City of IF

[Key]

Yes, it's springtime in the City of IF, and you know what that's time for...

:rock: The Mayoral Election! :yeah:

Mayor Crunchyfrog's term is coming to an end, and it is time for us to elect a Mayor to serve for the next six months. Crunchy has opted not to stand for re-election, so the election is open to all interested.

Here are rules for this Mayoral Election:

1. Anyone who wishes to run for Mayor must announce their candidacy publicly, in this thread.
2. Please do not run unless you are serious about being Mayor. I am not going to disqualify anyone by age or past history, but I do require that anyone who runs makes a commitment to take their office seriously and serve out their complete six-month term.
3. Assuming there is more than one candidate interested, then for at least one week after the end of the announcement phase, voters will have the chance to ask candidates their views on any issues related to the governance of the City. Candidates are welcome to respond as much or as little as they want. If the discussion is still active after a week, I may extend the time. At some point I'll call for the vote.
4. The first round of voting will go for four days. At the end of that time, if one of the candidates has a majority (>50%), that person is our Mayor.
5. If none of the candidates have more than 50% of the vote in the first round, there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters, for four more days.
6. Anyone who has posted on the site at least once (including the candidates themselves) is eligible to vote.
7. No person may vote more than once. If you have multiple identities in the City, you can only vote with one of them. Anyone who violates this rule will be severely punished.
8. The Mayor will serve for a term of six months, at which time we will have another election.
9. The Mayor may be removed from office only for high crimes or dereliction of duty, at the discretion of the King.

Below are a list of all the powers and responsibilities of the new Mayor:

- Creating a new forum for the SGotM winner each month.
- Disbursing fables for all prizes, including SGotM, linear stories winner, completion of storygames, etc.
- Setting tax rates for the forums
- Forcibly collecting taxes from those who don't pay voluntarily
- Moving storygames to the Hall of Stasis when finished or when they go on hiatus, and back when they're back off hiatus
- Warning, banning and deleting inappropriate/spam comments and users as needed
- Bestowing custom ranks when paid for
- Creating new groups and forums as needed
- Selecting new City Council members and moderators as needed
- Setting configurable forum options, such as inbox and signature size
- Managing the money supply, including setting how many fables are awarded for what activities.
- Chairing Council and Citizen discussions on City issues
- Being the path of escalation if a citizen is unhappy with a moderator's actions or decision.
- Mediating disagreements between citizens

Please ask if you have questions about the election process or what the Mayor's job entails.

Happy electioneering!

:-)

[Idea master]

YES! I have been waiting for a while for this!

I, Idea Master, head honcho of IM Inc. and the Idea Mines, do officially, publicly, and legally announce my candidacy for mayor.

[Chinaren]

Quote: Disbursing fables for all prizes, including SGotM, linear stories winner, completion of storygames, etc.

Actually, this job is usually done by the Main Forum Mods or the High Chancellor these days, as per statute 155y of the City Ordinance.

[D-Lotus]

Questions for both candidates so far:

How will you change the status of the Fable as a near meaningless coinage?

How do you plan to change the 'low drifts' that ever so often grip the city in their boring grasp? (In other words, how will you raise the population density of the city?).

[Idea master]

For your first question, D-Lotus, I would encourage a certain orange-furred author to bring back an old storygame of his, namely 'Good Versus Evil Versus Money.' I would also tell people that they should make more storygames like that one, where people can bid on what is to happen, whether or not they can feature as a character, and other assorted events. Another thing I would see about doing more auctioning off of IF homespace, hidden forums for the guilds that seem to be cropping up everywhere, or possibly IF doodads, with the kind King's permission.

To raise awareness of the city, the city must send out adverts of itself far and wide throughout the 'net. Apparently, we haven't become popular enough to spread by word of mouth, so word of banner will have to do, or word of e-mail. I know a few places where we can advertise, and hopefully, this will increase traffic to our fair city.

[Masterweaver]

Wikipedia is a fair place...

[Chinaren]

Quote: How will you change the status of the Fable as a near meaningless coinage?

I will do whatever I can do introduce Fable related activities, as always. However, as I have said in the last two elections, I don't see the 'lack' of use of them as a huge problem. One day they will come into their own, but until then we will just continue as we have been.

Quote: How do you plan to change the 'low drifts' that ever so often grip the city in their boring grasp? (In other words, how will you raise the population density of the city?).

I have already been addressing this issue in the last few weeks. There has been a lot of talk about the un-popularity of the Review Board stifling new SGames, and hence making the site less active.
I believe the Review Board has a place in IF, but I don't believe in making it hard for people to post, so not only have I instigated changes to make Promotions easier, faster and more transparent, but we are also expanding the people who can post directly into the Main Forums.

I have been a member of the Chamber of Commerce for some time, which is a group in the city that advertises IF wherever possible. Maybe it is time to re-push this group.

I have also encouraged the Mods to start promotions in their areas, to stimulate activity.

Lastly, and hopefully this doesn't come across as boastful, I have am the author of several popular SGames myself, which I hope helps attract people into the city.

I will post a manifesto shortly. (At work now).

[D-Lotus]

Question: Do you think that the number of low-quality stories in the city is really a problem? If this site promotes creativity and uniqueness of all kinds, why is it necessary to have a review board at all? This site also promotes the advancement of writing in every author, but this isn't an academy- shouldn't writing be more free from 'grading', if the author chooses it that way? This is especially in relation to newcomers. Zephyr already posed doubts as to whether the review system as a whole is flawed. What do you think?

[LordoftheNight]

Idea master wrote: For your first question, D-Lotus, I would encourage a certain orange-furred author to bring back an old storygame of his, namely 'Good Versus Evil Versus Money.'

