

The reactions of prominent World Assembly members were that of surprise.

"Somehow I didn't see that," admitted Skyrim to the World Assembly.

"Even I missed that rule violation - and I read it over like three times," added Unibot.

The appropriate action taken by the NationStates Moderation was to "discard" the proposal - meaning that regardless of the outcome, it would not be legally recorded into the books; if the proposal passed, Anime Daisuki would not receive a Commendation badge. Despite Moderation protocol being followed, there was outrage in response to this action.

"Everyone's allowed to think they vote for Anime Daisuki to get the commendation, but he doesn't actually get it," said Ananke.

Clearly, a large margin of NationStates wanted Anime Daisuki to receive his commendation.

To make things clear, the reason why Moderation can only discard proposals that are illegal either before or after they are voted on, is because they would have to shut down the "WA servers" to remove the illegal proposal which would disrupt the flow of the game itself.

"Imagine having your resolution in the queue, you're not expecting it to go to vote for another 3 days, you come back after the weekend and notice that the prior resolution at vote was discarded and yours is up for vote for days already with your opponents already having campaigned it into the ground," explains Ballotonia, Game Administrator

Ballotonia is open for less intrusive suggestions, however. There has been a few proposals to delete the illegal clause.

Bachtendekuppen Re-elected
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT

The Puffin has been re-elected! The election itself was, perhaps by some’s standards, a blowout if not outright uneventful.

Bachtendekuppen was elected with twelve votes to Hobbes’s two votes and PrussianEmpire’s one vote. Arguably, apathy was a major issue with these elections, since over 37% of the voting electorate chose to abstain, as opposed to supporting one of the three candidates.

Hobbes made a brave move, switching from his initial support the Defender Act to being venomously against it, in time for elections – commentators suspected this strategy would cost him voters, by alienating him from the defender-friendly base that had supported his campaign last year, when he chased after Bachtendekuppen but faced narrow defeat. With the notable exception of Todd McCloud, major neutral voters supported Bachtendekuppen, their old favorite, despite his signing of the Defender Act only weeks before.

We managed to catch hold of the election’s clear victor, over fishfingers and custard (a puffin favorite).

“I'm happy that my performance during my first term is being positively affirmed,” says Bachtendekuppen, “As a first-time Delegate that is a huge re-assurance. It has been a very intense experience and I'm proud that I can serve my region for another term”.

His priorities for the coming term reflect a complicating situation in regards to intergovernmental relations with the Magisterium and the Conclave at one another’s throat, especially on the contentious issue of election reform.

“Now that elections are over, TEP will move forward with some important points,” explains the Puffin, “Firstly I'll be implementing the new recruitment system I proposed, to involve even more nations from TEP in the actual forums. Secondly, core issues coming up right now are the balance between our various institutions and election procedures. I will be as constructive as possible in furthering whatever steps we need to take on this front”.

Bachtendekuppen licked the fish oil and custard off his flippers – this was a delegate aware that he faced a term full of issues, but was nonetheless determined to put on a brave and determined face. While he has his detractors, Bachtendekuppen is one of the few candidates who is exactly what it says he is on the tin’s label: conservative but adaptable. Stable but dynamic.

TSP Recognizes OFO
COMMENTARY | HORSE

The South Pacific, after much kicking and screaming, has finally recognized the Osiris Fraternal Order (OFO), after being founded on December 9th 2013.

This comes after months of being steadfast in saying that the regional government would consider recognizing the legitimacy of the organization/government of the region if it could be proven they could be a stable organization. The Minister of Foreign Affairs from The South Pacific made it clear that this decision had not come lightly.

“This decision was made based upon a pragmatic political analysis," says Glen-Rhodes on behalf of the Cabinet, "with the Cabinet reaching the conclusion that the OFO has the support of a considerable number of native residents, and has been working towards implementing stabilizing policies”.

Another major reason for this move, according to the cabinet, is the passage of a constitution by popular vote and the elections of the Pharaoh and the Speaker.

Osiris has also approved the allowance of Spiritus citizens -- a region once deemed "hostile" (declared hostile by both regions), Osiris has since moved towards partially fixing relations with the defender region. It is unclear whether Raven, new Pharaoh of Osiris, and his government will continue the progression seen in his short time. Here's to hoping, however, that the situation becomes much more stable in Osiris, and things will continue to progress in a positive manner for the resilient sinker region.

Instant-Runoff Voting Act Vetoed
Begins Heated Conclave Discussion
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT

IRV: Complicated or Common Sense?

Magisters in The East Pacific were shocked when the Instant-Runoff Voting Act was vetoed by the delegate, Bachtendekuppen. The Instant-Runoff Voting Act would move The East Pacific away from running its delegate elections using the First-Past-The-Post model.

Proponents of the Instant-Runoff Voting Act suggest that the First-Past-The-Post model suffers from the “spoiler effect” and allows the delegate to be elected without attaining a majority. The reform gained quite a bit of support from the Magisterium, where it garnered interest, but also criticism from some members, most notably, the Viceroy, Todd McCloud.

