2003 Address
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Stardate: 238002.10 (10th Feburary 2003)
Happy 2380!
Winter of the New Year is often a high point for simming on the fleet ships. Holidays are done; school just restarting; and the weather outside is not as inviting. Somehow, the calendar change lets us mentally put the last year into the category of history, and hope for a better year. UFOP takes this point in the year to look where we have been, and then move ahead.
'Exciting' and 'Innovative' are the words I would use to define last year, 2379.
On April 16, 2002 Admiral Wolf revealed a behind the scene project he had been working on. In his words,
"The project is a member database which will allow us to have our members put their profiles and character information online, so that we could more easily keep track of them."
Thus UPDS was born. It evolved quickly beyond a means to organize profiles. UPDS allows captains to change their duty rosters easily. Those changes instantly and automatically update to the UFOP's personnel rosters. From there it is easy to browse any officer's biography. Gone are the days of out-of-date Personnel rosters.
The database's usefulness does not stop there. UPDS streamlines the UFOP Awards by organizing nominations in a central location. When the nomination period closes, captains have only to go through their ships nominations approving or denying the awards. Additionally UPDS administers the captain's Monthly Mission reports. Each CO has only to access the online form through UPDS and fill it out. UPDS has dramatically increased fleet organization, while reducing individual workloads.
UFOP is more than a group of sim sites; it also fosters a sense of community. 2379 saw a renaissance of that community spirit. Our message boards have grown into a robust forum with sections for serious political debates, fan discussions, random zaniness, and ship specific exchanges. Recently the boards' location moved to the SB118 server, saving the club money, and streamlining its location. The boards have a feel of vitality.
The UFOP chats also returned in full force and are accessed through a permanent feature on the SB118 RPG site. The EuroChat is popular world wide, and has consistent attendance.
UPDS, the Chats, and the UFOP Message Boards are all accessed through SB118 server. The oldest part of our infrastructure remains our most relevant. In 2378 (two years ago) SB118 received is own domain name. Since then there has been constant improvements to the RPG site most recently with additional articles to the Academy sections. All SB118 ship websites can also be hosted on our servers - making us one of the very few groups with this feature. I invite new and long-time members to visit starbase118.net and take a new look at the home of our club.
A sense of community gives UFOP real strength. Recently a disgruntled former member gave UFOP a bad review on a Play-By-Email Index. This person said some truly awful things about UFOP. Admiral Wolf notified the boards, asking people to post their own reviews. Within two weeks, 14 positive well-written reviews replaced the one negative review.
Similarly, UFOP easily moved from the middle of the pack, to the 1st position on Elite Force Alliance top 200 Star Trek Sites ranking index, when members were informed where they could vote. This position will help to point prospective member is our direction, as they see our commanding 40 vote lead in January alone. We owe these events to the united membership of UFOP, and a true sense of community.
At the beginning of the year Admirals Wolf, Kelly, and Hollis had administered the club under the Fleet Command Authority clause of the constitution. In March, the addition of Captain Adler, and Captain Hebron reconstituted the EC preparing it to handle the closing and opening of numerous ships.
In 2379, UFOP decommissioned 7 ships, and commissioned 5. Uniformly the reason for decommission was Real Life changes effecting the time available for a Captain to command a ship. Ships closed were Walton, Wallace, Isannah, Freedom, Galileo, Ranger, and Ronin. It is also of note that StarWind's long time alliance with UFOP was dissolved in October.
During the same period the Paladin, Independence, Black Tower, Victory, and Isannah were launched. Captain Hebron replaced the USS Constitution as his command post with StarBase 118 Operations. Admiral Kelly launched the USS Titian when Captain Terra took over Ranger. Admiral Hollis replaced the USS Kodiak-A (Dauntless Class), with USS Kodiak 801001 (Norway Class).
The Fleet presently consists of:
- Black Tower/Intel - Lt. Connell Kyrl
- USS Independence - New Orleans - Captain Anassasi
- USS Isannah - Nebula - Commander. Hutton
- USS Kodiak - Norway - Rear Admiral Hollis
- USS Nemesis-B - Sovereign - Fleet Captain Wong-Aquiss
- USS Paladin - Prometheus - Captain Daninburg
- Star Base 118 Ops - Space Dock - Fleet Captain Hebron
- USS Titan - Sovereign - Rear Admiral Kelly
- USS Victory - Intrepid - Captain Hurne
Each of these ships has a strong command team, and it is hoped that they will remain active for the coming year. As to the launching of additionally ships, as command staff is readies UFOP will launch ships. One lesson learned from last year is that it does not pay to rush the creation of sim sites.
Moving into next year, UFOP will continue community building. Already a third chat called, 'Chit Chat' has been added on Wednesday nights. You can look forward to an award ceremony later in the year, as well as the return of the Reporter. Additionally, upgrades are planned on UFOP RPG site, the next of which is an updated Intelligent Lifeform Index. Lastly, in March the Captain's Council will take up a topic long discussed on the UFOP OOC board, a back-ground plot for the entire fleet!
The Executive Council of UFOP would like to take a moment to confirm the
promotions of the following officers:
- Commander Wellesley to Captain
- Captain Adler Aquiss to Fleet Captain
- Captain Xan Hebron to Fleet Captain
- Fleet Captain Hollis to Rear Admiral
Administration Positions for 2380 are as follows:
- EC Members
- Fleet Admiral Wolf
- Rear Admiral Kelly
- Rear Admiral Hollis
- Fleet Captain Aquiss
- Fleet Captain Hebron
CAL (Captain At Large): To be determined
Magistrates:
- Fleet Admiral Wolf (Continuing), Executive Council
- Captain Hurne (Continuing), Captain's Council
Finally, we'd like to thank you for making UFOP: StarBase 118 the best Trek RPG on the web. We couldn't have done it without our devoted members, and our tireless command staff. Let's keep up the amazing spirit for many years to come!
The Executive Council