Posted 1 January 2009 - 6:57pm by Fleet Admiral Andrew “Wolfe” Robinson (President) (Andrew Robinson)
Edict #32
“If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.”
State of the Onion
Introduction
A hefty greetings to one and all from both Brian and I as well as the Cabinet and Government at large. During the election the State of the Onion speech was proposed as a midterm method of communicating our goals to date, as well as our objectives for the remainder of the term. Unfortunately this report is a month late, but the holiday season and a trip to the other side of the country has delayed me quite a bit. Hopefully what was lost in punctuality can be made up for in information provided.
Throughout the term we’ve made some incredible strides, in places far more than I thought we would. We have unfortunately also made some mistakes and there have been things that we’ve not yet managed to achieve that we had slated for the first half of the term. The following sections will highlight both the achievements and expectations for the remainder of the term.
For ease of digestion (failing that we have rennie available in the gold trays at the end of the report) the State of the Onion has been broken down into sections, by department, fleet, EA and miscellaneous headings. I’ve made the SOTO an edict to ensure that it remains a part of my administration permanently. I can hope that my successors will take note of it and would encourage its use in future administrations as a method of better communicating achievements and goals to the membership at large.
STATE OF THE ONION
Command
Thus far in the term we’ve seen some hectic activity in command. There have been a myriad of discussions and a number of very important changes in the operation of the club. At times passions have been inflamed and I have had to issue warnings about conduct. I’ve also had to make unpopular decisions when the club has been split about the merits of a given discussion, but ultimately it is my belief that what has been achieved has been done in the interests and advancement of the membership and the club.
To the plus side though, we’ve seen a number of promotions through the term and I’ve been pleased to appoint a number of new CO’s who have proven their worth over and again and are now holding their own centre seats very well indeed. I take great pleasure in providing each of them a personal mention in this report:
Wail Qasim was promoted to Captain and given command of the Lexington in Fleet 2
Robin Bird was promoted to Captain and given command of the Columbus in Fleet 4
Samuel Bibb was promoted to Captain and given command of the Lexington in Fleet 2 after Wail’s unfortunate removal from command.
Edward Brough was promoted to Captain and given command of the Dresden in Fleet 3
Ryan Empson was promoted to Captain and given command of the Entente in Fleet 5
Elizabeth Caro was promoted to Captain and given command of Outpost 45 in Fleet 2
Alasdair Sutherland was promoted to Captain and given command of the Vanguard in Fleet 6
John Robert Lucas was promoted to Fleet Captain for his services to STF and in particular Fleet 2
Along with those promotions were a number of appointments worthy of note. Many of these were made to people who had more than proved themselves worthy of the positions. Those mentioned here were of particular note because of the selfless manner in which they offered to fill the shoes of a suddenly departing predecessor:
D Grisham was appointed to command the Europa in Fleet 6 after her previous CO, Bob Spicer was forced to resign due to real life commitments.
Russell Watt was appointed Internet Director after his predecessor William Kappler was removed from the position.
Krystelle Bromilow was appointed Fleet 4 Commander after Rick Gruby resigned due to real life commitments.
Cale Reilly was appointed to command the Brandywine in Fleet 3 after Catt Bennett was forced to resign due to other online commitments.
Anthony Martin was assigned to command Outpost 42 after Alexandra Bowley was forced to resign due to real life commitments.
Jim Hosick was appointed Fleet 5 Commander after Gene Gibbs was forced to resign due to real life commitments.
Jen Herr was appointed Engineering Director after Wail Qasim was removed from the position due to real life issues that kept him away from us.
David Wonderly was appointed Fleet 1 Commander after Joe Bradley was forced to resign due to real life commitments.
And because they are so rarely thanked, it is worth noting some of those brave and committed souls who step into the breach and temporarily hold a ship or department together after a sudden departure:
Jen Herr, who stepped into the breach as Outpost 45’s interim CO after Daniel Dabrowski was relieved of his command.
Katey Conner and Tom Hillman who stepped in as acting CO and acting XO of the Vanguard after Cheryl Butler was relieved of her command.
