How would you have voted in previous Atlasian presidential elections?

[bgwah]

Actual Votes:
Feb 2009: DWTL/NC Yankee 2nd: Bgwah Meeker - Would have seconded Andrew
June 2009: PiT/HappyWarrior
October 2009: PiT/Smid
Feb 2010: SPC/BrandonH 2nd Afleitch/Smid
June 2010: Write-in: Afleitch/Smid 2nd: RosettaStoned/Useful Idiot
October 2010: AndrewCT/AHDuke99
February 2011: Tmthforu94/Dallasfan65
June 2011: Teddy/Mechaman
October 2011: AHDuke99/Cincy
Feb 2012: Zuwo/Jbrase
June 2012: Duke/Cincy 2nd: Bacon King/ NC Yankee 3rd: Clarence/Yelnoc
October 2012: JBrase/NC Yankee
February 2013: Cathcon/Spamage
June 2013: Maxwell/Matt From Vt
Oct 2013: Duke/Matt
Feb 2014: Duke/Matt
June 2014: Write-in: AndrewTX/AHDuke99 2nd. Sirnick/Dallasfan
October 2014: Lumine/Sjoyce
February 2015: JCL/Devin
June 2015: Dkrolga/JoMCar
October 2015: Cris/Homelycooking
Feb 2016: Leinad/Cris
June 2016: Leinad/Lumine
October 2016: NC Yankee/Rpryor
February 2017: Doof/Goldwater
June 2017: Invalid: Doof/Goldwater
October 2017: Fhtagn/PiT
February 2018: Fhtagn/PiT
June 2018: NC Yankee/Doof
October 2018: NC Yankee/Doof

In hindsight I might have voted differently in one or two of these. Seconding bgwah and crowning JCP as the masters of the game was a big blunder in hindsight, but I Was not exactly in a position to actively decide that, having been only in the game two months by that point. I never voted for Nappy, didn't vote for DemPGH either in spite of our friendship at the time. I might not have seconded Sirnick in hindsight. As for February 2015, when the choice is between a Labor/Oakvellian TPP ticket and a haphazard opposition ticket, both of whom were grounded in the #Atlasforum cesspool, JCL/Devin was the responsible choice in hindsight regardless of one's thoughts on JCL's social conservatism or Devin's poor choices the following month (which led to his ban).

Generally speaking, I don't have many regrets over how I have voted.

I disagree. The game was on the brink of collapse at that point. Boring and predictable centrists/indies dominated the game so much that it was no longer fun or interesting. That election, specifically its destruction of the centrists, reinvigorated the party system in Atlasia. This was crucially needed in order for the game to properly function, in my opinion. I see it as an important turning point for Atlasia.

[bgwah]

You focus on how it strengthened the JCP. What about how it strengthened the RPP? Why wasn't it just another throw-away right-wing party that died after 6 months? What would have happened if it had not allied with the JCP - it would have been eliminated before the final round and had all its votes flow to the boring predictable centrist? Instead, it flexed its muscle in that election and helped overturn centrist-domination. The RPP solidified itself as one of Atlasia's two major parties at that point.  And with centrists scattered, the RPP absorbed a lot of the more right and libertarian-leaning ones, growing substantially in size. The Lief vs Pit election was essentially a tie, so I would say we did a good job splitting the forum politically in half, which nobody else had been able to do.

[bgwah]

I agree to an extent, but the simple fact of the matter is that while the election restored a semblance of ideological politics, the RPP and the JCP were hardly militantly ideological parties. Also this degraded substantially in the last year as the JCP was courting Populares and the RPP was courting ex-UDLers.

Big tent parties like that are always going to have somewhat vague ideologies, in real life or here. But I was militant in my partisanship. Your JCP-turned-UDL-turned-RPP candidate for NE Senate lost in a stunning upset, from what I recall.

[bgwah]

You focus on how it strengthened the JCP. What about how it strengthened the RPP? Why wasn't it just another throw-away right-wing party that died after 6 months? What would have happened if it had not allied with the JCP - it would have been eliminated before the final round and had all its votes flow to the boring predictable centrist? Instead, it flexed its muscle in that election and helped overturn centrist-domination. The RPP solidified itself as one of Atlasia's two major parties at that point.  And with centrists scattered, the RPP absorbed a lot of the more right and libertarian-leaning ones, growing substantially in size. The Lief vs Pit election was essentially a tie, so I would say we did a good job splitting the forum politically in half, which nobody else had been able to do.

The RPP had coalesced the right in late 2008 because of the work of PiT's recruitment efforts and the dropping of secession from the platform.

The RPP would not gain substantially among center-right types until the DA collapsed in 2010, which occurred after the DA had won the Presidency, twice!

Yuck. Don't remind me of the DA.

I will give Purple State credit for being possibly the only player to have bested me. I did not want to support him for President, but he forced me to. Bastard!