Planting Spies

Here is a poll regarding the use of spies for our nation. FYI, the cost of establishing a spy ranges from about 70 gold to 100 gold.

Here is the relevant debate:
Espionage Debate - Foreign Policy

If the most popular is:
Now. Everywhere, - We'll attempt to place spies everywhere.
Now. Not Everywhere, - I'll set up a poll to see where we will now.
Later, - I'll ask again after a few rounds.
Never, - I shall bury the subject and burn those who bring it up (j/k) But I won't bring it up unless promted to or situation begs for it.

I voted later. I think I posted my reasons in the discussion thread.

I said now but let's poll on who. I see no reason to plants spies in Greece or England, but our strong neighbors, esp. southern ones we should. And MAYBE the Iro. but we have good relations with them.

Never. WE are not subversive cowards who sneak around the palaces of our enemies, are we?

BTW, "Later" will not be binding. i.e. it won't mean we WILL plant spies later, but rather that we will definitely re-visit the issue later. Perhaps voters would care to write-in their reason, either here or in the discussion thread.

BTW, I have done a lot of reflection on this poll, and think the "Now" options 1 and 2 should be combined to form a unified "Now" vote. They really are the same thing. The more popular vote of the 2 would be how we implement the "Now".

Exactly, the NOW vote is effectively split between 1 and 2, making it seem that later is the most preffered option, wheras most people (at the moment) want to plant spies NOW and differ on the method, as chiefpaco said.

If that's the case, I think the last two options should be combined, as they are similar. Had I known this was the case when I voted, I would have voted 'later'.

Well, here we go again, changing a poll with 18 votes....

While I originally thought "Never" and "Later" were different, I will combine those two using the same logic as the previous merge: a difference of implementation of not planting spies now.

Wow. Close. Keep voting!

Originally posted by chiefpaco
Wow. Close. Keep voting!

Click to expand...

Ok, put me down for a couple more *Later* votes.

Looks like either we'll be planting spies everywhere tonight or I open a poll tomorrow for where we will plant spies. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to poll for that though. I thought of doing 1 multiple choice poll but it's difficult to say at what would make a yes or a no. Perhaps the best way would be to open a yes/no poll for each nation.

A tie of the "now" above would go to the side of caution and I'd use my tie-breaking power to go to further polling for which nations are to be planted a spy for next turn.

CheifP, are you counting all the "spies now" votes together?

Yes. Spies now are combined with the most popular being the method of implementation. The first option means we will plant tonight. The 2nd (or in case of a tie) means that I will open a poll for the next round.

The "later" and "never" are also combined. If they win, I will ask again upon reaching Space Flight.

Just to state the point of view from the Domestic Department, we do not consider this a valid poll in the terms you now apply to it. Changing the actions or options during the last part of the vote duration does not sit well with this Department. We will look upon the outcome of this poll as informational. With the original intent of this poll, the "Later" option shows to be the most popular, and we feel that at this point, that should be the way to handle this area. Thus, funding for spies will be very limited.

Originally posted by Cyc
Just to state the point of view from the Domestic Department, we do not consider this a valid poll in the terms you now apply to it. Changing the actions or options during the last part of the vote duration does not sit well with this Department. We will look upon the outcome of this poll as informational. With the original intent of this poll, the "Later" option shows to be the most popular, and we feel that at this point, that should be the way to handle this area. Thus, funding for spies will be very limited.

Click to expand...

Seems you are trying to disrupt the validity of this poll because it did not go your way, Cyc. And your interpretation is very flawed. The poll clearly shows that the majority of citizens wish to plant spies immediately in at least some of our neighbor's capitals.

I'm a bit surprised of the esteemed Domestic Department Leader's bold and almost threatening move. I don't like scrapping or changing polls, but this one was difficult to write from the start. I struggled for a while to get the most appropriate poll. I then realized the imperfection of this poll all too late and a better way comes half-way through.

I think the best way for everyone to get a second chance is to vote on every nation specifically to see if we should plant a spy there (probably what I should've done from the start). Since the "Now. Everywhere" option is the 3rd most single popular option, I think I am only daring to offend about a quarter of the voters. This will give everyone another say on each nation at the price of 1 round since the polls will take effect after the turn tonight.

I will therefore check the latest prices after tonight's round and post a new poll for every foreign nation. I hope everyone when voting will consider other nations':
- Favour ranking.
- history with us.
- Government (do Communism's catch spies easier?)
- Price (in gold)
- Risk of war
- Attitude towards us
- Strength (Militaristic, size, and research)

as well as our victory goals.

I'll compile a list of these, and anything else I find to be relevant for the upcoming polls. I also will hope that the Domestic Department will release funds for any Democratic decision for a spy to be planted somewhere.

Ok? And I do apologize for the mess.

I'm sorry if you took my last post as almost threatening, chiefpaco. I would never threaten you. That was just stating the position of the Domestic Department. The intent and proposed action of the poll was changed after 70% of the votes were already cast. There is no duration period posted in the informational post. With the original intent of the poll "Later" is the clear winner, even if this was a valid poll. It IS strictly informational and our posted position stands.

And thank you for the support, Eyrei.

Oh, and the new polls will be a "Shall we plant a spy next turn?" Yes/No/Abstain.

No confusion. And lesson learned - use Yes/No polls as much as possible