[MR4PP] What is in the Life of a Party

Day 3,186, 18:03 • Published in USA USA • by Melissa Rose
PTX - Rather Be
We're a thousand miles from comfort, we have traveled land and sea
But as long as you are with me, there's no place I'd rather be
I would wait forever, exalted in the scene
As long as I am with you, my heart continues to beat

A bit of a forward and then we can get to the article.

This is not the article I intended to publish. My original article had more to do with the forum reorg you were seeing and forum games. It wasn’t meant to be a serious run. Then I decided to drop because I wasn’t sure I’d have time. Just after that I saw Fingerguns had posted her article and that changed everything.

I decided to make a serious run because her and I have two very different thoughts on what needs to happen.

The Feds deserve a choice. In this election more than usual because this is a big issue.

So I went back and rewrote my article into what you are about to read.



I have the utmost respect for Fingerguns and what she accomplished during her active times with the Party. She has always been a force within the party when she is active and I am extremely excited to have this opportunity to get to know her and run against her..

A lot of people are going to try to make this election “Fingerguns vs. Melissa Rose: the epic battle for the Feds”. I want to put that to rest as quickly as I can. This election isn’t about me or FG. It’s about the party and it’s future.

A future that I see being benefited by the autonomy we have on our own forums.

I hate to see an election like this boil down to one point in a plan because it limits discussion but in this case the idea is a big enough issue that it needs to be all on it’s own.

Moving to the eUSforums is not a new topic for the Feds. We have discussed this countless times before and we have always come to the same conclusion. The eUS forums doesn’t have the things that we have always value😛 discretion, flexibility and privacy. (and as stated above autonomy). It has it’s own culture and way of doing things that has never quite fit with our needs.

On our boards we are the admins. We don’t have admins from other parties. That gives us discretion and a small semblance of privacy. We are able to control the look and feel of our party based on how we decide to upgrade our template.

The job of the admin is usually a bit thankless but it’s one I’ve always enjoyed doing. Being one of the admin of our boards is what brought me back to the game in January. (Orik thought the board was having issues and contacted me, I came to look, everything was fine but I stayed. As one of the main admins of the Fed boards I have always made myself available even when I wasn’t actually playing).

I, for the most part, tolerate the eUS forums because it’s where the national government is run. (If I wasn’t playing in national roles I wouldn’t even go there.) The eUS forums can be a toxic environment, it’s culture can be rather negative and there are a number of players that refuse to go there for that very reason. While our area would be our own (to a point) we can’t control the toxicity of the environment our party would sit in.

As the top 5 started to dwindle in number, parties started moving to the eUS forums. There was a time when the majority of the top 5 parties were housed on the eUS forums. In the current game only two of the actual top 5 are there, it feels a bit like a place where parties go to die. What I stated above is the reason for that. The parties still housed on the eUS forum have withered in activity while, although much smaller than in the past, the Feds have flourished. I have no idea if that is partly do to the culture on those forums or if it is just the game shrinking, but that does concern me if it’s going to be our new home. I don't believe the Feds are at that point yet.

I prefer the culture we have on the Fed boards. As I’ve said it has it’s negative moments (some of which I have been directly involved with) but those are few and far between. For the most part it is a fully welcoming environment that, to me, is home. Having our own forum has always been a part of who we are as a party no matter how we change internally. I believe we lose a large piece of ourselves if we give that up.

So, what is in the life of a Party? Who are we as a party and what is our identity? Will moving ourselves to the eUS forum fundamentally change us or am I being overly dramatic? I, of course, don’t believe I am. Our party has undergone many different types of changes. Most in personality as the people and beliefs change, but our forums are a big part of who we have become.

I believe a lot of this stems from the idea that somehow we are broken because we’ve dipped in activity. That we have a problem that needs fixing. I’ll confess I’ve been having that same thought over the past months, but what I realized today while soul searching is that we aren’t broken, smaller yes, but not broken. We aren’t the same party we were back in the day and that isn’t necessary a bad thing. We have grown (figuratively) and changed, but our core beliefs have always remained the same. Who we are at our center has never changed and I hope never will.

My goal, if I win, is not just to keep us off the eUS forums (but obviously that’s at the core of it) it’s to try to bring activity back to our own. I fully believe this is possible, I’ve done it before and I’ve seen it before.

It’s going to take work from everyone (and I don’t just mean leadership.)



So the question is. What do you want?

This is where FG and I merge. This is our party, it is not mine or hers. Ultimately what is done with our party is up to all of us.. Of course I want you to vote for me but I’ll fully understand if you don’t. I will be here working hand in hand with FG to do whatever you all decide we should do.

This got much longer than I had intended. Please feel free to ask any questions you have in my thread on the fed forums