Samuel Bibb who stepped in as acting CO and later CO of the Lexington after Wail Qasim was relieved of his command.
Jim Hosick who stepped in as acting CO of the Entente after Daniel Lerner was forced to resign due to real life commitments.
Joshua Posey who held the Europa and Olympic together during more than one CO’s sudden absence.
There are of course always more out there who I’m too blond to remember to mention, but I offer my sincere thanks and admiration to each of those who have stepped into a void and held a ship together. It takes a lot to do that, particularly when the member in question has little previous experience of that position and their cojones are clearly both large and brass.
Unfortunately, whilst I would like to think that the entire term has been roses and pie, there have been a number of downturns and unfortunate incidents. I shan’t dwell upon them but we have seen a number of resignations and removals from command that whilst unpleasant and dissapointing were unfortunately necessary and in the greater interests of the club and its members. During several discussions there were also a number of dissapointing moments on both sides of the aisle which saw some acrimonious relationships develop. Whilst no one in this administration is naive enough to believe that we can always please everybody all of the time, we are realistic enough to realise that we will have our detractors. We will always accept critique and criticism with as good a humour as we muster and can hope that in time those detractors will come to realise that what we have done we have done in the greater interests of STF and its members.
Moving beyond those unfortunate events though, there have been a number of new changes throughout the club. Whilst not all have been happy ones, each of the involved parties hopes that these changes will be both lasting and ultimately proven for the best:
Motd Instituted Restrictions And Governance Edict - This edict was the most hotly debated topic of the term and caused a great deal of passion to rise on both sides. Eventually, I had no choice but to draw what I felt was the best from both sides and craft what has now become the MIRAGE edict, governing the acceptable practices of MOTD design now that we operate on a system that allows such varied expression. Whilst at times the discussion was difficult and even rude, I believe that the rapid exchange of ideas ultimately gave us all a better grasp of where we needed to stand in terms of what was acceptable and what was damaging to WeBBspace whilst maintaining maximum artistic licence and freedom of creativity.
Marketing Ship: This was one of the first things that was achieved this term and it has just received an extension after a successful first few months. Receiving a top level directory and the resources of a Department without the authority to affect club policy, the Marketing and Advertising staff have managed to achieve a great deal and I expect great things from them during the remainder of the term. I shall expand on this later in Marketing’s own section.
Crell Decomissioning: Unfortunately, after much discussion and a long term decline in activity, the Crell administrator and Fleet 4 Commander requested that Crell be decomissioned. It is my fervent hope that in the future there will be an opportunity to recomission Crell and give it back to the Fleet as an active and viable roleplaying environment.
Q&A Ship Decomission: After an extended lack of use and months without a single post, the Q&A ship was also decomissioned. I never enjoy having to decomission an area, but if it’s no longer viable it simply clutters the site and uses resources without giving anything back and that just isn’t in the best interests of the club.
Personnel Department edICT (PDICT): After months of discussion and a number of rewrites going back to Dan’s term as President and my own as Personnel Director, we finally saw the updated Personnel Department Edict in place. It is the first of our major edict rewrites to bring standards back up to date after the change to WeBBspace and with the Internet Department Edict currently in a drafting phase for a rewrite I hope to have the process completed by the end of the term.
Standardised Universal Report Forms (SURF): This was one of our first discussions and produced a number of excellent ideas. The Internet Department is currently in the process of implementing the SURF’s after analysing the concepts developed and the feature requests put forward. I hope to have at least a draft of these up and discussed before the end of the term.
Alt-RPG’s: The discussion concerning the alternate roleplaying environments was a fairly recent one and spanned into the Marketing Department after it became clear that we are not adequately making members aware of what alt-rpg’s are available. The discussion concerning alt-rpg’s that people would like to see implemented within the coming months. I believe this is worth follow up at a later time and pending any applications for new alt-rpg’s I’m aiming to utilise this discussion as part of a pending WeBBspace review discussed later in this report.
