This is good stuff!

Also, a Regent note: the entire credit bonus for every award was built around the Dark Cross - and that comes right from the person who put those values together, Evant. It's purpose is to provide a sizeable credit boost for what is intended to be the most awarded thing.

Moar crescents

What if as a member you have gotten those low awards and just don't want any more of them for whatever reason it may be? I wouldn't say it is the fault of leadership their own but that some members just don't want that award because they already have one.

"What if as a member you have gotten those low awards and just don't want any more of them for whatever reason it may be."

It is leadership's job to award their people timely.

Do believe Sven's point was leadership shouldn't be blamed for members wanting different awards, nor should members be dismissed for not wanting a Dark Cross but looking to get one of those "general activity" AKs. That is a good goal that will promote their activity if they want it. More medals (Sacs) for more people across a broader spectrum sounds awesome however they're gotten as long as they're earned.

"Do believe Sven's point was leadership shouldn't be blamed for members wanting different awards, nor should members be dismissed for not wanting a Dark Cross but looking to get one of those "general activity" AKs. That is a good goal that will promote their activity if they want it. More medals (Sacs) for more people across a broader spectrum sounds awesome however they're gotten as long as they're earned."

You're not supposed to ask people what kind of recognition you want, not generally. Moreover, general activity AKs are not supposed to exist and I would prefer that they stop. I don't want to do something drastic.

What Atyiru said plus to add: of the "regular member activity" there is only 3 awards you are able to get that doesn't have a description of implying "position work". All of these are easily obtained but have the same emphasis as a crescent in a comp or a medal in a war. For myself, I have 4 years of being in DB which majority has been active and not once have I received a Sac. I don't want another Dark Cross or the other two awards. The previous times I've gotten any award I wanted was promotions because the actual value of a promotion has better worth than that of a GC/SC/AC/DC. If you want people to accept these awards for the most basic of activity, then there may need to be better implementation of awarding, making these awards worth the implied value, and/or some thing else that may not be considered at this time. For newer members, these awards are great to spark hype and drive to keep going. After a few times, the hype and drive to keep going to get more of them. It just becomes a hassle to get an award that doesn't reach that same hype.

*The distinct lack of awarding of promotions and medals in many clans over the past couple of years. It happens eventually, but at far too slow of a pace. What this means to me? Members are going unawarded - that means some may lose interest - and this is not a good thing. If you have a member that has participated in hundreds and hundreds of competitions over the past two and a half years? Why wait? Why have you not been regularly awarding them over the past two years. *

I have been clamoring this for years, especially those at EQ2 or EQ1. This having to require "leadership" is hard to accomplish for many as there are few vacancies open and the positions as you go down the food chain require 2-5x more "time" in those positions.

Some folks are not built for leadership or simply don't want to lead, but are avid and ravenous when it comes to competitions and crescents or clusters. This should be overhauled as there are too many folks who I have seen left the brotherhood because it became stagnant to those that they feel their hard work isn't producing results or promotions.

I love that now more than just 3 places get crescents now, and that it shows that if there or more competetors, there are more awards to be had.

Great report.

Outstanding report. Lots of good information.

+100 belly rubs

The flipside here is when we do give members who've been around a good while Another DC/AC/SC/GC we often see them give up on being active because they were working towards a Sacramental (even just a Sapphire Blade), so...asking a member what they're working towards to help keep that member around seems beneficial to the overall health of the club, no?

We want them to stay, don't we?

There are always going to be edge cases that do not fit the "just give them an X". The issue here is not those cases, however. It is a massive and systematic failure of awarding that's been endemic across the board. When I took over Plagueis, it hadn't awarded a single merit award in over a year. Members, very active members mind you, were waiting 12-16 months for low and mid-level Equite promotions that should have been recommended in 4-6. And I also know from experience from before taking the helm in Plagueis that this isn't merely a problem that existed there and nowhere else. There will be veteran members that will be more than happy to wait around and grab their next sac along the line. I know that I am probably not going to get excited about a DC or AC, either. But it seems like, when digging down into the data, that the perception that many veterans have about "saving up" for the big awards is being applied far more universally than it should, and specifically newer members are suffering as a result. Hence Howie's post.

