Issue #20 August 2008

So it's that time again when someone lets me say whatever I want to the public of OTF. Not as dangerous per se as letting Michiel and Fats within ten feet of innuendo, but still not advisable. By the way, the letter from moi is actually my own personal opinion and if you hate it, feel free to direct your comments to my inbox. Don't hate my team because I'm a loudmouth.

I'm actually going to address the, er, leadership breakdown that happened a monthish ago. Now I'm aware that a lot of folk don't know what exactly happened and at the risk of losing my OTF "job" I'll explain.

For some time, since the switch from Maxwell to HAL, things at OTF have crawled to a stop, most of us have noticed. In part that is due to real life; as they say, real life happens whether you want it to or not. Which is understandable. Also with the server switch being as sudden as it was and as complicated, a lot of time was taken up just dedicated to keeping the site actually functioning. Again, kudos to Iain and HAL for their hard work doing so.

The slowness that occured after these feats is what started to bother some folk. It seemed very much that this new "free hand" system - wherein most Team Leader's had no access to make certain changes due mostly to the hacking of OTF last year - was not working. With little upper managment direction, Team Leaders felt unneeded, unwanted, unsupported and distrusted. Naturally it came to a head where people began to come forward and verbalize their frustrations, as well as present solutions. Thus began a great big email war, which flowed into the forums and msn.

Now I don't feel the need to go into detail of what was said, I'm just giving you the background in order for my following comments to make sense. The root of the problem according to Polson as it were. And the winner is...communication. communication is the law of relationships, regardless of what kind or with whom.

There are two ways this problem could have been resolved before it blew up the way it did. A. Leadership. Now it's dangerous to point fingers at leadership because if they can't take it, then you lose important body parts, but that's not my intention. No matter who the leader is or in what society or organization, if you're not willing to communicate consistantly and thoroughly what you expect, what you need, what you want, what you intend, etc. etc. then you will have uproar. Ultimatly the buck stops at the CiC and when the yo-know-what hits the fan, it's his responsibility. I've been a leader myself, and I know this. I dare say HAL knows it, and that Iain knows it. You're nuts if you think they're sitting there going, "There is nothing we could have done differently to ensure the Team Leader blow up never happened." Just because they don't wander into your forum thread or MSN conversation and tell you that doesn't mean it's not true. B. The Team Leaders. Before the straw broke the camel's back there was nothing valid preventing people from going to their leaders privately to express their concerns. I did this to a degree but I feel that I didn't do enough. I think the original email that broke the dam as it were was bang on, justified and full of positive solutions - in retrospect I just think it should have been sent to HAL and Iain first. Ultimatly, no matter what role or position you play in OTF, you are responsible for communicating your own concerns appropriately.

That said, there are two ways the situation could have been resolved after the blow up. Which in fact did happen regardless of how some people think it played out. Granted it happened later than it should have, but better late than never. A. Leadership. No I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm going to call leadership to the carpet now. Leadership is accountable to the people they are leading. They always say, when you're in front it's best to glance back once in a while and see if anyone's following you. They say that leadership reflects attitude. It's all true. If there is a problem, it's leadership's problem. And it's their responsibility to listen up, pay attention and consider the validity of the cries below them. That's the second half of communication. Listening. B. Team Leaders. I already called us to the carpet above. Now I'm just going to throw out there that as much as it is leadership's responsibility to listen, it's ours. To each other, to our leaders, to the general populace of OTF. And it's our job to relay what we hear to leadership. They count on us whether they want to or not to know what the people of OTF want and need.

OTF might just be a chatroom but we're still a community of people who work together, play together and engage together.

Not just another IP,

Polson
_{Blue Report Editor}

To CL7:

To CL5:

To CL3:

Polson has agreed to give me some space in the Blue Report to talk about things that are going on at OTF now that we've moved away from the old genre teams and whatnot. So here's the monthly Admiral's update for July.

First I'd like to say that I'm very happy with the continued support that the community has been showing in the form of donations. At the moment the Outpost has enough money to stay online through February of 2010. I'd say that's something to be excited about considering that the Outpost has gone from running on a $1000 annual deficit on an outdated machine to the new shiny facilities we have now. I can't say this enough: I'm forever thankful to the community who stepped up and saved OTF from deletion at the end of February.

