How to Write a Good IFV:
A Transcript from EBC Radio
Transcribed by Istillian
edited by Cyborg, SkyGreen and Vor
EBC Radio recently hosted an interview with current Minister of World Assembly Affairs SkyGreen on how to write an Information for Voters assessment as an education piece for the current University of Europeia cultural event. For informative and entertainment purposes of those who, for whatever reason, prefer to read rather than listen, the EBC has decided to publish a transcript of this interview. However, as the Q&A portion of this interview was quite unstructured and went outside the scope of IFV writing, we have decided to leave this portion out of the transcription provided.
Istillian:
G'day everyone and welcome to our first class for the University of Europeia. You're here with Professor Istillian, your Minister of Foreign Affairs, and joining me to discuss how to write an IFV today is Professor SkyGreen, former record-breaking President of Europeia and current Minister of World Assembly Affairs. Welcome SkyGreen.
SkyGreen:
Hey mate, hello, nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me as a guest lecturer.
Istillian:
Thank you, it's good to have your experience and long history of working in World Assembly Affairs. I'm going to go through kind of just our general process for IFVs, get into some of the specific techniques and kind of talk about some of your experiences as well. But to kind of start us off, can I get a little bit of a background from you about your experience in the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs?
SkyGreen:
So, as y'know, or as you might not know, I started out back during the Executive Split. I joined under, back then it was, I think, Councillor Izzy was my first term in World Assembly Affairs as a staffer.
Once Maowi became Councillor, I became her Deputy. And after that, I served, right after that, I served like two consecutive terms as the first Minister of World Assembly Affairs post the re-merge of the Executive. So first under President Sopo and then, I believe, under President Peeps.
And after that, I served as Minister of Communications, then I think I took a break and served as Minister of Radio, then I was Vice President, then I was Record-breaking President, then I was, I think, Attorney General for one term. I did also jump in a few times, I think at least twice, as Minister of World Assembly Affairs after someone resigned. And obviously, I've been World Assembly Affairs Minister these past two terms.
So I figure I have at least a little bit of knowledge to impart on you and I hope I do my best to do so today.
Istillian:
Amazing. And how many terms have you been serving under UPC now? So did you say this is your second term?
SkyGreen:
Yes, this is my second term under UPC.
Istillian:
I suppose the good thing is clearly you have quite a bit of experience in the field here. With the IFV, do you see that as an essential process of the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs or is that kind of unique to certain regions?
SkyGreen:
Well, I think World Assembly Affairs and IFVs, or voter recommendations or however other regions might call them, are essential to a Ministry of World Assembly Affairs usually, but not all regions will have a Ministry of World Assembly Affairs. During one of my first, I think it was during my second term as World Assembly Affairs Minister back in 2020, we actually did this little program where we helped NSUK, to develop their own Ministry of World Assembly Affairs further because they just didn't do that up until then.
In general, I would consider it not really a necessity in the sense that if it's a smaller region, you likely won't prioritize it. But once you get big enough, World Assembly Affairs will, so to speak, jump out of foreign affairs and start focusing on the World Assembly more broadly. But I think IFV writing is definitely one of its main pillars.
Istillian:
Definitely. I know this is a fairly broad question, but what do you see as some of the the key elements to you that make up a good IFV assessment?
SkyGreen:
I am so glad you asked. So, some time ago we started dividing our IFVs into two main sections, namely the proposal overview and the ministry analysis.
And what's important is, as part of the proposal overview, is to highlight the purpose of the resolution and present its content in kind of a neutral and factual manner without inserting your personal opinion, just to give the reader, the voter, some initial information. What is this? Why is this? And for what goal does it want to achieve, right? And the second part is the analysis, where you're more like, well, you do have to be more opinionated, so you should highlight the quality of writing, positive aspects, so the benefits, if it's the good intent in general. You have to note the practicality, the legal implications, ambiguities, and possible unintended consequences.