Great report Howie, love the crescent update!!! I really like this idea and I can see that it might even help with uptick in competition entries.

Thanks for the report Howie, and outlining the new cluster policy. We only have one rule, and newer is always better. And in this case, more crescents.

Also, nice work, Slag. It's good that you were able to accomplish this feat, and I'm glad as a group we all seem to agree that more rewards for our members is a good thing.

But instead of turning this into a shade at exisitng club leadership being failures, we should look into how we can better train and educate young or newer leaders. Whatever that's an SA course on how to use the Activity Assessment tool, or just the trick most veterans know to comb through Dossier Activity history and graph that against the wiki guidelines, or just one on one mentorship. Do a recorded webinar or something.

It's easy to point at documentation and then tell people to "just read/ do it", but if you're going to try and pin this on failures in leadership, I think it's worth looking from the top down in the club org chart to set the examples and, while it probably isn't a popular opinion, hold people accountable for not doing their jobs. That goes for DCers, staffers, AND unit leaders.

That said- before this gets ignored/drowned out in back and forth rhetoric: repeat merits grant credits/can be used towards Promotions. I think that perception tends to get lost re: "I already got a DC".

If you do x amount of work, and it's valued at a DC, you get another DC. Seems legit and yes, thats how the System is supposed to work.

That said, the pushback is most likely going to key in to "not giving a member what they desire" vs "follow the system". So, good luck with that element.

-W

I think the pushback being on the "not giving a member what they desire" vs "follow the system" is not reading what the issue is here correctly. The failure to award folks in a timely manner is more an issue of people not getting anything as opposed to them wanting something higher on the list and getting something lower on the list. Sure there are those people that are sitting around and waiting to give X because the member would rather have something bigger, but that shouldn't be the default setting in most cases. You've got somebody in the unit that's got three or more of every merit award and then a progression of Sacramentals? Sure, that's a situation where "would you rather I award you something now or wait and get something big?" is a legit question. I'm betting, though, that it's a situation that comes up because getting X medal or Y medal isn't a huge deal for those folks.

Not living inside Howie's brain I just have to guess, but I'd wager that his issue is more around that procedure being deployed as often the default instead of the exception. Say "Hey everyone, do more awards" and then making statements about how policy should work also isn't about throwing shade at existing leaders, either. I used my unit as an example because I didn't feel the need to single out anyone else's, but I don't just fault anyone in Plagueis who was engaging in practices that were 100% across the board being engaged in by everyone. Community Standards aren't a fault of any one person or leader, but the current leaders are the ones in a place to course correct. And, importantly, getting information out there as to what members themselves should be seeing allows for better understanding of what expectations should be for the membership. That's not the worst thing in the world.

I do, however, 100% agree that there needs to be more information sharing amongst leaders to better disseminate best practices and tools to various leaders across the DB. I talked about it at length when I applied for my current gig:

"I think the one conclusion that I've been left with from the time I spent on the DC, especially recently, is the generally insular nature of units in the modern DB. I feel that a number of leaders feel that success of a Clan is a zero sum game and so they have pursued policies and fostered their communities accordingly. I, however, come at things from the perspective of the rising tide lifting all boats. I'd like to see the Consuls working together more as a team that are trying to strengthen the Brotherhood just as the Dark Council is. We should be sharing systems and tools that improve our abilities to maintain successful units. Sure, we should still encourage the rivalries that drive activity during Vendetta time, but those rivalries need to operate in the same manner as the teams in a sports league. The owners of Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association are 100% competing with one another for titles, but they are also a cohesive group that works together to strengthen the league as a whole. As much as SF Giants fans might love it if the LA Dodgers imploded tomorrow as a franchise, but it would only lessen the value of the league as a whole and the individual franchises if one of the league's teams were to fold. I sat down with [Name Redacted since I didn't ask him before I posted this] a few weeks ago to in essence exposition dump on him all the tools, systems, and concepts that we developed and deployed over the years in Plagueis, and I'd like to see the same thing happening amongst the Consuls. The Consuls of the Brotherhood need to leave the competitive fire on the field, and I'd like to start taking those first steps."

