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I would like please , to express myself as a normal citizen, and not as a legislative member of the Goverment...and ask every candidate to show a bit of respect for our laws, our election period and stop kidding on their campaign pages. I would also like to point out that our elections, especially the voting period is not well organised, since there are no polls where I and the rest of the citizens can cast our votes directly! Also, one thing really shamefull for our proud region, is watching our politicians, nominated or not, cursing and having fun with each other, on their own campaign threads...Instead of convincing us on, why to vote them!


One more thing that has come to my attention is,that the people are voting based on their friendships with a specific candidate and not on their submitted plan (has happened before)! So whats the point on having elections with 20 candidates or less...and vote always the ones who are more sympathized by the public!? Don't you think it is time, to create a law, that will not allow a specific candidate, to stay on a govermental possition more than 2 or 3 times?

Also one more thing that I would like to point out is....We see plenty of nominations...Don't you think it will be nice, to know the reason, why the chose to nominate a specific person? (Something like a feedback)

And finaly, I would like to plead every citizen and candidate here, stop turning a campaign page into a debate arena...If you want to debate with a specific candidate, open a single thread, and debate as much as you want... By expressing you opinion, which might be wrong, you harm those specific candidates start up!

I am sorry to say this...but we are far away from having decent elections!

I hope my sincere request being fullfilled soon and stop having sabotaged region-elections every single time!
Time to get real and true for our region and our citizens!

Harry McClain
King of the Constitutional Monarchy of Latrovia

Well... the campaign pages are usually used for debate... that idea dates back to before Wintreath, and is rather common in NationStates.

Whilst the elections themselves are obivously a serious matter, we as individuals are not. I see no reason to force people to act in ways that isn't natural to them, and besides this way we're all having fun whilst informing debates and answering questions!

I can understand your concerns but I do feel they're rather ill-founded. Mootles himself usually runs debate topics in the build-up to the actual voting day, but beyond that we rather take it as it comes.

So acting a bit serious, it is wayyyy too hard for our politicians to do  Weissreich?...is this what you're telling me? pitty...
Now tell me what kind of an example we give to our new citizens...and our older citizens here?

We try to look the hell of a great region in NS...and when it comes to something serious such as an election that will shape the future of our region...we take it for grandet?  Jeez and I thought all this time I was mistaken!

Now one more question for you Denth....why should we use campaign pages as a debate arena? Is it so hard for us to create a single topic that every candidate can be asked, and answer a variaty of questions? Isn't it much more cleaner?

Is it so hard, to make a few adjustments, that will change totally the way we elect?


And Wissreich please don't tell me that my concers are ill-founded... On our previous elections I came up with a plan of 10 points that could turn FA Institution into an active area, where all our citizens could offer...but despite that...people voted the one that they sympathized more...who was offering, the same things that he had done previously over and over again...and apart from that, he proved to be a spy..So I always base my concerns over something... Our Riksard elections were organised in the worst way ever.

And all I am trying to do, and the only thing I ask...is decent elections...where the vote is not shouted, but casted...I ask for decent debates and debates which are made on debate threads...respect each candidates campaigning thread...I don't believe I ask for something way too hard to be done.. Cause if I think it in the other hand... I don't believe, I as a citizen,whose vote is asked to be casted, owe anything to read nicely formed cursing dialogs... When I must, be concinved in the other hand whether to vote or not a specific candidate right...?

So acting a bit serious, it is wayyyy too hard for our politicians to do  Weissreich?...is this what you're telling me? pitty...
Now tell me what kind of an example we give to our new citizens...and our older citizens here?

Most of them really don't care - they see it as fun, as a region with people they can get along with, but with people who're capable but not up their own arses about the political side of things. If everyone was serious here, I wouldn't be here, simple as that. One of the main attractions of this region is that its laidback, easy going and enjoyable to be a part of, not that it's hard-nosed, serious all the time and never has a laugh.

We try to look the hell of a great region in NS...and when it comes to something serious such as an election that will shape the future of our region...we take it for grandet?  Jeez and I thought all this time I was mistaken!

We do look like a pretty great region thanks to the work of Wintermoot and the Riksråd. The elections themselves are only seen by those who bother to register for the forums, which unfortunately isn't as much of our overall population as we'd like. What's the point of trying to act serious if most of the time we're not? We'd be giving off a false impression of the region. What you see here is what you get, and along the way everyone - or nearly everyone - has fun. That's what Wintreath is about, not the politics, not the RP, not the graphic design or the law-making or the culture (damnit -.-) but having fun.

Now one more question for you Denth....why should we use campaign pages as a debate arena? Is it so hard for us to create a single topic that every candidate can be asked, and answer a variaty of questions? Isn't it much more cleaner?

Is it so hard, to make a few adjustments, that will change totally the way we elect?

This is addressed at Denth but I'll answer anyway - as I've already said, Wintermoot usually creates a thread a day with a debate topic which candidates then post in. However, as those threads haven't been created, people are asking questions of people in their candidacy threads. And also, most of the candidates actually ASKED people to ask them questions, and I think it's an entirely viable way of addressing concerns to each individual candidate. Besides, if we created a thread for every single topic we wanted to talk about we'd have about 50, which is a) pointless and b) hard to keep track of.

And Wissreich please don't tell me that my concers are ill-founded... On our previous elections I came up with a plan of 10 points that could turn FA Institution into an active area, where all our citizens could offer...but despite that...people voted the one that they sympathized more...who was offering, the same things that he had done previously over and over again...and apart from that, he proved to be a spy..So I always base my concerns over something... Our Riksard elections were organised in the worst way ever.

