LA Election December 2011: Congrats Veilan

[Veilan]

Voting is now open - http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 68&t=46730

Once more into the breach, my friends!

This thread shall serve for self-nominations for the position of Lead Administrator for the period December 2011 - June 2012.

Every ALFAn in good standing can stand for election, and the voting constituency encompasses all members.

I am passing election oversight and its conduct to PA Rotku, whom you can contact for any problems that you may encounter or questions that you may have.

Please only post if you're self-nominating. The self nomination period shall last for seven days.

Cheers and a merry election,

[Veilan]

Alright. I'm willing to ride the Bronco for a second full term, if you'd have me.

Who am I?

I'm a member since 2003, mostly been playing, but also DMed on NWN 1 Neverwinter, built a little for various servers, filled a couple of staff positions (most notably Standards, DM Liaison and Moderation), and I've been serving as LA for a little over one full term now. The milestone things I was involved with were opening our Standards to the public, abolishing anonymous moderation working for IA zicada, and pooling money with IA Hialmar to supply server machines for ALFA.

The Past

Climate

To me, the most important, because hardest to effect thing. When gauged, the happiness of us seems to have drastically improved, with more people professing trust in governance and a happy outlook on how things are going, and, most importantly, there seems to be a feeling of can-do and dynamism in the community. DM and player levels are notably up. This is a long shot from the bleak outlook and doomsaying we had a mere seven months ago, and while many of those factors lie outside an LA's influence, I am quite happy to think that I was able to contribute in some small ways.

This climate is not only visible with all of us, but also among the Administrators - I've found cooperation and communication smooth and cordial, with a fair improvement of reaction times and focus, though there is still obvious potential remaining.

My contributions to this climate have been approachability, with prompt and I hope helpful responses to any and all queries brought to me, prodding the other Admins for quick responses and coordinating them, and trying to be a constant wind blowing on our sails.

Statistics and Analysis

Something I established for the express purpose to get solid information and counteract the doomsaying about "ALFA is dying" when it was en vogue, our tracking of key statistics and mood gauging has developed into something much bigger: A tool to influence and inform the policies of not only the LA, but of the other Administrators as well. The way we are doing this enables dialogue and input, and means that we can take into consideration actual trends and data, apart from just ideology and gut-instinct. This has given ALFA new tool for quality management, and ensures that the priorities of the Administration are well informed by public input.

Documentation

Thanks to NES' diligent efforts, more rules have been streamlined and simplified. While this job is never finished, the rule documentation effort not only aims to improve new member's access and understanding of our heaps of texts, but also actually has served to clear up conflicting rules and offers the potential to further optimise our ALFA experience. I am glad that NESChampion would continue to serve in this role.

Public Relations

There's a kick-ass event planned for the eventual release of ridable horses (fingers crossed), where I wrested rather big concessions from my fellow Administrators to ensure the most effective advertising and awesome-experience impact.

With the IA, we've done some minor SEO (search engine optimisation) for our website, and highlighted the favourable reviews we got from third parties.

Cloud has been doing a bang-up job stirring the pot on the web 2.0 front, mostly via Facebook.

We have been trying to utilise ALFAns existing connectedness and links to other communities as best as possible, and have wide-open gates for volunteers, no matter how small their contribution.

And following a more long-term strategy, I've been in personal contact with the head Administrator of Avlis (avlis.org), the Project Lead of Game of Thrones (gameofthrones.net), as well as various other ex-ALFAns and exiles to foster our ties and cooperation.

Unfulfilled Election Promise

I shamefully admit that I have not yet annexed Poland.




The Future

So what do I still have in store?

First of all, I would want to start another mood gauge, to see what problems and sentiments ALFAns identify, in order to prioritise and target accordingly. This may seem a no-brainer, but it's something that has never been done in ALFA before my tenure, and yet I've already come to see it as indespensable.

On the PR front, I would like to tap into the social marketing and media expertise of my staff and try to involve more ALFAns with spreading the good word. There are also very promising portents on the horizon for a close cooperation with tech, to translate their awesome tech work into unique selling propositions for what only ALFA can offer. Cloud_Dancing has graciously agreed to head the PR department.

Now, a biggie - Election Reform. While this does not seem overly sexy or pertinent at a first glance, I have experienced that our rhythmically staggered Admin elections decrease the pace of decision making notably. There are several mechanisms at play, such as political correctness of not wanting to make a call when someone is up for re-election, the waiting for an anticipatedly incoming new Admin's input, or the necessity to wait for a new Admin to familiarise themselves with the topic. It is not terribly bad, but it is one thing where I think we could tweak out yet more efficiency in our governance.
There would be several ways to achieve this, such as simultaneous elections, longer terms, or more closely staggered election periods - what exactly, if anything, I would propose would depend on membership polling and community discussion (as usual).

Finally, a simple but I believe great idea that I would like to bring to full fruition: A sort of admin newsletter - condensing what the Admins are currently doing and deliberating into a public information that could be published at regular intervals. This could help stir public discussion and facilitate input, as well as encourage progress.

I think that was all at the moment, but I'm always open to suggestions .

Why me?

I still believe that I am responsive, responsible, reasonable and reliable (also, capable of alliterations ). My dedication is to this project, as shown through my sticking it out through all the highs and lows, always remaining an active member and player. This makes me a heartfelt stakeholder in our continued success. While I am principled and believe strongly in our core values and unique vision, I do not shy away from seeking solutions that are pragmatic, efficient and workable, and have a high willingness to consider and listen to input and criticism, even if I may still disagree.

I am familiar with the office and its limitations, enjoy the challenge of bettering our community even if by little steps, and would love to continue our smooth and steady sailing forward.




Thank you all for the time for this (long) read, and for your consideration. If there is anything the Q&A leaves unsolved, do not hesitate to contact me via PM, chat or voice-chat (if you wish to find out whether I actually have an accent ).

Cheers,

[Rotku]

Voting is now open - http://www.alandfaraway.org/forums/view ... 68&t=46730

[Rotku]

With the voting period over, Veilan has received a majority, so will serve another term as Lead Admin.

Welcome back, Veilan. Look forward to working these next six months with you.

[Curmudgeon]

What, another six months?

Congratulations.

[kid]

Well... If I know the germens next step would be to make the tenure last
for an unlimited time... then to slowly take power out of the other departments...

I just fearfuly hope it will stop there...

Congratz. (:

[Blindhamsterman]

Grats to you veilan, heres to another 6 months of progress

[Burt]

Self congratulation thread...I applaud your arrogance Fuhrer.

[Brokenbone]

I think the election thread Veilan last had also got renamed into what looked like self congrats, hah!

Anyhow uh... enjoy?

[thinkpig]

congratulations, where do i pick up my free ticket to germany for sexy make-out action hehe

[Heero]

You are as good for ALFA as Robert Mugabe - he is firm but fair, like yourself - is for Zimbabwe . I salute you and your second term!

[Hialmar]

Congrats mate

[Castano]

Congrats Veilan. Any plans for the new Poland server?

[rorax]

Will you force all Israelis around to put on yellow badge in game or as their forum avatar to distinguish them?


I am kidding congrats mate , i think you've done good work on your last term and i hear you already busy doing good work presently.

Thanks.