And obviously, it's good to make a short summary at the end, a short snappy sentence, so that the lazy reader can also get something from an IFV. But still ideally maintain an objective and respectful tone, avoiding any emotional language and bias, although obviously that's not always avoidable, especially in the case of Security Council resolutions. But apart from that, it's okay to try to be concise, try to be clear to the point.
Avoid using too much jargon, so stuff that especially newcomers might not understand. If you're saying like TNP, best to write out the North Pacific, even though it's one of the big regions, it's still good to help an uninformed voter really be able to understand the text in and of itself. And yeah, I think those are the kind of key aspects that I would like to highlight.
Istillian:
I like that you mentioned having that almost no emotional response to writing these. How do you balance that neutrality between areas like the SC and the GA, General Assembly and Security Council, just to be very clear there.
Suppose the government supported a vote in the Security Council, what considerations do you then make for an IFV that you're writing, where there is a determination by the government?
SkyGreen:
Well, basically there are different approaches here. Sometimes you want to be more subtle with what the government is telling you to do.
So you try to focus on the positives or the negatives of the resolution. Other times, like for example, in case of a liberation or an injunction, you can be fully clear. We are doing this because we are supporting this because we're a defender region.
We want to prevent raiders from destroying the region. There's no need to beat around the bush in that situation. But there are other situations where some additional fluff is helpful and necessary to bring the point across and to say, hey, this isn't just because we don't like them, even though it is a big motivation, but it's also to make clear that there is a legitimate reason why we're doing this.
It's just not just because, right? Whereas with the GA, obviously there are also some limitations because of, for example, the modern gameplay compact has sanctions introduced against certain regions. So in that situation, we will not support a resolution no matter what. And in that sense, we try to still give an objective overview, but we do try to include just to bluntly put, this author is from a sanctioned region.
And therefore, this weighs our vote or recommendation against or something like that. We are, after all, at war. And it's, I think our citizens, our residents are capable enough to comprehend that in NationStates, a war needs to have consequences.
Istillian:
And this is one of those consequences, right?
SkyGreen:
Yes. Yeah. I find, thinking of that, obviously there are going to be more uninformed writers that may not know about the sanctions.
Istillian:
I suppose, what do you see as common mistakes for people when they're writing an IFV? Is it just those kinds of things, or do you find that there's a series of misunderstandings in other areas? What do you see as more common mistakes for people when they're writing these?
SkyGreen:
Well, I guess it's just kind of hard to figure out the scope, how detailed or how simple you have to go. It really depends. You can have somebody like our audience member, Cyborg, who I think basically hit the ground running and was able to quickly comprehend what's in an IFV.
Obviously, there's going to be some structural issues, like not fully comprehending what goes into the proposal, what goes into the analysis. If there's some meta-context about, for example, a Security Council resolution, those can be tricky, because as a newcomer, you don't know what you don't know, right? You don't even know that you have something to find out. And even if you did know, how would you go about it? You're too fresh.
So I think that's a big challenge. And obviously, there are also, I think, some players who are a bit too connected to real-life standards. Some real-life standards are logical, and they should be imitated, so to speak.
But others are not necessary, and you do need to get a bit into the world of World Assembly Affairs to fully comprehend what this is. This isn't roleplay, this is gameplay, right? And it's hard to fully put it into words, but there is some kind of... The author of the IFV is not... I don't know, it's still in the nation, but it's still in the player, right?
Istillian:
Yes. I suppose that kind of leads me to an interesting aspect, especially for new writers that may be taking a little bit of time to understand a proposal. What kind of research do you recommend staffers do when they're going into, I suppose, the General Assembly, or researching for the General Assembly, and then also for the Security Council?
SkyGreen:
I mean, so for an IFV, I would say it's usually just helpful to read the forum thread in general, regardless of if it's the General Assembly or the Security Council. Obviously, there's also, specifically for Europeian citizens, there's also the possibility of joining our World Assembly Legislative League and ask any questions there if you want to. And also, I mean, it's also important to just ask for help from others.
