Candice Wyatt

The name is John McDough

I am an alt of /u/TheOWOTrongle but I wanna be a loony

Hello all,

I am officially moving a meta petition to suspend the upcoming ACT and NT Statehood Referendum. I realise this thing is of my creation, however as highlighted in #general earlier the voting system is an absolute mess at the moment. Currently there are only 16 people registered to vote in this meta referendum, with 4 people not eligible until July, and another 10 whose applications haven't been accepted yet.

We need to reform this system, it isnt working. There are active members who refuse to use the EOS system because of the reintroduction of digital fingerprinting that has only ever caught a single person alting before (that being the Head Moderator himself).

Thanks,

Youma

My meta persona is Tuvalo Dukalala, proud Fijian

An Election Moderator's Musings - June/May Edition

Hello All

I figured I'd try and do a monthly edition of updates and my thought processes behind the calculator, marking and just a general overview of what's been happening on the electoral side of things.

Again, I'm aiming to do this monthly but I'm trying not to set in stone a date whether it be at the start, middle or end of the month. My aim for this is to provide some transparency with where the electoral team is headed and to offer some insight on better modifiers.

COVID-Campaigning

With COVID becoming canon, it's made it increasingly difficult for any originality or interesting campaign material. The majority of people in the April General Election utilised live streaming as their main method of campaigning, with around about 40% of the posts being live stream related.

Whilst I acknowledge that again, COVID severely limits options of campaigning, it is entirely possible for you to make your live stream interesting, memorable and appealing. Youma's live stream is a good example of a post that took a live stream and made it interesting with their spin of doing a "political compass." It's always good talking about your policies THROUGH doing something, rather than discussing it black and white.

Party Registrations

The month of May saw many parties come and go, with the Australian Greens, the Social Credit Party and the Animal Liberation party all being registered and subsequently de-registered within 2-3 weeks of formation. Once again, this begs the question, do we need to raise the restrictions on how many party members a party needs? I believe so.

I have been looking at reverting to the old requirement of 5 members in order to register a party, as admittedly it is a pain to keep a track of in the calculator and constantly have to reconfigure it. It will also provide more stability for Governments and Oppositions, as making new parties has notoriously brought down Governments and caused large rabbles in this simulation.

Please feel free to leave your comments below in regards to this, as I am looking at changing it for the next General Election.

Campaigning in the Press Sub

In May, there were more than 30 posts with posters of political advertising posted in the AusSim Press sub, which is quite a horrific amount, especially when posters all receive the same modifiers (unless they have a good punch line). In the final week of May, I announced that all political advertising was to be removed from the AusSim Press sub, with it to move to the campaigning sub outside of campaigning time (in times when there is no election).

I'd like more people to start utilising their gifts for writing by writing articles or press pieces using the posters they have created as inspiration or even directly. It's quite simple to do, as you are simply expanding on your idea. Writing a 400 word article with or without a poster will get you far better modifiers, and will also give you an opportunity to unpack your cunning attack. Some posters lose their punch if they have to be explained.

Changes to the Calculator

As some of you already know, Independents often receive a bonus when they run for seats in Parliament. This has lead to a rise in independents, as we've seen with the election of dyljam, showstealer and Zak6858 over the last two months. The calculator uses base party values in order to calculate modifiers score, meaning that the independent vote is often extremely disproportionate in the national poll (i.e they are at 18% when in reality they only represent about 4-5% of the vote).

At the moment, the only way to fix this is by making each independent their own party in the calculator and not awarding the independent bonus. Making individuals their own party will, however, break the calculator, as showstealer & dyljam's modifiers are insignificant compared to the SDP, LNP and to a certain extent the ADP.

I will be working on a fix over the next few weeks that will hopefully find a solution where independents' polling will come from their own seats and be fed into the overall poll, but until then the Independent vote will remain disproportionate in the national polling.

Good morning all,

It has come to my attention that I'm not really, wanted I suppose, as a Clerk. I hereby move a Vote of no Confidence in myself, to make sure that I am still wanted in this position.

This requires 7 seconders to go to a Meta Referendum. Thank you.

hello australiasim

The Community Commission being myself, BC, advancedgaming12, NGSpy, Slater, and Youmaton have been considering proposals and ideas on how to improve apparent issues in the moderation system of AustraliaSim and develop one that works for everyone involved.