Of course with that transition to a new machine has come some technical difficulties. At the moment Iain is working on consolidating the chat rooms and getting a proper mail subsystem working so that we can easily add and remove people from team rosters. I know that there have been complaints about the lack of a mail system, but it's my understanding that this is a result of difficulty in setting up a secure system, something that we didn't have on the old machine where potentially hundreds of people had access to everything.

On the subject of team efforts, that has been going well. Iain and I hoped that by giving team leaders the autonomy to run their teams as they see fit that we'd start to see more work in the teams. After some initial confusion (Did we really mean it when we said "do what you want with your team"? Yes!) things are starting to get underway again. The Writer's Guild and the Simming Team are both looking for new members to assist them. The poetry guild has some exciting plans in the work for the future and is also looking for a few good men or women to help out. Trivia is going strong as always, and I expect to see good things from the Library and Film Guild in the future.

We've made some big changes, with more to come, and I'd like to ask everyone to be patient as we work through all of this. As of the end of February this year the Outpost had been run into the ground and was on the verge of closing its doors forever. HTML chats and our big three genres aren't the big draw on the Internet today that they were ten years ago. This isn't anybody's fault, it's just a matter of the technology moving beyond our community. We may have to downsize and make some changes as the OTF of today is simply unable to sustain the level of activity that we had even five years ago, but I, Iain, and the rest of the people in the Team Leaders group are working hard to make sure that OTF will remain online and cater to the core community that has made this place great over the years.

That's it for this month's update. The anniversary is coming up at the end of August, so look for some special events on the weekend of the 22nd!

That's right, for this issue I interviewed myself. So ladies and gents, without further ado, Polson!

1. What does the Blue Report do?
We procrastinate mostly. One of our goals though is to keep the populace of OTF connected to the behind the scenes happenings. We’re always looking for new ways to do this, so any ideas or letters sent by any Team Leader or chatter are appreciated. Our other goals include having fun. Several members work on completely unessential projects that focus primarily on the people of OTF, i.e. the script, the story, the cartoon. And by unessential I actually mean essential. OTF is a community filled with people. We like to remind everyone that they are a part of this place, even if it’s just some horrible drawing of Iain being smothered by a Wookee.

2. What are your future hopes for the Blue Report?
Ideally I’d like to see more articles from various Team Leaders. I’d like anybody to send us their thoughts and opinions. I look forward to every issue, I hope others do too.

3. What is it really like behind the Blue Report scenes?
We procrastinate mostly. We’re a fun bunch, I think. Not a lot of chatter goes on during our down time but when it gets down to the deadline it’s a flurry of activity and dumb jokes. So far I’ve never had any complaints about the team, or had any myself. I love the BR team and I’m proud of them every issue.

4. In what way do you feel the Blue Report best serves OTF?
I think we put a new spin on the “it’s just a chatroom” yarn. I’ve always hated that saying because people just twist it for their own purposes. I think the BR reminds people the best of both worlds; yes we’re a chatroom and there are politics and projects, but we’re a chatroom of individuals with hopes and dreams and warped humor. I think the BR really melts the two together.

5. Do you really blame Hobbie for everything?
Don’t you? Oh wait, you’re me. So yes, you do. We both do. And if you’re confused, just blame Hobbie for this question.

6. Where do the Blue Report writers get their inspiration from?
No idea. I highly suspect it’s OTF’s nutty population though. I can’t speak for everyone but I know my cartoons are usually inspired by stupid conversations with Dmitri or anyone with the name Darth in their handle.

7. What happened to the Rank-O-Matic?
It died. Usually we only had three or four submissions and always the same winners, so it was kind of not working. There’s an idea floating around for a reverse Rank-O-Matic, so stay tuned. But don’t hold your breath, we’re procrastinators. And holding your breath for extended periods of time is usually ill-advised anyway.

8. What do you love most about the Blue Report team?
I like that they always step up to the task. And I love that they are totally insane.

Thanks Polson!

Dear Aunty,
Every saturday morning my girlfriend likes to hit up the local dollar stores, organic shopping marts and La Senza, and she insists I go along. How do I get out of this without being murdered in my sleep?
From, Shopped-Out

Dear Shopped-Out,
Do you like Hide and Seek? If she can't find you, she can't murder you.
From, Aunty Shadowfox.

Featuring Dmitri, Iain and Bria. Once again a direct result of a conversation with Dmitri who consistantly makes comments that get him into awkward situations. It was his own idea to put on a robe, dance around to ABBA and wear kitty ears. I just doodled it.

[Enlarge comic in a new window.]