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| Springtime for Wintreath [Interview with Wintermoot] | |
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| Topic Started: May 10 2014, 12:00 AM (103 Views) | |
| unibot | May 10 2014, 12:00 AM Post #1 |
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Chief Propagandist
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Springtime for Wintreath An Interview with Wintermoot JOE BOBS | INTERVIEW The respected defender sat down with The Rejected Times for a rare interview... Hi Wintermoot, thank you for agreeing to take part in this interview. Thank you for this opportunity! To begin, could you provide a few sentences to describe Wintreath for our readers who unfamiliar with the region, and a few sentences on your role within the region? Wintreath was founded last October with the goal of being a less political and more cooperative community with a community focus. We have a regional government of course, but we emphasize culture and community over politicking, which make these elections all the more successful, in my opinion. I serve dual roles as both founder and Monarch, which is the Executive of the region, and I see my primary purpose in those roles as facilitating the growth of the region, leading in its direction, and guarding its principles and values. The recent round of elections in Wintreath proved to be very exciting. There were elections for the Jarl of Culture, Jarl of Foreign Affairs, Jarl of Information, and the Underhusen. First, let’s look at Jarl of Culture. The candidates were Drexyl Nox, Reon and Govindia, with Drexyl Nox emerging victorious. There was relatively little debate around this position, why do you think this was? Do you feel it invalidates the authority of the position to a degree? There are probably several reasons for this. Jarlships (Ministers) are usually positions which I appoint, and this is the first time we've tried to fill those positions with elections. The Ministry of Culture has been vacant since the region was founded, and many of our Citizens have never been part of another region, so there may have been some uncertainty about what the Ministry of Culture is supposed to do. I had planned on creating a guide to those ministries before the election, but unfortunately I had other stuff happen and I wasn't able to do so. I don't believe it invalidates the authority of the position. Ultimately, the position reports to me, and I have complete faith in Drexyl Nox. She has been part of Wintreath since the day it was founded, and has created and ran two successful character roleplays in the region. I was also happy to see that she named one of her opponents, Reon, as Thane (Vice-Minister), so actually it's the best of two candidates for the region. I agree, it’s great to see people work together for a region. It’s interesting that you say many citizens have little NationStates experience. How does the region integrate people into the community? Other than the people that came over with me, the vast majority of our community are people that were recruited as new nations. In our recruitment message, we're very detailed in what we offer as a region, then in our welcome message we highly encourage our new nations to join the off-site forums and become Citizens, and give them information on how they can participate in the things that we advertise. We also put out occasional regional telegrams about what's going on in the region, or explaining some of the things they can do as residents and Citizens of the region. Now that we have a full Cabinet, I would like to look at individual nations, see what they want to do in the region, and help them get where they want to be. That was the original plan when the region was founded, but we quickly had so many nations moving in it was impossible to talk to them all one-on-one at that point. I would also like to start a mentor program to better assist our new Citizens and get them involved in the areas of the region they want to be in. Moving on to Jarl of Foreign Affairs, in which the nominees were Chanku, Harry McClain, Horse and Govindia, with Horse as the victor. The debates here became particularly ferocious, both in the official thread and Harry McClain’s campaign thread. What did you think of the conduct of the debate? I thought it was a lively debate that was interesting to read through. Since it was Charax's position before he had to depart from NationStates, I was glad to see people actually putting in effort to succeed him. You had Horse running on his experience and knowledge of other regions, Chanku essentially pledging to adhere to our more regionalist policies, Harry McClain offering a different perspective and new ideas, and Govindia giving his at-times controversial views. I think the fact that Horse didn't win by quite as much of a landslide as people did in some of the other positions shows that the debate was very successful, and most of the candidates distinguished themselves well. It was certainly a great debate to watch. I always flick through election threads in the regions I visit and this one really caught my eye. As you say, there were some views mentioned that may have been considered controversial by some. Do you think this could cause any issues through the coming months? I would hope not, as clearly these were opinions given as individuals in a debate for political office and not statements from the government. Although some of the opinions expressed were controversial, our Citizens have a constitutional right to speak their opinions, and I would hope that would not raise any serious issues, especially now that that race is over. On to Jarl of Information, candidates Chanku and Govindia, where Chanku gained a landslide win. Again, there was relatively little debate around this position. Why do you think this was? Do you think it is indicative of the prestige of the position? This is another ministry that has been vacant since the region was founded, and there may be some uncertainty about what exactly it does and what the people running it could get out of it, given the lack of candidates that ran for this position compared to some of the others. In a way, it's a shame, because in fact this is probably one of the most important ministries in the region, responsible for news communications sent to the region and for guides that are advertised to new players in our recruitment messages. I hope now that it has an actual leader, the importance of the ministry will become more obvious to the region. Chanku was one the first people recruited to the region as a new player, and has a very versatile skillset. I'm sure he can make the ministry into a success. And finally the Underhusen, for which five positions were contested by Alterra, Ceardia, Chanku, Drexyl Nox, Govindia, Old_Namibia, Weissreich, BlackTudorRose and Harry McClain (winners Chanku, Ceardia, Alterra, Weissreich and BlackTudorRose). The election ended with a tie for the fifth seat, resulting in a run-off election. Additionally, several candidates mentioned reforms for the Underhusen in their campaign speeches. Do you think this affects the Underhusen’s mandate; does the Underhusen have the faith of the region behind them? I certainly hope so, since the purpose of the Underhusen is to represent the voice of the people. I think people have ideas for reforms in every region, and especially in a relatively new region. Any issues within the Underhusen are minor and will be resolved in time as our region gains more legislative experience. I don't see how it would affect their mandate or make people have less faith in them.As you mention, the region is relatively young. What do you think has caused Wintreath to become such a large and active region in so short a space of time? I think it's definitely the friends that came over with me. I just can't overstate the contributions of people like Charax, Insenjar, Denth Rowan/Kasten, Nox, Reon, Horse, and so many others that were there from the start. They were there to start the community, to help out new players that have since come to be a great part of the community, to get our foreign affairs, culture, and military in order, and so much more. You just can't run a large, expansive region by yourself, and I couldn't have been successful in leading Wintreath without them. The election received a record number of 23 votes, a record for the region. This is surely a great vindication of democracy in Wintreath. Is there anything about the election process you would like to see changed in future? On my end, I would like to do more of the work of organizing the election before it starts, particularly when it comes to ensuring our Citizens know what role each part of the government plays and with organizing debates. We could have had even higher turnout, but several Citizens declined to vote because they felt that they didn't know the candidates or their positions well enough to make an informed decision. Getting people more involved in the region in general would raise turnout as well, and I hope to do that now that we have leaders for the Ministries of Culture and Information. It certainly sounds like there is a lot of opportunity to build on what you have already achieved! Thank you very much for this interview Wintermoot, we look forward to hearing more about Wintreath in future. |
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Former Delegate of The Rejected Realms Former Editor-In-Chief, Maestro | |
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| Joe Bobs | May 10 2014, 01:16 PM Post #2 |
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Hasta la victoria penguins!
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Thanks Uni. Happy for me to post in Wintreath as well? |
FRA Arch Chancellor | |
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| unibot | May 12 2014, 12:09 AM Post #3 |
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Chief Propagandist
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Sure man! |
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Former Delegate of The Rejected Realms Former Editor-In-Chief, Maestro | |
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I think people have ideas for reforms in every region, and especially in a relatively new region. Any issues within the Underhusen are minor and will be resolved in time as our region gains more legislative experience. I don't see how it would affect their mandate or make people have less faith in them.




12:22 AM Jul 11