House Thread: Dismissal of Game Moderator Mr Reactionary (Passed)

[Pericles]

In accordance with the Game Moderator Reform Act, Game Moderator Mr. Reactionary is hereby relieved of his duties, pending Congressional assent.

[Pericles]

Not quite sure what the procedure is with this, so I think we'll start up with opening debate and I'll invite a Representative to advocate for the dismissal in the next 48 hours.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

So, is Mr R then going to be reappointed to fill the new role of Comptroller General?

[Peanut]

So, is Mr R then going to be reappointed to fill the new role of Comptroller General?

As Tack said on the other thread, the President probably wouldn't dismiss and reappoint. We shall see though.

[RC]

Mr. R’s activity has been less than exceptional for a while now, however, I will not declare any advocacy for his removal, not until we know if there is a fully active GM candidate that will create new storylines for the game and be nonpartisan to a certain extent.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Speaking as a former game moderator and someone who supported naming Mr. Reactionary as my successor at the time, I unfortunately must support these proceedings. The game engine is broken, and while that is not entirely the fault of one individual, a thorough house cleaning must start at the top.

[fhtagn]

This is a bit premature, especially when the proposed bill to "fix" the game engine hasn't even passed through the House and the Senate and there hasn't been any adequate debate on it.

[Sirius_]

This is a bit premature, especially when the proposed bill to "fix" the game engine hasn't even passed through the House and the Senate and there hasn't been any adequate debate on it.

Is ending the months long disappearance of the game engine not more important than debating reform measures?

[AustralianSwingVoter]

This is a bit premature, especially when the proposed bill to "fix" the game engine hasn't even passed through the House and the Senate and there hasn't been any adequate debate on it.

Even if the reform doesn't pass this should still happen, really. Mr R has been inactive for months now, and the argument for removing him is very solid.

[thumb21]

As someone who has been deputy game moderator, I have tremendous respect for the institution and I have tremendous respect for anyone who'd put themselves forward to work in the game engine. It isn't easy or particularly rewarding, but it has to be done and the people who do it have my empathy.

However, I think it is a great loss that these days we don't have an active game engine.

I remember when I joined this game (not that long ago), there were regular updates and news from the game moderator that made the game more interesting. Support with budgets and analysis of bills is vital for the functioning of federal and regional legislatures.

Its easy to forget, we were at war with CHINA a year ago, yet there have been few updates on what has been happening since. You'd think that the aftermath of World War 3 alone could give you decades worth of stories.

I will be supporting this.

[RC]

I'd like to call upon the President to propose a few replacements.

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

I think the people of Atlasia will welcome this as a step forward. Sadly, the time has come to replace the Game Moderator. I also hope the President will announce his pick(s) soon.

[Adam Griffin]

I believe many are familiar through longstanding prior discussions and/or first-hand experience of the lack of engagement coming from the GM for quite some time, but for anybody else who is concerned.

The past 5 months have been a stable and successful time for our country and this government on balance, but the one exception with regard to my "administration" (technically speaking) performing its roles as intended has been due to the Game Engine.

Numerous quotes, estimates and story-lines have either been unfurnished or returned with such a delay as to render them practically irrelevant. It has largely been like this from Day 1 of my Presidency, but the situation has only deteriorated further with time. From proceeding with sensitive NSC discussions and plans to the fact that we're now operating on a budget CR, this all runs back to the GM.

Game Engine reforms or not, this has been a long time coming and is completely independent of any efforts to reform the office. Frankly, the only reason such action wasn't taken sooner was that it was my belief the votes weren't there - even with plenty of substance to back up the position. While a "nuclear option" could have been taken that was perfectly legal to pursue with simple majorities, following the 2016 statute I believed was the best course of action - and best in avoiding some huge meltdown of forces.

I'd like to call upon the President to propose a few replacements.