(Also, I have no idea what I accomplished, but thanks?)

Werent we getting an EXP system so that these merits and rewards didnt matter as much anymore for growth? Or was that just talk?

We are working on an XP system, yes. But these medals still matter and are still an important part of growth.

Looking forward to the fun crescents update! As for the rest, of little import to me personally. But good words for leadership to hear, and potential leaders to embrace. Very well written report. Great work!

I would say that maybe the Wiki pages that describe the awards should be clearer that things add up because I know it is a frustration when you have already gotten so many DC or AC to get another one when it's been desired to be placed in a recommendation for another award or promotion. If these smaller awards add up, then just better illustrate how since it seems like getting these awards just wipes out any achievements you have been collecting for a different award.

that's the problem with getting lower awards when hoping for a sacramental award, as it takes that progress, uses it all for the lower award, and then you have to "start over" the progression to the higher award. I have gotten multiple lower awards and two sapphire blades since eq1 and eq2, but after so many years have passed, I wanted to get the promotion instead.

The main concern is when X leadership goes to Y member and says "Hey (insert name here), we're looking at giving out awards for people and when we came to you we came to the conclusion that without some kind of project work or leading a project we won't be able to promote you or award you anything higher than a Sapphire Blade" or they say "we can not promote (insert name here) because they don't have any leadership and competitions isn't enough to warrant it because (insert DC here) says that it is required".

That to me is more demoralizing to a member than just saying nothing.

I am hoping that XP system comes soon cause too many folks are leaving because they can't get the limited positions in the brotherhood and that's hindering their accomplishments. I know I wanted to get to EQ3 and EQ4 because of not only the more CS points, but better personal designing of lightsabers and customizations. Weill I ever get to Elder? doubt it, but like the military, it is nice to achieve the highest rank of NCOs at least.

I agree with Brimstone on the demoralizing.

I simply don't agree with more rewards at lower levels for all members. If we're just counting pennies, then why not reward everyone in pennies ultimately? Because the system is designed for some rewards to count for more in larger portions of time.

If I did a project, and received a steel cross for every one of them instead of a SB, it would be demoralizing for me. I don't think it's a problem to the point that vast swathes of members are leaving (nor are promos offered in lieu of medals and awards, considering they are a culmination of all of that). But I do know some people in leadership positions who try their hardest to get members their awards and have come across difficulty. It's the reason people pre-approve promotions, rather than going back and forth, we see if it can happen in the first place.

I do agree with Brimstones thing about positions. Members want those leadership positions and helping positions. And not to put people on the spot, but Halc, an Elder 2 with no major bouts of recent activity, was given a position as magistrate. This would be a perfect position for someone seeking entry level work into the DC. People have had major complaints in the past about the same people being at the top, which are mostly shut down as false. Great, but then give those magistrate positions to people that haven't been in the club for longer than some people here have been alive.

I'm not saying Halc can't do it. Rather, Halc is better purposed into a higher position that would be befitting of a long time Elder. Can't tell everyone off about not having new people, and then give the lowest DC-aid positions to Elders. How is anyone going to understand these positions more? Not even applications were opened up.

"I simply don't agree with more rewards at lower levels for all members. If we're just counting pennies, then why not reward everyone in pennies ultimately? Because the system is designed for some rewards to count for more in larger portions of time."

This is simply not true. The credit bonuses given for each award scale from the Dark Cross up scale proportional to the work expected to earn them. The system was designed with that in mind.

'It's the reason people pre-approve promotions, rather than going back and forth, we see if it can happen in the first place."

The back and forth is how it's supposed to be, so the leaders requesting them can learn what it actually takes (if they don't already know via their research, which should be done anyways?) to get a certain award. Pre-approval are not a thing, as he stated in the report.

"And not to put people on the spot, but Halc, an Elder 2 with no major bouts of recent activity, was given a position as magistrate. This would be a perfect position for someone seeking entry level work into the DC."

