SNN apologizes for errors in the original version of this story, which has been redacted after publication.

 

Not too long ago, two other features were added to the WeBB. These administrative functions are not viewable to the general public but are of great importance to COs and XOs. Generally, when a topic is not posted in for one month, it is deleted. The new "Topic Immortality" feature keeps these topics from being deleted even when empty. The "Topic Restrictions" feature limits access to people with CO, XO, GM access or higher in the creation of topics.

Currently, Adm. Bourdaa is in the process of programming version 3.0 of effWeBB. Several new features are planned. One of these is improved message navigation, allowing you "To read in order of time stamp, like now, but also able to go backwards and forwards at will," according to Adm. Bourdaa. The Backdate feature will also be significantly improved, allowing one to put in the date and time (ie, 01/01/2000 12:15 pm) from which one wants to read notes, as opposed to the current system of entering the amount of hours before login (ie, 15 hours or -10 hours). Yet another planned feature is an Administration feature. It will be a button in the Admin menu that deletes all crew members with a rank of AWOL. There will also be a number of slight bug fixes in the upgrade. "No official date is set yet, but estimates for 3.0 completed would be February 1, 2000," said Adm. Bourdaa when questioned about an activation date. If you would like to see an example of the planned message navigation, you can go to http://www.star-fleet.com/prez/text.html to see a layout sample of one post.

 

Bob, a scant 2 years old, joined STF at the dying request of his uncle (also named "Bob"). Uncle Bob passed away in 1996 after learning that the Constellation had been decommissioned. Uncle Bob just "didn't have the heart to go on and fell apart," said Bob the Blob, who added that "we all thought that was kinda funny, since Uncle Bob was made of Jello and didn't have a heart to begin with." Reports that a spoon was involved in his uncle's death have bothered Bob the Blob for quite some time, although no evidence has been found. Our Bob the Blob is actually a third-generation STFer, though; his namesake grandfather, Bob, was drummed out of the service after a 1992 incident which involved him crawling into the Connie-E's warp core and exploding the ship. Uncle Bob took over at that point, amusing the crews of the Connie-F, -G, and -H with his shenanigans. Bob the Blob has been with the ship since its recommissioning on the WeBB in 1998.

SNN asked Bob how he got the name Bob -- or, rather, how everyone else in his family seems to have gotten that name as well (he has a brother, five cousins, and two sisters named Bob. His mother is named Bobette). "Well," he said, wiggling in a particularly pensive way, "I don't know." Of course, Bob, unlike his predecessors, does have a last name ("the Blob"), which he says has helped his political career. "Oh yeah," he told us, "you can say you're voting for Greg, or for Seamus, or for Mickey Mouse . . . but how often do you get to say, 'I'm voting for The Blob'?" SNN pointed out that we actually said exactly that when AFI sent us the ballot for the "100 Greatest Films" list, at which point Mr. the Blob became angry and asked us to leave. He later called to apologize for his curtness, saying that he'd consider us even if we promised to annoy Red Jello aficionado Mark Wilson [done and done --Ed.].

 

First of all, it must be pointed out that there is no one-size-fits-all President. STF's needs today are very different than those in 1996 when the Command structure disintegrated and Mike Ballway and Randy McCullick took the club by the horns. Yet there are some attributes of an STF President that are required in almost any circumstance. Others vary depending on how healthy STF is, how big it is, and the other people who make up STF Command.

The key role of the President today is to set a tone and mood during his term, not precise policy. Day-to-day operations are carried out by the Cabinet. The President advises the Cabinet and sees that members of the Cabinet are doing their job, but does not direct their policy. The internal operations of a Department are the purview of the Department Director, and the internal operations of a Fleet are the pervue of the Fleet Commander. Sometimes, the President may issue an Edict regarding the internal policy of a Department, but that should never be done without the consultation and agreement of the Department Director.

That brings up another point. No President is above errors. No President has ever served more than two months and been without any errors during his administration. Bob Spurlin made errors, Mike Bourdaa made errors, and Greg Hertzsch made errors. That is only human. But a president who does not admit and correct his errors makes a mistake. No President should be so proud as to allow an error to turn into a mistake because he failed to correct it. If a President is willing to admit and learn from his errors, then he is doing his job. If he refuses to correct them, he is making a mistake. Nothing beneficial can come from a mistake. President Bourdaa's first ED Committee Edict included errors. When faced with the problems in the initial Edict, he amended it with a new Edict to fix the errors. That does not mean that the IRCheese failed in his duties as President, in fact that action was quite proper.

