Master at Arms Report 8

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Master at Arms Report 8

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Puzzles! Everyone loves puzzles!

Post Great Jedi War Madness

One of the fun (yes, it actually fun, all jokes aside) tasks that Teylas and I get to engage in after all of you fine people are done your Great Jedi Waring, and are napping? We get to evaluate and process the massive pile of medal and promotion requests that come in from all the clans! To that end, we thought it would be a good idea to showcase, well, everything. So here they are – promotions first and medals second.

Elder 2

Elder 1

Equite 4

Equite 3

Equite 2

Equite 1

Silver Sash

Diamond Sword

Emerald Dagger

Ruby Scepter

Amethyst Kukri

Sapphire Blade

Grand Cross

Steel Cross

Anteian Cross

Dark Cross

Congratulations to each and every one of you! Well done!

Member Names

Recently, we’ve had a resurgence of members changing up their names to something akin to a family. In the past, families were regulated by the MAA Office, with reporting and elder requirements. We no longer do that, and I don’t intend on that changing any time soon. I thought it would be important and useful to reiterate the MAA Policy on families (or really, lack thereof):

Families - Families exist only for roleplaying purposes and as an external sign of friendship between members. Families do not confer or allow any additional authority or privileges in managing units or the awarding of medals or promotions within those units. Members who consider themselves a family are subject to the Brotherhood’s Nepotism Policy in all regards; any sign of bias or nepotism will be brought directly to the Justicar. Any group of members may take a shared name for fictional purposes, but that does not grant them special privileges or ownership of said name. Members outside of the family who coincidentally join with the same name are not required to change their name.

Second, there have also been a few cases of members changing their names to include special characters. This could create issues in using the search function. This is just something to be aware of when choosing a name, that you may make it more difficult to be found on the Brotherhood’s website.

Brotherhood Website Tools

Over the past few months, we’ve noticed a number of Brotherhood members make mistakes in medal or promotions recommendations. Sometimes the errors are minor – and sometimes they are not. Here’s the thing, the Brotherhood website is one hell of a piece of work thanks to James, and it has some pretty powerful tools. So my overall suggestion? Why use an Excel file when the site has an amazing promotion assessment tool for members.

Additionally, the Brotherhood Statistics page is also a very useful page for summit members, and for members at large.

Competition Creation

In the past few months, we in the Master at Arms office have noticed a marked increase in the number of errors in competitions. From date changes, to typos, to competitions not being viable because people did not check. The latter is the most problematic, you need to test your flash games (or whatever it happens to be) before you submit it to the site.

Second, and related, when closing competitions? Same thing. Please double check your entries before pushing them through the site. I don’t mind going back and fixing competitions, but it also creates additional work for the Regent’s office – and I’d rather not create more work for Halc. He hits.

Scream at Howie

Laren Uscot asks: IF YOU'RE NEW AT RECOMMENDING AWARDS, WHAT'S A GOLD STANDARD OF ACTIVITY TO USE TO DETERMINE WHICH TYPE OF AWARD WILL FIT?!?!? ALSO WOULD YOU PREFER TO FIGHT ONE ELEPHANT SIZED TEYLAS, OR 1000 PUPPY SIZED TEYLAS'S.

Competitions participated in always seem to be my go to. They’re the core of what we do around here, they’re the reason that we have club wide…oh right events? They’re not the only thing, but they do matter a lot. That said, I think the real answer to your question? Check the Brotherhood Statistics page and previous MAA reports for good examples.

Also: One elephant sized Teylas.

Atra Ventus asks: As a DC'er or community leader outside the structure of clans, is it better to award for your members' work under you or should you just combine it with their summit. Additionally, if you do it on your own, is it detrimental in any way to the summit's efforts to reward their members?

Basically? I have to give a non-answer. I think the best method is for DCers to talk to summits, and summits to talk to DCers. You want to give them a medal? Whomever you are? Just have a conversation. Sometimes this may make your decision easier…and sometimes it might make it harder. Typically though, adding in assistant/project work might make a medal recommendation that much better, so a medal may get their very first …whatever medal, Grand Cross, Sapphire Blade, whatever.

Thanks for the info Howie, great report!

Oh god, it's still all caps. I took the screaming aspect all too seriously.

Thanks for the answer though!

I shall have to scream at Howie more for more answers! Woo awards.

Great report, very informative!

So much hitting to be done. Also, special characters are annoying for fiction purposes too...as in, someone else writing your character. So, do try and think of others when deciding on names :P

ugh, howie.

That too, Halc.

CAN I COME BACK YET HOWIE?

Best MAA ever?

Look at all those promo's and shinies. Well done everyone, and well done to the MAA for pushing it all through!

Nice report- and well done on all the promotions and awards!! :D

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