Ministry of Immigration
IMMIGRATION APPLICATION
Application Received - 25 May 2024
Application Eligible for Petition - 15 days after first post from applicant on Witt
The Ministry of Immigration, using information provided in the application and after investigating to the best of its ability, is satisfied that this application is Bona Fide.
Applicant Name:
Betsy Ackerman
Gender:
Female
Year of Birth:
2009
Location:
Indianola, Iowa, USA
Prospective Province:
Vuode
Have you been introduced to the Kingdom of Talossa by an existing citizen?
NO
Do you have any previous experience with, or membership in, any "micronations"?
NO
Is it okay if Talossan citizens contact you by e-mail?
YES
Is it okay if Talossan citizens contact you by telephone?
NO
About Myself:
I am 15 so I do not have a job yet but enjoy spending time with family and my dog Mollie.
I am a christian and I'm planning to become a missionary after college
Why I am Interested in Becoming a Talossan:
Im 15 I love the USA but it seems like its getting worse and worse so that is why I would like to join Talossa
Where did you hear about the Kingdom of Talossa?
Random internet surfing
Azul
@Betsy ! Welcome to our Kingdom !
As you can see above, we have posted your application on the forum (without your contact information) for other citizens to see. They will ask you questions and you can ask them questions. This is so that you can get to know us and we can get to know you.
After 15 days from your first forum post, if you have proven to be an active and interested prospective citizen, one of the current citizens will petition the Royal Chancery to grant you full citizenship.
Note! It is very important that you are active in discussions on Wittenberg if you want to become a citizen. If you can't see discussions that interest you, feel free to start your own.
Please also see the New Citizens Guide (https://talossa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/New-Citizens-Guide.pdf) and Qet Paßa (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=2911.0) for general information and an activities guide for Talossa.
We are happy to have you in Talossa!
Wishing you all the very best,
þerxh
AZUL!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/5244/5248002443_42993d634f_z.jpg)
(but even with cruise control, you've got to steer)
New level of inactivity.
Quote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 13, 2024, 02:23:02 PMNew level of inactivity.
We're once again in the situation where a government trumpets its record of recruiting new citizens who either quickly become inactive (sometimes after joining the governing party?) or never became active in the first place
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 13, 2024, 04:15:48 PMQuote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 13, 2024, 02:23:02 PMNew level of inactivity.
We're once again in the situation where a government trumpets its record of recruiting new citizens who either quickly become inactive (sometimes after joining the governing party?) or never became active in the first place
I will make sure to include that in my honest government ad.
Quote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 13, 2024, 04:16:58 PMQuote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 13, 2024, 04:15:48 PMQuote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 13, 2024, 02:23:02 PMNew level of inactivity.
We're once again in the situation where a government trumpets its record of recruiting new citizens who either quickly become inactive (sometimes after joining the governing party?) or never became active in the first place
I will make sure to include that in my honest government ad.
@Miestră Schivă, UrN here's (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=3312) the dedicated topic.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 13, 2024, 04:15:48 PMQuote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 13, 2024, 02:23:02 PMNew level of inactivity.
We're once again in the situation where a government trumpets its record of recruiting new citizens who either quickly become inactive (sometimes after joining the governing party?) or never became active in the first place
The party doesn't exist anymore you can stop slamming them
Quote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on June 13, 2024, 05:56:55 PMThe party doesn't exist anymore you can stop slamming them
The outgoing Seneschal and a few other ministers are running in the election under different party names, so they need to answer for the record of the outgoing Government.
I always despair of an attitude to Talossan politics which boils it down to "friend groups" - like, it's considered out of bound to discuss principles, or even people's record in office. All it boils down to is: these people are my mates so I'll defend them through thick and thin, you are not my friend so not matter what you do I'll still be hostile to you.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 13, 2024, 11:25:41 PMQuote from: Tric'hard Lenxheir on June 13, 2024, 05:56:55 PMThe party doesn't exist anymore you can stop slamming them
The outgoing Seneschal and a few other ministers are running in the election under different party names, so they need to answer for the record of the outgoing Government.
I always despair of an attitude to Talossan politics which boils it down to "friend groups" - like, it's considered out of bound to discuss principles, or even people's record in office. All it boils down to is: these people are my mates so I'll defend them through thick and thin, you are not my friend so not matter what you do I'll still be hostile to you.
Then I would suggest you target those who are running rather than the party in general. It seems odd to me. Personally for what it is worth I will be stepping away from politics after my term in the Senate is complete, possibly stepping away from Talossa completely at least for awhile. I'm tired of the bickering.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 13, 2024, 04:15:48 PMQuote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 13, 2024, 02:23:02 PMNew level of inactivity.
