Question for all candidates -- Immigration (05/06)

[Grub (Lenlyvit)]

Our immigration is horrible right now. If you had complete power, what would you do to improve the immigration to the 10000 Islands?

[Bahamamamma]

I'm not a candidate, but I came to this region because of the invitation TM'd by you to me the day I created my nation...Maybe instead of looking for a few people to TM lots of nations, maybe we should ask all nations with over x population (or all nations) to TM two people each time they sign on. If you (or someone) put together a personal (but formulaic) letter we can copy and paste to our word processor and then into the TM, we could effectively invite forty or more nations to join each day in literally seconds. Even if we only hit with five percent, our immigration would be two nations a day or sixty nations a month. If we hit with 10 percent, then we will grow by 120 nations per month. I think we can get at least that many fairly easily and without much effort.

Also, we have to keep the 10000 islands message board active. I used to be alarmed at the almost one day lapse between posts. People look at the board when they check us out to see if we are an active region. There should be a mix between playful and NS related messages on the board.

I think that was a whole dollars worth of suggestions.

[The Islands of Rome]

I already started to try to recruit some new guys. Like 5 of them, it's kinda hard.

[Bahamamamma]

That's why I am wondering if we can develop a letter that reflects what we are all about. But also allows room for some personalization (Like: Your nation caught my attention due to your - _immaginative name, _ hilarious motto, _ cool flag) but also got across the point that we are active, will help them figure out the NS game, like to have fun, are multi-cultural, sometimes get involved in other regions' politics, whatever. Maybe instead of 2 we need to do 5 each. But I know that at the prospect of having to do 25 or 100 or more, I got a little turned off. I don't think I would mind doing 7-10 or so each time I signed on (i.e. every day), but many more than that seems a little overwhelming. If we can go out in mass, I think it would be better than just a few of us bearing all the effort. ----------But the only way to do that is via a form. (that sounds personal)

[Bahamamamma]

And the message board HAS to be active! I'm telling you it is critical.

[The Islands of Rome]

I was telling them about us being a defender region and the facts about us on how we defended 425 regions. And I said we were one of the best known regions in NationStates so that might get some people.

[Bahamamamma]

Below is a corny TM I just sent. I didn't understand enough about defenders and raiders when I first joined - but alot of the newbies will - you're right. Anyway here it is - don't excommunicate me for it:

Hello Huahua! I noticed you because your name is so fun to say! If you are new to Nationstates and looking for a region, come check out 10000 Islands. We are a pretty fun group and active throughout NationStates. We also have a great "big brother" program to help you figure out how this game works. Just click on my name next to the Telegram and you will see that my location is 10000 Islands. Click on that and the game will let you look at our region. If you like what you see, you are welcome to move on in! You can also TM me with any questions you have about the game.

Have fun!
Bahamamamma

[Hockeynutville]

Since TITO is back on it's feet and has been for the most part our star attraction, more emphasis should be put into it outlining some of the possibilities such as keeping track of your battles participated in with the war records, being able to compare your stats to others, winning medals, becoming a knight and being honored in the hall of heroes etc...

Be creative in your letters. Mix in a lot of role-playing material with your recruitment ads because we need to capture people's imaginations,. Never judge a book by it's cover, unfortunately 9 out of 10 people do so we need to give them a taste of what's inside, not just what's on the first page.

[Bahamamamma]

See - this is why we need a "form!" Maybe one for brand spankin new nations and one for those that are around the 20 mill mark.

[Grub (Lenlyvit)]

We do have a standardized form that we personalize a bit and send out to new nations. The Co9 has also discussed formally opening the Immigration Department to everyone. I agree about the main 10000 Islands RMB and keeping that active. People should try to post something on that at least once a day.

[Jesioneka]

Immigration is tough. I completely understand what Bahama was saying about how daunting it can be to be responsible for TG'ing for an hour a day, 100 nations, or so. Even with the form letter, it can get tiring.

From what I've seen in other regions, it also doesn't seem to matter just how many nations you have recruiting. The Lexicon was built on just 5 very <i>dedicated</i> nations doing immigration, and today -- a couple months after being founded -- they stand at around 1,000 nations. At this point, however, I'm not opposed to opening immigration to everyone as long as we maintain some sort of order so nations aren't TG'd twice.

Some of the most dedicated nations are often the newest. This is why it's important to bring new nations fully into the system and then feel comfortable here.

