Free Las Pinas for Lyonnesse East

[Free Las Pinas]

Hey everyone (and sorry about being the last candidate to post a thread)!

I'm FLP and I joined XKI two months prior to this election. Since then, I've been given amazing opportunities to serve the region in many ways. I wouldn't have been able to adjust so quickly alone, so I'd like to thank all of my fellow Islanders for the support and trust they've given me. Now, the real talk.

Why I've decided on this office:

SPOILER: Click to show

When I first came to XKI, I loved the commitment to the community everyone had, which in the long run, is why I stayed and ended up being why I was most interested in this position. I believe that the community is one of XKI's strongest points and that the House system promotes just that. It also promotes the value of camaraderie, especially when we host friendly competitions for House members to participate in.

If elected, the first thing I'd like to ensure is that we're all well informed about the House systems and that the House rosters are updated with the relevant information. This includes whether a House member is in the WA, TITO, Accelerator-eligible, or has CTE'd. I'd also like to have the House guides regularly updated to ensure that all information necessary will be accessible and accurate at all times.

Once done, we can move on to the fun part of being a part of a House. This would include the competitions such as the House Cup and Shield Competition, the House Scepter Competition, Prolific Posting, or Spam Points, which has been a success multiple times (check it out: Spam Points Houses, Tug of War: House of Improving Wordiness vs House of Aersoldorf).

As for how I align myself legislatively, I will choose to agree with the transparency pledge, which I believe is necessary for a Senator. If you're interested in what I had to say about this, you can read about my answer to HS' question (found here). I also hope to reflect the longstanding values and traditions of XKI such as defending, compassion, and mutual respect. I believe that our values are necessary to ensure that we act as one, despite any personal disagreements we may have within the region.

Please feel free to ask any questions in this thread

(dispatch version)

[Flying Eagles]

1. As a Senator, one of your objectives will certainly to expand the number of nations actively involved in the house system. XKI has thousands of nations, including a large majority not active on this forum, and only active gameside. How do you plan to get these nations to join the forum so they can become involved in the house system?

2. You mention that you’d like to keep the house rosters and guides up-to-date. How will you ensure this happens, as many LE senators have desired for this to happen before, only for it to not happen for various reasons?

[Louisistan]

Bonjour! It's question time.

What is your opinion on the Chief Executive's constitutional veto power?

Specifically, do you think the Chief Executive's veto power should be removed or narrowed in scope?

If the answer to the second question is "yes": Will you undertake or support an effort to remove the Chief Executive's veto or to narrow its scope if elected?

[Free Las Pinas]

Bonjour to you too, Louisistan ! And good morning Flying Eagles . Thanks for coming over here! I'll try my best to answer your questions

Jul 9, 2020 6:25:44 GMT -5 Flying Eagles said:

1. As a Senator, one of your objectives will certainly to expand the number of nations actively involved in the house system. XKI has thousands of nations, including a large majority not active on this forum, and only active gameside. How do you plan to get these nations to join the forum so they can become involved in the house system?

The simple answer to this question is through good advertising and incentives. I feel that to entice Islanders to join our forums, we must first have an actual presence in the on-site side of things. I believe that we must have beginner Islander guides, which would not only help new Islanders through NationStates, but also display the activities and events hosted on our forums and all other features that XKI loves, such as WA discussions, trading cards, and general chatter.
A more in-depth answer:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}

Jul 8, 2020 3:00:23 GMT -5 Free Las Pinas said:

Thanks for the questions HS. Here are my answers

Jul 7, 2020 22:07:34 GMT -5 HumanSanity said:

Name an important challenge facing 10000 Islands right now. What do you believe are some steps to address that problem?

One of the most important challenges we're facing is the division between on-site and off-site nations. Most of our events are hosted here on the forums, which essentially serves as an additional outlet to have fun with fellow Islanders and serve in our regional activities. This makes being a part of the forum an important part in being in the XKI community.

