Master at Arms Report 13
Master at Arms Staff
- Praetor - Mune Cinteroph
- Magistrate - Dracaryis
Please remember to CC Mune and Drac on your emails (or use the [Log in to view e-mail addresses] - so that things get processed/edited faster).
Crescents Update
The MAA team has updated the Crescents Wiki page to reflect the fact that crescent downgrades are no longer a thing. Site-auto-upgrades exist for participation numbers, and you go up one crescent tier if it is a parent competition for a clan/house/battleteam (assuming 3 or more sub-competitions). I hope that makes things clearer.
All competitions created from now on should be submitted with this change in mind.
I have also removed that reference from the Master at Arms Policies.
Just as a reminder? I’m dumb. I’m going to forget and default to old ways. If I do that? Just remind me that I am being an idiot. :P
Scroll of Foundation
Ciara came to us and wanted to update the description/award reason for the Scroll of Foundation to make it more consistent with how it has been awarded in the past year or two. This has now been done. Here is the new description:
The Scroll of Foundation is awarded to those who have served admirably in the Shadow Academy. Every six months, the Headmaster grants one scroll per every 10 exams graded by each Professor, Docent, and staff member. Exams under 10 will carry over to the next awarding period. Additionally, an average grading time of less than 12 hours will earn graders a multiplier of 2x, and an average grading time of less than 6 hours will earn a 3x multiplier.
The Headmaster also awards these scrolls to those members who assist the Academy in locating significant typos and factual errors in courses using the SA Feedback Form.
In the past, the Scroll of Foundation was also given to Antei Combat Centre trainers as well as masters who trained a student to the rank of Dark Jedi Knight; the latter activity has been shifted to the Scroll of the Master.
Policies Update
We have updated the Master at Arms Policies page to better reflect new realities of life in the DB - and also - an error on my part.
Old: Multiple transfers between units in a short period of time, or Clan hopping, is strongly discouraged. Because of that fact, the Master at Arms limits unit to unit transfers to once in a two month period. If there are extraordinary reasons why you need to transfer, feel free to contact the MAA directly and explain them in greater detail.
New: Multiple transfers between units in a short period of time, or Clan hopping, is strongly discouraged. Because of that fact, the Master at Arms limits unit to unit transfers to once in a two-month period. If there are extraordinary reasons why you need to transfer, feel free to contact the Master at Arms office with an explanation.
Old: Objectively graded or primarily site-graded competitions should not have co-organizers. They are not necessary. Supervisors can be added manually if necessary - but normally should not be.
New: Objectively graded or primarily site-graded competitions should not have co-organizers. Supervisors can be added manually if necessary, by contacting the Master at Arms office.
Old: Flash and mobile games are subject to a one-tier downgrade due to the low effort required, as determined on a case-by-case basis.
New: Deleted.
Old: Container competitions for clan and DJB wide-events should be one tier higher than their sub competitions.
New: Container (also called parent) competitions should be one tier higher than their sub competitions if the container has three or more sub-competitions.
Old: 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 to manage units or award medals or promotions within those units. In short, families are not to be considered official for the purposes of the Brotherhood's systems or policies. 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 that choose to use the same name as an existing family are under no obligation to change their name and may not be asked to fulfill requirements to use the name by any member. If the member feels pressured to do so, they are strongly encouraged to contact the Master at Arms staff, the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master and Justicar.
New: Families - Families do not confer or allow any additional authority or privileges to manage units or award medals or promotions within those units. Families are not official for the purposes of the Brotherhood's systems or policies. Families exist only for roleplaying purposes and as an external sign of friendship between members. Members that choose to use the same name as an existing family are under no obligation to change their name and may not be asked to fulfill requirements to use the name by any member. If the member feels pressured to do so, they are strongly encouraged to contact the Master at Arms staff, the Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master and Justicar.
Most of these updates are pretty minor in nature, just to clarify language. The bigger update is on families. That change was made for one simple reason: The Nepotism Policy cannot apply to things that do not exist. Families do not exist.
Questions and Answers
Zappius asks: What are the usual responsibilities you have to tackle everyday as MAA?
Competitions come in almost every single day. Medals and promotions are way less frequent - a number of times a month. The dreaded “oh crap we need to fix something manually”? Those come in probably once a month.
Zappius asks: Do you ever get really crazy requests coming in? No need to name people, more like a "yes, more than you realize" or "nah, not really." Kind of answer.
Like....every now and then there's something that's out to lunch but it is way way way more rare than it was 4 or 5 or 6 years ago. So it happens maybe a couple of times a year.
Zappius asks: You get a lot of requests in, competitions, awards, medals etc etc. What have been some of your personal favourites?
Our favourite is whenever we get to reward a long standing member with that big promotion! They are pretty rare - so it is always a big day when someone gets promoted to an elder rank!
Aura asks: When is the best time of day to send medal/promo requests to guarantee same day lookovers?.
Drac, Mune, and Howie are all in North American time zones - so I would say normal awake times for people in North America?
Some requests require a bit of discussion between the team - so they will take a little longer - but rarely, if ever, do things sit in the Master at Arms queue for more than 24 hours - so I suspect this is not a big deal either way. We’re thinking things like sacramental awards or Equite 3 or 4 promotions.
Important Links
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Glad to see such a strong clarification and language being used in regards to families. This is a welcome change.
Great report Howie, and smart choice on the new hire.
Seems like some solid policy updates.
Me likie.
Daily Reminder: You're being an idiot
A wild Halc appears!
Halc runs away.
A Howie report sighting, gasp.
I am pleased by these grammatical adjustments.
That's a good Howie.
Always good to hear from the bear. Love the changes.