May 26, 2008

Headmaster Report #8

Well.... damn. It's been almost two months since I released one of these, that's horrible, and I apologize. In defense, though, this month has been extremely busy with finals coming and going. Now that summer is arriving, though, things are settling down, and I'm back to full activity! Since we haven't had one of these in a while, there's obviously a lot to talk about, but I'll try and keep it brief.

News

--Remember when it comes to degrees: if you need to retake a course to get a better score, you must have Dacien or I remove the old score first. If you do not, then your retake will not count, since it literally won't show up in emails or the database. Just shoot us an email, we'll remove the score, and then you can retake.

--After taking an exam, if it isn't graded within four or five days, send myself, Dacien, or the EP an email. If it isn't graded after a week or so of its submission, email us again, and I will step in and grade it or get the EP to do so. Just remember what Raken talked about in his post about DB canon: patience. I've had exams lately, people have jobs, Sarin is being a cool military dude, so we can't always grade them super duper fast. Just be patient, and after a while send a nice email asking. Rude emails never get you anywhere.

--Congrats to the new History of the Sith Empire I EP: Tsingtao!! We had some good applications, and it was a tricky decision. Thanks to those that applied, and make sure to keep an eye out for future positions.

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Projects

--IG grading!!! I'm going through a couple of those events right now, though I can't say when you'll see them announced, nor will I guess. Soon enough, though. Just remember it takes a while to go through hundreds of fiction submissions.

--My Special Magistrate and I are currently going through and running audits on old courses no longer offered so that they can be turned into reference documents when the new Dark Vault is implemented. There's also a ton of courses and exams and stuff that Dacien and I need to go through and review, and hopefully we'll be able to release a new course over the summer. Tons of backlog from April and May, basically.

--Speaking of course auditing, the Shadow Academy will be running a Full Course Audit over the summer, specifically from June to mid-July. Basically, you will take the notes and exam for assigned courses and edit/review them. Make sure they are correct, up to date, make sense, etc. If you are interested, shoot Dacien and myself an email volunteering.

--The Society of Envoys (I know, the what?) was finalized like a month ago coding-wise. Rollmasters have completely taken over those duties, so the only reference left is in the Codex, which I will update over the summer. Going along with updating stuff, exams pushed back Wiki article updates, so those will probably get finished up over the summer as well. The SA Order of Battle is also being reviewed and made "final".

--Along with Wiki and Codex updates, I also plan on going in this summer and trying to revamp the history guidelines and form a little. I found that a lot of new members tend to be confused or unaware of some of the requirements, so I would like to change that so there aren't as many history denials, which none of us hate.

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Featured Course of the Week

No featured course this week, sorry. It will return in my next report, however!

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Important Links

--SA Website

--SA Degree Requirements

--SA Forums

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Summary

• Old scores must be removed before you can retake courses

• Be patient with exam results

• IG grading is underway!

• Congrats to EP Tsingtao!

• Volunteer to audit a course this summer! Email Dacien and myself!

• Lots of updates and projects being worked on

• My next report will be the Summer Project report, so watch for that one in a week or so.

Sith Warlord Aabsdu di Plagia Dupar

Headmaster of the Brotherhood