You are putting people on the spot, but I'll address this too because it actually applied to any position that doesn't open applications, which happens all over the DB. If the work Howie was requesting was able to be done as quickly, well, and efficiently by someone without the experience level Halcyon (or even Drac when he was selected) brought to the table, I have no doubt applications would have been opened.

There are no shortages of DC Magistrate positions, several staffs rotate on a 6 month basis all the time, but having stability in the MAA staff is key and I understand why he doesn't. Howie has hired new staffers through open applications before: his current Praetor was hired as a Magistrate through applications. But he didn't need a Magistrate. He needed Halc's expertise and experience. He was the best person for the job.

The best candidates that can be trusted to do the work are the ones brought into the fold. The onus is on the member to prove they are one of those best candidates when applications ARE open. No, that won't always be the case, and it shouldn't be.

I think the point being missed here is that the awards are a progression. Just because someone has earned a DC doesn't mean it has to be immediately awarded for the 8th time. Leaders can wait and award a higher tier. The issue is nothing was being given out. People are trying to argue the exception not the rule.

The rule should be more awards need to be handed out. Just because Pravus has every award known to the DB doesn't mean I shouldn't award him a DC for showing up during a Vendetta and doing work and instead I should hold out for that 10th Sacramental. That is ridiculous and under values what our members do.

Then if the issue is specific clans not awarding their people, then those clans should be directly contacted and plan of action implemented. Not a news post that is directed at everyone which includes people who it doesn't actually affect. If I was awarded another SC, DC, or AC, I'd be pretty upset and I don't think my leadership in my clan should be reprimanded when I ask them not to award me some small award not worth the activity put into it.

Korvis' summation of the MAA report is completely correct, and the issue affects all Clans, hence it being a part of the MAA report. There will always be edge cases, but the matter goes beyond that. If certain Clans don't want to double-check their members to see whether they have been overlooked, even mistakenly, then that's their prerogative. However, it is never a bad idea to periodically check up on the activity on your members to see if they are deserving of an award of some kind.

"Then if the issue is specific clans not awarding their people, then those clans should be directly contacted and plan of action implemented. Not a news post that is directed at everyone which includes people who it doesn't actually affect. If I was awarded another SC, DC, or AC, I'd be pretty upset and I don't think my leadership in my clan should be reprimanded when I ask them not to award me some small award not worth the activity put into it."

Except every award is tiered for a certain level of activity over a given period... That's literally how the system works. So if they don't award you the proper merit for the activity, then yes, they should be reprimanded (i.e. you participate in 40 comps in a month and try to give you a DC).

Again, the issue is people not being awarded in a timely manner.

Then if the issue is specific clans not awarding their people, then those clans should be directly contacted and plan of action implemented. Not a news post that is directed at everyone which includes people who it doesn't actually affect.

The clans were directly contacted. Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean it didn't take place. And, also, as Halc said above, it is a system-wide problem impacting every Clan. Hence the news post.

If I was awarded another SC, DC, or AC, I'd be pretty upset and I don't think my leadership in my clan should be reprimanded when I ask them not to award me some small award not worth the activity put into it.

As for this, everyone thinks that Howie is telling leaders not to use their own judgement in when to award larger awards or sacs such as the Sapphire Blade. What Howie was objecting to, if people bothered to read what he wrote instead of what they have decided in their own headcanon that he wrote, was this:

"Finally, I’ve also been told many times that leaders are waiting around because “member x would prefer such and such medal.” Yeah, don’t do that. You don’t get to pick your medals..."

Members don't get to pick their medals. Leaders shouldn't be asking people what specific medals they want. They should be smart enough to figure that stuff out. Member doesn't have a sacramental award but they've got all the merits? Save up for the sac. The issue is we have members that haven't getting any merit medals at all while a leader is waiting to save up for the point weapon medal. If you've got a member that's been a member for eons, you might either figure out or maaaaybe ask "Hey, do you care about getting medals more often or bigger stuff less often?". Don't ask "What medal do you want?" And, honestly, if you know your members you probably don't even have to ask the acceptable version of that question because you should just know.