New Trek Movie: With the pending release of the new Star Trek movie in 2009 and the discussion which took place in conjunction with the alt-rpg thread, there has been clear support established for an “Abramsverse” ship. Whilst the idea has merit and I would like to see it pursued, it was decided that until the movie was released we have no real basis for establishing this ship. Once the movie is released and we have what it is hoped will be a surge in membership requests I hope to have this followed up on. As this will take place after this term expires, I hope that the President of the day will remember this report and refer back to it concerning this concept.
Guide to Government: A discreet proposal made by Wail Qasim, the Guide To Government is designed to enable those who have previously not had experience with STF politics to find their way in government, particularly in pursuing a desire to serve in government. It aims to provide people the basic understanding of government and a guide to how to get involved, in applications for positions, posting in command, on the department ships and fleet HQ’s. It’s aimed at demystifying some of our processes and opening us up to the general membership more than we currently are to allow a greater part of the silent majority to participate in discussions about club policy.
The Cabinet
During the election, Brian and I stated repeatedly that we wished to see new members who have no previously had the opportunity to serve in government have the opportunity to do so. At the time of my initial cabinet announcement, roughly 50% of it was composed of new members who had little or no government experience. Since that time we’ve seen the cabinet change in places, but we have also seen a number of further new appointments, including several extremely new members appointed to serve in both the Academy and the Engineering Department as well as newer members brought into more senior positions within government such as Wail Qasim’s brief stint operating the Personnel Department whilst the staff took a well deserved LOA over the holiday season.
Gamemaster Department: The Gamemaster department began this term with a strong agenda. The Goal, by term end was and still is 100% archive update and completion along with the impementation and update of the new Reference Manual. There is also a plan still in production to implement a GMT FAQ to better facilitate the interest of prospective GMT’s as they enter the programme. In the past months of the term, the archive has been updated and is now fully operating, though the GMDept staff are still putting together a plan to begin a process of filling in the gaps from GM’s who have not submitted forms to the archive in its past. Along with this is a plan to streamline the GMT process in order to make the programme both more accessible and more user friendly with shorter waiting times for exam grading and ship placement. This is a heartland department and I look forward to the achievements I expect through the remainder of the term. The Reference Manual mandate is now completed after its last round of discussion and will come into force as soon as it is posted. With the library now operating once more this will become a practical measure and I look forward to reading new submissions, the first that will have been submitted in more than two years. Further to this was the proposal for a “Sim Bank” of ideas submitted by GM’s and Members for GM usage. This is now completed as a concept and is ready for launch once some further ideas are submitted.
Internet Department: The Internet Department is one of our most important departments and once Russell came aboard, he proposed a new agenda focusing on the more basic core aspects of the department and its day to day functioning. Through his time in the department we have seen some massive improvements, most notably updating the report archive in fullness for the first time since its inception. The archive is now complete for the previous two years with each report up to date. There are now plans to go back further and pull reports from the post archives to fill in the gaps. Each of the STF forwards has been brought up to date, along with the regular uploads in a timely manner. Support Documentation and a volunteer list of technically proficient members is being compiled, including a proper IDept FAQ. The IDept played a key feature in finally producing a method of ordering our rosters in any way the CO chooses using a weighting system and each of the bugs, issues and feature requests has been followed up on in a timely fashion. In the coming months, the Internet Director and I hope to see the last of his agenda proposals implemented, the SURF standardised report forms. These are in progress and, whilst a custom coding effort will hopefully be online and testing by term end. Most importantly of all though, in cooperation with the Librarian, the Library code is currently up and running again after an absence of more than 18 months and new entries are currently being added.
