Welcome to the first issue The Informer a periodical deisgned to keep you the demogame citizen informed about what our government is doing!

As publisher / editor / writer I should introduce myself first and give you some idea of my demogame background. I'm donsig and I've been around since the first term of DG1. My first demogame *job* was as chat rep for the trade department in DG1T1. (Anyone remember who my boss was? No fair looking it up in the archives!) In DG1T2 I ran against eyrei for the domestic leader spot and ended up as his deputy. Ever since then I've been against the concept of the election runner up being second in command of a department.) Eyrei was also VP that term and succeeded to the presidency upon the resignation of Grey Fox. I finished term two as Domestic leader and ran for president in term three. I won that election and almost immediately came under fire for using a newly implemented presidential veto. A bit later I defied a chat vote to continue playing and thus begun my multi-game crusade to bring the focus of the demogames back to the forums. Can't remember what other offices I held in DG1 but was VP in the last term and had the honor of playing the victory session. (There was a little unplanned war with Babylon but I was never prosecuted for it. :D)

My initial focus in DG2 was the publication of Die Fanatischen Zeiten a rag similar in design to this one. I also was appointed governor of the Southwest Province and recall many happy days in Tlaxcala with my deputy Donovan Zoi. :) I believe I was also Deputy Science Minister after a hotly contested election with Strider. It took two run-off elections to decide that one! May have also served on the judiciary back then.

I was elected president in DG3T3 and was immediately villified for standing up to Montezuma who had the audacity to build a city in our territory and then demand that we leave his territory! I'm not sure I held office in DG3 after that...

I was placed on the judiciary in DG4T2 though don't know if I was elected or appointed. :crazyeye: Served as governor of a very corrupt province near the end of the game.

In between games I've been an active participant in the debates surrounding the creation of our constitutions and lower books.

So, I've been around for awhile and feel qualified to write on topics regarding our government.

This first issue I'd like to comment on two things, the impending passage of our constitution and the upcoming elections.

There are currently fifteen polls posted regarding the ratification of various constitutional articles. They appear to all be of a 96 hour duration and approximatly half of this has passed at the time of this writing. There seems to be no specification for what is required to ratify each amendment. I assume a simple majority of voters voting *yes* will ratify an amendment. If this is true then each amendment will assuredly be ratified. Each poll seems to have about 25 to 30 votes at this time, all with strong *yes* majorities. With 68 registered citizens this is a poor turn out of less than fifty percent. :( I urge all citizens to vote in these polls and make their voices heard! The majority of the article polls have at least 25 votes logged but two have only 16 and 18. Only one has more than two *no* votes. Here is the current voting as of this writing:

Article Y/N/Abstain
A 29/0/0
B 26/1/0
C 26/1/2
D 15/2/1
E 18/2/5
F 24/1/3
G 17/7/4
H 26/2/0
I 23/1/2
J 23/2/0
K 24/2/0
L 25/0/1
M 27/0/0
N 26/0/0
O 14/1/1

Article G, which gained the most *no* votes is about term length and deputies. I personally voted against the article because it fixes terms at one month. (I am a long proponent of turn based rather than calender based terms.) The is a mis-spelling or two in the article and this may have prompted a no vote or two. The article also defines an office as being *vacent* if left *in absentia for two weeks*. The article also names the runner up in the election as deputy - another reason I'd have voted against it if I'd have read it that far before voting. ;)

We are about to elect our first government: a president, 6 ministers, a governor and three justices. Even though our constitution will most likely restrict citizens to one office per term there seems to be no restrictions on running for offices. There are fifty five candidates for the eleven offices, an average of five contestants per election. Each election has no less than four candidates running and eight are vying for the prestigious Culural Minister position. At first glance this would seem to indicate a tremendous urge among our citizens to participate in our electoral process. 55 out of 68 citizens running for office is over 80%. But let's take a look at how many different citizens are running...