We're once again in the situation where a government trumpets its record of recruiting new citizens who either quickly become inactive (sometimes after joining the governing party?) or never became active in the first place
Fortunately, we don't have to just guess or hope that your vibes are correct. We can look and see whether or not we are in a period of declining interest and activity by checking engagement numbers. If new citizens are unusually quiet, then we'd expect to see that reflected by a general decline in topics, posts, and/or pageviews. That doesn't appear to be the case, though, when I look at Infoteca. Our immigration rate has remained steady, with something like an average of new new immigrants per month. (The rolling average has actually risen a bit, but nothing to write home about.) And the threads and posts on our national message board are also steady and trending higher. Everyone can check for themselves here (https://talossa.com/infoteca/). :)
I don't see any column on Infoteca for "new citizens actually getting involved in Talossan life". Which makes sense, because that's an intangible that you can't put into a number in a spreadsheet. Posts on Witt increasing seems to reflect existing citizens being more active - a good thing in itself, but not the same thing. Naturalisations doesn't mean a hill of beans if people just vanish - eg. that character who tried to join both the FreeDems and the TNC at the same time, joined the TNC, and then simply vanished, so you'd know what happened with him better than I would.
As I always said, Infoteca's statistics are pretty much meaningless and can be parsed to prove whatever you want them to prove. Which is probably why no-one ever cited them before the election campaign, and why I personally forgot they existed. But if we don't get new citizens actually involved in Talossan life, old citizens won't be replaced, and Talossa becomes a stagnant pool of people having the same arguments they had 10 or 20 years ago.
Ordinarily, if nobody new ever immigrates and remains active, while other people leave the country or become inactive, we'd expect the level of activity and engagement to trend downwards over time.
We do not seem to see a drop in the overall level of activity and engagement, as far as I can see.
If you think that newer Talossans like Barclamïu here have tended to be less engaged these days, then that would suggest that current Talossans are becoming much more engaged to compensate for this loss and to account for the slightly positive trend. That's pretty cool :) Maybe it's the election season -- although comparing to other election seasons suggests that this is not the case.
Statistics don't show the whole truth, but it's frankly just silly to claim that therefore they are meaningless. If the immigration statistics showed a sharp drop in applications, I am quite confident you'd find that significant. If the Wittenberg statistics showed a sharp drop in engagement, I am quite confident you'd find that significant. For that matter, I would also find it worrying!
The reason why numbers are useful is not because they tell us everything, but because it's much harder to bullshit about them. If someone wants to conjure up a false narrative for their own purposes, it's more challenging when there's objective data that they need to explain away.
Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 14, 2024, 04:27:32 PMOrdinarily, if nobody new ever immigrates and remains active, while other people leave the country or become inactive, we'd expect the level of activity and engagement to trend downwards over time.
We do not seem to see a drop in the overall level of activity and engagement, as far as I can see.
If you think that newer Talossans like Barclamïu here have tended to be less engaged these days, then that would suggest that current Talossans are becoming much more engaged to compensate for this loss and to account for the slightly positive trend. That's pretty cool :) Maybe it's the election season -- although comparing to other election seasons suggests that this is not the case.
Statistics don't show the whole truth, but it's frankly just silly to claim that therefore they are meaningless. If the immigration statistics showed a sharp drop in applications, I am quite confident you'd find that significant. If the Wittenberg statistics showed a sharp drop in engagement, I am quite confident you'd find that significant. For that matter, I would also find it worrying!
The reason why numbers are useful is not because they tell us everything, but because it's much harder to bullshit about them. If someone wants to conjure up a false narrative for their own purposes, it's more challenging when there's objective data that they need to explain away.
I'm somewhat active.
Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 14, 2024, 04:27:32 PMIf you think that newer Talossans like Barclamïu here have tended to be less engaged these days,
You would have to be kicked in the head by a mule to make that argument; Barclamïu is the massive exception that proves the rule!
If only we had more of him.
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 14, 2024, 05:49:48 PMQuote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on June 14, 2024, 04:27:32 PMIf you think that newer Talossans like Barclamïu here have tended to be less engaged these days,
You would have to be kicked in the head by a mule to make that argument; Barclamïu is the massive exception that proves the rule!
If only we had more of him.
I may seem absent because of me not having wifi.
Quote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 14, 2024, 06:27:14 PMQuoteIf only we had more of him.
I may seem absent because of me not having wifi.
Maybe there's an ambiguity in my English - what I mean is, "if only we had more people like him". Or maybe clones. Do you have a twin brother?
Quote from: Miestră Schivă, UrN on June 14, 2024, 07:47:04 PMQuote from: Barclamïu da Miéletz on June 14, 2024, 06:27:14 PMQuoteIf only we had more of him.
I may seem absent because of me not having wifi.
Maybe there's an ambiguity in my English - what I mean is, "if only we had more people like him". Or maybe clones. Do you have a twin brother?
Always were an only child.