Additional Numbers
It might come as no surprise, but the numbers reflected in the SFI database aren’t exactly correct.
Right now, the database is showing 3415 members (-11.32% from late November 2007), but it’s also showing 225 chapters. This isn’t exactly true.
There are six chapters in the database that have zero members, knocking the actual number of chapters down to 219, or -2.66%. Out of the remaining chapters, 61 (or 27.85% of the total fleet) are understrength.
(5 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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August 25th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Let’s see, does this mean Mike Urvand is not doing his job? How about his Vice Chief? Oh, wait! on August 4, 2008, we got an email on the unofficial listserve apologizing for the down time. Apparently, Mike now has Type 2 diabetes and is having trouble doing his job. Kim has some unspecified medical issues as well and cannot serve as a reliable backup, either.
Mike asked our indulgence while he “gets up to speed.” i also was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. So I do grok. I understand, it sucks. It takes time to adjust. Before I came under a doctor’s care I was quite sick and not really myself.
That said? I have to call BULLSHIT. Man up, Mike. Drop the Twinkies and do your job, man! Six zombie chapters and almost 28% of the Fleet’s chapters are understrength? Sorry, man, this means you have been asleep at the switch for far too long, Mike.
Where is “chapter care?” Bob Vosseler is Chapter Care Director. What is he doing about this situation? Bob? Bob? Oh, wait… Bob is also Vice Regional Coordinator of Region Seven. Another case of too many hats? I guess it truly does not matter, does it?
Lucy Ferron is listed on the SFI.ORG site as a “Chapter Care Rep.” I know Lucy, as she is my Vice Regional Coordinator down here in Region Two. I know personally that she gets stuff done. She’s a can-do girl, our Lucy. What do you want to bet that no one from “chapter care” has given her anything to do?
Here’s a thought, Mike, Bob? Pass the damned ball to someone that can do the job. Let’s put Lucy in.
And whither membership processing? Our chapter, USS Tiberius, has three electronic renewals and one new membership paid electronically that have not been processed. OK, renewals can get mucked, I get that. More below.
I am more concerned with the new member’s stuff. This guy is a neighbor and friend of my CO. He comes by, asks about his status, etc. He gave the CO cash, my CO paid by credit card. The new membership application was sent up at the first of the month, cleared the CO’ s bank statement on August 8th, and still has not even made it to “pending” status in the database. Four to six weeks to get a packet? At this rate, it’ll be four to six months.
That is really leaving a good feeling, winning the hearts and minds of new members.
As for the renewals, way back when when Chrissy was in Membership Processing, stuff got done really quickly. I could email Chrissy, even hit her up on IRC and get stuff done.
Now? Regarding this issue, my CO has sent two emails to the help desk, and two each to Matt Ingles, head of MP, and Matt Moyer, STARFLEET CompOps. No reply, except from Matt’s autoresponder saying he’ll get back to him “within 24 hours, but depending on mail volume or the nature of the request it may be longer.”
That is utter bullshit. The trains are not running on time, as we have been told. Things are seriously fucked up at the North Pole, folks. CQ is late or sucks, membership processing is derailed, there are false numbers in the database, we’re hemorrhaging cash to lawyers. and membership is down over 11% in nine months.
Something has got to happen, and soon.
August 25th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
You know, it is easy to point out the negative in everything. I can find something negative in the sunshine or the smile of a baby, but I choose to find the positive in things.
At least Sal has… Well, Sal did do… Um, the CQ did have… My membership packet did arrive, well not yet… Oh, I know, the Official List-serve is, um still down…
Oh bother, nevermind.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I’d have to agree with the response thing… I emailed CompOps 20 days ago because my family members were unassigned instead of on the White Star. I got the auto-responder, same “24 hours” message. So far, they are still unassigned.
I guess I’ll resend the email.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Based on his posting history here and elsewhere, I’m starting to wonder if in a past life Mr. Kitson was the mayor of a town named Gotha.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Tony,
Lighten up - my post was obviously a joke.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Mr. Kitson, you haven’t seen me when I’m *not* ‘lightened up’.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Whatever.
August 26th, 2008 at 5:20 am
Tony, don’t be too surprised if there’s a chapter called Andersonville Station before too long.