Fifteen citizens are running for one office only; 9 are running for two; 4 are running for three; 1 is running for four and one is running for six! That's a total of 30 different citizens running for office. Still not bad, since that's 44% of our registered citizens. BUT placed against the fact that we have no more than 29 votes in any given constitutional article ratification poll something seems amiss. I would hope that anyone running for office would vote on such an important thing as our constitution but it seems this is not so. :(

All five candidates running for Domestic Leader (arguably the most powerful position) have hedged and are running for at least one other office. Only three of the eight candidates for Cultural Minister are not running elsewhere. Well, only one of the four presidential candidates is running in another election. :goodjob:

I am also concerned about our judicial elections. Four candidates are running for all three spots on the bench! Everyone running the the JA spot is also running for the other two judicial seats. There is only one citizen running for CJ that isn't running for any other office.

So ends the first issue of The Informer. I hope you all enjoyed it.

:goodjob: welcome back donsig, i thought you were gonna miss the start, err trade term 1, i cant say i was there, i joined i think term 4 or 5 but was it CT i know she was trade minister early on. i can safely say however i am one of the 'good' people, voted in all the mind numbing polls and am only running for one office.

As I was the first Cultural Minister, I am well aware of who the first Minister of Trade was. The Honorable Bill_in_PDX. Good to see you're writing again, donsig.

If I would have written an Article for your rag, I think I would have been most concerned with all the citizens that are running for the Judiciary that never felt the need or desire to contribute to the writings of the proposed Constitutional Articles.

As I was the first Cultural Minister, I am well aware of who the first Minister of Trade was. The Honorable Bill_in_PDX. Good to see you're writing again, donsig.

If I would have written an Article for your rag, I think I would have been most concerned with all the citizens that are running for the Judiciary that never felt the need or desire to contribute to the writings of the proposed Constitutional Articles.

life is great like that, these little ironies keep you going;). BILL, BILL how could i have forgotton about him, whatever happened to him

As I was the first Cultural Minister, I am well aware of who the first Minister of Trade was. The Honorable Bill_in_PDX.

Right you are Cyc! You win a lifetime subscription to The Informer. :cool:

Good to see you're writing again, donsig.

Figured I'd better find something to do just in case I don't get elected President. :lol:

If I would have written an Article for your rag, I think I would have been most concerned with all the citizens that are running for the Judiciary that never felt the need or desire to contribute to the writings of the proposed Constitutional Articles.

Feel free to contribute here anytime. (Everyone, not just Cyc.) Write an article, write a letter to the editor. I missed the last week or two of the constitutional discussions myself due to RL (work!) I'd like t hear more about the judicial candidates' contributions (or lack thereof) to the formation of our constitution.

A great article, donsig. I look forward to reading the next one as much as I looked forward to reading the old DFZ.

So, you wouldn't mind if I sent to you some of my rants in the form of the anonymous letter? ;)

Nice to see another newspaper (and that I don't have to sue this one for being a monopoly (and loose)). Good luck with it, Donsig.
If I ever feel peeved enough about something, I'll write an article.
Oh, one question:
What is this newspapers stance on roleplaying articles?

There is something weird with the preamble compared to what is actually practiced in the DG. It is written that we have the freedom to assemble and have free speech as citizens, but this is contradicted by some of the moderators that does not want political organizations to be formed. Then that should be specifed in the preamble, what type of organizations or public assemblies that is allowed and not allowed, and we would not see this confusion around this place. I had a messy situation thanks to this unwritten rule practiced by the insiders of this DG, so I would actually like to see that written in the constitution, if not so, added in an amendment, if not so, brought to the court of justice, if not so, replace those censoring threads and so on and if not so, maybe we can make a demogame with a civil war between those who want political organizations and those who does not want these political organizations. I am cool either way, but it must be specified in the constitution in order to avoid a waste of time and resources.

Oh, one question:
What is this newspapers stance on roleplaying articles?

Well, part of the reason for doing this is to recapture some of the fun I had publishing DFZ back in the DG2 role playing game we had going. I would encourage role playing but want to remind everyone that the theme of this rag is what is our government doing. Feel free to contribute what you will but try to stay within the theme. :)

want to remind everyone that the theme of this rag is what is our government doing.

Really? Well at the moment our government is doing absolutely nothing . I think it's high time we organised a revolution and made them get off their backsides, or replace them with a better government

what's that?

*cough*

oh, we haven't started yet

*looks sheepish*

Letter to the Editor of The Informer

This note was touched on in your paper this week, I would like to clarify the contributions I have specifically made to the constitution of this game.