Only in the modern DB would the guy with the title "Oppressor of Medals" standing up and saying "You should award more medals more often" be seen as an issue of controversy. Nobody gets to complain about Howie remanding their stuff ever again at this point.

"Except every award is tiered for a certain level of activity over a given period... That's literally how the system works. So if they don't award you the proper merit for the activity, then yes, they should be reprimanded (i.e. you participate in 40 comps in a month and try to give you a DC)." "Members don't get to pick their medals. Leaders shouldn't be asking people what specific medals they want. They should be smart enough to figure that stuff out. Member doesn't have a sacramental award but they've got all the merits? Save up for the sac. The issue is we have members that haven't getting any merit medals at all while a leader is waiting to save up for the point weapon medal. If you've got a member that's been a member for eons, you might either figure out or maaaaybe ask "Hey, do you care about getting medals more often or bigger stuff less often?". Don't ask "What medal do you want?" And, honestly, if you know your members you probably don't even have to ask the acceptable version of that question because you should just know."

Funny thing is that this report doesn't explicitly state it is only to apply to people not being reqarded but to also be directed at people who want to cash their time out at higher levels especially at:

"Don't just hang around waiting for a sapphire blade in a year and a half. I have also seen a trend that I don’t like (but have to accept, at least partially). We have been giving out more Amethyst Kukris and Ruby Scepters for general member activity in the past few years - because clans go a year or two without recognizing their members and then low and behold, they’ve participated in 385 competitions and no other award is appropriate. I’d rather not see this continue - so award your damn members.

Finally, I’ve also been told many times that leaders are waiting around because “member x would prefer such and such medal.” Yeah, don’t do that. You don’t get to pick your medals, you should be recognized at regular intervals. If you have all the other medals? Go back to the Dark Cross and start again - this is how the system works. I would really like to see medals above the Sapphire Blade to be awarded for other-than-regular-member things-"

He specifically states that he doesn't want to see Ruby Sceptors and Amethyst Kukris being awarded for "general member activity " which is the entire point being made outside of members just not getting awards. These are TWO SEPARATE issues that should be addressed differently and not in a shade filled news report. If this was already addressed in private and people continued not to award members, then the problem is on that specific member of leadership, not the whole group. Members not getting awards can be a true problem while overly awarding members who do not want the small awards. So if the argument is that Howie is saying "yes keep making recommendations for these large awards for general activity" then I would say the body of this report does not give an indication that is the case as I specifically copied and pasted the direct comments that say NOT to do that. There is a bunch of contradiction and again if the primary issue is people not getting awards because a member of leadership is actively trying not to award people at all for laziness or lack of drive to do Sotheby's not because a member specifically asked to wait then this could of been and should have been handled in 10 different ways before this. Those particular members of leadership should have gotten told and reprimanded for not doing their job and duty as a leader.

"There are no shortages of DC Magistrate positions, several staffs rotate on a 6 month basis all the time, but having stability in the MAA staff is key and I understand why he doesn't. "

Also this is primarily a false statement as the one office that can be regularly followed for Magistrate positioned is the FIST office. The second is the JST but it has a longer time period. No other office actually has shorter time periods at a regular interval that gives anyone a chance to be involved in a section of DB they feel passionate about. If an office has changed their stance but not advertised it, then that is a problem on that office.

Funny thing is that this report doesn't explicitly state it is only to apply to people not being reqarded but to also be directed at people who want to cash their time out at higher levels... He specifically states that he doesn't want to see Ruby Sceptors and Amethyst Kukris being awarded for "general member activity " which is the entire point being made outside of members just not getting awards. These are TWO SEPARATE issues that should be addressed differently...

