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Actinterest (Activity - Interest).

Spamnaissance (Spam - Renaissance).

Citizens!

Well done for finding this article snuck in amongst all the articles still drifting around the media module after the endorsocalypse* (thanks, Plato!).

A portmanteau, in addition to being a type of bag (who knew), is when you mash two words together to make a new one - such as mashing endorsement and apocalypse to make endorsocalypse. Much like spam is a mashing of binding agents and meat bits. Think of adding your own to the comments, it is fun(ish). My intention in this article is to introduce you to two excellent portmanteaus (excellenteaus**?) and lay out the pro-epolitic case for the eUK.


A portmanteau, apparently

Actinterest

Activity and interest, or actinterest is the lumpy dense coal we throw onto the fire of eRepublik. Most of us have a base level of actinterest that keeps us doing basic work-train-fight activities, but all of us have a bit more to offer (if we want to!) that can help other players (and importantly, new players) develop a good baseline too. ePolitics is there, it exists in eRep, and we can play it like we play in a battlefield or play manager with companies. But it is uniquely public, uniquely interactive. It is ok to not be interested in it, you do you. But lot's people doing people are interested in it, and it provides the interest to encourage activity - a show of personality in what can be (especially to new players) an otherwise difficult and confusing game. ePolitic, and especially vibrant epolitic is important in keeping things entertaining, and especially for newer players, or those who don't experience or necessarily enjoy BH hunting or making loads and loads of cash.

Years ago in a distant period of activity I erroneously placed a lot of the actinterest burden on the office of the CP. I was told then that Congress too had a big part to play in an increase in actinterest, and although I still think both wings of Government play complementary roles in this, these past few months have shown me very clearly that if Parties role model actinterest they will be rewarded. Evidently a good chunk of the voting public enjoys the vibrancy healthy epolitic brings to eRep. Approaching each Congress as it's own body that agrees it's own approaches (with the previous congress guidelines as a starting template - like passing on a good folk tale) and making some quick changes about where and what we discuss, has created a transparent and active Congress.

this hand in hand with some straightforward stats on engagement, has empowered the public to make a more conscious choice on election day and overall has made the eUK look, smell, and taste like a more active and more interesting country. This is the biggest achievement of The Real Spamicans and is down solely to our members and voters - so a big thanks you!

Spamnaissance

Spam and renaissance, or Spamnaissance is the massive impact the resurgence of The Real Spamicans has had on creating actinterest in the eUK. Wind back the clock three months and the eUK was very quiet, very empty. Congress were a rubber-stamp brigade whom said almost nothing month on month, and inspired no one to take an interest, or indeed get involved, in epolitic. From across the parties the active players who wanted to see change gathered in TRS, placing it in the top 5. A TRS devotee was made speaker (teehee - it was me) and with a massive hand from the public on election day we were thrust into a position of being able to change epolitic into a more entertaining and alluring element of the eUK.

Nevertheless, there is still work to do. Work for TRS (help by joining!) and work for the eUK. The organisation, transparency, and ambition of Congress has shot up after two months of TRS presence. But that is all hard fought for and easily lost. So far each Congress subjected to this new normal has had protest from some hostile elements who have proposed less (or no) debate, and removing discussions from feeds, and even not making congress votes public. I believe the right approach for Congress is for each Congress to agree it's approach, so I don't think it's a problem these proposals happen, I think it is a good thing. But it does mean actinterest in epolitics is always under threat, and is only backed by TRS.

That is why we can't take the spamnaissance which has delivered this, transparent actinterest-friendly approach for granted. As mentioned, the only party to unequivocally back actinterest as a guiding principle and to unequivocally back these approaches to politics is The Real Spamicans. If you think these changes are for the better, please vote TRS on election days*** so we can continue to enjoy the largest vote share of any single party. Each Congressmen we elect is someone voting for your involvement in epolitics, and for an epolitics which at the very least entertains, and at the very most retains players. Even if voting for us shrinks the total number of congressmen (as it did last month), that just means less do-nothing politicians to out-vote. So please keep backing us!


The political spamnaissance goes hand in hand with the artistic spamnaissance

Spamican Congress mission statement.

With all that in mind the Spamicans have a lot to live up to. So I thought it would be useful, and a good show of exactly the sort of standards we rolemodel, to review, reframe and re-assert the mission statement of all Spamican Congresspeople ahead of the next Congress election.

We said we would be active and engaged. We have been the most active party in Congress. This remains our key goal and as you'll see above, we believe it is crucial to building actinterest.

We said we will be independent. We expect activity but we don't whip or tell people how to vote. We want to encourage new players, develop ideas and draw the best out of contributions to epolitics. Spamicans frequently have divergent opinions which is the life and soul of good epolitics. We engage constructively with each other and in Congress. We will continue to do so.

We said we would champion Congress. I don't think any of us anticipated that we would be championing it the way we have - other parties have gone as far to propose Congress is silenced, and debates less/if at all. This month we have had to defend Congress's role as a Congress, which we did with enthusiasm. We like being in Congress, we believe Congress has a role to play, and we believe the public can and should be able to input that. As always if you have an idea or question get in touch and we can answer it.

All of this we continue to treat as guiding principles for the party - they are pretty simple, but they have been effective. In a twist of cruel irony we hope it becomes irrelevant to say this as our aim is that all parties become more conscious of this standards for their own Congressmen - but we ain't there yet! As such, our final and new mission statement is to spread the joy! Our Congressmen will play active roles in the media, comments, and games (hosting and participating) to foster a sense of community in the eUK. We will be the change we want to see.

So... if you want to help achieve this, vote for us. If you want to be a part of it, join us****.

Thanks for reading,
Mr W

P.S. You still have some time (about 1 day or two) to sign up to play Good King Woldy's Crown Jewels - a turn based heist game.
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Albeit the eUK no longer has a 'King', it used to! And during my brief time as eMonarch I established a few charity schemes to encourage newer players to get involved. These schemes are still running Feel free to message me for some free stuff if you are level 1-50 and meet any of the following criteria:

Woldy's Urban Achievers - Food and guns rewarded for: Publishing an article; being elected into any position; being awarded any medal.

Royal Writers: 150 GBP for publishing an article in the eUK and an extra 300 GBP for any article you write that reaches ten or more votes. Just message me your article links.

Woldy's Warriors: Start up kit of Guns and food for anyone who feels like they don't pack a big enough punch. Simply message and ask for some boomsticks.


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*endorsocalypse - (Endorsement - Apocalypse). Strictly speaking that means three portmanteaus for April.
**excellenteaus - (Excellent - portmanteaus). Strictly speaking that means four portmanteaus for April.
***They are the 5th for CP, 25th for Congress (and when you have joined TRS, you can even vote for us on the 15th in PP elections - what's not to love!)
****Join quick and you can even run for Congress - we will give big support to new players and joiners.