ForestBoard

And thus the inevitable has come to pass. Errinundera is no longer among us.

Today I am sure will be a rush of emotions, a time of feeling and a moment for reflection. For some, the CTE of this veteran player,- no, a friend, will fill the day with sorrow. Which is completely understandable. Our founder was a welcome presence in the region, a friend to all and his absence will be sourly noted.

But for others, including I must unfortunately confess myself, there will be a measure of relief intertwined with the mourning. In truth, Errinundera had no longer been with us for almost a year. Sure, he was logging in and staying alive, but beyond this there was nothing; no activity, no interaction, no life.

Whether this living death had been done manually or through an automated script is a mystery. But that question, as of today, is obsolete.

Like with the taproot of many a plant, the region's governance was forced into the same position. Without a founder able to hire or fire regional officers, Forest's government had to remain in place far beyond the constitutional term limit. Stepping down was a no-go without there being any ability to replace any officer. Ideas about new departments and new talents were frankly a taboo subject. In government, the only real conversation possible became what to do about the zombie founder, a bleak discussion about whether to pull a destructive nuclear option or whether to accept the slow stagnation of decay.

In these dark times however, we had ample time to prepare. An ironic benefit to having an unwilling eternal government was a lot of time for many telegrams about how in the fresh hell we could avoid having a situation like that arise again. Among these preparations was the concept of the current amendment imminently to be put up to a vote.

As such, I would strongly urge the membership to support the Forest Amendment. A large region with almost 500 members needs a constitution appropriate for that situation. Solid contingencies about how to ensure stable, democratic and accountable government must be enshrined in a way that doesn't unwittingly rest all power in one pair of hands.

Today is a day of mourning, no doubt about it. But falling trees provide a space a for new growth, thus ensuring the continued life of the Forest. Please support the Forest Amendment as soon as it's up for a vote.

Roless wrote:

And on RMB page 2020.

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
i knew 2020 was cursed

Inner Bele Levy Epies wrote:

We're all sus on this sus day.

*report button*
(I'm lime btw)
Roless: Where?
Me: In reactor, CTE is sus

..:: Official Government Post of Particular Importance ::..

Dearest Friends and Fellow Citizens,

I never thought I'd be writing this, but Errinundera, our beloved Founder who has very sadly sort of faded away over the past year in stages and since August altogether, has formally Ceased to Exist. Regardless of how things proceed, I hope very much that the individual person behind Errin is alive and well, and has merely grown tired of the game or has busyness in their lives. In any event, after waking up and fiddling with it a bit, I figured out that in order to password protect the region, I had to give myself the Border Control power, so that's that done. Baby steps!

I would like to echo Verdant Haven (who deserves a thousand accolades for sticking with the Keepership through what has been an indefinite period of Errin's pseudo-existence) that the constitution should be updated so that we are not required to destroy the region. I have read over the proposed changes, and I think everything looks good. I'd like to have the citizens of Forest read it over and see if there are proposals, changes, ideas, red flags that we missed, etc. before formally giving approval, because then we have to move right on to the poll, and I'd like for everyone to have a day or so to process the new situation that we find ourselves in. So please look it over; the actions we take over the next few weeks in getting everything back into working order will set the stage for the future.

I'd like to just take this opportunity to share my warmest internet feelings for everyone here, especially those of you who have been active in Forest either now or in the past, and at any point in time since I've been here. When I found NationStates in August of 2016, and made a nation on a lark, I never thought that I would end up finding a community of people with whom I connect and which I feel so much a part of. NS has been the best internet community experience I've ever had, and I think that the particular individuals of the Forest have made all of the difference. It's been a great time, and I am incredibly honored and humbled to now be in this new role. :-)

To satisfy my own occasional feelings that amount to Imposter's Syndrome, I'd like to reiterate and underscore my standing offer to the region:
As with the [eternal] Foreign Ministry, and much more recently the WA Delegacy, I'd like to emphasize that if the consensus ever becomes that I am not equal to the task, and that I'm no longer contributing to things but rather acting as dead weight, I absolutely want to be made of that fact, and I will arrange to resign and have someone else replace me by following the procedures. I do not want to be doing this simply by inertia, so if things take a dip, I will happily and willingly dip out of the role. My concern is the good health and vitality of the region, full stop, insofar as I assume any government role.

Aside from that, please contact Verdant Haven, Chan island, (or anyone in the government) with any questions, feedback, requests, observations, etc., and as always, my inbox is always open, and you can always just draw my attention to the RMB.

Let us move beyond this suspended animation of the past year, and see what the new years bring!

All the best,
The Total Solar Eclipse of Ruinenlust, XWADEFAB (Executive World Assembly Delegate and Eternal Foreign Affairs Branch, I guess? Pronounced: x-wa-deh-fab?)

Kepler-0085 wrote:

*report button*
(I'm lime btw)
Roless: Where?
Me: In reactor, CTE is sus

I saw Card Bele Levy Epies vent in electrical. Porg Easka is sus too.

