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| Communications Officer Report #9 Fleet Admiral La'an, 2 Oct 23 |
| It's always a surprise to see how quickly time passes without realising it, particularly with one of these reports - while I was sure I'd managed a quarterly reporting routine it was galling to see that the date on my last report was October... 2022. It's probably testament to the fact that we're all forever busy, rushing around from one experience or activity to the next. That's always true for the TC in September, followed by the inevitable October slump when we all collapse into a proverbial heap post-Raise the Flag. Just like last year we've seen a month of frenetic activity that's resulted in a pleasingly close race and each of the three Battlegroups taking home a prize and title. It's been a genuine pleasure to see the positive, uplifting camaraderie that's prevailed all month amongst the bulk of the membership - even in memes, albeit with the TCCOMs guiding hand as an editor to take the sting out every now and then. This positivity hasn't been limited to the TC, with the DB server continuing to climb in activity under a new GM and Dark Council, while a band of keen HF types are slowly growing in number on their own server. Looking back at the more fractious tone of last year's October I think we're in a good place, all in all, and remaining a tolerant, supportive community - be it expressions of support for an unwell Ewok pilot, positive reinforcement of people putting themselves into a place of vulnerability by sharing art and fiction, or simply in welcoming new people into the byzantine structures of the EH. For this report I have very few specific items to comment on, which in all honesty I take as a good sign. If the moderator isn't having to moderate loudly and publicly we're probably on to a good thing. While there have been public disagreements even in the last week or so, for the most part they were handled in a civil fashion or after a day or two all parties have cooled back down. It's very easy to take a position, commit emotionally or fight and die on a particular hill - we won't always be unanimous and we'll often disagree, but we should trust that when decisions are made they're made from a place of genuine desire to do something better, even if we wouldn't have done it 'that' way ourselves. Likewise when we disagree it should be starting from a position of calm, backed up by evidence and stating our views clearly and not letting emotions rule - noting that in any sort of hierarchy there are going to be times when even a good argument is overruled. Dealing with that can be difficult, but if it's a good idea or a bad plan, I firmly believe that time will always tell and change will always happen. In terms of tangible COMM office items, the quarterly award of EH CS MoCs is up to date and 13 have been awarded to those CS not already covered by a primary TC profile - I was reminded of the days of maintaining a spreadsheet for 200 members and tracking their posts on the Message Boards or via IRC logs. I've never felt so old... The Code of Conduct will need a review shortly and as opposed to simply dusting off cobwebs and changing the date or version number I'd like to request feedback. The TC Discord has a Suggestion Box and I'd welcome any constructive comments or critique that I can start folding into a CoC review - for those not on the TC server please feel free to DM me directly on Discord or drop me an e-mail. Finally from me, I've been approached by several people over the last few months asking about COMM staff roles - it's never been my preference to utilise Command Attaches or Assistants, my rationale being that every member and every leader in the EH is responsible for maintaining good standards and adherence to our codes and bylaws, so you're already doing the work of this office! We're fortunate to have a robust structure on the Discord servers and an abundance of admins willing to shoulder that burden. |
| Platforms and Policies |
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All members are reminded of the importance of following the agreed EH Code of Conduct, an up to date issues of which can be found at the following link - EH CoC The primary platform for communications within the TC and wider EH remains Discord, with the TC, DB and HF maintaining their own servers. All are official EH channels and per the above all members and guests are expected to maintain the family friendly, positive environment that we've been able to sustain. Any individual wishing to join in with the conversation need only select the link or type ehtc.chat into their browser - be aware that the use of mailing lists continues to dwindle, so continued failure to use Discord will only limit your ability to understand or take part in the club's activities. |
| Closing Thoughts |
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If there are ever issues or concerns, questions or feedback, all are welcome to contact me directly in any of the EH servers or simply DM me - infrequency of reports doesn't tally with the daily presence of the COMM and other admins, so never feel like any of us are unreachable or unable to assist with any issue. Until then, End transmission. FA Jarek La'an |