Posted by Katy Darrah in Proposal: Status Column Description Change

Posted by Fleet Captain Adam W. (EGO) in Proposal: Status Column Description Change

Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIPs to zoom in on this suggestion…

Problem: The status column currently displays the following values depending on how many days have passed since a roster character has posted and what the AWOL limit for a position is. Currently the possible values are:

• OK: Character posted within the same number of days as the limit value. Green on the Master Roster.
• Late: Character is over the limit. Yellow on the Master Roster.
• AWOL: Character is more than two days over the limit. Red on the Master Roster.
• LOA: The user for this character has a declared LOA, regardless of when they last posted. No color on the Master Roster

The complaint that we’ve gotten is that the “Late” and “AWOL” categories are misleading, because a character who is “Late” is in reality AWOL. Which, is correct according to every written rule. Apparently many users don’t realize this, and assume that someone who is “Late” is not actually AWOL. The reason the statuses are implemented this way in Exodus was because that’s how the colors on the Master Roster was implemented under WeBBSpace, and our approach has been to do whatever is least surprising whenever we’re not sure of what to do, which usually means preserving something confusing if users are used to it. I don’t know why the colors on the Master Roster were set up this way but they’ve been this way for at least 8 or 9 years (we’d have to ask Jack Dipper, who actually has been hovering around Discord lately, but I haven’t had a chance to poke him about this).

Another complaint is that, if a user has exceeded their LOA end date, the status column does not reflect this, so some people just stay marked LOA forever instead of actually posting in limits normally.

Proposal: The requests we’ve received would essentially add up to change the possible status values to the following (changes are in bold):

• OK: Character posted within the same number of days as the limit value. Green on the Master Roster.
• AWOL: Character is over the limit, or is still marked LOA with a definite end date in the past and has not posted within the limit value. Red on the Master Roster.
• LOA: The user for this character has a declared LOA with a definite end date in the future.
• iLOA: This user has a declared LOA with no definite end date.
• There would no longer be a “Late” or “Yellow” status on the Master Roster.

This would be a change in software behavior only. All rules regarding AWOL limits and LOAs would remain completely unchanged.

SNIP

What if we were to combine the methods? Originally I thought that Late applied to a position with a lesser-than-max AWOL limit but the entire cycle hadn’t passed.

To explain myself better, I’ll use myself as an example. I’m XO on the Connie (a slow ship) full AWOL cycle (limit for the JOs) is 10 days. Late appears for me at 5 days, as my limit is 5.

I propose that (unless the max values of this column is 4) the following:

-OK: as usual, within AWOL limit
-Late: Still counts as AWOL, but the full AWOL cycle hasn’t passed, do what you will as a CO for notices with this status. (so max value would be 10 from a slow ship)
-AWOL: Full AWOL cycle has passed, as usual
-LOA: As usual
-iLOA: As suggested.

I, personally, like being able to know at-a-glance if an LOA is indefinite or not. Plus, I like having the option, because you’re still allowed to post even when on an LOA. So if I suspect my internet is going to be screwy, or I’m on vacation and might not have internet access/time, but don’t know when I will I can just declare iLOA and get in when I can.

There’s no concept of a “cycle” anywhere in the rules. But it might look that way because the period between “Late” and “AWOL” is 2 days, which also happens to be the gap between different limits on Medium ships. So I can see where that impression comes from, and why COs might choose to treat the limits that way if they’re not being super-strict about AWOL policy (which, most of the time, people know whether they should be or not). But I’m hesitant to enshrine that in the software, especially because it effectively lets DHs and Command staff get passes that their JOs wouldn’t, when the current AWOL policies assume that DHs and COs need to post more frequently than JOs in order to keep the ship operating effectively (whether this assumption should still be in place would be an excellent thing to discuss on the PDept boards right now where Dan wants us all to talk about ship speeds).

Joe