We now have a map in Canada. And a political party system. And while both are new, I think we should be working ways in which we could use the map and the parties for future roleplaying adventures in the region. Stuff like

"War"
or "Trade"
or even "Railroads" - "CPR??"
Theres a lot we could now think about doing, besides the usual, which is so far creating regional ties with other regions, mostly for the sole purpose of defending from regioncrashers (which is nice! but limits the amount of RP that can take place)

I like the random chat, or the occasional conflict with the region, but so far the uses of the forum are limited, and I never if rarely see half the people who are applied on the map use the forum boards for anything. Perhaps they feel left out?

I propose developing an army system, a system of trade, and doing other regional things that could deal with the parties, or the map...something to get other people posting on the forum board. On top of that I propose the creating of a grand railroad, travelling east to west, coast to coast. Through nations that will enter a draw to see who the main lines will run through (i can add it to the map). What does everyone think?

I really like the railroad idea, I think it'd fun.


But what exactly is the job of the new minister position that you propose?

Popo's ideas are within the spirt of this region. Since January, we have vastly expanded this region from an empty wasteland preoccupied with timid discussions about a constitution to an active region with laws, diplomacy, a map, and a Parliament.

Mr. Popo seems to be expanding the region along the roleplaying aspect of the "game", an aspect that has by and large been ignored, in spite of requests by some for more RP related features.

As such, I lend my support to the ideas put forth by Popo.

I also wish to caution that I don't think the implemetation of his ideas will require a new Ministry (the existing ones can take responsibility of new RP areas that logically fit into their respective portfolios).

Which is fine and all if the ministry thinks they can handle the ability to create an aeconomic and battle system, and moderate it. If not, then, and only then, do I propose a new ministry.

I would like to refer people to Eastern Europes RP board for rules governing war, I think they have an economy too. Well I'm not so keen about some of their rules and regulations, they have the right idea
http://s4.invisionfree.com/Eastern_European_HQ/index.php
http://members.cox.net/easterneurope/EE/index.html

and they also have a homepage.

Perhaps we could delve deeper. And like I said, if the current ministry can do it I'm all for it. Cause I certainly don't have the patience to run for a new position. Cartographer is just fine with me. I will, however, assist in creating some new forum toys though, by request.

I haven't discussed this with Cabinet, but I think this large task should be delegated to a committee of people who are interested in this new venture. Each can do research, come up with a proposal, and submit it to cabinet. That way, those who are interested in the RP aspect can propose a system to their liking.

I'd suggest that the committee, once formed, scan other regional boards for RP innovations. I can point interested parties to England, who have their own stock exchange. I don't know how it works, but from the Economic point of view, that may be something to look into.

I am hesitant to get too involved in this - I am supportive of the idea, but as I'm not much of a roleplayer (outside of the political end of things, which exists already), I think the leg work should be done by all those RPers in the region - that way, they'll get a product that they like. I would be happy to provide administrative support (as is my role as MoR).

This is a great idea, and one that will certainly add another dimension to the game for a lot of people. The Military Might thread in Military Might will be a useful tool for this venture. There may even be some scripts out there that will automate certain aspects for the committee - it'll just be a case of being patient to find and set up the relevant hyperlinks to them.

At this time I'd now like to propose the cleaning up of some of the forums on this forum board. It's not neccessary. But it would be nice, and easier to navigate, if some of the older more ignored threads are removed and/or archived somewheres.

Specifically, what do you have in mind? I think the Pan Canadian Community forum can go, since it is not in use. Are there others?

My suggestion would be this:

1) Change the board format to something like

• Welcome to Canada;
• Out of Character Forums;
• Roleplay Forums;
• The Ballot box;
• Internation Affairs;
• Your Government;
• Administative Notes;

2) Move the Dogs of War and Canadian Intelligence Agency Forums to the Minister of Defences Forum;
3) Archive any threads in excess of 6 months (as read-only);
4) In the Administrative notes, pin a "Request re-opening" for closed topics
5) Active forums (like "Current UN Resolutions" to receive a read-only archive section (pinned and closed), where obsolete Resolutions can be filed;
6) "Election Archives", to contain separate archives for each Ministerial position so that there's only five arhive files. The referenda can stay in placed. These can then be pinned and closed

This would be each forum and sub-forum would recieve an 'Archive section', but this could always be put at the bottom. If created properly, it will always show everything within it.

Any archiving, moving, or reorganisation should be completed without the 'show link' or 'redirect' feature to keep it nice and simple. Got to love php. :D

What do people think?

I disagree about the order of the board. Since the whole point of NS is about government, I think that the government threads should be above the OOC and Roleplay threads.

