Galactic Republic Weekly News

[Corvus Raaf]

It’s been a busy week all in all so, here’s a whistle-stop tour of what you need to know but were afraid to ask.

Firstly the Invasion of Telti is closing in a little over a day’s time, and I’d say the outcome is still too close to call at the moment, so any last minute heroics would most certainly be appreciated.

Next there has been renewed talk of Dominions and the consensus is that we’ll see – once the Invasion concludes, and the outcome is known, and the map updated – what needs to be done. What we’re sure of though, is that - when we put out mind to it - we can certainly Dominion at speed.

Two bits of Jedi news to bring you. The first is that Knight [member="Varus Shatterstar"] should now be formally addressed as Master Shatterstar. Or booboo apparently (but I didn’t tell you, OK).

The second is that [member="Quorl"] and [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] have been temporarily appointed to the Jedi High Council. There were a lot of candidates but these stood out as the obvious choices.

All three deserve congratulations for their achievements this week.

The next piece of news is that in the next few days we'll set up a working group to review our political structure. There have been some excellent ideas – from the return of committees to the introduction of an NPC PM – and many deserve to be followed up on. As ever, our approach is to get a small number of members together to come up with the best options that we can then make sure work for all concerned.

Elsewhere in the Senate, two…hearings are taking place and if you head over to the relevant boards you can read all about them. If you like courtroom drama, they’re a riveting read.

The final bit of news is relating to a board rule and anyone that knows me understands I hate breaking rules but I dislike confusing rules even more. The rule in question was about voting for Master promotion. The way the rule works now, I could join the One Sith and vote in their Master promotion thread. I don’t need to be a Sith, just a member of the Faction. And by joining…I’m a member. I don’t need to be active or anything. So, I was talking to Tef and for the recent vote, we employed Invasion type criteria on the basis that anyone that was unable to meet the guidelines wouldn't really complain. But it seemed reasonable that (for example) the Sith and Dark Jedi who are currently GR members didn’t vote. But that’s not a long-term option. So we decided on a solution (OK, Tef did, credit where it’s due). Soon, the current “Jedi Order” pages within the GR site will only be accessible to GR Jedi. All other pages will remain open to all. Effectively the GR Jedi Order will become a sub-Faction of the Republic. So we’ll put up a sign-up thread next week and won’t make any changes straight away (to give people a chance to read, understand and sign-up if it affects them).

Phew…so, until next time, you stay classy Galactic Republic.

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

-___________________-

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

What's wrong [member="Varus Shatterstar"]?

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

I'm a little concerned about the changes to the Jedi Order pages. While I've read the reasons stated and I can see the logic, my concern stems from the atmosphere inside the Galactic Republic.

So far, I've seen the GR be a fairly open place, with the flexibility to keep track of what is going on and to comment (sometimes to my chagrin) on the faction in an open discussion. These discussions can be lively, but they drive change and progress. Overall, that's a good thing.

The other part of that openness is the ability for us to read the stories we all write. This encourages writers to join in other stories where applicable, or to create new characters with the intent of doing so. Recently, we've had a few people create Senators due to the uptick in interest and story there, and while I can only speak for myself, their posts thus far have been enjoyable. The same thing can certainly happen for Jedi as well, writers who read the stories of Jedi and create a new Jedi character to join in. Or, at the very least, just simply enjoy reading those stories. In this same weekly news, we've been encouraged to read the topics on the Senate board, and told that soon only Jedi will be able to see Jedi stories. I fear this juxtaposition does the GR no justice.

There's a concern about voting on master topics, but I actually haven't seen this to be a problem. I've seen topics in which Jedi Masters vote on potential masters, and no one else. This, to me, seems like looking for a problem, not actually fixing one. The board rules state that only Master-level Force Users can vote on Master promotions. So where are all these Sith and Dark Jedi masters that we're worried about in the GR? If they exist, they seem to be honoring the sanctity of the voting threads quite well.