Along with Hockey, I believe the core to immigration is what a region offers. TITO is coming back, and it is still our main selling point and our most popular feature across NS. The taco economy is moving along better than ever, with the opening of the private sector and even more features in the pipeline. It has to be promoted more here at home to become our second selling point, so that we can really emphasize it more in our recruiting letter. We have the chance to be the only region with a fully functioning economy.

More thoughts later...I'm in the middle of finals week and, this weekend, college graduation

[Bahamamamma]

congrats on graduation!!!!

[Lythian]

Yes congrats. I have a suggestion though...

I agree with Bahamamamma. I also agree that TITO is our number 1 selling point, and I also agree that the Taco System is going great. HOWEVER, to start a business, you must have quite a few tacos. Maybe if we lowered that price to say, 1,000 tacos to start a business, then we could get more activity. Also, you should put emphasis on the Roleplaying, whether we create a few sub-forums, that way you can RP wars, Economic Treaties, etc. Just a suggestion.

[Lythian]

Oh, sorry for the double post, but I thought of something else. In another region I'm apart of, they have had an increase in population, to over 90 nations (not much I know) in only a month... more like three weeks. They have a nation on NS that is called SupremeUnionRecruiter. If we had one, titled... 10kirecruits or something, a few of them, and sit them in the feeder regions, then everyday you can have someone responsible for logging on and posting a message on the RMB of the feeder nation, promoting 10KI

[Sinn Féin's Ireland]

Not a solution, but when we recruit, we need to physically travel from 10KI to that region, post a message on their board, THEN TG all the newly founded nations. Then move back to 10KI. Then to the next Pacific. I swear, people are lazy buggers. If they have a regional traffic link to our region then they are more likely to click on it, than they are to type it in.

We need to use all the tricks in the trade. I would even suggest hiring mercenaries from other regions' recruiting squads. Unfortunately, our pioneering nature means few, if any, other regions have a currency.

[Greek People Nation (GPN)]

Immigration- Lets see about that, correct me if I am wrong, but I think we should give a salary to those that are in the immigration department. That way, if they get a certain number of nations a week, they get a bonus. I beleive that would make more nations eager to join. Also, lets get more nations involved with TITO. The more nations there the more that others would want to do, Most nations don't like joing new Defenders, lets show them why they should join, exsisting defenders. Give them a reason to join the region, show them why they should join are great region. Lets Bring Back the Glory to the islands.

[Lythian]

I agree with GPN, a salary would probably be a nice stimulant, and would probably help increase the desire to help with immigration.

[Jesioneka]

The salary idea is a great one. When we first started discussing payroll a couple months ago, I like to think I was one of the Senators really pushing to set the wage scale and get it implemented. (Not to brag -- many of our other Co9 members did a lot of work then too.) In any case, salary stalled due to practical and time issues. However, Senator XFracture is currently working on a "taco automation" system that may make it easier to do payroll. This is something I certainly hope to see implemented soon; he has been working hard on it.

I do think a salary is key, beyond immigration even, to all assistants in all ministries. I don't think it's the only solution to fix immigration, but a part of it.

[Bahamamamma]

The salary idea is a good one and is an integral part of the UPP platform (as expressed by its manifesto). The incentive program is especially attractive. The more nations you bring in, the bigger the bonus.

If an automated system is not immediately possible, we could have the bonuses paid over longer periods. For example, rather than having bonuses paid weekly, a bi-weekly, monthly or even quarterly payment of bonuses might be much more manageable for the admins and allow us to immediately begin the program.

[Otupia]

Having been head of the immigration department, I would propose that we have an Imm dept, but also outsource recruiting into the private sector that way we have 2 organizations recruiting, to avoid sending out multiple Recruitment letters to nations i propose that we use a universal way to tell if someone is recruiting (like the *R* from Imm). If you are recruiting then you MUST be on the forum with *R* next to your name. I also propose cutting jobs in Imm. We will have to study the amount of nations that come to the amount of workings and calculate Marginal returns. My apologies for my late answer.

[Gluuland]

Question: To what extent do you think the 10000 Islands should focus on internal/external affairs?
The internal affairs are obviously immigration at this point, but how much do you think other regions play a role, and what whould you like to see done in our international relations?

[Greek People Nation (GPN)]

js1490 said:

Question: To what extent do you think the 10000 Islands should focus on internal/external affairs?
The internal affairs are obviously immigration at this point, but how much do you think other regions play a role, and what whould you like to see done in our international relations?

I think other regions do not play that much for us, but it would be good to have them as allies.

[Jesioneka]

I think this question came up in the last election, and my answer has remained mostly the same.

