The NWCIPC public comment period is open

Two weeks ago, Night Water shared a very important holiday message from the Night Water Council on Improper Playlist Construction (NWCIPC) suggesting that readers refrain from including “Zombie” by The Cranberries on their Halloween playlists. When said public service announcement (PSA) was initially published, the NWCIPC was not hearing public comment on their guidance. However, events beyond the control of the council have opened the floodgates of public opinion on the PSA.

I, Adam Cecil, publisher of Night Water and currently the sole member of the NWCIPC, signed up for the Microsoft Start Partner Program a few months ago. It seemed like an interesting test in syndicating Night Water content to other sources, namely, the MSN audience. You might be wondering—“People still use MSN?” Yes! Though I think it’s fair to say they are not Night Water’s primary audience.

In any case, Night Water content has been quietly and automatically syndicating to MSN the past few months, rarely garnering more than a few hundred views on any given article. While it never brought in any new email subscribers, I have earned a cool $108.94 in ad revenue so far (though $100 of that was a bank error in my favor).

After the PSA was published, I noticed something odd. The post was getting a much higher-than-average amount of traffic from Google, specifically the search terms “night water council on improper playlist construction” and “nwcipc.” It didn’t make sense—why would Night Water readers need to Google this self-explanatory advisory body?

Only it wasn’t Night Water readers. It was MSN readers, desperately searching for more information about the publishers of this contextless PSA on “Zombie” by the Cranberries. The PSA received over 45,000 views on MSN in the first two days of publication. Reaction was mixed: 222 angry face emojis, a combined 57 heart and thumbs up emojis, and 42 thinking face emojis. Comments leaned more towards the angry face emojis. “Night water = body waste and that’s about what this article amounts to,” wrote James G, skewering the entire publication in a succinct sentence.

Since the MSN audience had a chance to air their grievances, the NWCIPC agreed that it only made sense to open up public comment to the Night Water community. To start the public comment period, the council has collected a few exemplary comments from MSN to respond to.

“wow this is some self righteous nonsense. If the people you hang with are so pretentious as to get uppity over this issue you need new friends not a new playlist.”
- Zoë Jett

Zoë, thanks for your comment. Many individuals find it hard to make friends as an adult but are quite capable of making a new playlist. The NWCIPC is only here to provide guidance on the second activity.

“This is pretentious. Everyone who has listened to this once knows the history of this song, now it’s the only song in my halloween playlist…..”
- Tim Kelley

Tim, thanks for your comment. The NWCIPC would be shirking its duties if we didn’t mention that one song does not make a playlist, and the vibes will be off at your Halloween party if you only play one song on repeat—no matter the song choice.

"Seems like a scene out of a comedy: Halloween party going full swing, Zombie comes on.. you hear the record scratch sound and the party just stops… SWAT team comes crashing through the windows and starts arresting the home owner.. ‘you are under arrest for violating the NWCIPC rules for playing Zombie on your Halloween play list’”
- Matthew Zielke

Matthew, thanks for your comment. The NWCIPC is a volunteer organization and does not work with law enforcement agencies on its rulings. Any and all compliance with NWCIPC guidance is up to the discretion of individuals.

“Want to get really angry? If so, note that somebody got PAID to write this.”
- Nathan Thompson

“Who are you people? I hope tax dollars are not supporting this tripe”
- Robert Fox

Nathan and Robert, thanks for your comments. Please note that no one got directly paid to write this and we do not accept money from federal or state governments. But good news: thanks to your engagement, the NWCIPC has reached its funding goal for the 2023 fiscal year.

“Research McKinsey Global Institute McKinsey & Company. Research Policygenius. Co-founder and CEO of Policygenius worked for McKinsey & Company. Adam Cecil worked for Policygenius Night Water created by Adam Cecil.
Peter Paul Montgomery worked for McKinsey & Company and now is the United States secretary of transportation in the Biden administration. Research McKinsey connection FBI. Research CIA connection to McKinsey during the Obama administration. Research Oleksandr who worked at McKinsey & Company’s London and Moscow offices for three years. Research connection to Oleksandr and the current President of Ukraine.”
- John P

John, thanks for your comment. After doing our research, we have indeed discovered that, through several degrees of separation, our sole member Adam Cecil is connected to the Canadian bread price-fixing scandal of 2018, and is only slightly less guilty by association than Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg.

“If you search for ‘Night Water Council on Improper Playlist Construction’ you will find no results outside of this article. Seems we not only have to deal with Zombies this Halloween, we also have to beware of TROLLS.”
- JM Hagan

JM, thanks for your comment. Under no circumstances are the NWCIPC a group of trolls. We’re merely a concerned group of one citizen who wants to make a difference in playlist construction. Don’t hold our poor search engine optimization against us.

“dear Adam - is this supposed to be an ‘income stream’
please advise how I can start writing click bait that is posted on MSN”
- Jack Griffin

Jack, thanks for your comment. You can start writing clickbait that is posted on MSN by applying to join the Microsoft Start Partner Program. You will need a blog on a platform like WordPress, Squarespace, or Substack that provides an RSS feed for content ingestion. From there, only a verified U.S. bank account stands between you and posting clickbait for the masses.

"A pretty good alternative is called Rave in the Grave by AronChupa. My grandkids swear they will play if at my funeral (someday) and it includes the words, ’Last night an angel came to say
‘I’m sad your grandma passed away’
But now, my grandma got a rave
My grandma got a rave, grandma got a rave in the grave
- Anne Younger

Anne, thanks for your comment. Proper estate planning is of the utmost importance, and it’s great to have conversations about your funerary playlist preferences with your loved ones before you pass.

“Bro really went with ‘Monster Mash’ over some Rob Zombies… cheezer”
- Lowell Cunningham

Lowell, thanks for your comment. As noted, we do not officially make song suggestions, instead leaving that job to our sister organization, the Night Water Council on Playlist Song Suggestions (NWCPSS). However, on the issue of Improper Playlist Construction, we can state that a Halloween playlist without some cheese is not a Halloween playlist we’re interested in partying to.

Thank you to everyone who provided public comment at MSN. While we couldn’t individually respond to all 194 comments, know that take your feedback seriously.

If you would like to provide a public comment on the NWCIPC’s guidance on “Zombie” by The Cranberries as it relates to Halloween playlists, please submit your opinion below.