Introduction

Well, I meant to get this one out before Christmas but the fog of holiday baking plus travel and non-stop socialization put me way behind. I don’t have a lot of major course updates to unveil this month, but I do have some news about trivia and a job opening.

Also I’m out of cookies, so somebody get back on that holiday baking. It’s nearly New Year’s and all.

Of Plans and Praetors

As announced last month, Qormus had to step down in order to focus on RL. So I knew I was going to need to hire a Praetor, but I wanted to take some time to think about what I actually need from that position before opening it up for apps. The P:HM needs to be able to step in when I’m not around and will assist me in nearly everything I do. And in order to write a good application, you need to know what it is that I’m doing.

HM/SA Projects for 2023

Revise Member Experience: This is something of a catch-all for multiple unrelated projects. You may have noticed the new email templates or the change to the society progression page. And, of course, there’s XP. I’m interested in identifying similar opportunities to streamline and improve members’ experience with the club, especially for new and returning members who don’t already know where everything is or how it works. A Praetor may be limited in how much they can get involved with this depending on the project (e.g. the emails and XP have not been my projects to delegate) but you’re always free to pitch ideas.

New/Returning Member Integration: We have a steady trickle of new members, both first-timers and people who are returning from years in the rogues. And quite frankly, our retention rate, especially for the former, sucks. This is one of the key problems we face as a club and I’m still wrapping my brain around how to address it. One thing that is clear is that this is something the Council and clan summits will need to coordinate on, so if you have experience working with new members at the clan level, please include that in your application.

DB Fundamentals Renovation: I say renovation because we are doing a top-to-bottom overhaul of the department’s content. This project is largely complete, with revisions to the Activities and Comms courses done and the new Essentials series partially written. Depending on how much Zuza and I get done in the next few weeks, there may not be much left here for a Praetor to dig into.

Writing Renovation: While we did a big push to get Fundamentals redone quickly, Zen is rewriting much of his department as he has the bandwidth. It’ll likely take several months, but he’s making steady progress and I hope to pitch in as well. This is likewise a low priority for Praetor efforts.

Leadership, Law, and Communication Renovation: The other previously announced department overhaul covers our training and support for current and future leaders. Leadership in the DB is a complex skill and there’s a tough learning curve, so I think this is an area where the SA needs to step it up a notch to help out. This is something that Qormus was going to take on. If you have relevant expertise, I’d like the next P:HM to help Bentre and I move this along.

SA Maintenance: I know it’s a running gag at the point that every HM announces an audit of the SA for outdated material, but the reality is that we have over 90 courses and many of them need work. The department renovations will take care of a lot of them, but the P:HM will need to assist the Profs in going through the rest.This includes the “fun” mini-project of identifying which courses mention the current DB year so we know what we have to update in January every year. Additionally, the faculty are supposed to grade exams within 24 hours of submission, but sometimes they can’t either due to something last minute or a planned absence. The P:HM will assist me in grading those exams that the faculty don’t or can’t get to.

Trivia: Trivia is in a good place right now, with a dedicated magistrate and more flexibility to plug in member-run sessions. I don’t think this needs Praetor attention but you will be assigned the Master Quizard server role and instructed on how to work Quizbot so that we have some better continuity there.

Potential Expansion: I’ve started putting out feelers for some ways for the SA to improve member experience through new courses or even new departments. This is a relatively low priority compared to improving current offerings and anything that’s focused on new and returning members, but at the same time it’s probably what I will need the most help to actually accomplish. I’ve talked about my vision for the SA in previous reports but it’s worth restating here: an SA course isn’t a competition. They require long-term maintenance. I’m not really interested in courses that exist solely to give members another thing they can potentially do. The SA is here to make the rest of your DB experience better. It should make things easier or less confusion; alternatively, it should give you the tools and skills to be better at and have a better experience with club activities.

Praetor Applications Open

Basic requirements:

• Assist the HM in managing the SA staff, including both professors and M:HMs.

• Backfill staff responsibilities (mostly grading exams and trivia) during vacations and emergencies.

• Assist with the implementation of the above projects.