I said I understand your concerns, but that I feel they're unfounded. I'm not at all questioning your commitment or your capabilities, I'm merely saying that this is how our region has worked and probably will continue to work. There's nothing wrong with the way we do things here, it's just done in a relaxed atmosphere. This isn't real life, this is a game after all, and if we were all serious about everything it'd be barely a tenth as fun and we'd probably lose quite a few of our actually active members.

Unfortunately elections always end up being populist to some degree or another, and in regards to your point about Horse - no-one knew that at the time. That's like saying everyone who voted Hitler into power right at the start should be held accountable for what he did at the end of his time in power. Does that sound reasonable? No, not really.

I can't recall what your 10 points were but if you think they're viable, run for election! If they're attractive to the rest of the region you'll be voted into power based on their merits, but if people don't like them, you won't. It's how elections work.

And all I am trying to do, and the only thing I ask...is decent elections...where the vote is not shouted, but casted...I ask for decent debates and debates which are made on debate threads...respect each candidates campaigning thread...I don't believe I ask for something way too hard to be done.. Cause if I think it in the other hand... I don't believe, I as a citizen,whose vote is asked to be casted, owe anything to read nicely formed cursing dialogs... When I must, be concinved in the other hand whether to vote or not a specific candidate right...?

We have decent elections! We have elections that have high - relative to forum membership - participation and that produce viable Underhusens. You're asking for things to be run the way you'd like things to be run, and whilst I'm in agreement with some of your points - Alt and Charax did go rather over the top - I think you need to relax a bit and understand that you're asking for the region to change its fundamental attitude and atmosphere.

The majority of our members seem to like how things are done, and although this doesn't reduce the validity of your concerns, it does mean that things are probably unlikely to change. Wintreath works as is, and if we're to start changing things now, we'd probably mess up the entire election.

I'm sure that in time we'lll need to over-haul the election process as we gain more members, but right now? Things work, people enjoy themselves, we've a sense of community that's frankly better than a lot of forums I've been on and I don't think anyone wants to sacrifice the easy-going process we have now for the sake of looking a little more prim and proper.

These are, of course, my own opinions. I welcome any comments you have and I'll address them much as I have done here. You're a valued member of Wintreath and I really hope you can enjoy yourself as the rest of us do, and if we need to make concessions I'm sure we can work things out with you

I would like please , to express myself as a normal citizen, and not as a legislative member of the Goverment...and ask every candidate to show a bit of respect for our laws, our election period and stop kidding on their campaign pages. I would also like to point out that our elections, especially the voting period is not well organised, since there are no polls where I and the rest of the citizens can cast our votes directly! Also, one thing really shamefull for our proud region, is watching our politicians, nominated or not, cursing and having fun with each other, on their own campaign threads...Instead of convincing us on, why to vote them!

The reason that there's no place to cast a vote at this point is that voting doesn't open up until the 1st. This period is just for nominations, debates, and campaigning. It has nothing to do with how organized the elections are.

One more thing that has come to my attention is,that the people are voting based on their friendships with a specific candidate and not on their submitted plan (has happened before)! So whats the point on having elections with 20 candidates or less...and vote always the ones who are more sympathized by the public!? Don't you think it is time, to create a law, that will not allow a specific candidate, to stay on a govermental possition more than 2 or 3 times?

That's generally one of the downsides of elections, and I'm not aware of any way to correct that other than to stop having them. Having term limits would not solve this problem...it would merely allow people to vote for other friends while artificially creating a barrier against people that may be actually be getting voted in because they're doing a good job, if you want to look at it that cynically. I think if there are issues with any particular candidate it's best that they be brought up on a case-by-base basis during the campaign, at which point the voters can decide if there is any merit to the argument.

Also one more thing that I would like to point out is....We see plenty of nominations...Don't you think it will be nice, to know the reason, why the chose to nominate a specific person? (Something like a feedback)

Generally the only informal requirement for nomination is that they're active in the community...since I first started in Spiritus, I felt that the legislature was a good place for dedicated, active new people to get a potential start in government. In fact, I ran for Spiritus' Regional Assembly on that platform when I was new...it was a great learning experience which allowed me to go on to do other things afterwards. Such a requirement could be made, but I suspect most of the reasons would be that they're nice and that they're active.

And finaly, I would like to plead every citizen and candidate here, stop turning a campaign page into a debate arena...If you want to debate with a specific candidate, open a single thread, and debate as much as you want... By expressing you opinion, which might be wrong, you harm those specific candidates start up!

Actually, the campaign topics are for questions and debates with a single candidate. As was mentioned before, I do usually open up debate topics, but that is usually for questions addressed to all the candidates. If I have a question about Chanku's time as Speaker of the Underhusen, it wouldn't be appropriate to address it to all candidates since the question is specific to him.

I am sorry to say this...but we are far away from having decent elections!

I hope my sincere request being fullfilled soon and stop having sabotaged region-elections every single time!
Time to get real and true for our region and our citizens!

By that definition, every election in NS and even in real-life is sabotaged. Again, I'm not sure how that problem would be fixed even if I agreed that there was a problem to fix. I do appreciate your views, though! I understand your concerns and you have every right to speak out. Even though I haven't been much help, I hope people will at least consider your views.

Harry as someone that's been in the region for a while, I think you're expecting a bit much and thinking too seriously about this.  The elections are free and fair here in Wintreath, the ballots are cast in almost the same way it's done in a few other regions, and there are reasonable debates done here, and candidates invite questions, and discussion about their platforms happen.

Since the region was founded in October, this region has had four successful elections total: three legislative and one cabinet election.  No issues really with either of them.

I think Harry you should be a bit more reasonable and not take everything so seriously.