Re: Neverwinter
Wow, seriously? The ONE fucking season I didn't participate in gets a Closed Beta to Neverwinter!? Le SIGH.
chemkarate
chemkarate
Sthiss
Voleron
Re: First fleetie to make the charts? :-D
Congratulations Araa!
A Canadian chart, still counts as a chart in my books :p
A Canadian chart, still counts as a chart in my books :p
nthoctave
Re: Wintersday Gatherings?
I'm in, also. I have lots of time off work for the holidays so just let me know when.
Araa
First fleetie to make the charts? :-D
Just heard that my Christmas CD was listed in the Canadian charts and wanted to share the news!
Okay, so actually it's just one chart. And it's Canadian. And I'm only in a choir. But hey, sounds impressive doesn't it?
My choir is called The Victoria Scholars, and this week we're #17 (and rising!) on this one: http://www.classical963fm.com/classicalcharts/
And if you want to hear an example of what it sounds like, there are some samples here, and there will hopefully be a free track released soon:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id579934163?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Okay, so actually it's just one chart. And it's Canadian. And I'm only in a choir. But hey, sounds impressive doesn't it?
My choir is called The Victoria Scholars, and this week we're #17 (and rising!) on this one: http://www.classical963fm.com/classicalcharts/
And if you want to hear an example of what it sounds like, there are some samples here, and there will hopefully be a free track released soon:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id579934163?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
tuvak
Re: Changes to Fleet Stores
Araa,
You state that you don't understand why the posts were so lengthy and how they could have been reduced? Really? Here are some thoughts on that. The best way to approach a topic of change is to suggest an idea, wait for feedback from multiple other sources, and then once you feel you have made your points by responding once or maybe twice to the entire thread, to escalate to an admiral if one hasn't already chimed in. There were a number of people who camped this thread. Camping a thread or responding to a post over and over again couldcome across as bullying or being overly aggressive depending on the circumstances. It might deter more passive members from participating. That is why as a courtesy, we ask that people don't camp threads or spam the forums with lots of posts or replies to a topic. It also extends the courtesy to other members to offer their opinions before they are seemingly shut out. And with most things "less is more".
I'm happy the restrictions are lifted too! It makes the purchasing of things from the fleet store much more available to all members of the fleet.
Thanks!
Jamie.
You state that you don't understand why the posts were so lengthy and how they could have been reduced? Really? Here are some thoughts on that. The best way to approach a topic of change is to suggest an idea, wait for feedback from multiple other sources, and then once you feel you have made your points by responding once or maybe twice to the entire thread, to escalate to an admiral if one hasn't already chimed in. There were a number of people who camped this thread. Camping a thread or responding to a post over and over again couldcome across as bullying or being overly aggressive depending on the circumstances. It might deter more passive members from participating. That is why as a courtesy, we ask that people don't camp threads or spam the forums with lots of posts or replies to a topic. It also extends the courtesy to other members to offer their opinions before they are seemingly shut out. And with most things "less is more".
I'm happy the restrictions are lifted too! It makes the purchasing of things from the fleet store much more available to all members of the fleet.
Thanks!
Jamie.
Araa
Re: Changes to Fleet Stores
I'd like to reiterate my earlier thanks for the outcome of the fleet store discussion, it's quite incredible to see us take on such a huge change so quickly!
There was one point mentioned above that did spur some additional thoughts for me.
This does beg the question, why did the debate end up being that length? And how could it have been avoided, focused or reduced?
Well, for the sake of brevity, I won't go into detail as to why I think the answer is not just bringing an issue to the attention of the leadership team, although that's obviously a helpful and essential part. For example, the thread was a great constructive discussion that reached all sorts of interesting compromises, resulting in three potential safeguards being identified (i.e., temporary quotas/guidelines, 3 month membership cooldown and a slow roll out beginning with DSS and HNR), but we had no idea that the leadership team's approach had changed so significantly that they no longer felt fraud was a problem at all! How could we have shortened it, given the same circumstances? I think it's a poignant question with potential for some concrete, constructive thoughts about the fleet's continual self-improvement.
So feel free to TOTALLY ignore everything that follows. These are just some thoughts that occurred to me as I thought about that quote above, and that I can't help but share. We will continue to be a great fleet without any of the stuff I mention below, and these comments are simply intended in the vein of constantly striving for a 'more perfect union', as I think somebody said at some point.
___________________
So once again, the question posed: "How could the members' debate have been avoided, focused or reduced". Some ideas, in no particular order:
Increased transparency - Why not make all* fleet discussions visible to the whole membership? Invite everyone to weekly meetings, publish all leadership discussions in a special forum on the site, solicit everyone's feedback! This would have been an awesome way to cut down that store thread down to its very core... imagine if we had known that leadership was converging on a solution that was far more radical than any member was proposing? We could have been much more focused (and even more useful to you guys) than we were! It`d also be great team building exercise, helping us members to get to know you guys better.
