Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

The least private hidden forum that Micras has ever seen. Restricted access to a citizen of any Bastion nation. So that's only, what, 80% of the active microworld these days?
Elijah Ayreon
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Elijah Ayreon »

Yes.
Elijah Ayreon-Dariolin of Waffle-Paine (no longer with us)

Ric.

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Jacques Reynaud
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Jacques Reynaud »

Uh... huh.
Jacques Reynaud
First Consul of the Empire of the Alexandrians
Marshal of Alexandria

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Hesam Jayatar
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Hesam Jayatar »

At first I wondered what this forum was meant for, then I forgot about it. So much for evil plots.

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Scott Alexander
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Scott Alexander »

Jacques, I agree with you about the fun of in-character conflict and the silliness of out-of-character conflict.

Which is why it surprises me that people keep coming here out of character and conflict-ing us about their problems with Bastion.

Look, I have exactly one point of "resentment" that some other nations don't join Bastion. It means I have to remember to check their forums every so often, and make new logins there when I want to post on them. It's mildly inconvenient. I'm not really sure why you want to inflict this mild inconvenience on yourself, but I'm not going to swear vengeance upon you for it and neither is anyone else here.

I think you're overestimating our cohesiveness. There are so many different people and countries on Bastion that you can find one spouting any opinion. You can find Ardashir supporting the Raspur Pact. You can find me crusading against the Raspur Pact. You can find the Jingdaoese who don't like Alexandria. You can find Gustave, who's a citizen of Alexandria. You can find Babkhans who have a problem with Ashkenatza. You can find Balarak, who's the Nohsi of Ashkenatza. So you're not wrong to say there are Bastionados with anti-Alexandrian or anti-whatever opinions. You're just missing that it has nothing to do with the Bastion.

Yes, there are some cliques here. In fact there are a bunch of cliques, many of which oppose the others. We're probably all kind of friendly because we're all on one forum and can communicate with each other really easily. If you made it easier for us to communicate with you, we'd be kind of friendly with you too! (check out #micronations sometime if you want)

As someone who is in-character trying to destroy the Raspur Pact, let me say that out-of-character I like them and think it's ridiculous to be accusing them of being anything other than what they admit: a group of vaguely sinister nations plotting against everyone else. This is awesome. I've been in micronations in periods when there were no vaguely sinister people, or the sinister people weren't plotting effectively enough, and it was unbearably boring.

But to carry the Raspur Pact's IC sinisterness on to the completely OOC project of Bastion seems like kind of a category error to me, the same way CJ's request that Babkha be expelled from Bastion for holding slaves seemed like a category error.

I like everyone in micronationalism! I like them so much I want to be forum-buddies with them! Some people won't do this and that's sad, but I still like you anyway!

Simon B.E.

Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Simon B.E. »

Scott Alexander wrote:You can find the Jingdaoese who don't like Alexandria.
And if they really tried they would find the Jingdaoese who would love to cooperate with Alexandria but can't because the Alexandrians are so damn stubborn about using our territory without permission...

=p

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Scott Alexander
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Scott Alexander »

Rather than agree or disagree with you, I'm just going to say that that Freedom Train article was classic.

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Jacques Reynaud
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Jacques Reynaud »

Scott, I actually agree with many of your points and the general thrust of what you are saying. I can personally admit that I may be reading too much into Bastion as opposed to people just being people. And I will definitely even admit that Alexandria can be very stubborn, I look at is as being the micronational equivalent of the United States, in good and bad ways.

But, I mean... We just like doing things are way. I'm not saying you or anyone is saying it is bad, but... Not being in Bastion is not inconvenient for us. The communications idea is fair enough, but we have AlexChat just as you have #micronations, and we have our shared server as you have the entirety of Bastion. As I said, since I first arrived in micronationalism, I've never been wholly against the idea of the forum-sharing, but I'm not really in favor of it either. I've done a lot of political simulations in my time, and I've found that's it's nicer to get away from the crowd than constantly be in it, which is probably why non-Bastionites remain outside of it.

And what's funny is... I don't dislike anyone here! That's reading wayyyy to much into what I'm saying. Like, that's what another big thing about my IC/OOC thing. I don't hate anyone here, no matter how they act. Like, let's be honest, this is just an internet community, there's little to actually hate about. I don't like the way people behave sometimes. Like, to Elijah's point, I never claimed Alexandria to be perfect in or out of character. Nor to I expect anyone here to be perfect. But there are times when people either have too much of a sense of humor or too little when we carry out the simulation, I can even be guilty of that too. Yes, people can even be a little sinister. Sinister is fine sometimes, but it can also get annoying when you're just trying to do the normal things of politics. And this sort of spins out when everyone is one the same forum, especially when internal spats or grudges become major international incidents. It's not that non-Bastionites are too sensitive, but it does hurt the simulation, which is what I've been trying to say. I don't think Bastion caused it, but it doesn't help all that much, anymore than being decentralized.

I'm glad you and many others want us to be forum buddies, I really am! But we just don't swing that way. I'm just fine with having to do one extra click to be here, because that's literally all the inconvenience. I mean, for whatever reason, Alexandria, Ashkenatza, Stormark, and others, can generate as much activity as Bastion. I'm always happy to come over here, or to go to the hub, and everything else. But it's not sad, lol. That's also what I've kind of been trying to say, it's not all that sad. It's how micronationalism has operated for years. So, I guess what I've come after all of my arguments and spats to is this: I think you're fine people, and neither I nor many others have no problem hanging out here and getting to know you all, but to each his own.
And if they really tried they would find the Jingdaoese who would love to cooperate with Alexandria but can't because the Alexandrians are so damn stubborn about using our territory without permission...
Simon... Let's... really not go there right now. =p
Jacques Reynaud
First Consul of the Empire of the Alexandrians
Marshal of Alexandria

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Hesam Jayatar
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Re: Now that the Situation Room kind of has a use...

Post by Hesam Jayatar »

Jacques, I don't think anyone is trying to tell you or Alexandria what to do or how to do it. So it's very very surprising when everyone in Bastion is doing their thing and an Alexandrian or Ashkenaza post something on the forums accusing "Bastion" or even Babkhans of plotting against them OOC. It's just very random, strange and I hate to say, sort of ego-centric. Bastion isn't out to isolate non-bastion nations, but by virtue of the fact that you're NOT on Bastion, its sort of reasonable to understand why you wouldn't be the premier topic of conversation on the forums. I don't think Scott is trying to recruit you to join, he's offering you a solution to what seems to be an ongoing problem:

- Alex. or Ash. accuse Bastion of excluding them.

- Bastion offers for either or both to join.

- Alex and/or Ash. accuse Bastion of forcing them to join.

Solutions:

- DON'T join, but also don't be surprised if we're not as interested in the things you do.

- JOIN, and solve your concerns of conspiracy and exclusion.

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