First Id like to tell you a little bit of the last year, I recently moved back to my hometown into a single apartment. Before I was living in a town 2 hours south of my present position, needless to say the last year has been full of ups and downs. My long term relationship ended shortly before I returned, contributing to my turbulence. This was the primary reason for my absense through the entirety of DG4, my secondary reason was disillusionment with some of the more unpleasent parts of this game (not the turnchat, as some of you may be thinking).

I was unemployed for the last 2 weeks which allowed me time to step up to the plate and finish our stalemated constitution. What needs to be fixed will, my primary concern was the nation. I contributed to the discussions of the constitutional articles, however my greatest contribution has been recent, where I, along with a handful of individuals who have since earned my admiration, finished our constitution. I organized our articles into proposals and made an effort to accomodate ANY changes a citizen wished if it were reasonable. Upon the expiration of our proposals I began the polling process. My legacy to this demogame is that I hope I have done the right thing in making this constitution finished to accomodate what I felt was an outrageous demand by moderators for the timing of the constitution. I can only hope that what I have done for this nation does not earn me scorn in the annals of demogame history, it was never my intention to write an unfinished constitution, but I was forced to adapt to the situation.

As I look upon the numbers of the participants in our constitutional ratification polls I am both saddened and hopeful. Those who have expressed discontent with articles have not made their objections clear enough, while some have, many have not, I speak specifically of the article mentioned in your paper. This constitution is a construct of the people, and the people must make their opinions known. I can only hope the vocal few who have expressed their desires for the laws speak for the majority. The poll turnout is of course, a pity. Not much else need be said, soon our nation will be ready to face the challenges of the future, and I will be there, ready to enjoy victory over our enemies, or see our nation die out in glory.

regards,

M

Our first elections are underway! I think a quick special edition is in order. ;)

Before getting down to the nitty gritty I would first like to thank Provolution and Immortal for their recent contributions to the demogame and this publication. I sympathize with the lamenting about mods. The world would be a much better place if we didn't need mods but... I suggest we heed their words and move on as best we can. I also prefer to think of these special entities as citizens first and mods second. Moving right along...


We currently have 84 registered citizens and four of our elections have garnered 42 votes. Using the current vote totals our census would be 38.

With about half of our registered citizens having voted already the highly trained experts at The Informer have *called*the following elections:

DaveShack will be elected President
Noldodan will be elected Domestic Leader
Donovan Zoi will be elected Trade Minister
Cyc will be elected Chief Justice
Immortal will be elected Judge Advocate

The other races are too hotly contested to *call* at this time:

General Falcon02 and Sarevok are tied at 16 votes for the Military Leader position.
Curufinwe holds a three vote lead over Fier Canadien for Culture Minister.
Provolution has a two vote lead over Bootstoots for the Foreign Affairs job.
Immortal has a two vote lead over Rik Meleet as they vie to lead the Science Department.
KCCrusader has a two vote lead over Immortal for the Public Defender slot.

If the current leads hold up then we will have two citizens who will have won two elections each: Noldodan will be elected both Domestic Leader and Governor; while Immoral will be tabbed for both Judge Advocate and Science Minister. The proposed constitution limits citizens to one leader position. Evcen thugh the venerable Botstoots asked the candidates of multiple elections which office they preferred, Immortal was non-commital and Noldodan has been away and unable to reply. So we are in the dark as to which office they would choose if they win more than one. What are the ramifications of these multiple wins?

If the election were over now, Noldodan would have to choose between leading Domestic and governing our first province. If he choose the latter then would Epimethius (who polled 25% of the vote) take over Domestic? If so who would be his deputy? TruckingPete with the third place vote? If Noldodan choose the former then would Zarn become Governor? Who would be his deputy?

If Immortal chooses to be JA then would Rik Meleet run the science department? If so, who would be science deputy? If Immortal chooses to run science then who is JA? Cyc and KCCrusader are currently tied for second place. But wait - they are both leading in other elections! Do we give each of them in turn (fter the run-off election) their choice of office? KCC decides to be JA and now the second place PD vote getter is Immortal... We may well end up with someone on the bench who polled less than one seventh of the votes. :(

When will this madness end! Once again we've started a demogame without our rules in place. Once again we will have to turn to our judiciary for guidance. Once again it appears the last place most citizens want to be is the judiciary.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Donsig:

I would just like to remind your readers that a number of the elections are going to require run-offs.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Donsig:

I would just like to remind your readers that a number of the elections are going to require run-offs.

