Posted by Thomas B in Questions for the Candidates - Unanswered Questions - Jerome
These questions are specifically for Jerome.

Good afternoon Jerome, I hope you’re doing well. This has been a fairly active election season with questions, and I’m sure the behind the scenes is just as active. So, I wanted to afford you every opportunity to answer the questions I’ve asked of you to which I’ve yet to receive an answer. For brevity, I will cut some of the contexts out and instead link to my original question. Your Veep has responded to one or two of these, but I would like your response as you will be the leader of the club if elected, and these are situations you are likely to experience.

1. What, specifically, do you cite as making the club feel exclusive? (context: making people feel excluded) (July 4: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/88364/ )

As I mentioned in the Promotions Question response to Vice Admiral Lerner ( https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/91570/ ), one of the many ways a club can begin to feel exclusive rather than inclusive is when promotions are not managed in a way that recognizes a broader scope of the membership. While each of these were no doubt earned, the scope of promotions by Edict in the past half decade… I feel… gives the appearance of exclusivity.

1. What prevents people from offering their sage wisdon outside of [your Fleet Admiralty Board idea]? (July 4: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/88364/ )

Nothing. And as senior members of the organization, it is inherently in our best interest to foster and encourage the next generation with or without an Admiralty Board.

1. How did you determine the need for [the Fleet Admiralty Board idea]? (July 4: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/88364/ )

I looked to other similar organizations, rather successful ones, and thought it might be the time to implement such a program here. After the robust discussion on the topic, however, we have changed our platform’s focus ( https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/91218/ ) to focus on other needs of the club that at this time could better be served by our collective efforts.

4a. Do you think creation of additional government roles will help with membership retention or inclusiveness?

I think adding an EA or two wouldn’t hurt the organization, would open up new opportunities for service, and allow the club to move in a new direction towards inclusivity in all we do.

4b. If the suggestion is that, to feel included, you have to have a government role, doesn’t that point to a different source problem? (July 4: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/88364/ )

No, it doesn’t. Creating opportunities for service and connection to an organization builds esprit de corps, thus building stronger binds to the parent organization. That is why the French Management theorist Henri Fayol counts it as one of his “14 administrative principles”. ( https://www.business.com/articles/how-to-make-the-most-of-management-theory-of-henri-fayol/ )

1. Do you have any evidence to suggest that policies making official routes of mentorship are preventing the kind of organic connections you desire [re: mentorship/community]? (July 4: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/88364/ )

Please see the link in the response immediately above, as Fayol’s administrative principles are the foundations and academic evidentiary example I used in examining the effectiveness and faults of our current system.

1. Do you accept the notion that it is possible to still have a GM Shortage, even if you have a lot of GMs, if those GMs aren’t well trained? (adapted, July 4: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/88364/ )

Absolutely. The campaign season isn’t a time for the solving of our organizations problems but rather a time to introduce new ideas and approaches to be better hashed out in the coming term.

1. How do you reconcile the difference in concept between elevating highly-experienced people out of traditional roles like FComm (in your Fleet Admiralty Board proposal) with the opposite proposal of switching around QDirs and AQdirs as has been done before for training? (adapted, July 7: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89135/)

I feel making such policy would be beneficial in bringing up new leaders, even without the Admiralty Board… as discussed above… because it forces more experienced member to assist newer members in learning the rope of club management.

1. What would you do if you understood that an FComm was selecting Command staff specifically as favors to recruit their own friends, and not looking at who would best serve the ship? (July 7: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89135/ )

I would first counsel them on the multitude of reasons why what they did was wrong and advise them that if such actions are discovered again, they will be removed by Edict. It has been said that the “appearance of impropriety is impropriety in and of itself” and if transparency of leadership is to be at the heart of my campaign as well as my administration, such behavior would fall under a one-strike rule.

9a. Have you consulted with any of [the listed GMMs, Linds, Gene, or Tyra] on your [proposal related to GMs]?

I entered this campaign with goals, objectives that I wanted to present to the membership and if chosen to lead next term… work on the mechanics of each step with stakeholders in those fields. While I haven’t yet gone into detail with the GM Corps about my thoughts, I look forward to discussing their concerns and work with the club’s Subject Matter Experts in the area to address this long standing problem. I am not a GM in the club, but I have ran games on tabletop for years. I understand what goes into planning a tabletop and have no doubt that Linds, Gene, Tyra, or any of our other incredible GMs would be happy to work on new ways to improve our GM pool as a collaborative effort to better the club as a whole.

9b. What are your thoughts on the scarcity of GMs that I outlined in my provision of context to question 9a? (July 7: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89135/ - context in Q1 beginning “Your proposal for the GM Department…”)

As has been mentioned elsewhere, the goal of the campaign and election season isn’t to solve all of the club’s problems but rather for passionate members to present proposals to the membership of approaches to address the problems then, if they are selected as the new leadership team, for those leaders to work with the stakeholders in those area to hash out effectiveness of their plan. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t… but we can’t be afraid to try because we don’t have every detail already figured out at the start of a campaign.

10a. What would make you recognize that [ship cuts were] necessary?

General club health. However, I would first do all I could to save a ship before decomming her. You can’t have “fleet identity” without a fleet. Changing Command Staff, Posting Speed, and GMs are just a few of the options one has before cutting out a ship that has been part of club & fleet culture for 5, 10, 15 years or more. I would rather move a ship to the X-Fleet if I felt it might save the ship. Sometimes, sadly, you can’t. That said, I felt only a handful of the decomms in my club tenure were absolutely necessary and had I been in leadership… they’d still be around today.

10b. Recognizing that necessity, what metrics would you use (to cut ships)? (July 7, https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89135/ )

I look at the quality of the creative environment of the ship. I feel that each ship at the cut/no cut stage deserves individual attention from the Executive to make every effort to right the ship first. If the environment just isn’t going to work and after seeking guidance on the matter from the major stakeholders, the ship would then be shuttered.

1. Do the Main Fleets enjoy some special privilege as to make them more desirable than being in X-Fleet? (July 9: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89644/)

More notoriety and general support. SOX is a tough job and when there’s more than a few ships, I feel it would be good if the club leadership found a way to give them a hand.

1. What makes moving a ship to the Main Fleets desirable? Isn’t X-Fleet, where there is more flexibility, more options on who can be GM, and more story options, in fact, more desirable if you’re not playing a traditional character/story? (July 9: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89644/)

Because sometimes, a ship might morph into a capable Main Fleet environment and if so, I think they should have a fighting chance in the Main Fleets.

13a. Why is having this inroad so important to you? (context: X-Fleet -> Main Fleet progression route)

Because one doesn’t exist, if it did exist it would likely not cause a stitch of harm to the club, and in the event a ship did rise to the standards of a Main Fleet ship.. the Executive could move the ship to a Main Fleet with simply an Edict and coordination with TECH.

13b. Why do you think this keeps coming up over and over again when there isn’t enough popular support to have facilitated it in the ~8 years since X-Fleet’s inception? (July 9: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/command/election/posts/89644/)

Because it was never given the attention and support needed. This isn’t a complicated thing to do, it just needs to be formally added to the club legislation body.

Please feel free to provide your answers here or in the linked threads, whatever is most to your convenience.

Thanks in advance for your answers,
-Thomas

Thanks Thomas,
Davis/Sinclair