So basically IM, you're first point is that - as mayor - you intend to make China do more work.

Well, you've certainly got the delegation side of things down already.

[Chinaren]

Quote: Question: Do you think that the number of low-quality stories in the city is really a problem?

Not in of itself no. There is a goodly percentage of SGames that are of a worthy standard.

Quote: If this site promotes creativity and uniqueness of all kinds, why is it necessary to have a review board at all?

Creativity & uniqueness is one thing. However I think the players have a right to expect a certain standard of quality.

Quote: This site also promotes the advancement of writing in every author, but this isn't an academy- shouldn't writing be more free from 'grading', if the author chooses it that way?

As you said, this isn't an academy. This site isn't about making authors better, though it is a side-bonus. There are plenty of sites out there to help improve your writing. Key's concept here is to have good SGames that people can enjoy playing, and I think those people deserve to be able to read work of a decent level.

Quote: Zephyr already posed doubts as to whether the review system as a whole is flawed.

I don't think the concept is flawed at all. I do think some things about how it worked didn't work so well, which is why we have recently implemented changes, with more coming online soon.

I'm not saying that these changes will definately work, though I think they will. If, in time, it still doesn't work then we may have to revert to the old system. ~Shudders~

Just to summarize: The new system will let more authors post directly into the main forums, and enable the ones that still post in the New SGame forum to be promoted rapidly and easily once they meet an acceptable standard.

Why should people be able to post slapdash rubbish next to authors who make an effort? Is that fair? I don't think so.

[Masterweaver]

Question: Do we get to beat up whoever loses the election? And what will you do about the ASS abusivness?

[Idea master]

D-Lotus, I would say your question is null and void, seeing as the review board has been reviewed by his current Mayorness, and has been replaced by a sleeker, smoother, sometimes invisible system. However, the rest of your question still stands, and so I shall reply as such to it.

I've always pictured the City as a form of library. When the stories are of poor quality, they get checked out less often, resulting in that story not getting advanced to any other section. When they are of higher, better quality, then more and more people read the story and enjoy it, thus resulting in it getting not only promoted to another section, but eligible for Storygame of the Month.

Now, there are some aspects I didn't touch on. Yes, if someone writes a story in a different format, a different form, or a different language entierly, then it's certainly unique and sometimes difficult to grasp and comprehend. This, however, does not stop our most determined citizens - after all, there was a Spanish thread where I believe a storygame was being written, before Jnmrcs and Fluana left the city. If, however, the story follows the reader's choices, does well in the department of grammar, and most of all, is interesting, then I see no reason that it shouldn't be promoted to whatever section best suits it.

And Lordy - That's just one thing I said I'd do. There are many others!

[D-Lotus]

Quote: Why should people be able to post slapdash rubbish next to authors who make an effort? Is that fair? I don't think so.

Good point. Question: Then, should there be a 'free from review' section in the city, to allow liberty to those who want it, and at the same time not injure good writers? At the very least, if this new forum fails, we will know that newcomers actually like the review system. What do you think? And, if you agree, would the new forum reward fables for participation?

[Chinaren]

D-Lotus wrote: Quote: Why should people be able to post slapdash rubbish next to authors who make an effort? Is that fair? I don't think so.

Good point. Question: Then, should there be a 'free from review' section in the city, to allow liberty to those who want it, and at the same time not injure good writers?

There already is, it's called the New SGame forum! :D I don't see any reason to duplicate it at this time. Like I said before, if the new and improved system doesn't work, then we will have to look again, but let's give it the chance to succeed (or fail) first.

[Crunchyfrog]

I believe that newbies are the life-blood of any online community. Without them communities stagnate, wither and die. Newbies bring evolution and fresh thought. For online communities, as with most entities, biological or corporate, adaptation and evolution are the key to survival.

It took me a long while to pluck up the courage to even register on IF. And when I did, it took a good month before I began to feel 'at home'.

Part of the reason for this was the feeling of 'exclusion', due to the difficulty in amassing fables in the early days. Without the fables I could not participate in certain storygames, or competitions. Spending best part of an hour catching up with an established SG to post a decent response to it would earn 11.49998 fables. It is disheartening.

So here is my question:

Besides the reforms in progress for Storygame Promotion, what else would the Mayoral candidates propose to help a Newbie get started and feel at home?

:D

[Idea master]

Hmm. This is interesting. Well, let me get my ol' Idea Hat here...

*Plunks the hat on his head*

Ah yes! Well, we could have a 'meet the mod' thread for the newbies, to let them know that we're not all scary as we're made out to be*. We could slowly ease them into city life, you know, read a few well-known storygames first, inform them of some small protocols here and there, such as proper grammar** and spelling. When they finally feel as though they're accepted by all***, like after the first week or so, then we could encourage them to write a storygame. Not only would this make the newbies a lot more comfortable in the city, but it would increase the quality of the storygames.

* Except Lordy and Rai. They scare me.
**Which is only waived for Saxon.
***Except MasterWeaver.

[Masterweaver]

I heard that!

[Chinaren]

MMmm. Tough one.

I was thinking of perhaps a 'buddy' system, but I don't know how practical that would be.

For the Fable thing, we could give a welcome package of some Fables to newcomers when they start. Mmm. Also not really practical.

Well, I would be open to ideas on this one. I'll come back if I think of anything though.

[LordoftheNight]

If nothing else, it would be something to spend the Cities fables on. Fables which are increasing at a dramatic rate.

[Key]

OK, two candidates have officially announced, so I'm calling the announcement phase complete and closing this thread. The election will be between chinaren and Idea Master.

People have already had a week of discussion, but since it is continuing, I will leave it up for at least another few days before the voting starts. Please open a new thread in this forum, or post in one of the existing ones, if you have questions.