This process is an independent and stand-alone procedure; it's a debate over whether the current officeholder has done his job properly and/or whether he deserves to be dismissed based on his own actions. Viewing it through the prism of who might replace him only creates bias in my view, when it has no bearing over whether the incumbent has performed his roles in a satisfactory manner.

I also don't like counting my chickens before they hatch. If and once Congress sees it necessary to replace the GM, I will move forward with replacement options. To those who may be concerned about not having a GM, I say to them: we pretty much haven't for the past several months.

[RC]

All I’m saying is, Mr. President, is that I would feel much more comfortable supporting Mr. R’s removal following knowledge of candidates, or a nominee, or hell, even a general outline of how you would like your candidate to run the country.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

All I’m saying is, Mr. President, is that I would feel much more comfortable supporting Mr. R’s removal following knowledge of candidates, or a nominee, or hell, even a general outline of how you would like your candidate to run the country.

Allow me to submit that the incumbent should be judged on his own merits, and not on the merits of his potential replacements. You don't acquit the president of high crimes and misdemeanors because you don't like the VP, for example. But more to the point, this objection would have significantly more validity if the game moderator had made even one post in his official capacity in the last three months outside of nominating ASV a few days ago. To quote the president,

To those who may be concerned about not having a GM, I say to them: we pretty much haven't for the past several months.

[YE]

I'm not one that finds much joy in harping over inactivity in this game, but I think it's clear that the GM hasn't had the impact on the game that too many people wish it would have from both a policy and storymaking standpoint. Given there seems to be an idea on how to move forward in terms of reforming the game department, I don't really see a good reason to not vote for his dismissal.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I mean, if yall have an actual replacement lined up Im happy to voluntarily step aside once they are confirmed. I likely would have done so if asked months ago, but then again no one ever communicates with me about any in-game requests since I quit Discord other than the Secretary of State and Yankee. My tenure was always intended to be that of a gap-filler with the eventual expectation of transitioning out once the 3 Deputy Departments were up and running smoothly and one of the Deputies could step up. Yall can confirm with WB, my offer to serve as GM was contingent upon literally no one else volunteering during the months following Truman's announced intent to retire. My belief was that with 6 months worth of stories planned out, running the story apparatus could be largely self-executing with a consistent story-writer to follow through. Alas, I've unfortunately outlasted 5 Deputies (assuming Encke resigned or something, again no communication).

If I am being honest, I don't foresee my future activity increasing anytime soon. I have a very fulfilling job in real life and average 2 - 4 hours of "work" (bill-writing) outside of work each day and spend most of my Saturdays "working" as well. Under those circumstances the last thing I want to do is logon to Atlasia and score tank costs 5 years out for a legislature that abandoned Paygo and thus clearly doesnt care or be told Im terrible for not allowing random players to invent NPC union bosses or not inventing lore for a bs amalgamation of european fascists. I got into Atlasia 2 years ago because I enjoy writing bills and policy debate; dirty politics and sleazy campaigns are meaningless to me. In real life I have been officially tasked with researching and rewriting my 800 page hometown City Code for the first time since 1986 (I've already completed 29 of 45 anticipated final bills and as a terrorist my goal is to have them all finished and front-loaded by January 1). Im thrilled to have written 2 bills being sponsored by my State Delegate in the January term as well, 1 of which amplifies free speech and I believe will pass. In some ways Im living the fantasy that I sought in fantasy government.

Meanwhile, Atlasia has devolved into recruiting zombies, nasty and baseless personal attacks, and Discord. Its pretty obvious the legislating aspects of the game offer me nothing anymore; I spent dozens of hours writing bills that many legislators even refused to read, let alone fairly debate. A mere 4 months after the "crisis" necessitating bill and sponsorship caps on account of its better to have empty slots than bills I wrote, MB has 7 bills on the Senate floor and no one is crying terrorist. More than 1 legislator has suggested repealing more or less any law Ive passed simply because I wrote it. With that level of in-game personal animosity in response to donating my time and energy contrasted with the professional courtesy and influence Ive earned in real life with real life lawmakers for donating my time and energy, as well as the fact that real life laws matter more than fantasy laws, I have not surprisingly been favoring real life over interwebz of late.

