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Hey guys, I'm Barnes, also known as "the guy with the dog emojis", and I'm running to be the next Thane of Foreign Releases. I am excited at the chance to potentially return to government, and want to thank everyone who I've worked with over the past five and a half years here.

Why are you running for this position? I am running to take some of the workload off of Michi, and to gain expand on my communications experience with him as a mentor. I also seek to honor Katie, the most prolific Orendi contributor Wintreath has ever seen.
 
What measurable mandate do you aim to accomplish as thane? I will focus on writing at least one never-before-seen topic for each foreign dispatch (Orendi as well as extra releases). I want to emphasize what makes Wintreath unique in order to recruit citizens and to draw foreign interest to our regional activities.

What qualifications or experience do you have in the area that you are running in? I actually have served in a similar position before, as Thane of Information back in 2015. I also served as Speaker of the Underhusen around the same time, and have experience writing bills from that era. This gives me a sense of what kind of writing style Wintreath expects and what is consistent with our values.
 
How do you plan to have the time to fulfill the duties of the position until the next election in December? I have been working only part-time as of late, so my schedule has been freed up for the foreseeable future.

Are you currently a part of any other NationStates regional or organizational government? I am not.

I look forward to hearing from you all, and any further questions are welcomed.

Hi there Barnes! Glad to see you running in elections, and I most definitely approve your application.

I've touched on this in Monkey's thread, and I wanted to touch up on it in here as well, though I know that as Thane of Information, you've dealt with it in some degree.  Thane of Foreign Releases is a great role because you're the master behind our major publication, but it doesn't come without its problems.  We usually have much trouble with getting people interested in writing enough articles for a full publication, the process for putting the articles together can be time consuming (and costly if you go the usual Adobe InDesign route) since the Thane is the one who puts it all together, and overall it can be really difficult since we normally hit around 7ish articles before we even release the Orendi.

So like I asked Monkey, my questions to you are:

*What are ways you would get more people interested in writing up articles?
*Are there ways you think we could streamline the article submission process outside of posting a topic?
*Would you continue the trend of inDesign-created publications, or would you create them via a new, cheaper, and possibly better method?
*What are ways you'd overcome the continued lull in publication releases?
*In the past including in my term, there's been some considerations for a Mini-Orendi publication, which would have fewer articles so that they could be released quicker.  Would you ever consider this?

I look forward to hearing your answers!

What are ways you would get more people interested / streamline the article submission process? I will create a set agenda for each Orendi with a select list of topics, and will personally ask for samples from the Wintreath experts best suited to writing on those subjects. If they are unavailable, I will ask for enough background for me to write an article myself.
With Weiss's permission, I will also include selections from his "Oh, the places you'll go!" series to showcase our winter/Nordic themes. I also plan on collaborating with our foreign ambassadors to include guest articles for cross-promotion.

Would you continue the trend of InDesign-created publications, or create them using a new/cheaper method? The position has heavily evolved towards graphic design since I last held it, which will be a new and exciting challenge for me. I plan on testing InDesign, Publisher, and other suggested methods, to see what works best for me.

What are ways you'd overcome the lull in publications / would you consider a Mini-Orendi publication with fewer articles? I prefer a newsletter format, as short-form content published weekly/biweekly will increase viewership and engagement. By publishing fewer articles more frequently, we can publish more dispatches while still saving the long-form Orendi as a compilation of articles from Mini-Orendis and/or go more in-depth on the articles that were already written.

Lets revive the Orendi Woohoo!
I already informally did but I formally endorse you, good luck in the race!

Some great answers, and I personally love the idea of adding bits from our lore topics to add some more depth, sort of like showcasing the world of Wintreath to give other regions an idea of the things in it and giving more of a nod to the RP side.

If you go that route of showcasing the locations, that could really open some doors on article ideas and expanding to, say, highlighting some of the animals or houses as well.

I absolutely love it.  I wish you luck in elections!

Highlighting some of the animals

Sounds like Summersend National Park is giving us a whole host of content, then

Summersend is always great for siphoning off content from. Which is typically how we end up with annual Summersend Special issues of the Orendi.

Greetings! It looks like you will be running against Monkey for the position. You both have put out comprehensive and compelling agendas should you be elected, so my question to you is the opposite of the question I asked him: what makes you a better choice for the position than him?

I think Monkey is a great candidate and I appreciate the effort he's made for his campaign. I just feel that my vision for the position, establishing more frequent and unique communications, is more suited to what the region needs right now. I would love to cooperate with him in expanding our influence on the "world" stage, and I believe that having each of us in a dedicated position is the best fit for that.