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Should We Refine the Technology Approval Process?

I have to say that I like the Mystery Box idea as well. It would work all the better if there was some way of making the selection of which of the evaluation team the creation went to, random. That way, there would be kind of like a double benefit, as the evaluation team would become better at critiquing different styles of tech, and submission. And the submitter would gain the benefit of knowing that he had people looking over the tech that could easily make it better.
 
I also like this idea, very similar to the 'tech council' suggested in this threads companion thread (which I presume was moved to the GM forum). However, my innate distrust for secret groups has to rear its head here (what can I say, I am paranoid), I do see why its membership would need to be kept secret.

I am not so sure about this membership being chosen secretly as it would need to be assured that the people in it had a fair grounding in the material (whether it be what is good for the setting, technical knowledge, or another) since the group would be the filter for all of the tech items. In any event, I think the membership would end up being something of a "open secret" (i.e. people know who is on it but no one says as such). The key to prevent antagonism and/or retaliation is not that the membership itself secret, but that the decisions are kept secret.
 
For the evaluation team, I was thinking about using 50% experts, 50% randomly selected members, determined by random number generation for people over 50 posts.
 
Because board rank doesn't really mean anything. You could have the rank because you post allot, or because you earned the rank IC. Further, the number of posts at higher numbers doesn't mean much, since you could have gotten the high post count through tech board or RP posts or you could like the community segment of the forum and earned a high number through chatting.
 
Yeah, the main thing with the random members of the tech evaluation group would be for them to be active and (hopefully) willing.
 
So, what you are saying is that in this mystery box idea, 50% of the group will be there on a permanent basis while 50% acts like jury duty via lottery. Sounds like a plan and I don't see any faults in it yet.

Why don't we try that on a trial basis to see how well it works?
 
I extend my approval to the concept put forth and suggest implementation of said proposal at the next expedient occasion.

A little experementation never did anyone any harm after all.

Other than that night with that guy *shudders*
 
So, in Mystery Box, would the contact forum in which contributers post their submissions a private or public forum? That's the only part I didn't get.

Other than that, it sounds like a good idea. Probably one of the few times where receiving Jury Duty isn't followed by tears.
 
Well, I could set up a special forum where the average user could post (via a link), but not view - think of it as a drop box.

I'm going to make it 4 experts and 4 randoms, with myself there as #9 to serve as a tie-breaker.
 
I suggest making the permanent four of the council along the lines of what Tom said in the other thread: a mixture of represenatives from the different factions. Elysian, Nepleslian, Yamataian and Other perhaps? That would put a little more voice for each faction into the mix.
 
Well with the 'Mystery Box', I believe the person who submitted the technology and is shut down, should be able to see the thread and the reasoning going on behind it. I believe that this would hopefully cut down on any personal bias that may be going on behind the scenes, as only a select few people can see it. Posts can be edited, but I would hope that people would be more mature and above these types of actions.
 
The question of representation is all well and good, but the 'Other' representative has a lot on his shoulders. He would have to deal with independent corporations, pirates, independent nations, and even some organizations.

Plus, who would be willing or even be able to represent the 'Others'?
 
Sgzyr said:
Well with the 'Mystery Box', I believe the person who submitted the technology and is shut down, should be able to see the thread and the reasoning going on behind it. I believe that this would hopefully cut down on any personal bias that may be going on behind the scenes, as only a select few people can see it. Posts can be edited, but I would hope that people would be more mature and above these types of actions.
Click to expand...
No, this defeats the point of the mystery box, which is to allow people to anonymously judge submissions without being hated on (And vice versa).
 
Abwehran Commander said:
The question of representation is all well and good, but the 'Other' representative has a lot on his shoulders. He would have to deal with independent corporations, pirates, independent nations, and even some organizations.

Plus, who would be willing or even be able to represent the 'Others'?
Click to expand...

I would've figured "Other" meant factions like Lor, the Sourcians, etc.

Pirates, Independant corporations and certain organizations that don't answer to a certain faction should be receiving a certain level of fairness anyway. If they are truely independant, then no faction representative should have much problem with them...in fact, I would believe independant submissions would have a much easier time getting approved than faction-side submissions, as long as they follow the guidelines.

Although you are right, the Other representative would have a larger load on his shoulders. Despite this I still believe the major factions need to be able to represent improvements aimed for their factions.
 
The Essential Moonman said:
Abwehran Commander said:
The question of representation is all well and good, but the 'Other' representative has a lot on his shoulders. He would have to deal with independent corporations, pirates, independent nations, and even some organizations.

Plus, who would be willing or even be able to represent the 'Others'?
Click to expand...

I would've figured "Other" meant factions like Lor, the Sourcians, etc.

Pirates, Independant corporations and certain organizations that don't answer to a certain faction should be receiving a certain level of fairness anyway. If they are truely independant, then no faction representative should have much problem with them...in fact, I would believe independant submissions would have a much easier time getting approved than faction-side submissions, as long as they follow the guidelines.

Although you are right, the Other representative would have a larger load on his shoulders. Despite this I still believe the major factions need to be able to represent improvements aimed for their factions.
Click to expand...

*Volunteers!*

Well, at least partially. Whenever I do a Freespacer submission, I always do really indepth research first, which is why they're almost instantly approved with no critique (at least, the more recent ones). I'm also quite keen on various humanities -- cybernetics, medicine, sociology, etc. Nanoscale engineering and AI too.

My only weak spot is that I can't crunch numbers for ships and power armor when it comes to making sure they're balanced. You'd need someone else for that sort of thing. It's pretty confusing when you're working with everything from Lorians to Carthage Project.
 
I nominate either Vesper or Scribbles as the science major for the "Other" section. Both have proven they're very, very good with the science behind most of reality.
 
The members have already been chosen. Names will not be released.
 
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