NationStates Jolt Archive

I recieved a notice ealier today saying that a group of my nations had been deleted for 'spamming', and I was wondering if it would be possible to obtain some clarification on the exact nature of this action.
To give a little background, I had created a group of 'probe' nations, each named after NASA's 'Voyager' space probes and given a consecutive number. I thought it might be amusing to have this group of probes move to a new region each day, collecting information (possibly even posting it to a website as a sort of 'mission log'), making a brief comment to note their passing, and then moving on to the next uncharted region.
Now, all though I may have considered this an amusing idea, I'm not going to launch into a tirade about how what I was doing 'wasn't Spam' and that this is 'unjust', 'cruel and unusual' or the like. It's no secret that people have different senses of humour, and if someone finds mine annoying, i'm not so selfish as to insist that I obtain my chuckles at their expense. I was simply wondering if the action taken was the result of a complaint by another nation, or some automated system which takes effect when multiple nations from the same IP adress appear in one forum.
I know that only one nation per person is allowed in the UN, but as far as I was able to assertain there was no limit as to the number of non-UN nations someone was able to play around with. If this is not, in fact, the case, then I would sincerely appreciate someone bringing me up to speed so I can avoid similar errors in the future. If, however, someone just found the probes annoying ... well, all I can do is tender my apologies and point out that at least you won't see the likes of them again. (And before I was even able to make a Star Trek: The Motion Picture joke ... alas, they went before their time. ;) )

if you aint gunna resurect your stupid probes anywho the hy do you care why they were deated? your care too much bout pissing people off and your wasting our ever so genorous mods ever so valuable time!!!1111!!!!one

I'm not entirely sure of the rules myself, but I believe non-UN nation mutli-ing (puppet nations) is OK. Even having nations go through every region in alphabetical order is fine, I believe (a nation called the Airborne Flock of Migrating Geese passed through the one I reside in).

So, in conclusion, it was probably the talking that got you in trouble. Regional MBs only hold 10 messages, so you deleted someone's regional post, addressed to their region, for your own joke, in each region you passed through.

I'm not a mod, so ask them, but, based on my understanding of the rules, setting up an alphabetical order puppet is OK as long as it doesn't talk. Ask the mods before trying again, though.

i have a nation i move at least once a day if not more

For the record, I am the Moderator who handled this case.

Someone filed a spam complaint to the Getting Help page about the series of nations in question. After looking at the region in question, I concurred that it was spam, deleted the voyager nations, and issued a warning to the puppetmaster.

I had not remembered the Wild Goose Case until "Meteor Impact Victims" brought it up in this topic. It may or may not have a relevant precedent, I don't recall, but it was a similar case. Looking up the relevant "Moderation" topics on the Wild Goose Case is going to be difficult as I believe that the topic was created before the migration to the Jolt systems. So, the normal search functions are not going to work and looking up the Wild Goose Case could turn into a Wild Goose Chase.

Thus, in the absence of a retrieveable precedent, I'm going to rule that this sort of thing is legal IF you first obtain the permission of the Founder (or Delegate, if no Founder exists) of each region you intend to visit.

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation
"Think about it for a moment."
NationStates Game Moderator

i have a question how is this any worse then using a script to move from region to region which is allowed
this person does it all by hand and only once a day, where as a script can do it somthing like every few seconds

i have a question how is this any worse then using a script to move from region to region which is allowed
this person does it all by hand and only once a day, where as a script can do it somthing like every few seconds
A single nation moving from region-to-region in sequence usually leaves only two new entries in the Regional Happenings of each region: the entry and the exit. Most script-controlled nations that do this don't post anything to the Civil Headquarters, so the CH boards aren't affected at all.

In the Wild Goose Case and the Voyager Case, a group of nations entered each region and each posted a message on the Civil Headquarters board, thus flooding both the Regional Happenings and the Civil Headquarters (several entries, several messages).

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation
"Think about it for a moment."
NationStates Game Moderator

A single nation moving from region-to-region in sequence usually leaves only two new entries in the Regional Happenings of each region: the entry and the exit. Most script-controlled nations that do this don't post anything to the Civil Headquarters, so the CH boards aren't affected at all.

In the Wild Goose Case and the Voyager Case, a group of nations entered each region and each posted a message on the Civil Headquarters board, thus flooding both the Regional Happenings and the Civil Headquarters (several entries, several messages).

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation
"Think about it for a moment."
NationStates Game Moderatorthanks i must have mis read his post i thought each one went some where diffrent, so its still ok to move a single nation around each day?

For the record, I am the Moderator who handled this case.

Someone filed a spam complaint to the Getting Help page about the series of nations in question. After looking at the region in question, I concurred that it was spam, deleted the voyager nations, and issued a warning to the puppetmaster.

I had not remembered the Wild Goose Case until "Meteor Impact Victims" brought it up in this topic. It may or may not have a relevant precedent, I don't recall, but it was a similar case. Looking up the relevant "Moderation" topics on the Wild Goose Case is going to be difficult as I believe that the topic was created before the migration to the Jolt systems. So, the normal search functions are not going to work and looking up the Wild Goose Case could turn into a Wild Goose Chase.

Thus, in the absence of a retrieveable precedent, I'm going to rule that this sort of thing is legal IF you first obtain the permission of the Founder (or Delegate, if no Founder exists) of each region you intend to visit.

--The Modified Democratic States of Cogitation
"Think about it for a moment."
NationStates Game Moderator

Oh, it's not really that important. Like I said, if someone actually did find it annoying, I'd rather just scrap the little adventure then tread someones toes. (Especially because we all do already get enough Spam, I'd hate to think I was adding to that in someones eyes.) I just wanted to know whether it was a complaint or if I had breached some automatic rule I wasn't aware of, simply so I could be sure I didn't accidently repeat the same mistake again.
Thanks for your help.

Oh, it's not really that important. Like I said, if someone actually did find it annoying, I'd rather just scrap the little adventure then tread someones toes. (Especially because we all do already get enough Spam, I'd hate to think I was adding to that in someones eyes.) I just wanted to know whether it was a complaint or if I had breached some automatic rule I wasn't aware of, simply so I could be sure I didn't accidently repeat the same mistake again.
Thanks for your help.

You could try another aproach. If you create a "probe" nation, you could send it on a mission, and when it reaches a region, you simple let it stay in orbit of that region. No harm done, and it is not out of character either. You'll need many probes, but the data could be worth while :cool:
If you keep those "probe" nations in your dossier, you could gather data just by accessing them there.