Restrictions

Everyday I get telegrams asking how to submit an issue, and I almost always reply with the following:

"When your population reaches 500 million, a link will appear in your 'issues' page."

This sometimes provokes the aggrieved "Why?" question, and I've decided to give the lowdown here.

In the days before the 500 million population limit was installed, I'd have to wade through hundreds upon hundreds of issues which were stupid, were gibberish, were obscene, or had no discernable relevance to NationStates at all. I remember one submission particularly, where the author seemed to believe it was some kind of dating agency profile submission form. Evidently, I needed to find out why we were getting all this crap.

After some brief research, I came to the conclusion that a lot of the rubbish coming in was coming from brand new nations who didn't understand anything about the subtle art of issue writing. They didn't even care.

So, there was nothing for it. I became a hermit and climbed to the highest peak and contemplated the situation for the next week. Through terrible cold and bullet rain I cogitated over possible solutions. Eventually, I decided to do what must be done and requested [violet] to only let bigger nations submit issues.

I decided this because of a number of things. Firstly, a lot of people were discovering NationStates, messing around for a while, submit some nonsense as an issue (why? because they can!) and then buggering off. This was giving me a lot of stuff to have to clear up and I didn't like it one bit. With the restrictions in place, only nations that had stayed for three months could submit an issue which meant that the submitters would actually know what an issue is, how they're written, how they look, etc. They'd also have a good idea of what had been done before and would therefore would not repeat it. Using an idea that's already been done before is the number one reason for issue submission deletion right now. It's getting harder, I know, because so many ideas have already been done, but it's not the end! You need not despair! I can think of at least ten subjects needing written off the top of my head. There's a lot that's worthy of being put in if you put your mind to it!

Secondly, well, there isn't really a secondly because my first point pretty much covers the core problems, but there is another reason. People who've stayed loyal to the site for three months must, at some level, care about the game, and want to contribute. The best way you can contribute is to buy Max Barry's books of course, but if the will's there, the person will feel the magical warmth of realising that their issue is being looked at by people all over the world. It may have changed a lot, but it was still their initiative that put it out for everyone to see. From students discussing it in their Modern Studies classes, to some anonymous person you wouldn't look at twice in the street, there are people who will think about and be affected by the situation you've produced for them to puzzle over. People with that kind of interest in the site have the potential to write real stonking good issues.

So? Has it worked? The answer is a resounding yes. I do still wade through a lot of unmentionable garbage, but the ratio of good issues to bad issues is much closer and I don't have to wait until red veins are creeping across my eyeballs before I find the diamond in the coalmine.

So to all those budding new NationStaters who've got a great idea for an issue, don't despair at the three-month wait! It'll give you plenty of time to develop your idea, verify its uniqueness, and trim and package it for my (and hopefully others') inspection. Observe, learn, practise.

Good luck!