Actually, no. They are the same issue. The issue is that people aren't being awarded and then by the time somebody on their Clan staff notices they have to be recommended for a high level sac because it's been literal years since they got anything, and doing anything else would be under-awarding them. The statement, if you're reading it for content and not to satisfy your own narrative, is that the RS and AK shouldn't be awarded for "general activity", such as stacking a bunch of comps, getting a load of clusters, etc. The reason they're being given out, and why members aren't getting award in the interim that haven't ever been awarded to them, is because people aren't paying the hell attention. Or, they're being awarded medals that do not correspond to the work they've actually done. "People aren't being awarded at all, or they're being awarded so infrequently that the only reasonable option is to award them a high level sacramental award because they haven't ever gotten anything else" are the same problem. The number of newer members that have only been awarded a medal once or twice? Pretty big number. There's a member of a Clan summit I was looking at yesterday that's been in the DB for two years, is an equite, and has only ever been awarded one mid level merit award. That's it. That's the person that's gotten nothing. Then, another House summit member elsewhere that's been in the DB for a bit over 2.5 years spent 14 months at EQ1 while being awarded a sacramental award and nothing else. And only has one other low-level merit award on their dossier. So yes, people not being awarded at all and "saving up" for sacs are both two facets of the same problem. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Also this is primarily a false statement as the one office that can be regularly followed for Magistrate positioned is the FIST office. The second is the JST but it has a longer time period. No other office actually has shorter time periods at a regular interval that gives anyone a chance to be involved in a section of DB they feel passionate about. If an office has changed their stance but not advertised it, then that is a problem on that office.

The Regent staff has been on a six month rotation for years now (the Magistrate terms have been mentioned in basically every hiring post for the office going back to the last two Regents)? Voice has a 1 year term on Magistrates (https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/news/reports-voice-report-5-the-one-with-a-new-faction-and-m-voice-applications). So, at worst you've got half the DC departments on set, rotating hiring schedules (Voice, Fist, Jusitcar, and Regent) and half not (MAA, Herald, Headmaster, Seneschal). Herald and Seneschal are departments that required special skill sets that can't always be taught, so tossing out staffers after six months or a year isn't a good idea (hell, I think it's pretty obvious why Seneschal cannot have a rotating staff). Might be wise to not accuse people of lying before you do the reading?

Oh, it looks like Xen hasn't rotated his Magistrates yet. So, maybe one point? (Though I'd probably chalk that one up to RoS run up and fiction generating work starting to ramp up at that time. I wouldn't want to hire new staff then, either.)

It's great to see such lively discussion on organizational feedback. This conversation is such a lovely salt mine filled with a well known cast of miners. The salt must flow! Let's get this comment count to 50!

But, so I'm not spamming, I will reiterate that guaranteeing more crescents for placements with more competition participants is an excellent incentive! Well done team.

"Actually, no. They are the same issue."

Again they are not the same issues. The issue you are bringing up is different than someone stating they do not want to be given a lower award. A member not receiving an award because the leadership isn't doing something and isn't actively trying to give an award is different than a member telling the leadership to not award them a Dark Cross when they have 5 or 10 or whatever amount they have. New members not receiving awards is a horrible problem and no one is disagreeing that it isn't a problem. You keep bringing up your issue in Plag when I was in Plag and very much know about that issue hence why I left Plag that there was no activity or building of the clan. That is not the same problem in at least two other clans I can point out. The other clans not doing it? Those are again problems on the leadership or lack there of. Whatever you want to call it. Again it is a different issue and needs more direct work, reprimanded, and plan of action than telling everyone they shouldn't be holding for better awards.

As far as Regent hiring every 6 months, the hiring has not been consistently every 6 months with some periods being longer and only one period much shorter. My statement in my post was that there are only a few that are consistently regular in hiring where one would be able to plan for application. So instead of calling someone a liar and continuing to try and discredit someone when you continue to miss the points address, maybe consider that my points have continued to be the same of saying that yes there is a problem with members not getting awards. insert aggressive nodding.gif but there is also a problem with reprimanding leaders who are told specifically by their members with evidence proof that they don't want to be awarded smaller awards. Everyone is agreeing this is a problem on new members and even more seasoned members just not getting awards at all (see my mention of Plag).

Now if an actual proposal or push to have rules changed of requiring monthly or quarterly reviews and award from each clan and leadership was pushed forward, I'd be very supportive of it because more people would get reviews or at least have their activity evaluated so that they are done more timely. Yet I don't see this as something anyone has pushed in their comments.

