1. First, introduce yourself, especially to voters that may not be familiar with you. Why are you running for Underhusen?I am taulover, or Tau. I've been in Wintreath since mid-2015, and have served six terms as Skrifa, including two as Speaker and one as Speaker pro tempore.
I am running for Underhusen because I think this next term may be interesting, and to address an initially minor issue that has become increasingly important as time passed on: the laws page has not been updated in many months. (See my campaign topic for more information.)
I am also currently Thane of Foreign Releases and the Second Patriarch of House Valeria.
2. What's your favourite memory of Wintreath so far? My answer remains the same as before: solving puzzles made by fellow Wintreans such as Emoticonius, the
many various spam wars in Dumping Grounds and Summersends through the years (and now also Clickwar), forcing a tie in Werewolf VI: Until Dawn, exploring the official Minecraft server with friends... I can't really decide, Wintreath is just that amazing.
3. What one person from Wintreath's past or present would you most consider a role model for yourself, and why?If we're talking role models, I think probably Robin. He's at a somewhat similar stage and situation in life as I am, just a few years ahead, which is probably why he is also, IIRC, the only Wintrean I've really asked for life advice from. He does cool things, both in Wintreath and IRL, and from what I've seen keeps a wide variety of interests and hobbies, which is something I've been trying to do with my life as well.
4. What do you believe is the biggest strength and the biggest weakness in Wintreath right now?Laurentus jokingly suggested Clickwar, but I think this subject merits a more serious look. After all, Clickwar is the premier cultural event currently, and is paving the road for future original web games on Wintreath. But on the other hand, Clickwar is also a massive sap on our productivity. I know that I am spending time on Clickwar that I would otherwise be spending on more productive things, which affects my contribution to Wintreath both directly—there are times when I would be doing more useful things on Wintreath—and indirectly—it saps time I'd otherwise use for non-Wintreath things, thus reducing the time I spend on other Wintreath things.
Otherwise, my answer pretty much is the same as last time: I see Wintreath's biggest strength to be its community. As time has gone on I've found myself in Wintreath largely to be with the wonderful people here. The many activities to do in Wintreath helps facilitate this, but ultimately I think Wintreath's community is its greatest asset.
Our main weakness in this regard is poor integration of our community. We have long seen in this in our RMB community, which is often quite toxic and does not have much overlap with the rest of our community. We have also now seen this in our Discord community, as an influx of new members has driven up heated and unproductive conversations, often in the sphere of politics. This is possible due to a degree of separation between the Discord community and what I see as our core, largely forum-based community, but because this separation is far less than that between our RMB and forums, it also has had a far greater effect on prominent members of our community.
5. Recently there was talk about changing the legislature and how it functions, perhaps through another Constitutional Convention. What are your thoughts about the structure and function of the Storting?I will echo Laurentus' sentiment that the Storting is fine in its current state. There needs to be a responsive legislature in the event that we need to alter laws and such, but otherwise I no longer see low activity in the Underhusen as necessarily a bad thing. I don't see any concrete benefits from changing to a different system, particularly when we weigh in the rather annoying logistics of changing our system in the first place.
6. Now as before, there's been some talk about our place in the greater NS world. Do you believe we should seek closer relations with other prominent regions, or do you believe we should keep our distance? Has anything from the last term changed or reinforced your opinion on this?I continue to believe similarly to how I did in the last election: our community and culture are our greatest assets, and we should be seeking out like-minded regions in that regard. They may be new and growing, or well-established (I think Forest was a good test case for the latter). But Wintreath still has done and continues to do well in its own sphere, and I don't think that this is necessarily a high priority.
As I also said last term, we need to continue protecting our community and culture in the wider NS world, especially when our image is attacked in "gameplay" communities. This may potentially entail extending friendly ties to gameplay regions, but we should not become too involved.
7. Recently we've seen discussion of real-life political issues become a focus of discussion, particularly on Discord, which has caused a lot of tempers flaring and discord in a community that usually prides itself on being open, friendly, and harmonious. Do you have any suggestions or ideas to promote more civil discourse in these discussions?The issue with a naive approach to free speech is that it actually ends up hurting and infringing the speech of others. Flaming, bigoted language, and other similar actions discourage others from participating and may even spur people to leave the community.
I still think the best way to avoid these issues is to stay out of politics in the first place. But people evidently want to have these discussions, so that's not a good solution for our community as a whole. If we want to have actual free and open conversations, we most definitely need at the very least to have stricter moderation against flaming, personal attacks, wider attacks against larger groups that may be used as personal attacks, etc. Laurentus and Chanku suggested having enforced guidelines for debate, which may be a good move.
8. And because discussing hot-button real-life issues have become a thing, I'm going to throw the last issue that caused a shitstorm here. Do you support affirmative action?As I said in my answer to the previous question, staying out of real-world politics is probably the best move for both my and the community's well-being. But if the Monarch himself is asking me this question, I suppose I'll answer.
As Chanku said, affirmative action is still necessary to deal with the lingering effects of decades/centuries of systemic discrimination, much of which has only ceased to exist quite recently and/or continues to exist in some form today.
I am most familiar with the discussion surrounding Asian American college admissions, highlighted most recently in
SFFA v. Harvard. While I am fairly neutral on this particular issue itself, what we can see in cases such as these is political strategists (in this case, Ed Blum) hiding behind supposedly grassroots movements and coopting them to turn various minority groups against each other and to advance a potentially white supremacist agenda. Success in fighting and overturning affirmative action in this area creates precedent against affirmative action and additionally turns public opinion against it, making it easier to take down affirmative action in areas where they may be more seriously needed, such as in some various career fields.
9. If you are elected, what's something you would be able to do from your position to build activity in the region, and especially on the forums?Typically, the work of the Underhusen does not affect the greater community activity, as most activity (and most of my work building activity) is unrelated to and takes place apart from it. However, in my capacity as Skrifa, proposing and debating bills is still a driver of activity within the Storting and, to a lesser extent, the citizenry as a whole.
10. Are there any other issues in the region you feel that the candidates running for election should address?No, not really.
11. Finally, what is your favourite flavour of ice cream? 
Another answer that has not changed: matcha green tea.
Edit: minor typo fixes
