Which things should we decide before elections, and which after?
It seems that elections will be the event that draws people in.

If things like civ and map type are decided ahead of time then people can join with less fuss, but are not pulled in to the decision.

Should another announcement be posted now to pull people into the game setup?

Or maybe make the game setup part of the 1st term?

Should we advance all these questions to the point of opening polls and then make an announcement, so that newcomers have something to vote on right away?

We probably have the dedicated players showing up now. People coming in for elections would probably be fair-weather friends. Here for a bit and then gone.

We've been building this game from the begining of January. People know it's here. The graphic ad brought more people here. It's a known fact the game is back. But there's only a dozen or so of us who are willing to put the game together. Others want to wait until we have something to show them, to give them.

I say let's do this like a standard Demogame. The group of people that are here now continue making the option choices. Some options may not even need to be polled if there is general agreement. That would be up to the core group. Once we have nailed down the guidelines for the game, we shoot out an election ad prior to posting the Nomination threads. Then another ad when the polls are posted.

The Elections give us our Leaders, appoinments can be made, and we are set for Creation Day. The DemoGame begins with Leaders intact, and everyone making plans.

Should we advance all these questions to the point of opening polls and then make an announcement, so that newcomers have something to vote on right away?

This sounds best to me. We get some option polls ready (land mass, barbs, civ, difficulty, etc.), and place an ad. We also start the office nomination process then (assuming that's how things still work). This way those drawn in by the ad get to vote in the polls and will hopefully get caught up in the nomination process and campaign which hopefully will revolve around the type of identity we want for our nation.