This issue has been discussed multiple times, and I think that we are making good progress in addressing it. But for the sake of completely answering your question, I'll discuss the steps I believe are necessary. The first step is to regularly update the WFE to entice new Islanders and frequent visitors of the RMB to join our forums. The next step is to add a dispatch that I believe is missing from our WFE. What I propose is a guide, or two, for new Islanders to read. I'm surprised we don't have one yet, considering that we have so much info present on our forums. The dispatch I'm proposing will (1) feature a beginner's guide to NationStates, (2) learn how to register/join the forums and discord, and (3) advertise regional activities, publications, and policies. Other info that we will soon find necessary could be added here, or in another dispatch. Now that that's out of the way, I'll go ahead with the next step, which is to efficiently advertise our off-site activities (just like what was done last month for the Summer Olympics). Overall, I think this is a do-able job, but I do have something to add to it. I think that a reasonable amount of volunteers can be the ones to relay info to the game-side community we have. If not as a volunteer job, this can also be integrated into the Cultural Office Staff. Yet another step that I propose for us to take is to understand/accept the game-side community for what it is. While I love the forum, I also understand that to many on-site nations, NationStates already offers what they want in a community. Thus, I think that we must also try to integrate ourselves into the on-site side of things. A lot of our newer members have shown interest in the WA, RP, and cards, which really goes to show the potential our newer members have to be a bigger part of our community. This leads me to discuss the last step. This is to revamp our on-site communities. We already seem to be pretty successful in on-site RP also crediting Dorab for their proposal of having our very own RP region. The two things that I think have potential in becoming something more participated in is our new cards program and our WA Secretariat Engagement Awards.

Concerning the House system, the solution would be to have House guides accessible both on NationStates and on our forums. Considering the fact that I've proposed a bunch of "beginner's guides" here, I think we can make better organization with this by having our very own 10000 Islands Master Dispatch, which would have the links to all guides, publications, and promotions.

Jul 9, 2020 6:25:44 GMT -5 Flying Eagles said:

2. You mention that you’d like to keep the house rosters and guides up-to-date. How will you ensure this happens, as many LE senators have desired for this to happen before, only for it to not happen for various reasons?

Well, the main reason why I added that detail is really because I believe it's a job for the Senator for Lyonnesse East and that I've accepted that as part of the job. I also think that the fact that to participate in a House competition, you'd need to actually have an updated roster is a reason why the rosters would be updated and that the participating Houses would be ones who are active. But since you asked, I'll try to answer anyway. It's also worth mentioning that I haven't made a clear decision myself, and I would make the final decision if I'm elected.

Option 1 - House Summit/Gathering
A simple thread or a temporary discussion channel on discord might do the trick for this one. The purpose for it would simply be to catch up with everything and make sure all of the House leaders are aware of the current state of their Houses and would decide whether they would continue going, merge into another House, etc.

Option 2 - Putting the Load on the LE
I would simply be the one to check on every House currently displayed here, and check if the rosters are updated and if they have the right amount of members to be considered active. Considering I have a good amount of time on my hands, I think the job would be do-able for me.

Jul 9, 2020 12:44:41 GMT -5 Louisistan said:

What is your opinion on the Chief Executive's constitutional veto power?

Specifically, do you think the Chief Executive's veto power should be removed or narrowed in scope?

If the answer to the second question is "yes": Will you undertake or support an effort to remove the Chief Executive's veto or to narrow its scope if elected?

I believe that public influence should be valued, but I don't oppose the Chief Executive's veto power. I trust that it's in the best interest of the CE to protect and oversee order in our region and I would likely oppose a motion to remove that power.

Please feel free to leave follow-up questions

[Free Las Pinas]

For those of you who'd like to know my opinions on some issues, please check out this and this. If I didn't state anything about the issue you're curious about, please feel free to ask in this thread!

[Free Las Pinas]

Hello everyone! The elections have begun, so be sure to cast your votes.

Click here for the voting booth
Click here for the debate thread

I'm still in the process of reading through the discussion and forming a question, so please wait.

[Paffnia]

Commiserations Free Las Pinas on a great race. I look forward to seeing you in the Council soon enough!