I was just thinking about making a warmer 'welcome mat'. It was just an idea. How about something like:

Welcome to Canada;
Your Government;
International Affairs;
The Ballot box;
Out of Character Forums;
Roleplay Forums;
Administative Notes;

I think the orders pretty much an academic moot point. The order has worked thus far. I will agree with MrPopo that many of the forums and sub-forums are very cluttered and in need of a clean. It's just how to go about it.

I think the ordering issue should be discussed/voted on by Cabinet (with input from citizens). As the movement of forums, I think as Minister of Defense, if you want to move CIA and DoW to the Minister of Defense Forums, you should feel free to do that right now if you wish - they are Forums under your Ministry's control.

The Archiving, etc - I'm not sure I totally understand what is being proposed - I'll just let the discussion rage on for a bit and keep my mouth shut, and hopefully eventually I'll understand what the plan is :)

I've had a look on the Manage Forums page, and it can only modify sub forums and send existing forums to Parent forums or Categories. I think a root-Admin will need to do this. It's not the right permission-mask.

The only Root Admin hasn't appeared on these forums since last August. I guess we're stuck.

I can try moving it to the 'parent' and then moving it again. Apologies if it appears in a weired palce. If so, it'll get moved back.

I don't think anyone's allowed to put a sub-forum, under another sub-forum.

The only way to put the DoW and the CIA in the MoD forum is to take all the minister's forums out of the current parent forum.

Damn. That would mean taking the Board off-line and re-organsing the entire Your Government parent, or to make a sepaarate Parent for each Ministery under a new Category (Your Government). Scrub this idea - it's turned into a unsound plan. I've just contacted InvasionFree Technical support to see if there is circuitous way. Response pending.

yeah I'm not sure how to go about it on a mass scale. But taking largely unused threads and putting them in an "archive" forum as "readonly" or deleting them altogether was the initial proposal. But I am all for a reorganization of the entire forum as well, namely deleting obsolete or redundant threads, clarifying certain thread topics, and pinning all governement related threads (and in that case having less forums within forums within forums.....). Is it possible that instead of subcatagorizing everything, that the main parts of the forum are put in the main forum. Links to the political parties forums can be listed on the main forum. So can links to the ministerial positions forums and the cabinet or parliament.

And I don't know about anyone else but the whole format where theres a large thread of pinned forum topics that are not listed by recent post with the rest of the boards kinda makes finding recent posts a pain in the ass. lol I can't explain it, it just seems to urk me. Anyways, I leave it to the only people who can do these things.

And if its possible to shrink the lists of categories and sub categories within categories, then I'm all for that.

I will go on record as being entirely opposed to deleting threads. When I undertook the task of resuscitating this Ghost Town back in late December, I was grateful that nothing had been deleted. It helped immensely from a historical point of view, understanding what happened and what went wrong which caused Canada to essentially die.

An Archive is fine, but deletion, in my view, is a dangerous precedent to set. All past threads are part of the history of this place, and I don't think that this history should ever be deleted.

Without taking the board off-line a complete rehaul will be very difficult. The restructuring should be faily simple when a format is decided. As Bweezy mentioned earlier, it will need discussing in Cabinet and then proposing to the Citizens for their input/suggestion.

No, it's not possible to put subforums into subforums. You were right Checkers. :D It would require the board being taken off-line to reconfigure.

Where is there a forum with a lot of pinned topics?
(Pinned topics are also updated by recent posts btw)



and I agree with Bweezy, I don't think anything should be deleted.

But I'm not so sure about the archive thing....wouldn't that just make even more forums, and even more clutter? For now, all old threads just sit at the back of the forums quietly dying off....but can be revived if need be...

That's what I was thinking. I just thought I was being stupid and was missing something obvious, so I was keeping my mouth shut for the time being (yes, I know, totally out of character for me).

Personally I don't see how it's bothering anyone, if it's just they're just sitting there on the last few pages of the forum...

Especially when it comes to thing in the OOC forums, I think they should be left there, because I think people should feel free to revive any of those at any time (they're timeless :D )

Agreeing with that, I do understand Popo's desire for less forums. FOr a newbie, such a long list of forums can be intimidating (hence I started hiding forums within forums - such as the embassies and such - that way, the list is shorter).

No deletions in my books but anything to make it simpler would be good. I said this a while back "miss a few days miss alot"

We have a forum that is extremely successful and there can be an awful lot to pick up on when you return. For example I did not have a lot otime this weekend to check in and today was real busy and my connection did not work earlier so it will take me afew days to catch up. For a newbie it could take a while to get through the large number of posts.

I don't know what the best answer is. Right now it works for me.

