21-02-2003 04:26									#1
	Suggestions on how to handle Foreign Affairs Remove this text

Please post in this thread suggestions you have for our future Foreign Affairs office.

I'll start with my own ideas.

If I had it my way, we'd have a whole other forum for Foreign Affairs matters, because there is a large amount of information that needs to be known and because FA seems to spawn a lot of discussion threads. But, unfortunately, I know having an entire thread is not possible.

Information needs to be available, current, and organized. Here's what we use on my team:

1) Classified Thread -- where information is clearly stated as classified or de-classified and where individuals can post questions on what they can reveal.
2) Treaty Records Thread -- Archive thread where the text of any deal is archived by the ambassador who completed the deal.
3) PM, Correspondence, Instructions -- A multi-purpose thread where incoming PMs are posted, out-going PMs are posted, and instructions are posted for the Ambassadors.
4) Discussion/Analysis -- one thread (one very long thread) where general FA matters are discussed and debated.

Other threads seem to pop up all the time for certain "hot topic" issues. Those threads eventually die off as the topic become irrelevant. The above 4 threads are permanent.

Please explain how your team manages FA information. We should adopt the system that seems to work the best for us.

--Togas

	21-02-2003 04:38									#2
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We have one thread for every Civ.

	21-02-2003 04:46									#3
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I would agree with BFM: one thread for every civ. The "classified" information thread would be a general one, but the treaties, PMs, analysis, should all be under one thread for each team. That will give us the easiest system of reference, I think.

	21-02-2003 05:31									#4
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I like the Roleplay system because its a heck of a lot easier to go into one thread to get your orders, and just one other to see opinions. Especially if you have a slow connection, you don't want to go through 6 different dip threads every day. Also, some of those civ threads disappear and are hard to relocate after long periods of inactivity.

	21-02-2003 05:53									#5
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One thing that is often ignored is that ambassadors should not be isolated. They need to work together, and knowing what other ambassadors are offering, writing, receiving, is valuable information as sometime ambassadors can unknowingly say contradictory things, or make two different promises we cannot keep. While it's the job of the FM to sort these things out, it can also be helpful for the ambassadors to know in advance what other ambassadors are doing.

Having one central thread keeps everything together, keeps the ambassador from having to read 6 other threads, and cuts down on the # of threads on the first page of our board.

--Togas

	21-02-2003 06:15									#6
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One thing, lets make sure that info that is classified stays that way until the appropriate time. Letting stuff out can hurt ourselves not only strategically but diplomatically as well, esp. if we have agreements with other teams about not revealing information.

	21-02-2003 08:12									#7
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I'm with Togas on this one. The value of having a SINGLE correspondance thread for PMs going back and forth is and has been invaluable. Ambassadors are more likely to read the traffic going back and forth regarding our negotiations with other civs and take that into account.

That said, I have nothing against threads being used for discussion about various civs being seperate or together or anything... the discussion and geopolitical strategizing side can be much more free-form and open to many voices as long as SOMEONE (or some body) is able to make final decisions based upon the many ideas and theories brought up in open discussion.

	21-02-2003 08:39									#8
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we currently use two threads for FA now. We used to have one. But now we have one for the correspondance coming in and out. And one for general FA discussion.

But the treaty records and the classified thread are good ideas.

	21-02-2003 08:52									#9
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quote: Originally posted by Dissident But the treaty records and the classified thread are good ideas.

Why thank you

The treaty records thread I believe was E_T's idea. The classified thread was mine.

We ALSO originally had a single diplomacy thread and then split it into a correspondance thread and various discussion threads.

We toyed with the idea of having a thread for each civ, but having the ambassadors all having their correspondance coming and going out of the same thread worked better (and ensured that the thread never fell off the front page ).

	21-02-2003 10:07									#10
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Yes, that Records Thread was my Idea, as it was gettin hard to figure out when and what was agreed on, from the VERY long thread that we originally had for our Diplomatic matters. We live and learned...

Also, as we don't know who and when we will make contact with, I suggest that we have our Diplomatic Corp set up with 2 Ambassidors (the Main and Deputy to a Civ) to be dispatched to Whom ever. In otherwards, we don't assign the ambassidor to a specific Nation until we have contact, that way, some of them won't get too board if we don't have contact for quite a while.

E_T

	21-02-2003 10:12									#11
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we also create new threads once the originals get a few hundred posts long. We just call it part 2 or continues etc.

	22-02-2003 07:29									#12
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quote: we also create new threads once the originals get a few hundred posts long. We just call it part 2 or continues etc.

Well you have to- that's just site rules: 500 post limit