[LynxMukka]

I would like to officially announce today, the introduction of a new "Veteran Member" usergroup which also as of today is now in effect. With the continued community changes, and enhancements in our systems over the years including the beloved Fleet Manager, the Federation Executive Office has been evaluating how best we deal with user and member departures.

As part of this launch, the retirements usergroup has been replaced by the mentioned "Veteran Member" usergroup but with altered criteria and is explained below. (As a courtesy, those currently in the "Retired" usergroup have been moved over to the "Veteran Member" usergroup.

We made these changes, because the clear lines that once seperated the purposes of Retirements and Resignations have blurred and there is now seemingly duplication of what is essentially the same thing. As such, in order to return more significance to members who can no longer be with us or cannot maintain regular activity, while also having a record of contributing to the UFP greatly over the years, we have created the "Veteran Member" usergroup.


In order to become a veteran member, you must either have:

• served as either a Federation Citizen or Starfleet Officer for 3 years or above while maintaining good activity.
  
  
• served as either a Federation Citizen or Starfleet Officer for 2 years or above while maintaining good activity and serving in a CL4 role or above.

Members of either the Federation Executive Office or the current Federation Council administration can select who they feel is appropriate to be classed as a veteran member when their time at the UFP is coming to a natural end or they put in a request before their departure (read more about that here).

Veteran members receive a change of username colour and the ability to have a slightly different signature style.


Thanks very much for your time in reading this announcement.

[Caymen Greener]

This is great news and a superb idea. This brings a bit more "gusto" to our former members who have contributed greatly, excluding Reggie. Kidding, former boss!

What would happen to someone who leaves on good terms and yet has not met those criteria? Does he or she become a CL1 External or CL2 Citizen? Sorry if this is explained somewhere else and I missed it (doubly so if I missed it, being on the Council).

Again, nice efforts. Can't wait to see the first wave go in effect!

Caymen

[Richard Evans]

i like this idea a lot. It shows that old members of the fleet are still respected but are not necessarily active within the fleet. Good job

[Seldon]

Interesting feature. Nice to see the Council having some control over it.

[aciarduce]

This is outrageous. It is horrendous. It is indescribable.

I can't wait to see it in action. Great idea btw, as distinction between similarities can go a long way, especially when it gets to the point where it may become important.

[Daedalus]

Honestly, I am a bit confused by the desire to merge these two membership groups. To me, veteran status denotes a position of honor to be used to recognize our highest contributing and/or experienced individuals.

Merging this distinction with retired members - some of which include some our most famous (and infamous) members seems counterintuitive. For example, I don't think there would be any objection to adding Hathaway to this group, but at the same I wouldn't want to include a retired member who was only with us for a month and left without contributing anything to the community.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding the eligibility requirements?

[Xu Dan]

...For example, I don't think there would be any objection to adding Hathaway to this group, but at the same I wouldn't want to include a retired member who was only with us for a month and left without contributing anything to the community.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding the eligibility requirements?

That won't be an issue, someone with us for a month wouldn't qualify (see quote below). You probably just overlooked the requirements by accident. Happens to me all the time when I read through something too quickly, and boy do I do that a lot.

In order to become a veteran member, you must either have:
served as either a Federation Citizen or Starfleet Officer for 3 years or above while maintaining good activity.

served as either a Federation Citizen or Starfleet Officer for 2 years or above while maintaining good activity and serving in a CL4 role or above.

[Daedalus]

No, I saw the requirements. However Lynx also posted that all current retired members have been grandfathered into the new group.

The question then becomes what happens to members who retire, are inactive, but don't resign, and don't meet the group requirements.

Do they just move to another group or go on permanent loa?

[Cehus]

. For example, I don't think there would be any objection to adding Hathaway to this group.

John Hathaway, along with Mikester are still part of the FEO usergroup, they are both just no longer currently present and thus not viewable on the roster.

[Xu Dan]

Fair question, and definitely one that would require more information than has been posted to answer. I'm sure that if you sent Lynxmukka a PM about it you'd get a swift response.

[LynxMukka]

No, I saw the requirements. However Lynx also posted that all current retired members have been grandfathered into the new group.

The question then becomes what happens to members who retire, are inactive, but don't resign, and don't meet the group requirements.

Do they just move to another group or go on permanent loa?

They would be placed into the standard Federation Citizen CL2 usergroup.

[Daedalus]

John Hathaway, along with Mikester are still part of the FEO usergroup, they are both just no longer currently present and thus not viewable on the roster.

Oh I just needed an example and Hathaway was the first to come to mind. I didn't mean to imply that he should be moved!

They would be placed into the standard Federation Citizen CL2 usergroup.

Perfect. This cleared it all up for me, thanks Lynx!

[Chi]

Veteran, makes me feel older than I already am but nice idea

[Christopher Halsey]

I'm really glad that we're doing more to acknowledge members that have made a consistently positive impact on our community.

Whilst we have had the occasional trouble maker I think we've been very fortunate to have such a good quality membership especially when you see some of the drama that goes on elsewhere. I can see a lot of great people populating this Veteran group in years to come and I'm sure when the time comes those members will be pleased to see this show of respect for their contribution.

[Bondgadget]

Indeed, this is definitely a step forward in recognizing members who have stayed with our community for a long period of time and have been great additions to our member base.

Respecting the members for not only choosing us but for choosing to stay with us for a long period of time is very important and I think this is a great way of showing it. I look forward to seeing a number of people popping into this category.