: Message posted on Stardate 06101.0 at 1058 hours : Posted by Emma Rouse-Deane (Very Bad Cookie Monster) in response to earlier message. : : Message posted on Stardate 06100.9 at 1341 hours : : Posted by Captain Eddie Cramer (Assistant Engineering Director) in response to earlier message. : : You're right Bob, to hell with the rules. Let's let people start playing Borg members of Starfleet, or better yet Species 8472, and while we're at it let's throw cloaking devices on all the starfleet vessels, including the Bonnaventure. : : And which edictified rule would Bob be breaking right at this moment in time? Oh.. that's the right, the whim of the EDept that is a resource to the club, nothing more, nothing less. Not to mention that whim isn't even an edictified rule. So before you start raving about rule breakages, try and make sure a STF edictified rule has been broken, will you? : : I mean let's quote this bit from the new FCOMM edict: : : "A Standard Ship in service in a Fleet may be rechristened to a new name and/or class by Presidential Edict with the consent of the Fleet Commander and the ship's CO" : : If Bob wanted to, he could withold his consent. : : The EDir has no authority to forcibly make Bob change his ship class (show me the edict that allows this, the one that makes the EDept more powerful than an FComm). I mean you can inform him his ship class is outdated, and that you'd advise him to pick one that conforms to the latest guidelines, but that's about it. The EDept has no control or power over the fleets. I mean yes, the Edept can retire any ship spec it wants and put it into the ship museum. No president would likely commission a ship from the mothballed fleet (because FCOMM says ships must be commissioned with approved specs), but there's no authority to force a CO to change their ship class if they don't want to. I mentioned in my last post the email I sent to COs. Since the Asimov has a valid spec, Emma, you didn't receive a copy. Nowhere in it did the EDept claim to have the authority to order COs to change. At worst, it ended with: =/\= The sooner we can get everyone squared away, the sooner you can stop having the EDept bug you about upgrading to a valid spec. :-) =/\= The EDept is doing precisely what I said it would do 2 months ago: focus on getting every ship in the club to have valid specs, something that should have happened years ago. No more, no less. We are urging all COs of ships that don't have specs to pick one. Right now, there's a handful that do not have specs at all. (Informal "we once did" specs are not specs.) : Let's look at it from another angle.. ship class isn't even grounds for decomissioning a ship, because that wasn't put in as a guideline in the new FCOMM edict, nor any previous incarnation.. so what's the worse that is going to happen.. you're all going to growl at him? Make his life miserable by sending emails? I was hoping to assist COs in selecting specs that most closely fit what they were used to, which is why the email I sent out included not one but three recommended specs for each ship. As for decommissioning, nowhere have I mentioned decommissioning a spec-less ship. However, if you want to discuss decommissioning, a case would very easily be made that not having a valid spec is not "beneficial for both the ship and the club as a whole." It's also not at all unreasonable to claim that a ship that doesn't meet the requirements to be commissioned shouldn't stay commissioned. Frankly I consider it irresponsible of a CO to keep his ship from having specs. I don't want to see any ships decommissioned over this, however. : Instead of picking on ships that have specs..(the updated Mark II version of the Columbus specs was approved on the 25th of Jan 2000) whether they be active.. or mothballed due to an EDept whim.. how about concentrating on starbases that DON'T have any specs at all. That is more a detriment to the club than a ship that has in some form or another a spec showing what the ship has, and where things are located. : : For example: OP45, SB202, the STC. Surely those should be a bigger priority to the EDept and the current administration. Outpost 45 has had specs since April. Just last night I spoke to someone about doing specs for Outpost 42, and told him to talk to the current CO. Amanda is already working on specs for STC, and she and I discussed them at length at STFCon. And I have committed to doing specs for Starbase 202, but want to get at least one of the starships we have under review approved first. I don't believe it would be appropriate for the EDir to push one of his own designs before someone else's. Don't you agree? The EDept is quite capable of multi-tasking. : So let me ask you this. IF this was such a big issue and such a big rule.. then WHY didn't the FComm at the time.. the same guy who is now EDir.. make the Columbus change it's spec then?! WHY when the same guy became president in 2001 - 2002 didn't he make the Columbus change it's specs?! Simple really.. because there is no current edictified ruling that gives that power. Actually, "that guy" rechristened no less than 12 ships to new specs when he was President. He did so by waiting for a CO to resign, and then asking the new incoming CO to pick a new spec. Most COs were quite happy to pick their own ship class, and there was very little complaint or strife. Of course, that guy was then followed by a series of President who didn't concern themselves with valid specs, so didn't keep up that gradual upgrade process that had shown itself to be so effective, despite "that guy's" repeated recommendations. Perhaps if she had, this would never have been an issue. (For those who are wondering, "that guy" is me, and the two-term President that followed me was Emma Rouse-Deane.) : Personally, I'd just tell TPTB to take a hike, if it was me. : : - Emma I would expect someone who's spend as much time in the Executive Washroom as you have to know the importance of not jumping to conclusions, Emma. As I just told Bob, there's no reason to make personal attacks over a ship spec. --Engineering Director Larry Garfield