If you don't know, it's okay to ask. It's not a shame or anything. And, y'know, other than that, I would say a lot of it is like, comes, y'know, comes with the experience.
I would recommend all World Assembly Affairs staffers to join the watch, so part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and also in just in general, try to participate in other people's IFVs as well, or at least read through them so that you kind of like understand what's happening, at least on a subconscious level, by reading other people's work and by reading perhaps also the corrections of other people's work. Y'know, learn, y'know, the best way is to learn off of other people's mistakes. Absolutely.
Istillian:
I think one of the things you covered a little bit earlier was, you know, when you're writing this, writing an IFV, you're writing something that's fairly concise, structured, and explains that resolution. And there's those two separate parts. Can you explain what you're really looking for in both the Ministry analysis and in the, oh sorry, what's the other one called? The analysis and the, oh my goodness, I've lost my words.
SkyGreen:
Proposal overview?
Istillian:
Proposal overview, overview, I was thinking they were the same thing for a second. Yes, the overview and the analysis, like what are you really looking for in terms of, from a writer, how concise do they need to be with an overview, comparatively, to, I've lost it again, Sky. It's almost 10 o'clock, my time.
SkyGreen:
Yeah, okay, so I would in general say that the proposal overview should try to be rather shorter, like there's not, it's if people want to read more about the resolution, they can just, y'know, read the resolution. We also post that always.
So the proposal overview should be short and to the point, like concise. So that's what I'm looking for in that part, whereas in the Ministry analysis, it's, y'know, more sometimes, oftentimes more can be better, like y'know, writing out the positives, the negatives, the content, the context, the summary, like, y'know, that's where you put all the flair, all the fluff. So obviously each of your sentences should serve a point, but you can go a bit broader in that part.
Istillian:
So in that analysis, we kind of touched on remaining fairly unbiased with an opinion. Where do you think those strong feelings towards a proposal belong? Do you think that could be part of a Ministry analysis, or do you think that serves better as more of a discussion piece within the Ministry?
SkyGreen:
Well, y'know, we did, obviously we did previously try to like do discussions in advance before we even get to the IFV writing point, but there's often not enough interest for everyone to participate in so many discussions one after another. In general, I think it's good to like post an IFV draft. It doesn't have to be like the perfect draft, but just to give people a jumping off board to see what works well or what doesn't work well.
I mean, in general, I think you can post your opinions really in that thread anywhere, or even start it earlier if you're really interested in the topic, but that's also very dependent on the context and on the specific resolution.
Istillian:
Yeah, absolutely. I think I'll turn to now a little bit how your perspective is on the changes in writing an IFV. We've seen some structural changes to Europeian IFVs over the years, but what have you seen that's changed for better and for worse with creating these IFVs, and I suppose adding to that, are there any tools now that you find are either coming up or that are already used that make it really easy to draft an IFV?
SkyGreen:
Well, I am trying to actually work on a tool myself to at least make it a bit easier, but ultimately the template itself is good enough for most people, especially if you're working on a PC or a laptop. The IFVs kind of became bigger. When I was minister for the first time, we didn't do the proposal overview to ministry analysis split.
That came, I think, during Greater Cesnica tenure, one of the three terms, and I think it was a long time a positive change. I think, for example, the reason why a ministry analysis being longer is better is because that's where you put in these additional informations that you can't really read out of the proposal itself, whereas the proposal overview is basically mainly just a summary, so there's really not much additional information. You just have the benefit of a summarization there.
Obviously, the dispatches got improved, courtesy of mainly myself.
Istillian:
Thank you, Sky. Where would we be without you?
SkyGreen:
You're welcome. That's something I ask myself every day.
