Member feedback on the proposal has been largely positive, with strong agreements from most of Command's heavy hitters; some have expressed fears that only "popular" or "well-connected" GMs would be selected by FComms and COs (as it is expected that some FComms will devolve this power one step further by allowing their subordinate COs to make the selections themselves) -- as opposed to the current system in which the GMDir sees the "big picture," knows every GM, and usually finds work for every GM who wants it. The current shortage of GMs, however, renders this point moot for the time being, although many have suggested that even in a "buyer's market" GM situation, it is not as big a problem as it is being made out to be.

Other amendments have been proposed: former FComm-2 Mike Ballway suggested that the proposal be taken a step further with the elimination of the rule barring "unlicensed" GMs from service -- this rule could be changed by Presidential Edict or by a GMD bylaw -- but found little support for that idea. Meanwhile, the debate over self-RPGs reared its head again when a majority of Command posters seemed to agree that the power to have no GM at all was similar to the choice of GM, and thus the GMDir would lose his ability to veto any self-RPG. Current GMDir Ashley has gone on record supporting "GMDevolution," greatly increasing its chances of integration into GMD policies in the near future; as a change in the fundamental direction of a Department and the transfer of administrative powers (i.e., the assignment of GMs) from a Department to the Fleets, however, GMDevolution would need the weight of a Presidential Edict to be incorporated into STF law. STF President Seamus Hughes has not come out one way or the other on the proposal, but its popular support tends to suggest that it will be "edictified" by either the present or the next Administration.

 

• The ID is responsible for all web pages on the STF server, but may delegate given directories to the related Fleet or Department. The Fleet/Department may, within limited given bounds, manage the directory itself, provide content for the ID to mark up, or turn over to the ID completely. The ID may only take back a directory if the content is at least 4 months out of date.
• Pages and their content are the intellectual property of the department to which they are tied, although the author of the page must be listed.
• Unofficial member pages, such as those in the /snn/ directory, are exempt and completely outside the ID's jurisdiction content-wise, provided they maintain standards of legality.
• All images used on web pages and MOTDs must be hosted on the STF server, and should be sent to the ID to be uploaded at a location as decided by the ID. The same holds true for any Cascading Style Sheet files, used by most advanced pages including most current STF department and fleet pages.
• E-mail forwarding addresses will be provided to all Command members, and to appropriate other administrative positions upon request.
• The ID is responsible for the management of the #Star-Fleet IRC chat room, in coordination with the President, and for selecting Operators. All other chat rooms are outside the ID's jurisdiction.
• MOTDs are under the jurisdiction of the CO or FComm responsible for them. The ID is responsible for only Command and Main MOTDs, and for enforsing the "no offsite image rule."

Reaction to the policy during its debate phase was very positive, though its fundamental necessity was questioned by STF Census-taker Larry Garfield (who pointed out that the number of members and RPG characters in the club has not changed substantially in the last half-year, although we have added two new ships), and its ramification -- more new ships down the road -- was greeted with shouts of protest from outgoing GMDir Colin Wyers, whose GM corps is already stretched thin trying to cover the GM needs of our current 31 ships and starbases.

While various members of STF Command had tossed around the idea of decreasing the average ship size in STF's RPing Fleets -- currently standing at 15 characters per RPG area -- very little had been written about this fundamental change, outside of IRC. It was only late in May that Capt. Bukowski noted that many ships were being staffed up to dash-four in some departments (notably Engineering and Security, STF's two most popular vocations), and made his proposal in Command. Capt. Bukowski's note was undersigned by six additional ship captains, including Cdre. Hertzsch, plus AGMDir Lynn Janeway.

 

The Milwaukee Plan divides all Primary Vessels, almost all of the "comissionable" classes in use, into three groups based on their "Primay Mission": Scientific, Exploration/General, and Combat. Each group is then divided into three Sizes -- Small, Medium, and Supersized, er, Large -- based on its crew complement. The 9-Category plan has also earned the nickname "The Tic-Tac-Toe Plan" due to the hash-like grid that results. Each Category then has a name assigned to it, such as Cruiser or Frigate, and may take on an optional Variant Word. So a ship class may be categorized as a "Tactical Destroyer," where Destroyer is the Category and Tactical is the Variant.

