OOC: I have never used the shipwide tag so I am going to experiment with it. This is the same message below. I am just trying to make sure everyone sees it.

~ Kate

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to say how much I care about Atlantis and the club as a whole. This ship is filled with dedicated writers who create amazing stories that are captivating to read and engaging to participate in the creation of. Below is an email I received from the President and the fleet commander about this ship. I am sharing this because I have always tried to be as transparent as possible. I also wanted to discuss my thoughts to the email as a whole. The purpose of the email was to place the Atlantis on a 30 day review period where if we do not improve posting and participation it could lead to the decommissioning of the ship. This review period is a great chance for us to regroup, improve, and refocus—especially when it comes to stepping up and all of us taking ownership of how the ship is doing.

It’s no secret that my involvement and the XO’s involvement has slipped lately, and that’s definitely had an impact. Atlantis has always been full of talented, dedicated people. When we’re all in and working together, there’s really no limit to what we can do. While I take full responsibility for my lack of posting at times I am dedicated to changing this and being more present for the crew. I also will stand by my ideology that we are a crew of diverse needs and time constraints. Our time is precious and I am so thankful this crew chooses to dedicate their time to the Atlantis and STF.

In general I feel like most of you are very open with me when life goes sideways or you just need a break. As your Captain I will always support you when you need to step back for as long as needed. I value your communication and will never ask you to give more than you can. We all come here for the love or writing and chance to expand our creative energy. That being said if we want to keep the Atlantis out of the scrap yard, we all need to take responsibility and be more present. That means checking in more with those we post with, remembering to take LOA’s, and making sure we’re supporting the crew the way we always have: as a tight knit family who supports each other when things go side ways and celebrating each others successes.

Along with this note, I’ll be reaching out to everyone individually to talk things through and hopefully give things a boost. I’ll also be checking Atlantis’s status every other day and making any needed changes or posts. I hope each of you can find a level of involvement that feels good to you.

Also, let’s look at bringing in some fresh energy. If each of us can find a new active members, that would make a huge difference. So we are back to bring a friend and get a free souvenir cup in the process. All jokes aside, the strength of our ship is writing stories that engage us so if you have a friend of two that you enjoy writing with tell them to join up. There is a lot of talent in Starfleet and I am always open to new writers.

Thanks for sticking with it. Let’s turn this around together.

~ Kate

Here is the original email from Jack. I also want to say that I am talking to Jack and he is really great and supportive in this endeavor. I appreciate his openness to discuss this situation and ways to fix it. The reason I am sharing his email is because I wanted everyone to know what was said and what he is asking of the crew. After I talk to him this week, I will keep you up to date with things he has discussed with me.

Hi Kate, Amdirgol, I’m writing to let you know that the USS Atlantis will be placed into a ‘ship health review period’ until 31st July; should it not pass the review period, the ship will be decommissioned. This decision has not been easy to make, and is informed both by the scoring approach discussed during the recent ship health review in Command, and by the insights drawn from recent fleet reports. Whilst ship performance is something that may fluctate over time, the USS Atlantis has underperformed over the past three months. Given the wider issue of overstretch across the club, we need to take a hard look at every role playing areas that are not demonstrating that they can sustain themselves. Whilst decommissioning the Atlantis is an option, I would like to give it one last chance to prove that it can be a viable role playing area. For me, that is about demonstrating that a ship can maintain a baseline level of activity to ensure they provide an engaging roleplaying environment for their crew. Therefore, to remain in commission, the Atlantis will need to meet the following by 31st July: 1. An active Command Team: There should be an active CO and either an active XO or GM, none of which are AWOL beyond 1–2 days without agreement with the Fleet Commander. 2. Department Head Coverage: There should be at least 4 active DHs, with at least 3 in core roles (CSO, COS, CMO, CE, CNS). The fourth may be a swing DH position. 3. Roster Management: the roster should be clear of any members who are AWOL for more than double their AWOL limits unless agreed with the Fleet Commander (eg there should be no DHs more than 10 days AWOL). 4. Posting Requirements: The ship should achieve at least 88 in-character posts each month. This number is based on each crew member writing two posts within their AWOL limits each cycle. I appreciate that this will not happen overnight, but we ought to see the ship hitting around 20 posts per week by the end of July. I appreciate this won’t be an easy message to receive, but I hope you can understand the broader need to ensure our club continues to offer healthy, sustainable roleplaying environments. I am keen to see the Atlantis continue within the fleet, and I’m very willing to discuss any support you need to meet these targets. However, we should also recognise that these targets may not be achievable with the resources STF has at its disposal; therefore, if we do decommission the Atlantis, that should not be taken as a slight against anyone involved in the management of the ship - a club membership of 65 people is only going to be able to sustain a certain number of ships. Please let me know if you would like to talk this through or if there is anything you need. Yours, Jack