That's basically the big parts. Obviously, there would be some good automation tools, but on the other hand, too much automation can kind of make it harder for newcomers to get into it, because not only do you have to learn what it is, you have to learn to use these tools that aren't necessarily user-friendly.
I think we are doing a good job with integrating our tech, thanks to UPC and Darc and Rand and everyone else who participated, but it's also important to make it user-friendly and to leave guides both for staff and for ministers to kind of easily get to grasp on what's going on. Absolutely. I think the two things that come to mind are the change in use of tools.
Istillian:
I think it was R3N's tools that we used to have.
SkyGreen:
Yeah, those broke. I forgot about those, because they broke quite a long time ago.
I did use them during my first term and second one, but I'll be honest with you, they weren't really that helpful. I always found them a bit difficult. I think in comparison to just me copy-pasting and adjusting some stuff manually, basically, on the forums and on the Nation-States Dispatch Creation page, I don't really think I saved much time by using R3N's tool.
Istillian:
I noticed that this, I think this for me personally, is one of the first times I've posted my own dispatches when I first started. Yeah, it was R3N's tools that were in use, and it's really nice to see other players start posting their own dispatches for the IFVs just by editing that, so I think you've done well with incorporating that. Just a little compliment in this unbiased interview.
SkyGreen:
I think I did good. I think you did good.
Istillian:
I suppose from your experience, are there some examples of really well-written IFVs that have helped you? Or I suppose, are there some experiences with IFVs and writing them that have quite challenged you? And I'm talking more with either how the proposal has been written, or even deciding on a for-against-no-preference style option.
SkyGreen:
Y'know, obviously, I did have this debate sometimes, and especially nowadays, I think about it more, like what would be the preferred option. Sometimes I do just try to, when I don't know something about a topic, I do try to research it, and I am a bit more torn. Like, for example, the current at-vote is taking longer, the IFV, because I'm not an expert on these things, and I don't really have an opinion on them as well.
In general, I do try to look at very talented writers and how they wrote. For example, I will often go, especially for Security Council resolutions, I will go to a Westinor IFV to re-read it, or a Maowi IFV for General Assembly. I think those two are incredibly talented people and writers.
So, a big recommend, if you want to learn more, read IFVs by Maowi and Westinor. And, y'know, that's kind of, it's also an iterative process, like sometimes I'll write something and then correct it later on. I think that's just helpful.
Y'know, you can't really always get everything on the first try, so the importance of failure cannot be overstated.
Istillian:
Look, that's something I've never done, so I don't know how it feels.
SkyGreen:
You're just so perfect, man.
Istillian:
Oh yeah, totally.
SkyGreen:
No, I think that's a really good point, particularly with this area, because there are a lot of differing opinions, but I think looking through that style proposal, particularly, y'know, the comparison between the GA and the SC, it takes time to figure out, y'know, what people are writing, how that changes things for the World Assembly as well. So, I think you make some really good points there.
Istillian:
I suppose that's pretty much all of the major questions that I've got for you. Is there any comments or any advice that you have for people jumping into the ministry, wanting to write their IFV for the first time? Or, I mean, just any general good advice that you want to throw in there?
SkyGreen:
Yeah, so always eat yogurt on Thursdays. That's some general life advice.
Istillian:
Thank you, Sky. I'll take that on board.
SkyGreen:
And, y'know, I mean, I want to encourage everyone to try to write at least one IFV per term. It's really easy. It's really not, y'know, not that challenging. And it will help you understand the World Assembly more. It will help you hone your writing skills. And, y'know, if you're unsure, you can always ask questions. Y'know, there's always that possibility.
So just, y'know, yeah, try to read the forum threads and maybe join the, what's it called, the World Assembly related Discord server, even though I myself am not in it. But, y'know, I already have the answers to all questions. So for me, it's less of a necessity.
And yeah. And good luck and start writing. Love it.
Istillian:
I think that's fantastic. Well, thank you for your time, SkyGreen. If you want to ask us anything, clearly Sky has all the answers already.