Engineering Department: Prior to the start of this term, the Engineering Department had recently begun a revival with Wail Qasim at the helm. We’d seen the approval of the Templar fighter spec and a significant increase in departmental activity. After the term began, that continued for a time, though the department unfortunately began to slip after Wail’s extended absence. After his removal, I took the helm as acting Director despite the objections of our resident pain in the… errr… Parliamentarian… and began encouraging off board discussion to gather interest in the department. Despite only being back for a short time Jen Herr was appointed director and she brought a hefty agenda with her. Having only been in the department a short time she’s not had the opportunity to achieve a great deal however what she has done is impressive. She’s organised the directory, tidied and updated the internal pages and proposed a design mentors list to encourage less experienced designers to become involved with technical assistance provided by volunteers. In the coming months I’d like to see further development and discussion concerning the EDept’s plans for introducing a ship designer hierarchy of recognition, similar in style to the GM classification system as well as discussion concerning the phased design reviews proposed. There has been a focus placed on playability of specs versus the technical detail included and this is something I support and will work with Jen to ensure is further developed.
Starfleet Academy: During the last five months we’ve seen a lot of discussion within the Academy. The Q&A ship has been decomissioned in favour of a top page link to the Academy headquarters. With the Players Handbook now complete, we’re waiting for the Librarian to have it added. A cadet feedback form is in the process of construction after the discussion that took place concerning cadet retention. In response to the feedback received, the note posting and review links along the bottom of each MOTD have been made larger and more obvious to enable cadets easier access. In the coming months Jack and his staff intend to begin work on a more condensed help page, bringing the disparate pieces of helpful information together into an FAQ style format linking back to their parent documents. A newsletter for the Academy has been discussed and met with good feedback and Jack is currently eager to get this off the ground. It would be good to see this complete and at least one issue released by term end.
Personnel Department: The Personnel Department has seen a lot of very good changes but also has a great deal yet to accomplish this term if it is to meet its proposed agenda. The major part of the agenda was the PDICT and that has now been achieved which was a truly herculean effort. The update of the internal pages has also been completed, along with a review of the access levels within the club, though Brian reports that this still needs further work in refining the access granted to each member of the administration and ship command. Content of the internal pages has been brought up to date now and with the implementation of a new MOTD the universal theme of internal pages will finally be in place. Some of the major tasks I’d like to see completed before term end are an implementation of an integrated WeBBgallery system to replace the current Gallery software we use. As I mentioned earlier, a major focus needs to be the further refinement of access priveleges and the creation of more specific ‘roles’ to grant those who require it to ensure that only that access absolutely necessary to perform duties is granted to any given position. With the introduction of the Second Assistant Personnel Director I hope to see enough spare time freed up to complete these goals.
The Fleets
The six mainstream fleets have been a major focus throughout the term and if there is a single goal I would like to see achieved by the end of my time in office, I would like it to be all of our 37 active roleplaying environments healthy, with full command staffs and crews who report their experiences as enjoyable. Employing this policy has unfortunately meant that we’ve experienced a higher than usual command staff turnover as people realise that they do not have the time to commit to such important positions or they are removed from their positions. Whilst people have occasionally commented that some of my actions with regards to ship command staffs have been particularly harsh, it is vital that each of our CO’s, XO’s and GM’s realise that when taking a command position they accept that certain extra responsibilities are taken along with that, including a commitment to their ship beyond that expected of their crew as well as certain administrative functions.
Fleet One: Fleet One has been a relatively stable and healthy fleet for some time now, though it does still have issues which need addressing. With Dave Wonderly recently taking the helm from Joe Bradley, we’re still looking at consolidating a long term agenda for the remainder of the term, but a number of goals have been achieved, including boosting roster and posting levels aboard the Ark Angel and Bonaventure, which were two of the more struggling ships within the fleet five months ago. In the coming months I’d like to see each of the MOTD’s in the fleet updated and brought into full compliance with MIRAGE as well as a concerted recruitment drive for each of those ships still struggling.