Archiving doesn't ake up space or create more forum. Sorry to be pedantic, but that's the point. All you do is move threads there with no 'redirect link' and they'll sit there doing nothing if stored as read-only and the 'add new post' mask is removed. They can be re-opened whenever is necessary. This conversation appears to be over as it's starting to go round in circles and will only end up in a pointless argument (in my opinion). Perhaps a new thread in Citizens Voice should be created by Bweezy (seeing as you're out MRA). If it's decided that a new format/archiving is required, it could go to Cabinet vote suppose.

If its in no contestion to the rest of you, I'll just sit idle and assist as requested, and in the meantime leave little reminders and ideas for how to make the forum better in this thread, such as now redirecting the topic back to the original point, which was to create an rp system and introduce it successfully to the region. Like I said, though, everything I say is just ideas. I don't demand anything from the cabinet :)

No worries. :D

Hello.

While a new immigrant, I'd like to jump right in if that's all right.

It seems to me that the one Ministry lacking in our government is that which oversees the thing that is purely Canadian: hockey! Surely if Doughnuts and Beer are worthy of cabinet status, so too is our game.

I suppose one could expand it to a Ministry of Sport so the folks at Curling and Skating don't feel left out, but let's face it: without Canada hockey is diminished and vice versa. That's not quite true of the other sports.

I'm happy to serve if asked but others should weigh in as well if they're interested.

Thoughts? Referendum?

He does make a point. This region, while budding in hockeytalk, is lacking an international sports competition organizer. We know of such rp sporting events taking place in other regions like the north pacific from the cabinet reports and ambassador reports. Perhaps sports is a good way to START the introduction of the rp element. While jumping in and allowing conflict to be the starting point of regional roleplays would be immediately deconstructive, perhaps we can ease the roleplay format in by allowing the creation of international "leagues". I'm all up for creating the 'MrPopo Muppets' hockey franchise.

Would you as volunteer (there'd need to be a democratic vote if its a ministers position) be willing to take on the responsibility to run and moderate the wins/losses and playoffs of an interregional sports league, at the same time leading discussions on a variety of sports - not just hockey, and, like the Minister of Donuts And Beer, be willing to educate the forum once a week or so on different sports from around the world, and those relevant to Canadian culture?

If so then I say start the electoral process!

When I drafted the constitution, I made up the MD&B as our Culture ministry. This was to include all elements of culture, including history, entertainment and sports. I then gave it a interesting name, as i wanted something uniquely Canadian.

Essentially, hockey would fall under the MD&B's area. However, if you want Hockey specifically mentioned, I'd suggest you gauge support for an amendment to the constitution which would include the national game somehow. Maybe a specific mention of it in the MD&B's duties might be worthwhile.

I'd be happy to volunteer in any capacity. For example, for an interregional sports league as you suggest, a great option might be a private league at Senior League Hockey which is unlike any fantasy game I've ever seen.

I do know quite a bit about other sports and I'm always happy to share. However, if the Ministry of D&B is the right place for this, I'm sorry, eh?

We could make a completely new minister position or another DMoDB, (DDMoDB? :huh: )
position strictly for sports.

My .02 cents.

Ess :)

My concern is that we are having difficulty keeping 6 Cabinet positions adequately staffed as is. The last time Canada fell apart, we had 12 or so Positions, it was too much, it collapsed, and this place died for six months. I don't want to risk having that happen again.

Would it be possible for the MD&B to appoint a special position within her Ministry, like "President of the Canadian Sporting Association"?

That way, we wouldn't have to worry about keeping it staffed all the time during off-peak periods, but when there was interest for a HOckey league or whatever, an interested party could take the lead, become CSA president, and conduct whatever fun tournament they wish to create.

If this sparks great interest, then perhaps we could elevate the CSA into a full fledgted Ministry of Sport. My concern is I don't want to create a position that will never or rarely be filled. If there is one lesson I learned from the last Great Canadian Collapse, it was to keep government at a size that is manageable given the interest of the region.

Does that sound like a fair compromise?

BTW, I'm all for an international hockey tournament hosted in this Region. That truly is the most awesome idea that has arisen here in quite some time (maybe ever).

It would be a great way to get Canada's reputation out there, and a great way to honour the National past time. I'd also very much like to ice the Bweezystan Bruisers...

Honorary positions are always a viable option, as they fulfill a specific duty in their own right. I'm inclined to agree with Bweezy that we shouldn't be founding additional Cabinet positions when there is currently no need for one.
If this idea of MrPopo's Economy etc. takes off, this could give rise to similar positions (President of Finance etc). It's all swings and roundabouts in the end.

This would be quite possible as far as I am concerned.
I'd like to hear from more members of Canada and any other pros/cons for such a position before we make a final decision.

Ess :)

I'm also agree, that a new ministerial position, may not be the wisest choice....I like the "CSA" idea.