I would caution anyone against confusing the difference between technical abilities granted by the site's software, and abilities granted by our rules (that of the GR and Chaos both). Considering that the GR's faction membership is on an approval-only basis, we should be able to weed out any Dark Jedi/Sith who are joining specifically to be a problem. Anyone else, we can police by internal rules and adherence to site policy. There are tools to bridge that gap for our Faction Admins, and they should have the authority to use them when necessary.

So, for me, this boils down to what I think is a misguided attempt to maintain tighter security around Jedi affairs to prevent trouble. Trouble, I think, that isn't there. Trouble, I fear, that we're creating because of this change. I don't believe this change is beneficial to the GR, and segregating the Jedi Order as a sub-faction is a direct harm to the open culture of this faction.

My $0.02.

 

[Kian Karr]

My apologies if this is brief but I'm on my phone. This move is being done to allow us to keep things realistic without breaking rules. Sith and dark Jedi should not vote on Jedi Order matters and while this has not happened yet it is our job to try and avoid issues before they occur.

Understand that ANY Jedi wishing to join the Jedi Order will be allowed to do so. Only Sith, Dark Jedi or Rogues who wish to be GR but not Jedi will be denied access. ALL MEMBERS will be able to read posts and threads with TJO section. The only thing this is changing is non-Jedi wouldn't be able to post within the Jedi threads/section.

Again, sorry for shortness or typos, but I'm terrible with my smartphone.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

[member="Aimone"] - To add on to what Kian said...

To start, before I go into detail about what Corvus posted, let's remember that both the Senate & Jedi Order forums are IC boards.

Now, that being said,

• I've raised the discussion with the other FA about limiting the Jedi Order board to read-only for Non-Jedi, and Full-Access for Jedi.

I don't believe we should be hiding the boards from the general populace, however, the fact that the board does allow for Non-Jedi to vote on our characters advancement is troublesome, and one that, at a site administration level, will not be changed. The potential for voter hijacking is a concern, and a serious one. Simply because it hasn't been done yet, doesn't give enough weight to assume it won't be done in the future. Vote stacking has been a problem, not so much with the Jedi advancements in the past, but it has happened in other areas of the Republic before, and we are simply attempting to cut that avenue off before it does become another headache on a Knight's potential advancement.

• We discussed removing all Dark Jedi and Sith characters from the board, as is our technical right as a faction to do so.

We ultimately decided against this, as we generally use the approval process as a simple way of greeting new members, and making sure we are seeing when new members join. We do not deny membership to those who wish to read the board unless they have committed something worthy of a ban or removal.

• Given that the Jedi Order board is IC, there's generally no reason the forum cannot be read-only for non-Jedi, as non-Jedi have little reason to post there.

Generally, every non-training thread takes place in the Open or Closed RP threads. If people wish to RP a training session with Non-Jedi for whatever reason, my stance on that would be to utilize the Private RP forum, rather than the Jedi Order forum.

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

So, if you're not hiding the boards, then it just sounds like an extra layer of admin duties for little gain. Not one Sith/DJ Master has posted in the Master voting topics, at least for those on the first page of the Archives board. Nor have any threatened to do so.

If the FAs want to take on additional work like this, I guess more power to them?

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

[member="Aimone"]

I don't want additional work. I have more than enough current work. It has not been done...yet. I am going to stress the word yet. Words spread like wildfire between PM and Skype here. Of course, this is all non-admissible hearsay, so you may choose to take my stance on it however you wish.

We're attempting to look out for the well being of our members by forcing only Jedi Order masters the capability to vote on our members and avoid the potential for a member to be denied advancement based

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Sorry if I've caused a stir. For 99.9% of members there will be no change. We can all see all of the boards, no change. Only GR Jedi will post on the GR Jedi pages - so why would there be any change required.

If we'd done it and said nothing, it would probably have taken a while for people to notice in truth.

If there is a genuine concern, please let is know

 

[Varus Shatterstar]

What's wrong [member="Varus Shatterstar"]?

Run little rabbit...

I'll catch you yet.