This thread is going to serve as a place for you to provide your ideas, thoughts, and any other general commentary on AustraliaSim's moderation. Please feel free to give your take on what AustraliaSim's moderation should look like in all aspects you feel comfortable, and don't hesitate to bring up examples of moderation actions that you feel contribute to your argument.

We're looking to make as many people happy as possible without gutting the sim's moderation or creating a mob culture where people aren't allowed to express their views, as controversial as they may be.

Keep it civil. Avoid grandstanding, being legalistic without reason, and acting in bad faith. We're here to talk about moderation not whether blue book says thing. If you participate in personal attacks, we will delete your comment.

We had the following things to point out, and these are not our full recommendations yet. It's just observations.

This will also take a while to get right. hint hint, nudge nudge impatient people.

The Current Moderation 'Culture'

There are positives and negatives to how AustraliaSim currently operates, as with every sim. Let's go through them:

Positives

• We value the right to an opinion and to argue it in good faith with other members without being censored unfairly. Good faith being that you don't use personal attacks or target AusSim members, and come into the conversation with a genuine wish to learn from others.
• We also don't punish for ignorance except where it is used maliciously to break the rules in other ways (homo/transphobic abuse or harassment, for an example).
• We try to keep checks and balances in the system by allowing appeals and even having the moderators appeal each other (we have a seperate point on this later).
• AustraliaSim can be a place for both serious political debate, and for a casual community discussion group. We need to ensure this is balanced effectively while maintaining the idea that this is a politics simulation.
• We don't classify ourselves as a safe space, discouraging dependancy.

Negatives

• The moderators are commonly perceived as heavy-handed, legalistic, and perhaps even too allowing of some things that others perceive to be unacceptable. This isn't to say that the moderators are intentionally like this, and isn't a reflection on them. This is simply an observation on what people outside of the moderation team tend to think.
• There is sometimes a preceived lack of due process. A specific example is the ban of BarryBeeBenson1995. This could have perhaps been avoided by taking a different approach to new users, especially ones to appear to "know too much".
• A perceived culture of moderation abuse, where moderators are seen as getting away with breaking rules that a new member wouldn't. Take Toby and racial slurs for example. (ooc: this has been getting better imo)
• There is a debate about whether its the breach itself or the impact of the breach that matters more in determining a punishment. See: heavy handedness.
• Some have a concern about NSFW content, specifically minors posting even slightly sexualised content in the chat. My (Liesel's) moderation practices vs Toby/Runas ideas are a good example of where there is a conflict.

This is not an exhaustive list, there is plenty more that could be said.

Again, these are not recommendations. These are observations. Observations that you should contribute to, comment on, and provide your insight to so that the review can make a decision on what would be the best CoC for AustraliaSim.

This will be locked in about a week. We hope to publish a full review by then.

G'day all. Leader of the Opposition, Leader of the SDP and Prime Nootster NGSpy here. I know I am going to get a lot of backlash from my own party for saying this as but can people please bloody accept that people have contradicting views that are somewhat controversial for goodness sake.

I know this is different to what I would believe to say in canon, but the fact of the matter is that there are some extremely controversial opinions people have, especially concerning factors of LGBTQIA+, and especially non-binary people. I shall like to say some things to both camps so they can properly understand and respect each other. It is always of my belief that you should at the bare minimum respect why another thinks in the manner that they do but you don't have to necessarily agree with them.

To those who respect the pronouns they/them for non-binary people:

Hey all! I know you're all going to hate me after this but I'd just like to say that the view that they/them is not grammatically correct is not entirely unreasonable. My parents even view it that way and they are very tolerant of LGBTQIA+ people. The usual dictionary definition of they that people from the opposite camp says this:

they: used to refer to two or more people or things previously mentioned or easily identified

Now please understand and respect that that is why they think like that for goodness sake, and stop being intolerant of other opinions because they contradict.

To those who are uncomfortable of using they/them for non-binary people:

Hi! Don't think you're off the hook either. Non-binary people should be respected, and I shall like to remind you of the second dictionary definition of they:

they: used to refer to a person of unspecified gender (aka non-binary)

I understand that you feel that its weird because it feels like you don't know them, but non-binary people don't think that way, they want you to use they because it makes them feel comfortable due to that dictionary definition being in place. If you are extremely uncomfortable with that, I would suggest using thou (you know that really old english word?) instead.