Now if an actual proposal or push to have rules changed of requiring monthly or quarterly reviews and award from each clan and leadership was pushed forward, I'd be very supportive of it because more people would get reviews or at least have their activity evaluated so that they are done more timely. Yet I don't see this as something anyone has pushed in their comments.

The reason why nobody's suggested or pushed that in their comments is because keeping track of your members and awarding them is part and parcel of being in leadership, especially of being a Consul. We don't codify that a Consul and leaders should interact with their members frequently, tell them the specific schedule they should be running comps and events on, etc. If a leader has to be mandated to look at their members on a set schedule to make sure they're paying enough attention to award or promote them, they have no business being in DB leadership. Might as well write a rule telling people to breathe.

"If a leader has to be mandated to look at their members on a set schedule to make sure they're paying enough attention to award or promote them, they have no business being in DB leadership. Might as well write a rule telling people to breathe."

There is a reason why companies and business require quarterly or annual reviews with it placed as a mandatory thing with reprimand if it is not done. It is to help with improvement as well as help employees receive merits. I would also say that if you argue that this rule shouldn't be in place but want to continue to allow people to just put in a recommendation when they feel like it, you haven't fixed the problem. It's only a Band-Aid. People not getting awards when they rightly deserve it will continue to happen regardless of a report or someone complaining it doesn't happen until something is actually done about it and you have made multiple points to argue against actual reprimand and action plans (see previous comments). "It already happened even if it wasn't in public". Well clearly it wasn't good enough of a private reprimand if it never got fixed.

First, this is a volunteer-based club. Not a fortune 500 company. The rule you state is in place. It is in the requirements of the positions. Off the top of my head I know 3 consuls are currently under 5 months in the position, myself included. Two of those months have been taken up by a vendetta. It is easy to suggest things and claim new rules need to be put in place. However, things were handled privately. Then a general warning was issued to all clan leaders. Now time is being granted to correct past mistakes. There is no doubt if things are not corrected you will see measures taken. But Consuls volunteer their time to do what they do and should be afforded time to fix issues and mistakes some of which they didn't even cause.

"There is no doubt if things are not corrected you will see measures taken."

I'm not holding my breath. I'll see it when it actually happens.

I agree with Korvis. This is a non-profit, volunteer fan site. We can not expect everyone to be held to the same standards as RL companies. But like the original post stated, there has been to many people ignored when it comes to awards or promotions. But to mandate a specific timeframe to "git r done" is going to detract some folks not wanting to be a leader because they have big brother watching their every move.

I do agree that some folks have missed out on just due awards. And these need to take precedence and corrected. Without awards, retention of people fails them and more folks leave to other galaxies, far, far away.

@Sven, I remember when DC had magistrates that would last a year or longer, cause they were comfortable with that persons work. But it was changed because many people asked for more chances for others to get those coveted leadership experience. 6 mos trade over was a great move. Also, many clans have had huge turnovers recently and the new leadership has to go through all the back logs to see what there is to improve or fix. MMA just gave us a heads up of what needs to be done.

Saying “I don’t want small rewards.” means you’re missing the point Howie was making, as the bear said, you don’t get to pick your own rewards.

As for someone saying they can’t ever get above EQ2 without a leadership position, that’s simply just untrue. It’s clearly written in the promotion guidelines. There are other ways, like project work or mentoring other members to knighthood you just have to show you’re working to improve your unit or the club as a whole.

On the topic of leadership I would like to point out that in Vizsla we have filled 4 positions in the last 4 months and I have one currently open. We have received ZERO applications from outside the clan. So I am not sure where people are finding a reason to complain about lack of opportunities when they are not applying.

I came to the comments to condone the amazing amount of "damns" used in the OP.

What I read in the comments was good, too. The message from the MAA directed at leadership to award their members properly by following an established and vetted system is an age-old reminder stemming back to the start of this club, and one that I believe the MAA staff are obligated to make based off of the trends they see on the backend. The fact that Howie mentions this in a public report shows that he is holding all leadership accountable to all DB membership, which from my perspective says that the MAA staff is continuing to protect the effort and hard work invested by membership.

So from one fellow DB'er to the MAA staff, thank you.