Im not going to apologize for being happy or prioritizing real life. I have no desire to kill or endanger the game; it was a lot of fun for me for like a year and a half and several friends still like it. Figure out if yall want to abolish the position or whatever first, no sense in making that decision rashly. As with the changes to bill sponsorship make sure yall arent just thinking with a hate boner. Then find and confirm the replacement(s) and we can swap places through an orderly process. Im not known for breaking constitutional norms.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I don't think the lack of communication begins or ends with Mr. R or even the GM department. There have been many times when I have come on and only after hours of bs Mibbit/Discord discussion did someone make me aware of something profoundly impactful that I really should have been made aware of hours earlier.


With the rise of Mibbit and Discord there is a presumption on the part of people they everything postd in there is known by all. The truth is you are really only speaking to 3 or 5 people and even if there are 20 people actively posting in there, some may have stepped out to eat or someone is changing his TV station or looking at a different tab.

And we know our people love to get tagged on discord.

We need to get back in the habit of PMing information. Unfortunately, with the PM limit of five, Discord is far more effective for the Senate but even there (remember the recommendation to introduced house bills into the Senate queue), stuff just goes unseen some times. 

[Mr. Reactionary]

I don't think the lack of communication begins or ends with Mr. R or even the GM department. There have been many times when I have come on and only after hours of bs Mibbit/Discord discussion did someone make me aware of something profoundly impactful that I really should have been made aware of hours earlier.


With the rise of Mibbit and Discord there is a presumption on the part of people they everything postd in there is known by all. The truth is you are really only speaking to 3 or 5 people and even if there are 20 people actively posting in there, some may have stepped out to eat or someone is changing his TV station or looking at a different tab.

And we know our people love to get tagged on discord.

We need to get back in the habit of PMing information. Unfortunately, with the PM limit of five, Discord is far more effective for the Senate but even there (remember the recommendation to introduced house bills into the Senate queue), stuff just goes unseen some times. 

Im not going to say much more, but for all this talk about operating under a Continuing Resolution not a single person contacted me with any sort of budget request or bill scoring request or even a "hey check this thread theres a budget request" in several months (last was a 3 month old request from DC I had forwarded to Encke the same day), not a single person contacted me to say Tmth and Encke had quit and are no longer performing their duties, and foreign policy discussions with the Secretary of state had been ongoing until a few weeks ago.

Almost 3 weeks ago, I reemphasized:

In the meantime I can score some numbers if they are PMd to me.

No one took me up on this. Other than ASV, Yankee, Brugh, and take this poll spam, I have received a grand total of 3 Atlasia related PMs since August. Fhtagn and Poirot each asked for advocacy on bills (non-GM requests) and the 3rd was PSOL telling me what some fake union bosses purportedly did. Yall would be wise to PM requests to the next GM rather than expect them to stumble across them. I created an office thread for such requests that was pretty much never really utilized by the public.

I have 8 cases in court in 2 hours ... have a nice day.

[fhtagn]

Sounds more like some people were lazy and wanted to complain despite doing nothing, and I'm not talking about Mr. Reactionary.

[YE]

With all due respect, any GM should, external personal circumstances not being factored in, kinda should be checking the boards regularly in the same sense that any member of this body should.

Honestly Mr. R's statement don't really inspire confidence in him going forward. I think it's genuine so I appreciate his honesty and not something I'd personally hold him against but that doesn't change the situation.

[Elcaspar]

Since there has been a lack of debate, i would like to motion for a vote.

[fhtagn]

Objecting to the final vote motion.

[Pericles]

Representatives have 72 hours to vote on whether to end debate on this.

[Elcaspar]

Aye