Reports?

Greetings Councilors,

I remember not too long ago when DC members mafde numerous reports through the website. over time however, the number has decreased. Is it possible to go back to this?

I'd actually second this. While I do see a lot of news postings, it is always nice to have this information put into one place for easy reference, or without needing to go through past newsposts to see what's happening. The HRLD does a great job of this already, from what I've seen. And in all honesty, there should be SOMETHING to report about, since the DC *should* be doing things

Good topic.

It's been interesting, especially in reading the DGM applications, how people vary on reports. There are some people that really like reports, but then others that despise them.

Personally, I think that there needs to be a good balance between reports and news posts. I think when you hit up reports every 7 days, it is almost a bit much -- a lot of times there is little to report int hat period. For that sake, I personally aim for a report every 10-12 days and normally end up getting it in on the second week . Do you all find that to be too few?

Jac

I would say a report at least every couple weeks wouldn't be asking TOO much...a report a week probably is a bit much, but within 2 weeks is more than enough, as long as it's something fairly regular too. Yes, I am a fan of reports myself, as I do like to know what's going on, and I find reports help put important information together and just gives everyone an opportunity to see what's happening

I'm personally not a big fan of reports as they are now because they wind up mentioning stuff not when it's being done but much later. I however have a different idea that I want to throw into the ring and that would be what I call "DC blogs" as a working title.

Basically, the DC blog is an ongoing, ever-growing report. A DCer can add sections to it and then make new entries in that section whenever something changes. So Muz's DC blog for example would essentially take the same "new sabers/banners/etc" list - but it would be up to date whenever you want to read it and it would also not be split in many reports, you can go and scroll back through all of them.

I'm envisioning a default view of "last four weeks" with the capability to just jump deeper into a section if you want and a link list similar to the one that now holds the reports but saying something like "17 entries last month / last entry yesterday".

How's this ? An ongoing, ever-current reportlike format instead of fixed-time updates ?

I can do reports for the Shadow Academy. Heck, I'll post one this weekend with a couple position announcements and the stuff that is being done now. Kaiann brings up a good point though, in that reports tend to drift into the future; things that are in reality a long ways off.

But, I'll try to do one at least once a month, maybe more. A lot of it will really depend on what I have that is report worthy.

The ongoing DC blog report thing sounds like a decent idea; of course, one could easily set that up right away with any of the free blog sites that are out there.

Good topic.

It's been interesting, especially in reading the DGM applications, how people vary on reports. There are some people that really like reports, but then others that despise them.

Personally, I think that there needs to be a good balance between reports and news posts. I think when you hit up reports every 7 days, it is almost a bit much -- a lot of times there is little to report int hat period. For that sake, I personally aim for a report every 10-12 days and normally end up getting it in on the second week . Do you all find that to be too few?

Funny this was brought up -- I meant to send something to you a month ago pretty much saying the same thing. I know when I was HRLD the amount of info would vary. Some weeks I'd have a ton, other weeks I'd scrape something together - or just not do a report. I think reports are far more important than most people give them credit for, and would like to see them show up a little more (this all from the guy who'd throw one a month at times... lol)

I liked the idea of every couple weeks... until...

I however have a different idea that I want to throw into the ring and that would be what I call "DC blogs" as a working title.

Yes. Exactly. This idea is perfect. I wish I had thought of it when I was up there on the DC. Hell - I have one for my personal life, companies use them all the time (EA is big on them). The concept is so simple and obvious yet hasn't even been thought of until now.

I love the idea of "DC Blogss", no question. I'm not a fan of fixed, always out on saturday, list everything that happened this week reports. I'd much rather see a string of news posts detailing what needs to be announced. The DC Blogs would do just that, except that it'd be primarily posted on the blog itself, with either syndication or linking to it on the main DB news page. If people still wanted a weekly chunk of information from their leaders a weekly (or however often you want to do it) digest of the blog posts could be mailed out or posted on the website.

I think this idea definately has merit.

Well, I'm going to give the blog thing a try, so, here's the site: http://theheadmastersword.blogspot.com/

Someone had already taken Shadowacademy, and I didn't want to put a hyphen in between the two words. So, hence, The Headmaster's Word.

http://dbhrld.blogspot.com/

I'm a joiner!

I think writing reports for the sake of writing reports is dumb. I don't write a report unless I have something to report... so maybe once every two or three weeks

I think the point is that if you're on the DC and similar positions, there really SHOULD be something to report, and you should be doing something

I agree to a point - though I've been there where you only have the big projects, where posting minor updates to it are more trouble than they are worth.

These days with the regular stuff actually getting done on a weekly basis (sabers/banners/SA courses/medals), I'm fine with every 2 weeks. I'd rather see a robust list accumulated from a couple of weeks than skimpy lists some weeks, full lists the next.