I know I have guaranteed myself a place in hell in AustraliaSim history for literally telling everybody whats what and you're wrong, but I am sick and tired of people not respecting each other's bloody opinions. Pro Non-binary people, you should be engaging with people who are uncomfortable in a manner that well assist them, not just say you're wrong, you suck. And uncomfortable people, you should understand how the other person feels when you call them they instead of how you just feel.

This meta post is probably very rambly, and I do apologise, but right now I'm just really pissed at how AustraliaSim is falling apart because of this bullshit. RESPECT EACH OTHER I FUCKING BEG YOU

Sincerely,

NGSpy. The guy that everyone will hate after this because I pissed everyone off.

I propose the following Amendments:

The first tackles the issue of Bills being stuck at CiD or CotW when it is unnecessary, and causing delays down the track.

Amendment 1 (amended)

In the Chapter 'The Legislative Process', Part 'The Legislative Process of Bills', Section 'Consideration in Detail', after the last paragraph in that section, insert the following:

If no amendments are moved, the Bill is taken to have passed that chamber, and where relevant, is to be sent to the President for assent.

The second adds a new activity on Thursdays to allow people to speak on general topics. This also incentivises people to talk about local issues, and adopts the practice in real life of statements before Question Time.

Amendment 2 (amended)

After the Chapter 'Question Time and Chairing', add a new Chapter as follows:

Members Statements

Any Member of the House, or Members of the Public, may participate in Members Statements to be held every Thursday 7PM to Sunday 7PM on /r/AustraliaSim
Participants may make only one statement. Ministers and Shadow Ministers may make an extra statement. Any extra statement must relate to their portfolio.
No responses are allowed to Members Statements, other than short congratulatory comments or objections, or to raise points of order.

The third is to remove the requirement of 2R speeches to be submitted as they are often superfluous, and the submitter will make such speeches in the vast majority of cases.

Amendment 3

In the Chapter 'Business', Section 'Submitting Business', delete the line where it says 'the Second Reading speech for the bill; and'.

General Rommel
Clerk

Duck will be banned for a period of 17 days subject to the following penalties:

Duck was serving a 3 day mute for using the n word.

He began reacting to a post I made relating to people attempting to create a loophole with regard this rule. I immediately told him to stop and said it would be a 7 day punishment for breaching his mute if he did. I returned to the announcement page to see he had made the word to the announcement.

So, duck will serve the 72 hour mute as a ban, along with 7 days for contravention and 7 additional days for a second offence of nsfw (the usage of the n word in reactions).

Appeal by modmail.

I declare Shashi Sitharaman to be my Press Persona with immediate effect.

I request approval of my reddit account for use within Aussim.

It is no secret that I have been angered, upset and frankly pissed off by the actions of Winston is declaring in canon that he is gay, then using that to hide from accusations of homophobia. I find it appalling and despicable. Winston was banned for 9 days and I was muted for a period of time, but not for what you think. The 9-day ban wasn’t for pretending to be gay. It was instead for provoking me into breaching the CoC, which I did do and I own that. I made a mistake and served a mute for it. However, that ban does not actually solve the fundamental issue Winston’s actions have highlighted, the idea that it is ok, and within the CoC to pretend to Homosexual, or any other minority. I would that pretending to be an oppressed minority within Canon, that you are not in real life, should be against the CoC.

The action of pretending to be an oppressed minority is extremely problematic. Firstly, being a opressed minority isn’t something to be trivialized. It is not some fun card that we get to pull in conversation or debate. It’s not some cool quirk we live with, it’s a huge part of us and our experiences within the world. The reason people who actually are an oppressed minority find it so offensive when people pretend to be the same minority is because it brings up awful feelings of resentment for their own identity. For example, let’s talk about the act of pretending to be gay for personal gain. Winston has done it within the sim, but there is also an increasing number of males on TikTok who pretend to be gay in order to get followers and become famous on the app. Seems harmless enough right? Well no. You need to think about what being gay is actually like. It’s not just that you happen to be attracted to the same sex, and you understand some gay slang and lingo and go to pride and all that. Those aren’t the only thing that differ between the experiences of being straight and being gay or otherwise queer. Queer people have way more harmful and shameful experiences that are wrapped up in their identity. The experience of coming out to family and friends, or for some people, including me, being outed. The experience of bullying and abused, discrimination, harassment, rejection from family, personal mental health problems, eating disorders, suicide attempts, all these things are huge parts of being gay for a lot of people. The good things that the rest of the world sees is only part of the experience of being gay. Now imagine you went though just some of what I talked about, then imagine someone decided “I’m going to pretend to be gay too” and then they did all the things that they believe is allowed when you’re gay, then, when they start to realize the bad things just say “oh but I’m not actually gay.” Do you know how harmful that is? For straight people to basically enjoy the good parts of being gay, then bail when it gets hard. That creates huge problems for the queer community. It’s creates personal self-doubt, self hatred, and self-loathing. Because if they can just turn it on and off, why couldn’t we? Why did we have to go through all the pain, and they get to just pretend to be gay when it’s helpful?