Following the formation of the Milwaukee Plan, it was presented to EDir Steen in early draft form. Steen approved of the plan generally, and after a few revisions Draft 3 of the proposal was posted in the ED for commentary. Reception was generally positive, with the only major concerns being the names for each of the nine slots, which are still under revision. Mike Bourdaa also noted the potential difficulty of having "variant" names not pre-determined, as one person may define "Heavy" by size while another may define it by crew complement. A non-exhaustive set of pre-determined variant names is also currently under development.

As per the Edict from STF President Seamus Hughes which setup the voting procedure for the Constitutions, neither document may be formally resubmitted until 1 August, the beginning of the next Presidential Term. However, both camps have reported that they will continue to develop and refine their documents between now and August. Both the AO and STFC authors have openly stated that they are open to a merger of the two documents, as the vote demonstrated an overwhelming interest in a Constitution of one sort or another. "Although neither document was specifically ratified," STFC co-author Nick Lackie told SNN, "there was a clear show of support for the principle that STF would benefit from some such formalization of law. I expect that authors from both sides will work together in the future so that a common solution might be met." Should a merger not prove possible, whether or not the STFC would be resubmitted "will depend on what, if any, changes are made to the AO" said Lackie.

AO co-author Larry Garfield was equally in favor of a joint effort. "I've always been in favor of presenting STF with a single, joint document," he reportedly told the Nameless Ensigns' Weekly Standard. "The AO will be prsesented again, with modifications, I hope with the backing of the STFC's authors as well."

Lackie reportedly feels that the A/B/Either/Neither voting system used in this election was adequate, and as the "Either" option recieved the largest number of votes, believes that it should be left in, should another two-document vote take place. Garfield is reported to concur.

 

Edict #31 outlined the rules of the election: no mudslinging or character attacks, and campaigning is restricted to approved areas and solicited email only (see the OEC Homepage for the complete list). It also established the calendar of events: nominations for President will be accepted from 3 July to 7 July (the OEC's days begin and end at midnight, U.S. EDT; GMT minus-4). Nominations must be seconded; neither the nominator nor the seconder may be the candidate. Voting will take place via the WeBB Voting Booth (the survey-box recently used for the AO/STFC referendum) from 17 until 30 July, with the winner announced the next day and the inauguration on 1 August 2000. The Election Coordinator assures SNN that there will be an IRC Prez Debate as there was during the last election, although no date has been set yet.

 

In the midst of all the clamoring for new-concept ships, though, former FComm-2 Mike Ballway made an appeal for another new ship -- a third "slow" ship, to be staffed with personnel overflow from the "non-daily" Trinitron and Constellation, which at that time were overstaffed by GWF standards. In the discussion that followed, both Adm. Ballway and current FComm-2 Mike Bourdaa defended the "Slow Fleet" concept from critics who alleged it was being abused by "fast"-posting STFers who simply wanted an extra DH spot. Although most in Command came around to the Mikes' position on the need for a third ship, questions about whether daily-posting transferees should hold DH positions on slow ships remain unanswered (though Command seems not to be putting this issue on the front burner, perhaps an indication that not many consider it to be a problem).

The result of two weeks' discussion was STF President Seamus Hughes' 1 June commissioning of the USS Lexington under the command of Trin XO Robert Anderson, who was also given a promotion to Captain. Capt. Anderson commands a new Trafalgar-class ship, the sixth addition to the GWF since its WeBB inception in mid-1998. Fleet Two now has more active RPG ships/starbases than any other Fleet, and ties Fleets Four and Six with six RPG zones. The Lexington was previously a Galaxy-class ship in Fleet Two, most recently under the command of Capt. Churlsan Han, decommissioned by President Jim Midyette in late 1993. Its reincarnation marks the first time in STF history that two Trafalgars (Lex and Connie) have served in the same Fleet.