Leverage members - As a fully volunteer organization, I think there's huge potential to be tapped by getting members to contribute more to the fleet in general. Think through all of our recent projects and ask yourselves, how many non-leadership team people were involved in putting it together? How did we solicit members' help? I think a great example of this was Ozy publishing his PVE meetings... why not make that the exception rather than the rule? The more it's done, the greater the response likely will be as it beomes part of the culture. In addition to lightening the leadership team's workload and generating additional ideas, you get to groom future leaders and increase everyone's commitment to the fleet. It's win/win/win!
Definition of fleet values/mission statement - I've heard people talk about some really fantastic fleet values, but as far as I know they haven't been captured somewhere in a fleet charter or mission statement. Given that they affect the decisions we make and govern the way we deal with each other, why not form a charter committee to write them down? We currently have a lot of detail in our Code of Conduct on how people can be censured, but little on the values we want to embody and the mission we want to fulfill. Yes, we want to be a respectful LGBTQS-positive fleet, but should we also agree and commit to how things like egalitarianism, communication and debate, personal initiative and fun play a role for us as a community?
Value of intellectual diversity - I've seen confusion in this fleet between debate and argument, with well meaning exchanges of opinions being taken very personally by people, ironically, usually not involved in the debate. The store debate was significantly longer than it needed to be because of this phenomenon. I feel the fleet needs to make sure it enjoys and encourages well-behaved discussions of differing opinions if it wants to innovate and grow. You need only look to examples like Lincoln's "Team of Rivals", and this quote, to understand the huge importance of this:
On a very practical level (and something very useful IRL), here's a trick to see if you're comfortable with this, as it's not easy. Always make sure you're discussing the ideas and not the person. The moment you start judging an idea based on the person it came from, you know that either you're losing impartiality, because you don't respect the person, or it's cognitive dissonance fighting back.
___________________
I don't really expect to have any impact with this, but as I implied at the beginning, I feel I should at least put this out there for you guys, in case it's of any use.
Much thanks all, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
Official troublemaker,
John/Araa
This post sponsored by Tribble 17 of 45512 and the letter Q.
* The only reasonable exceptions to this I can think of are discussions related to censure or promotion, which should be a small minority of cases.
P.S. Phew! Much better already. Back to pew pew. :-D
There was one point mentioned above that did spur some additional thoughts for me.
On another note, I want to thank everyone who made their position on this matter clear in the "A Gentle Reminder" thread ... a debate of that magnitude is not necessary to elicit change in fleet policy. Bringing attention to the issues that may trouble our membership and possible solution that you'd like to see only need to be brought to our attention.
This does beg the question, why did the debate end up being that length? And how could it have been avoided, focused or reduced?
Well, for the sake of brevity, I won't go into detail as to why I think the answer is not just bringing an issue to the attention of the leadership team, although that's obviously a helpful and essential part. For example, the thread was a great constructive discussion that reached all sorts of interesting compromises, resulting in three potential safeguards being identified (i.e., temporary quotas/guidelines, 3 month membership cooldown and a slow roll out beginning with DSS and HNR), but we had no idea that the leadership team's approach had changed so significantly that they no longer felt fraud was a problem at all! How could we have shortened it, given the same circumstances? I think it's a poignant question with potential for some concrete, constructive thoughts about the fleet's continual self-improvement.
So feel free to TOTALLY ignore everything that follows. These are just some thoughts that occurred to me as I thought about that quote above, and that I can't help but share. We will continue to be a great fleet without any of the stuff I mention below, and these comments are simply intended in the vein of constantly striving for a 'more perfect union', as I think somebody said at some point.
___________________
So once again, the question posed: "How could the members' debate have been avoided, focused or reduced". Some ideas, in no particular order:
Increased transparency - Why not make all* fleet discussions visible to the whole membership? Invite everyone to weekly meetings, publish all leadership discussions in a special forum on the site, solicit everyone's feedback! This would have been an awesome way to cut down that store thread down to its very core... imagine if we had known that leadership was converging on a solution that was far more radical than any member was proposing? We could have been much more focused (and even more useful to you guys) than we were! It`d also be great team building exercise, helping us members to get to know you guys better.
Leverage members - As a fully volunteer organization, I think there's huge potential to be tapped by getting members to contribute more to the fleet in general. Think through all of our recent projects and ask yourselves, how many non-leadership team people were involved in putting it together? How did we solicit members' help? I think a great example of this was Ozy publishing his PVE meetings... why not make that the exception rather than the rule? The more it's done, the greater the response likely will be as it beomes part of the culture. In addition to lightening the leadership team's workload and generating additional ideas, you get to groom future leaders and increase everyone's commitment to the fleet. It's win/win/win!
Definition of fleet values/mission statement - I've heard people talk about some really fantastic fleet values, but as far as I know they haven't been captured somewhere in a fleet charter or mission statement. Given that they affect the decisions we make and govern the way we deal with each other, why not form a charter committee to write them down? We currently have a lot of detail in our Code of Conduct on how people can be censured, but little on the values we want to embody and the mission we want to fulfill. Yes, we want to be a respectful LGBTQS-positive fleet, but should we also agree and commit to how things like egalitarianism, communication and debate, personal initiative and fun play a role for us as a community?