 

[Jannik Morlandt]

Soon, the current “Jedi Order” pages within the GR site will only be accessible to GR Jedi. All other pages will remain open to all. Effectively the GR Jedi Order will become a sub-Faction of the Republic. So we’ll put up a sign-up thread next week and won’t make any changes straight away (to give people a chance to read, understand and sign-up if it affects them).

This... this is just giving me a headache. It's giving me a deeply wrong feeling that I can't ignore. The Republic I used to love was so much more open. This is just paranoid. It's tackling a problem that doesn't exist. I can't do this anymore, and I'm sorry that it has to be this way.

If anyone wishes to still interact/train with Jannik Morlandt, [member="Meeristali Peradun"], or [member="Ilias Nytrau"], you may find them through the Jedi Academy.

I'm done.

 

[Seraphina Shel'tah]

Alright, in the interest of all involved, here is the low-down on this.

A report was filed against the admin team here regarding a recent promotion as the entire set of masters within the faction were not tagged to cast their vote. Let me explain what exactly this means. Any person who joins The Galactic Republic forum, and carries the title of Master or Lord is then eligible to vote on our Jedi Order's Knight to Master advancement. This means that a Sith Lord can determine your Jedi Knight advancing to Master or not, regardless of whether or not they A: Care, B: Know you, C: Read your bio, or D: Genuinely believe you ready IC or OOC.

Prior to this report, the status quo of promotions, despite being against the SWRP CHAOS board rules was that only the active members of our faction from the Order would be eligible to vote on a Jedi's promotion. This was what was reported, as all masters in the faction were not tagged to vote, and we have in the past systematically refused to allow inactive or non-Republic Jedi to cast their votes. This was brought to the site administration and we were given three options to rectify this:

1. Eject all Non-Republic members including those multi-factioned
2. Remove the Jedi Order from the Republic and create a minor faction
3. Restrict access to the Jedi Order by creating a sub-faction within the Republic.

We chose option 3 as it was the most logical safeguard for our members.

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

With a better understanding of the context, I can support this action now. It doesn't seem to be the most ideal, but the ideal action would involve changing site rules. Within the confines of site rules, this appears to be an acceptable compromise.

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

This is the latest in a long line of exclusive, reactionary moves whose implications weren't adequately considered before implementation. I'll be running my training through the Jedi Academy as well.

 

[Uri Aureleos]

[member="Jannik Morlandt"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

It's just preventative. From what I have learned with my new sith. OS have quite a few sub-factions. Nothing really changes. I can't even name one training thread where a NFU posted in it. And OOC threads are almost always placed in speakeasy.

I like to look at it this way. If your character is ready for master and so far all of the jedi vote yes, you get excited to have your character a master. then all of the sudden a bunch of trolling sith and Dark jedi vote no just because. Just by the rules, your beloved knight would remain a knight just because of this...

I personally would be PISSED.

 

[Avalore Eden]

If it aint broke, don't fix it.

This new move is baseless and made on the premis of a problem that doesnt exist.

So a Master missed a Master vote? Maybe they should be paying more attention to the faction pages then.

 

[Kian Karr]

For the sake of transparency, I will mention that the only reason this came up was because we were contacted and informed that we were breaking the sites rules by someone concerned about having only members of TJO vote on TJO promotions. This isn't something we decided to do on a whim, it was something that was brought to our attention and when we contacted an admin it was pointed out that by the rules, we and many FAs before us were in fact breaking the rules.

Therefore, Corvus discussed with Tef, how best to rectify the situation. We didn't feel comfortable with kicking anyone from the faction who was a FU and not affiliated with TJO. I see nothing wrong with Sith/Dark Jedi/Rogue Jedi/Jedi of other Factions, wanting to be members of the GR. Perhaps they want to RP with the military but don't agree with the philosophies of TJO (think Jolee Bindo). There is nothing wrong with that, you shouldn't have to be a member of TJO to RP as a force user in the GR.

