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Hello eBelgium,

As I was wandering around Congress recently, it occurred to me that maybe somebody should let you know how the people you elected have done this month. I want to make a few disclaimers first. The counts here were done by hand, and there could be some mistakes, but I do not believe any of them are significant. Also, post count and thread count are admittedly imperfect measures. Some threads counted were not serious, and others were informational only. Likewise, not all posts were of equal quality. However, given the limitations I was working with, I felt this was the nearest I could come to an objective measurement of activity. I will also note that next time there will be some changes in how I measure activity, but I still want to try to avoid making value judgments on the quality of activity. I will leave that to you.

In the order shown on the official vote tally in game:

Jacob van Artevelde – Res Belgica – 16 votes – signed in to forum Congress 2 Feb.
Jacob made 4 posts in 2 threads this month. He also made one in-game proposal that passed although it was not properly debated ahead of time.

Helviro – Res Belgica – 8 votes – signed in 28 Jan.
Helviro made 3 posts in 3 threads. He made one previously debated in-game proposal that passed.

Wolfenn – The Om Party – 7 votes – did not sign in
Wolfenn did not participate in any forum debates. He used his citizenship pass without consulting our Immigration department.

Ombenoire – Belgian Communist Party – 7 votes – did not sign in.
Ombrenoire has not participated in any forum debates, although he has been observed in other parts of the forum. He did not use any of his in-game proposals or his citizenship pass.

Tommot – Belgium for Belgians – 7 votes – signed in 2 Feb.
Tommot made 7 posts in 4 debate threads. He used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

NLSP – The Om Party, moved to Res Belgica – 6 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
NLSP made 127 posts in 21 debate threads and created 3 debate threads. He used one in-game proposal that had been debated and used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

Jonathan Clay – Belgium for Belgians, moved to Belgian Communist Party – 5 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Jonathan made 33 posts in 13 debates, and created 1 debate thread. He did not make any in-game proposals, but used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

Jamster737 – Belgium for Belgians, moved to Belgian Communist Party – 5 votes – signed in 27 Jan.
Jamster made 17 posts in 13 debate threads. He did not use in-game proposals or his citizenship pass.

Goran73 – Belgium for Belgians – 5 votes – did not sign in.
Goran did not participate in any debates. He made 2 rogue proposals in-game that did not pass and did not use his citizenship pass.

Olv007 – All TOgethers – 4 votes – signed in 27 Jan.
Olv made 28 posts in 11 debate threads. He used made one previously debated in-game proposal and used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

Jofroi – All TOgethers – 4 votes – signed in 27 Jan.
Jofroi made 18 posts in 10 debate threads. He made one previously debated in-game proposal.

Cotarius – All TOgethers – 4 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Cotarius made 43 posts in 23 debate threads and created one debate thread. He used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

MaryamQ – Res Belgica – 4 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Maryam made 67 posts in 24 debate threads and created two debate threads. She made two previously debated in-game proposals and used her citizenship pass for an approved request.

Mudduck95 – Res Belgica – 4 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Mudduck mad 40 posts in 26 debate threads and created 5 debate threads. He made two previously debated in-game proposals and used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

Ray Captain – Res Belgica – 4 votes – signed in 27 Jan.
Ray made 5 posts in 3 debate threads. He did not make any in-game proposals or use his citizenship pass.

Cooke4444 – All TOgethers – 4 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Cooke made 17 posts in 11 debate threads. He used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

E|1temkd – Res Belgica – 3 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
E|1temkd made 22 posts in 10 debate threads and created 2 debate threads. He made 2 previously debated in-game proposals.

Bert_en_Ernie – Res Belgica – 3 votes – signed in 28 Jan.
Bert_en_Ernie made 16 posts in 6 debate threads. He used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

TurboPunk – Belgian Communist Party – 3 votes – signed in 28 Jan.
TurboPunk did not participate in any debates. He did make two previously debated in-game proposals.

A Vegan – Belgian Communist Party – 3 votes – did not sign in.
A Vegan made 4 comments in 2 debate threads and created 1 debate thread. He made two rogue in-game proposals and used his citizenship pass for an unapproved request.

Xgentis Lempereur – Res Belgica – 3 votes – signed in 27 Jan.
Xgentis made 3 posts in 2 debate threads. He did not make any in-game proposals or use his citizenship pass.

Ahakas – All TOgethers – 3 votes – signed in 16 Feb.
Ahakas made no posts in debate threads and did not make any in-game proposals or use his citizenship pass.

Oleksandr – Res Belgica – 2 votes – signed in 28 Jan.
Oleksandr made 6 posts in 6 debate threads. He used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

Procuste – All TOgethers – 2 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Procustes made 2 posts in 2 debate threads. She used her citizenship pass for an approved request.

Bruno Cnudde – All TOgethers – 1 vote – signed in 28 Jan.
Bruno made 2 posts in 2 debate threads. He used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

ErnestoChope – All TOgethers – 1 vote – did not sign in.
Ernesto did not participate in any debates. He made one rogue in-game proposal.

Radakovic Nemanja – All TOgethers – 1 vote – did not sign in.
Radakovic did not participate in any debates. He made one rogue in-game proposal.

AndreasC – Res Belgica – 3 votes – signed in 15 Feb.
Andreas made 6 posts in 6 debate threads. He made one previously debated in-game proposal.

Ernest Bogdansson – Res Belgica – 2 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Ernest did not participate in any debate threads, nor did he make any in-game proposals or use his citizenship pass.

Critically – Belgian Communist Party – 2 votes – signed in 26 Jan.
Critically made 20 posts in 14 debate threads and created 1 debate thread. He made two previously debated in-game proposals, one just as we were going to press, and used his citizenship pass for an approved request.

NOTES:
There were 40 debate threads used for these counts from the public area of Congress. Nobody posted in all 40. There were 20 vote threads on the forum. I also did not count those this time.

Some people, such as Procuste, were more active in the private area of Congress, where she is one of the most active posters in the immigration threads. Several others would have higher counts, also, if I had counted those. Not participating in debates is not proof that Congress members are not active or informed, but it could be one indicator.

Several of the most active debate posters are people who are not living in eBelgium at this time, either Honorary Citizens or Friends of Congress. They were also responsible for creation of several proposals resulting in votes.

Experience in Congress is clearly no indicator of activity. Some of the most experienced did not participate on the forum or make significant contributions in a mass PM in-game. Some freshmen Congress members made more significant contributions, and several unproven hopefuls for this election made more posts than experienced CMs. Neither is party membership an indicator. There are members with both high and low activity across party lines.

Several members of this Congress were also active in government. They expended time and energy in service that does not show in these counts, although some of them also were active in debates.

Despite the disappointing results, this Congress has passed several proposals to help eBelgian citizens, including citizen packs, a loan program, a subsidy program for younger players. There are others still being considered. Needless to say, this would not have happened without debates and forum votes. To take advantage of these and other programs, you need only sign into the forum, and you will be directed to the proper threads.

tl;dr version: Although participation in forum debates is far from a perfect measure, it does suggest an interest in doing a good job for you in our Congress and can result in programs to help you. You cannot assume your Congress member is doing anything. Take a look for yourself, and think before you vote.