Fleet Two: At the beginning of the term, Fleet 2 was in an unfortunately sorry state, with posting rates at an all time low on several ships and some disturbing reports about how unhappy crews were with their ships. Through the intervening 5 months, we’ve seen the Lexington become a thriving roleplaying environment once more with a complete turnaround in posting rates and a massive injection of stable players. Outpost 45 has received a new CO an in the interm with Jen acting as aCO recruiting efforts were begun to bring the ship back up to standards as the jewel of the fleet, as it once was and always should have been. The Fleet MOTD has been updated and a fleet history is now almost complete to ensure that we don’t lose the vital history of our oldest fleet. The Starbase 93 MOTD has been updated and is now fully working. The Constellation has a new GM and her posting rate has improved dramatically as the crew become more involved in the sim and find their place once more. The Samurai is now up to a full 20 player complement of active players and her already impressive posting rate has boosted even further. The Polaris and Rogue, which were the two most active ships in the fleet continue to thrive and light the way for the fleet. John Robert Lucas has done a truly outstanding job as Fleet 2 Commander and, against all hope has dragged Fleet 2 into the 21st century. This fleet has gone from being our worst to quite possibly our best in terms of standards, activity and quality. With the introduction of the Fleet 2 history, which I hope to see complete by the end of the term, I see no reason whatsoever why this fleet cannot become the standard by which all others measure themselves.
Fleet Three: Seven months ago, Fleet 3 was struggling quite severely, with the Athena and Atlantis both losing CO’s for extended periods of time due to resignations. With Kendra Kerr’s appointment as Fleet Commander, she has guided the fleet through the rough waters despite losing almost every CO in the fleet at some point. She has rapidly filled the appointments and her guidance to the new CO’s in the fleet as well as her constant reassurance and prodding when necessary has turned the fleet around. Whilst the MOTD may not be to everyones taste, the fleet is without a doubt a hundred times better than it was five months ago and I never thought anyone could help solve the myriad of problems or fight against the constant crises as well as Kendra has. Kendra has also been one of the first Fleet Commanders to begin introducing elements of individuality to a fleet which previously didn’t have any with the introduction of the Titan Awards and the plans to introduce the “Get to know your fellow Fleet 3’ers”. With a change of both her own name and the Fleets name from Coreward to Pioneer, I’m eager to see what further elements Kendra will introduce towards the end of the term. I’d like to see the introduction of some more IC elements to give the fleet an internal identity.
Fleet Four: Fleet 4 has historically been our most individual fleet with its history of fleetwide sims and the introduction of the Crag and Seetha. With Rick’s departure early into the term, Krys Bromilow took over and since her ascension, Crell has been decomissioned, Starbase 202 has been stabilised and is beginning the long road towards a turnaround, though they’re still looking for a new GM. The Alliance has been struggling for a long time and is still searching for an XO to assist Larry in administering the ship. Columbus has made a hefty turnaround with Robin Bird at the helm and I’m confident that the current troubles still plaguing Starbase 202 and Alliance will soon be solved with the addition of the aforementioned command staff. Krys has begun gathering records of the Fleets historical sims to craft a more solid and updated fleet history to aid in taking the fleet back to its former status as our most unique fleet. In the coming months the focus needs to be on the Alliance and Starbase 202, in ensuring that their posting rates, crew levels and quality are enhanced as well as compliance with MIRAGE.
Fleet Five: Fleet 5 has historically been a hit and miss affair and after Gene’s unfortunate resignation early in the sim, Jim was left with some hefty work. The Draco and Entente are two of the strongest ships in the club and once the command staff aboard Entente was stabilised the ship settled down once more. The Odin has always been a slow poster, but has had a stable core of very happy roleplayers who enjoy posting there. This has continued. Endeavor and Seraph have experienced some problems. It is my hope that in the coming months, Jim will focus on reviving and enhancing the Seraph in particular. There are plans in the work to offer a fleetwide sim, though support is still too low in my opinion to enable it to go ahead. In terms of Fleet Identity, Jim is building on the work I began in integrating the IC elements of the long term GM’s in the fleet to craft an in character individuality. The Fleet 5 history, which has been two years in the making has finally been completed and will soon be added as a full OOC record of the fleet from inception to the current day.