August 26th, 2008 at 8:11 am
Tinfoil hat time! A couple of question regarding the understrength chapters.
1) Are they eligible to vote in regional elections? The Inspector General’s Handbook specifies that the Commanding Officers of “chapters and shuttles” in the region cast a vote. When is a chapter no longer a chapter? When do those chapters lose the privilege to vote?
2) Did the six “zombies” cast a vote in their last election?
August 26th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
It has to be a chapter “In Good Standing”, meaning that they are not understrength and that the CO and XO are current members with the required OTS and OCC.
Usually it is up to the Election Coordinator and or the IG to verify that.
At least that is the way it was before we were usurped by Das Current Regime.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
In a prior election, we had to deal with this exact issue… what counts as a chapter “In Good Standing”?
I would modify Gumby’s statement a tad and say that the the issue that led to them being understrength has to be demonstrated to be pervasive, and not just a temporary glitch.
For example… If your chapter’s XO has a membership renewal in, but Membership Processing doesn’t process it for 2 weeks… and they expire… and the Ballots are printed… Is that Chapter ‘understrength’? No… the chapter did everything it possibly could to remain in compliance… it was the action of MP that put them out of compliance.
This was the exact scenario presented to me as IG once… What if the MP folks were charged with purposely holding out on CO/XO renewals to cause chapters to be ‘understrength’ when the ballots were printed, because they knew those chapters weren’t going to vote to keep their group in office.
There was never a charge that it happened, but there was a concern expressed.
I’ve always believed that we shouldn’t give the EC the ability to affect a chapter’s right to vote unfairly… so that they can’t cause (accidentally or purposely) for a chapter to lose that ballot for a short-term issue.
By that reasoning, I’d speculate that chapters in ‘Deployed’ or ‘Stand-By’ status should retain their rights to vote. Since a chapter can’t go from ‘Deployed’ to ‘Drydocked’ in less than 60 days, this prevents someone on the EC from (again, accidentally or purposely) affecting a chapter such that they lose their right.
Now, the flip side of this problem is: Operations needs to be moving chapters to ‘StandBy’ and ‘DryDocked’ in a reasonable time frame. Otherwise, we’re enabling chapters to vote that have demonstrated long-term patterns of noncompliance.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:10 am
6 “Zombie Chapters” and 61 understrength chapters? This is fanfuckintastic! Meanwhile, my crew still has to jump through the flaming hoops of our “Shakedown” so that we can meet those lofty expectations placed upon all chapters: 2 officers with OTS and OTC + 8 other dues paying members.
Sad part is, as a Shakedown Chapter, the USS Odin already exceeds those standards. August was a slow month for us as we did not recruit anyone new to STARFLEET (but did gain a few non-fleet members all the same.) That leaves our newbie Chapter with 18 SFI members thus far.
All things equal, we could commission tomorrow and be compliant if given the go-ahead to do so. Not bad for 5 months in. So what is the major malfunction of the 61 struggling Chapters and 6 ghost ships?
Truthfully, nothing. They did nothing wrong. The problem lies with ineffectual leadership overseeing a potentially antiquated system. Where’s Ops? Where’s Chapter Care? Where’s ShOC? And why isn’t the CS, the one ultimately responsible for the whole enchilada when it comes to all things Fleet, doing a damn thing to fix this?
If Ops can’t handle the very simple task of telling Chapters that they need to either begin recruiting, do something creative like merging with other understrength Chapters, or decommission, then we need another person for the job. I know that there are folks out there that can do the job. Gumby comes to mind. But the Saliban would never consider putting someone like Gumby in the position, as it would run counter to all things they hold dear.
(I choose “Saliban” over “Sal Qaeda” for real life analogous reasons. The al Qaeda tries to disrupt the civilized world to further their goals. The Taliban does much of the same, but they actually *believe* that they are righteous in what they do. And as I see it, Sal and Co. are not actively trying to kill STARFLEET to further their agenda, but rather *believe* that they are doing the right thing, even if it means killing the organization in the process. Potato potato.)
As for me, I’m doing my part as the CO of a successful Shakedown Chapter that is looking forward to being a successful Chapter. Let’s hope that I’m not wasting my time or the time of my 17 crew members. Let’s hope that the Saliban doesn’t kill STARFLEET before we get the chance to be a full fledged Chapter.