I think the DC should do reports at least every couple weeks, even if they are like how I did them at times:

Sample KM HRLD Report

Project Title
- Nothing new (or recap of last time with slight revision)

Interesting Tidbit
These were tough since some people felt compelled to post [Expletive Deleted] themselves instead of going through the HRLD office... (and they STILL do this...and yes it still annoys me)

Well, yeah... my (*your*) spies still like to report to the holonet instead of to the office.

On weeks that I have a couple hours before the reports, I try to get out a review or two, fanfilms/comics, etc. Some weeks it seems to be a pain in the butt (especially with all the work needing to be done, it's hard to justify sitting and watching stuff just to review it... and Anakin Dynamite blew chunks)...

and I've thoroughly lost the point now, so I'll conclude with a ramble about L.Ron Hubbard, scientology and space aliens in your brain.

can I take credit for the rush of DC blogs now?*

*JK

Reporting just for the sake of having a report *is* dumb. I don't want to see something from the Justicar every week going, "No cases this week. The rest is pretty chill."

I think it should honestly depend on the position. As gay as reports are, they show the Brotherhood that the DC is doing something and it puts all of the news in one place in a very organized fashion. I'm not too keen on blogs. Why would a DC'er update on his blog site, but not the DB site?

Obviously Justicar wouldn't have something to say every week, but the GM, DGM, MAA, HM definitely should. If they don't, then they aren't doing their job. I would list OHC, SHW, and KHP here too, but those positions are gone........ <_<

If you want to put everything together, then start doing the Holocron again. Accumulate all the reports from each month (should be at least 4 from the main positions) into one document and release it every month. Archive it. That way it will be there for everyone to see. Very few people enjoy going to external "blog" sites, trying to find a piece of information. The lack of DC updates and reports is because of pure laziness. With the exception of a position or two (JST), if you're on the DC and have nothing to report on every single week then you're not doing your job.

They should be mandatory.

A big problem I see with the sentiment Canna has is that not all progress is easy to show, nor is it interesting in the least.

For example: Kaek putting out a lost of medals and promotions he researched and approved is a dull read. Anshar listing the test scores he graded is boring. Me saying "Yup, spent 30 hours working on the robes project this week" is equally dull.

People like seeing results. Unfortunately, there's a lot of work that goes into a project that isn't pretty, interesting, or worth reading.

On the other hand, I do put out a report when there is something worth reporting, projects completed, or when I've made enough progress that I can say 'hey, check this out, and leave comments, guys'. The rest of the time, I rant and ramble on my Blog.

That way, the people who are really interested have something to read and talk about, and the main membership doesn't get dragged down in the minutiae of the job.

Would I like to have more progress to report? Yes. But you know what? I can only do so much with a volunteer position, and only a few people to help me.

You know, I see where Blade is coming from, though. And I have to admit, I'm not fond of "blogs," either. When I was SHW, there was a period where I felt like no one was reading my reports, so they weren't worth it, anyway. I stopped doing reports, and started making news posts whenever something newsworthy came up. After a short, period, I had people telling me I should start reporting again; most of them were just regular members. They liked my reminders, but most of them said they just enjoyed the read because of the humor that I put into them.

I started reporting again because I figured, even if I had "nothing" to report, I could entertain people. There are other purposes to reports, and there actually should be enough that you can mention something each and every week. One week, you can mention what has transpired with you and your staff (which, admittedly, may be limited); you can mention what's been going on in the world of Star Wars (a la Goat and the comics/books news items); you can mention other newsworthy tiems involving the Star Wars universe; and, believe it or not, most of us do like other stuff, and we do have lives, so it's ok to mention other important stuff.

Yes, I can see people bitching about how we should "keep it to DB stuff." I've seen Arania gripe and complain about that several times. But how many people follow things like the World Cup? How many people would enjoy hearing someone mention their thoughts, and then get to discuss things related to it? Some of these reports... hell, maybe even the majority of DC reports shouldn't be blogs, but message board posts, so that "discussion" about the things mentioned can be brought up, and be done in an appropriate place.

I agree with much of Blade's sentiment; I think in many ways, saying "there's nothing to report about" only applies for 2-3 positions TOPS. The rest of the positions just slip into laziness and apathy. "If [insert position here] doesn't have to do a report, why do I?" And we all know that happens. Some people take DC positions to do as little as possible, and to reap the benefits of being in an "inactive leadership position." There's people on the DC who do an admirable job of trying to stay active and involved, and not just "sit up on their throne and watch the little ants scurrying by." Some of you should take a look at those people, and try to recreate their example.

I did enjoy the humorous aspect of the reports, BF.