A Note To Teachers:

It is quite popular to use Molossia's website as a teaching tool, to demonstrate false websites. On the face of things, this might seem reasonable, as the website represents an unrecognized and possibly imaginary nation. However, there are nuances here that I ask you to consider before using this site for that purpose, nuances that students may not grasp.

Regardless whether or not you consider Molossia a nation, it is in fact a physical location, our home in western Nevada. We have actual land, real weather, real flowers and trees, real animals and real humans that live here. You can indeed visit us, much as you can visit anyone's home, if invited. In fact we have had several "tourists" (not family or friends) visit Molossia in 2007 alone. I mention these points because students may not always see fine distinctions when they see a website that they have been told is false. For example, one child reported that our snow is fake, when in fact it is quite real. Another child was challenged by his teacher to see if a travel agent could book a flight to Molossia. This was used to prove that Molossia is not a real place. Obviously, this is not a disqualifier at all, since Molossia does have a physical location, and of course you could book a trip here, by flying to nearby Reno and driving to Molossia. Simply because we don't have airport does not disqualify us as a real location - you can't land a plane at your Grandmother's house either, yet you can indeed travel there, can't you? There are several other examples of this sort of distinction, all of which fail to grasp that this is a real place, even if it is not a "real" country.

My point is, be cautious on letting your students use this site as a false website, because they will think everything about it is false - which of course is not true. Just because I call our rubber rafts a "navy" doesn't mean that they don't exist. They do indeed, and we go rafting on them quite a bit! Students, however, may not make this connection.

I would suggest that, instead of using Molossia as an example of a "bogus" website, use it instead as an example of what defines a real nation. Molossia's website can be utilized to discuss subjects such as the Declarative Theory of Statehood, Constitutive Statehood, diplomacy and diplomatic recognition, the sovereignty of Dependent Nations (such as Indian Reservations), enclaves and exclaves, and sovereignty in general.

Either way you go, please be cautious about using Molossia's website as a teaching tool. This is our home and it is a real place, and much on the website reflects very real things in Molossia. Just because it is shown on a website that seems false, that doesn't make our snow any less cold.

And if you do encourage your students to use the Molossia website as an example of a false website, please ask them to be nice about it. Some comments that I have read on student blogs are quite rude, and that is NOT called for. And rest assured, if I read a student's report on the web, and they are rude, or just incorrect, I WILL write them directly to set them straight.

Thank you.

His Excellency President Kevin Baugh
Republic of Molossia