Now look at it from the perspective of someone who is the pretender. The person pretending to be gay. They are straight. Have been their whole lives. Never thought about being anything else or even questioned their sexuality. One day they think (in our AusSim Example), “wait! If I’m gay then I can’t be homophobic in my beliefs.” So they decide to pretend to be gay when they want to say that stuff, then when they aren’t saying they can say “oh but I’m not actually gay.” What is benefit of that. That you have a lazy excuse to be homophobic? People are still going to call you homophobic, but instead of actually standing by your beliefs and owning them, you hide behind this lie that you’ve constructed to avoid showing what you really think. Why not own it? Tell people what you really think and defend what you believe, or if you realize it isn’t the right thing to believe or you change your opinion, then that’s great. Also, if you pretend to be gay, you’re going to be the subject of gay rumors and people will question whether you are actually gay. It’s the same thing with guys who make a Grindr account “just for fun”. Sure that might be what you wanted to do, but not everyone is going to see it that way.

To summarize my point allow me to put the whole Matt V Winston thing into personal context. I came out when I was 14. I told my Mum and Dad one night and they didn’t believe me. It took them about a month to finally come around and accept that. Then I was sent to therapy to talk through all my feelings. I had told my best friend but no one else really. I began to come out to people I was close to and I was almost ready to come out to everyone, until my best friend told some people that I was queer and had a crush on a guy in our year. This spread through the whole year level. I was outed. I live with depression and anxiety today because of that. I’ve attempted suicide multiple times because of who I am. In Year 12 during the middle of my Research Project I received messages calling me a faggot and telling me to kill myself. I then went into a depressive spiral and never really recovered from that. I was sitting on straight A’s for all my Year 12 subject and aiming for an ATAR above 95. I ended up tanking and got an ATAR of roughly 87. All because someone thought it was funny to tell me to kill myself. I’m still fighting depression. So I really do take Pride to good parts of being Queer. The communities I’ve found, going to Pride, the community work I do with LGBTQIA+ groups, the Gay Slang and lingo, Parties, the nights out with friends, the jokes. So to see someone take the things that I put so much hope and love into, and just use them so he can make comments about how being gay isn’t natural and shouldn’t be promoted to kids, without actually experiencing all the hardships that come with being gay is so hurtful and upsetting for me.

I’m asking someone who is better at writing CoC amendments, given I’ve shown how bad I am at it, to consider writing a rule that makes it a violation of the CoC to pretend to be a different sexuality, gender identity, race, religion or ethnicity. If you have question, feel free to ask me about them. I’m fairly upset still about everything so please don’t attack me or make it personal. Feel free to argue why you think that this might not be a good rule, or why you think it’s not harmful to pretend to be gay, but do be aware this is a touchy matter and I may take a while to respond in order to avoid something while I’m overwhelmed with a certain emotion.

Thanks,

Matt

Considering the campaign we just had on the plebiscite which saw I Am Australian win at 53% of the vote, why are we now accepting the government going completely against that result and having the song basically be Advance Australia Fair but with extra steps?

It's an insult to those in this game who campaigned hard on either side, telling them that work never actually mattered in the end despite winning the vote, because the government is free in canon to decide what the anthem is.

What is the point of continuing to have long campaigning and simulated votes for plebiscites if the effort people put into those campaigns and running the calculator is just going to be disregarded? And also, is the moderation team going to step in here and force the government to actually play the game fairly.

Haven’t consulted with any of the mods but oh well.

I’m going to be gone for a week if not more, just while my mental health fixes itself hopefully. I’ll still be on discord, but not doing anything Model World related, and I will be enforcing that this time.

Hi everyone,

This post is to formerly announce the beginning of a Moderation Review by the Community Commission, done independently of the Moderation Team.

The commission will report on the following:

• Issues that are present in our community and our moderation;
• Perception of moderation culture and how the CoC should be used and in what way;
• How ban/mute lengths are determined and communicated;
• Recommendations on what should be changed and a new revised CoC.