How to Apply:

Email your application to [Log in to view e-mail addresses]. I don’t have a preferred format but this is a Dark Club Summit position so take it seriously; in-character applications and colored text that makes my eyes bleed are unlikely to help your case. Because of all the holiday cheer/chaos, I’m keeping applications open through January 15th.

Tell me why you’re a good fit, how you can assist with ongoing projects, and anything else you think I need to know. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. I’m Archenksov#2230 on Discord.

News from the Academy

Now Open: Trivia Scheduling

So far, due to limitations with Quizbot, we have been limited to one trivia session per week partly due to the fact that Kanal or I have had to manually start the bot. However, Quizbot’s developers have fixed the scheduling feature that allows us to set up trivia sessions to run automatically, including at times that might be more convenient for our non-North American members but impossible for Kanal and I to support directly. Kanal will continue to run his weekly session, but moving forward we are opening trivia up to other hosts. The way this works is:

• In order for your trivia session to award crescents, you will need to make a competition as normal. The competition will need to be open Brotherhood-wide, use the Manual Competition archetype, award Second-Level Crescents, and specify that the trivia session will occur in #trivia at a specific date and time. The SA staff will not set up the competition.

• Write up your trivia questions and answers. You’ll need to provide not only the correct answer to each question, but 2-3 false ones. 10-20 questions is probably a comfortable range.

• Complete this form. I will set up your Discord event on the server and share it in #trivia, allowing members to mark themselves interested so that they can get an alert when your session starts. Kanal or I will input your questions into Quizbot and schedule it to start on time. Because this is a manual process, please allow up to 48 hours for us to take care of it.

As always, the #trivia channel is also open to anyone who wants to run an old-school, botless session where you just ask the questions and award points to whomever answers first. You don’t need to fill out the form for that unless you want me to create an event for you.

Member Spotlights

Aurora Collegium: Congrats to everyone who’s ranked up since my last report, but special shout outs to

• Thran for rising from IX-XII!

• Koda for rising from V to IX!

• Sykes for rising from IX to X

• Raistlin for rising from VIII-IX

• Trenkyp for rising from V-VIII

• And Nora for rising from V-VII

Sages: Congrats to Thran for his Tactics Sage, and to Koda and Raistlin for their History and Lore Sages!

Decathletes: Congratulations to Koda Kendis, Hevan Slavis, and Thran Occasus-Palpatine for taking the top three places in November’s SA Decathlon!

Lastly, congrats to my magistrate, Zuza Lottson, for her first-ever sacramental award!

Closing Remarks

As always, if anyone sees any errors in the course notes or exam questions, please submit them through the form. And, of course, I am always available at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] or Archenksov#2230.

Happy New Year, folks. Here’s hoping we have some fun new experiences in store.

Academy Changelog

SA FORMS
Troubleshooting Form
- Fixed so that I get an email when new submissions come in, instead of just assuming I would.
Trivia Request
- Created

DARK BROTHERHOOD FUNDAMENTALS
Essentials 102: Societies
- Replaced references to the SAS with updated information on the ACS.
- Removed outdated information on the ACC.
- Updated sections on GMRG and SYN to reflect that SA exams are no longer required
Comms 101: Website Navigation
- Updated to reflect changes to gaming
- Updated to reflect changes to the Aurora Collegium
- Removed references to Discourse and Paths
- De-Darking the Council
- Markdown revisions
Comms 102: Discord
- Markdown revisions
- Updated language on threads
- Miscellaneous minor updates
Comms 103: DJBWiki (An Introduction)
- Updated current in-universe year
- Updated reference to Telegram
- Updated language on creating an account
- De-Darking the Council
Activities 101: Fiction
- Fixed to award the appropriate 1 AC
Activities 102: Gaming
- Fixed to award the appropriate 1 AC
Activities 103: Graphics
- Fixed to award the appropriate 1 AC
Activities 105: Vendettas
- Fixed to award the appropriate 1 AC

DEPARTMENT OF WRITING
Test of Wisdom
- Updated description to include details on how the course is graded.
- Added a disclaimer that this course is exempted from the normal 24-hour turnaround.