While a President should let the Cabinet do their job without his direct meddling, he must remain at all times present and available, not just to the Cabinet but to all of STF. Greg Hertzsch's second term was marked by his absence from the WeBB. Dealing almost exclusively with Prodigy, Hertzsch allowed the WeBB to develop by itself. This was the time of the IRC "Command Cadre." FComm-3 and Coder Mike Bourdaa, FComm-4 Jeff Field, and GMDir Colin Wyers essentially ran the WeBB independent from Hertzsch, and almost exclusively from IRC chat rooms. This was before #Star-Fleet had become a popular hangout, and it created a pseudo-government that was closed off from most of club. Under Mike Bourdaa's Presidency, Bourdaa made an effort to carry out major business on the WeBB instead of via IRC, although minor issues and one-on-one conversations, some of which (such as CO selection and replacement) needed to be private, remained on IRC, ICQ, etc. He also started the Command Mailing List for the Cabinet to use for regular updates, and made himself available on IRC to all STFers, as IRC was growing as a hangout area, and also kept himself prominent on the WeBB. It was relitively easy for any STFer to contact and speak with Bourdaa through a variety of means. Bob Spurlin started off his term with similar contact-gusto. Unfortunately, as time went on the growing rift between him and his Cabinet and his slowly degrading health caused him to spend less and less time online, and to take less and less of an active role in discussions both on the WeBB and in IRC. Spurlin can hardly be blamed for his health problems, and without exception everyone wishes him the best of luck in recovery, but the bottom line for STF was that the President became more and more difficult to deal with.

Another part of the President's activity is the type of activity. As stated, a President should be active, but as also stated he should not strong-arm members of the Cabinet, nor work without their consultation. The Cabinet is, by definition, the people the President trusts to do their job. If the President wanted to do the job, he should have sought to be appointed to the Cabinet position by another President. He should work with the Cabinet, but matters of Departmental concern are matters of Departmental concern, and as long as they are being addressed adequately, in whatever fashion, they are not a Presidential concern.

The President must also remember the odd dichotomy that is STF. STF is a RPG club. Nothing that happens in STF really matters in the real world. People join STF for enjoyment, and the few that join solely for power or politicking should be kept as far away as possible. If STF is not enjoyable, with a care-free atmosphere, then something is severely wrong with the club. On the other hand, much as STF is about enjoyment and fun and friends, there is a serious side to it. In Command, there are serious, hard decisons to be made. The appointment of an FComm or the replacement of a CO are not matters to be taken lightly. And despite the fact that STF is primarily a social club intended for enjoyment, it is still quite possible for feelings to be hurt, for egos to be bruised, and for fights to break out. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson once said that being President of the United States was not as hard as being President of a University, because academics have less to fight over and therefore fight that much more vehemently. Nothing that happens in STF truly matters, which is why people will feel for and fight that must stronger over an issue, no matter how small. A President must be able to handle both the carefree, enjoyable side of STF as well as the serious managerial side with equal ease, and cope with the enevitable disputes between people that, while they may seem to be about nothing, can cut Command, a Fleet, or a ship to its core.

A President who is accessible, flexible, and able to remember that STF is a fundamentally a group of friends playing together will go farther than one who sees STF as an organization to be led by the nose. He must also be able to handle the managerial, bureaucratic side of STF with equal ease. Friends or not, a CO who is not performing adequately must be replaced. A President who is unable to do that will only hurt STF.

In the end, the President's primary role is the "feel" of the government. If the President maintains an atmosphere of comraderie and enjoyment with a serious, managerial streak, that feeling will spread to the Cabinet and to the rest of STF. A President who maintains an atmosphere of managerialism and bureaucracy with a streak of enjoyment will alienate people, and that alienation will spread throughout the club faster than the jovial atmosphere will. The bureaucracy is the same in either case, but the feeling, attitude, and style make all the difference.