Inside the Nine

[The Candy Lane]

Once a month, I will be interviewing the Islands politicians. These interviews may include Council members, election candidates, party leaders, and maybe even voters.

[The Candy Lane]

XKI: Inside the Nine - Issue 1

For this first issue I interviewed and Ater Nox. Ater has in the Council before, and was elected in the recent May elections. Ater Nox serves as Senator of Blue Canaria North and his primary task is to write the Monthly XKI Update which is posted here on our forum, as well as in our embassies throughout NationStates. He also runs the ongoing Featured Nation Program.



CL> Hi Ater, As you may know I'm interviewing Co9 members on behalf of the Mad Islander. I elected to start with Paffnia and yourself, as you are the newest members on the Council. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. You appeared to win the last election quite easily. What do you think gave you the upper hand?

Ater> I think there were two things that gave me an upper hand. First, I was able to pm all WA nations in the 10000 Islands shortly after the voting was open. This allowed me to spread my message and hopefully got a few people interested and reading my campaign thread. Secondly, and hopefully more importantly, I provided a list of things I will be aiming to do as a Senator. I think that giving the 10000 Islanders a clear list of what I would like to achieve helped to generate the interest that got me elected.

CL> How quickly do you expect to be able to fulfill your election promises?

Ater> Hopefully, we should see the first featured nation announced fairly soon. The next XKI report won't be written until mid-June, so any major changes won't happen until that report or the one after. My other two goals involving businesses and further interactions with allies are things I will be looking at after the featured nation program is back up and running, but I expect they will be longer term, continuing things.

CL> What is your opinion of the Council moving forward?

Ater> I'm looking forward to working with the current session of the Council. I think we have a good mix of players on the Council at the moment and things are already feeling a lot more active there now than they were the last time I was a Senator.

CL> Are you able to divulge any proposals you plan to bring forward in the Council?

Ater> I wouldn't say I have specific proposals in mind, rather some discussion points I would like to bring to the Council. For example, I would like to see a greater amount of interaction with our allies. This could be done in a lot of different ways, so I think that a discussion about what could be done is likely to create a lot more good ideas than I myself could propose.

CL> Do you have a statement you wish to make to your fellow Islanders at this time?

Ater> I'd just like to thank everyone who voted for me, and let all members of the 10000 Islands know that my door is always open to anyone who has any comments, suggestions or questions. Feel free to get in contact with me about anything regarding the 10000 Islands and I will do my best to help.

[The Candy Lane]

XKI: Inside the Nine - Issue 2

For this Second issue I interviewed Senator Paffnia. The interview took place a few weeks after his election in May. Paffnia serves as our Senator of New Republica South, and his duties include maintaining the political parties sub-board.

CL > Hi Paffnia, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. You appeared to win the last election quite easily, what do you think gave you the upper hand?

Paff > Oh, I'd say I had quite a fight, TCL. Just glad to have the confidence of the Islands.

CL > How soon do you expect to be able to fulfill your election promises?

Paff > Already started and in progress. Spam games (here) are off to a roaring start, while all new nations who've posted in the Welcome thread have gotten a PM from me about joining a political party and will continue to do so going forward. Any more suggestions on how I can implement these would be welcomed.

CL > What is your opinion of the Council moving forward?

Paff > The Council has been incredibly active on all fronts. Grub has been making technical improvements at an amazing rate, while the Council has been discussing revival and new ideas as we speak.

CL >Are you able to divulge any proposals you plan to bring forward in the Council?

Paff > I can't reveal details of the Council debate, but the gist of it is that we're working to fix a number of programs which have fallen by the wayside. See, for example, the forum post levels and Featured Nation Program, both already back again.

CL > Do you have a statement you wish to make to your fellow Islanders at this time?

Paff > I love new ideas--they're how the Islands keeps moving forward. Send any and all of them the Council's way!

[Jabberwocky]

I feel like I know the Nine personally!