Joke Proposals
History
A joke proposal is any non-serious proposal. Joke proposals have been submitted for various reasons, ranging from garnering a laugh from those who read it to forms of slander. The current United Nations proposal rules forbid NationStates players from submitting joke proposals into the official proposal queue. However, it is acceptable to post joke proposals as draft proposals on the Jolt United Nations forum and to treat them as serious proposals or resolutions if they are not considered flamebait or otherwise inflamatory in nature.
Joke proposals that are not submitted to the proposal queue, but that are incorporated into a diplomatic roleplay sometimes are so well liked that long after the discussion thread in which the joke proposal was debated is dated, players will still refer to the joke proposals via in-jokes and/or as part of other serious roleplaying.
Rules
Earlier rules for proposals did not prohibit the creation of joke proposals. The major controversy over the legality of joke proposals erupted when the proposals HIPPOS ARE BIG reached quorum. The author argued that under the resolution Freedom of Humor, joke proposals should be made legal. The game moderators disagreed, and deleted the proposal before it reached vote. Shortly after, another joke proposal, HIPPOS ARE REALLY QUITE LARGE, reached quorum and after a lengthy debate, was allowed to be voted upon by UN Members, who defeated it with a large margin.
Since HIPPOS ARE REALLY QUITE LARGE, changes to the UN Rules have been made, which prohibit the creation of joke proposals:
According to The Rules, there are three rules which proposals such as these may violate:
- Jokes
- "The Right To Arm Bears" isn't funny any more, okay? I don't care that we have 'Freedom of Humor'. That Resolution doesn't give you the right to make joke Proposals.
- Grossly Offensive
- If you want to execute left-handed men named "Earl" in your country, that's fine. Don't go yammering about it in a Proposal. Yes, this includes screwing with a 'majority' group. Killing all whites is just as bad as killing all jews. Or blacks. Or poor people. Things such as eliminating "all rights for $group", forced deportation of said group and the like fall under this too.
- Bloody Stupid
- Every now and then a Proposal crops up that, for lack of a more tactful description, is stupid. This is clearly a judgment call, but if you're going to mandate that all cars be pink, you're gonna have a dead proposal on your hands. This includes things that are unworthy of UN consideration (such as mandating allowances for children who eat their vegetables).
List of Notable Joke Proposals
Additional Materials
- United Nations
- UN Timeline
- Proposals
- Silly Proposals -- THE RETURN: A 100+ Page topic consisting only of joke proposals.
- NSUN Proposal Rules
- Zomg Silly & Illegal Proposals (Thread)
