NationStates Jolt Archive

The current UN vote is extremely close and it occurred to me how useful if may be to have a method by which we could see which delegates still need to vote and how much of a vote they have.

A suggestion for NS2 or (even if Sal could write some code for the current version) is to have a page where you could see the current UN delegates, the number of votes for each, which way they’ve voted or if they haven’t.

I know we already have something like it on the UN page, but a page specifically designed for this will help a great deal with vote prediction and lobbying! Perhaps if it’s too much trouble to do it for every delegate, it could contain only delegates whose total number of votes is over 20 or maybe 50?

One final thought, it would also be useful I think if we actually had an abstain choice when voting on the UN page. This way we could differentiate between who is actually abstaining out of choice and those nations who are simply not voting for whatever ever reason (inactivity etc.).

If these suggestions have been made before, my apologies, but I’d rather throw something in the mix even if it turns out to be useless. Finally, sorry to any mod if this thread is in the wrong place and please feel free to move it if it is.

I like the idea of an abstention vote for NS2. There is already a page that displays for and against delegate votes; it also shows their number of endorsements. That has always proved useful for lobbying - so long as you don't forget those who hadn't yet voted.

The current UN vote is extremely close and it occurred to me how useful if may be to have a method by which we could see which delegates still need to vote and how much of a vote they have.

This could be extremely useful for proposal lobbying. I would second this.

A suggestion for NS2 or (even if Sal could write some code for the current version) is to have a page where you could see the current UN delegates, the number of votes for each, which way they’ve voted or if they haven’t.

Sadly, I doubt it will be worked into NS1 - they've kind of put a blanket "no-way" response on all new coding suggestions.

I know we already have something like it on the UN page, but a page specifically designed for this will help a great deal with vote prediction and lobbying! Perhaps if it’s too much trouble to do it for every delegate, it could contain only delegates whose total number of votes is over 20 or maybe 50?

That would actually make things more complicated. And a lot of the Delegates with REALLY high vote counts (IDU, most, if not all, of the Pacifics... several several others) vote democratically, so lobbying them would only get people annoyed with you. It's actually best to lobby the lower vote counts in mass quantities and hope you hit most of the active ones.

One final thought, it would also be useful I think if we actually had an abstain choice when voting on the UN page. This way we could differentiate between who is actually abstaining out of choice and those nations who are simply not voting for whatever ever reason (inactivity etc.).

It would be a good idea... if people used it. It's unlikely that people would use an abstain button when they could just leave it blank and say basically the same thing. And this would only really be useful for Delegates to have anyway, since we're DEFINITELY not getting a list of ALL the UN Members.

If these suggestions have been made before, my apologies, but I’d rather throw something in the mix even if it turns out to be useless. Finally, sorry to any mod if this thread is in the wrong place and please feel free to move it if it is.

It's extremely likely, actually. But sometimes it's worth bringing up the good ones every now and then - who knows, you may get lucky and find Sal on a day when he's got NOTHING to do ( :eek: ).

And as long as this is indeed where you posted it, yes, Technical is correct.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, appreciate it. I’m glad some of the ideas are at least of interest.

That would actually make things more complicated. And a lot of the Delegates with REALLY high vote counts (IDU, most, if not all, of the Pacifics... several several others) vote democratically, so lobbying them would only get people annoyed with you. It's actually best to lobby the lower vote counts in mass quantities and hope you hit most of the active ones.

I can see your point there, though personally I have always maintained close ties with some of the Pacifics. Their voting power is simply too powerful to ignore, thus when appropriate I have posted on their forums (thanks to their grand generosity I might add) to debate topics. I’ve found having a voice from the outside sometimes bring another perspective from what can sometimes be a very insular voting system.

For myself in our region when we had more UN members (something I am working towards again) we also voted democratically. However we had a section for outside parties to voice their concerns or make comments and though they could not vote directly they were given the opportunity to have a say and get feedback.

I guess it really comes down to the tolerance and attitude of regional ruling organisation. Point taken though… ;)

It would be a good idea... if people used it. It's unlikely that people would use an abstain button when they could just leave it blank and say basically the same thing. And this would only really be useful for Delegates to have anyway, since we're DEFINITELY not getting a list of ALL the UN Members.

Again, point taken though personally I would use it. There have been many circumstances when I have abstained out of choice. I would have liked to have that position registered somehow. I think it will be particularly useful for proposal authors to give an indication of an overall ‘feel’ for their resolutions over the main body. The forum is great to have an idea and comments, but the numbers often tell a different story. At the very least it would it may (not sure) give us some idea about who is actually voting in the UN and the possible numbers there of. Again I guess if there is a general consensus for this then let’s have it, otherwise I think we could leave in the realms of ‘nice to have’. :)

BTW Hersfold I sent you a telegram a little while ago, but it was before ‘the great crash – mark two’ so I’m not sure if you ever got it! No big deal if you didn’t, it was just a thank you really.