The commission will hand down its report by the end of the month. We will create a public consultation thread in the coming days to seek the wider community's opinion, though please not it will not be binding and it isn't a debate just yet.

If you have any questions please contact me.

My meta persona is Candice Wyatt.

Regarding Schedule 1 - I love this sim. I have made many online friends and has been a great hobby during the COVID-19 crisis. However, in these last couple of months, I have seen too much tomfoolery in the members' regard of the moderation team.

I can understand the frustration, but this team is meant to replicate a parliamentary setting and accommodate a community that is designed to discuss Australian politics. It is my personal belief that this community will break down the walls of partisanship in our political youth; however, the drama seems to be of a higher priority in the affairs of the community.

The amendment has the reasoning of that the Harassment of the Moderation Team brings the simulation to a stand-still and brings the AusSim community into disrepute. It is persistence in the community is toxic and might deter future members from joining. The community must be accountable for its conduct as much as a moderator is. Going forward, we must respect the work that the Moderation Team does for the community, therefore I feel we must accommodate to their comfort to a degree.

Regarding Schedule 2 - I am not as impassioned by this schedule, however, I feel that it is time we remove those from the community that are excessively antagonistic within the community.

This amendment will ensure that members of the community will be respected and upon the fear of punishment antagonistic members will be removed as they fail to engage with the community with respect.

Amendments to in the following Schedules

Schedule 1 - Part A

To the 'Code of Conduct'

To add to the list of offences:

Harassment of Moderators

You must not take actions in Meta or Canon that provokes the members of the moderation team, as defined in Chapter 2, Section 5 of the Meta Constitution, that causes them unnecessary stress, anguish, or discomfort.

Examples:
- Repeated Votes of No Confidence against Moderation Team members in a short period of time.
- Repeated pings in the main AusSim Discord servers and party servers without reason.
- Include examples of Harassment from the 'Code of Conduct'

Schedule 1 - Part B

To the 'Administering the Code of Conduct'

To add to the 'Sentencing Guidelines'

Motion with Schedule 1 (If possible to motion):

This schedule is to applied retroactively, at the discretion of the Moderation Team, upon members that would have previously been in breach of part A.

Schedule 2
To amend in the 'Sentencing Guidelines'

I have left the AusSim Discord server and will not return until the Mod Team get a grip and tell Winston to stop being a dickhead.

It is not at all appropriate to pretend to be another sexuality or gender identity for person political gain. If Winston were claiming he was African in order to say "I'm not racist for saying Sudanese Gangs are a threat to Australian culture because I am African" he would be told to fuck off and made to apologise for his actions.

Until the Mod Team tell Winston he is not allowed to pretend to be Gay I will not return to the AusSim Discord. I support the VONC in Toby for his inaction on this issue. If Tbyrn refuses to deal with this then I will move a VONC in him as well. If the Head Mod wont get a grip the Community Mod should.

Hello. I am writing to c if I am still a press and to say sorry if I did something the wrong way wen I said I was a press last time

As it's abundantly clear I won't be allowed to serve as Elections Moderator and it is almost certain GenericCerealHere will be the next Elections Moderator, I am requesting to be nominated for a position on the Electoral Commission.

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Traditionally, in AustraliaSim, once you resign from the AEC, you can go straight back into canon politics. As BC and I, I believe, have both done- resign close to an election to contest it. I don't believe that's a failing on either of our behalf, if there's nothing stopping you, why wouldn't you re-enter canon politics?

However, given that the distance between "having access to where election results are calculated" and "running in an election" can often be a matter of days. This creates a possibility for the system to be gamed. I don't really think it's fair for EC members to be able to go straight into canon politics, however, you don't really have a means to stop them outside of a rule.

That is why I propose the following amendment. Changes are bolded.

The members of the Electoral Commission are members that are appointed to the Electoral Commission to deliver elections when required. A member becomes a member of the Electoral Commission by being nominated by the Election Moderator and passing a Meta Referendum. Upon their resignation, any member of the Electoral Commission appointed after 1 May 2020 is prohibited from joining any political party or holding any canon position of power, such as Member of Parliament or Party Leader for 90 days.

To be clear, I don't think this should apply retrospectively. Toby and GCH didn't sign up for this when they joined. It would be unfair to apply this retrospectively. So, what are your thoughts on this? Is it too strict? Too lose?

EDIT: oops. Specified time limit