Join the new world

Previously I announced my candidacy, without really fleshing out some of my ideas. This was intentional: I needed time to put what in my head, was a conclusive approach, into words. Thus, here we are with an actual statement of the what and the how of achievements I hope for in the coming month as Party President. Suffice to say, I will not be promising anything in the form of growth, nor activity nor fun.

But rather, in the vein that I have always taken, in any role I have spent time in, I hope to lay the groundwork for the long term. Thus, my intention is of course, change. That change, can be summarised incredibly easily, so here is your tl;dr:

- Wiki
- Messages
- Redefine party roles
- Split responsibilities
- Omelette
- Orphans




First and foremost, I want to address my first two points; the wiki, and messages. As a tool, I fear that the wiki is something every single person or party is ignoring at their peril. For years, I have seen very little attention paid to it, except, in todays world, a wiki is something that the internet-literate will treasure and search for as a first point of call, when they need help. The wiki of ESO? Not applicable, of little value, and most importantly, long since forgotten about or updated. However our Wiki need not be for newer members; indeed, it can serve as a tool for the established too.

As it is 'on site' so to speak, its a great way to engage with new players in my opinion, a URL which shows its part of the eRep site goes a long way to ensuring people will trust it, and use it. However, its use for the established is simple: logging activities and resources within our party: our image collection for instance, would be far better utilised if archived in a much more accessible place. Debates, policy, activities or charity drives too, would be much more readily available. A greater use of the wiki, would also go some way to encouraging stability and continuity within the power and decision making processes of the party.

In days gone by, we relied upon the forums, the constitution; these are things of the past, and with a greater use of the wiki, I am hopeful of returning to the previous reincarnations of ESO: activity, community, utility.



Messages are something that I have relied upon time and again when running the party. Whilst in theory the feed should provide us with ample space to discuss, it is often impractical for group discussion, and its also nigh on impossible to ensure people are 'in the loop' so to speak, as there is no indicator to show new posts or activity. It allows us to 'take a step back' when in reality, of any community in the UK, we should be ensuring that as a community we engage with each other, we contribute, and we discuss. Messages, in line with articles, the wiki, and the feed can in my opinion, enable us to cover all the bases.

Of course, messaging also offers us recruitment opportunities in the search for new members and the next generation of leaders: and I will go further into this detail should I be elected. For now, suffice to say, a policy of messaging recruitment goes hand in hand with membership growth.



Next we have redefining party roles, and splitting responsibilities. I will again address two at the same time, as they are interdependent policies. First and foremost, I want to replace the party definitions that have long since been ignored, in favour of a much more simplistic approach. The Party President, Councillor and Spokesman will focus upon activities centred around recruitment, or the 'external' side of the party. Notice I am not saying recruitment, but activities centred around it. Essentially, these three people will be charged with operating or overseeing the party's public side; not just its recruitment, but also, articles (hi spokesman!), activities and competitions (hi councillor!) and anything else (hi all three!) related to furthering ESO in terms of growth, impact or otherwise.

The final roles, Vice Party President and Secretary General, I will task with the 'internals' of the party. That is to be understood as mainly, overseeing and tweaking as necessary, the internal structures of the party. From communication amongst members, to policies, I see these two roles as being incredibly malleable in terms of what they can achieve. Whilst some parties focus far too much on the internal, and others recruit and do not much else as a group, I hope these attempts at organising ESO as a party which can excel in both areas can reignite the 'third way' that we started oh so long ago.



My final points, again I will address as a pair; Omelette and Orphans. These two should be clear to our older members; as they are infamous images from our collection. Taken as a pair, these two (at least to me) show the best parts of ESO. Firstly Omelette, from 'Eat Some Omelette shows what we can do when we work together, and put the UK first. It is without a doubt, the longest running (although recently dormant) and biggest in terms of food/weapons/GBP/gold given, of all the 'free things' activities that don't require membership, or allegiance in the history of the UK. As a no questions asked 'get it and use it' approach, it changed the way that people organised their charity. Whilst it has been superseded and replaced with things like NHS, there is no harm in having too much things thrown at new players.

Orphans signals the more Diakun-esque side of ESO. The less serious, more banterous, and often hazardous to the innocent, it is what kept us tightly knit as a community, and anyone who has been in ESO for months or more, has undoubtedly, found memories of Trivia, Diakun and/or our infamous #eso jaunts. This is a part of the ESO that is sorely missed, and I hope with time, growth and no small amount of work, to one day be able to say with pride, that Orphans are once again being Ended by ESO.



Thats about all I can muster without going into way too much detail for an article about a small, largely inactive party, and being overly tedious. So I'll simply say thanks so far for everyone who has volunteered. Drop me a message if you have some time you can spare to help me this month, and if not you'll most certainly be hearing a lot from me over the course of the next few days. I'll be seeing you shortly in your inbox, until then please don't forget to vote for me on the 15th. If I get anything less than 800 votes then I'll be very upset.

Ta ta for now,
~jw