Our NS count -- the number of nations in the region of Europeia on NationStates -- is a bulls--t statistic. Of the hundreds of players who have situated a nation in Europeia, only 10% or so play an active role on these forums, where the "real" life of the region exists. Some of the others may endorse our Delegate, but otherwise, they contribute nothing to the life of Europeia.
We are wise not to put too much stock in our NS count. That count, however, may be a sign of broader regional health. In other words, although NS count measures nothing of importance, it seems to be closely correlated to things that are hard to measure, but that all of us care about.
Allow me to explain.
In my time here, activity was probably highest about three months ago. The recruitment ministry (under Asperta) was strong, and the welfare ministry (under Rachel) was perhaps the strongest we've ever had. Their efforts produced an influx of new members, who added life to our cultural forums. There was also renewed interest in foreign affairs, and we rebuilt our ambassador corps and negotiated two new treaties.
We had about 1,150 nations at that time, which I believe was all our all-time high. As I write this, we have 828.
Has activity here waned because we've lost 300+ nations? Of course not. But before you dismiss the statistic as irrelevant, look how we arrived at this juncture.
Beginning last fall, during Anumia's presidency, our NS count grew rapidly. If memory serves, it continued to grow during CSP's term, leveled off during Ollie's term, then spiked to its all-time high before beginning to decline around the beginning of Earth's second term. In the past few weeks, it has been in free fall. I think that matches up with the State of the Republic -- we grew stronger under Anumia and CSP, stagnated under Ollie, got our groove back under Earth, began to decline during Earth's second term, and continued to decline during my term, which decline seems to be accelerating in recent weeks.
That's a hell of a coincidence.
Are there reasons we might expect our NS count to correlate so closely to the health of our region?
Well, although new NS nations add little, if anything, to the life of our region, I think we agree that new citizens are the lifeblood of our regions. We add new citizens two ways -- through foreign relations, and through recruitment and welfare. The connection between the latter and our NS count is self-evident; a declining NS count means we're giving our welfare department a less robust pipeline from which to recruit new citizens.
A lack of influx has a noticeable impact on our culture. Scanning the Republic Square, I see that in the past three days, only three citizens have posted who joined here in the past year. It's no surprise that a lack of new citizens joining the region correlates with a lack of new citizens taking part in the life of the region, but beyond that, it seems a lack of brand new citizens makes it harder for us to keep our relatively new citizens. There is a sizable generation of citizens (including me) who first joined in the first half of 2010; perhaps so many of us stayed because Europeia was growing and thriving during our early months here. We have been stagnant now for the better part of six months -- which has not only meant a lack of new citizens joining during that time, but also the loss of people who we drew here during our most productive times.
Europeia is still strong, compared both to its historic self and the NationStates world. We all agree, I think, that we're not as strong as we once were, and we're not as strong as we could be. Getting our NS count back to 1,150 won't solve our problems. Solving our problems, however, will probably a salutary effect on our NS count.
So, let's set a broad agenda for regional health, but let's not ignore the feedback we'll get from that simple metric.
We are wise not to put too much stock in our NS count. That count, however, may be a sign of broader regional health. In other words, although NS count measures nothing of importance, it seems to be closely correlated to things that are hard to measure, but that all of us care about.
Allow me to explain.
In my time here, activity was probably highest about three months ago. The recruitment ministry (under Asperta) was strong, and the welfare ministry (under Rachel) was perhaps the strongest we've ever had. Their efforts produced an influx of new members, who added life to our cultural forums. There was also renewed interest in foreign affairs, and we rebuilt our ambassador corps and negotiated two new treaties.
We had about 1,150 nations at that time, which I believe was all our all-time high. As I write this, we have 828.
Has activity here waned because we've lost 300+ nations? Of course not. But before you dismiss the statistic as irrelevant, look how we arrived at this juncture.
Beginning last fall, during Anumia's presidency, our NS count grew rapidly. If memory serves, it continued to grow during CSP's term, leveled off during Ollie's term, then spiked to its all-time high before beginning to decline around the beginning of Earth's second term. In the past few weeks, it has been in free fall. I think that matches up with the State of the Republic -- we grew stronger under Anumia and CSP, stagnated under Ollie, got our groove back under Earth, began to decline during Earth's second term, and continued to decline during my term, which decline seems to be accelerating in recent weeks.
That's a hell of a coincidence.
Are there reasons we might expect our NS count to correlate so closely to the health of our region?
Well, although new NS nations add little, if anything, to the life of our region, I think we agree that new citizens are the lifeblood of our regions. We add new citizens two ways -- through foreign relations, and through recruitment and welfare. The connection between the latter and our NS count is self-evident; a declining NS count means we're giving our welfare department a less robust pipeline from which to recruit new citizens.
A lack of influx has a noticeable impact on our culture. Scanning the Republic Square, I see that in the past three days, only three citizens have posted who joined here in the past year. It's no surprise that a lack of new citizens joining the region correlates with a lack of new citizens taking part in the life of the region, but beyond that, it seems a lack of brand new citizens makes it harder for us to keep our relatively new citizens. There is a sizable generation of citizens (including me) who first joined in the first half of 2010; perhaps so many of us stayed because Europeia was growing and thriving during our early months here. We have been stagnant now for the better part of six months -- which has not only meant a lack of new citizens joining during that time, but also the loss of people who we drew here during our most productive times.
Europeia is still strong, compared both to its historic self and the NationStates world. We all agree, I think, that we're not as strong as we once were, and we're not as strong as we could be. Getting our NS count back to 1,150 won't solve our problems. Solving our problems, however, will probably a salutary effect on our NS count.
So, let's set a broad agenda for regional health, but let's not ignore the feedback we'll get from that simple metric.
a lot of attention was stirred up due to the EAC thread but hell, I could've done with a -tenth- of that sort of information.
