NationStates Jolt Archive

So, looking at the most recent UN proposal I realized something funny. With 17,163 total votes cast, the margin of success was about 0.6%. Now, it isn’t part of Roberts Rules of Order or anything, but in a body with that many active members, it seems that a simple majority doesn’t really show what that voters want. The majority is just too slim. I would like to propose that the UN change it's order to be a 51% majority vote, however, because it's a technical issue (how votes are counted) it doesn’t sit well as a resolution. It has never happened before in the UN, and in all likelihood won’t ever happen again, but legislative bodies are supposed to learn from their experiences. What do you guys think?

After that last UN decision, I browswed around the forums and got the impression that it was the general sentiment among Nationstates players that there needs to be a method of repealing past resolutions. This impression, in fact, was so strong that I think it would be the best idea for the architechts of the game to, in order to ease the nerves of many players, put the creation of such a method at least near the top of their priority lists.

In a real legislative body, there are several motions that can be taken to effectivly repell a previous resolution, and they all require a 2/3rd's majority vote in order to enact

In a real legislative body, there are several motions that can be taken to effectivly repell a previous resolution, and they all require a 2/3rd's majority vote in order to enact

Unfortunately, any change in procedure on NationStates requires a reprogramming of the relevant parts of the game. Neither Max nor [violet] have a lot of time on their hands.

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation

With a simple majority we know that if 'RESOLUTION' passed, then 'NOT RESOLUTION' (its opposite) wouldn't pass. Requiring a majority of more than 50% means that in many cases both 'RESOLUTION' and 'NOT RESOLUTION' wouldn't pass.

Why should 51% make people happy when 50% doesn't? You'd get people complaining that a resolution passed by 51.01% and the majority should raise to 52%. It's not going to happen.

A 75% majority would get things done and the resoultion would casue any argument.

With a simple majority we know that if 'RESOLUTION' passed, then 'NOT RESOLUTION' (its opposite) wouldn't pass. Requiring a majority of more than 50% means that in many cases both 'RESOLUTION' and 'NOT RESOLUTION' wouldn't pass.

Why should 51% make people happy when 50% doesn't? You'd get people complaining that a resolution passed by 51.01% and the majority should raise to 52%. It's not going to happen.

There's only two choices, if they both got 50% it wouldn't be a majority, and I'd assume the motion failed.

And why would people complain if the majority was 51% and it passed by 51.01%? If it was 50.99 and it passed, then perhaps they'd have reason to complain.

A 75% majority would get things done and the resoultion would casue any argument.

Then the UN would pass perhaps one proposal every 6 months.

And why would people complain if the majority was 51% and it passed by 51.01%? If it was 50.99 and it passed, then perhaps they'd have reason to complain.

Whatever majority you set, people will complain when a resolution they hate just passes, or a resolution they loved just fails. It'll happen at 51% just as it happens at 50%.

A 75% majority would get things done and the resoultion would casue any argument.

Then when a resolution fails because it only gets 74.99%, almost three quarters of the players will complain that the limit should have stayed lower. At least with 50% no more than half the players can complain, whether it's passed or not.