Master at Arms Report 7
Wow. It’s been a while since I did one of these! My apologies to the DB! It’s been a pretty hectic couple of months with me being on vacation, travelling for work, and then vacation again. But, back to the DB!
Who loves puzzles? Everyone does! See below:
MAA Puzzle #12 – Closes on September 9th
MAA Puzzle #13 – Runs from September 10th to September 16th
Great Jedi War XII – Return to the Battle of the City of the Planet of the Great Jedi Waring!
As Sarin announced a couple of days ago, the next Great Jedi War will take place between October 13 and November 19! That means, from a Master at Arms office perspective, there are a few things that’ll be happening (this is going to look a lot like a previous report when we had different dates):
The clan to clan transfer ban will be enacted one-week prior (on October 6). No members will be allowed to transfer between units at that time, but rogue transfers are still allowed. This is consistent with the new Vendetta wiki page that isn’t yet posted but probably will be pretty damn soon.
I would also ask that all competitions that will be submitted in the next 6 weeks not continue past October 13. Anything submitted for that time will be remanded until the post Great Jedi War period. For those of you that have long term competitions set up to run during that time, I’d ask that you think about changing the dates if at all possible (with six weeks out, I think that’s reasonable?). Please let Teylas and me know if you have any questions about it. Some people in the DB have already reached out (YAY! THANKS MUNE!), and it is very much appreciated!
Transfers
So a couple of reports ago I talked about some changes to how we do clan-to-clan transfers in the DB, and I think I was probably less than clear about what I intent was. My intent was to outline two ideas/principles/whatever:
The clan to clan hold policy (or in many cases) is a tool for the Master at Arms office, it’s there for us to cool things down when we suspect there is an actual issue. It is not a method for clan summits to object to a transfer because they don’t want one of their members to leave, or really object at all. Members have a right to go places (more or less), and that’s how it goes.
Here’s the thing. The Master at Arms office is not going to always know when there is an issue, so here’s where clan summits come in. Tell us what the issue is. Don’t request a hold. You have a reason why you think that needs to be requested – tell us the thought process. That’s what we need to know, not just that a clan summit wants a hold.
Brotherhood Website Tools
So in the last little while, Teylas and I have gotten a few requests to do things that members of the Brotherhood (either people as leaders or everyone) can actually do themselves. So I thought I’d take a little bit of time to highlight some of the things that everyone can do (self serve) versus things that the Master at Arms office has to do:
Position appointments and resignations – If the position is existing? Summit members should be able to add or resign people directly through the site (see the Administer your position and subordinates button). If you can’t? That means that either the position doesn’t exist yet (because it’s a new unit), or because when the position was created on the site, it wasn’t done right. Please let us know if that happens, and we can fix it!
Competition extensions – If you need to make your competition longer? There’s an extend button on the competition administration page. If, however, you need to change all the dates of a competition? That’s something that the Master at Arms office will have to fix for you, please let us know!
New unit creation – This is something that is under the Master at Arms tools – just let us know the name and we can make a new unit for you (subject to proper approvals and all that). Once that’s done, we’ll also make the position(s) associated with it, and then summit members can add mottos and websites and all that fun stuff!
Ask the Master at Arms
Sarin: talk to us about the mythical retirement award and how we have gone away from it over the years.
From my perspective? Retirement awards – as a dedicated thing – should not exist. If a recognition (medal, promotion, whatever) happens at the end of someone’s term in a position, that’s just good timing. People are awarded and/or recognized in this club for their activities and contributions, and not simply holding a position. Retirement does not grant a member a benefit in our system of recognition, and I suspect that it never will.
Having a long period of service in a position, any position, is an admirable trait – but generally speaking? People are recognized throughout their tenure at appropriate intervals. To do anything else? To give someone an added recognition for leaving a position after a long period would be double awarding, and contrary to how our system works.
Mark asks: Could you clarify what competitions are allowed a co-organiser?
No, actually :P Flash games probably shouldn't. Anything the site auto grades? probably shouldn't? DC things are a little different. If it's a whole butt tonne of sub competitions in a big ass container? it makes a little more sense to have two people on the container. But you'll notice that the last DC run competition had one organizer on the container and it was me, because I was trying to make a point :P. Things that are more subjectively graded? There's more leeway. Trivia probably shouldn't, you know, ever.
Turel asks: If you could change one thing about the brotherhood organizational structure (positions, units, etc) what would it be and why?
Oh god, okay, this may take some time. I feel like the realy short answer? The DB seems kinda top heavy in a lot of places - that we haven't really moved past the structures and positions that were needed (and in some cases, may not have even been needed then) 20 years ago. The DB website is one hell of a thing, and it does a tonne of crap that people used to have to do manually - it just does it now without thinking based on James' magic coding skills
And I don't think the DB structures have really fully recognized that the site does a tonne of powerful shit that people don't have to do anymore (and largely don't, I don't think), but we're still relying on those old structures
Medals and Promotions of Note
Important Links
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'S a good Panda
/me pets
Exciting times
Can I have a promotion?