 

Later baseball get-togethers included the McCullick-Harris-Ballway-Garfield-Garfield powwow at County Stadium [referenced in the ED article above --Ed.] and a four-man expedition to New Comiskey Park in which the Garfields and Mike Ballway witnessed a 8-2 rout of the New York Yankees by Chicago's White Sox. That game was briefly interupted by interference on the part of a squirel.

 

Phil, 19, is a first-year undergraduate at Oxford University, where he is studying Modern History. In what little spare time that allows him, Phil likes to eat, drink, and be merry with his college friends. He is presently single, but is persuing a possible resolution to that particular difficulty. While at school he shares an appartment with a tall, blond, rich kid named Tom, who is studying medicine. Phil is also part of the "Target Schools" program, in which college students go to local secondary schools in the area telling students about college life, giving them tips on studying, and so forth, in effect acting as a "Mentor" in RL. "I have to spend two more years studying for my B.A. degree, and then maybe some more studying."

 

Published in mid-June, Aye on the WeBB #9 is the first AOTW since April 1999's #8. It's also the first issue of Aye without founder and Jello target Seamus Hughes at least nominally at the tiller (Mark Wilson, of course, was the one doing the actual writing toward the end of Aye's last publishing run). The Hughes-and-Wilson combo that produced the last issue has now been replaced by Nick Lackie (on the Command beat), Brian Moss (on the Constitutions beat), and Scott Dale Robison (on the exclusive USS-Aztec-and-bad-song-parodies beat). Lackie also contributed a Colin Wyers interview and a few gag articles, ensuring that Aye would retain some similarities with its predecessors under that nameplate.

But the changes are legion. First of all, AOTW isn't under the same nameplate at all. Instead, it sports a new logo with the inscription "Ridentum dicere verum," which looks like Latin ("Itay oesday otnay ooklay ikelay anyay igpay atinlay Iyay owknay," said SNN's resident Dying Languages expert, Dr. Tsiugnil Toidi of Pakled University). And instead of the multi-page format that Aye pioneered in 1998, AOTW #9 marches in lockstep with many of the other alternative WeBBpapers of old, like Tangled WeBB and IveSTFiya, with a straightforward one-page layout which seems closer to SNN Headline News than Mark Wilson's other former comedy newsletter.

Then there's the news coverage -- what's this, Watson? News coverage? I deduce that this isn't Aye on the WeBB at all!

Oh, but it is. The former MAD Magazine of STF should now be upgraded to, oh, the Cleveland Plain Dealer of STF: it makes a good try at reporting some of the news. Well, a pretty good try, at least. It doesn't try to misinform STF. Again, it brings to mind Jim Armstrong's production, TW3, and to a lesser extent Colin Wyers' failed WeBBpaper IveSTFiya. It still has a ways to go to catch up with Mike Bourdaa's GiN, though.

But it's a gap that can be bridged. And isn't that what STF wants? With SNN Headline News devoted almost solely to humor (though it does a darn fine job of it), STF has plenty of room for another serious news crew. It's been said many times in this space that STF needs a competitive news market, with at least one other serious WeBBpaper to keep this one on its toes, and to pick up the stories that we miss (while we, likewise, welcome the opportunity to do the same to it). The problem has always been finding the right people; a core group of politically active FComms Nick Lackie and Brian Moss, plus Command junkie and Radio Free STF MP3-jockey Scott Dale Robison is a good place to start.

What next for the new AOTW management? Sources say that "SDR" is working on an anti-Contract-System song to the tune of "It's Gonna Be Me." Tarzan will once again offer his political commentary ("Me, in favor of STFC. You, Jane."). And Nick and Brian, like it or not, will probably keep on reporting and, just like Aye of old, providing an alternative (a welcome one, we might add) to the established STF media. As Nick says in this latest issue, "whether this alternative is worth anything or not remains to be seen" We hope it is.