Citizen Application Form

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

Questions that need answering:

• What sort of questions should be included in app'? This is both a format (e.g. "multiple choice" or "short essay") question aswell as a content question (e.g. "philosophy versus legality" or "test on ability to handle contoversial subjects objectively"), not to mention a question of the amount of questions contained.
  
• Who should be the first analyser (specifically - we already know it abstractly)?
  
• Shall we give that person a fancy Citizen app' specific title at all?
  
• What happens if our Citizen App' acceptance rules are revealed?
  
• What laws bind the analyser?
  

(For examples of the fictional Dark Arcadia's forms, perhaps to inspire, view the two .docs at the end of the Crimson Feather wiki's article.)

[BLusk]

Personal opinion? It should be practical and short.

Preferred Name:

Current Nationality:

Birthdate:

Age: (Confirm against birthdate. I mean, come on... if you can't even figure out how old you are, do you really belong in a meritocracy?)

Sex: (Anyone who answers yes or no to this question should be automatically barred from entry)

Then you can continue on with more psychological evaluation questions... which are by their nature beyond my training. However, simple ones would likely do that would provide some insight into the overall social and societal leanings of the person. Things like:

***
You have just rebuffed the same person's romantic overtures multiple times. Said person continues to come back, and is becoming increasingly annoying at each new attempt.

A) Describe the person you envisioned.

B) Detail how you would deal with them.

C) If your previous actions in B still didn't rebuff the person, how would you respond?
***

OK, granted, I made that up just because I think it would be funny to read, but I also think that something SIMILAR might lead to greater insights into the person's mentality. What did they envision as being an unwelcome suitor? Was their solution practical? Useful? Likely to succeed? Whimsical? Well-thought out? Of course, anyone whose solution for C starts with high explosives probably doesn't belong in DA.

Then, continue on to political evaluations, which can be phrased in various ways, but should address a reflection of an understanding of the basics of Meritocracy.

***
Bill and Sally both have come to you with an idea for improving the product you designed. Bill's idea is good, and would improve your product overall, but you also know that Bill is a dynamo that can really get a group motivated to finish his ideas. Sally's idea is better than Bill's, but Sally is not nearly the go-getter that Bill is, and her idea would suffer for it.

How would you deal with this situation?
***

Of course, there are several meritocratic ways to deal with this situation. You could approve Bill's idea, knowing it would likely succeed because of Bill's force of personality. You could approve Sally's idea because it is the more technically sound, then spend time mentoring Sally through the project. You could put Bill in charge of Sally's idea, but this would then have the difficulty of not having full buy-in by Bill. Or you could step aside, knowing that your own skills are surpassed by your subordinates.

The BEST solution would be to find a way to implement both ideas and get Bill and Sally working together... the brighter mind with the greater force... until the final product is better than either of the original ideas on their own. If you can manage to pull this one off, clearly you are a candidate for Archon.

Sincerely,
Brian

P.S. Sample questions are of a humorous nature and should be refined/modified or trashed before use. This disclaimer is brought to you by Merit Incorporated, where only ideas of Merit are given wings to fly. Any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental, but say hello to Bill and Sally if you see them.

[Neike Taika-Tessaro]

[Whit Porter]

[BLusk]

Yes, it should be longer than what I have here. The point of what I posited was to begin a conversation into what should be on the questionaire. Clearly, my attempts to inspire debate and conversation are not making much progress.

My primary point was that these could be the starting point, not the ending point. More questions, more subtle questions, less whimsical questions... you name it. Something. What questions would you ask to get a revealing glimpse into a person? Shoot, as an exercise, what would you ask me?

Brian

P.S. I'll answer what I can, just to sweeten the pot a bit.