December '12 MoLA - First Week Report
Day 1,850, 11:48
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Department for Education
Law Proposals
Here is the list of Laws which Congress have voted on in the last week.
Natural Enemy - Belgium - REJECTED.
This law was proposed by Igor Pankry in reaction to Belgium proposing us as Natural Enemy. This is usually a normal and good thing to do but all Congressmen had been told explicitly not to do this because we had asked Belgium to declare war on us to start a Training War.
Igor made a mistake which he apologised for and now Congressmen are making sure that they read their PMs
🙂
Mutual Protection Pact - Indonesia - ACCEPTED.
This law was proposed by BigAnt as part of our long alliance with Indonesia. They are an old and strong country capable of doing a lot of damage for us.
Natural Enemy - Germany - REJECTED.
This law was proposed by Kamoris KSC out of the blue with no discussion. We can't win a war without planning one first with our own citizens and our allies so this was pretty stupid.
He has also been trolling PMs and IRC and we have been speaking to Germany about improving relations so this was just a troll proposal. We have managed to fix things up with Germany and convince them that it was just one idiot.
BigAnt Tax Cuts - REJECTED.
This law was proposed in BigAnt's Presidential Manifesto and tax cuts are part of UKPP Policy. We have been debating this all week and ultimately BigAnt and UKPP did not convince the other parties that this would be beneficial to individual players and not cause big cuts in popular Government schemes such as Call to Arms and MPPs.
I'm disappointed for BigAnt that Government Policy did not pass but I am pleased that Congress are strong independent thinkers. To those crying bias, I actually don’t support Tax & CTA Cuts. Expect this issue to appear again during the Congress elections!
Mutual Protection Pact - Bulgaria - ACCEPTED.
This law was proposed by NoLimit, the President of Bulgaria, as part of our friendly stance towards the CoT alliance. They are another strong country who can do a lot of damage for us if we need it.
Citizenship Passes
Here are the Citizenship Passes which have been given out in the last week. Investigative journalists get stuck in!
UKPP:
Mastaan -> Lady Macbeth II
Alekamchev -> Kamoris KSC
dule91nbgd -> Igor Pankry
MacedoniaHero -> alexg737
missingno -> WayneKerr
partizan83 -> alexg737
fagyan -> alexg737
TUP:
mickdude -> Gucio16
Requiem Domine -> Gucio16
Furija.BRE -> Gucio16
Emperor Brandon -> Niemand
cenodekaMKD -> Niemand
bencocel -> Niemand
ESO:
bepeiloveu -> Blue And Evil
Augustus Grim -> Betafoxtrot
UKRP:
Lily Jayne Summers -> Minecrafting Instead
Nathan Lloyd -> 5butjam
Congress Communication
This month we are trailing a new in game communication system, using group PMs and articles to discuss laws and issues.
90% of Congress have access to the new in game communication system. In contrast only 57.5% of Congress had access under the old system. If they actually read their messages in either system is another matter but under this system it's right there in their mail box if they log in so it's easier to access.
While this system is more awkward to use due to game mechanics limitations (Congress has to be split into 2 groups to avoid the 30 person group PM cap), the first debate on Tax went well and you can view the logs here.
I believe that the awkwardness will reduce over the month as we all get used to this and adjust. The limitations actually force us to use the game more which is a great thing; we have seen several articles and a mass PM wave which you rarely saw in the old system. We will see better more concise arguments and more articles from our Congressmen in the coming weeks.
Some of you don't like it and if that is the majority view towards the end of the month then we can look at alternatives. The point of this though is that we are trying new things and testing what works - not just doing whatever went before because it's always been that way. It's a new attitude for the UK and it will make us stronger.
Issues
This is a summary of issues within Congress and the MoLA at the moment.
Messaging Boycott
Antonio Hamilton, Niemand, Kravenn, Dan Moir, Gucio16 and Danie Fox have all refused to take part in the new messaging system. This is because group PMs require you to add the recipients as friends and they have refused.
It's my view that Congressmen should work together with each other and Ministers to best run the UK. This always includes people you don't agree with or even like. I have newfound respect for Congressmen I have had political issues with who are taking part and thank them for crossing the chasm which currently divides the community with me.