“Don't like it,” Todd McCloud told the Magisterium, last week, “If you want to be delegate, win the majority of votes”.

Provost, A Slanted Black Stripe countered this argument by remarking that the guarantee of the delegate being elected with a majority and not simply a plurality is one of the central aims of Instant-Runoff voting. Misunderstandings and concerns about the complexity and the usefulness of the voting system have been at the root of most of the opposition to the proposal.

Shortly after the veto, Bachtendekuppen told the Magisterium that he did not veto the bill because of the voting system itself, but instead because of concerns that the bill had not been thoroughly discussed enough and contradictions with the Concordat had not been considered. When asked, he told The Rejected Times that he thought the proposed new voting system was “certainly good”, although with The East Pacific’s long history for blowout elections, he doubts that the system will be of much practical advantage.

"Well, I had strong worries that it was highly in contrast with the Concordat" says the Puffin Delegate. "Since it was still being discussed even at the time of vote, I felt it could use more deliberation, hence the veto. The Conclave had not been involved either and it felt overall a bit premature. I do not think the new system itself would be bad, but I have doubts whether it would be really necessary since we never had problems with elections.

The concerns of whether or not the Instant-Runoff Voting Act contradicts the Concordat hinge on the wording of Article C, Section 4 of the Concordat – which states that the Viceroy shall “administrate all elections”. Provost A Slanted Black Stripe and other commentators have argued that the mandate to administrate elections does not preclude regulation from the Magisterium, while the Viceroy, among others, have argued that the Concordat gives the Viceroy full dominion over the administration of elections – attempts at electoral reform through the legislature would be illegal under this interpretation.

“If an election reform is passed by the Magisterium, I do believe this is a violation of the Concordat,” says Todd McCloud, “I do not believe they can alter the procedure or the body that handles elections”.

Meanwhile, Arbiter Hobbes was less confident of this interpretation.

“The Concordat does dictate that the Viceroy oversees elections -- yes,” says Hobbes, “but it does not dictate if guidelines may be set for the Viceroy to follow, which muddies the waters further, so this could really go either way, honestly”.

The reaction to this legal quagmire has spawned several different directions. First, this new interpretation of Article C, Section 4 adopted by the Viceroy has led to a judicial review of the existing electoral reform that has passed through the Magisterium – the Terms Length Act in particular is at jeopardy of being stricken null and void. Meanwhile, the Magisterium has fired back, drafting a resolution to request the Viceroy to adopt an Instant-Runoff voting system and a constitutional amendment which would permit the legislature to reform electoral procedure.

These intergovernmental developments, however, are positive, argues the delegate, who stands behind his decision to veto the Instant-Runoff Voting Act.

“Currently, both the Magisterium and Conclave have indeed been considering some options together,” says Bachtendekuppen, “so I think this is a good step forward overall".

SerinaApprox 0.96
COMMENTARY | LIBETARIAN REPUBLICS

SerinaApprox 0.96 is a script that allows you to approximate when regions update at the "major" update. While it's not perfect in estimating the absolute correct time each individual region will "update", it can however give a very clear estimate. The code itself also open source, much like NS++. The script has been relatively popular for the Lazarene Liberation Army and the Eastern Pacific Sovereign Army.

Relatively speaking, military gameplay and its talent has been restricted to certain regions, organizations, or groups of individuals. However, the popular NationStates ++ extension and widespread tagging by the Black Riders has created another dynamic in Gameplay: one where small groups of players are participating in an very large, diverse and eclectic environment.

Obviously, the most professional gameplayers will rely on triggers to match the precise time any region will update. However, those that are not knowledgeable in these techniques can easily make use of SerinaApprox 0.96, whether it's for tagging or defending. Not only will this tool build confidence for new players but it will allow new players to explore Military Gameplay and thus serve as a potential recruiting pool for prominent military organizations.

More information about SerinaApprox can be found here.

Sexting (but also Entrapment) illegal in NationStates
COMMENTARY | UNIBOT

While, by no means, is the prohibition of sexting, new, in NationStates per se, Dread Lady Nathicana has recently published a statement on behalf of the NationStates Moderation team, reminding players that sexting is illegal and the telegram system should not be used for such communication.

“Use of the TG system is in no way appropriate for engaging in sexually-graphic discussions,” says Dread Lady Nathicana, “nor is it appropriate to use the site, or any of our tools, to trawl for sexting partners”.

She also added that sexting could pose risky for participants in NationStates – not only because of the site administration, but “real life” law.

“There are a large number of underage players on this site,” says Dread Lady Nathicana, “Some are open about it. Some are not. You run the risk of committing a serious legal offense in engaging in simulated sexual discussions with minors. We take a dim view of such actions”.