Value of intellectual diversity - I've seen confusion in this fleet between debate and argument, with well meaning exchanges of opinions being taken very personally by people, ironically, usually not involved in the debate. The store debate was significantly longer than it needed to be because of this phenomenon. I feel the fleet needs to make sure it enjoys and encourages well-behaved discussions of differing opinions if it wants to innovate and grow. You need only look to examples like Lincoln's "Team of Rivals", and this quote, to understand the huge importance of this:
It is hardly possible to overrate the value...of placing human beings in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar...Such communication has always been, and is peculiarly in the present age, one of the primary sources of progress
On a very practical level (and something very useful IRL), here's a trick to see if you're comfortable with this, as it's not easy. Always make sure you're discussing the ideas and not the person. The moment you start judging an idea based on the person it came from, you know that either you're losing impartiality, because you don't respect the person, or it's cognitive dissonance fighting back.
___________________
I don't really expect to have any impact with this, but as I implied at the beginning, I feel I should at least put this out there for you guys, in case it's of any use.
Much thanks all, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
Official troublemaker,
John/Araa
This post sponsored by Tribble 17 of 45512 and the letter Q.
* The only reasonable exceptions to this I can think of are discussions related to censure or promotion, which should be a small minority of cases.
P.S. Phew! Much better already. Back to pew pew. :-D
Seannewboy
Elquin
Re: Wintersday Gatherings?
When the events come out I will surely be participating unless something comes up. We will get some teams together. If you want, we can start planning for the teams now. Count me in.
RodgerPM
Rasilek
Re: Trek Trivia Event!
Next time...Arlo will try to be in the *same room* in the embassy as everyone else. :lol:
This was fun! looking forward to more. Thanks!
This was fun! looking forward to more. Thanks!
SiranNataan
Re: Trek Trivia Event!
It was wonderful! Thanks for putting it on, and I look forward to the next one.
kiriamaya
MrIzzy
Re: IM LEAVING THIS FLEET CAUSE SOMEONE WAS VERY RUDE
Hello iDerXnet,
I am very sorry that you feel that you were treated poorly. We strive to create a safe, welcoming, and diverse place for everyone; and we take situations like this very seriously.
If you still want to remain in Stonewall Fleet please feel free to reach out to myself or any of the other Admirals privatley to discuss what happened.
I have moved your original posting to the Ten Forward Forum Channel.
Thank you,
Admiral MrIzzy
=THREAD LOCKED=
I am very sorry that you feel that you were treated poorly. We strive to create a safe, welcoming, and diverse place for everyone; and we take situations like this very seriously.
If you still want to remain in Stonewall Fleet please feel free to reach out to myself or any of the other Admirals privatley to discuss what happened.
I have moved your original posting to the Ten Forward Forum Channel.
Thank you,
Admiral MrIzzy
=THREAD LOCKED=
iDerXnet
IM LEAVING THIS FLEET CAUSE SOMEONE WAS VERY RUDE
i haent cry in four years i cant even controle myself so if my speeling and gramer sucks oh well. I help my battallion of over a hundred marines ready the journy of the end of DADT. none of you is like to explaine and paint the good picture about what gays are like. were not gay, were not diffrent we just show love to some difently, were all humon want and love the same gfoods and music. but after today i question that. I use to run the operations of my llast fleet, i was militay law adminstration communications and traiing for my batalion and i never felt like i waste the last few years all for nothing. i not going to lie being gay is not easy and i never went home after the corps i not sure wqhat to do with my life godd bye
Gravity
Re: Headset Recommendation
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Fatal1ty-Detachable-Noise-Cancelling-Microphone/dp/B000P5VR16/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1355144678&sr=8-3
Is what i use, it is cheap and cheerful but works nicely and has an adjustable mic and has always been comfortable for me.
Is what i use, it is cheap and cheerful but works nicely and has an adjustable mic and has always been comfortable for me.
Voleron
Re: Headset Recommendation
I use the SteelSeries 5H v2, and I'm really happy with it. It's very comfortable to wear, and doesn't hurt your head or ears during long duration gaming sessions. It has a retractable mic that hides in the headphone itself, for when you're not using it and the sound quality is decent.
It's a bit over your budget at about $79.00 dollars, but considering that a lot of mid range to high end gaming headsets easily retail from between $250 to $400, I'd say that this one is reasonably priced. I think it's worth the investment! Good luck in your search!
http://steelseries.com/products/audio/steelseries-5hv2
It's a bit over your budget at about $79.00 dollars, but considering that a lot of mid range to high end gaming headsets easily retail from between $250 to $400, I'd say that this one is reasonably priced. I think it's worth the investment! Good luck in your search!
http://steelseries.com/products/audio/steelseries-5hv2
Seannewboy
Re: November-December edition of the Stonewall Times
I loved all the articles, very cool episode. :woohoo:
Unknown Person
Re: November-December edition of the Stonewall Times
I suspected this issue would be nothing short of amazing. I was right! :woohoo: Your talent and dedication to the Times definitely shows through in the work that you put out. Excellent job, Ali! (I especially liked the picture of Dave :P )