Some good, more bad… all important

Test Highlight

The primary live communication forum for the Brotherhood is IRC. Every channel has at least some of the people listed in it as Operators (or just “Ops” if you prefer). Some of you may have already been in these positions, or currently occupy them. Others of you don’t, yet. Well, you can still take the IRC Channel Operators Course at the Shadow Academy to refresh, or learn from the start, what an Operator can do. It is useful stuff to know, even if you’re not yet an Operator.

Speaking of IRC…

Well, first off, there will not be SA hosted trivia in IRC tomorrow. Kalak is running an experiment of sorts, so there will only be message board trivia. I’ll post a link when that gets up and going.

Anyway, this past weekend, we had a couple people decide to be complete disrespectful jack asses. I’m not talking about the friendly ragging on each other that typically accompanies trivia on IRC. I’m talking about total disrespect of others and interfering with the running of the event. That being said, I’d like to remind everyone that #shadowacademy is not an official Brotherhood IRC channel. Though I prefer to follow standard Brotherhood procedure on banning people, understand that the channel ultimately operates on my rules as I am the Channel Manager. All channel operators (except, of course, the account used for the IRC Ops course) have my permission to kick ban rude and disruptive members without warning. I want #shadowacademy to be an open room for trivia and to ask questions as needed of whichever staff members happen to be in at the time.

_ Two Conversations_

Recently, I’ve had a couple conversations with different members. I won’t name them here, but suffice to say, they both bring up the same general point: there’s an awful lot of hatred or mistrust out there. The first member told me that he knew he wasn’t well liked by some people, but he was still active anyway. The other member keeps having trouble with others despite changing clans and, despite wanting to be active, is close to quitting. Can I say with 100% certainty that both of these members are innocently being attacked? No, I can’t. Maybe they said something wrong, or were argumentative with you, or whatever.

Here’s the simple fact: let the bad members dig their own grave. If you think someone is a bad member and doesn’t need to be here, then let them drive themselves out. Believe me, they’ll do it. There is room in the Brotherhood for a lot of people: if someone goes to another clan, let it be. You don’t need to hound them everywhere they go. Remember, harassment will get you in front of the Justicar.

It isn’t all bad…

Ok, now that the less than fun stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. First off, a reminder that Kalak is now handling the SA trivia. I get to post reminders, but that’s pretty much it. Also, congrats to Balnazaar, Merlance, and Arion for taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in “Summer School.”

Shadow Academy Jobs

Ok, before I go into what I need, let me say a few words (back to the bad, for a moment) and remind everyone that there are three ways you can get a job at the Shadow Academy: you write a new Shadow Academy course OR you apply for an open job after it is announced either in my reports or a separate post OR, as I did with Kalak and Dranik, I approach you with a job offer. That’s it; there are no other ways. Asking me repeatedly will get you no where; in fact, the more you ask, the further you slip down on my preference list.

I know that this may be a bit harsh, but I want to get the point across. I’m glad there are people who want to be active and have a job at the Shadow Academy, but I simply don’t have the positions for you. The ABSOLUTE BEST THING you can do is be an active member of your house and clan. Anyway, enough ranting (such as it is). I do need volunteers to help with a big Shadow Academy project. For the details, go to the next section…

Shadow Academy Audit

<p>The Shadow Academy, specifically the various courses, are in need of some serious overhaul and updating, or perhaps even removal from the Shadow Academy. To that end, I need help from you to help me audit the courses. If you want to help with the Shadow Academy, here’s your chance. E-mail Dranik and me to volunteer. I will provide instructions when we’re ready to start (in about a week or two, as I’m finishing up a few other things). I’ll be providing the clan leaders with lists of Auditors and how much they did at the end of the project. The work load will be spread as evenly as possible, too. More details will come on this project as needed.</p>

New Courses

<p>While the Audit has a good chance of removing some of the barely used Shadow Academy courses (they’ll become reference files in the Dark Vault, which is the next big project after the Audit), we do have some new courses. Thanks to the hard work of Aabsdu, the long awaited Weapons course will be out soon. Also due to Aabsdu, there will be a Clan Plagueis history course coming out, too (note to other clans: get to work :P )</p>

Real Life Stuff

<p>Once again, because it will affect my Brotherhood time, here is some real life stuff. In two weeks, I start a new job; specifically, it’ll be my first official full time job. I’ll be going into the Store Management Training Program for the Kroger Company, one of the largest grocery retail companies in the USA (its #21 on the US Fortune 500, and #73 on the Global Fortune 500, if you’re interested). Taking out Wal-mart (damn those Supercenters), Kroger is the largest grocery retail chain. Anyway, exactly how this affects me as Headmaster remains to be seen; at the very minimum, Dranik will be taking on more duties.

Summary

•Take the IRC Channel Operator Course

•Don’t be assholes. Let the bad members dig their own graves

•No IRC trivia tomorrow

•Congrats to Summer School winners

•I need Auditors; e-mail Dranik and me to volunteer

•Aabs rocks and his two new courses should be out soon

•Real life changing for me in a couple weeks… stay tuned.

•Read the other posts.

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