This development follows the case of Freelanderness, a player, who was actually deleted for recently trying to entrap a player into sexting with a minor, using a false identity and conduct that violated the site’s rules. While the Moderation staff will hear reports of sexual abuse and sexting, it has made it clear in this recent announcement that so-called “witch-hunts” and attempts to entrap specific players will not be tolerated.

Misguided heroism aside, the question remains regarding how NationStates is supposed to deal with abuse, when underage victims often do not see themselves as victims or nonetheless, feel uncomfortable with speaking out against their abusers?

The answer, for NationStates Moderation, relies on controlled, mature reports to Moderation and the attention of multiple staff members towards the issue.

Delegate’s Poll: Gameplay Summit
FEATURE | FRATTASTAN

In a new series, Frattastan discusses the results of the latest poll in The Rejected Realms

With the Gameplay Summit still on player’s minds, I felt it was appropriate to ask The Rejected Realms what changes from the Gameplay Summit were they most looking forward to?

The results ran from March 4 to March 7, but the victor was clear throughout

Regional Officers: 41%
None of the Above: 20%
Annex: 15%
Update Times Displayed on Regions: 9%
Reformation WA Category: 7%
Delegate Elect: 4%
Influence Decay in Feeders and Sinkers: 2%
Custodian WA Category: 2%

Regional Officers stands out as a fresh idea that will change the face of administrations in regions, both big and small – it harkens back to an early April Fool’s Day joke, “Regional Moderators” and was also proposed in 2008’s “NS World Adjustment” thread.

Overall, I cannot help but wonder if these results are underwhelming (especially with 20%, voting for “None of the Above”) and speak ill of the Gameplay Summit.

Many of these proposals fail to capture the imaginations of players, both experienced and non-experienced. For saying the Gameplay Summit took such a broad and open approach to envisioning how Gameplay could be improved, the proposals stemming from it have been somewhat flat, even dull and have little relevance for the average player.

"There Is No Story Here"
[violet] denies "1969" Conspiracy
FEATURE | THE CHURCH OF SATAN

On February 25th Kringalia, by some odd chance, happened upon a nation named "admin." Why was he looking for a nation named admin you ask? Well, Kringalia himself gratiously answered that for us "I was bored and figured I should search nation names at the Boneyard. I was looking at names that would probably be reserved, and Admin was one of them." The date of it's last activity was 1969. Wait......what!? For Kringalia, the first thing to come to mind was "NationStates is way older than we thought!

" In a matter of minutes, the mysterious [violet] took care of it. When asked how it happened, why the year 1969 of all years was listed and if he was involved in a moon landing conspiracy, [violet] simply responded saying "As neat as it is to attract the attention of the The Rejected Times, there is no story here." also adding "it's what happens when a Unix Timestamp is zero." No remarks were made about the potential conspiracy, but we at The Rejected Times aren't deceived [violet]. UNIX's starting date is 00:00:00 1 January 1970, not 1969. Nice try [violet]. Something smells fishy to me. We remain suspicious that you took part in faking the moon landing of 1969, among other things.

This isn't the only instance the "1969 glitch" has shown itself. Unibot discovered it again on page 312 of the Gameplay section of the NS forum in the form of several Eternal Knights threads which didn't actually exist. When clicked, you would be informed that "the requested topic does not exist". Four hours after Unibot took a screenshot of it, I checked the page myself. Low and behold, it was still there and the time elapsed had shown, as you can see from this side-by-side comparison of Unibot's screenshot (top) and my own taken four hours afterwards (bottom).

Spoiler

Let's take a closer look at 1969 though. It was a very odd year.

[ul]
[li]The Moon landing[/li]
[li]Nixon elected president of The U.S.[/li]
[li]Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash record unreleased album[/li]
[li]Nuclear testing in Nevada[/li]
[li]The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1[/li]
[li]Paul McCartney says there is no truth to rumors he is dead[/li]
[li]Last episode of Star Trek airs on NBC
[/li]
[/ul]

[violet] is shrouded in mystery and his lack of response just screams cover up! Was he involved in a moon landing conspiracy? Maybe he helped Nixon with The Watergate incident. Did he steal the unreleased album by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash? How about nuclear testing in Nevada? Do [violet]'s frightening powers extend to the U.S. government's nuclear program? Will he use it to jumpstart the apocalypse? I hope not! Surely [violet] created the internet! Is our internet overlord hiding in plain sight? Is it that [violet] spread the rumors of Sir Paul McCartney's demise? C'mon man! He's a Beatle! Could it be that he was involved in NBC's last showing of Star Trek, one of the greatest TV series in history? Trekkies! After him! Maybe [violet] will give autographs. Won't you "Mr. Director?" It's very well possible that The Eternal Knights have miraculously gained [violet]'s favor. If that's the case, we may now have reason to fear them! Suffice to say, we should both fear and respect [violet], lest terrible tragedy befall us.

Issue XVI

Issue XVI

Re: Issue XVI