BUT, you should be a member of TJO if you wish to vote on issues pertaining to the TJO. A vote for a promotion to Master, while partly OOC, has significant IC implications and it makes little sense to have non-TJO Masters (be they Sith, Dark Jedi, or Jedi Masters who want to be a part of GR but not TJO) vote on promotions.

I would love to keep things the way they were (i.e., tagging masters of TJO for promotions and not tagging non-TJO force users of the GR) and trust that others wouldn't have an issue with it, but it is an issue that was raised and once the issue has been brought to the forefront, we have to respond to it.

And for anyone who is concerned this will have implications on those who wish to multifaction, it will not (although there are issues with multifactioning that need to eventually be discussed with regards to invasions but that is neither here nor there). If you want to be a member of TJO as well as Levantine, more power too you, it will not effect whether or not you have access to posting in TJO and ALL MEMBERS will be able to view TJO forums.

Let me repeat that. ALL JEDI WHO WISH TO BE MEMBERS OF TJO CAN BE! This is merely a way to limit the voting on promotions to members of TJO and ensure that in doing so we are not breaking any site rules.

[member="Jannik Morlandt"] - [member="Varus Shatterstar"] - [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] - [member="Corvus Raaf"] - @Aimone​

 

[Terra Harkin]

I feel like everyone who is saying this is restrictive or is killing the faction is highly overreacting. The Jedi aren't being stopped from rping, it doesn't hurt anyone and was obviously meant to be the best option the FAs could provide for everyone.

Instead of taking your frustrations and misconceptions out on the FAs who are having to abide by site rules, take the matter up with the site rules that they have to follow. And as other people have pointed out other factions do sub factions in this capacity with little harm or foul, so saying you'll leave the order because its restrictive when it isn't or thinking the faction's admin are trying to hurt people is too strong a reaction to something that is both not their fault and not actually a concern.

The only issue that is apparent is the loss of NFUs posting directly in the Order's area. However, this does not stop NFUs from roleplaying with the Jedi, as we can rp in the Temple with them or whatever we're allowed to do in the actual roleplaying forum in the Open or Private sections. And since NFUs don't vote on Jedi promotions anyway it shouldn't matter to us anyway. And since the Jedi forums will still be viewable, no one loses out on keeping up to date on information or reading those stories.

Now what I personally am looking at, but was not going to bring up alone, was the loss of the Prime Minister as a PC. Not a huge thing, but the loss of the potential political aspect of Senators or Military leaders vying for a head of state position was a bit sad though it does reduce potential drama concerns ooc/ic. Personally though i was a fan of the PC role existing since the Senators can fight for political clout between one another to pull ahead in a vote.

Excited to see councils again. Waiting to see us take Brentaal before I start getting super active.

 

[Uri Aureleos]

[member="Avalore Eden"]

Not broke per say, but this isn't a random decision made for the hell of it. [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] explained that a report was filed in regards to masters not being tagged. The forum rules states that any faction member is allowed to vote. I think it's necessary and smart for TJO to make sure that non-order jedi or other don't decide the fate of their jedi.

(Sorry if I come off as rude. Taking a step back and reading it I just feel like "Uh oh..." I'm not trying to be I promise! )

 

[Zenitha Chuma]

Now what I personally am looking at, but was not going to bring up alone, was the loss of the Prime Minister as a PC. Not a huge thing, but the loss of the potential political aspect of Senators or Military leaders vying for a head of state position was a bit sad though it does reduce potential drama concerns ooc/ic. Personally though i was a fan of the PC role existing since the Senators can fight for political clout between one another to pull ahead in a vote.

Excited to see councils again. Waiting to see us take Brentaal before I start getting super active.

I think you're misreading this line:

There have been some excellent ideas – from the return of committees to the introduction of an NPC PM – and many deserve to be followed up on.

This doesn't automatically mean that committees are returning and an NPC Prime Minister is being introduced. Those are just ideas put forth for discussion. The future political working group will consider them, hopefully in enough detail that we'll get a sound decision that will satisfy multiple parties.