I'm happy to support the proposed constitutional amendment. It does an impressive job of providing continuity by averting a refound and enabling an election while starting from the provisions of the existing constitution, without any extra-legal rupture. The next government can then oversee decisions on our longer term political structure and whether we need tweaks to the constitution or a complete rewrite. Thanks to the current government for doing their homework thoroughly during the impasse.

I think amending the constitution is the best option, I have not supported the refounding of Forest as I wrote it in the constitution for years as Forest has changed.

As for the departure of Errinundera it is very sad. He, along with @karock (who has been quite quiet lately as well) are people I've know longest on NS. Here's Adgio for Strings in his honor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmFvUo1iNUs

OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT POST

Statement to our allies, friends, and ambassadors on the subject of Forest's Constitutional transition process

A message for:

The Ambassadors of our allied regions, here in residence
Forest's Ambassadors to our friends and allies

Please share this official statement regarding our Founder's CTE with Forest's allied governments as you judge it right and appropriate to do so:

--------------

Greetings, friends and allies of Forest!

In last night's major update, beginning the 7th of March 2021, Forest's founder and longest resident Errinundera CTE'd. Though we are unsure of the causes, and hope that all is well for the person behind the name, this event was not entirely unexpected. For some time we have seen the signs, and were able to lay out all the steps and safeguards necessary to ensure an orderly transition to Forest being a stable, Delegate-led region. Because of the nature of Forest's democracy, this change will not significantly impact the long-term function of our government.

As we speak, the necessary Constitutional procedures are being undertaken to make this transition smoothly, and we do not anticipate any significant interruption or alteration to our status, alliances, commitments, or activities. In accordance with Forest law long-ago written for just such an occasion, a password has been placed on the region while we complete this process. This is a temporary state of affairs, and we anticipate that within a short period of time, the necessary votes will have been completed to allow the lifting of this password, and our long-awaited transition to the next government.

We thank you for your ongoing friendship, and look forward to many years of continued growth together.

Verdant Haven
Forest Keeper of Forest

--------------

Love and Nature wrote:

Is it possible to change the GMT to UTC? I guess not if we would need to change it to every other part in the constitution also.

This is actually the only point in the Constitution where time of day is referenced, so this is definitely an easy change to make. Thank you for the feedback – I will tweak it accordingly.

Lura wrote:

On a related note, depending on when the amendments are adopted, will we act as though the Sep 2020 election happened and assume that the current government members' terms expire on/near March 16? Or will we hold elections ASAP once the amendments are adopted, regardless of whether March 16 has passed?

As we are so close to March 16th, and this process will take us right up to the cusp of it, I think it would be reasonable for us to begin operating in accordance with the newly approved (fingers crossed) constitutional change as written. In other words, if this passes, I would support putting it into action on the 16th, thus immediately reflecting the new legal norm and setting the standard for the future.

Imperium helvetiorum wrote:

'If the result of the poll is at least 50%+1 in favor of refounding, [...]'

I'm being nitpicky here, but I don't think '50%+1' is legally readable. I suggest to replace 'at least 50%+1' with 'more than 50 per cent'.

I used that terminology for legal consistency (it is written that way in three other places throughout the document), but I believe you are actually correct here. After looking into it, despite being commonly seen, 50%+1 is not actually a proper rendition of this language. I will adjust it to reflect your suggestion, and will recommend to my successor that they look into having the other instances similarly changed.

Imperium helvetiorum wrote:

'If the result of the poll is not in favor of refounding as previously described, the region shall remain in operation in its present status and with its present laws. Another such poll may not be held until 3 months have passed'.

What is the rationale behind the 3-month cooldown period?

Basically, it prevents rapid re-running of votes on the most critical of questions without adequate time to reflect and measure consequence.

One of the scenarios that faces a Delegate-led region (despite the unlikelihood in one of our size) is the potential for both rapid changes in delegacy (deliberate or not), and for hostile takeover of the delegacy. This language is to ensure legal protection against hostile action where multiple attempted votes interspersed with rounds of ejections of the opposition try to gain legal cover for destruction of the region. I can't think of a scenario in which we would hold a vote on whether to destroy the region, that vote would fail, but then the whole situation would change sufficiently to require another such vote in less than 3 months. As I've sometimes said, we are the trees that grow, not the leaves that blow. We move deliberately and with consideration – there's no benefit to knee-jerk reaction at this level.

pfft.."government."

[does that two-finger "I'm watching you" thing at all the "NOT TO BE REMOVED" furniture labels]

Outer Bele Levy Epies wrote:

I saw Card Bele Levy Epies vent in electrical. Porg Easka is sus too.

We have three impostors, so why dont we vote them out round by round, lets start with CTE;
CTE was an impostor

Shalotte wrote:

If Forest were to be re-founded, wouldn't it lose the Commendation?

Yes. If Forest were to be re-founded, it would lose everything - the history, the commend, the RMB, the embassies - it's a complete wipe of the slate, no different than a completely new person showing up and founding their own region on day one. "Re-founding" is the polite term for when a region does that, but tries to carry forward the traditions of their former region by having the same people, same ideals, etc and starting again.

There are many reasons why we urgently desire to avoid that fate (hence the amendment being proposed).

Also note this is the 200th day Ruinenlust has been delegate.

Suspicious coincidence if you ask me. :thonking: