Alberyk Deputy Loremaster Application

[Alberyk]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Alberyk

Position Being Applied For: Deputy Loremaster

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yes.

 

Past Experiences/Knowledge:

I have been the Tajara lore writer for more than two years. I joined the lore team as a deputy in 2018. So at least four years of lore writing. I have been on the staff team since 2014. I have been the headmin since 2019. I have extensive knowledge of how the code works and a lot of experience in running events.

 

Examples of Past Work:

It is a lot. You can check the lore diary or the lore discord announcements channels. I probably touched all Tajara lore pages in the wiki in some way or other. I wrote roughly 30% of all articles we released this year. I ran at least 3 lore arcs since I became the Tajara lore writer. I helped run the KOTW arc as a coder and writer. I also worked with the team on the latests megacorporation and Biesel updates.

 

Criticism of the current state of lore:

-It is kinda built on shaky foundations. A lot of stuff is poorly explained and over the place. Examples: extranet, faster than light travel methods, the economy, and some aspects of Biesel itself. 

-Some lore teams live in maintenance hell. They are unable to do anything besides "fix the mistakes of the past". The more we have, the more work we will have in the future. We need to dial back on expanding to instead concentrate on cultivating what we have and cutting off some needless branches.

-There is little interest in writing anything besides what the teams are responsible for. It is how megacorps and Biesel were left so underdeveloped for long.

-It is hard to know what is canon or not. The article section is a nightmare. A lot of information is not on the wiki.

-The lore canonization section is still underutilized by everyone. It takes too long to get anything reviewed or implemented.

 

The Roadmap/solution to the problems:

-First of all, the nbt. It will be here in a few months. We must dedicate the lore team's efforts to help it happen. This will include creating a way to decide where the ship will go, for how long, and what it might do with the lore team. As well as creating the necessary lore pages to explain the ship's mission and its aspects.

-Ironing the basic foundations of our lore. It is a lot of work for one or two writers, we must get all of our writers to contribute to this. The current system of assigning teams to work on certain sections has worked fine so far, but I think implementing deadlines that can be reasonably extended is a way to get the final push we need. We need everyone to contribute and agree on the lore that all teams will use to write.

-Get the teams to work on their foundations and already existing lore. Adding a new planet when a lot of the lore is poorly explained or conflicts with the rest is just contributing to the problem of maintenance hell. This might sound a bit draconic, but we need tighter control of what is being produced to make sure that the basics are being covered. The planet ban was an okay idea, but I think that a lot more must be done to help with this. I am thinking of goals for the teams to do before they can push their narrative a bit forward or add something they are passionate about.

-Get the teams to integrate their articles into the wiki. There is no other way but to get them to work on this above their personal projects and passion. I know it sounds rough, but it is necessary. The article sections must undergo a thorough review by the teams responsible for them. If the article is conflicting with current lore, it can just be moved to the retconned section without much of the bureaucracy reserved for regular retcons. We need to do a spring cleaning on the articles section.

-Solve the underutilization of the canonization application section. We really need tighter deadlines. Three months is a lot of time and there is not even a set date to implement anything that was accepted. We had applications waiting for more than one year to be processed. There is no other solution besides being more strict with the writers about this. 

 

What do you believe you can bring to the team as Deputy Loremaster:

I have experience in management, in pretty much all areas of the staff, and I participate a lot in the community. I know what are the issues, I have ideas of how to solve them, and I am willing to implement my plans. And above all, I want to involve the lore team in doing all of these things. I do not plan to do anything alone. The fact that the Tajara lore team has a lot of breathing room also gives me enough time to dedicate to help manage the team.

 

Other notes:

- I do not plan on resigning from my position as a Tajara lore writer if this application is accepted.

- I might withdraw this application; I am still thinking if I will be able to handle this. If I do that or this is not accepted, I would be fine with any of these ideas being used by anyone.

[Marlon P.]

Im already on the forums in my own app and saw this posted.

I strongly agree with all your goals and plans. You have a dedication and work ethic exemplified in your dual roles as admin and lore maintainer for tajara. I echo everything you've said.

+1

Edited December 22, 2021 by Marlon P.

[SatinsPristOTD]

Oh My Stars. Your criticisms are SPOT ON for every complaint I have with our current lore.

So I'm BEGGING you, even if you do withdraw this application, please let it be a beacon of light for the next applicant to look to.

We'll never fix it with additions. We need foundation repairs and guidance towards the teams.

[Faye <3]

I don't think anyone can question your skill as an organizer or writer, but I do want to question the matter of power centralization. If you were accepted to Loremaster Deputy, you would hold the positions of head admin, loremaster deputy, and tajara maintainer. I think that this amount of power centralized in one person could prove to be an issue in the future. if Caelphon were to step down, then you would become headmin and loremaster. Do you have anything to say on this matter?

Edited December 22, 2021 by Faye <3

[Hawk]

Jumping off of Faye's point about power centralization here, as Headmin, Taj maint, and now even possibly Loremaster Deputy.

I'll be frank, you have excellent points and a really good plan for the future of the lore, but my main concern, besides the centralization, is that if you get the position, would you have the time to give all of the jobs the time that they need? I personally would rather have a few separate people focused on one job solely and doing their best to keep it up to date and interesting for the Community, rather than one person being swamped by work and eventually resenting all of their positions themselves.

[Alberyk]

1 minute ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

I don't think anyone can question your skill as an organizer or writer, but I do want to question the matter of power centralization. If you were accepted to Loremaster Deputy, you would hold the positions of head admin, loremaster deputy, and tajara maintainer. I think that this amount of power centralized in one person could prove to be an issue in the future. Do you have anything to say on this matter?

I do not have plans on resigning from any of my current positions atm.

About the concentration of power, I agree that it can be an issue if the person in question does not recognize the boundaries of each position. The current chain of command of the staff teams divides well who controls what. As the headmin, I don't have any power besides giving my opinion or offering information available to the loremasters. I also think that this is a concern that I am considering currently to see if I move foward with this application or not.

1 minute ago, Hawk said:

I'll be frank, you have excellent points and a really good plan for the future of the lore, but my main concern, besides the centralization, is that if you get the position, would you have the time to give all of the jobs the time that they need? I personally would rather have a few separate people focused on one job solely and doing their best to keep it up to date and interesting for the Community, rather than one person being swamped by work and eventually resenting all of their positions themselves.

This is another factor that I am weighing while I think if I really want to go on with the application. But in theory, yes. My lore time is currently mostly focused on "less busy" tasks, such as writing lore articles, advancing the Tajaran plot, and writing some details. I think I can divide it well without damaging any of the sides. Ultimately, I plan to delegate a lot more instead of doing it all myself.

[AnselmKonrad]

I'm a second for @Faye <3's points here. I have absolutely no question of alb's abilities. Alb has proven time and time again of his exceptional dedication to a cause, let alone to power on some of the most powerful events in terms of actions occured or what have you. However, with this application power centralization however is one of my concerns as well. I know I can trust you with the position, but given your already prominent positions, that being a head admin, the tajara lore developer, and also a maintainer as well as how you do dev on the side I have concerns

My primary personal concerns with this app is first and foremost, with so much you are a part of despite all good you do, what if you were to become compromised somehow? I wouldn't expect it, but given some years in cyber security experience I raise my concerns for it's plausibility let alone what chaos that may cause if it happened, let alone how much it would cause should it happen today.

My second concern would be that of keeping Tajara dev as well as the deputy position and everything else ontop. I am not well versed in what is technically allowed here I suppose, but I dont see it being particularly healthy for you specifically to hold so many positions. For one particular side being the power centralization, but the other being the simple fact of would you have time for it all? Letting the tajara lore dev spot being taken would allow someone else to take the reigns on this and free up your time. In my opinion, however, I would see loremaster already having say or concern regarding what direction all lore would go in such that of tajara lore, so holding both seems useless fruitless to me if not perhaps wasting a slot. I see loremaster as a headmin role regarding lore.

I like what you do, theres rarely been a time I can truly criticize what you do because you do a lot and you do it well, but I cant agree with holding so many job positions just by yourself alone for the reasonings above.

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by AnselmKonrad

[Zelmana]

How do you foresee lore-collection and idea gathering? It seems a majority of our lore is think-tanking from an exclusive club of users that focus on a few siloed topics.

You mentioned 'ironing out the basics' of our lore. Will this include Sol-human lore? I feel that Sol lore is embarrassingly neglected, ever since Mars (and I feel like that being such a huge event, we would have had additional lore being developed on this).

Comparatively, Dominion lore to Martian lore for example, to get a good idea of my issues on this.


I also hold some of the same feelings regarding power centralization.

[Alberyk]

25 minutes ago, Zelmana said:

How do you foresee lore-collection and idea gathering? It seems a majority of our lore is think-tanking from an exclusive club of users that focus on a few siloed topics.

I plan to tackle one subject at a time. For example, the current project is writing the extranet lore.

First, I would identify the topics that must be covered (history, how it works, who controls it, what it is used for), what articles must be reviewed, and what must be written with some basic guidelines. Then delegate to each team to work on a part with a deadline, taking into consideration the team's preferences (if a section touches synthetic lore, the ipc team writes for it). Discussion would be restricted to a single channel where everyone can contribute. After the update is released, I would move to collect feedback from the players using the forums. Implementing the feedback can be done in the same manner that is used for the updates.

This method is essentially what we do atm, but I think it needs more a bit more oversight.

25 minutes ago, Zelmana said:

You mentioned 'ironing out the basics' of our lore. Will this include Sol-human lore? I feel that Sol lore is embarrassingly neglected, ever since Mars (and I feel like that being such a huge event, we would have had additional lore being developed on this).

My statement extends to all lore teams, including the human one. Sol lore is a bit of a mess and fixing it is a daunting task, but very important to our setting. I also think we should incentive other teams to help each other more, something that can be difficult when people are not interested or have enough knowledge to contribute.

[Zelmana]

36 minutes ago, Alberyk said:

I plan to tackle one subject at a time. For example, the current project is writing the extranet lore.

First, I would identify the topics that must be covered (history, how it works, who controls it, what it is used for), what articles must be reviewed, and what must be written with some basic guidelines. Then delegate to each team to work on a part with a deadline, taking into consideration the team's preferences (if a section touches synthetic lore, the ipc team writes for it). Discussion would be restricted to a single channel where everyone can contribute. After the update is released, I would move to collect feedback from the players using the forums. Implementing the feedback can be done in the same manner that is used for the updates.

This method is essentially what we do atm, but I think it needs more a bit more oversight.

My statement extends to all lore teams, including the human one. Sol lore is a bit of a mess and fixing it is a daunting task, but very important to our setting. I also think we should incentive other teams to help each other more, something that can be difficult when people are not interested or have enough knowledge to contribute.

Alb, thanks a ton for addressing this. I trust that you can and have written good lore. This relaxes some of my thoughts, with the observation you know that the issues I pointed were already problematic.
The restating that this is a daunting task does not satiate a lot of the points people have made- multiple roles. My two-cents here, I think you can do well in this role but only if you withdraw from some of your other duties to focus on this more.

Good luck!

[RyverStyx]

I think Alb would be a great fit. I love working with them both from a lore perspective and a developer perspective. They know how to handle projects and they are very efficient. Working under them on the NBT sprites has been smooth sailing. I can easily give this app a PLUS ONE!

[Kintsugi]

It is in my opinion that no other Aurorastation player is better-suited for the position of deputy loremaster than Alb. I think it's no coincidence that under Alb's leadership, Tajara lore has become pound for pound the most cohesive, highest quality, and oftentimes the most fun to engage with. I held out hope he would apply for the position the last time it opened up: I am glad to see that he applied this time around. Alb's work with the lore has produced some of the most entertaining stuff I've had to deal with on Aurora, and he is level-headed and clearly quite dedicated to the server, all while being quite attentive and approachable. Giving this application a +1 is a no-brainer, and I hope to see him in the job when this application period is done. I'm confident he'll do great things with it.

[Lucaken]

I would write more, but I would just echo everyone else. Your suggestions and direction are exactly what I want to see in an applicant, and you’re one of the few people I believe could actually carry it out, too. And while I have little doubt about your stability as a staff member, it would be a serious loss to the entire community if you burned out from wearing too many hats. The chance is small, but there. As long as you keep that in mind, this has my wholehearted +1. 

[SilverSZ]

Alot of what I would say on the topic has already been said but in my own experiences. Alb is not just a good writer and good at directing lore as proven by how good and interesting Tajara lore currently is but also his willingness to engage people with the lore and his patience in dealing with questions about the lore. I never would have gone for my Tajara whitelist if he wasn't patient and helpful with every question I personally directed at him. I also very strongly agree that some branches need to be cut to help some lore teams out of reworking the past and into working on new better things. +1

[Billy Mays]

+1 For sure. Alb has been a fantastic lore dev for Tajaran lore, and I can't see anyone  better-suited than him to take the deputy lore position. Again, like Lucaken said, I won't type much as I'll echo the same points around, but overall his lore-making abilities are superb and I do hope he'll take this position.

[OffRoad99]

4 hours ago, AnselmKonrad said:

I'm a second for @Faye <3's points here. I have absolutely no question of alb's abilities. Alb has proven time and time again of his exceptional dedication to a cause, let alone to power on some of the most powerful events in terms of actions occured or what have you. However, with this application power centralization however is one of my concerns as well. I know I can trust you with the position, but given your already prominent positions, that being a head admin, the tajara lore developer, and also a maintainer as well as how you do dev on the side I have concerns

My primary personal concerns with this app is first and foremost, with so much you are a part of despite all good you do, what if you were to become compromised somehow? I wouldn't expect it, but given some years in cyber security experience I raise my concerns for it's plausibility let alone what chaos that may cause if it happened, let alone how much it would cause should it happen today.

My second concern would be that of keeping Tajara dev as well as the deputy position and everything else ontop. I am not well versed in what is technically allowed here I suppose, but I dont see it being particularly healthy for you specifically to hold so many positions. For one particular side being the power centralization, but the other being the simple fact of would you have time for it all? Letting the tajara lore dev spot being taken would allow someone else to take the reigns on this and free up your time. In my opinion, however, I would see loremaster already having say or concern regarding what direction all lore would go in such that of tajara lore, so holding both seems useless fruitless to me if not perhaps wasting a slot. I see loremaster as a headmin role regarding lore.

I like what you do, theres rarely been a time I can truly criticize what you do because you do a lot and you do it well, but I cant agree with holding so many job positions just by yourself alone for the reasonings above.

 

I'm going to echo what both Faye and especially Anselm have stated. I am not a fan of Tajarans, and yet I recognize that their lore is very well-crafted and thorough, which is a testament of your good work. But, you already are a Head Admin, a Tajaran lore developer and a wiki maintainer, and while there are no rules that stops it I must admit to be very worried to see one person receiving so much power and responsibilities. I'm sorry, but it's going to be a -1 from me.

Edited December 22, 2021 by OffRoad99

[NG+7 Gael]

Honestly, all for this. The criticisms section especially, I felt, really shows an understanding of what exactly is problematic in current lore, and I couldn't agree more with the assessment given. Also, the fact that this section included "the economy" makes me very happy, as this means seeing Alb as deputy loremaster could potentially mean seeing some form of economic lore in the future, which would be very good. That aside, the roadmap of solutions also looks promising, it is not focused on what any individual might do to fix the state of pieces of lore, but rather the fact that it will require more contributions from writers as a whole, as well as further organization of the wiki. Plus, Alb has experience in dealing with this sort of stuff already, so I'm pretty sure it would go well.

+1

[Butterrobber202]

My only concern is split attention from all your responsibilities. 

Alberyk has proven himself level headed and extremely fair in almost all of his actions as a Staff Member. He is an excellent writer and, as mentioned above, Tajara Lore is top deck quality. There is little more to say on the matter.

[Roostercat]

I don't believe you should be deputy loremaster for the sole reason that it would mean you have head responsibilities in three major areas of staff. That being head admin, development (technically not head dev but you have enough sway to fulfill that role in my mind anyway) and now lore development. It's just not a good idea for someone to have no checks in regards to what they do with the server aside from the host. Otherwise I wouldn't have much issue with it.  -1

[Chada1]

Even if you were only deputy Loremaster for long enough to solve these core issues that Marlon also sought to solve with their app, that are clearly present and dragging down the entire servers' atmosphere and Lore, I +1.

[Arrow768]

3 hours ago, Roostercat said:

[...] It's just not a good idea for someone to have no checks in regards to what they do with the server aside from the host. [...]

8 hours ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

[...]but I do want to question the matter of power centralization. If you were accepted to Loremaster Deputy, you would hold the positions of head admin, loremaster deputy, and tajara maintainer. I think that this amount of power centralized in one person could prove to be an issue in the future. if Caelphon were to step down, then you would become headmin and loremaster. [...]

As Headdev I am not too concerned about that as there are checks in place for every role that @Alberyk would hold (even if Caelphon were to retire).

My primary concern however is time.
With 4 major roles (Head Admin, Maintainer, (Deputy) Lore Master and Tajara Lore Writer) there are quite a few things that need to be taken care of and I am unsure if that is not too much to ask of one person.
I am concerned that this is a quick road to be overtaxed by the various tasks, as the lore team has historically been one of the more difficult teams to manage.

[Caelphon]

Regarding the criticism for time; If I could go back I wouldn't resign from my position as Skrell Lore Writer. I easily could've put equal effort into both managing the team as well as developing lore for a species.

Additionally, I am there so the Deputy Loremaster would not be managing the team by their lonesome, and I hope to tackle the issues presented across the board by the applicants with the Future Deputy Loremaster - a combined effort. 

[Waff-AI]

My sole criticism isn't that I don't think you, as Alberyk, can handle all these positions- you have a true dedication to Tajara lore that none of my possible criticisms can displace- but rather that I think it would be a good look to resign. I think that refusal to step down as a condition, rather than a necessity, isn't particularly... well, cool. You have, of course  worked hard and long to bring Tajara lore to where it stands, but my opinion lies in that I believe we have a little too much of Tajara lore in the server at the moment, and that it would be good to bring everyone else up to speed. A good third of our cooking recipes, accents, and events are relating to Tajara. Tajara politics are ubiquitous in any Relay chat or ingame dialogue, to the point where everyone from the greytiders to the antags have a take. I don't think this is bad, per say- rather toward the opposite, as it shows the strength of its writing- but rather brings into question your commitment to anything that isn't Tajara-related, as the first thing that you evoke for me, and many others, is Tajara.

I think my main question is this: can you detach yourself from Tajara in your greater work as deputy loremaster? Can you commit to aiding every lore team, and helping them all get to that state of ubiquity, or is your refusal to step down a conscious declaration?

Edited December 23, 2021 by Waff-AI
clarity i think

[Lmwevil]

I think you easily have the best skillset, and if you can't handle the workload of both positions you can just resign tajara lore, it's not like it's the end of the world - you've been around so fucking long you clearly know how to handle your own burnout in a healthy manner +1

[Bear]

If you think you can handle all the roles then there really isn't anything more to say. Your work is self-evident as is your continued dedication to the community.

+1 (so long as you don't retire from Taj maintainer as you stated!)