I don't think we stand to gain much from "formal" alliances for a couple of reasons. First, our past alliances with Texas and the Urbanites didn't help us work with those regions to achieve certain goals. Second, they really are a thing of the past for big regions like us. It is unlikely that an invasion would be successful here due to our founder and delegate both being active. I can't remember a recent instance of another large region being successfully attacked, either. And, we have TITO as a resource to defend mid- and small-sized regions, rather than alliances.

That said, I am absolutely not an isolationist. I believe foreign relations are important, integral to our future. The 10KI must project a positive image throughout NS in order to attract and recruit nations. As a great region, we should be known by others. TITO helps to serve that purpose on some level.

On the other level, our emissaries play a big role in keeping friendly relations. They are informal ambassadors who serve just to represent our Islands and show good will toward other regions. Really, they are selling our region to others. At the same time, I have asked our emissaries to study the regions they are in, to learn what other regions do better and how we can improve our own.

Regarding that, and circling this back to immigration, our emissaries' studies have shown that the size of an immigration recruiting force doesn't matter as much as the dedication/devotion of its members. Hyrule is one of the few user-created regions to grow lately, and they just have 1 recruiter, according to Lythian. Lythian also reports that this recruiter personalizes his TMs and works about 4 hours per day. Similarly, the Lexicon does not employ any more than 3-5 recruiters, and that region has grown exponentially in the last few months, now with around 1,000 nations.

That's the kind of info we can use to better the region, and we would not have it without maintaining some sort of foreign relations. (Sorry for the lengthy reply!)

[Gluuland]

I disagree that alliances are in the past. In fact, I am homing to talk with a few other defender regions in the future about "informal alliances." Mainly because i want good relations with other regions, and i want common visits between our forums and regions on a regular basis-not because we expect aid from them or vice versa...

As for immigration, I have always been in favor of a smaller, yet intelligent and dilligent immigration force. I am not so much of a supporter of an open immigration board, because we shouldnt be so desperate. I brought yav in to be imm minister because she has /experience/. We are just all tied up in school right now. If there is to be any advancement as far as immigration goes, it will be this summer. Things will not suddenly become better after these elections. It takes smart, new ideas, and ALOT of time and experience.

[Jesioneka]

I'm ok with informal alliances. Anything informal, really, as long as it's not formal. The emissaries, for example, just do informal things with foreign relations. They don't tie our fates to other regions.

So, regarding what you're doing with other defender regions, I think that's fine. In fact, the way TITO operates now, we do rely on others' intelligence in order to go on missions. Also, it's because of our good relations with Canada that we've been able to have cultural exchanges for various events.

I think where we differ is maybe just on the definition of alliance and whether a "formal" alliance is useful. When I say alliance, I mean it in the sense of what we had with Texas or the Urbanites. That includes mutual guaranteed defense and cooperation on sensitive matters (like kicking/banning a nation at the request of the alliance partner.) I say they are things of the past because they've been liabilities to us, more than assets, historically speaking. We didn't gain all that much. Our relations with Canada are great without a binding alliance.

I guess it's strange for me to take this stance, given my past as an ambassador and my concern with foreign relations. But it's just from what I've witnessed and experienced first-hand. I don't mean to say that if we suddenly find a great formal alliance partner, I would turn it down. Every situation is unique. I'm just talking in generalities here so everyone gets a sense of where I'm coming from.

[Gluuland]

By "informal alliance" i really mean an alliance that doesnt involve mutual protection. (because we dont need it, and because any region we agree to be allies with [defender regions] shouldnt need it either (or because it is expected of us anyways)

The way the world stage works, we are bound to protect some regions. The problem with urbanites is that we should have ended the alliance earlier.

[Sinn Féin's Ireland]

back in the day I orchestrated plenty of alliances. And whilst i made some good friends from them, and they increased activity for a little while, they didnt serve much of a purpose. I dont think formal alliances are neccessary unless it is mutually beneficial, and even then, there isnt a real need to ally.

I think a hybrid system is required with IMM, as both Otupia and Bah have expressed.
Wages: certainly, but i'd like to see what Xfracture is coming up with first. (regarding taco automation)

[Lythian]

I agree that the automation system should be beneficial, however, I think wages is important.

[Sinn Féin's Ireland]

A man after my own heart. I agree. This is why i wanted to create the Union a while back, but the senate rejected this idea. wages have been slow coming, though of course given the potential of the new system, i'm happy to give our admin some time.
Sinn.