Fleet Six: Fleet 6 has seen some upheaval this term, but was traditionally one of our more stable fleets. The serious problem with the fleet came from the Vanguard. With Cheryl’s removal from command and Alasdairs appointment I’m hoping that he will be able to begin the turnaround the ship so desperately needs. He has a solid core of players behind him and I have every faith in Missy’s ability to assist him. OED V is the key to the Fleets history, both IC and OOC and should be built upon to create a fleet identity. Russell has begun the OED history and his race, the Vren appear to be the fleet bad guys in the making. Under Missy’s guidance I expect to see the fleet grow within the next few months and with the Vanguard issues resolved, I hope that Missy will have enough time to devote to this.
The Executive Assistants
Marketing and Advertising: The Marketing ship was designed to offer the MAC the tools of a Department without the ability to affect clubwide policy. As has been seen in my recent edict, the Marketing ship has thus far met its charter and has had its review period extended. The current concern with the Marketing ship is that whilst there is a great deal of discussion, there is very little action and within the next few months this must change. The Marketing ship should be a launching platform for all advertising and marketing efforts tailored towards both internal and external consumers, but more specifically geared towards thing such as the newsletter, further Top 100 site programmes and exploring establishing a presence within online MMORPG’s such as Star Trek Online and at conventions.
The Library: For more than 18 months the Library was broken. During the term, with a concerted effort on the part of the Internet Director and Coder, those scripts are now fully functional. New items are now being added to the Library and a new Assistant Librarian has been taken on to assist Larry with the workload. In the coming months, the focus must be on the speed with which items are added. The Library can be one of our greatest assets if utilised properly and now that the cabinet are in a position to do that, the Librarian must be able to meet the challenge of ensuring that all content is up to date with a turnaround no later than seven days in new additions.
WeBBspace development
During the last few months, we have established what I hope will become a fairly basic routine for security and functionality updates that don’t affect the core of WeBBspace. We’ve introduced the roster weighting system as well as several minor and major updates to core components of the system. The primary focus at the moment is preparing the software for the update to Drupal 6, which Larry tells me will be taking place this month. This will provide us a number of feature request options including enabling us to create the Master Roster once more and enabling us to severely streamline the member application processing system.
Further features would include a better management system for the Organic Groups that form the ships on which we play. There is also a plan to implement a new STF theme, something more manageable and customisable than that which we currently employ. This theme could then be adapted by user account making it more customisable for users as well as administrators.
With the shift complete, I’ll be looking towards a focus on implementing the master roster and easier administrative elements that will ease the load on the Personnel Department as well as the possibility of reviving the status column, implementing the WeBBgallery in place of the Yearbook and introducing the ability to include character pictures in biographies.
I would also like to conduct a review of WeBBspace and the memberships perceptions and comments on it. This would be conducted in a similar format to the Survey that was conducted under Sarah’s tenure and would give us a greater idea of what direction the members would like us to take the club in further development. Because of the nature of how STF functions, we rarely get a full idea of what the silent majority and our newer members want and getting those opinions is vital to our continued existence and development. I’m not sure if this will be achievable within the remainder of the term, but with a year of active service behind it, it is time to take stock of where we are with WeBBspace and where we need to be. I woul like to have at least the framework for the review in place for the winner of the next election to put into effect if not the full review itself.
STF Awards
The STF Awards are due to be held in February, with Russell Watt as the suggested Master of Ceremonies, considering he did such an outstanding job last year. Whilst they are generally viewed as a popularity contest, it is a nice bit of fun that brings dozens of people together in IRC who would not normally be present and I always enjoy the ceremony and the sheer hilarity of it all.
CONCLUSION
Thank you all for having read this far. As you can see, we have achieved a great deal thus far in this term, but there is still a long way to go. WeBBspace is developing still and will continue to develop throughout its life, but it’s the changes and features we implement now that will last. We must always maintain our focus on the membership, just as we must ensure that every action is taken in the best interests of the club and its members. Through the coming months, as we look towards the end of my term as President, it is my hope that we will all be able to look back at a successfull term in office that achieved some important things.
Fleet Admiral Andrew “Wolfe” Robinson
STF President
1st January 2009