I won't be increasing my workload from an easy 2 replies per announcement to 2 replies and 5 new PMs which will get tedious fast if I need to announce more than one thing (which I often have). I don't think that it is reasonable to want information from me while throwing roadblocks in my way - you either want it or you don't.
These Congressmen simply have to send me that friend request so that I can add them to the group messages.
Trolling
Kamoris KSC has been sending insulting messages around on IRC then proposed a war without discussion or support (detailed above) and spammed congress to vote YES. He is pretty embarrassing to be around.
I have removed him from Congress messaging to stop the spam and trolling. I will reinstate him if a Top 5 Party wishes to take him back in and sponsor him.
Legislation
I am getting one or two PMs and IRC queries about "Legislation" being broken by the Ministry. I honestly don't think that it has, just because things have been done a certain way in the past doesn't mean that the "Legislation" actually includes it or says that it has to work that way.
Direct any enquiries to the person who wrote most of it.
Future Updates
What is coming next?
1) You can expect MoLA to continue experimenting with new communication and voting methods. In the next few days we will be looking at voting via Google forms and there is scope for more discussion to happen via Articles.
2) I am currently Party President of New Era which ends on the 16th so that I can concentrate more on reforming MoLA. Expect more general articles next week and one like this once a week.
3) I am off work starting on the 21st for just over two weeks. Expect some major expansion projects at the Ministry!
Thanks for reading!
- Sage Goku, Minister of Legislative Affairs
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Comments
Thanks for a great first week guys!
Good stuff, all going pretty well so far.
Nice article- voted!
You might have an abrasive character at times Goku but when you actually knuckle down and put your mind to it it seems like you can get results.
I hope this side of you is here to stay.
Excellent article:
One quick note though - with regards to PM's I ticketted the admins cause there was a lot of is it isnt it on the discussion. Its still against eRep rules to publish PM's [note] without express approval from both parties.
This will mean that you'll need approval from everyone in each thread to post the messages and if someone who disagrees posts on the thread you'll have to delete that post/not put up the thread.
Shouldn't be to hard though - just put a disclaimer at the top of each of the threads about giving permission for anyone to post from it. I wouldn't have an issue with that and wouldn't see many people having an issue either.
I'm really looking forward to the next round of messages with cross party talks too!
Great stuff, boo Kamoris boooooo!
Thanks for finding that out Madacaion!
Can I just point out Goku, that in the three CS passes I gave out, I was simply enacting the decree of the congress citizenship committee. They were all actually accepted by nebosja but he had used all his passes.
Dont think Goku is attacking you there mate - just giving out all the info so everyone can see it without having to trawl through the logs themselves.
Yep!
Sure Mada, just don't want to be accountable for following procedure if these guys turn out to be malicious. Cheers
Cit procedure is the current law. If it lets in unsavory characters, then at least you can blame the system!
I would say half this stuff no-one really cares about. And if members don't want to be in a messaging chain purely based on adding you as a friend, maybe you need to get a new leader of a MM chain? I mean, anyone acting as proxy can set up the MM with you in it...
I'm not interested in playing games or jumping through random hoops.
If something happens, I want to post it right away. I won't be delaying important new discussions or regrouping by doing either of these things which have been suggeste😛
1) Waiting for 1-5 people to friend me, have the message sent, then unfriend me.
2) Waiting for someone else to come online to spend 5-10 minutes making the messages.
I'm not spamming my shout box (usually article link once every 2-3 days and new military medal once every blue moon) and I can agree not to comment on your shouts.
Unless you use your shoutbox to do shady stuff you don't want me seeing I really can't comprehend the problem.
Voted.
Excellent article. Voted.
vote+sub good job
send please : (
Ya, I get your frustration Goku, I was merely offering an alternative.If you have a chain message done by, say, Abbleby or someone, with them in it and yourself, your still in the message chain.
Yes I understood your suggestion. That requires Appleby to be online when I am and friend all of Congress himself. I'm not messing about for no reason.
Voted. Very informative and a good read. You are doing a great job in my opinion Sage Goku, thanks for the hard work you've been putting in.