Can you clarify this statement? I can't find anything in the Constitution regarding run-off elections.

That was posted when it was thought the mods were going to force us to have runoff polls.

Right now it is unclear what they are going to do, as such, it may or may not be true. Though it was true at the time.

That was posted when it was thought the mods were going to force us to have runoff polls.

Right now it is unclear what they are going to do, as such, it may or may not be true. Though it was true at the time.

Stupid question: Who are the mods, and why do they have so much power over our fledgling democracy?

Hey, donsig, what is the difference between this rag and the Japanatica Shimbun?

Keep in mind the demogame is only 100 out of 20,000_ members. I myself am far more active in the Off Topic than in the Demogame during quiet periods, thats where the majority of my posts come from.

Remember, this is still Thunderfall's website, he has appointed our moderators (Chieftess, Rik Meleet, and Eyrei) to administer the forum rules from within the game. They have final say by virtue of our games existence within this forum.

Keep in mind the demogame is only 100 out of 20,000_ members. I myself am far more active in the Off Topic than in the Demogame during quiet periods, thats where the majority of my posts come from.

Remember, this is still Thunderfall's website, he has appointed our moderators (Chieftess, Rik Meleet, and Eyrei) to administer the forum rules from within the game. They have final say by virtue of our games existence within this forum.

That is all the more reason to have a constitutional amendment regarding issues such as this. If we have it written into the constitution and it doesn't go against any forum rules, then we won't suffer any interferance.

and?

I do believe we have been heading in that direction since the mods decided they wanted runoffs.

Having run-offs of this election is not only a stupid idea, but borders on cheating. We should not have any such run-offs unless first or second place is tied.

I believe I am just expressing my opinion for the purpose of debate, and to inform others reading this who may not have formed an opinion yet.

Having run-offs of this election is not only a stupid idea, but borders on cheating. We should not have any such run-offs unless first or second place is tied.

Absolutely. Changing the way the election is run mid-stream is not the best way for us to get started.

Having run-offs of this election is not only a stupid idea, but borders on cheating. We should not have any such run-offs unless first or second place is tied.

IRL I am a major opponent of FPP elections, however for the ppurposes of this demogame, as our cabinet is directly elected. I am in favour of it.

Please tell me that the Informer hasn't closed its doors after only two press runs. :( This game desperately needs an independent news source, and I can think of no one more independent to fulfill this need than Editor-in-Chief donsig.

Sincerely,
Troubled in Tlaxcala ;)

Please tell me that the Informer hasn't closed its doors after only two press runs. :( This game desperately needs an independent news source, and I can think of no one more independent to fulfill this need than Editor-in-Chief donsig.

Sincerely,
Troubled in Tlaxcala ;)

Not closed but RL gets in the way. Usually summers are quiet at the library but this year things are hopping. What little time I've had for the forums I've spent trying to catch up on polls and the judicial thread. There seems to be much to write about concerning recent JRs. Perhaps I can put out an issue in a day or two...

In the mean time, a trivia contest:

My sig has two lines from a movie. Name it. Tell us who said the lines for extra credit. (Note: Not demogame related.)

Sounds like "Some Like It Hot!" And I'll guess Tony Curtis. They are constantly replaying movies over and over it seems. That movie has been on a couple of times recently.

Is the Informer still running?
I would hate to see this fine newspaper go inactive...

Is the Informer still running?
I would hate to see this fine newspaper go inactive...
Not sure, I have not seen Donsig posting lately.

Not sure, I have not seen Donsig posting lately.
i know this was kinda a :bump:

Sounds like "Some Like It Hot!" And I'll guess Tony Curtis. They are constantly replaying movies over and over it seems. That movie has been on a couple of times recently.

That's not the answer I'm looking for. I'll have to watch that one sometime and see if this line is used there.

It's from To Have and Have Not. Lauren Bacall says the first line and the second is Humphrey Bogart's reply.

Since I may change my sig some day here it is for the archives:

Bacall: Give her my love.
Bogart: If she was wearing that I'd give her my own.