Headmaster’s Report

May 20, 2006

What’s Happening Right Now

Exams are still being graded as they come in. With one exception, I’ve not had any unknown delays in course grading (I know this because people haven’t e-mailed me about it). This is a very good thing, and I hope that it continues.

Since my appointment as HM, 617 SA courses have been passed.

There is a discussion concerning the Shadow Academy and ID lines. The reason this came up was that many people simply take SA courses to make their ID lines longer. While this is good, and clans should reward people for their activity, the number of SA courses passed does little, if anything, to increase your standing in the Brotherhood. Rank and position do that, assuming you do things well and aren’t a jackass. The SA courses serve a few purposes: increasing your personal knowledge, helping in advancement, increasing your character’s knowledge, and in training your character (these last two are for fictional purposes, but one of the reasons we’re here is the quasi-RP nature of the DB).

So, all are encouraged to at least read the discussion and they are welcome to jump in and comment on what has been posted.

What’s Coming Up

There is a new SA site in progress. But, I cannot and will not offer any specific dates on the completion because one, I have no idea, and two, I don’t want to promise anything that I can’t control. There’s an excellent team of coders working, though, and when they’re done, they’re done. I would hazard a guess of sometime this summer.

The SA is switching to a campus, rather than strictly order, based system. Campuses will still reflect order oriented courses, but they’re by no means limited to just one order. This will come into effect with the advent of the new site. Until then, patience is all I can ask for.

New courses are being developed. Anyone who is working on a new course will be hearing from me soon to get an update (though, if they read this, you can e-mail me). The feuds and the pending GJW, and this mini-GJW prep being run by Smoke do take up time, of course. Just so everyone knows, the current courses currently under development are:

1.Star Wars Astronomy

2.Weapons*

3.Ground Combat*

4.Combat Writing* (to help with fiction and the ACC)

*These courses are currently being worked on by a small group of developers and how exactly everything turns out has yet to be seen.

There will be another big Envoy report coming out around the end of June, covering the 6 months since the last one. Given the timing of it, however, I’ll be doing most of it myself, as the KCB (Siya) will be off getting married or some other trivial thing (ok, just kidding there; real life comes first, especially getting married).

I’m making plans for some type of Headmaster’s competition. I think, at a minimum, I might do a one week thing called “Summer School” where those who take and pass the most exams, with the highest grades, would get an award. I might do it…

Other Important Notes

For those of you have submitted something to the Writer’s Corner recently, I will get a reply to you by Tuesday at the latest. I’m working Sunday and Monday, but I’m off Tuesday. Sorry for the delays on my part. Of course, there are other evaluators who could comment on things.

A reminder here: I do have an open door policy. Anyone can e-mail me at any time, or catch me on IRC. I know I’m not on IRC that much, but when I’m on, and my nick is simply “Anshar,” that means I’m around. AK_[whatever] means I’m probably not.

Closing

Have a good week, congrats to those who won the feuds, and good luck in future events.