Much of the debate at the moment seems to be centred around whether an endorsement cap is a reasonable and effective way to protect the region from invasion. Although valuable, I think that a far more effective solution, and one that in fact might mitigate the need for additional security measures, would be to boost regional activity, international transparency and recruitment. Not only would this make the region more enjoyable for all the nations involved, but it boosts security as: A greater number of nations means that influence accumulates more quickly to the legitimate government, making invasion harder. A greater number of nations in the WA (regardless of their endorsement strategy) has to mean a greater or at least equal number of endorsements for the legitimate delegate, meaning a larger and hence more cumbersome invasion force. A greater level of activity on the part of all nations means that they will be aware of shifts in regional politics, and respond to external and internet threats (note the number of nations endorsing a clearly hostile invader long after he was revealed). Friendly nations and regions abroad broadens the base we have for our intellectual discussions (making us more enticing to new nations), and also means that we may come to our aid in times of trouble. I think most nations in Capitalist Paradise accept these principles, and thus accept that broadening CP's appeal is neccesary to keep us an intellectual hub and a secure region. So, how do we go about doing it? I'm personally thin on the ground. I've joined the WA with my main nation, which is good, and will probably leave once something really outrageous comes to the floor, allowing my other nation to join the Capitalist Paradise Militia (which I remember [user]Ad Vitam Adsum[/user] mentioning a while ago) which is also a good thing. In addition, during my exile, I comfortably spent the time in Wysteria, where I was made more than welcome (especially by its founder, The Bruce); I've kept a colony nation there, and will get active on their RMB as well as ours should something come up. However, after that, I'm stumped. What do other people suggest? (NB: Should this thread gather some momentum, I may turn over this original post to a list of reccomended policies, rather than a justification of them, in time.)
I think that having more nations in the WA is an easy way to increase security. Even if people don't want the WA meddling in their main nation, an alt is not difficult to create.
I echo Ad_Vitam_Adsum 's suggestion to grow the region. HOWEVER, this requires either volunteers, or a new government recruitment department. From our past record, I am going to assume that on it's own, this effort will fail. Recruitment involves compiling lists of new nations, sending a telegram to them, and also welcoming new nations to the region. This takes a considerable amount of time. Everyone has real lives, and when push comes to shove, a game always loses (as it should!). That said, it is possible to make this easier. Recruitment telegrams are banned, but that doesn't mean we can't use scripts/bots to do most of the work for us. I could very easily have a list of new players, updating every 5-10 minutes on the forums, with links to their account, and a pre-generated message to send them. This means recruiters only have to copy/paste the message, open the page, and send it. This means that in 5 minutes of free time, someone could easily canvas a few hours with of new nations. Additionally, I can easily use the same bot to send all nations who have never entered the region before a welcome message (this feature has not yet been banned, only recruitment themselves). This should also help drive endorsements. I'm a pretty skilled programmer, and anyone else who is is welcome to join me. I believe we can (and should) automate much of the day-to-day governance, and provide members with easy to access visualizations. Dynamic visualizations for endorsements to show who hasn't returned your endorsements, who has received the most endorsements in the last week, etc are all extremely possible.
Putting that kind of listing in some easily accessible part of the forums, possibly where it's communally accessible (so we can tag "I've telegrammed this person!"), and the rest of the automation sounds both valuable and interesting.
